Rappers in wrestling

[CM Steel]

I was thinking about John Cena's old rapper gimmick he had that made him a star recently for some reason. But anyways.

Over the years in wrestling stars from the world of Hip-Hop would make appearances in pro wrestling. But which rapper do you think will be remembered most from being on TV with a wrestling company? Let's take a look at a list of rappers shall we?...

-LL Cool J: 2001 with the cast of the movie remake "Rollerball" when he invoked a match between the APA and Booker T & Test (R.I.P.)

-Method Man: Was on the cover of WWE magazine with John Cena back in 2003.

-Snoop Dogg: Made various appearances in the WWE with the first one being at Wrestlemania 24 during the diva's tag team match. And second he returned to the E as a guest host of RAW, with doing a run-in and giving Chavo Guerrero a clothesline.

-Busta Rhymes: Made an appearance on Smackdown in 2002 as a guest of the Rock. They even rapped/sung together in the segment. It was listed as one of the grestest moments in Smackdown history on the "Best of Smackdown" DVD.

-Run-Dmc: They did a Wrestlemania themed song at a Wrestlemania back when Wrestlemania got going in the very beginning. When Run-Dmc were in their primes!

Sure alot of rappers like Timberland and Flavor Flav guest hosted episodes of Monday Night RAW those years ago. But which rapper(s) stood out the most during their time in a wrestling ring or stage?

I don't know if anybody would include Master P & his No Limit Soldiers stint in the defunct WCW. Talk about a train wreck! And Flo Rida and Machine Gun Kelly's performance at Wrestlemania 28 in Miami, FL.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Rap and Wrestling has never quite worked... not sure if it was a racial thing cos WWE in particular has always put Afro-American stars on at Mania, like Ali and Aretha... but in the main the demographic in the earlier days were not, shall we say rap-centric.

Theme music is always a good indicator and it was telling that few used Rap outside of the "expected" ethnic lines until Cena. Taker used Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit but they can hardly be called "Hip-Hop" artists... Even the ICP were watered down.

The guy WWE never got but tried to was Eminem, and Cena's rapper gimmick worked cos Eminem by 2004 had become somewhat self parody and safe, using Crank Yankers or cartoonish imagery to hide the vulgarity and even selling a clean and X rated version of his albums.

WWE has never embraced Hip-Hop or Rap in it's purest forms, only ever the safe versions of it. Even Cena got toned down very quickly and he lost a lot of what made him great... if he could even once or twice go back to spitting the venomous rhymes of his earliest days then it would be as good as a heel turn to the fans... people don't hate Cena as such, they hate what he had to sacrifice to become this guy... when he was always capable of a lot more on the mic and in the ring and it's kinda the same with Hip-Hop... the original stuff was outlaw, dangerous, even when it was "white boys" doing it... something like Adam and the Ant's AntTrap is the first time I heard a rap song and I still listen today... it sounded subversive without F-Bombs... Today it's watered down with endless Pharrell/Jay Z/Will I Am dross, it's not Run DMC in their pomp or NWA or even Rage Against The Machine... it's PG parody... just like WWE itself.

They want to sell Cena as a "great rapper" as well, even though he doesn't do it...so they're not gonna put him with Eminem or Jay-Z in case he gets shown up or people say "Why the hell doesn't Cena just get Eminem to do his theme cos he sucks..."

So now WWE use guys like Timberland, Flav, Flo Rida cos they are safe and in the main cheaper than the A-List... someone like Run DMC did it in the 80's cos it was cool and helped them, but by WM10 it was Salt and Peppa, 7 years past their prime. Now if a wrestler picks a theme from an ailing band it props their business up like Living Colour or Motorhead, only really Mark Crozer has benefitted as a "newer" artist and he's been around donkey's years too.

Even when WWE uses bands these days, they don't do the A-List often... even recently with the embarrasing Florida Georgia Line stuff at NOC... WWE doesn't go A-List cos it costs... they'd rather use the money for Hugh Jackman once every couple of years or throw Ben Stiller or John Stewart a couple of comps to picture them in the crowd...

Of course in either Rock or Rap, the higher up the food chain, the more the demands come and that more than anything probably prevents a Jay Z or Aerosmith showing up on WWE TV... WWE isn't gonna give any celebs more than they give someone like the Rock in terms of "rider" unless they are getting in the ring. If you're a musical guest, WWE likes to think you're there cos you love them... not cos you are getting your own dressing room and 1000 brown M&M's in a brandy glass.

 

[Slash-LN]

You forgot Master P and The No Limit Soldiers and their impressive feud with Curt Hennig in WCW.

Truthfully I don't know how it can be anything but Insane Clown Posse. They were in multiple companies including WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA I believe. What other rapper(s) can say that?

They also run their own wrestling organization. Just doesn't seem like any other rapper or rap group has the same credentials.

 

[CM Steel]

You forgot Master P and The No Limit Soldiers and their impressive feud with Curt Hennig in WCW.

Truthfully I don't know how it can be anything but Insane Clown Posse. They were in multiple companies including WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA I believe. What other rapper(s) can say that?

They also run their own wrestling organization. Just doesn't seem like any other rapper or rap group has the same credentials.

I did mention Master P & the No Limit Soldiers at the end of the post. Didn't you read it? But yeah what I didn't like about that feud against Curt Hennings is it looked like WCW set up the No Limit Soldiers to lose the feud to the West Texas Rednecks. But all in the same who can forget the No Limit Soldiers stint in WCW?

 

[FromGlasgow]

Men on a Mission tag team was kind of a rap hip hop act and that went well.

 

[Trill Co$by]

After Snoop Dogg, the only rappers I'd associate with are Kevin Federline (if you can call him that) and Three Six Mafia. Snoop Dogg, as is well documented, is a very big fan of WWE. He always has been, and his continued appearances on the product just continues to prove how much he truly loves the industry.

Three Six Mafia, for me, are the second most memorable. Why? Because they wrote and composed Mark Henry's theme song, a song that is actually still quite the banger. It's something that will forever be synced to Henry, and it very well should be.

And then there's K-Fed... the one man in WWE History that John Cena couldn't beat. How can you NOT remember him?

 

[Wolf Pac]

Gotta be ICP for the reasons Slash LN mentioned. Second, Master P and The No Limit Soldiers but for the wrong reasons.

After them, I guess Run-DMC for their appearance at Wrestlemania and their very memorable contribution to the WWF Aggression album, King Of Kings, which ended up being used by DX on TV.

Method Man and Snoop Dogg also contributed to that album with awesome songs too. Method's a big fan of the WWE I believe, I think he was in attendance for Summerslam this year or last year.

Wyclef Jean did a few collaborations with Rock back in 2000.

BTW, anyone remember P.N. News?

 

[Wolf Pac]

Wyclef Jean did a few collaborations with Rock back in 2000.

Correction: He only collaborated with Wyclef just once. The other song I was thinking of, "Pie", I forgot it was with Slick Rick, not Wyclef.

In 2000, Rock collaborated with Wyclef Jean, Slick Rick, and Method Man.

 

[CM Steel]

Gotta be ICP for the reasons Slash LN mentioned. Second, Master P and The No Limit Soldiers but for the wrong reasons.

After them, I guess Run-DMC for their appearance at Wrestlemania and their very memorable contribution to the WWF Aggression album, King Of Kings, which ended up being used by DX on TV.

Method Man and Snoop Dogg also contributed to that album with awesome songs too. Method's a big fan of the WWE I believe, I think he was in attendance for Summerslam this year or last year.

Wyclef Jean did a few collaborations with Rock back in 2000.

BTW, anyone remember P.N. News?

I remember the ICP.

But Run-Dmc did give alot to the WWE over the years like that "Kings" track to D-Generation-X. I remember that there was a video to that song on MTV that debut after RAW one week. Cool video shoot! And yeah both Wyclef and legend Slick Rick both did their thing with the Rock. That's back when the Rock started to get some Hip-Hop cred.

And P.N. News (Lol) was a spin-off of Heavy D, who was still doing his thing around that same era.

 

[cenation17]

Wasn't no limit soldiers in WCW? With Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman, they had a crew with Konnan. Filthy animals or something like that??

And insane clown pose???? I think they all were in WCW for a short period of time.