Ever since Vince McMahon took control of WWE from his father in the 1980s, the promotion has been, one might kindly say, celebrity obsessed. In fairness, that obsession paid off for WWE during those early years; as important as Hulk Hogan was to WWE business taking off, it was also helped by appearances from Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T, Hogan’s tag team partner at WrestleMania 1. Those celebrity endorsements gave WWE credibility within mainstream America, and has only emboldened the promotion to continue using celebrities since then, arguably even more now in WWE’s TKO era. And for a long-time, the celebrity WWE seemed to pursue the most was Cardi B.
Since bursting onto the scene in the mid-2010s thanks to “Love & Hip Hop: New York” and a growing social media following, Cardi B has become one of the more iconic rappers in hip hop, as well as arguably the most successful female hip hop artist in history. Along the way, she also revealed herself to be a pro wrestling fan, though under truly bizarre circumstances. On a January 4 episode of “WWE Raw,” the “WAP” rapper was suddenly brought up by Torrie Wilson, who claimed Cardi, Ariana Grande, and Kylie Jenner were all backstage watching “Raw.” They were not; Wilson’s claims were in fact a ruse to fool then WWE 24/7 Champion Angel Garza into looking for them, allowing R-Truth to retake the 24/7 Title with a roll up.
Cardi B Jokingly Took Issue With WWE Referencing Her On Raw
Under normal circumstances, Cardi B’s involvement in WWE would’ve begun and ended with this reference. Alas, fans immediately began talking about how WWE referenced her, and unlike Grande or Jenner, Cardi took notice of it by asking fans why she was being tagged in “WWE stuff.” Within minutes, she was revealing that she was a fan of wrestling, having grown up a fan of Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Triple H, Batista, John Cena, Edge, Melina, and Trish Stratus, but not The Rock, who had stopped wrestling prior to her tuning in. Eventually, she got a hold of the segment between Garza and Wilson, and despite her confusion, took it in stride, jokingly telling McMahon to “count your days” due to him “debuting” her on WWE TV like this.
Given this interaction, and how WWE normally moves to get celebrity involvement, most likely anticipated that Cardi B would be making a WWE appearance by WrestleMania, or SummerSlam by the latest. In fact, Cardi was rumored to be the host of SummerSlam that year, only it never came to pass, and despite on and off rumors and the rapper expressing interest, nothing came together for the next few years. It was only earlier this year that WWE announced that Cardi was finally being brought into the fold, which took place at SummerSlam, with her serving as the host for both nights. It was a long time coming for both the rapper and promotion, and it may not have even happened if not for a 2021 backstage segment that initially left Cardi flabbergasted. In wrestling, sometimes reality really is stranger than fiction.
