WWE is no stranger to bringing in celebrities
for a bit of mainstream media coverage, whether that’s Iron Mike Tyson or Donald Trump...or
Drew Carey... these appearances always add mainstream appeal to what is a niche product.
In 2012, we nearly had another celebrity cameo, this time from the infamously infamous star
of Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen, I’m El Fakidor Laurie Blake, and this Charlie
Sheen’s Missing Summerslam Match.
In the build up to Raw 1000 on July 23rd 2012, Charlie Sheen was hired by WWE to be their
Social Media Ambassador - whatever that is - and a further verbal agreement had been
made by the two parties for him to appear at SummerSlam in some capacity.
The plan was for Charlie to start a feud with none other than Daniel Bryan, who was in the
middle of his yes/no identity crisis at the time.
On Raw 1000, Sheen made fun of Daniel Bryan via Skype - because he had shut down his Twitter
account - and told Bryan that if he wanted a fight he would be at his home in Los Angeles
- which was where Summerslam was taking place that year.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the plan was for a singles
match between Daniel Bryan and Kane, with some involvement with Sheen.
The idea was to then build this towards anger management classes for Bryan, to push Sheen’s
new comedy show.
Bryan and Kane did have their match and the anger management classes, but there was no
involvement from Sheen.
Bryan himself however writes in his autobiography Yes!
My Improbable journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania that it was supposed to be an
actual match.
“He was going through a very public breakdown at the time, and somehow WWE brokered a deal
for him to perform against me.
He taped a couple of videos for Raw insulting me, and even though it was a goofy match to
be in, it would’ve put me in one of the top matches at SummerSlam.”
Sheen told IGN, “I guess the guy who was egging me on is a real problem.
And he and I will solve that later..
[it's] a promotional tool for [Anger Management] and I think everybody is going to win on that
one.
But it was exciting just to step into a different world that I didn’t ever really believe
existed – and still don’t!”
However as Summerslam drew near, Sheen’s name stopped being mentioned on Monday Night
Raw.
Dave Meltzer wrote, “Don’t know what is up with Charlie Sheen but given that they
stopped mentioning his name, it’s probable the angle is dropped because you’d think
it’s something they’d want to push.”
He adds that his backstage sources told him that WWE weren’t happy about his Raw 1000
segments not going as originally planned.
“One person said that after the last appearance, they don’t trust him, given he was supposed
to tweet for them on Raw 1,000 and then gave up twitter a few days earlier.”
PWMania reported, “While WWE has not confirmed Charlie Sheen for SummerSlam, there’s a
feeling backstage that Sheen still may do some kind of angle on Sunday in Los Angeles,
especially after the Anger Management references continued this week.
The downside to Sheen doing an angle at SummerSlam is WWE missed out on the pre-PPV publicity.”
Meltzer also reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there was also a worry in
WWE that if they pushed a Sheen appearance and he didn’t show, it would be a huge embarrassment
for them.
Bryan adds in his autobiography, “Unfortunately, whoever brokered the Sheen deal never got
him to sign any sort of contract to do the even, and in typical Charlie Sheen fashion,
he bailed.”
In the end, Kane took on Daniel Bryan at Summerslam, which led to their anger management classes
and the formation of Team Hell No - with zero involvement from Charlie Sheen.
PWInsider reported in October 2012 that WWE had reached out to his people for an appearance
at WrestleMania 29, but nothing came of that either.
The site also reported that their other option was Honey Boo Boo.
We’ve got other WWE Backstage Expose videos here on WrestleTalk so click the videos on
screen right now.
I’ve been El Fakidor Laurie Blake, and that was wrestling.