WWE cashed in on the viral sensation that is the Philadelphia Flyers’ dumb* mascot Gritty while they were in the City of Brotherly Love for Raw yesterday (Mar. 4). First with a WrestleMania-themed t-shirt:
Did inventory an hour ago and we were down one 5XL tee...This explains it. pic.twitter.com/i4P6lTeJ9f
— Wells Fargo Center (@WellsFargoCtr) March 4, 2019
Then by including him as part of Elias’ cheap heat song:
Elias kills Philly again #RAW pic.twitter.com/LfW9eGEsSc
— Nick Piccone (@nickpiccone) March 5, 2019
It made sense, because the internet loves dumb* stuff and therefore loves it some Gritty, and both the shirt and snippets of Elias’ tune made the Twitter rounds.
The latter caught the attention of the Phillie Phanatic’s in-bred cousin. And Gritty must have been watching Ronda Rousey tweet to Rebecca Quin or Triple H talk about his friend Richard Fliehr, because he went straight to Wikipedia and came for the man behind the Elias character, Jeffrey Sciullo...
Say what you want about me, Jeff. But plz, plzzz leave the moms out of it.
— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) March 5, 2019
Classless. pic.twitter.com/Qx6KNjao5r
You know what’s classless, Gritty? Exposing a business you’re not even part of. Elias didn’t dig into the Wells Fargo Center personnel files and call out the name of the dude sweating up that dumb* suit every night, did he?
Oh man, we’re getting Colin Jost vs. Braun Strowman and Gritty vs. Elias at WrestleMania 35, aren’t we?
Jim Cornette was right. This business is doomed.
* Yes, I’m from Pittsburgh, and a big fan of the Flyers cross-state rivals, the five-time Stanley Cup champion Penguins. But even if I wasn’t, I’d still think it’s dumb to represent your rough-and-tumble hockey team with a giant muppet wannabe.
And, come to think of it, Jeffrey Sciullo is from the ‘Burgh, too. Son of a b... this still isn’t as bad as blowing a two goal lead with three minutes left in regulation to lose the Stadium Series game a couple weekends back. But it’s pretty bad.