WWE Fan's Decade-Long Wait for Prize Ends in a Surprise Twist

Decade-Long Wait for a Holiday Giveaway

One WWE fan won a special holiday giveaway from the pro wrestling behemoth a decade ago, and is still trying to claim it today because the company never sent it. As WWE is now worth billions of dollars thanks to its merger with the UFC, the wrestling company is typically quite generous with giveaways and promos involving merchandise, which is why this failure to follow through seems uncharacteristic.

Founded over 70 years ago and run by the legendary McMahon family until recently, WWE is the world's biggest pro wrestling company, and its dominance has made its brand nearly synonymous with the sport. Early in 2023, WWE merged with UFC to form the TKO Group under American holding company Endeavor, creating a mega entity that runs two of the most popular combat sports.

Twitter article posted by Danny

The Unfulfilled Prize and Persistence

Twitter user dajosc11 posted on the site that it had been 10 years since they won a holiday giveaway from WWE in its annual Tribute to the Troops event. WWE has been a longtime supporter and partner of the US Armed Forces, and this yearly show is its way of giving back. Dajosc11 was supposed to win a set of dog tags exclusive to the event in 2014, posting screenshots of what looks to be the official WWE Twitter account sending them DMs saying they won and asking for their details. The company never followed through, and dajosc11 had sent more DMs in 2015 and 2017 before remembering again in January 2024.

Some people pointed out that the first DM the WWE account sent didn't look authentic, as it had some weird writing errors and a rather cold tone that are typical of spam messages. However, the screenshot shows that the account is apparently legit, with a gold Twitter checkmark. Another suggested that popular WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes could help, as he had been instrumental in granting a few fans' wishes since his return to the company. It turned out that Rhodes was watching, as he had sent dajosc11 a DM and gotten them tickets to SmackDown on April 12, allowing them to get a happy ending out of this ordeal.

Impact of WWE's Merger and Future of WWE 2K Series

Meanwhile, the next game WWE 2K24 is looming over the horizon. The franchise had shifted from its Q3/Q4 releases to Q1 thanks to the delay in releasing WWE 2K22 a few years ago, after the disastrous reception of WWE 2K20 back in 2019. WWE 2K23 released last year to positive reactions, building on the momentum the previous game created in its attempt at rebooting the series.