I’ve been catching up on WrestleMania and taking it all in. Didn’t think much of it until I had to get up around 4 am to settle the dog. At this point, my mind is racing as I try to get back to sleep.

Then the thought hit me, “Hang on, WWE and Fortnite are basically the same thing”. Now, at first glance, it’s a bit of a stretch, I get that. Bearing in mind, one is a video game and one is a neckbeard soap opera.

But hear me out. Also, I’m a fan of both Fortnite and WWE, so don’t take this as some kind of slight to either one. I just saw some parallels and thought it was worth discussing.

WWE is Fortnite - Fortnite Logo and Key Art

Characters and storylines

Easy start here. Take away all the skins and battle passes. Fortnite delivers a loose but serviceable story each season. Weekly missions to update the story and keep it going until a climax at the end of the season. It’s not going to win awards for writing or storytelling, but it provides context to everything happening in the world.

Sound familiar? In Wrestling, and WWE in this instance. You have RAW and SmackDown, weekly shows with story updates. Providing context for the action on-screen. Building up to a climax at the next main event. Particularly Wrestlemania, which could easily be viewed as the end of a season, and the start of new story threads.

This is the big one, or the one with the most substance to my case. But keep going.

Cross-promotional brand deals

The thing that triggered this entire thought process was watching the World Tag Team Championship match. The New Day vs The War Raiders.

Now, The New Day have historically been very video game inspired, so you could see them being a link here. But not today!

The War Raiders came down dressed as Clash of Clans characters, whilst the announcers talked about the game, the characters and their stats. It was a really Fortnite moment, if I’ve ever witnessed one.

Initially I cringed and thought that wrestling had gone to shit. But then, look at the ad breaks, look at the ring mat and the advertising banners around the apron. This isn’t new, it’s a means to bring in money, and as Fortnite has shown, cross-brand integration (I sound like Jack Donaghy!) is incredibly lucrative.

WWE is Fortnite - Man City Collab - Haaland Shirt and WWE title hanging on a goal

Battle Royales

Easy one. What is the Royal Rumble if not a Battle Royale? Everyone gradually drops in, and then it’s a case of the last man standing.

Granted, there are Battle Royale matches, and Fortnite didn’t invent the genre or anything. But… both the sport and the game have another strong parallel, and I’m standing by it as an argument for my case.

Pop culture fan base

Let me be a prime example. I’m a fan of both WWE and Fortnite, and regularly engage with some of the cultural crossover.

Moreover, I don’t think it’s a giant leap to suggest that a lot of wrestling fans are likely to be gamers, too. The storytelling and references to days gone by in WWE are the same crack that we seek in games.

Beyond Fortnite, even. Who doesn’t love Halo and look for history in the latest releases? Who doesn’t dive into CoD and look for their old favourite maps?

Nostalgia is such a massive factor in both wrestling and gaming. It makes sense that the fan crossover would be significant.

Beyond that, we have streamers and YouTubers now taking part in the WWE. We have wrestlers as skins in Fortnite, and both gaming and wrestling have massive online subcultures, supported by streaming, reaction videos, etc, etc.

WWE is Fortnite - Fortnite Lego

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