Lana Energy Drink Ads Were Reportedly "Straw That Broke The Camel's Back" With WWE Before New Edict
As we've noted, and first reported exclusively here on WrestlingInc, WWE is cracking down on WWE Superstars using third party platforms, such as Cameo and Twitch. The company held a call with talent last Sunday to discuss the reinvention of the product and during that call it was noted how WWE owns the real names of talent, not just their character names. WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon followed the call up with a letter to talent on Thursday, calling on talents to quit using third party platforms such as Cameo and Twitch. Vince's letter noted that the actions are necessary as they go into the "next phase of growth" for the company. WWE talents have until October 2 to cease activity on those third party platforms, and repeated violations can result in fines, suspension or termination.
You can click here for our report on Paige's estimated Twitch revenue and a former Democratic presidential candidate calling Vince out over the ruling, and you can click here for CM Punk, Renee Young and Mick Foley's comments on the edict. You can also click here for more on the edict, including details on the various backstage reactions from people in WWE.
In an update, it was reported by Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer message board that "the straw that broke the camel's back" with WWE officials in the lead-up to the new edict was Lana's Instagram brand deal with Bang Energy Drinks, and the commercials that she has uploaded for them.
Lana has several Instagram posts promoting Bang Energy Drinks and the account belonging to their CEO, Jack Owoc. Her most recent posts for Bang Energy are from May 27, July 31, August 7 and August 26. You can see those posts below.
Lana also has several Instagram ads for Fashion Nova, a popular partner for female "influencers" on social media, but none of them are tagged as an advertisement, which is required by the platform. She also has partnerships with at least two other brands. It's interesting that WWE has recently put an emphasis on Lana being a "social media influencer" with her character change on RAW.
It was believed that more details on the new WWE edict would be revealed to talents at the next TV tapings, including specifics on what they can and can't do. Those tapings would've been for last night's SmackDown and Monday's RAW, so we should be hearing more details soon.
Stay tuned for more on the new ruling, which continues to be a hot topic among wrestlers and fans on social media.
You can see Lana's recent ads for Bang Energy below:
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