I never was much of a Mello Yello drinker, but for a time back in 1988 that all changed because of this commercial.
Yes, that was “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes (Da Dweem if ya wheeel) plugging Mello Yello with NWA stars on the cans! The year was 1988 and Ted Turner had taken over what soon would be called WCW and if we are to give credit to the company, as popular as the WWF was at the time I never saw Hulk Hogan on a soda can. Then again, it being the WWF, it probably would have been on Coke or Pepsi (maybe even Dr.Pepper) instead of the red-headed step-child of Coke that was invented to fight Pepsi’s Mountain Dew. And, let’s be honest, both were just trying to catch up with Sundrop anyway and neither could, but that isn’t the subject here! Let’s talk about the National Wrestling Alliance!
In 1988 12 stars of the NWA popped up on the side of both regular Mello Yello and 16 ouch cans. The stars were…
Ric Flair
Jimmy Garvin
Ron Garvin
Tim Horner (Seriously??)
Nikita Koloff (Who is looking more like Ivan Koloff here)
Magnum T.A.
Dusty Rhodes
Road Warrior Animal
Road Warrior Hawk
Sting
Barry Windham
Larry Zbyszko
They did the same thing again in 1989, but apparently that set was soo rare that we can’t even find pictures of the whole set to know who was even in the set. Here’s who we know was featured, even if we can’t find a picture of the cans for proof..
Rick Steiner
Road Warrior Hawk
Road Warrior Animal
Ron Simmons
The Great Muta (Can’t find a picture)
I could probably assume that in 1989 the set also had..
Sting
Scott Steiner
Butch Reed
Lex Luger
Ric Flair
Terry Funk
Ricky Steamboat
Kevin Sullivan
Like I said, those names above are not confirmed and I have no idea who was in the set or how many were made. I hope to one day find some more info on them and picture.
I’m not sure just how rare these were or if they are worth anything or not. I don’t think a lot of folks kept the cans and that is a shame. It is also too bad that they don’t do stuff like this more often now days.
