The Scooby-Doo franchise is certainly no stranger to crossovers. Over the course of their 45-year history, Scooby and the gang have met the likes of Batman, the Addams Family, the Harlem Globetrotters and the Winchester brothers -- and that's not even the half of it. However, it's not every day the franchise has a crossover in the middle of an entirely different crossover. However, that's exactly what happened when some fan-favorite characters from DC's Young Justice popped up in Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery.
Released in 2014, WrestleMania Mystery was the first of two animated crossover films between Scooby-Doo and WWE. The film's plot is already enough to make any wrestling fan's head spin. It revolves around Mystery Inc. as they take a trip to WWE City (yes, WWE City) after Scooby wins free tickets to WrestleMania by perfecting the latest WWE video game's dancing minigame.
Upon arriving in WWE City, the gang learns of a mysterious Ghost Bear that's been terrorizing the area. They agree to help solve the case, getting some help along the way from WWE stars like John Cena, AJ Lee, Triple H and even Mr. McMahon himself. They eventually discover that whoever is behind the Ghost Bear attacks plans to sabotage WrestleMania -- WWE's biggest show of the year -- by knocking out power to the arena.
The night of the event, Fred, Daphne, Velma and the wrestlers prepare to enact their plan to catch the Ghost Bear in the act. Elsewhere, in a booking decision so outlandish it would make Vince Russo scoff, Shaggy and Scooby -- under the aliases "Skinny Man" and "Dead Meat" -- are scheduled to wrestle Kane in the (unadvertised) opening match. In the build-up to the show, we get a look at some of the fans excited to watch WrestleMania, be it from the stands or from the comfort of their own homes.
During this segment, audiences get a peek inside two households. One is simply the home of a young boy watching the show with his parents. The other, meanwhile, features four friends sitting on the sofa together, excited to catch the Showcase of the Immortals. While these characters may not immediately stand out to Scooby-Doo or even WWE fans, any DC fans watching are sure to instantly recognize them as Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl), Artemis Crock (Tigress), Zatanna, and Megan Morse (Miss Martian) from the Young Justice animated series.
While they're never on screen for more than a few seconds at a time, the film actually cuts back to the heroes on multiple occasions. We see their disappointed reactions when the Ghost Bear's AMP cuts the pay-per-view feed, we see them cheer on Scooby and Shaggy in their match with Kane and, ultimately, we see them rally behind Cena and the others in their final confrontation with the Ghost Bear.
On the surface, this cameo seems pretty out of left field. After all, while both Scooby-Doo and Young Justice are Warner Bros. properties, there wasn't really much to gain from cross-promotion at this stage. When WrestleMania Mystery was released in March 2014, Young Justice had already been off the air for an entire year, canceled after its second season on Cartoon Network. It would still be another five years before DC Universe revived the show for Season 3. However, it all starts to make sense when taking into account WrestleMania Mystery's director.
The Scooby-Doo/WWE crossover film was helmed by none other than Brandon Vietti, who co-created the Young Justice animated series alongside Greg Weisman. WrestleMania Mystery was also executive produced by Sam Register, who has had his name attached to various animated DC projects over the years, including Young Justice and Teen Titans.
With that in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that Vietti wanted to give a shoutout to his previous project when he was tapped to helm WWE's Scooby-Doo film. And in doing so, he gave us a pretty bizarre yet strangely charming piece of history: an official Warner Bros. film combining the worlds of Scooby-Doo, WWE and DC.