Known more for Smashing Pumpkins than smashing chairs, rocker Billy Corgan tag teams with a well-known furniture company in a new commercial to pump his wrestling promotions business, Resistance Pro.
The 67-year-old Walter E. Smithe furniture company — or more specifically, its commercials — are something of a legend in the Chicagoland area. The Smithe brothers are known to star in spots for the business, often recruiting Windy City celebrities to add some star power.
The Corgan commercial, which debuted Tuesday, shows the brothers in the ring fighting with spandex-clad wrestlers that are ostensibly on the side of the Pumpkins guitarist. As one of the wrestlers prepares to execute the classic pro-wrestling move of chair smashing over the back of a Smithe brother, Corgan runs to the rescue of the furniture.
“Wait! That’s a Walter E. Smithe chair!” Corgan cries.
Corgan, a noted wrestling fan, started Resistance Pro in 2011 with brothers Gabe and Jacques Baron.
"I grew up in this fantasy world that was somewhere between rock 'n' roll and wrestling," Corgan told Crain's Chicago Business. "The opportunity came up to work with the Baron brothers, and it's just been a wild ride ever since."
"The Baron brothers and I are dedicated to give wrestling fans a great product," Corgan said during the company's one-year anniversary celebration in 2012.
Crain's reports Resistance Pro holds wrestling events once a month in small venues around the city, bringing in 300 to 600 people at $20 a seat — more if they're close to the ring. According to Crain's, the company nets as much as $20,000 a night.
In addition to Resistance Pro, Corgan opened the Highland Park-based Madame ZuZu's Tea House last year.
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