“You want a sofa ... or a body slam? Mueller Furniture goes for knockout in new ads”

You want a sofa ... or a body slam? Mueller Furniture goes for knockout in new ads

Posted: 18 Feb 2011 12:06 AM PST

I guess there are worse places to shoot commercials with giant wrestlers than in a furniture store, (jewelry stores and glass shops come to mind) but, still, you're going to have breakage.

When four wrestlers from Mid Missouri Wrestling Alliance/Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling came to Mueller's Furniture in Belleville on Tuesday night, I was expecting plenty of splintered wood.

So was Lyn Mueller, who was paying for the commercials and would have to make good whatever they broke. But he thought it would be worth it to have something different to put on the air.

"We're breaking new ground here. At least, I hope that's the only thing they break," Mueller said.

Lyn's son, Mark Mueller, had a few ideas about what he wanted done and some locations in the store in mind. Then the wrestlers and Charlie Ragle, executive producer of CTD Productions, who was doing the filming, went to work. Before long, ideas were flying (like bodies) from everyone on the scene.

By the end of the night, there was enough funny material for several commercials, and not much got broken.

Wrestling legend Larry Matysik, who does the announcing for Wrestling Explosion on the Charter Cable public access channel, said he got the idea when he was looking at old tapes of "Wrestling at the Chase" and saw a commercial that St. Louis advertising-legend-on-rollerskates Steve Mizerany had made with wrestler King Kong Brody.

"These spots will have a couple of purposes," he said. "One will be to recognize Mueller Furniture, and the other will help humanize the wrestlers and give them some publicity."

The evening started with Ron Powers smashing the Big Texan into several furniture items, showing him what was on sale.

In another spot, Danny Boy was walking with Mark Mueller, as Mark talked about sofas and lounges.

"I'm looking for an oak table," Danny noted, right before Gary Jackson stepped from a doorway and hit him with an oak table.

Jackson then glowered into the camera and growled, "Mueller Furniture will knock you out with low prices."

Other bits included an argument about flowered pillows ending with a body slam on a sofa and four wrestlers vying for two recliners in a free-for-all with Lyn Mueller futilely trying to separate them.

"That's sort of what these guys do anyway," Matysik said. "That's pretty much how they put on a show."

Ron Powers came up with an idea that had him and the Big Texan sitting in matching recliners while the Big Texan tossed popcorn and tried to drink through his mask.

"You don't have to be smart to save at Mueller Furniture," was the line Powers delivered, while shaking his head in amazement.

The only damage came when a choke slam onto a bed broke a bed rail, collapsing the bed.

"I knew we wouldn't get out of this without breaking something," Mark Mueller said.

It was a good warmup for the wrestlers, some of whom will be at East Carondolet at 8 p.m. Saturday for the monthly wrestling matches.

You can expect to see the commercials in the next few weeks after some post-production work.

"We'll use them on our cable ads, we'll use them in the (Wrestling Explosion on Charter Cable access channel) broadcasts. We may put them on YouTube.com.," Mark Mueller said. "It's hard telling where they may pop up."

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