Western Animation / Scooby-Doo! and the WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon

Scooby Doo and the WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon is the 25th entry to the Scooby-Doo Direct-to-Video Film Series once again co-produced with WWE Studios, and the second crossover with the WWE after Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery. Returning wrestlers include Vince McMahon, Triple H and The Miz.

Many of the wrestlers are competing in a race known as the MOTO X, where wrestlers in groups of two or three participate in a 3-part race for the grand prize of a $1 million...or that would be the case if a mysterious racer known as Inferno the Speed Demon wasn't trying to destroy the wrestlers for racing on "his" mountain. Asked by Vince McMahon to assist once more and aided by the legendary Phenom himself, Mystery Inc. is on the case.

Tropes seen in the film include:

• Admiring the Abomination: Lana admires the powerfulness of Inferno's racer, saying that Russia could win for sure if they had it. Paige snaps at her to stop gushing over the thing trying to destroy them.
• And This Is for...: Undertaker dedicates Inferno's Last Ride to his partner Dusty, who was injured when he attacked Inferno for wrecking their car during the villain's first (onscreen) appearance.
• Apologetic Attacker: The flashback of Triple H fighting Inferno in the second part of the race reveals Stephanie, in disguise, apologizing to her husband before Triple H states just to make it look good.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • At the start, Scooby and Shaggy are sat in the back of some kind of van watching a TV on which the Moto-X is being broadcast, the picture glitching. After a few attempts to fix it, Scooby simply opens the blinds behind the TV... and reveals they're in a food truck right next to the race itself.
  • The scene of Miz going for a night jog while chanting "Who's awesome? I'm awesome" repeats the same way like in Wrestlemania Mystery...except this time, he evades Inferno's attack and decides to kick ass.
• Battle Strip: Triple H undresses for battle thrice—two of them are caused just by flexing his muscles!
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Sheamus, frustrated that the kooky brothers Stardust and Goldust are his partners, asks for them to disappear...from the Celtic Cruiser during the race. He quickly realizes that now he is alone on the steering wheel.
• Big Bad: The main villain of the movie is the demon racer Inferno, aka Triple H with help with his wife.
• Big Red Button: Scooby Headdesks on a big red button on the dashboard of the truck he, Shaggy, and the Undertaker drive...and it reveals the boosters Fred installed in the truck.
• Brick Joke: During the second part of the race, Sheamus, who has to deal with Stardust and Goldust as his partners, asks for the two to disappear (see Stealth Hi/Bye for details). After the race ends, the two pop out from behind the car.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Implied; the announcer says that hopefully the spectators have clean laundry because they'll need a new pair of pants after watching the Marauder's Mountain course.
• Call-Back: The Miz jogging at night while saying, "Who's Awesome? I'm Awesome!" to himself before the bad guy appears. Only this time, he successfully defends himself.
• Chekhov's Gun: The DC pretzels and the fact they're shaped like Deadman's Curve itself. Shaggy and Scooby have eaten so many of those that they can essentially drive the last part of the race blindfolded.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Goldust and Stardust both have weird habits—but yet they think that Scooby-Doo (a talking dog) is the bizarre one!
• Cold Ham: Undertaker's dialogue has him state many of the lines he uses in his promos with the same gravitas he adds onto them when he's in the ring.
• The Comically Serious: The Undertaker, in spades. Nearly every single line he spouts is spoken in the same gravitas he puts in his promos and until the climax, it's often Played for Laughs.
• Commonality Connection: When Daphne notes Dusty's anger after being invalided out of the race, the Undertaker says he understands the feeling, because he's out as well. It turns out that the sympathy runs even deeper than that; Dusty mentions early in the film that he wanted the prize money to buy a ranch for his grandkids, and Undertaker tells Shaggy and Scooby later that he wanted to fund something for his fans.
• Composite Character: In a way, The Undertaker, who acts like his in-ring persona behind the wheel, but between races, mostly acts like he is in real life. The only thing he doesn't do at all during the latter moments is use his actual name.
• Continuity Nod: There are several nods to the events of Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery.
  • The Undertaker notes to Shaggy and Scooby about how they were the ones who defeated the Ghost Bear.
  • Before The Miz beats the hell out of Inferno, he references how he got mauled by the Ghost Bear from the beginning of that movie.
  • Shaggy and Scooby's most popular item in their food truck is the "Skinny Man's Dead Meat on a Bun", with Skinny Man and Dead Meat being their in-ring names. They even wear their wrestling gear in the second part of the race.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: The Undertaker is the main wrestler focus in this movie in contrast to his brother, Sin Cara and John Cena in the last one.
  • Kane only appears at the beginning and end of Wrestlemania Mystery and has no connection to the Ghost Bear, only fighting with Shaggy and Scooby so he can get a chance to obtain the WWE Championship, and teams up with the other wrestlers to fight the Ghost Bear after he nearly enacts the monster's plans. He only shows respect to Shaggy and Scooby after the match is over. He also only talks twice in the film (to tell Shaggy and Scooby that he's going to wrestle them for that Championship and then a "Well done" at the end). The Undertaker, however, is much more talkative and friendlier to Mystery Inc, and his goal as to why he wants to win the prize money shows that he's not as selfish or focused on a championship or a victory compared to Kane.
  • In contrast to Sin Cara, whose motivations against the Ghost Bear was due to his ancestor being the one to fight it in the past, Undertaker has no long-term beef with the Speed Demon; he only wants to avenge Dusty Rhodes, who Inferno injured during the first race.
  • And last to John Cena as Undertaker is the wrestler that Mystery Inc. interacts with the most. John Cena doesn't have as much as a focus with the main plot as he is just there to rescue the gang when the Ghost Bear attacks them in the caverns while Undertaker is truly working with them from the beginning.
• Cool Car: All of the cars driven by the wrestlers are awesome vehicles.
• Cool Train: Lana and Rusev's car, The Moscow Express, is modeled after a train.
• Covers Always Lie: Again, Triple H is shown together with a diva (this one, being Paige). And again, they don't team up together in any way.
• Crossover: The second time Scooby-Doo and the WWE meet. This time we have Paige, Rusev and Lana, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Dusty Rhodes (and his sons), Stephanie McMahon and Los Matodores.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: While the battle atop Inferno's rig is more evenly matched, the final "fight" between Undertaker and Inferno ends in two strikes with the villain flat on his ass. For comparison, it took the combined efforts of Scooby, John Cena, Sin Cara, Ruben, and Kane to defeat the Ghost Bear.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Undertaker is a Wrestling Monster, the half-brother to the Devil's Favorite Demon Kane, the Phenom who is essentially one of the deadliest wrestlers in all of WWE History, and the first wrestler on this site to have his own Nightmare Fuel page...and he's shown to be more down-to-earth than Kane, giving respect to Shaggy and Scooby for their defeat against the Ghost Bear and even teams up with Mystery Inc. to fight off Inferno. He also likes puppets.
• Deadpan Snarker: Paige's dialogue is often continual snark, most of it aimed toward her partner Miz. Lampshaded of course.
  Paige: Don't worry, I wouldn't want anything to happen to my teammate and new best friend.
  The Miz: Thanks, Paige. Wait...was that sarcasm?
• Determinator: The Undertaker gets two cars shot out from under him during the course of the three-day race and finds himself in potentially deadly situations as often. He stays in the race as long as he has a vehicle.
• Didn't Think This Through: Sheamus shouts for Stardust and Goldust to disappear while he's driving (which they do). This means that he's completely alone and has to drive the Celtic Cruiser for the second part of the race.
• Easily Forgiven: Played with; Vince does not let Stephanie off the hook for causing trouble for the MOTO X just because she's his daughter and has her arrested. That said, he then tells Velma that their lawyers will figure things out in 24 hours, so she and her husband are still likely to get off easy considering what they did.
• Enemy Mine: In the final leg of the race, all of the racers decide to tag team against Inferno.
• Face–Heel Turn: A literal example, given that the gang is interacting with professional wrestlers. Triple H was an ally in Wrestlemania Mystery but is one of the culprits here.
• Faint in Shock: Shaggy and Scooby are quite content to be out of the race after Inferno destroys the Scoobanator. When they find out Fred made another car, they pass out on the floor.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Vince learns that his daughter is competing in the race, he states that it's not possible since she's busy running WWE and all. Cue Triple H's theme and an Instant Replay of the race, showing that she and her husband are in said race.
• Friendly Address Privileges: When the Undertaker addresses them by their ring names (Skinny Man and Dead Meat), Shaggy says that he can call them Shaggy and Scooby, or anything he likes, as long as he doesn't call them to their graves. The Undertaker reassures them that he's only after Inferno and tells Shaggy and Scooby that they can call him "Taker". They do for the rest of the film.
• Friend to All Children: The reason why Undertaker is participating in the first place is that he wants to use half of the money to create something for his fans (many of them kids).
• Futile Hand Reach: Undertaker, who's still trapped under the Legendmobile's wreckage, reaches out a hand towards Dusty when Inferno attacks him. He can't free himself until the villain has already injured his teammate.
• Graceful Loser: Lana and Rusev give Shaggy and Scooby a bouquet and a hug (respectively) when they and the Undertaker win the race. When Shaggy questions if they want to crush them, Lana says that they only hold that attitude during the competition because it's key to be a good loser.
• Greek Chorus: Dusty Rhodes provides commentary about the fighting going on between the wrestlers.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Sheamus carries a broadsword on him for some odd reason, which he uses on Inferno in the final part. The Celtic Cruiser is also modeled after a sword.
• Hidden Depths: Undertaker, apparently, is into puppets. Neither Shaggy nor Scooby have any comment on this.
• His Name Is...: Fred, exhausted from a long night of transforming Shaggy and Scooby's food truck into a racing car, falls asleep before he can tell the Undertaker where the speed button is.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: While buffeting the Mystery Machine, Inferno knocks loose their parachute. This forces them to try a new tactic — shooting grappling hooks to Inferno's car after they both take the plunge off Dead Man's Curve. The added weight causes the two cars to reach the ground faster, allowing the Mystery Machine to take first place because of Triple H and Stephanie's attempts to sabotage them.
• I Kiss Your Hand: One of Los Matadores kisses Velma's hand while flirting with her. Unfortunately for both of them, Velma still has sulfur on her hand from investigating the spot where Inferno vanished.
• Inevitable Waterfall: The second part of the race has Undertaker, Shaggy and Scooby go over a waterfall after Inferno destroys the Scoobanator's engine. However, they survive.
• It's All About Me: The Miz, as usual, is pretty self-centered, constantly promoting himself while doing very little. Paige is absolutely irritated, because as his partner, she has to put up with it constantly.
• Literal Metaphor: When one of Los Matadores gets a whiff of sulfur while kissing Velma's hand, Velma apologizes, saying she has a mystery on her hands. The sulfur was a clue left where Inferno vanished.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Triple H and Stephanie race as The Authority, and Triple H even casually mentions his real-life marriage to Stephanie.
  • Kofi's commentary on the final leg of the race that it's a new day with the Authority taking the lead.
  • Paige shouts "This is my house!" in the final leg before charging her and Miz's car at Inferno.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Inferno, a name that means a terrible blaze and was also used by Dante when he wrote about a trip through Hell. Sounds nice, doesn't it?
• Pass the Popcorn:
  • Los Matadores sit back and watch everyone fight it out during the cafeteria skirmish.
  • Shaggy and Scooby also slip into wrestling fan mode when they see Miz square off with Inferno.
• Personalized Pledge: The Scooby gang ends up involved in another mystery when a ghost called Inferno starts attacking the Muscle Moto X. When Inferno attacks the Celtic Cruiser, putting Sheamus behind, he yells in frustration and swears "on [his] sainted mother" that he's going to punish Inferno.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • The Miz to Inferno.
    The Miz: Strangely enough, I've been monster mauled in a midnight jog before. But this time, I'm doing the mauling.
  • Los Matadores have a smart remark when they join the other racers in ganging up on Inferno:
    Los Matadores: You mess with the bull; you get the horns!
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: El Torito jumps onto Inferno's rig and pummels him repeatedly in the face within a second or two. Understandably, it takes Inferno a minute to recover and go on the offense.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Undertaker expresses his plans for the prize money to make something that he calls "Undertaker's Puppet Jubilee". Shaggy and Scooby have no idea what to say.
  Undertaker: I like puppets.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Inferno has glowing red eyes. Subverted with Stardust; he's more kooky than he is threatening.
• Red Herring: Vince is always missing whenever Inferno appears. He's not the villain; he's been practicing to sing the National Anthem for the end of the race.
• Rewatch Bonus: It’s revealed that Triple H and Stephanie had inflatable dummies in their car whenever they had to be the ghost. If you take a look at all scenes in their vehicle during Inferno’s appearances, only one of them speak.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Inferno wears a white scarf and is shown to be quite ruthless when racing.
• Scary Scorpions: Inferno's car is modeled after a scorpion, complete with "stinger" tail.
• Smoke Out: Inferno uses smoke to cover up his escape after Miz places him in the figure-four leg lock.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: In the second part of the race, Goldust and Stardust somehow vanish swiftly in a moving car after Sheamus asks the two to disappear. They magically reappear after the race ends, with Sheamus incredulous of how that even works.
• Talking in Your Sleep: During his exhaustion-induced slumber, Fred mutters that he didn't take a doll.
• Theme Music Power-Up:
  • "I Came To Play" starts playing as Miz leaps into battle with Inferno.
  • The famous gong starts playing as the Undertaker lays the final smackdown on Inferno.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Miz is able to kick the ass of the Monster of the Week, even placing Inferno in the figure-four leg lock. Once you know who Inferno really is, this goes double.
• Underdogs Never Lose: The Undertaker, Shaggy and Scooby are dead last in the race, but the combined effort of everyone else helps them win the final part. The publicist even gushes about how pairing Undertaker with Shaggy and Scooby will make him an underdog, which people adore (in the sense that fans are into Undertaker and also into dogs, hence Team Underdog).
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Fred never explains what his plan is after he tells Shaggy and Scooby that their only hope is to jump off Dead Man's Curve with no parachute. The plan — grabbing onto the villain's car — works like a charm and even helps the Mystery Machine win the race.
• You Can Run, but You Can't Hide: When Inferno runs off after damaging the Legendmobile and injuring Dusty Rhodes, Undertaker calls after him that he can run, but no creature can evade the Undertaker.

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