The Greatest Wrestlers Turned Actors of All Time

Those that don’t comply with skilled wrestling might not admire simply how powerful and grueling it’s. It isn’t sufficient to be on the highway 200+ days a 12 months, getting dropped in your head or your again each evening, coping with accidents, dropping your spot on the roster, and worse. For those who’ve seen movies like The Iron Claw, The Wrestler, or the previous Past the Mat documentary, you understand that skilled wrestling is grind like no different.

However the different side that goes underappreciated is how a lot wrestling depends on performing. When you’ve got any hope of creating it large, it isn’t sufficient to have the ability to do a tope suicida or Texas Cloverleaf on the best way to a 5-star mat basic. You will have to have the ability to act your function, day in and day trip. Usually, it’s important to act dwell, in entrance of an viewers of hundreds, with completely no security not.  Not everybody can do it, however those that can have usually parlayed that talent right into a profession in Hollywood. In truth, skilled wrestling may be one of many prime stepping stones to an performing profession proper now.

There are such a lot of skilled wrestlers in Hollywood, starring in main studio flicks, that you simply won’t even know while you see them. Everyone is aware of John Cena, Dave Bautista, and The Rock, who’re most positively on this record of the ten greatest wrestlers-turned-actors ever. However which one can name themself the undisputed champion? And is there a darkish horse contending for the title? Let the Royal Rumble start!

10. Nathan Jones

Okay, so Nathan Jones won’t have had the perfect wrestling profession ever. The Aussie powerlifter had a stint within the WWE, however general he wrestled for someplace lower than a decade. His large spotlight may’ve been teaming up with Brock Lesnar and one other wrestler-actor “Huge Present” Paul Wight, within the 2003 Survivor Collection. However Jones is somebody you’ve gotten positively seen on the massive display. He’s unmissable in his first main function, slicing defeated in a single stroke by Brad Pitt’s Achilles in the beginning of 2004’s Troy. He would go on to have roles battling Tony Jaa in 2005 motion basic The Protector; he’d battle Stone Chilly Steve Austin in 2007’s superior The Condemened, as nicely, and Jason Momoa in 2011’s Conan the Barbarian. However you in all probability acknowledge Jones greatest from his function as Rictus Erectus, brother to Immortan Joe, in Mad Max: Fury Street. It’s a job he was so good at, Jones is coming again for the prequel, Furiosa!

9. Hulk Hogan

I attempted so so arduous to maintain Hulk Hogan off this record, however there’s no denying the impression ol’controversial Terry Bollea had as an actor. Within the ’80s, when he was stealing the present as “Thunderlips” in Rocky III, delivering a bone-crunching backbreaker that may make Bane jealous, he transcended the game {of professional} wrestling. He introduced wrestling into the mainstream and out of its self-imposed isolation. The Hulkster would go on to physique slam his approach by way of a bunch of terrible movies, together with No Holds Barred (which I recounted lovingly as a part of Joblo’s Reel Motion), Santa With Muscular tissues, Suburban Commando, and worse…like his atrocious Thunder in Paradise sequence that makes a few of his worst matches appear like artworks.

8. Adam Copeland

The Rated R Famous person, Adam “Edge” Copeland, is at present burning up the ring in All Elite Wrestling after a Corridor of Fame-worthy WWE profession. However throughout lots of his time within the ring, Copeland has been very busy as an actor in a number of roles on the massive and small display. A legit gifted actor, his large break got here when he performed Lachlan in 2000’s Highlander: Endgame. The much less stated the higher about his 2002 buddy comedy with Jamie Kennedy, Bending the Guidelines, or 2021’s air hijacking flick Cash Airplane. There’s great things, I promise, however totally on the small display the place Copeland was a strong common on the long-running sequence Haven, and he killed it as Atom Smasher on The Flash. However Copeland’s greatest efficiency by far was as Flatnose on the sequence Vikings for a number of seasons. He’s resulting from play Ares in Disney’s Percy Jackson sequence, too, conserving the great struggle alive.

7. Andre the Big

How nice should you be to be thought of among the many greatest on your one and solely film function? It speaks to the proper casting when Andre the Big performed the lovable mercenary Fezzik in The Princess Bride. The Eighth Surprise of the World was actually that, an enormous of a person who was tender spoken and warmhearted, traits he dropped at that function fantastically. You actually couldn’t think about anybody else enjoying it apart from Andre, and it’s a disgrace we by no means obtained to see extra him as an actor.

6. Kevin Nash

Huge Daddy Cool Kevin Nash kinda sneaks up on you…not like he ever might actually do this along with his 6 foot 10 body. However his filmography takes you without warning. The New World Order chief (alongside fellow listmate Hulk Hogan) has a formidable record of credit, together with one you won’t even know. That was Nash behind the Tremendous-Shredder masks in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, hiding that fairly bearded face! Nash’s large break was in 2004 when he performed a Russian large battering Thomas Jane in The Punisher. At all times a gifted funnyman on the mic, it gave Nash the possibility to point out his bodily and comedic chops, abilities he would show later in all three Magic Mike movies, in addition to the primary John Wick (he was the uncommon baddie who lived by way of it!), and as wrestler Bass Reeves within the DOA online game adaptation.

5. Roddy Piper

This record might be going to trigger some of us to need to hurl me by way of a glass window, however I don’t care. The subsequent two on this record might in all probability be swapped, however I’m going with Rowdy Roddy Piper at quantity 5! Piper is likely one of the all-time nice wrestling talkers. You possibly can see that reward put to its greatest use in his iconic function as John Nada in John Carpenter’s They Stay. Who else might make a line like ““I’ve come right here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubblegum” work apart from the Sizzling Rod?

4. Jesse Ventura

“I ain’t obtained time to bleed.” “Sonuva bitch is dug in deeper than an Alabama tick.”

Yeah, that’s proper, #4 is Jesse “The Physique” Ventura. The ex-Minnesota governor, writer, and former WWE Corridor of Famer hasn’t acted in ages, however his filmography speaks for itself. He channeled a friendship with fellow bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger into memorable roles in Predator because the gatling gun-wielding Blaine Cooper and as Captain Freedom in The Working Man. And whereas some would moderately I not point out his lead function in 1991’s Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe, I received’t do this as a result of that film’s an excellent duper responsible pleasure. With roles in Ricochet, Repossessed, and the basic Demolition Man, Ventura is greater than worthy of being so excessive on the record.

3. John Cena

John Cena has come such a good distance from the place he began. From his first main function in WWE’s The Marine, to his first dramatic function in Legendary, to main international blockbusters and the hit Peacemaker sequence, Cena has put his “hustle, loyalty, respect” credo to the check. His charisma and likeability have been simple, however he needed to work at being a greater actor. In order that’s what he did. So what if he nonetheless solely has his “5 Strikes of Doom” after 20 years of wrestling? Cena had a whopping six motion pictures in 2023 alone, together with Barbie, Quick X, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Hidden Strike alongside Jackie Chan!

2. Dave Bautista

Undeniably the perfect dramatic actor who ever carried out a spinebuster and performed a muscle-bound deacon (if you’ll find Deacon Bautista footage, right here it could go), Dave Bautista had the quickest rise to Hollywood prominence that I’ve ever seen. With roles in The Scorpion King 3 (someway he by no means battled The Rock!), The Man with the Iron Fists, and Riddick, it was his function as Drax within the Guardians of the Galaxy movies that made Bautista a star. Nevertheless it’s his dramatic work in Blade Runner 2049, Resort Artemis, and extra that cemented him as a legit actor, whereas hit movies resembling Dune and Glass Onion show that Bautista can just about do something he units his thoughts to.

1. Dwayne Johnson

The Rock’s performing profession mirrors that of his WWE run. In each instances, what began out as fairly cringy and unwatchable blossomed into greatness. Dwayne Johnson is likely one of the largest stars on the planet, with a number of hit movies to his credit score resembling Quick 5, San Andreas, Rampage, Jungle Cruise, and Black Advert…nicely, perhaps not that final one. His voice alone is sufficient to put butts in seats, because it did with Disney’s Moana. Johnson’s rigorously crafted persona has rubbed some folks the unsuitable approach, however he’s so charming, humorous, and commanding that we’ll pay to see him in just about something. And if he goes by way of with a teased run for President, whose to say he received’t put the smackdown on the White Home, too?