Wrestling is fake. If you’re a fan of professional wrestling that’s the criticism you have to endure the most. Sure it’s scripted and pre-determined but it’s also thrilling and in the best moments like watching a movie come to life. Wrestlers might know that a move is coming from their opponent but that makes it even more impressive when you have two men or women going through a choreographed presentation that looks like a real fight all without either actually getting seriously hurt. And when those wrestlers aren’t battling they're selling the upcoming match with promos that have been meticulously crafted to get fans interested in what’s to come. So yeah call it fake but professional wrestling is also filled with actors doing the most jaw-dropping stunts you’ll ever see.
It should come as no surprise that these stuntmen and stuntwomen who also put so much time into rehearsing lines, would try their hands at acting in movies. Professional wrestling and movies share so many similarities just with different sets. That doesn’t mean that it’s an easy or natural transition. Though some wrestlers, especially recently, have hung up their boots and become successful movie stars, others should have stayed in the ring. Still, through fame and failure it’s a fascinating transition that many have made over the decades.
Dwayne the Rock Johnson Became the Biggest Actor on the Planet
That changed with a certain eyebrow raising Great One. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Dwayne The Rock Johnson rose to the top of the WWF with charisma and coolness on a level that had never been seen before. It led to him appearing in The Mummy Returns in 2001 as The Scorpion King, before reprising the role as the lead in The Scorpion King in 2002. The film was a bit clunky but most importantly it showed that Johnson possessed that it factor not just in a wrestling ring but on a movie screen as well.
Soon after, he left wrestling behind for acting. There were struggles at first with okay films like The Rundown (where Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in a passing of the torch cameo) and Walking Tall, before really hitting it big with the Fast and the Furious franchise and other roles such as in Moana and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. He is now arguably the biggest star on the planet and has shown without a shadow of a doubt that it’s not a joke when a wrestler becomes an actor.
Several other wrestlers tried to repeat his success, but none had much luck. Triple H showed up in the awful Blade: Trinity. Edge CM Punk and Kevin Nash are just a few others who appeared in feature films but none of them achieved much. The closest wrestlers came to recreating what The Rock had accomplished was when his old profession itself got into the movie business with WWE Studios. There were a few hits in there such as the surprising Fighting with My Family in 2019, but most of them were bland direct-to-video fare with WWE wrestlers trying their best to be action stars despite the bad scripts they were handed.
John Cena And Dave Bautista Showed That They Could Act Too
One of those WWE Studios stars broke through. After Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock left WWE John Cena became the face of the company. Early in his acting career he tried to become an action star with forgettable films like The Marine, but he didn’t have much success. Then came Trainwreck. When Cena appeared in this major film, starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader he stole every scene he was in and showed that hey, this muscle head can act. And he’s hilarious. Lead roles in blockbuster films and smaller comedies came fast and the last decade has seen Cena win over the general public with parts in Daddy’s Home, Bumblebee, Blockers, F9, and The Suicide Squad. He can be in a superhero movie like The Rock but he has no qualms with completely humiliating himself for a laugh either.
If Cena was the biggest star in WWE during the mid and late 2000s Dave Bautista was right behind him. You’d be forgiven for not thinking that he could transition into becoming a major actor. He didn’t have the traditional babyface looks and was already in his mid-40s when he tried to make it in Hollywood. Make it he did though by not trying to reduplicate what someone like The Rock had done. Bautista didn’t attempt to become a leading man straight away. Instead he was content being a supporting star in big projects. He killed it as the hilarious Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy duked it out with Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Spectre and had a small but pivotal role in Blade Runner 2049. By letting his performances get him recognition rather than his name Bautista allowed his career to gradually grow. It has paid off as now he is a leading man in one of 2023’s top movies so far in Knock at the Cabin.
Wrestlers who tried to act were once seen as a joke or rewarded with a backhanded compliment like He’s not bad for a wrestler. Now wrestlers occupy slots as three of Hollywood’s most successful actors. As they continue to thrive, more wrestlers will try their hand at acting. AEW World Champion MJF was recently cast in A24’s The Iron Claw WWE women’s legend Becky Lynch turned heads with her eerily accurate portrayal of Cindy Lauperon Young Rock and the current face of WWE and cousin of The Rock Roman Reigns has the looks and charisma to be an actor whenever he chooses.
Wrestlers have shown unequivocally that they are not the muscle head dolts they get stereotyped as. If anything their profession and what they do in the ring on a weekly basis makes them more ready than most when it comes time to take a swing at Hollywood. Wrestlers turned actors have conquered television and film in every genre becoming box office champions and household names. Sometime soon it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see one of them hoisting Oscar gold at the Academy Awards.
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