Hulk Hogan & co., From wrestling to Hollywood

It certainly cannot be said that Hulk Hogan did not try to put his 201 centimeters (for 137 kilos) at the service of the Seventh Art. On the other hand, who better than him, who counted among his nicknames “Hollywood, was more suited to attempting the difficult leap into the world of cinema? From the debut in Rocky III to appearances in films such as Fluff Santa And Missiles for the house, Hulk Hogan at the cinema will be remembered more for his cameos than for anything else. However, he has certainly opened a new path for many “colleagues in the ring”.

Chris Hemsworth prepares to transform into Hulk Hogan

If Hulk Hogan represented wrestling in the Eighties, the Nineties are the years of The Rock for all fans. The former football player quickly became a WWE icon only to drop everything to go to the movies too, becoming the first real star to come from the world of wrestling. Many action roles over the years for Dwayne Johnson (this is his real name) who has become one of the faces of the endless saga of Fast & Furious and recently appeared in the comedy as well Red Notice with Gal Gadot.

The Rock surprised mom by giving her a new home

John Cena, the wrestler who introduced himself with the phrase “You can’t see me” has actually been seen a lot in recent years on the big screen. Past him for a role in Fast & FuriousCena has tried to demonstrate his comic streak in comedies such as A girl disaster by Judd Apatow e Don’t mess with fire.

Pacemaker, the series with John Cena will have a second season

Also active as a wrestler in the 1980s, Roddy Piper was not the most famous and acclaimed wrestler in history. His career as an actor did not go too much better but he could, unlike most of his colleagues, boast a starring role in a great film: Roddy is in fact John Nada in They live by John Carpenter.

“The Thing,” Carpenter would like to do the sequel

Dave Bautista hadn’t been too fancy with his wrestler nickname: “Batista” e. With his real name, the good Dave has instead started a film career in constant ascent. In fact, his filmography includes participation in Blade Runner 2049, Specter and the role of Drax the Destroyer Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3, farewell to Drax the Destroyer

Once he quit wrestling, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin reminded us that in action cinema there was still room for heroes of few words and brisk manners. No unforgettable movie for him but definitely see him in a franchise like The expendables (alongside great icons of 1980s muscle cinema) surprised no one.

Like The Rock, Bill Goldberg also moved from the football field to the ring and then looked for a place in Hollywood. He has certainly had less luck than his colleague but he can still put on his resume having been a demonic Santa Claus in the horror-comedy Santa Slay.

Jesse “The Body” Ventura was a wrestler, host of a show on conspiracy theories, governor of Minnesota and in his spare time muscle action actor. He shot a couple of these alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is also the future governor of California.

Andrè The Giant was Hulk Hogan’s great opponent and you can even find a dedicated Wikipedia page on their historical rivalry. Unlike the great “enemy”, the French André René Roussimoff (who really was great and suffered from gigantism) had at least one unforgettable role in the cinema. Andrè was in fact the giant Fezzick of it The fantastic storywhere he helped the protagonist and performed non-sense poems.

Randy Savage is in his own way in film history for a scene in which he played … a wrestler in the first seminal Spider-Man signed by Sam Raimi.

Kevin Nash’s career in cinema has certainly had a non-trivial trajectory. One of the strongest wrestlers in wrestling history made his debut in Ninja Turtles II – Ooze’s Secret 1991 before moving on to roles in successful films, such as the recent ones John Wick or Magic Mike.

Kurt Angle was considered one of the most technical and charismatic fighters of the entire WWE circuit, also thanks to his experience in wrestling (a discipline in which he was even Olympic champion at the Atlanta Games in 1996). On the big screen, he is remembered for the role of the Russian Koba in Warrior and for that of the werewolf Wolfgang in the controversial 2011 film dedicated to Dylan Dog.

Former Australian bodyguard Nathan Jones made his film debut while his wrestling career was still in full swing. In his career he participated in such films as Troy, Asterix at the Olympics And Mad Max: Fury Road.