10 Pro Wrestlers Who Played Heroes In Movies

While names like The Rock, John Cena, Batista, and heck, even Hulk Hogan have been anywhere from quasi-successful to absolutely dominating success in Hollywood, wrestlers have been dipping their toes into the movies for decades now.

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For as long as there has been wrestling and cinema, there have been wrestlers in the movies. Early on, however, they were usually cast as thugs or henchmen. Only recently have they been recognized as guys who can play heroes too.

10 John Cena Plays The Peacemaker For The DCU

John Cena Uses His Super Physique And Sense Of Humor To Play A New Kind Of Hero

• The Suicide Squad box office total was $168.7 million dollars.
• John Cena's first every film role is actually a blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot in the WCW film, Ready To Rumble.
• Cena's first starring role was the WWE Studios film, The Marine.

Certainly not your conventional hero, but Peacemaker is the perfect choice for a guy like John Cena to play. In the comics, he’s a musclebound maniac who seeks to achieve peace at any cost. That paints him sometimes as a villain. But after getting put in prison for his crimes, he is given the opportunity to join The Suicide Squad and do some real good for a change, in order to secure peace. Thanks to Cena’s portrayal, the anti-hero aspect of the character allowed Cena to play Peacemaker as a hilarious and even heartwarming character.

9 Jesse Ventura Starred With Schwarzenegger In The Predator

The Body's Blaine Character Was One Of The Standouts Of The Classic Sci-Fi Action Film

• The Predator's box office total was $98.3 million dollars.
• Jesse Ventura has had bit-part action roles in films both starring Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.
• Once Jesse got his Screen Actors Guild Union card and medical benefits, he stopped talking to wrestlers about forming unions.

During the course of his commentary career, Jesse The Body Ventura would always quip that he was as big as Schwarzenegger when it came to his acting career. The future Governor of Minnesota did make a few cameos in the future Governor of California’s films.

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The most famous of which was The Predator. In the film, he plays Blaine, one of the commandos traipsing through the jungle to face down the unknown threat. His most famous line became a classic of '80s action cinema - “I ain’t got time to bleed.”

8 Hulk Hogan Was WWE's Studios First Big Character

The WWE Superstar Played A WWE Champion In The WWE Studio's First Ever Movie

• No Holds Barred's box office take was $16 million dollars.
• Vince Sr. didn't want Hogan doing Rocky 3 and Hulk left the WWE to do it.
• No Holds Barred is now considered to be the first ever WWE Studios movie.

The first ever WWE Studios Film also featured the WWE’s biggest superstar. While it wasn’t much of a stretch, Hulk Hogan played the big hero, Rip Thomas. Thomas was the WWF champion who had to face down the challenge of The Human Wrecking Machine, Zeus. The movie certainly (no) holds a special place in a lot of wrestling fans’ hearts. But we all also know it isn’t very good either.

7 The Animal Batista Played Drax For The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Big Dave Began To Really Show His Acting Chops As The Lovable Drax The Destroyer

• The box office total for the original Guardians Of The Galaxy movie was $773.3 million dollars.
• Rather than constantly taking huge action roles (like Rock and Cena), Batista likes to take more nuanced, character-building roles.
• With James Gunn leaving the Marvel movies, Batista has declared he is retiring from playing Drax.

Coming out of a successful wrestling career, The Animal Batista looked to Hollywood for a new challenge. After a few bit parts, he nailed the role of a lifetime. As Drax The Destroyer for the MCU, he immediately became an icon to a whole new set of fans. It didn’t hurt that he did a great job with the role either. What could have just been a hulking brute turned into part of the heart of Guardians Of The Galaxy and Batista a chance to try inadvertent comedy.

6 Mercedes Mone Becomes An Intergalactic Legend

The Boss Portrayed Koska Reeves In The Mandalorian

• Mercedes Mone first appeared as Koska Reeves in The Mandalorian season 2 episode, "The Heiress".
• Along with several other crossover stars, Mercedes has action figures now both in wrestling and in her respective franchise.
• The Boss also starred in the action film, The Collective in 2023.

Some bosses just need to flex their boss-ness. The first time Mercedes Mone (née Sasha Banks) left WWE on a sabbatical was shortly after WrestleMania 35. During that time, she went soul-searching on a pilgrimage of sorts. One of the things she found was that being part of Star Wars could be a whole new avenue for The Boss to take should she want to, post-wrestling. As Koska Reeves, she gets to play the bossiest of boss races in the galaxy. She’s part of the Mandalorian race trying to take back her homeland.

5 Ernest Miller As The Ayatollah In The Wrestler

The Cat Showed How A Wrestler Could Retire Gracefully In The Acclaimed Drama

• The box office total for The Wrestler was $44.7 million dollars.
• While filming the climactic match, the cast and crew of The Wrestler had to ask The Ring Of Honor fans to calm down and stop booing the action.
• Mickey Rourke trained for his role with Afa at The Wild Samoans Wrestling Academy.

As the old adage among wrestling fans in the know is that the bigger the heel, the nicer the guy is in real life. Which is what makes Ernest Miller as Bob in The Wrestler that much more endearing. While Randy The Ram has fallen on hard and desperate times, Bob has retired and lives a quiet but successful life. He does come out of retirement as the villainous foreign menace The Ayatollah to once again do battle with Randy and help his old nemesis earn a big payday. While he does heroically try to convince Randy to go home during their final match, Randy refuses to listen, even facing what is certain death in the ring.

4 Edge And C.J. Perry Co-Star As Lucas Nolan And Becky In Interrogation

The Rated R Superstar And The Ravishing Russian Team Up To Save Sin City

• Interrogation was released direct-to-dvd.
• Before joinin the wrestling world, CJ Perry guest-starred in The Pitch Perfect film series.
• Adam Copeland is currently part of the cast of The Disney series, Percy Jackson And The Olympians as Ares.

Sometimes it’s funny how time works. Nowadays, both Adam Copeland and C.J. Perry are enjoying new runs in AEW. But seven years ago, Edge was still in forced retirement due to injuries and Lana was in and out of her Russian accent managing her future husband, Rusev.

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During this time, as well, they got to co-star in a direct-to-video action flick, Interrogation. In the film, Edge plays Lucas Nolan, a -you guessed it- Interrogator tasked with finding a bomb in Las Vegas on not just any betting day, but the biggest betting day of the year.

3 The Rock Co-Starred As Hobbs In The Fast And The Furious

The Great One Changed His Career Trajectory And Saved The Fast Franchise

• The box office total for Fast Five, The Rock's debut in the series, was $626.1 million dollars.
• The Great One is set to star as Maui, the role he voiced in the live action version of Moana.
• The Rock returned to the Fast franchise in a post-credits scene in Fast X.

When your movie series is about a group of brash badasses who drive quickly and angrily, you need an even bigger, brasher badass to try and stop them. The Rock made his The Fast And The Furious debut in the fifth film as Special Agent Hobbs, clearly written as a huge snarling dog that will stop at nothing to catch its tail. Over the course of the film series, his character has been fleshed out as a dad who coaches his daughter’s sports before he goes off to save the world. We also catch a glimpse of his homeland of Samoa and one of his real life “cousins,” Roman Reigns.

2 Andre The Giant Helped To Create The Iconic Fezzik

The Princess Bride Giant Was Written Specifically For The Eighth Wonder Of The World

• The Princess Bride raked in $30.9 million dollars in its theatrical run and has become one of the most beloved films of all time.
• Billy Crystal's time with Andre was the inspiration for his film, "My Giant."
• Andre also starred in episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and Zorro.

When William Goldman first wrote The Princess Bride, he wrote the role of the gentle but dimwitted giant Fezzik with Andre The Giant as the inspiration. His dream casting came true when the film was adapted for the beloved movie.

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Andre didn’t just soar as Fezzik, he is one of the main reasons that the movie is so beloved. Fezzik is exactly as he appears to be in both the novel and the film, a gentle man who is taken advantage of because of his immense size.

1 Roddy Piper As John Nada In John Carpenter's They Live

Roddy Was All Out Of Bubblegum

• They Live only made $13 million at the box office, but has become a cult-classic, due to its commentary on commercialism.
• Roddy Piper helped to script the big alley fight between his character and Keith David's.
• The film was based on a short story, "Eight O'Clock In The Morning," by Ray Nelson.

They don’t get much more cult-classic than John Carpenter’s They Live. Roddy Piper “retired” at WrestleMania 3 to jump start his film career with this amazing science fiction commentary on consumerism. Piper plays John Nada, a drifter who rolls into town and finds a pair of special sunglasses that reveal the truth about the world. That we are all being subjugated and subdued by the elite, who are really gross aliens using subliminal messages to keep us buying products and propagating the species for their own nefarious needs.