When it comes to wrestlers who dip their toes in acting, one might fairly expect that they would most frequently excel in the action genre. However, that’s not really the case. More often than not, when a wrestler steps out of the ring to enter a film, it’s a member of the horror genre. Naturally, there are exceptions to this, especially when it comes to the biggest wrestlers-turned-actors. In other words, Dwayne Johnson, Dave Bautista, and John Cena. All three of them started to gain traction as actors in the action genre. Respectively, in The Mummy Returns, The Man with the Iron Fist, and The Marine. But all three of them have also broken out of that genre and become mainstays in comedies, animated movies, Marvel Cinematic Universe adventures (which are not straightforward action), and the like. The following wrestlers, however, did their best acting in horror movies. And, fortunately, the following three films were as admirable as their efforts.
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To be included for the purposes of this list, the horror movie actually had to legitimately be horror movies, so don’t expect to see Steve Austin here for his role in Grown Ups 2. Just missing the cut was the so-bad-it’s-good Plan 9 from Outer Space with Tor Johnson, Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3, which featured Chris Jericho, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin, starring Dave Bautista.
3) The Devil’s Rejects Starring Diamond Dallas Page
Rob Zombie’s directorial debut, House of 1000 Corpses, is far more bizarre than it is actually scary. It also has a tendency to lag in spots and play as though it’s just hopping from one scene to another without much narrative coherence. It did, however, introduce the Firefly family, primarily Sid Haig’s Captain Spaulding, Bill Moseley’s Otis Driftwood, and Sheri Moon Zombie’s Baby Firefly.
The Devil’s Rejects, released two years later, is far superior in terms of its construction. It was and remains the best example of how Zombie’s hillbilly metal sensibilities can translate to the silver screen. And, with the Firefly trio out in the wild on what amounts to a gory road trip, it ups the tension by making no one feel safe. However, Diamond Dallas Page’s bounty hunter, Billy Ray Snapper, gets out of it okay.
Stream The Devil’s Rejects on Plex.
2) They Live Starring “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
Considering we’re ranking the quality of the movies as a whole, They Live comes in strong in second place. If we were ranking the performances of the wrestlers in the horror movies, however, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s work in They Live would undoubtedly come in at number one.
They Live is the strongest entry in the great John Carpenter’s later phase filmography, with a ton of style, a brisk pace, and a big brain that put it well ahead of its time. At the core of this tale is Piper, who infuses his unnamed lead character, “Nada,” with the perfect amount of both initial incredulity and subsequent gusto.
Stream They Live on AMC+.
1) Predator Starring Jesse Ventura
Jesse “The Body” Ventura was primarily in the ring from 1984 to 1990 and, during that time, he also put in what amounted to his most iconic role in any film: the minigun-toting Blain Cooper in Predator. This was actually his first movie, and it couldn’t have been any more fitting. However, equally fitting was the other 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle he played a major supporting role in: The Running Man.
Having a bunch of ripped soldier types running through the woods getting picked off by an unseen alien was the perfect type of movie to introduce a wrestler’s acting skills, and neither Ventura nor the movie itself let the audience down. Unfortunately, his acting career took a nosedive after this, with his lead role in Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe failing to generate any interest.
Stream Predator on Hulu.
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