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Dwayne Johnson bet a whole lot on Black Adam, but things didn’t go in his favor. For the first time, the Rock had to face a lot of embarrassment as he was booed at comic con, then Black Adam bombed, and reports even suggested that he lied about its success. Meanwhile, his former companion from WWE, Dave Bautista, continues to gather praise for his diverse performances.
The Rock’s two-punch DC failure in 2022 may not have been a career killer, but it has shown that he needs to up his game if he wants to be the number 1 wrestler-turned-actor because Dave Bautista is the one to currently hold that title.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinions.
Why Dave Bautista is ahead of Dwayne Johnson
There’s no denying the fact The Rock is a bigger name and will continue to earn much bigger paychecks, but that doesn’t mean he is the best wrestler turned actor. Many would argue that he is number 3 because even John Cena might be ahead of him. But Dave Bautista has certainly dethroned The Rock.
While Dwayne Johnson continues to play a variant of himself, Dave Bautista has actively tried to find work in multiple genres and has shown a willingness to work with some big-name directors. Guardians of the Galaxy gave him his break-out role as Drax.
He continues to play the big muscly bad guy (Riddick, Spectre) and stars in action-comedy roles (My Spy, Stuber) every now and then. But he doesn’t just stick to that. Bautista continues to experiment and grow with movies like Blade Runner 2049, where he played an introspective bruiser, Army of the Dead, where he was the emotional leading man, and recently, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story.
Glass Onion has cemented Bautista’s place on the throne of wrestler-turned-actors. Even writer/director Rian Johnson stated, “I absolutely 100 percent agree,” when recently, an interviewer called Bautista the greatest wrestler-turned-actor in the business. And now, Big Dave will be starring in M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin, followed by his villainous acts in Dune: Part 2.
Why Dwayne Johnson will continue to be a success
Black Adam may have taught him that he needs to experiment a bit with his future roles. So far, we’ve mostly seen him play characters within the range of a berserker human, a berserker human in the jungle, and a super-powered Dwayne Johnson. Sometimes all three of these character traits mix up, as shown in Jungle Cruise and Jumanji. But it’s likely that he’ll still follow the same formula.
Dwayne Johnson is set to star in Red One and Red Notice parts 2 and 3, where he’ll continue to play characters that fall within his acting range. So, we won’t see him step out of his comfort zone yet. Still, The Rock is too big to fail after just one Black Adam bomb, so he will stick to what has worked for him in the past.
The ideal future of Dave Bautista and Dwayne Johnson
After his next three aforementioned streaming movies, The Rock should go back to star in the next Jumanji outing, Jungle Cruise 2, and Hobbs & Shaw 2 (if not Fast 11 as well). These movies truly led to his massive stardom, and he should just finish what he started.
Dwayne Johnson may not be the best wrestler-turned-actor, but he’ll always be the biggest name among them. And while he returns to his forte, Dave Bautista should get his DC wish fulfilled. He campaigned very hard to be DC’s Bane, and James Gunn might just fulfill his wish in his new DC Universe.
