5 WWE stars who tried Hollywood, but didn't quite make it

Triple H in Blade: Trinity along with A-lister Ryan ReynoldsIt’s well known that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is one of the most popular actors today, if not the most popular. The Brahma Bull, initially a wrestler (as known by all), is now starring in blockbuster after blockbuster, and truly is the most electrifying man in all of entertainment. There are some wrestlers, however, who were on the cusp of Hollywood stardom, but didn’t make it. Not everyone can be The Rock, of course! These wrestlers have starred in movies, but have not made it as far as Dwayne Johnson has, in fact, not even close. The Rock: Out of his 36 movies 20+ are bonafide hits.In contrast, Triple H has zero hits despite his honest efforts.Let’s look at five of them, and see how far they made it.

#1 Triple H

In WWE’s home video documentary of Triple H’s life and career, Thy Kingdom Come, it is briefly discussed that Triple H had once had a minor acting career. This is well known, as he did movies such as Blade: Trinity and The Chaperone, in which he played the main role.

Having been in 12 films thus far, including animated, and playing himself in six of them, Triple H has a decent number of films under his belt. In his documentary, however, he did say that he only considered acting a hobby, and didn’t consider turning it into a career, like The Rock did. His previous two films have both been from WWE Studios: Scooby Doo: WrestleMania Mystery, and his own Power Series, in which he is a virtual fitness instructor. Both were released last year.

#2 Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan has, in fact, had rather notable acting career, but a lot of it is thanks to his mainstream popularity back in the day, boasting twenty appearances, and also a lead role in a television show. Before becoming big in wrestling, Hogan played a cameo in Rocky III. After becoming a well over babyface, Hogan would star in more family-friendly roles such as in Mr Nanny, and even featuring in the second Gremlins movie.

Over his long career, Hogan has made appearances on episodes of popular sitcoms, such as American Dad and The A-Team. From 2011-2015 he was in a lead role in China, IL. Hogan has even voiced a video game character in Saints Row: The Third.

Despite all this, however, Hulk Hogan will always be known as the man who made wrestling. His acting career will always be overshadowed by his achievements in the ring, whether WWE acknowledges that or not.

#3 Chyna

Chyna has had an interesting career in show business. She was a female wrestler that changed the scene of wrestling for women, by holding men’s titles. Following a leaked sex tape with X-Pac, she headed into a pornographic career, and now, well, she’s doing everything she can for attention, such as crashing Roddy Piper’s funeral.

In the midst of all this, Chyna has been in multiple reality shows and game shows over that years.

In 2003 she was on Hollywood Squares, and in 2001 was on Fear Factor and a presenter for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.

In 2005, she was a star on The Surreal Life, in which she was an alcoholic, had arguments with X-Pac, and appeared nude several times. She also appeared in The Surreal Life: Fame Game in 2007.

As far as movies go, she was in Just Another Romantic Wrestling Comedy and Illegal Aliens, and was reportedly almost cast in Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines.

Not the best career, but not the worst either, it must be said. The Ninth Wonder of the World sadly passed away on April 20^th in 2016 as a result of an overdose.

#4 Stone Cold Steve Austin

Stone Cold will always be remembered as the voice of the Attitude Era, but he’s had his fair share of the silver screen.

Austin has played the lead role in a few Hollywood flicks over the years, notably The Condemned and The Expendables. Funnily enough, those are half of his major roles. Yes, other than four films where he has played the lead, Austin hasn’t been so active in Hollywood. He has featured in 2013’s Grown Ups 2, which is worth not talking about, and will appear in this year’s Smosh: The Movie, where he plays himself, obviously in a small role. He is also0 slated to appear in this year’s The Echo Effect, in which his role is unkown thus far.

Although he has had some big films to his name, Austin would never be as big as his Attitude Era nemesis The Rock is at the moment!

#5 Rowdy Roddy Piper

Rounding off this list is the wrestler who arguably had the second most prominent acting career, the late Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Renowned for being a great heel and excellent mic worker, Roddy Piper has had roles in around twenty-four films thus far, even scheduled to appear in one more, Medusa.

Known filmographically for lower budget action films, Roddy Piper was always either in a lead role, or an important supporting character. His first film, being in 1977, and titled That Obscure Object of Desire, mysteriously has him in an unknown role, even though it is slated that he was in it. His first known role was as Leatherneck Joe Grady in The One and Only, released in 1978. Piper also had two other ‘unknown’ roles, in 1997’s First Encounter and in 2008’s Legion: The Final Exorcism.

But his most tryst with Hollywood was in the zombie flick ‘They Live’ where he had the one of the most iconic lines uttered by a leading guy. His final role before his demise came in last year’s Don’t Look Back, and sadly, he isn’t alive to see his next role.

Roddy had a colourful acting career. But let’s be honest, in our hearts, Rowdy Roddy Piper will always be a professional wrestler.