The ability to control the audience is seen as one of the necessary skills that a professional wrestler should possess. The crowd should pop, cheer, jeer and do a whole lot of other interactive activities when the wrestler wants them to and that is a simple bench mark that lets one understand whether a wrestler has learned the trade or not.
And perhaps this is why the professional wrestlers find it easy to jump over to stage performances. Stand-up comedy is one of those art forms that a string of professional wrestlers tried. This list is going to take a look at those professional wrestlers that tried out stand-up comedy.
#5 Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler might not be getting the push that he deserves in the WWE roster, but that has not kept his away from trying his hand elsewhere. Ziggler is apparently a big fan of comedy and has done stand-up comedy on numerous occasions. And his love for comedy also impacted his romantic relationship as well when Ziggler got involved with Amy Schumer, who is considered to be one of America’s most prolific female comedians.
Ziggler did get some positive reviews during his time in the art form and also, he has mentioned that it could be something that he would do regularly after retiring completely from professional wrestling.
#4 William Regal
William Regal is an underrated wrestler and at the same time he is an underrated standup comedian as well. Recently, Regal showcased his skills at an NXT live event and the video was received with warm hands by the wrestling fans as well as the regular fans. Regal is a die-hard comedy fan and he has mentioned about the same in his autobiography as well. He made his debut back in 2014 in England and has done a few gig from then.
Just like Mick Foley (Who you will see later), Regal has kicked off his one-man tour shows where he comes into a town and performs. The stories that he has gathered over years of travel around the world are a joy to hear and you can find some of them in his book.
#3 Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam is the subject of a lot of jokes on the internet thanks to his encounters in the past. However, not many know that Rob Van Dam is a big fanatic when it comes to standup comedy. Van Dam is a regular name in the comedy clubs where he spend his time as a performer and also as a fan.
While, some may suggest that the whole point of ‘getting high’ is what makes Van Dam prone to comedy, his performance suggests otherwise. His performance has even got him a place in the Comedy Store as well and hopefully after he is done with wrestling, Van Dam would take up the same regularly so that we could hear his jokes and laugh rather than hearing jokes about him and laugh.
#2 Roddy Piper
Roddy Piper has tried out a lot of things during his lifetime and one among that is standup comedy. Roddy, who had the reputation for being one of the best talkers in the business would’ve found it easy to transform into standup comedy as he already had the skill set that was required.
He has earned praise from numerous comedians as well with Ari Shaffir from Comedy Central being the most notable one to praise Roddy. Apart from his standup comedy, Roddy also appeared in a few episodes of It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia where he showcased his comedic timing. Now, that is one more reason to love the legend.
#1 Mick Foley
Mick Foley is on top of this list and for some good reasons. He is probably the most successful WWE performer that has implemented one-man shows outside of the wrestling business. Foley, who is known for his great humor while writing his books, managed to transform it into standup comedy as well. While he does have a good amount of road stories to share along with his jokes, Foley mainly focuses on self-deprecating jokes as he feels that they are better.
Foley takes tours where he performs stand-up comedy on a regular basis and updates about the same in his social media handles as well. So all the Foley fans out there, tune into his Facebook page or Twitter handle to know where is going to be at next.
