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For many WWE superstars, the industry has proved to be a shortcut to Hollywood. The shortcut isn’t easy to find nor is it easy to navigate through. The WWE has its own film studio named the WWE Studios and the studio has cast its wrestlers with renowned actors and actresses in lead roles to produce movies at a cheaper cost.
The first movie the studio was involved in was The Scorpion King released in 2002. Since then, the studio has been involved in numerous movies with at least one wrestler cast in almost all the movies. However, their movies aren’t well known and most of them are released straight to video.
Many wrestlers have successfully worked in Hollywood outside of WWE Studios including Andre the Giant, Stone Cold, Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura and Nathan Jones among many others. However, no wrestler has found more success in the film industry than the following five superstars.
#5. Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash made his acting debut in the 1991 movie ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze’ as Super Shredder - a genetically enhanced version of the villain Shredder.
He was the first choice to play the character of Victor Creed/Sabretooth in the 2000 X-Men movie but the role went to his former tag-team partner Tyler Mane due to Nash’s scheduling conflicts. However, Nash received a small role another Marvel Comic movie in 2004 when he played the character of ‘The Russian’ in The Punisher.
Nash would appear in a few Television shows and movies before featuring in brief cameo roles in three hit movies in the 2010s. In 2012, he played the role of Tarzan/Ernest, a male stripper, in the Channing Tatum movie Magic Mike and reprised the role in the sequel, Magic Mike XXL, released in 2015. He also appeared in the superhit movie John Wick in 2014.
Nash was also one of many WWE superstars that featured in the 2005 movie ‘The Longest Yard’.
#4. The Great Khali
Dalip Singh or the Great Khali made his acting debut in the 2005 movie The Longest Yard. The movie also featured WWE Superstars Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg and Kevin Nash.
Three years later in 2008, he played a key role in the action spy comedy movie Get Smart. The movie starred Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and Dwayne Johnson among others. Khali’s character’s name was the same as his real-life name - Dalip.
He acted in a few other movies as well but none as famous or as big as 'Get Smart'. He has also appeared on TV and participated the Season 4 of the Indian edition of Bigg Boss in 2010 and finished the season as runner-up.
Khali’s has acted in movies in English, Hindi and French. His most recent movie, HOUBA! On the Trail of the Marsupilami, released in 2012 was a French movie. He has done only one Hindi movie so far which was Kushti released in 2010 but it was a massive box-office flop.
#3. John Cena
John Cena played an uncredited role in the 2000 movie Ready to Rumble but his official first movie is the Marine which was released in 2006. The movie was produced by WWE Studios and is considered the studio’s most successful film despite the negative reviews from critics.
Cena’s next major role was a small one in the 2015 movie Trainwreck starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader. He played the role of Schumer’s gym-addicted boyfriend in the movie. In the same year, he played a cameo role in the Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell movie Daddy’s Home and reprised the character in a much bigger role in its sequel released in 2017.
In 2017, he also voiced the character of Ferdinand the Bull in the animated movie ‘Ferdinand’.
Cena has received bigger and better roles in 2018. He was one of the leads in the movie Blockers alongside Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz. He also plays a big role in the upcoming Bumblebee movie.
Considering the roles Cena has received in 2018, his Hollywood career could go on an upward spiral in the future.
#2. Dave Bautista
Batista started his acting career with a string of minor roles and relatively unknown movies. His acting career took off in 2014 when he played the role of Drax the Destroyer in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
In 2015, he had two major films. The first was the James Bond movie Spectre in which he played the role of Mr. Hinx - an assassin. The second movie was Heist in which he had a more prominent role and starred alongside Robert De Niro and Jeffrey Dean Morgan among others.
Batista acted in four movies including the Bruce Willis movie 'Marauders' in 2016 but none of his movies from that year were major hits. The following year was much different as he reprised his role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and also played a role in Blade Runner 2049 featuring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford.
In 2018, he once again played the role of Drax in the Avengers: Infinity War movie and will be part of the Avengers finale in 2019. He also acted alongside Sylvester Stallone in the sequel of Escape Plan and is set to feature in the film’s third part in 2019.
#1. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
It will take someone really special to even replicate the success Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has enjoyed in his acting career. He has had a long acting career and has acted in some super hit movies and continue to do so.
His first movie in a lead role was 'The Scorpion King' released in 2002. He was paid $5.5 million for the movie, a world record for an actor in his first starring role.
Rock has most notably played the role Luke Hobbs in the Fast and the Furious Franchise. He first appeared in Fast Five in 2011 and has been a part of every movie since. In addition to this, he has most notably played a lead role in Get Smart, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Faster, Snitch, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Pain and Gain, Hercules, San Andreas, Central Intelligence, Baywatch, Rampage and Skyscraper.
He is set to reprise his role as Luke Hobbs in a spin-off of The Fast and the Furious series titled 'Hobbs & Shaw' in 2019. The movie will feature also Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby and Idris Elba.
Johnson has also been playing the lead in the American TV Series, Ballers, since 2015 and the show has received a lot of positive reviews over the years.
In 2016, he was the world’s highest-paid actor according to Forbes as he cashed in $64.5 million!
Today, Johnson is much more than a WWE Wrestler or a Hollywood actor, he is one of the most influential people in the world and one of the most powerful celebrities on the planet.
