Throughout the years, professional wrestlers have tried making the transition into the acting world. And why not? Their jobs are to act on television already so why not try to launch that into a movie career. Well, there have been some good, some bad, and some UGLY! This is the best and the worst (in no particular order) of movies starring wrestlers.

Suburban Commando – Hulk Hogan was the most popular wrestler of all time. He was a household name in the 80s and most of the 90s. Hell, you could even say he’s a household name still today. Most people know the name without ever watching a single professional wrestling match in their lifetime. He attempted a movie career starting with a small part in Rocky III as Thunder Lips. Stallone hand picked him for the role of the wrestler who challenges the boxer. His movie career didn’t exactly pan out but he has a good amount in his Filmography.
Suburban Commando is a family comedy from 1991 where Hogan stars as Shep Ramsey, an alien whose ship is damaged in an interstellar battle and must hide on Earth until he can make repairs. He befriends Christopher Lloyd and lives with his family. So he tries fitting in with the Earthlings and helping out with daily activities. If you’ve seen it then you’ll probably remember the skateboard scene where the Hulkster shows off his moves to the neighbor kids. Or maybe the cantaloupe scene where he “finds a good one”. This is one of my favorites from the ‘so bad its good’ category. Hogan is a terrible actor but you can’t help laughing at the ridiculous plot. Extra tidbit of information: the movie also has a cameo from The Undertaker as a bounty hunter in his only movie role ever. He has one line, You’re A Dead Man Ramsey!

The Princess Bride – Andre the Giant was another big name in the world of pro wrestling. He made a career based on his giant stature. He was actually born with a disease called acromegaly which results in an excessive amount of growth hormones. He was expected to die early and although he exceeded expectation, unfortunately he passed away before really breaking into the acting scene. His most famous role is that of Fezzick in The Princess Bride, a Rob Reiner film from 1987. It mixed elements of adventure, comedy, and romance. Andre was the big ogre of a man that traveled with Inigo Montoya and eventually teams up with the story’s hero played by Cary Elwes. Andre was praised for this role as he came off as rather funny. It ended up being one of the favorite things he did in his lifetime. The movie is widely viewed as a classic and has gotten Special Edition treatment on DVD several times.

Ready To Rumble – this is a newer wrestling based movie. It came out in the year 2000 and was basically a giant advertisement for the now defunct World Championship Wrestling. One of the major villains in the movie is pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page. He teams up with the federation’s promoter played by Joe Pantoliano to screw over their top wrestler. The lead good guy wrestler had to be played by a real actor because pro wrestlers are the worst actors ever. Oliver Platt plays Jimmy the King who is kicked out of WCW by Joey Pants and DDP. David Arquette and Scott Caan also star as the fans that get Jimmy the King back in WCW. DDP is absolutely over the top as the bad guy in this. He’s in his wrestling character the whole time but even when he’s not supposed to be. DDP isn’t the only wrestler in this either. In fact here’s the list: DDP, Goldberg, Sting, Bam Bam Bigelow, Macho Man Randy Savage, Booker T, Sid Vicious, Juventud Guerrera, Curt Hennig, Shane Helms, Disco Inferno, Billy Kidman, Konnan, Kanyon, Rey Mysterio, Perry Saturn, Prince Iaukea, Van Hammer, Gorgeous George, Mean Gene Okerlund, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, real WCW referees and Nitro Girls. Extra tidbit of information: to promote the movie David Arquette actually appeared on WCW Monday Nitro. He became such a major character that he ended up winning the World Heavyweight Championship in one of the worst wrestling storylines of all time.

The Longest Yard – in the remake of 2005, Adam Sandler actually stars with a few professional wrestlers in this one. Sandler puts together a prisoner football team to play against the guard’s football team. There are 2 wrestlers on each side of the field. Stone Cold Steve Austin plays a racist guard who is the ultimate hardass. He ends up shitting his pants on the field after suffering from a big hit. Austin is pretty good as a redneck son of a bitch asshole but probably because that’s what he is in real life. Kevin Nash stars as a big guard who is juiced up on steroids. The prisoners switch his steroids with estrogen and Nash starts acting very feminine. It actually provides some of the funniest moments in the movie as Nash cries constantly and worries about people getting hurt.
On the other side of the field is Bill Goldberg as the badass prisoner recruited to put a hurting on the guards. He’s basically the Goldberg wrestling character. No one can stop him and he beats the hell out of everyone in his way. By the way, he’s terrible. Also newer Indian wrestler The Great Khali stars as a 7 foot freak of nature that is kept in solitary confinement but Sandler eventually talks him into playing for the team so he can hurt some guards that have treated him like shit over the years.

There are so many more flying through my head.
Rowdy Roddy Piper in They Live.
Kane in See No Evil.
John Cena in The Marine.
Stone Cold Steve Austin in The Condemned.
Goldberg in Santa’s Slay or Universal Solider 2.
Hulk Hogan in Mr. Nanny or Thunder in Paradise.
Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler in Man on the Moon.
George ‘ The Animal’ Steele in Ed Wood.
Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura in Predator.
Macho Man Randy Savage in Spider-man.
And The Rock in a ton of movies these days.

But I don’t want to make this the longest article in history.
So I’ll have to name this Part 1. And possibly return with more.
Comment on the Smorg and list some more if you think of any I missed.