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Of the many combat sports out there, professional wrestling is perhaps the most entertaining. And what’s not to like: massive males and attractive females perform some of the most daring moves in the ring, beating each other to a pulp – but somehow always recovering to get revenge the next week. Wrestling has produced many offshoots, from movies to comic books, from documentaries to video games, even slot machines you can try at Spin Casino online. The wrestling slots at Spin Casino – the list even includes one inspired by Lucha Libre – are played by millions of fans around the world, bringing a bit of familiar action their way on the days when they can’t see the real thing.
But we have the chance to see the familiar faces of wrestlers beyond video games and comic books. There are many who have proven their worth in the ring and are doing the same on the silver screen, too. The whole world knows The Rock or Batista (Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista) who have made a name for themselves in Hollywood. There are, in turn, many other wrestlers with impressive filmographies.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Steve Austin may have retired from professional wrestling years ago but his influence on the sport is still felt. The WWE Hall of Famer is also a published author and an actor with an impressive filmography.
Austin has been featured in more than 110 productions, many of them WWE events where he, erm, played himself – or rather his in-ring persona. But more than 20 of the roles he played required acting beyond being a stone-cold fighter in the ring. His latest is a 2015 action thriller called “Chain of Command” directed by Kevin Carraway.
Goldberg
Bill Goldberg is a person who is keeping busy. Aside from wrestling, he acts, and he fights for the welfare of animals. He first stepped in front of the cameras in 1999 in The Jesse Ventura Story as well as playing a memorable role in “Universal Soldier: The Return”, racking up quite a few other roles ever since. He is more active on TV, though – he played roles (usually those of massive, muscular men) in everything from Desperate Housewives to NCIS: Los Angeles where he had a recurring role.
Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash has a most impressive wrestling career behind him. At the same time, he also has impressive filmography. On TV, he appeared in recurring roles in shows like Living the Dream, Nikki, and the 1990s action-adventure series Super Force. On the big screen, he mostly played small but noticeable parts, like supervillain The Russian in the 2004 vigilante action film The Punisher, Bass Armstrong (a professional wrestler and overprotective father) in the 2006 martial arts movie DoA: Dead or Alive, and a massive bouncer in the 2014 action flick John Wick. In total, he has around 20 movie roles behind him, with two more on the way.
Kurt Angle
Another successful wrestler who has successfully transitioned to the screen, Kurt Angle went into acting upon retiring in 2008. Since then, he played everything from a wrestling coach in the 2013 sports drama Beyond the Mat, a prison inmate in 2013’s Pain & Gain, and fire chief in the 2014 clusterf*ck known as Sharknado 2. He has three roles coming up: that of a general in an asteroid zombie flick, a firefighter in the upcoming procedural Emergency: LA, and a role in
Martin Glover’s upcoming thriller The Lighthouse.
John Cena
Finally, here’s one wrestler who is becoming increasingly popular on the silver screen, so much so that his work as an actor is keeping him away from the ring: John Cena. While he also started out as yet another muscular guy on the screen, he broke out of the cast, playing in everything from comedies to dramas. Some of his most notable roles include Staff Sergeant Shane Matthews in the Doug Liman war thriller “The Wall”, that of Peacemaker in James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” (and the subsequent Peacemaker series set to be released on HBO Max next January), and the countless voice roles he played over the years.