It is not out of the question for current WWE superstars to make the jump to Hollywood. We have witnessed countless stars make the jump but only some have managed to make a full time career out of it. Batista, John Cena, The Rock, The Miz and more have all made the jump with Roman Reigns expected to make the same jump now according to reports. In this editorial series, I will be talking about professional wrestlers who have dipped their toe into acting but have never attempted a full time jump.
One movie that fits this bill is the 2005 Adam Sandler movie, The Longest Yard. The movie sees the actor play a football player named Paul Crew who ends up in prison following a probation breach. The original charge was related to points shaving and when Crew went to prison, he was met by a list of pro wrestlers. Some were guards – others were inmates. The plot of the movie then revolves around a football game between both teams at the end of the movie.
First, I will mention that each of these characters are problematic in several ways. While the movie came out in 2005, the humour is quite dark and probably would lead to issues if the movie was released today. The Great Khali, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kevin Nash and Goldberg all feature in the movie. The stars were split between the antagonist team and the protagonist team.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is the most famous of the stars in the movie so we shall begin with him. Stone Cold plays the character of one of the prison guards team, Guard Dunham. Stone Cold has some of the most screen time of any of the wrestlers in the movie. However, remember what I said about these characters are problematic? At one point in the movie, Stone Cold’s character repeatedly uses racial slurs in an attempt to make one of the inmates attack him. The good thing about this movie is the truly bad people get their comeuppance and Austin is no different. Austin would be tackled so hard by the gargantuan Bob Sapp, prompting one of the funniest scenes in the movie as everyone points out Austin’s character sh*t himself.
One of the inmates was played by Bill Goldberg. There’s not a lot to say about Goldberg’s character in the movie. He brings the same attitude he had in WCW and WWE. There is also a running gag in the movie about the size of Goldbergs, uhm, ‘hammer’. Prior to the game at the end of the movie, the gag comes full circle as the characters protective cup is comically large.
Next up, another former WCW star as Kevin Nash played another one of the guards in the movie. Originally starting off as a guard who uses too much steroids and goes nuts, later in the movie the protagonists swap his steroids for oestrogen pills, which lead the guard acting more feminine and emotional. Nash’s role isn’t important at all, just a character to play for laughs.
The final pro wrestler to play a character in the movie is The Great Khali. Due to his limited English, Khali is portrayed as the monster he was in the ring. However, this character says he’s sorry and plays ping pong with Crew. He also hits Bob Sapp with a pretty nasty big boot to the face mid-game.
What movie with wrestlers would you like to see covered in this series? Let us know in the comments section and on our social media pages.
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