Many athletes’ forays into acting haven’t gone so well but were appreciated nonetheless, just because of love from fans. Other wrestlers have done reasonably well on the big screen (looking at you Dwayne Johnson), and in all fairness, some weren’t asked to act too much, portraying wrestlers in their film roles as well. Then others dove right in and delivered the wooden performance many expected, proving wrong the misconception that wrestling isn’t just acting, or they all would be good at it.
14. Hulk Hogan – No Holds Barred
No Holds Barred so bad that it’s reached the classic cult status as one of those movies which people willingly watch to enjoy the unexpected failure of it all. A few years after Hulk Hogan’s somewhat successful appearance in Rocky III, the WWF tried to revive his status as a Hollywood action star by producing this disaster. Hogan stars as Rip Thomas, a wrestling champion who refuses to cooperate with an evil television network executive.
The whole plot devolves into a mess of ex-con wrestling foes, a sexy corporate spy who tries to seduce Rip, and the brutal beatdown of some random brother character. Naturally, the good guy wins in the end. And of course, the WWF turned the movie into a real-life PPV event, which for some reason, included an entire showing of the film itself.
Source: Screenshot via New Line Cinema