The list of professional wrestlers who have successfully made the transition to the acting world isn’t a long one, whether it’s because of typecasting, the audience’s preconceived notions of a wrestler on the big screen or a lack of formal acting training but one such former WWE superstar who has succeeded arguably more than any other before him is Dave Bautista.
So what about the inverse? Are there any actors that could walk out of Hollywood, into the WWE and convert their acting talent into pro wrestling superstardom? Bautista believes that one of the co-stars from his upcoming film, The Killer’s Game could make the change seamlessly.
“Terry Crews, all day long,” Bautista said in a recent interview with Buzzfeed Celeb. “Terry Crews, without blinking, could be a WWE superstar. He’s not only physically able, but his charisma and personality is off the charts. He’d go there, and within a week, he’d be world champion.”
Crews, much like Bautista, is a multi-talented individual who transitioned from playing professional football in the NFL back in 1991 until 1996. Crews, who has appeared in such films as 2004’s White Chicks and 2016’s Blended, also was a prominent character in the popular Everybody Hates Chris and Brooklyn Nine-Nine TV series. Interestingly enough, Crews revealed both his interest in and respect for professional wrestling on a recent red carpet interview with WWE’s Cathy Kelley at the premiere of The Killer’s Game.
“[Dave Bautista and Drew McIntyre] stole the movie in a lot of ways,” Crews said. “It was incredible. If it were not for a couple of auditions, I probably would have been a professional wrestler, but I just happened to be an actor first. Let me tell you, it’s the same thing. The discipline is the same, the artistry is the same, the creativity is the same. I have nothing but respect for what they do, and when I look at me and Dave as former athletes in this business, we understand how rare it is that we’re here”.
Crews did actually appear briefly on WCW programming back in the fall of 2000 as part of a cross-promotion between WCW and Battle Dome, the latter being a show reminiscent of American Gladiators — but much like the Battle Dome show itself, it was a short-lived, mostly forgotten spectacle that was cut short by the WWE purchasing the bankrupt WCW a few short months later (I say this as one of the dozens of people out there who actually enjoyed Battle Dome, by the way).
The Killer’s Game, which was released by Lions Gate Entertainment on Friday, September 13th in the US, features of a star-studded cast alongside Bautista and Terry Crews — Sofia Boutella, Ben Kingsley, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Pom Klementieff — and will also mark the acting debut of WWE superstar Drew McIntyre.
