Credit: The Scorpion King
Once upon a time, there were a lot of people who believed that professional wrestlers, who were seen as little more than huge, musclebound men who could stomp around the ring and act tough, would never make great actors. There wasn’t a lot of faith that wrestlers could do much on the big or small screen since one of the biggest examples, Hulk Hogan, kind of pooched that deal when he made the movie No Holds Barred. Other wrestlers tried to step outside of their comfort zone for a while, but nothing ever really came of it other than small cameos in which they were allowed to take their in-ring character onto one show or another. But eventually, a wrestler by the name of The Rock would step outside the ring and make an attempt to broaden his career by taking on the role of a character known as The Scorpion King. The initial showing of this character was fun but turned a lot of fans off when the CGI monstrosity of his character showed up at the end of The Mummy Returns. That wasn’t the death knell for his time in Hollywood, since let’s face it, a lot of people weren’t going to blame him for a poorly rendered character. But then came the actual movie, The Scorpion King, and hoo boy, did the rollercoaster take a dip at that point.
Credit: Walking Tall
His movie career didn’t start off that great, but the fact is that he kept going, and he kept getting better.
The Scorpion King was built more from Dwayne’s reputation as a name and a face that could put butts in seats, but the movie was kind of ‘meh’, which wasn’t too surprising. But as he kept moving forward, his acting talent started to develop and as a result, he was easier to watch and much easier to relate to as he took on several more roles. His time in Walking Tall with Johnny Knoxville and a few other popular actors who have continued to develop over the years was fun since while it wasn’t the greatest movie in the world, it was easy to see him as a person, rather than just an actor portraying yet another person. There are several movies out there that a lot of people might not realize that Dwayne was in such fares as Southland Tales, Empire State, Snitch, and even Be Cool, which was studded with big names. But the fact is that every role he’s taken on has seen him improve enough to notice, as Be Cool even had him portraying a gay man with a fashion sense that was definitely colorful, but a presence that was kind of interesting.
Dwayne has had some duds over the years, but people are usually still willing to watch his movies. He’s Dwayne Johnson, for crying out loud.
A few of the movies that were mentioned above didn’t exactly bring a ton of glory to Dwayne’s name since they were kind of there and then archived to see if people would actually seek them out. But regardless of this, his journey from the WWE to the big screen has been an interesting one since there are a few movies that felt as though they weren’t the right place for him to be, and yet he made the roles he was given pop in a way that made them memorable in some fashion. Movies like Skyscraper didn’t do him a lot of favors in the long run, but they were still moments that stand out in his career that made him visible to his fans, who have stuck with him for quite a while at this point.
Credit: WWE
To this date, his acting has improved to the point that he’s every bit as good as some of the top-tier actors.
I will gladly fight anyone on this if they say otherwise since Dwayne’s acting ability has grown to a level that even outstrips a few of those actors who are considered to be top-tier talents, especially given that he came from a show that was known for its bad and extremely cringe-worthy overacting at times. The WWE is home to a lot of colorful and over-the-top characters that are well-known for one characteristic or another and are capable of entertaining the fans by being as outlandish as possible. As The Rock, Dwayne was hands down one of the best trash talkers as he was the jabroni-beating, pie-eating, eyebrow-raising star that electrified the crowd every time he walked down the ramp. As a wrestler, he’s a legend, and as an actor, he’s fast on his way to becoming the same.
There’s no other way to say it, his Hollywood career did lead to several other wrestlers making the same attempt.
Just to name a few, big names such as John Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Randy Orton, and even Kane have taken to the big screen in their own due time. While only a couple of them have seen even a fraction of the fame that Dwayne has had (Cena has done quite well for himself), they did give it a go and managed to make their way into one movie or more as they attempted to create a reputation that they could bank on. But when compared to Dwayne, all but a few of them kind of fizzled after a single movie, while a few others stuck around to do what they could.