Freddie Prinze Jr. recently took to his “Wrestling With Freddie” podcast to discuss several professional wrestling legends transitioning themselves into acting careers.
The former WWE creative team writer gave his opinion on Batista, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Roddy Piper all landing big acting gigs.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Batista’s career: “Dave’s [Bautista] the best actor out of every wrestler that’s turned actor, that’s gone into movies. And you’ve been able to watch this growth from film to film, and it’s like watching a five-year-old hit a growth spurt where you’re just like, ‘Man, two weeks ago you were this little dude, and now you’re like four inches bigger. What the hell happened?’ That’s every movie he does. He is significantly, significantly better each time. Every performance he’s put out is superior to the last one, every single time.
“I don’t know how he’s developing these tools so quickly, but he’s developing these tools quickly. And I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I don’t think anybody saw this coming out of WWE. And granted, the writing wasn’t the best; he seemed like a lifetime wrestler. Even when he decided to leave, I don’t know if everyone was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is gonna work out. He’s gonna be a big star.’ And then, out of nowhere, here he comes.”
On Hulk Hogan’s acting career: “And then we get to the worst of the bunch — Hulk Hogan. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, your hero from the 80s that told you to take vitamins, and lied about steroids, and, well, just about everything he’s ever talked about … But what’s important is not Rocky III, — I’ll give him that. In Rocky III he was actually good. He just had to play a menacing, crazy guy, which is cool. But then we get to these gems known as No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando, Three Ninjas. Suburban Commando, I think that was the one with the speedboat. That was the roughest one to get through. I go to movies wanting to find something to like. I don’t go there looking to hate on these things. This was unwatchable.”
On The Rock: “And this one, I think he would agree with any criticism on, The Scorpion King. They didn’t give him much to do because he wasn’t ready to be a leading man yet. They needed a big, buff, good-looking stud … He started to try and challenge himself after that, with the Get Shorty sequel, which I think was called Be Cool. You saw him start to kind of try to spread his wings a bit, and start working with high-quality actors, and really get challenged.”
On Roddy Piper: “I’ve already acknowledged that Dave Bautista is the best of the bunch. But my favorite of all wrestlers-turned-actors… Mr. ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper. That’s right, ‘Rowdy’ Piper, one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and he’s in one of my favorite movies of all time, which is They Live. John Carpenter’s They Live.”
