There are two fandoms that love to argue the most: wrestling and movies. Put those two worlds together and you have yourself a gauntlet match of opinions, especially when it comes to who is the best wrestler-turned-actor. This very thing happened in a recent Reddit post when someone claimed that Dave Bautista was the best actor out of WWE when compared to John Cena and Dwayne Johnson, aka, The Rock, and the trail of comments looked like a battle royal of wrestling opinions.
As a wrestling fan myself and someone who has an unhealthy obsession with movies starring wrestlers, I too have opinions on the age-old question: Who is the best WWE alum to make the jump from the squared circle to the silver screen? Let’s break down what fans are saying about one of the biggest arguments in wrestling and dive into where I stand on the matter.
Fans Are Going Back And Forth, But Seem To Agree On One Thing
Going through these comments was honestly a great way to spend a few minutes on Monday morning. This whole post, which had 800-plus comments at the time of this writing, was mostly filled with back-and-forth replies with people arguing Dave Bautista was the best of the three when it came to his dramatic roles:
Batista is the most versatile actor in the bunch. His role in Knock in the Cabin, as well as his short appearance in Blade Runner 2049. have proven that he's not just a big guy, he's actually capable of great acting that may open up for more projects of different genres.
While it is true that Bautista is mostly known outside of wrestling for his portrayal of Drax in several of the best Marvel movies and his contributions to the “big man and little kid” action flicks like the My Spy franchise, his range doesn’t stop there. The former WWE champion’s roles in Blade Runner 2049, The Boy and the Heron, and even the Guardians of the Galaxy movies have all shown off his tremendous range.
In response to that, another Redditor agreed with Bautista’s dramatic prowess but also made a case for John Cena as a comedic actor before making a dig at The Rock:
His dramatic chops are insane compared to the others, but Cena has absolutely nailed comedy. He was downright hysterical in Peacemaker. Amusingly, The Rock just plays the same character in almost everything in the last decade.
There’s no doubt that Cena has found a niche in Hollywood by playing over-the-top characters while also not being afraid to poke fun at himself along the way. I mean, his turn in Jackpot! was so absurd and self-deprecating, especially in the hilarious end credits sequence, and his side-splitting performance on Peacemaker shows that this guy has it.
The two camps make good points for their respective sides in this heavyweight fight but seem to agree on one thing: The Rock is at the bottom of the pack. Here’s how one Redditor put it:
Bautista: Brilliant actor. Cena: Comedic genius. The Rock: The Rock.
Sure, Dwayne Johnson can claim to be “Franchise Viagra,” but the Final Boss of WWE doesn’t have Bautista’s dramatic range and he never seems to fully commit to poking fun at himself like Cena. But with The Rock leading Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, we could be seeing a more dynamic performance when the upcoming A24 movie is released.
At the end of the day, wrestling and movies are both subjective artforms, which is what makes this time of discourse so much fun. And with plenty of 2024 movies on the way and some promising upcoming WWE events, it seems like we’ll be having similar conversations for quite some time.
