In America, WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night Raw, airs -- somewhat appropriately -- on the USA Network, which airs a lot of original scripted programming like sitcoms and dramas. As a result, many WWE stars have made guest appearances on USA series like Pacific Blue, Psych, and Burn Notice, among countless others. Any time you’re watching Suits and notice someone who seems more muscular than they should be, it’s probably someone from the WWE.
But those kinds of cross-promotional stunts are to be expected. What about the more surprising instances of pro wrestlers showing up on TV shows? These kinds of appearances include sci-fi shows, goofy comedies, animated series, and oddly enough, fictional roles on reality shows.
10 Sasha Banks, The Mandalorian (2020)
Wrestling fans who checked out the trailer for Season 2 of the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian got an unexpected surprise when it revealed that Sasha Banks was going to be a part of the show’s cast. Details about Banks’ character are unknown -- Lucasfilm is pretty secretive about those things -- but there are loads of fan theories about just who Banks is playing. There’s one thing that is known, however: she probably won’t do a Meteora off of a spaceship.
9 John Cena, Manhunt (2001)
In the early 2000s, Survivor was a huge hit with TV viewers, so every network tried to come up with their own high-concept game show. UPN’s attempt was called Manhunt, and the premise was insane: contestants were pursued by actors playing bounty hunters, and the one who could avoid capture the longest was the winner. The show was eventually cancelled when word got out that it was rigged, but Manhunt is most notable for one of its bounty hunters, Big Tim Kingman, who was played by John Cena circa his time at LA’s Ultimate Pro Wrestling.
8 Terry Funk, Wildside (1985)
One of the most surprising wrestlers who got regular film and TV work has got to be Terry Funk. Funk is best remembered for cinematic turns in Over the Top and Road House, but he also did a significant amount of guest roles work in television.
One of his few regular cast roles was on the 1985 ABC midseason replacement Wildside, a western action show about frontier businessmen who moonlight as A-Team-esque outlaw vigilantes. Terry Funk played the incredibly named, lasso expert and town veterinarian.
7 "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, RoboCop: The Series (1994)
Anybody who’s not secretly a lizard person will agree that Roddy Piper’s greatest contribution to the moving picture is his starring turn in They Live, but that’s not Piper’s only role. One of the stranger ones is a guest role on the forgotten RoboCop: The Series. But it’s a good one, perfectly suited to Piper’s repertoire: he plays a deranged criminal who’s taken to posing as Commander Cash, a recurring cartoon mascot that functions as propaganda for the villainous corporation Omni Consumer Products.
6 Mick Foley, Avatar: The Last Airbender (2006)
For a guy who once ran three different gimmicks at the same time, Mick Foley hasn’t actually done a whole lot of acting in his spare time. That said, Cactus Jack does have a few interesting roles under his belt, including a couple appearances on the beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It’s a pretty appropriate role too: Foley is The Boulder, an earthbender who regularly competes in the Earth Rumble tournaments. Guess what stone-themed pro wrestler The Boulder is modeled after. Hint: it’s not Tomohiro Ishii.
5 Edge, The Flash (2015)
Since his initial retirement in 2011, Edge has appeared on numerous Canadian genre shows, including both Haven and Sanctuary. In 2015, Edge showed up in an episode of The Flash, playing an evil, alternate universe version of the superhero Atom-Smasher (a.k.a. Nuklon). It’s a kind of funny adaptation because Atom-Smasher typically looks like a wrestler in the comics, and the TV version looks more like the Dark Knight Rises version of Bane.
4 Goldberg, Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998)
The Love Boat was a beloved series in the 1970s and 1980s that featured a bevy of guest stars on a cruise ship, and Love Boat: The Next Wave was the less-beloved late-1990s revival. But the reboot also had guest stars, including Bill Goldberg. You better believe he Spears a guy into a pool!
The guy in question is fellow WCW star Kevin Nash, but Nash’s appearance on this show is less surprising because Nash looks like a guy who you’d see on a singles cruise.
3 Stone Cold Steve Austin, Nash Bridges (2000)
Here’s a different Nash: Nash Bridges, the CBS cop show starring Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. These kinds of shows depend on a rotating cast of one-off characters and guest stars every week, creating a high possibility of a wrestler showing up in them. Stone Cold Steve Austin actually had a recurring guest spot on Nash Bridges, playing “Inspector Jake Cage,” a former protege of Bridges who shows up to help out with a case every now and again.
2 Big E, Lazor Wulf (2019)
Don’t let those insane powerlifter muscles fool you: Big E is a total weirdo. He hasn’t done a whole lot of acting outside the ring, but when he has, he’s made it count. E is a regular cast member on Lazor Wulf, the Adult Swim animated series based on the webcomic by Henry Bonsu. Big E plays Canon Wulf, who -- as you might expect -- is a wolf with a cannon on his back. What you can’t tell from that name is that he sports some fly shades.
1 The Rock, Star Trek Voyager (2000)
Less prevalent in WWE history is the cross-promotion with UPN original programming, as SmackDown originally aired on that station in the US. Homeboys in Outer Space went off the air before Ken Shamrock could have a guest spot on it, but there’s one just as weird, notable appearance: The Rock was on Star Trek: Voyager. Playing an alien fighter -- complete with the bumpy Star Trek head makeup! -- in the MMA-esque sport of “Tsunkatse,” The Rock ends up tusslin’ with Seven of Nine. It’s awesome to rewatch in the 21st century, now that “Dwayne” is one of the biggest movie stars in the world.