You would think that wrestlers would be able to naturally transition to an acting career. After all, becoming a great professional wrestler requires you to do quite a bit of acting. However, history has proven that there is just something about that transition from ring to screen that causes even the greatest wrestlers to seemingly forget that they’ve actually been training to be an actor their whole lives. There are some exceptions to that rule, but for the most part, people tend to imagine the absolute worst when they hear about a professional wrestler appearing in a movie.

That makes it all the more impressive that there is a select group of films starring professional wrestlers that are even worse than the rest. They’re films so bad that we bet the wrestlers that starred in them don’t even like to talk about them. When you consider that most of those wrestlers probably only took these roles for a paycheck, or just to get a foot in the door in the world of acting, that’s really saying something. These are movies that not only bombed at the box office - or bargain bin - but movies that arguably make us think less of filmmaking in general.

15 Jesse Ventura - Abraxas: Guardian Of The Universe

Via: sglmoviestore.com

Jesse Ventura has actually been in a few great movies. Predator, The Running Man, Batman & Robin...ok, maybe not that last one, but the point remains that he boasts one of the more impressive filmographies for a wrestler. However, Ventura has never really been a great leading man. He’s more of a memorable side character. Consider, for instance, his starring role in Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe.

So far as we can figure, Ventura appeared in this movie because someone probably sold him on the idea that this seemingly awful sci-fi movie was going to be a blockbuster.

Instead, this ended up being one of the worst films of the early ‘90s, which is really saying something. Not that Ventura had much of a star career until this point, but this move certainly killed any chance he ever would be a true leading man.

14 Bill Goldberg - Santa’s Slay

Via: bloodydisgusting.com

The history of Christmas horror movies is a proud one. Black Christmas, Silent Night Deadly Night, and even Gremlins have managed to turn the happiest time of the year into the scariest season of them all. You may have noticed we didn’t mention Santa’s Slay in that list of horror Christmas classics. Well, there’s a good reason for that. It sucks. This 2005 movie stars Bill Goldberg as a killer Santa. Why? Well, this story theorizes that Santa is a demon who only gave toys to kids because of an old bet he lost against an angel. When the stipulations of that bet expired, Santa decided to just start killing everyone. Granted, that’s kind of cool, but the rest of this movie is paint by numbers awful.

13 Hulk Hogan - Santa With Muscles

Via: justwatch.com

What is it with wrestlers in Santa movies? Granted, the list of movies Hulk Hogan probably regrets being in is a long one, and we could have chosen any of them for this list. However, there’s one movie that makes even the Suburban Commandos of the world look like award season masterpieces.

Santa With Muscles tells the story of an evil millionaire - Hulk Hogan in the role he was born to play - who comes to believe he is Santa Claus after an accident causes him to lose his memory.

Then, for some reason, an evil scientist tries to steal magic crystals located under a children’s orphanage (seriously) and Hogan must save the day. It’s the worst Hogan movie that you’ll ever see.

12 Batista – Wrong Side of Town

Via: justwatch.com

Dave Bautista happens to have one of the more accomplished film careers among wrestlers. Spectre, Blade Runner 2049, Guardians of the Galaxy...the guy is on fire. However, before Batista decided that he was going to be a full-time actor, he decided to appear in some films that were...well, let’s just say that he was clearly testing the movie waters and trying to get a few titles on his resume. Wrong Side of Town is probably the most obvious example of a movie that Batista wishes he could have back. Batista starred in this film alongside fellow wrestler Rob Van Dam (more on him later) and played a musclehead named Big Ronnie who does musclehead things. As Batista strives to be a serious actor, we’re willing to bet he’d be happy to remove this one from his career reel.

11 Sting - Shutterspeed

Via: yola.com

During Sting’s earliest years in WCW, he got over with fans by virtue of his good looks, surprising array of in-ring skills, and high energy. He was the kind of wrestler a studio could look at and think “Yeah, we could probably put him in an action movie.” However, Shutterspeed wasn’t made in Sting’s young days.

It came out in 2000 when Sting was starting to show his age.

That’s not a problem in and of itself, but when you consider that Sting cannot act - as in “cannot act at all” - that means that most people who view this movie will probably spend most of their time staring at Sting’s shockingly receding hairline. Everyone else will just wonder why somebody bothered to make the most generic detective movie ever.

10 Edge - Highlander: Endgame

Via: wrestlersinhollywood.com

Edge was a strange star of the Attitude Era. While most of that eras biggest names were imported from other companies or had otherwise been with the company and were repackaged, Edge was brought into the company during the peak of the era and was turned into a kind of homegrown star. In fact, Edge’s star rose so fast that studios began offering him movie roles. Of course, we use the term “movie” loosely as Highlander: Endgame is more of a reminder of better films disguised as a motion picture. However, there’s a very good chance that you remember this movie if you watched WWE in 2000 as the company relentlessly promoted it across their various programs. Anyone who actually tried to watch it, though, probably walked away hating Edge for the first time.

9 Chavo Guerrero Sr. - Alligator 2: The Mutation

Via: putlockerworld.com

No, Chavo Guerrero Sr. isn’t the biggest name on this list, but we still can’t help but be perplexed by how this entire thing happened. Chavo Guerrero Sr. may have been a well-respected wrestler, but he was not a particularly well-known actor. In fact, Guerrero appeared in exactly one movie prior to his role in Alligator II. Why, then, did Guerrero appear in a direct-to-video movie about a mutated alligator who winds up in a city and goes on a killing spree? We’re honestly not sure. If we had to guess, the director or someone else involved with the movie was a Chavo Guerrero Sr. fan and decided that they just had to have him in the movie. It’s not like this movie ruined Guerrero’s acting career, but seriously, how did this happen?

8 Triple H - The Chaperone

Via: wrestlingmedia.org

We’re not saying that Triple H has an ego problem, but we will say that we wouldn’t be surprised if someone were to suggest that Triple H at least used to have an ego problem. We only bring this up because there’s a very good chance that Triple H is somewhat resentful of his former wrestlers who go on to appear in great movies. Triple H, meanwhile, was in such “classics” as Blade III and The Chaperone.

By the time that Triple H appeared in The Chaperone, he was starting to transition into more of an active behind the scenes role.

As such, we don’t imagine he was contractually obligated to appear in this awful WWE Studios movie about a wheelman who serves as a chaperone on his daughter’s field trip.

7 Various Wrestlers - Body Slam

Via: yesmovie.to

Wrestling was huge in the ‘80s. You could definitely make the argument that the business was bigger during the Attitude Era, but ‘80s WWE had more of a broad appeal that could probably be attributed to its more family-friendly style. In many ways, Body Slam is a wrestling movie made to capitalize off the popularity of the wrestling business. In many more ways, Body Slam is not a wrestling movie. Confused? You’ll be even more confused after watching this movie about a music promoter who accidentally ends up becoming a wrestling promoter, but then ends up turning the wrestlers into a travelling band. Roddy Piper, Lou Albano, Sam Fatu, and more star in this cocaine-fuelled movie that changes genres every few seconds and is never entertaining.

6 Kurt Angle - End Game

via pittsburghfilmoffice.com

To a good chunk of the wrestling world, the section of Kurt Angle’s career that happened after his departure from WWE and before his return to WWE just doesn’t exist. While some Angle fans lament that so many people haven’t seen his legitimately good TNA matches, Angle is probably just happy that nobody was paying attention when he appeared in 2009’s End Game. End Game sees Kurt Angle star as a vicious criminal who takes pleasure in committing various crimes.

In case you’re wondering, no, Kurt Angle cannot act.

That’s actually the least of this film’s problems, though. Its biggest issue is that its shot exactly like a, shall we say, "late night film" but features none of the fun featured in those films. It also doesn’t help that Angle is billed as the leading man when he plays an over-the-top villain.

5 Sable and Marc Mero - Ariana’s Quest

We had some good fun making fun of Edge earlier for appearing in that awful Highlander movie in 2000, but at least that was a feature film made during one of the heights of Edge’s career. Ariana’s Quest is an entirely different animal. Made in 2002, this television movie stars Sable as a princess fighting for the freedom of her magical kingdom. It also features an appearance from Marc Mero as one of the generals of Xanthos; the evil lord who wants to...oh, there’s not a chance that you care.

Anyone who has ever tried to watch Sable act before will be able to tell you even without seeing this movie that she is absolutely incapable of expressing any real human emotions. As for the rest of the film, its most notable quality is actually Sable’s terrible acting.

4 Rob Van Dam - Black Mask 2: City of Masks

via hongkongaction.com

The original Black Mask isn’t exactly one of the best kung-fu movies of all-time, but it was a very entertaining action film that helped Jet Li become an international action star. Black Mask 2 is the rushed sequel to that film that released in 2002 with pretty much no fanfare. In fact, the only truly notable quality of the film is that it happens to feature an appearance by Rob Van Dam.

Now, we have absolutely no idea how Rob Van Dam got involved with this project.

It seems obvious enough that the producers felt RVD’s popularity could encourage more people to watch this movie, but why Rob Van Dam? He practically does nothing in the movie to show off his athletic talents and his appearance amounts to less than a few minutes of total screentime.

3 Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, and Sycho Sid - River of Darkness

Via: tinq.com

If you thought we were done talking about Kurt Angle’s awful film career, brother you haven’t seen River of Darkness. This time around, Kurt Angle plays a small town sheriff who must investigate some strange murders occurring in his otherwise sleepy part of the world. Eventually, he discovers that there’s some supernatural stuff going on. Part of the reason this movie ranks so high on this list is because it actually stars three wrestlers - Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, and Sycho Sid - who are all awful actors who should have run away from this movie and just made up the money they lost elsewhere. The other reason this movie ranks so highly is because of its bizarre racially charged plot that sees former lynch mob victims return as zombies.

2 The Rock - Southland Tales

Via: outline.com

To be honest, Southland Tales isn’t the worst movie on this list. You could even make the argument that it’s not the worst movie The Rock has ever been in. However, this movie deserves special recognition because of what an absolute disaster it was. Coming off of the success of Donnie Darko and Domino, Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales was hyped to be a film festival darling. However, when it showed at Cannes in 2006, those in attendance showered boos upon this utterly bizarre would-be masterpiece. This movie was so bad that Roger Ebert later said that even if it wasn’t for the chorus of boos drowning out the movie’s dialog he still wouldn’t have been able to tell what was supposed to be happening in the movie. At least The Rock’s other bad movies were expected to be bad.

1 Roddy Piper - Hell Comes to Frogtown

Via: todoblu.com

In 1988, Roddy Piper starred in John Carpenter’s They Live. It was an odd casting choice for Carpenter, but the gamble paid off as Piper’s unique on-screen presence helped elevate They Live into a true cult classic that some consider to be a masterpiece of sci-fi social commentary.

In 1988, Roddy Piper starred in Hell Comes to Frogtown; a movie in which Roddy Piper wears an explosive codpiece.

It’s useless to try to make sense of this film’s plot, but we will tell you that it deals with the ultra-fertile Roddy Piper impregnating too many women in the post-apocalypse and eventually being forced to rescue a group of slaves. There’s a very good chance that this movie ruined any chance that Roddy Piper had of becoming a late ‘80s film star.