Top 10 WrestleMania celebrities: No. 10
One of the reasons WrestleMania has become a fixture in pop culture is the involvement of mainstream celebrities. Over the years, numerous actors, athletes, musicians and other personalities have appeared in some capacity at WWE’s annual big event.
Beginning with this post and continuing daily through April 3, I will count down the Top 10 WrestleMania celebrities.
MICKEY ROURKE
Looking to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the movie “The Wrestler,” WWE came up with a story line that was intended to lead to Rourke – who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Randy The Ram in the critically acclaimed film – wrestling Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XXV (2009) in Houston.
However, shortly after the Rourke-Jericho angle began, Rourke backed out of the match after his agents convinced him that participating in the match could be detrimental to his acting career.
So instead of wrestling on the show, Rourke sat in the audience at Reliant Stadium and looked on as Jericho battled WWE legends Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka in a handicap match.
After Jericho got the win and then laid out Ric Flair – who had been in the legends’ corner – after the match, he challenged Rourke to get in the ring. Rourke stepped through the ropes, assumed a boxing stance and knocked out Jericho with a left to the jaw.
Obviously, it would have been a much bigger deal if Rourke had wrestled on the show rather than just doing a post-match cameo, but the fact that an A-list actor who had just been nominated for an Academy Award appeared in any capacity was a feather in WWE’s cap.
Photo of Ric Flair and Mickey Rourke by Getty Images
Categories: Top 10 WrestleMania celebrities
Comments
#1 better be Snooki. Just kidding, but it should be Pete Rose
Posted by: Cory | March 25, 2011 10:27 PM
It was not Mickey Rourke that made his appearance entertaining. It was all Jericho. In fact, Rourke was unbearably slow and turned what should have been an exciting moment into a tedious waste of time. A lot of people, myself included, got the impression that Rourke was legitimately scared of Jericho when that was not something we should be feeling from an Academy Award nominated actor. Furthermore, his involvement was something of an insult to real wresting legends. Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka could not defeat Jericho in a 3-on-1 handicap match but a Hollywood actor can knock out Jericho wth just a punch? That's bull. Drew Carey's appearance at the Royal Rumble, which you derided in an earlier post, was more entertaining and it did not insult anyone.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 26, 2011 2:25 AM
Completely agree with Anonymous! Mickey Rourke sucks! He buried the best wrestler in the world at the time, Chris Jericho and he buried 3 legends because he succeeded where they failed.
Utter bullsh*t! He should have been put in the Walls of Jericho and made to tap and scream like the little b*tch that he is!
Posted by: Anon | March 26, 2011 8:42 AM
I miss Chris Jericho so much, I hope he comes back soon. :)
Posted by: Sharan | March 26, 2011 12:41 PM
Insiders still insist that Rourke may have lost the Oscar by participating in a WWE storyline. The voters are extremely conservative, and did not look at Rourke's escapades with favor.
Posted by: Ron | March 26, 2011 4:11 PM
Wonder if that match would have really prevented him from having a role in Iron Man 2.
Posted by: Jack Windham | March 26, 2011 8:57 PM
Let's not be too quick with these comments about Mickey Rourke. The man was a pro boxer for about a decade, and was no less legitimate than say Buster Douglas, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, or two time Illinois state High School Heavyweight wrestling champion Mr. T. This wasn't as terrible as WCW World Champion David Arquette. Not even close.
Posted by: Big Bob | March 27, 2011 8:09 AM
I stand corrected. Mickey Rourke actually boxed as a pro for 3 1/2 years, and went 6-0-2 with 4 KO's
Posted by: BigBob | March 27, 2011 8:14 AM
My boyfriend and I love watching Wrestle Mania every chance we get and even subscribe to some of the events on PPV just because we have always been followers. We subscribe to Dish Network due to the fact that we get so many sport channels in HD in fact after I did a little research I found they have the most. We actually qualified to get the HD service free. I decided to move in with him last year and he already had service but I got him to at least look into other services. We were shocked by some of the customer service reports about other companies as well as prices and quantity of services. He was dead set on getting the channels that offer him his favorite shows and now I understand why. He watches all sorts of wrestling and ultimate fighting which usually don't come on regular TV. I ended up getting a job with Dish so I started evaluating how they are able to make things work so well for customers. I was amazed by the amount of effort that goes into customer orientation. We will continue to enjoy the benefits of nights of fun TV and Wrestle Mania but we will also have that time together and that matters more; to me anyway.
Posted by: Wrestle Momma | March 27, 2011 6:46 PM
Cyndi Lauper should be on the list. There would be no Wrestlemania without her. It all started with Cyndi and the Rock n Wrestling connection on MTV.
Posted by: Alex | April 6, 2011 11:31 PM