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WWE is a household name around the world which means that their stars often become household names as well. Sometimes, WWE stars will make it to starring in big-screen movies like The Rock, John Cena, and Dave Batista.
Most of the time, though, they star on smaller screens. Stars such as The Miz and The Bella Twins have TV shows directly about their lives, but this is not the case for everyone.
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Given that they are natural TV actors and characters, wrestlers will sometimes make cameos or appearances in other TV shows, outside of reality television.
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Here is a list of 10 wrestling stars you might have forgotten have appeared in non-wrestling-related TV shows.
#10. Rowdy Roddy Piper's TV Pit
The late, great Rowdy Roddy Piper has over 100 acting credits to his name. He famously starred in the 1988 classic They Live and has appeared as a side character in many other movies.
Given that he has so many acting credits, it might be hard to forget that he has appeared in TV shows as well.
There are some of his TV appearances that are sometimes forgotten. Piper appeared in 1994’s Robocop series as Faked Thief Commander Cash. He took on the famous robotic cop in that episode as he played the villain of the main character.
Piper played Daniel Boone in 1999s Mentors and appeared alongside Chuck Norris in TV’s Walker Texas Ranger.
Prior to his death, Piper appeared in a few more TV shows throughout his career. He starred in an episode of Cold Case and in Munchie The Agent, in 2010.
More notably, he appeared in a comedic role on FX’s TV show Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Piper played Da’ Maniac who was a drunken independent wrestler who was basically willing to do anything to make a quick dollar.
Unfortunately, Piper is no longer with us so we just have his amazing wrestling and acting performances to remember him by, but if you come across any of his TV appearances it is always great to see the Rowdy one at his finest.
You can find a few of his appearances on TV available for streaming on Hulu.
#9. Sasha Banks TV Boss
'The Boss' Sasha Banks, recently appeared as a supporting character on TV for the first time in her WWE career.
Banks recently appeared in the second season of Disney Plus’ The Mandalorian, starring as Koska Reeves in two episodes.
This Star Wars TV spin-off was quickly considered critically acclaimed and has been voted best TV show of the year by multiple different publications.
Now, Sasha Banks will be part of this history forever, being the only WWE star to appear in the Star Wars Universe.
Her character is a Mandalorian herself, as she helps protect the lead character Mando and The Child (Baby Yoda) from Moff Gideon and his evil forces.
She aligns herself with Bo Katan who in the series is a Mandalorian looking to be the head of the Mandalorian people.
She only has two appearances in the show but they were two of the more exciting episodes of season two.
Banks did a great job in portraying her role on the TV show, and it is more than likely we can expect to see Banks in non-wrestling related TV shows again in the future.
#8. Edge's Rated R TV
Do you think you know this TV star? The WWE Hall of Famer and former WWE champion has appeared in multiple non-wrestling-related TV shows.
Edge appeared in the TV series Sanctuary in 2011 starting as a character named Thelo for two appearances on the show.
He made 42 appearances on the TV show Haven starring Dwight Hendrickson. Haven is a show based on a Stephen King story and has more of a supernatural feel to it.
Between 2011 and 2015, Edge worked on these two shows and while also working on many WWE side projects. He would star in one episode of The Flash playing the villain, Atom Smasher, before appearing in a 2016 episode of the series Private Eyes where he played a character named Ben Fisk.
Edge made a one-episode appearance for the comedy group The Trailer Park Boys in their animated series where he voiced the character Sledge.
More notably, Edge starred in 25 different episodes of the hit series Vikings. He grew his beard out and played Kjetill Flatnose in the TV show. He made these appearances over the years of 2017-2020 before his return to WWE.
Now that Edge is back in WWE full time, there is a good chance we will only be seeing him on WWE TV for a while.
As nice as it is to have Edge back in the ring, eventually he might appear in a non-wrestling role again but only time will tell.
#7. Chris Jericho TV God
Although Chris Jericho has been on TV for quite some time now, Le Champion only has a shortlist of non-wrestling-related TV appearances.
Jericho first appeared on TV in ECW in 1996 but made an appearance on the TV series The Show of Archiles as a character named Dancer Owens.
He then starred in a TV movie about the band Fozzy that Jericho happens to be the frontman of. Jericho wrote the movie and starred as Mongoose McQueen. The movie has a few hard rock legends starring in it as well.
Much later in 2013, Jericho made an appearance on a TV miniseries during the pilot episode of Jon Davis Gets a Sex Robot. Despite the very intriguing name, the series did not turn out to be that popular.
In 2015 Jericho starred in two different TV movies. In Nothing to Report, a comedy where he played a police officer, he stars as an emotionally damaged cop who has to learn to get along with his equally damaged partner.
Later in the year, he starred in the third installment of the Sharkando franchise. He plays Bruce the Ride Attendant in a hilarious scene that does not work out that well for his character. Even though he is only in the movie for a small amount of time, it is a fun appearance for any wrestling fan to appreciate.
Jericho then appeared in the TV comedy series The Thundermans for one episode in 2016 titled Beat the Parents.
Jericho has a few mainstream movie appearances under his belt as well, but he hasn’t appeared in anything non-wrestling-related since his The Thundermans appearance. He is busy with AEW, his band Fozzy, and his Podcast, but that does not mean we might not see 'The Demo God' testing out his acting skills down the line.
#6. Bret Hart and #5. Sgt. Slaughter: Best Maggots on TV
Bret Hart and Sgt Slaughter are both WWE Hall of Famers but they are also stars in the animated TV world!
The Hitman appeared in an episode of one of the longest-running TV shows in history, The Simpsons. Hart starred in the episode “The Old Man and The Lisa” in 1997 where he plays himself. The episode revolves mostly around Lisa Simpson but it was a cool appearance by Bret Hart that stole the whole episode.
Hart also starred in a few non-animated TV roles where he played characters in TV shows like The Immortal and Lonesome Dove. Most recently, he was the voice of The Gas Mechanic in the Corner Gas Animated Series.
As for SGT Slaughter, he took his on-screen persona of the hardcore drill sergeant and took it as a lead in the animated GI: Joe series.
Slaughter starred as himself (at least his wrestling on-screen character) as he was a sergeant on team GI Joe. He appeared in well over 30 different animated episodes and a few animated movies.
He is also credited with appearing as himself in the Super Mario Brothers animated series based on the famous video game.
Other than these two projects, he has been doing stuff related to the wrestling business since the early 90s and has not appeared in any other non-wrestling-related TV projects.
#4. John Cena: You can see him on TV
That’s right! Former WWE Champion and movie star John Cena also made a few non-wrestling-related appearances starring in TV shows.
Cena signed with WWE in early 2000s and quickly became the next top guy in the company. Although Cena starred in a few WWE movies, he did not make his first TV show appearance until 2010 where he played Ewan O’ Hara on USA Network’s Psych.
Cena’s character was a military man on the run and it was up to the main characters of the show to prove that he was innocent. He reprised the role several years later when he appeared in the Pysch TV Movie special.
In 2010, he also made an appearance on the show voicing the character Hunter Cain in the animated series Generator Rex. From there, Cena would play the character of Fred’s Dad in three movies based on internet sensation Fred.
John Cena would then make a guest appearance on the NBC show Parks and Recreation in 2015. After that, he only appeared on TV in a wrestling-related role until he starred in the TV movie Tour De Pharmacy.
He is the lead voicing character in the animated series Dallas and Robo, and he voices Baron Draxum in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series.
Cena is also one of the hosts of the Wipeout reboot where he comments on people wiping out while attempting to complete an extreme obstacle course.
He does have a series coming out for HBOMax where he will be starring in a spinoff series for his character The PeaceMaker from James Gunn’s upcoming Suicide Squad movie.
Cena is rumored to be returning to the ring soon as well but either way, this will not be the last time we see him in a non-wrestling-related TV show.
#3. Vader and #2. Mick Foley: Its a Nice Day for TV
Vader and Mick Foley have a lot in common in regards to the ring but they also have a lot in common in regards to TV shows.
Both Mick Foley and Vader appeared on the hit television show Boy Meets World back in 1990s.
Vader plays Frankie Sr., the father of the main character's sometime bully Frankie Jr. He also played himself and Frankie Jr. just so happened to be the son of Vader.
On screen Big Van Vader would play a mean, very large, tough guy but in Boy Meets World, they showed that he does have a sensitive side. His wrestling TV persona was only a small part of this larger-than-life character.
He starred in three different episodes, one of which he was competing in a match against Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Other than Boy Meets World, Vader appeared in one episode of Baywatch as a promotion for Bash at the Beach.
Mick Foley, on the other hand, appeared on Boy Meets World playing his mildly creepy Mankind character.
Mankind was one of Foley's three faces of Foley and it was the most unique of all of his characters. He wore a mask and had some really scary characteristics to him.
He only appears in one episode of the TV series but it was memorable enough to be considered a great performance.
The episode appears later in the series where the main characters challenge each other to a wrestling match for the rights to an apartment.
Foley also has a few more television acting credits to his name as a voice actor for TV shows like Squidbillies and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Most recently, he made a guest appearance on The Big Show Show starring none other than The Big Show (an honorable mention for this list).
#1 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Electrifies TV
Finally, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has not only appeared in multiple movie projects, but he has also appeared in numerous TV series throughout his acting career.
Johnson is undoubtedly the most popular wrestling star to ever become a full-time actor. In the late 90s, he appeared in shows like The Net and That 70s Show in wrestling-related roles.
He then appeared in the futuristic Star Trek: Voyager as The Champion in 2000. It was shortly after this that his acting career started to take off, but he did find time to appear in some Disney Channel TV shows.
He made guest appearances in both Hannah Montana and The Wizards of Waverly Place, as many people started to know who he was outside of the wrestling world.
He has hosted Saturday Night Live a few times but most notably he started in the HBO series Ballers. The show followed a former NFL player named Spencer who was breaking into the sports management world.
The show won multiple awards and concluded in 2019 after five seasons. Now Johnson has a TV show called Young Rock that he narrates. It is based on his childhood being the son of a professional wrestling star, and it highlights his upcoming roots making him who he is today.
The Rock is by far one of the busiest people on the planet but he seems to be everywhere. One thing is for sure, we may not see him in the ring ever again (hoping I’m wrong on this one) but we will for sure see him on TV more and more as his popularity only gets bigger!
