WWE has seen multiple wrestlers and former champions successfully make the transition from in-ring talent to Hollywood superstar.
The most obvious examples are Dwayne Johnson, John Cena, and Hulk Hogan, but other superstars have had memorable acting careers, including Roddy Piper, Andre the Giant, and Adam Copeland.
The most recent WWE Superstar to truly pull off the silver screen transition is Dave Bautista.
A six-time World Champion and two-time Royal Rumble winner, Bautista has gone on to star in multiple successful films, including Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) and the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy as Drax the Destroyer.
Now, Bautista believes that a current WWE Superstar has the potential to succeed just as much as John Cena and Dwayne Johnson.
During the Puppy Interview with BuzzFeed Celeb, Bautista revealed that he thinks eight-time World Champion CM Punk is probably the most overlooked superstar when it comes to acting.
“You know who I think was really overlooked as an actor, I don’t know if he hasn’t pursued it as much as he’d like to because he’s still heavily pursuing professional wrestling, but is CM Punk, Phil Brooks,” Bautista said. “His potential in acting is pretty unlimited. So I really want to see more from him in acting. And I’d actually love to work with him.”
However, Bautista believes that one thing is getting in the way of Punk’s film career: himself.
“‘Cause I think he has a passion for acting, but I think still his heart is in professional wrestling. Until he’s able to let that go a little bit, he’ll never be able to fully envelop himself in acting. But I think Phil Brooks, he’s a great actor.”
Punk, who is currently in a fierce feud with Bautista’s The Killer’s Game (2024) co-star Drew McIntyre, is enormously popular and considered by many to be one of the best talkers in the business.
In fact, he is often credited with revitalizing professional wrestling after he dropped his infamous “pipe bomb” promo in 2011.
Punk began his career as a backyard wrestler before making his debut in Ring of Honor (ROH) in a gauntlet match against Bryan Danielson. He would eventually go on to win the ROH World Championship once and the ROH Tag Team Championship twice.
Soon, Punk found his way to WWE and made his television debut on ECW. He would remain with the company for nine years before retiring in 2014.
In that time, he earned the ECW Championship once, the WWE Championship twice, and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship three times. He also won Money in the Bank twice.
Seven years after his retirement, Punk made his professional wrestling return with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he earned the AEW Championship twice. However, his time with AEW came to a controversial end, leading to a triumphant return to WWE, where he’s been ever since.
