AEW World Champion MJF wants to continue his Hollywood experience, ultimately becoming the final face of an acting Mount Rushmore.
Now a three-time AEW World Champion, MJF recaptured the title at Double or Nothing on May 24, defeating Darby Allin.
Outside of AEW, MJF has found his way to Hollywood, starring in the 2023 movie The Iron Claw as Lance Von Erich, with a role in Happy Gilmore 2 following last year.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, MJF was asked what his ultimate Hollywood goal is, with the AEW star revealing he wants the final place on the Mount Rushmore of wrestlers-turned-actors, saying:
“Mount Rushmore has four heads, and when you look at the Mount Rushmore of wrestlers-turned-actors, it’s Dave Bautista, John Cena and The Rock. There’s a missing part of that Mount Rushmore.
“It’s not because I’m manifesting it or anything, it’s just a fact — I’m going to be that fourth head. We’ve got Violent Night 2 coming out in theaters. It’s a Universal picture that I was a part of, that’s happening in early December.
“There are a lot of things I got cooking that legally I’m not allowed to say yet — I’m not at liberty to say yet.”
MJF has two movies upcoming, with the aforementioned Violent Night 2 in post-production and Floaters yet to receive a release date.
Violent Night 2 sees David Harbour reprise his role as a bitter and jaded Santa Claus from the 2022 action black comedy movie.
Wrestling With Hollywood
Wrestlers crossing over with Hollywood isn’t new. but the level of success and, arguably, prestige with which projects are met seemingly is. It would be a challenge to cover every movie or television show that has featured a wrestling star across the decades.
While Hulk Hogan may have had success in movies and television, it really didn’t compare to the box office pull that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson became, with John Cena and Batista also carving their own niche.
Becky Lynch had a role in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, having also found her way onto the big screen for Happy Gilmore in a supporting role, while CM Punk starred in the horror movie Night Patrol and animated comedy Zootopia 2 last year. Adam Copeland has The Beekeeper 2 coming, having established a movie career of his own, alongside a TV filmography that includes starring as Ares in Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
If nothing else, there’s variety to these bookings, far from the “big wrestler action hero/awkward situation” template that dominated much of the WWE Films/Studios output of the early 2000s and into the 2010s.
Hollywood are clearly taking notice of what the wrestling world has to offer, with Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, as examples, shortly to be seen on the big screen in the live-action adaptation of Street Fighter, playing Akuma and Guile respectively. Asked about this, MJF would reveal he hopes that the “movie does well”, adding that he hopes both WWE stars “do great”.
With MJF also sharing that he loves seeing stars succeed ” outside of the professional wrestling bubble”, there’s plenty of opportunity for that across the Hollywood space in particular.
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