Wrestlers Who Guest Starred On Sitcoms

Professional wrestlers have been intertwined with show business for years, and this is especially true following the popularity boom of the '80s. Then-WWF owner Vincent K. McMahon wanted wrestling to become as synonymous with popular culture as possible, and wrestlers crossing over onto the big screen became a proven method for creating mainstream stars. However, an often overlooked part of wrestling's relationship with show business is the abundance of wrestlers who made appearances on the small screen, namely on sitcom television shows.

Wrestlers have a long and storied history of making memorable appearances on sitcoms. The comedic timing of some of wrestling's top stars made them natural fits for one-off appearances on some of the biggest shows on television. The first wrestling-related appearance on a sitcom can likely be traced back to "Classy" Freddie Blassie's appearance on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" back in 1962, and wrestlers have continued appearing on sitcoms well into the 21st Century.

Here are 30 examples of wrestlers appearing on sitcoms over the years.

Shortly before his most recent departure from WWE, Chris Jericho guest starred in an episode of "The Thundermans," a Nickelodeon sitcom. The show ran for four seasons between 2013 and 2018 and followed a family, the Thundermans, who tried to cope in an average society despite having superpowers. Jericho appeared in the 19th episode of Season 3, titled "Beat the Parents." In the episode, Max Thunderman is nervous about meeting his girlfriend's parents and seeks help from his sister to win them over.

Jericho plays Gary, the stereotypically gruff and scary father of Max Thunderman's girlfriend. Jericho's character hosted the Thundermans at the grand opening of his mixed martial arts gym, but ended up kicking them out after they spoiled the event. The characters reconcile, however, at the conclusion of the 20-minute episode. Two of the show's starring actors, Kira Kosarin and Jack Griffo, praised the mullet-bearing Jericho's performance in a behind-the-scenes video uploaded to the Nickelodeon YouTube channel.

Comedian Drew Carey receives his fair share of criticism for being a WWE Hall of Famer despite making just one appearance for the company at "The Royal Rumble" in 2001. However, the current host of "The Price is Right" involved WWE with his own sitcom, "The Drew Carey Show," two years before he ever stepped foot in a WWE ring. Triple H guest starred on a January 1999 episode of Carey's show titled, "Rats, Kate's Dating a Wrestler" which enabled "The Game" to channel more of his comedic side.

In a previous season of the show, Carey and his friends created a new beer, Buzz Beer, that fused the wheaty taste of beer with the caffeinated aftereffects of coffee. In "Rats, Kate's Dating a Wrestler," Carey and his friends hire The Disciplinarian (played by Triple H), a popular professional wrestler, to help endorse their beer. The Disciplinarian also starts to date Kate, Drew's friend and on-and-off romantic interest. The endorsement deal ultimately fails when The Disciplinarian stops working out and making public appearances in favor of getting drunk. As a result, his relationship with Kate also meets its end by the end of the episode. 

For years, it was questioned whether or not Bret "The Hitman" Hart actually guest starred on the legendary cartoon sitcom "The Simpsons," because of how little the character sounded like him. However, "The Hitman" put the rumors to bed in a 2009 interview with The AV Club. As it turns out, he was approached by the show's producers to voice a wrestling character in the Season 8 episode, "The Old Man and his Lisa" who buys Mr. Burns' mansion. He is recognized in the episode as "Hitman," but this was not originally meant to be the case. Unable to comprehend his popularity as one of the WWF's biggest stars of 1997, the producers tabbed Hart to play what he described as a "Mad Russian" character.

"I did my lines about 100 times in two minutes," Hart said. "I went outside to wait for my limo that had gone to get gas, and I signed autographs and took pictures for 45 minutes. The guy that was in charge of my episode came up to me and said, 'I had no idea you were this big of a star. If we haven't already started the artwork, we're going to draw you in as yourself.' That's why the voice doesn't really sound like me, because I thought I was playing a crazy Russian." The WWF ran with the publicity over Hart's appearance on the show and released the May 1997 edition of WWF magazine with Hart posing next to Bart Simpson on the cover.

John Cena may be known in Hollywood circles for his role as "Peacemaker" among others, but during his full-time wrestling days, Cena became known for appearing on sitcoms as himself. One such appearance on NBC's "Parks and Recreation" saw Cena get "arrested" on the final episode of the "Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show," a fictional show within the show. According to a Fast Company article, Cena landed the role on the NBC hit show after getting to know lead actress Amy Poehler on the set of her 2015 movie, "Sisters." Cena made a comedic cameo in the movie as Pazuzu, one of the characters' drug dealers. 

For Cena, making cameos as "himself" is much easier than having to channel his actual personality in acting roles. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but there is a difference between the John Cena character you see on television and me as a human being," Cena told Fast Company. "A role like I had on Parks and Rec, to me is very easy to understand and that's something that I can do with my eyes closed. But these other projects that have come up are more challenging and in a good way."

The other memorable wrestling cameo on "Boy Meets World" came when Mankind, Mick Foley's popular WWF character at the time, appeared on the show in its final season. In the episode, "For Love and Apartments," Mankind busts down the door to an apartment while still donning the "referee stripes" he wore at WrestleMania XV. Given the show's setting in Philadelphia, the location of WrestleMania the year the episode aired (1999), it is entirely possible Mankind appeared in Jack and Rachel's apartment immediately before or after his main event run-in.

Mankind showed up in the episode to officiate an apartment wrestling match between the show's boys (Jack and Eric) and girls (Topanga, Angela, and Rachel) with the winning team getting the apartment. Chaos swiftly ensues with Mankind even getting involved with the action himself, helping the girls ultimately win the apartment. Mankind appeared one more time at the end of the episode to take out his frustrations on the boys over the "cute guy" on a Backstreet Boys poster "staring" at him.

Few wrestling-sitcom cameos are talked about by fans quite as much as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's appearance on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Piper made two appearances on the FX comedy, playing a wrestler known as "Da Maniac" in the Season 5 episode "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops." In an effort to "give back" to the troops, Charlie, Mac, and Dennis decide to do their part by putting on a wrestling show, leaving plenty of comedic opportunity between Piper and the main cast. Da Maniac returned to the show in a 2013 episode revolving around a pyramid scheme Dee and Charlie get involved with.

According to a Q and A he conducted with TV Screener, Piper based the character on Mickey Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson character in "The Wrestler," which came out shortly before the episode aired. "He's a take-off of the character Mickey Rourke played in 'The Wrestler,' and putting him in a sitcom situation," Piper said. "You know, they're very kind people, the 'Sunny' cast, I'm a big fan of theirs. When they were growing up, they watched wrestling -– they were very sweet (to me)- – and when this project came about, and I heard they wanted someone to play the part of 'The Wrestler,' so to speak, it seemed like kind of a natural (thing) there, I guess."

With a show going by the name of "Detroiters," Kevin Nash would have to be on the shortlist of celebrity cameos the show could get, especially given his comedic tendencies. Nash is a Detroit, Michigan native through and through, and was billed from the Motor City for the majority of his in-ring career. "Detroiters" aired on Comedy Central for two seasons between 2017 and 2018. The show followed friends and next-door neighbors Sam Duvet and Tim Cramblin and their experience working as creatives at an advertising agency in town.

Nash guest starred as "Big Hank" Cramblin, Tim Cramblin's father who owned the advertising agency and had recently been dismissed from the Wayne County insane asylum, paving the way for yet another memorable Nash guest spot. "Those guys kind of let me f****** let do my own thing and let me improvise and have some fun," Nash told co-host Sean Oliver on his podcast, "Kliq THIS." "I got to do a little physical comedy. I love comedy. I think I'm the best at that, when you put me in a comedic role."

Edge, one of many wrestlers who have dabbled in acting following his initial retirement from the ring, is in rarified air as a wrestler to appear on an animated sitcom. Edge plays the character "Sledge" on an episode of the second season of "Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series." In the episode titled, "Clint Eatswood," the show's characters are recruited by a Hollywood producer to star in a wrestling film. One of the characters, Julian, goes one-on-one with Sledge, who bears a striking resemblance to Edge, in the movie, before things start to take a turn for the worse.

The gang quickly learns that the movie they agreed to do is not necessarily a Hollywood blockbuster in the traditional sense, but rather a gay porn movie. Hilarity in the episode ensues, and Edge put over his involvement in the series in a post to his Twitter account. "From becoming friends with John Dunsworth on the set of 'Haven,' I met the motley crew known as @trailerparkboys," Edge wrote. "What happens when we put our odd Canuck brains together? A LOT of weirdness." 

Roman Reigns took his turn at appearing on a sitcom on Nickelodeon "Cousins for Life." The show, which stars "Cobra Kai" standout Dallas Dupree Young, depicts a man who moves himself and his son to Portland, Oregon to live with his brother's family after his wife is deployed on an overseas mission. In the episode "A Farewell to Arthur?," Reigns plays Rodney, a neighbor of the family, a Pomeranian dog owner, and the father of the children's friend who is upset with the family's pig, Arthur, digging around in his tomato garden.

"My character, Rodney, is not only a sweet father but he is a show dog trainer and owner," Reigns said in behind-the-scenes footage shot for WWE. "I had to come over and try to lay the law down, but it's not looking good for me. I'm outnumbered and going against a pig. I wanted to play this role because my daughter is 11 years old and I feel like half of the day I'm watching Nickelodeon anyways. I was all in and then once I told my daughter, she was like, 'daddy, you'd better do that.'"

"Learning the Ropes" would not be the last pro-wrestling-centric sitcom to feature cameos from real-life wrestlers. "Nikki," a show that aired on the WB Network between 2000 and 2002 from the co-creator of "The Drew Carey Show," Bruce Helford. The sitcom followed the lives of Nikki White (played by Nikki Cox) and her husband Dwight, a pro wrestler. Given her husband's occupation, "Nikki" would see a handful of guest spots from wrestlers such as Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, The Fabulous Moolah and The Blue Meanie, as well as Lisa Marie Varon who later became Victoria in the WWE. WWE Celebrity Wing Hall of Famer Drew Carey even made an appearance as a business mogul who buys the wrestling promotion in the show. 

Unfortunately, "Nikki" would receive mostly mixed to negative reviews. One positive review from The Los Angeles Times mentioned that while "most of the premiere is forgettable, the second episode is wheezingly funny and the third is also a kick." "Nikki" would be canceled after two seasons with the network citing "very low ratings." Nevertheless, the Nikki Cox-led program is one that deserves to be recognized more by wrestling fans for its positive, light-hearted portrayal of pro wrestling.

The Bushwhackers and the hit '90s sitcom "Family Matters" might seem like an odd match on paper, but the Australian tag team managed to deliver a memorable appearance on the show that sees them step into the ring with the show's most famous character, Steve Urkel. Urkel is a comedy character to the core, who became iconic for his squeaky voice, love of cheese, and scheming ways. In the episode, "Psycho Twins" in Season 5, Urkel's "snooze juice" accidentally incapacitates some pro wrestlers before a show, prompting the promoter to thrust him and Carl Winslow, the show's protagonist, into action against Luke and Butch.

"Actually, they asked Vince if they could have us because they were fans of the Bushwhackers and Urkel was a huge fan, so was the uncle," Butch said in an interview with Fightful. "So, when they heard the opportunity, that if they got a hold of the WWE and asked for us and Vince, let us go." In the episode, the Bushwhackers end up going into business for themselves on "The Psycho Twins," after learning that Carl Winslow is a cop. From there, all hell breaks loose with the crowd charging the ring and the promoter asking Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow back for more matches.

Steve Austin is not the only former WWE superstar to appear on Fox's "The Bernie Mac Show." Triple H made a guest appearance on the show in the episode, "The Big Picture," and like Austin, played himself. Much like Austin's episode, "The Big Picture" revolves around Bernie Mac's nephew Jordan, who must learn his crank phone calls have consequences beyond his wildest imagination. When flipping through his uncle's Rolodex, Jordan finds the phone number of Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, who is apparently a friend of Bernie Mac's.

Jordan ended up calling "The Game" and delivering a relatively lame prank phone call. Jordan dialed Triple H back again the next day and conversed with him for a while, until Bernie Mac jumped on the line to tell Jordan his aunt hurt his ankle and had to go to the hospital, blowing his cover. Upon finding out Bernie's nephew was the one behind the prank calls, Triple H was not happy but showed up at the Mac household at the end of the episode to surprise Jordan and help his uncle with dinner. While random, Triple H's appearance on the Fox comedy showed "The Game" still has the comedic timing that helped put him on the map as a member of D-Generation X in the late '90s.

It may have been merely a coincidence that King Kong Bundy shared the same last name as "Married with Children" main character Al Bundy (played by Ed O'Neil), but the coincidence led to a pair of memorable appearances for the "WrestleMania II" star in 1988 and 1995. Unlike Vader, who appeared on "Boy Meets World" three times as the same character, Bundy played different characters in each of the episodes he guest-starred in.

His first appearance on the show came in 1988 when he played "Uncle Irwin," Peggy Bundy's king-sized uncle. The episode revolves around Irwin and a slew of Peggy's other relatives visiting the Bundy household and interacting with different family members. The former WWF main eventer made his presence felt by smashing his head through the Bundy's front door, proclaiming, "we're here!" Bundy's other appearance on the show came as King Kong Bundy in the 1995 episode, "Flight of the Bumblebee." In that episode, Bud crashes a televised wrestling show to snap a picture with Bundy in order to earn initiation into NO MA'AM (National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood). Dressed as a bumblebee, Bud accidentally gets himself booked in a match with Bundy and subsequently ends up in the hospital along with Al.

Chyna, real name Joanie Laurer, appeared on an episode of "3rd Rock from the Sun" titled "Little Dick went to Market" in 2000. The show starred John Lithgow in the lead role and detailed the adventures of four aliens who attempt to adjust to life on earth. In her episode, Chyna played a cop named Janice who got into an unwanted feud with Sally Solomon, one of the show's aliens. Much like Chyna, the Janice character was portrayed as largely misunderstood by those around her. "I'm sorry, it's just that everyone sees me as this tough warrior," Chyna said on the episode. "I'm a woman and I'm soft inside. No one understands."

Chyna made multiple subsequent appearances on the fifth season of the show as Janice. The Janice character would interact with more members of the cast throughout her time on the show, even sharing flirtations with French Stewart's character, Harry Solomon. 

There might not be a better fit for a sitcom featuring former world champion Bill Goldberg than "The Goldbergs." The show, which has been airing on ABC since 2013, follows the wide-ranging stories of a Jewish-American family living in the Philadelphia suburbs in the '80s. Goldberg, the wrestler, may not be related to the family the show is based on, but found his way into the show's lore as a guest star in the aptly-named 2017 episode, "Goldberg on The Goldbergs."

Goldberg played Nick Mellor, a football coach at the fictional William Penn Academy. In the episode, Beverly Goldberg helps Nick mend his strained relationship with his brother, Rick, a recurring character on the show played by comedian Bryan Callen. Goldberg opened up about his appearance on the show in an interview with TV Insider. "Within each segment, you can find some relation to your upbringing," Goldberg said. "Whether it is being a brother, sister or any other family member. It's as if there is a part of me that I can relate to, as many other viewers can. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to be on the show."