Professional wrestling is, notoriously, a “body business.” A performer has to be more than simply athletic to “get over” — they have to look the part, too. One way to do that is by crafting a larger-than-life physique that looks ripped straight from the pages of a comic book.
It should come as no surprise, then, that some of history’s top pro wrestlers emerged from the bodybuilding world. Also a mix of sport and spectacle, bodybuilding is a natural starting point for denizens of the squared circle. Luckily, wrestling tights are a little more forgiving than posing trunks.
With that in mind, here are 10 wrestlers who started on the bodybuilding stage.
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka
One of the original high-flying wrestlers, “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, was famed for his iconic dives from the top turnbuckle (or top of a steel cage) onto his opponents. Many credit him for innovating and popularising the risk-taking style that still dominates modern wrestling.
A WWE Hall of Famer, Snuka wrestled primarily in the territory system of the 1980s but got a second career as an aging legend in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during the 1990s. Throughout his career, Snuka won over 30 single and tag titles across a several-decade run.
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Less celebrated, though, is Snuka’s early bodybuilding career. As a physique competitor, he won several Mr. Hawaii titles and competed in the same bodybuilding competition as fellow wrestling legend Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat.
Snuka was first introduced to pro wrestling when he traded bodybuilding training sessions for wrestling training with some local performers. Once he got in the ring, he never looked back.
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
The aforementioned Steamboat was one of his generation’s best wrestlers, if not the best. During the 1980s, “The Dragon” wrestled Ric Flair in a series of 60-minute matches that remain heralded as some of the greatest wrestling bouts North America has ever seen.
A consummate “babyface” (pro wrestling parlance for “good guy”), Steamboat’s body was a constant point of fascination for fans and wrestling journalists. Even at the height of his fame in the ring, Steamboat still had the itch to get onto the stage.
“[Steamboat] could bench press 450. He was just a gifted guy. We had a Mr. Charlotte bodybuilding contest; it was him against [Jimmy] Snuka,” Flair once said. “The whole territory went; it was great. Steamboat looked like Frank Zane in the old days — he’s so symmetrical.”
Sting
No pro wrestling career matches Sting’s accomplishments during his time in the business. Known as a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) stalwart in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the Stinger went on to wrestle for all the top companies since 2000, including TNA, WWE, and, most recently, AEW. In that time, he feuded against everyone from Hulk Hogan to Seth Rollins, gaining new generations of fans at every turn.
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Despite his decades-long career, Sting did not intend to be a wrestler early on; he didn’t even know what professional wrestling was until he was 22. His goal after high school was to be a bodybuilder, and to that end, he became a co-manager of Gold’s Gym in California in 1984.
Competing in several regional shows, Sting later recalled that he came up in the gym scene at a time when “Guys would go out into the parking lot and have a cigarette and then walk back in and squat 600 pounds.”
Eventually, he was encouraged to try professional wrestling. He was handed a lifeline when Jerry Jarrett offered him and his partner, Jim Hellwig, the chance to wrestle. Thus began a 30-year wrestling career.
Ultimate Warrior
Speaking of Sting’s partner, Jim Hellwig — you probably know him better by his ring name: The Ultimate Warrior.
Hellwig partnered with Sting early in his career as part of a team called the “Freedom Fighters.” That gimmick was short-lived, though, and Hellwig soon found himself in the WWF (now WWE) from 1987 to 1992 in his familiar Warrior garb. With his iconic entrance, flowing ‘80s hair, and garish facepaint, Hellwig embodied the larger-than-life personas that wrestling was known for at the time.
What pulled the Warrior’s whole gimmick together, though, was his unreal physique. With diced-up abs, tree-trunk legs, and pulsating biceps, Hellwig was an action figure made flesh. Unsurprisingly, Hellwig competed in several bodybuilding competitions from 1981 to 1985 before entering the business.
Hellwig’s biggest victory was the overall at an NPC show in Georgia in 1984. Speaking to NPC News Online in 2007, he cited Robby Robinson as his inspiration for taking up bodybuilding.
Triple H
None of the bodybuilders turned pro wrestlers are as impactful as Paul Levesque, a.k.a. Triple H. This is not because of his contest history, which pales compared to others on this list, but rather because of his profile within bodybuilding.
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Triple H has released multiple books and workout videos on bodybuilding, appeared onstage during the prize ceremony at the 2004 Mr. Olympia, and regularly appeared on the covers of fitness magazines throughout the 2000s. His interest in bodybuilding came through his love of wrestling. Speaking on his bodybuilding dedication to Muscle & Fitness, Levesque noted:
I was a huge wrestling fan growing up, and the pictures of bodybuilders I saw in magazines always impressed me. I wanted to be like that.
Showcasing some of the sport’s most impressive physique transformations over a several-decade career, Levesque spent several years training under the legendary Joe DeFranco to build a physique that could impress and last within the ring.
As a competitor, Levesque won the 1988 Mr. Teenage New Hampshire competition. Soon after, he met powerlifter turned wrestler Ted Arcidi, who prompted Levesque to try wrestling, leaving behind what could have been a promising career on the stage.
Batista
Dave Batista came to wrestling in his early 30s, having spent the preceding decade in bodybuilding, working in a gym, and bouncing. Despite his inexperience, “The Animal” became one of the best-known wrestlers of the 2000s to the extent that he managed to parlay his wrestling fame into Hollywood. I
n terms of his bodybuilding competition history, Batista appeared in contests sporadically during the ’90s but ultimately disliked the scene.
Batista’s goal was to get as big as possible; known for his size and leanness tipped the scales at over 300 pounds at his peak. Similar to Sting, Batista turned to wrestling when it became clear that bodybuilding was a “dead end.”
Entering the ring in 2002, Batista went on to win individual and tag team titles. He is on track to enter the WWE Hall of Fame shortly, which is a testament to his success within the business.
John Cena
Thirteen-time WWE Heavyweight Champion John Cena is wrestling royalty. Coming to wrestling in the early 2000s, he became the face of the WWE and helped navigate the company’s move away from edgy television to a family-friendly product.
Preaching a message of “hustle, loyalty, and respect,” Cena often displayed remarkable feats of strength within the ring. This includes regularly lifting athletes weighing over 400 pounds and slamming them to the mat. (13)
As a teenager, Cena hoped to break into bodybuilding. He entered a teen contest in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Scared of posing in front of strangers, his coach got him to direct traffic in his posing trunks on a Sunday morning. Cena obliged, lost his stage fright, and competed in the show.
Subsequently calling the contest a farce, it is no surprise Cena traded in his posing trunks for wrestling jorts.
Alexa Bliss
Five-time Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss has been in several high-profile feuds within the WWE. On top of that, she is arguably the most successful bodybuilder ever in wrestling.
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That sounds like a bold claim, but before joining WWE, Bliss was an IFBB Pro in the Bikini Class under her maiden name Lexi Kaufmann. As an athlete, Bliss participated in the Arnold Classic, the 2012 Valenti Cup, and the Pittsburgh Pro. These types of high-profile contests are a rarity for the bodybuilder-turned-wrestler class.
While she held a great fondness for bodybuilding, she decided to attend a WWE tryout and see where it led her. She’s never looked back.
Bianca Belair
Bianca Belair has one of the best gimmicks in modern wrestling. She is the ‘EST,’ meaning in the biggest, strongest, and fastest. One of the most physically impressive wrestlers of the modern era, Belair’s background in athletics and CrossFit enables her to routinely pull off power moves that leave fans breathless.
In 2022, Belair participated in the WBFF Entertainment Pro Atlantic City ProAm, placing second in the Fitness category but winning first in the Wellness division. Whether Belair will compete again is anyone’s guess, but she is not the only active wrestler to compete in a bodybuilding show.
In 2023, TNA multi-time champion Jordynne Grace won the overall at an NPC qualifier. Now that Grace divides her time between TNA and WWE, we may soon have a bodybuilder vs. bodybuilder match.
Chyna
Joanie “Chyna” Laurer was marketed as the “9th Wonder of the World” during WWF’s “Attitude Era” of the late ‘90s. Strong and athletic, Chyna was unlike anyone else in women’s wrestling during a high point in the sport’s popularity.
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Initially entering as a bodyguard for Triple H, she became a wrestler in her own right, winning women’s and men’s titles. Like others on this list, Chyna dedicated herself to bodybuilding as a teenager and competed at the 1995 Ms. Fitness America competition in New York.
This was around the same time that she could reportedly squat 450 pounds a dozen times and bench multiple reps of 315 pounds. Chyna went on to leave bodybuilding for wrestling and left a legacy within the sport.
More Bodybuilding Features
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Featured image: @theultimatewarrior / Instagram
