Wrestling stars grappling with big (screen) issues

A press release found its way into the Dwaynester’s Inbox last month after the previous article highlighted the upcoming Survivor Series megamatch (“megasquash” was more like it) between Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar.

It was from the publicity people for an upcoming movie called Check Point, co-starring none other than Golberg himself!

So it got us thinking … why not take a look at what movies wrestling fans can expect from some of their idols on the big screen next year? Now, we’re not just talking WWE Studios productions like Countdown (Dolph Ziggler and Kane) or Interrogation (Edge and Lana) or The Marine 5: Battleground (The Miz and Maryse).

Though there are some movies on the studio’s slate that sound interesting, like The Resurrection Of Gavin Stone due out early next year. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Brett Dalton stars as a washed-up celebrity who pretends to be a person of faith so he can land the role of Jesus in a Passion play being staged by a megachurch. Interesting because one of his co-stars is none other than the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels!

And then there are all those movies coming out in 2017 featuring THE most electrifying man in entertainment, Dwayne (no relation) Johnson – from The Fate Of The Furious to Baywatch: The Movie (which actually looks kind of fun despite its, er, cheesy roots) to the Jumanji reboot.

Dave Bautista is looming large on the horizon too, with one of next year’s most anticipated films: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. From the second teaser trailer released a couple of weeks ago, it looks like being an incredible fun run, with Bautista’s Drax delivering some of the funniest bits.

Let’s take a closer look at three coming attractions that caught our attention.

Check Point: OK, we’re putting it here because the folks promoting it were nice enough to write to us, but this also looks like a good bet for action fans. Goldberg co-stars with Kenny Johnson (The Shield – the hard-boiled TV series about corrupt cops, not the WWE “Hounds of Justice”) and William Forsythe in this story of a small town whose more … shall we say, freedom-loving citizens realise that there is a homegrown terror cell in their midst!

There’s plenty of @$$-kicking in the trailer, and Goldberg plays a guy known as “T.J.” – we figure he’s on the side of the good guys – while Johnson is the ex-Marine who uncovers the cell. Besides these guys, the movie also stars veteran Fred Williamson (the guy who originally put the “Hammer” in “Please Hammer don’t hurt ’em”) and wrestler-turned-actor Tyler Mane (X-Men, Troy).

A March 17 release date has been announced on the movie’s Facebook page.

Boone: The Bounty Hunter: Right, this seems like it’s loosely inspired on the adventures of Duane “Dog” Chapman as chronicled on the reality-TV show Dog The Bounty Hunter, though this Boone fella seems a lot more, uh, agile. The action looks largely parkour-centric, and the man playing Boone is actually quite well known to fans of high-flying action. It’s none other than John Hennigan, better known as John Morrison from WWE and Johnny Mundo from Lucha Underground!

The story, from what we gather, has reality-TV bounty hunter Boone setting out to bust a drug lord, and learning that TV ratings are really a secondary consideration when you’re talking about justice.

Also starring in this January-opening movie are Jonathan Lipnicki (the Jerry Maguire kid!), Osric Chau (Supernatural), Spencer Grammer, Richard Tyson and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (alias “Movie B.A. Baracus”). Oh, and if you needed anything more to seal the deal, Kevin “Hercules” Sorbo appears – as himself!

The Wall: Also due out in March, and perhaps the most unusual of the bunch. The Dwaynester was caught completely by surprise when the trailer came out last week, mainly because most of it features John Cena … lying on his belly.

It’s set in just one location – a patch of desert with a crumbling wall. Cena and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Godzilla) are American soldiers who get caught in a trap set by an Iraqi sniper. From the trailer, it looks pretty suspenseful and good thing that the movie apparently clocks in at just over 80 minutes, so as not to drag out its sparse elements.

From what we saw in the trailer, both men get injured, with Cena’s character stuck out in the open and Taylor-Johnson’s soldier managing to find cover behind the abovementioned crumbling wall. Taunted by the sniper and running out of time – they’re hurt and dehydrated – the situation looks increasingly dire for them.

The Wall is co-produced by Amazon Studios and directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, The Edge Of Tomorrow). The Dwaynester can almost hear AJ Styles mocking Cena now – “John spends most of the movie knocked flat out, just like he is most of the time during our matches.”


End of the line, folks

WWE’s Roadblock: End Of The Line pay-per-view comes to us live next Monday (WWE Network, Astro Ch 820/840) and it’s a Raw brand-exclusive event.

wrestling

Will it be Charlotte who once again hoists the Raw Womens Championship after her Iron Man match with Sasha Banks at Roadblock: End Of The Line? Photo: WWE, Inc.

Owing to the holiday break, this column is being written before we had a chance to watch week Dec 12-18’s Raw so we’ve only got three of the matches lined up so far.

> Kevin Owens defends the Universal title against Roman Reigns, who also managed to retain his US Championship on last week’s Raw when Owens inadvertently caused a distraction that led to his former BFF Chris Jericho losing to Reigns in their title match.

> Jericho then faces Seth Rollins in a “revenge match” though somehow, we don’t really see Jericho having his heart in it.

> In what could well be the match of the night, Women’s champ Sasha Banks will defend her title against Charlotte in a 30-minute Iron Man match – er, don’t you mean “Ironheart” match (sorry, Marvel Comics in-joke)? The competitor who scores the most pinfalls/decisions in that time wins. The intensity between these two has been fierce, and their Hell In A Cell match was simply epic, so we’re both eager and a little terrified.


Mrs McMahon goes to Washington

She ran for a US Senate seat in 2010 and 2012 but lost twice. Still, WWE co-owner Linda McMahon is now officially involved in politics – she’s just been appointed the head of the Small Business Administration under president-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

According to the syndicated column Piledriver, Trump said in a statement last week that “Linda is going to be a phenomenal leader and champion for small businesses and unleash America’s entrepreneurial spirit all across the country.”

The SBA provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses, as well as disaster aid to those that do not qualify for Fema (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grants after natural disasters.

“As an entrepreneur myself, I have shared the experiences of our nation’s small business owners and will do my best to advocate on their behalf,” McMahon, 68, said in a statement quoted by Piledriver. “My husband and I built our business from scratch, building it to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees.”

And one where the employees get to beat up the bosses a lot of the time, too.

 

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