10 Highest Grossing Movies Starring WWE Stars
9. Predator (1987) - $59,735,548
Featuring: Jesse Ventura
After Jesse Ventura found out in 1984 that his wrestling career was over, he immediately branched out into other areas like colour commentary and then into acting. His friendship with Arnold Schwarzenegger gained him roles in The Running Man and his most successful involvement, in the 1987 science fiction spectacular, Predator.
Venturas role as Blain Cooper, part of a team led by Arnie, working for the CIA is the key story in the movie and although The Predator kills off Venturas character with a plasma weapon, it was a role in a huge movie that gained The Body connections in Hollywood that would help him continue to branch out and away from wrestling.
Vince McMahon is renowned for not liking his wrestlers to perform in projects not produced or initiated by the WWE and this was no different. Ventura having a role in a Schwarzenegger movie and it being pretty successful at the box office began to put a strain on the Ventura/McMahon relationship before Jesse eventually quit the company in 1990.
Although Ventura wouldnt continue to act, he became involved in politics and became the Governor of Minnesota in 1998. Some people might recognise him as the wrestler or the politician but a larger audience remember him as that unlikeable guy who got killed off by the Predator.