10 Fascinating WWE WrestleMania 25 Facts

8. Mickey Rourke Jumped The Gun On Challenging Chris Jericho

Wrestlemania 25
CNN

Actor-turned-boxer-turned-actor Rourke received universal acclaim for his role of Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler, painting a remarkable portrait of an aging squared circle hero unable to come to terms with the passage of time, and the fading of his glory. Rourke's undistilled performance was so on-the-nose that it brought wrestlers like Roddy Piper to tears.

Weeks after winning Best Actor at the Golden Globes, Rourke appeared on the red carpet at The Screen Actors Guild Awards (the same night at the 2009 Royal Rumble), and issued a basic challenge to Chris Jericho for WrestleMania.

This was news to Y2J, who hadn't even been briefed about any Rourke connection. McMahon finally confided to Jericho that WWE and Rourke had come to terms, but that the renowned actor wasn't supposed to have spoken out about it until after The Academy Awards in February.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.