5. Actor Mickey Rourke Wanted To Fight Him In 2009
Story: Jericho's original opponent at WrestleMania 25 in 2009 was supposed to be actor Mickey Rourke, who was nominated for an Oscar as star of The Wrestler. The match didn't take place because Rourke actually mentioned the match prior to the Oscars and his management team felt like it would be bad for his career if he wrestled. A lot of people think that Rourke lost the Oscar because he mentioned wrestling in interviews, which is ridiculous, but maybe that's how Hollywood works. Prior to WrestleMania 25, Jericho appeared on Larry King Live for a segment with Rourke. During the segment, Jericho spoke completely in character as this egotistical heel that had no interest in giving Rourke any kind of respect. Instead, he legitimately upset him. http://youtu.be/tnR_WX5snAs On the night before WrestleMania, Rourke showed up with three bodyguards that were in the ring with him waiting for Jericho. As Jericho told the story in his book, they were there to beat him up and anybody else that wanted to jump in would get beat up too. Rourke hated Jericho. It took a bit of time, but Jericho ended up telling him that he was just acting. The next night at WrestleMania 25, Jericho beat three legends in one match. Then Rourke went into the ring, threw a punch and knocked Jericho out as it was scripted. The question is, did Rourke really want to fight Jericho? Why People Believe It: It was in his book and people just assume that Jericho was telling the truth about it. Should We Believe It: Yes we should although if he was lying we probably wouldn't know about it. Jericho said that he hasn't heard from Rourke since they worked together. He was also proud that he was able to fool an actor like Rourke by doing such a great acting job on the Larry King show.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
