10 Wrestlers Who Did Bizarre TV Shows

By default, most wrestlers who have been contracted to a major American promotion over the past few decades has done a bizarre television show.

Consume a full week's worth of current wrestling content and you'll witness an infantilised 29-year-old controlling a melted murder clown at the behest of a possessed toy doll, a thousand-year-old Chinese warrior trained by a dragon, an alien, at least one zombie, and a ninja. Nothing about this sport is normal; everything about this sport is bizarre.

But while most wrestlers don't need to expand into other mediums to get really, really strange, they do, frequently, and the results are often as offbeat as a Randy Savage rap verse.

While it'd be a stretch to call any of these appearances a big television break for the performers involved, one, at least, has helped contribute to a surprisingly sweet New Japan bruiser's celebrity status, while another stands as oh-so-easy promo fodder for enemies of one of modern wrestling's fastest-rising stars. Others had little impact on the performer's career beyond a change of scenery and (presumably) a nice pay packet, but each is a hoot nonetheless.

Let's get weird.

Airing for a single 22-episode season between March and November 1994, Thunder in Paradise starred Hulk Hogan as Randolph J. 'Hurricane' Spencer, an ex-Navy SEAL and mercenary battling criminals, scumbags, and other ne'er-do-wells around Florida's Gulf Coast.

The location provided the titular paradise. Thunder, meanwhile, was the name of Spencer and partner Martin 'Bru' Bruker's (played by Chris Lemmon of Wishmaster fame) wacky, transforming boat. Thunder housed the baddie-busting duo's command centre, came equipped with cloaking technology, and was animated by some gloriously dated CGI typical of the time period.

Thunder in Paradise is as anachronistic as they come. A tropical action-adventure, the average episode sees Hogan and Lemmon cruising around busting the bad guys, saving the babes, and making sure everybody gets home in time for a piss-up at the Scuttlebutt Bar & Grill. Rewatching clips in 2021, it feels like no more than an excuse for a tanned-up Terry Bollea to prance around in his underwear - as if pro wrestling wasn't enough to scratch that itch already.

Born of a 1993 straight-to-video movie of the same name, the likes of Brutus Beefcake, Sting, and Jim Neidhart all showed up for Thunder in Paradise guest spots.