3. Beat Takeshi
Kyoto and NJPW may be a world apart from Hollywood and the North American wrestling scene, but BEAT Takeshi's time in wrestling is so interesting that it has to be on this list. Of all the actors to get involved in pro-wrestling, none of them could be considered "the biggest star" in their respective country at the time. He may not be a household name to many outside of Japan, but with a body of work that includes Battle Royale, Sonatine, Zatoichi, the yakuza epic Fireworks, and the super popular game show Takeshi's Castle - which is more commonly known to us baka gaijin as the overdubbed MXC - the guy is very well regarded. So when Takeshi Kitano started claiming he would bring in an American wrestler to "destroy" NJPW during the fall of 1987, it was a huge deal. Takeshi formed a stable named Takeshi Puroresu Gundan, which included Super Delfin, Gedo, Jedo, and the mythic Big Van Vader as his foreign conquering hero. NJPW figured getting the involvement of a real well known actor and comedian would be just what they needed to fix their falling ratings and popularity. To say they misjudged things would be a bit of an understatement. When Kitano officially debuted and Vader was bait-and-switched into a main event that was supposed to be Chosu vs Inoki, the crowd began to throw garbage in the ring. When Vader went over Inoki, the first time Inoki did a job in over two years, the crowd rioted. Not in a "if Cena wins we complain online" or "lets throw chairs in the ring" kind of riot, but in a riot that took an hour for police to calm down and almost saw Kokugikan Hall set on fire. The NJPW fans made it known right then and there that they had no desire to see "sports entertainment" invade their hallowed wrestling rings, the already floundering NJPW took a huge hit that helped solidify All Japan Pro Wrestling as the leader in that era, and the TPG angle was dropped quietly. Well, as quietly as you can drop an angle that almost lead to a building being burnt down.