11 Best Celebrity Wrestling Matches Ever

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos’ AEW debut on Rampage is right around the corner! While plenty of celebrity matches “drizzle”, so to speak, JDS’ background may result in a better performance than fans expect as sometimes celebrities do surprise us, and fun is had by all.

With that in mind, here are the top 11 celebrity matches in wrestling history.

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11. WrestleMania 2 WWF vs. NFL Battle Royal

Like with most matches involving celebrities, you shouldn’t go into this one expecting a classic, but if at times you like pure chaos, this one is for you. 

While the likes of the Hart Foundation, Big John Studd, and Andre The Giant did the heavy lifting, William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry of the Chicago Bears stole the show. 

Perry fights off elimination early to take out Tony Atlas before mixing it up with Studd and Jim Neidhart. Perry sends both members of the Hart Foundation to the ring apron before meeting Studd in the center of the ring. His biggest reaction comes off a shoulder tackle to Studd in a corner before Studd counters another with an elbow shot and eliminates The Fridge.

Perry gets revenge, pulling Studd out of the ring after a handshake, ending a good showing with Andre The Giant getting the victory.

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10. Karl Malone & Diamond Dallas Page vs. Dennis Rodman & Hulk Hogan (Bash at the Beach 1998)

For context, Dennis Rodman was part of the legendary Michael Jordan era Chicago Bulls as they’d captured their sixth title in ‘98, their second three-peat, and Karl Malone has a long list of accolades with the Utah Jazz in the NBA and including Olympic gold.

This match gets mixed reviews because it features two non-wrestlers, an aging Hulk Hogan and it went far too long at almost 24 minutes. Rodman, known for his substance use issues, also appears out of it. Still, there are highlights and they belong almost exclusively to Malone: Scoop slams on Hogan, decent selling throughout, nice chops, another scoop slam, and a Diamond Cutter on Rodman before a dirty finish and a loss. 

This clash has its moments, and select moments are the best you can hope for with these types of spectacles. Its placement as the show’s main event is questionable but an understandable business move.  Regardless of quality, it has earned a spot on this list as one of the most memorable moments in WCW history.

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9. Butterbean And The End of Brawl For All (WrestleMania 15)

Just hear me out! This match made the list for entirely cynical reasons. A Vice Russo idea (you know where this is headed), Brawl For All is considered by fans and nearly all involved to be terrible and it was from the word go.

This exposed the predetermined nature of the wrestling business at best and at worst, resulted in injuries and the end of whatever push Dr. Death Steve Williams may have gotten after he lost by KO.  Former partner to Billy Gunn, Bart Gunn (Remember him?) shocked everyone by taking out, Quebecer Pierre, The Godfather, and Bradshaw, resulting in a fight with freakshow boxer Eric ‘Esch, who fought 91 times, has 77 wins with 58 knockouts.

Butterbean knocked out Gunn in just 34 seconds to basically kill Gunn’s career. I knew as a child watching this on VHS it was a bad idea and have laughed at few outcomes harder since.

• Celebrities
• WrestleMania
• AEW
• wwe

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