Wrestling achieved a new level of acceptance when celebrities wanted to step into the ring. Imagine being so famous that wrestlers wanted to be a part of your show. This is story of when hard-bodies in spandex collided with other hard-bodies in spandex.
No matter how you feel about Baywatch, there is no denying it was a pop culture phenomenon. It is best known for launching the acting careers of its female cast members. Even though it is seen as being aimed at men, it was mainly watched by young women.
The Beginning of Baywatch
The show’s creator Gregory J. Bonnan had worked as a lifeguard. He became inspired to create the show after saving the children of an MTM Enterprises employee from drowning.
His original vision was about a rescue boat team around Santa Monica Bay. The eventual title was taken from one such team.
Baywatch would be about the lives and duties of a lifeguard team in California. Most episodes were filmed in Long Beach, although some scenes were in Malibu.
In addition to rescuing people at sea, the team dealt with sharks, gangs, illegal casinos, and natural disasters. They also handled personal issues such as disabilities, rehabilitation, rogue journalists, and crime.
David Hasselhoff was cast as Lieutenant Mitch Buchanan. Mitch is a divorced father who balances leading the Baywatch team with raising his son Hobie.
There is an urban myth that Hasselhoff pitched the show himself while he was working on Knight Rider. But he did have some creative input.
The show became famous for its scenes of scantily clad women running in slow motion. When they edited the footage, they sometimes found that the episodes fell short of the commissioned length.
Hasselhoff suggested slowing down the running scenes and adding music to stretch out time. The musical montages would then become their signature trope.
Baywatch debuted in 1989 on ABC and was cancelled after just one season. Hasselhoff was instrumental in getting it renewed.
The show was relaunched in syndication in 1991. It would become an international hit. Hasselhoff was awarded an Executive Producer credit for the rest of the show’s run.
A Giant First Step
The first wrestler to appear on the show was credited as Jorge Giant Gonzalez. The Argentinian suffered from gigantism.
It is a condition that caused him to grow continuously. It is the same condition that Andre the Giant, Big Show, and The Great Khali all had.
González originally sought a career in basketball. The Atlanta Hawks paid ₳30,000 (roughly $500 today) to bring González into the NBA.
But a knee injury meant he could not keep up with the physical demands. Team owner Ted Turner recommended he move over to one of his other franchises, World Championship Wrestling.
He trained for a year before debuting in 1990 as El Gigante (literally “The Giant”). He was billed as being 8’ tall. Gigante was immediately a fan favourite. He would have a long feud with Ric Flair over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Gigante’s biggest match would be the infamous Chamber of Horrors match at Halloween Havoc 1991. He was on Sting’s team with the Steiner Brothers.
They battled Abdullah the Butcher, Cactus Jack, The Diamond Studd (Scott Hall), and Big Van Vader in a steel cage. The babyfaces won after strapping Abdullah to an electric chair, and Jack accidentally pulled the switch on his own teammate.
González made a brief jump to the World Wrestling Federation in 1993. He debuted during the Royal Rumble match as Giant Gonzalez.
He now sported a beard and a full bodysuit with muscles painted on. He interrupted the Rumble to attack The Undertaker. This makes Gonzalez the only person to score an official Rumble elimination without ever being a participant.
The pair had a critically panned match at WrestleMania XI. It ended in disqualification when Gonzalez tried to sedate Undertaker.
The pair feuded until SummerSlam, with Gonzalez never picking up any wins. He was released soon after. Undertaker has since called González the worst performer he ever worked with. He theorizes that Gonzalez’ clumsy style has taken years off his life.
With most WCW events taking place at Orlando Studios, it gave González the chance to dabble in acting. He mainly did cameos in various TV shows and movies. He was with the WWF when he appeared in Baywatch.
In the episode ‘Blindside’, González played Manny, a freakshow attraction at a boardwalk fair. He befriends Hobie, who inspires him to break free of his abusive boss and follow his passions.
In one scene, the team struggle to rescue him from the water due to his size. There would later be a main character named Manny, but he had no connection to González’ character.
González spent some time competing in Japan after leaving the WWF. He was due to return to WCW in 1995. He never portrayed The Yeti like some fans maintain.
But this was the original plan for him. A medical emergency forced him to return to Argentina. He formally retired from wrestling the next year.
He lived out the rest of his life on a ranch. His health took its worst turn in 2009 when his kidneys failed. He spent his final year in a wheelchair. González passed away due to diabetes complications. He was only 44.
Pammie vs Heartbreak
Without question, Baywatch’s breakout star was Pamela Anderson. The Canadian model became a cover girl for Playboy Magazine in 1989. She would front the publication a record fourteen times. Once was enough to launch her acting career.
Anderson joined Baywatch in season three as C.J. Parker. She would become the face and body of the show in its marketing. Anderson would star in seventy-seven episodes, which is the most for any female cast member.
Starting in 1993, the winner of the Rumble was granted a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania. In 1995, the winner would be offered an additional prize. They would be escorted to the ring by Anderson.
She was already a megastar by the time she made her first appearance in the WWF. She mainly appeared in backstage segments pretending to be oblivious to the male roster vying for her attention.
She also sat uncomfortably at ringside for the entire Rumble. She can be seen encouraging the cameras to focus on the match instead of her.
Shawn Michaels became the first person to last the entire match. The intervals had been reduced from ninety seconds to one minute to ensure that he (and the British Bulldog) could last the duration.
Vince McMahon kept emphasizing the rule about both feet having to touch the floor before someone is eliminated.
This foreshadowed the false finish where it appeared Bulldog had won. Michaels then re-entered the ring to eliminate Bulldog. The referee clarified that only one of Michaels’ feet had touched the floor, and he was the legitimate winner.
In between the Rumble and WrestleMania, Anderson met Mötley Crüe co-founder Tommy Lee. The pair went on a three-day date which ended in them getting married and going straight onto the honeymoon. This was Lee’s third marriage, and the first of five for Anderson.
Lee then accompanied his wife to WrestleMania XI. Michaels, like others, was unaware that Anderson was now married.
He is rumoured to have hit on her backstage and was challenged by Lee. Kevin “Diesel” Nash recalls having to pin Lee against a wall until he calmed down.
The original plan was for WWF Champion Diesel to counter Anderson’s presence by bringing actress Jenny McCarthy to the ring with him.
Anderson was no longer comfortable with being in Michaels’ corner. Instead, she went to the ring with Diesel after Michaels was escorted out by McCarthy. The switch confused fans.
The match is remembered for its poor execution. Even though they were best friends, Nash expected Michaels to upstage him.
They both knew that Michaels had more stamina. Nash purposefully tired Michaels out in the beginning. But doing so also left himself fatigued. The negativity impacted the rest of the match.
The planned ending was for Diesel to use his Jackknife Powerbomb finisher. He correctly anticipated that Michaels would try to disrupt the move.
Michaels wound up landing in a seated position instead of flat on his back. Diesel still won as planned. He left the ring with the title and both women.
They did not mention how Michaels was due to appear in a future episode of Baywatch. In ‘Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner’, C.J. is reunited with her mother.
Her mother is fleeing her ex-boyfriend, a mafia don. Michaels played Vinnie, the don’s main right-hand goon. It cannot be confirmed if the character was named after McMahon.
Anderson and McCarthy are real-life friends. The pair would often make cameos in each other’s shows and movies. Their most famous scene together is the opening from Scary Movie 3. They played schoolgirls in a parody of other horror movies, including the original Scary Movie.
Feeling the Thunder
With Baywatch being such a hit, the producers were trusted with a second show. Thunder In Paradise was another twist on Bonnan’s original vision.
It was about two ex-Navy SEALs who secretly use a hi-tech boat to fight crime around the world. The series starred “Terry Hulk Hogan” as Randolf J. “Hurricane” Spencer.
Multiple wrestlers had minor roles in the show. González and Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake) both played two different villains in separate episodes.
Sting, Jimmy Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Terry Funk also made appearances. The show only lasted on series before cancellation.
Eric Bischoff earned the job of WCW President. He was tasked with making the company profitable. He theorised that Hogan was still one of the biggest names in the industry even though he had retired. Bischoff offered him one of the most generous contracts in wrestling history.
Hogan had left wrestling to focus on acting. Most of his work would be done in Orlando Studios. This is also where WCW was producing most of their television shows. Hogan had a lucrative part-time deal that allowed him to wrestle and star in movies.
Hogan began making appearances in WCW while TIP was still on the air. He publicly stated that he planned to leave the show to return to wrestling.
He did exactly this at the first Bash At The Beach PPV. In his first WCW match, he defeated Flair for the World Championship in the main event. TIP was cancelled after one season, and it had nothing to do with Hogan hinting he would leave.
Taking the Bash to the Beach
With Baywatch’s producers having already done a show with Hogan, some kind of crossover seemed inevitable. WCW were certainly interested in this. Especially after the WWF got there first.
Bischoff wanted the second Bash to be bigger than the first. It took place on the actual beach at Huntington Beach, California.
Tony Schivone repeatedly referred to the “sold-out capacity crowd” out of habit. He kept having to correct himself as it was a free-of-charge, open-air event.
The event had ten matches in total. The three dark matches were aired on Main Event. At the end of those, Vader would powerbomb a group of babyfaces to get the crowd hyped for the PPV. The extra cameras on site were there to tape the main events for a future episode of Baywatch.
Randy Savage took on Flair in a “Lifeguard Match”. This was a regular lumberjack match, but with some extras dressed in red swimsuits nearby.
Schivone kept referring to them as “some of the cast of Baywatch”. This footage is the only time any of them ever appeared on the show.
The wrestlers wore distinctive tie-dye shirts to differentiate themselves from the extras and the surrounding crowd. They kept the competitors in the ring while the extras kept at a safe distance. Savage picked up the win.
The headline match saw Hogan defend the World Championship against Vader in a cage match. It was a subtle reference to his WrestleMania 2 match against King Kong Bundy.
Kevin Sullivan and The Zodiac (Leslie) attempted to interfere. They were fended off by basketball player Dennis Rodman with a steel chair.
Hogan won the match by climbing back out of the cage. The announce team then began signing off. They were initially oblivious to the post-match segment happening in the ring. Flair and Arn Anderson chastised Vader for losing, and Vader chased them away.
The Baywatch episode titled ‘Bash At The Beach’ didn’t air until February 1996. It started with Hogan and Savage in jet-skis.
Hogan then had an accident and had to be rescued by the Baywatch women. Hogan and Savage choose to stick around and do community outreach ahead of the wrestling event. They would be taunted by their opponents and Kevin Sullivan.
Shots of C.J. and Cody (David Chokachi) standing by the entrance were added in. None of the actual cast were at the PPV.
Cody would excitedly cheer on the action and jeer the heels while C.J. just stood looking concerned. The outside interference spot with Rodman was not featured.
In a strange editing decision, they dubbed in audio of Hogan muttering to himself throughout his match. This episode aired several weeks before the Michaels episode.
To counterbalance the chaos of the episode, there was a serious secondary plot. Mitch’s second-in-command and ex-girlfriend Stephanie Holden (Alexandra Paul) discovers she may have skin cancer.
As her job requires her to spend many hours in direct sunlight, this may affect her career as well as her life. She and her partner choose to ignore the wrestling event to come to terms with their future.
Baywatch later had an episode titled ‘Beach Blast’. It was not named after the WCW PPV event and had no connection to wrestling. But it did feature McCartney as herself.
The Mouth Makes Himself Heard
Jimmy Hart started out in the music industry. His old school friend Jerry Lawler reached out to him to produce a song for a wrestling promo.
Lawler then kept him around as a manager. Hart would then manage some of the biggest names in the industry across nearly every U.S. promotion with a PPV presence. Hart would become a Hall of Famer in his own right.
He was involved with music and wrestling simultaneously. He recorded numerous songs for shows and wrestler themes. He also wrote songs for commercial releases.
Hart was the driving force behind ‘Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Camp Band’. It was his music that got him involved with Baywatch.
He performed and recorded the song ‘Pelican Man’ for the Gonzalez episode. He would later appear in ‘Western Exposure’.
The plot saw country musician Jesse Lee Harris (Ricky Van Shelton) take a break from his tour to ask the Baywatch crew for help locating his missing wife and son.
C.J. sees this as an opportunity to help her never-before-mentioned best friend Sadie (Martina McBride) break into the music business.
Hart plays Harris’ unnamed road manager. He only appears in one scene on the tour bus. Yet he wears this trademark tie and sunglasses, as well as one of his custom suits he wore in WCW. While the country singers provided music for the episode, Hart did not.
The Tide Begins to Disappear
If a television show stays on the air for long enough, it usually has a “Jumped the Shark Moment”. This is a scene where the show peaks and it appears to lose direction.
It was named after a specific scene in Happy Days. A central character performs a water ski jump over a shark while wearing a leather jacket. Even though the show lasted several more seasons, it struggled to recapture its earlier appeal.
Baywatch’s moment also involved a shark. In the first episode of season seven, budding director Logan (Jaason Simmons) becomes inspired to make his own rendition of the movie Jaws.
His actions lure a genuine shark to the bay. His lead actress Caroline (Yasmine Bleeth) defeats the shark using an implausible tactic she saw in the movie.
The show then had increasingly absurd plots. They included mermaids, ghosts, mystery viruses on crashed military planes, and Mitch saving an orangutan from a dwarf.
These plots were separate from the science-fiction spinoff Baywatch Nights. In this, Mitch moonlights as the co-owner of a private detective agency that often explores the paranormal. It lasted only two seasons.
Baywatch had a few one-off TV movies. One set in Australia was a test for moving the production there permanently.
But the local government blocked it when residents protested it. The show moved to Hawaii instead. The title was updated to reflect this.
The new plot was that Mitch had gone on holiday to find himself. He then becomes inspired to create a lifeguard training school there.
The change in location did not help them avoid the bizarre plots. Hasselhoff left the show at the end of this season when his character was killed off.
Baywatch had one final season without Hasselhoff. The reason for moving locations was to reduce the production costs.
But they still exceeded $1 million per episode. The falling ratings did not justify the expense. The show was cancelled after this eleventh season. The most notable thing about this run was it launched the career of Jason Mamoa.
They attempted closure with another TV movie entitled Baywatch: Hawaii Wedding. Mitch, who apparently survived the explosion that killed him, is recovering from amnesia.
He is planning to marry a woman who resembles his ex-Stephanie (also played by Paul). But a villain who appeared in one episode in season two returns for revenge.
Baywatch’s appeal is often over-simplified as being a show about beautiful women in swimsuits aimed at men. But over 65% of its regular viewership was young women.
This is because the show presented a range of strong female characters that were not abrasive. While they were mainly played by models, they had relatable personalities and situations. They had just as many chances to be the heroes as their male counterparts.
From Beach Sand to Modelling Clay
MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch was built around parody. The clay-mation show depicted various celebrities in wrestling matches to the death.
Almost every character was voiced by impressionists. Three of the Baywatch cast were famous enough to be satirized in the show.
CD launched with two pilots in January 1998. The first was a single match depicting musician Marilyn Manson slaying cult-leader Charles Manson. The first full episode aired during the NFL Superbowl. One of the mid-card battles parodied Anderson.
Drag queen RuPaul once made a public appearance dressed as one of Anderson’s movie characters. This was then worked into a CD plot where RuPaul allegedly tried to seduce Anderson’s then-husband, Lee. Anderson thought for his honour and won.
Hasselhoff also made an appearance in the first season. In the only scene directly referencing Baywatch, he battled fellow TV and music personality John Hesh. He would win by crushing Hesh with KITT, the car from Knight Rider.
Anderson made two further appearances in the show. In the second appearance, she battled Heather Locklear for the chance to rescue their mutual ex-husband.
Locklear won and chose not to rescue Lee. In her final appearance, she would vanquish her ex-husband. In all three instances, her artificial breasts contributed to the outcome of the battles.
Wrestling Gets Electra-fied
Carmen Electra was never interested in wrestling. But it seemed like the universe conspired to make her be involved. She married future WWE Hall of Famer Rodman while he made appearances with WCW.
Electra was born as Tera Leigh Patrick. She was determined to follow in her parents’ footsteps into the music industry. She moved from Ohio to Minneapolis to begin her singing career. She was discovered by Prince, who signed her to his record label. He would produce her only album.
Like with Anderson, she posed as a cover girl for Playboy, and it launched her acting career. She got her big break in Baywatch as Lani McKenzie, a rookie lifeguard who also works as a professional dancer. She only stayed with the show for one season.
Celebrity Deathmatch fans were asked to vote on the MTV website which fights they wanted to see in a future episode. “Carmen Electra vs Jenny McCarthy” topped the poll. It became the main event of ‘Fandemonium I’.
The pair battled in a mud wrestling match refereed by radio host Howard Stern. They both turned on Stern, and he attempted to eliminate them both with a deadly fart.
It misfired, and Stern inadvertently crushed Electra against a wall. This resulted in McCartney being declared the winner.
One of the top runners-up in the poll was “Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon”. Austin was already a recurring character in the show.
This match is one of the few times all participants, including referee Mills Lane, were all voiced by themselves. It stands as one of the most popular fights ever featured on the show.
Electra and Rodman were both featured in the Celebrity Deathmatch video game. Rodman’s moves focused on using basketballs offensively.
Electra’s special moves involved using “Electra saws”. She was the only character that could dismember opponents mid-fight, but doing so prevented her from using her finishing moves.
Her next video game appearance was in Def Jam Vandetta: Fight For NY. Electronic Arts was the last company to develop games for WCW.
They had been working on a new game engine for sixth-generation consoles (PlayStation 2, original X-Box and Nintendo Gamecube). But the project was abandoned when WCW was sold off to the WWF.
The resources intended for the WCW game were recycled for the Def Jam series. These were fighting games starring mostly rappers and R ‘n’ B musicians.
They had recorded motion capture animations of dozens of wrestling moves that are still used. Unlike with Celebrity Deathmatch, the featured personalities all signed appearance deals. Many, like Electra, voiced their own characters.
In FFNY’s story, Electra hits on the player’s character in front of his girlfriend. The player then chooses one of the two women for the next fight.
If the player wins, his chosen woman remains their girlfriend for the rest of the story. If they lose, they wind up with a “consolation prize” (an unattractive girlfriend).
In 2006, Electra was suddenly announced as the “creator and owner” of The Naked Women’s Wrestling League. This was just for marketing. The first NWWL event aired two years earlier. The creators decided they needed to go bigger for a relaunch.
The company was renamed ‘Carmen Electra’s Naked Women’s Wrestling League’. Adult models would receive basic wrestling training and put on simple matches.
Every match had a heavily sexualised theme or stipulation. As the company name suggested, some women competed while fully naked. Jimmy Hart was also brought in as a manager to try and add legitimacy.
Some of the women, like Electra, were already established names in the adult entertainment industry. The rest took on exaggerated characters that seemed to be designed for adult movies. Several of them promoted the company by posing for men’s magazines.
Electra left after a year. She would sue the company or alleged breaches of contract and overdue backpay. In response, the company owner claimed he would seek damages for defamation and malicious prosecution. The company managed to reach over thirty countries with their PPVs. They stopped hosting events in 2009.
Only three of the performers stayed involved with wrestling. April Hunter was already known to fans as one of Scott Steiner’s “Freaks” in the final days of WCW.
She went on to compete internationally. Her character made heavy reference to her being a magazine model. Annie Social was already active on the indie circuit and is still active today.
Melissa Coates spent some time in WWE’s developmental system. She was a plant in the crowd at Backlash 2005 for Chris Masters’ Master Lock Challenge.
Coates was also alleged to be the victim of a humiliation ritual by her trainer Bill DeMott in a bid to get out of training for the day.
Coates would be best known as “Super Genie”, the valet of her real-life partner Sabu. Coates passed away in 2021 due to complications with blood clots.
Staining The Silver Screen
A Baywatch movie was announced in 2004. It did not achieve completion until 2017. It starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Mitch.
Zac Efron played new character Matt Brody, a disgraced competitive swimmer who was recruited for publicity. Kelly Robrach plays the new C.J.
Parker even though Anderson still reprised her role. Alexandra Daddario received a higher billing for the DVD release due to her rising fame. Hasselhoff made a cameo as “The Mentor”.
Even though the original producers were involved, the movie bore little resemblance to the classic TV show. The movie had a convoluted plot and was oversaturated with vulgarity.
The effects of ever-changing production teams were evident. The movie and it’s lead actors won multiple “Worst” awards and nominations.
Johnson and Efron were hired for their name recognition. Johnson’s involvement with wrestling does not need much explanation.
It took Johnson less than three years to go from his first-ever career match to winning the WWF Championship. He effectively left wrestling in 2002 to become one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors. He is currently on TKO’s Board of Directors, although fans are unclear what his role is.
Getting to Grips with The Iron Claw
Efron shot to fame through the High School Musical series. Most of his acting roles since then have been awkward comedies where he shows off his muscular body, or acclaimed biopics based on real people. An example of the latter is The Iron Claw.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Kevin “Von Erich” Adkinson. Kevin is one of six sons of promoter Jack “Fritz Von Erich” Adkinson. He is the only one of the six siblings to outlive their parents. All his brothers died before reaching thirty-five.
To play Kevin, Efron received genuine wrestling training to make match scenes appear more realistic. His trainers, who included Chavo Guerrero, Jr., were impressed by his work.
They claimed that Efron could still have a promising career in wrestling if he wanted to pursue it. However, Efron was already the same age as Kevin as depicted at the end of the movie.
One of the criticisms of the movie is that most of the cast bore little resemblance to the real-life wrestlers they portrayed. Efron is six inches shorter than Kevin.
They needed to cast shorter actors to play opponents to make Efron seem larger than he is. This included having the relatively small Guerrero play the stout Iron Sheik.
Fans were also critical of how much of the story was changed, such as ignoring the existence of youngest brother Chris entirely.
In contract, the movie did well with movie critics and non-wrestling fans. Those who were less aware of the Von Erich story were impressed by the movie. It made triple its budget and won two awards from the National Board of Review.
The success of the movie greenlit other wrestling biopics. The Queen of the Ring was based on the life and career of women’s wrestling pioneer Mildred Burke.
It received similar acclaim. Guerrero claims that the producers of The Iron Claw have begun work on a movie about his own family.
Rebuilding the Fanbase
One good thing came out of the Baywatch movie flopping. It demonstrated that the original series still had a strong fanbase.
This led to it finally being re-released as Baywatch Remastered. Only select episodes had been made available on VHS cassette prior to this. The Blu-Ray box sets struggled to meet initial demand.
The remaster did not simply improve picture and audio quality. Old episodes were re-edited. Virtually all previous music had to be replaced. The demand became so great that they moved to have the show become available on streaming services.
In 2018, FreemantleMedia International made a false announcement that a reboot was in the works. This was a test to gauge if there was genuine interest.
The positive responses to the announcement and the Blu-Ray releases help persuade the conversation. In 2023, they began taking the project seriously and formally announced it the next year.
Steve Amell was the first cast member to be confirmed for the reboot. He will be playing an adult version of Hobie Buchanon, who now leads the Baywatch team.
A few members of the original cast have confirmed they will reprise their roles for limited appearances. The main cast will mainly be new and unestablished actors.
Amell rose to fame in the lead role of Arrow. It is a modern adaptation of the DC Comics superhero The Green Arrow. Amell played Oliver Queen, a vigilante who uses his archery skills to fight crime.
It is the first of several superhero shows to be a part of “The Arrow-verse”. Connected shows have included The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, and The Legends of Tomorrow.
Arrow Hits the Squared Circle
His wrestling involvement has been documented across multiple articles at the Post. Amell has been a wrestling fan since he was a kid.
He observed that the WWE were booking celebrities as weekly guest hosts on Raw. He petitioned on social media to become one of them. The only person to respond was “Stardust”.
Cody Rhodes is never shy to tell anyone he is the son of Dusty Rhodes. He was repackaged as Stardust for one storyline.
When it came to a natural end, the company insisted on keeping the character going. He gave his best to the role despite hating it.
He theorized that if he helped Amell get involved with WWE, then he would get a push where he ditches the Stardust character.
He arranged for Amell to be backstage at an untelevised house show. Rhodes informed the actor that Vince McMahon agreed to let them do a small spot.
Stardust would see Amell in the front row and would hiss in his face. Amell would stand up and Stardust scurried away. The crowd reaction solidified the future.
The WWE announced in May that Amell would be hosting an episode of Raw. Stardust began staking all Amell’s tweets on Twitter (now X).
He then interrupted Amell when he tried to open Raw. The whole time, Stardust kept confusing Amell for this onscreen persona. He even started using a new finisher dubbed “Queen’s Crossbow” in reference to his new rival.
A week later, Amell was shown to be sitting with friends and family as a regular fan in the front row. Stardust approached and taunted him.
He then placed his hand on Amell’s face and pushed him down. Amell then jumped the barrier and the ring ropes to ambush Stardust.
They were separated by security. Triple H would then announce Amell would face Stardust in a tag team match at SummerSlam.
This was a relief for Amell. Road Dogg insisted he slide under the ring ropes when entering the ring. He and Rhodes had rehearsed him jumping over the top rope.
Amell was keen to have a moment where he stood upright on the apron facing Stardust. Dogg warned him that if he miscalculated anything, fans would not want to see him compete at the PPV and the match would be cancelled.
Amell attended various house shows and trained with Rhodes before the fans were let into the building. He did not get clearance from the producers of Arrow for any of this. Any injuries he suffered could affect the filming of the show. And he did get injured on his first day of training.
He practised a “Coast to coast”, a springboard move where he had to dive across the ring. Amell landed badly and injured his back.
He insisted on keeping his filming commitments as normal. The physical therapy he underwent helped him deal with other nagging issues he already had.
There were multiple reasons for the tag match. The most obvious was so that the trained professionals could carry most of the contest.
Neville was the obvious choice for Amell’s partner. He portrayed a superhero character and had a finishing move called the Red Arrow.
Neville was already in a feud with fellow Englishman King Barrett. This made Barrett the obvious choice to team with Stardust.
They formed a temporary alliance with the goal of eliminating all superheroes. No matter how the match went, Neville and Barrett could go back to their original story after.
The match was built around two key spots. The first was how Amell entered the ring. Stardust performed a springboard jump across the ring.
Amell responded by doing the same. Stardust landed further away than in rehearsal. But Amell still completed the spot by landing right in front of him.
The action was fast-paced when Neville was the legal man. It slowed to a crawl when Amell took over. This was a creative decision by Triple H.
He hammered home the point that he wanted Amell to keep everything slow. Part of the reason was to reduce the risk of injury caused by his inexperience. But the reason he gave Amell was that wrestling tires you out quicker than he could imagine.
Amell’s final spot saw him perform a dive from the top turnbuckle onto both opponents outside of the ring. As much as fans and insiders enjoyed the moment, Amell felt he ruined it.
In hindsight, he realised he could have increased anticipation by climbing the turnbuckles slower. Then he recovered very quickly from the dive.
A minority of fans insist he hurt himself in the spot. He suddenly had a large “bruise” on his back. Then he collapsed suddenly after throwing Barrett back into the ring.
The fall was him selling exhaustion and physical toll he had already taken. The “glittery bruise” was Stardust’s face paint. It had been rubbing off onto Amell throughout the match.
Amell and Rhodes used his appearances to raise $300,000 for charity. Both men presented a check in person, with Rhodes being in his full Stardust persona.
Amell repaid the favour by getting Rhodes a minor role in Arrow. This would then lead to Rhodes getting roles in other movies such as Street Fighter and The Naked Gun.
While Amell was hard on his performance, others were not. He received a lot of praise and even a Slammy award for the “botched” dive. The WWE were open to working with him again if his acting schedule allowed for it.
Amell Gets Bitten by the Bug
In May 2016, Rhodes had a personal crisis in a locker room. He was still playing the Stardust character. He decided his career was going nowhere and demanded his release.
This essentially closed the door on Amell returning to WWE at that time. But this didn’t mean that they couldn’t wrestle somewhere else.
Rhodes began touring other promotions under the shortened ring name “Cody”. The WWE owned the rights to “Cody Rhodes”, but they later worked out a deal. He was quickly recruited by the Bullet Club.
The popular stable originated in New Japan Pro Wrestling but became a force in US promotions too. The group consisted exclusively as gaijins (non-Japanese people).
The Bullet Club became a top heel stable in Ring of Honor. They were strongly featured in the three-day Survival of the Fittest event in 2017.
The first event was headlined with the Club (Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks) against Flip Gordon, Scorpio Sky, and The Addiction.
Amell made a surprise appearance during the first show. Rhodes introduced him as the newest member of the Club. He was added to the main-event, making it a 5-on-4 handicap match.
Amell did participate in some of the action and was put through a wooden table by the Addiction. He would not appear in RoH again.
On August 6, 2018, Cody and the Bucks produced their own show with the support of RoH. All In was billed as the biggest indie wrestling event of all time.
One of the undercard matches saw Amell in his only singles match. He was accompanied by his Arrow co-star Joe Segarra.
His opponent, Christopher Daniels, was backed up by the rest of SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky).
During the match, Amell forgot advice he had received. He ran out of energy within the first three minutes and asked Daniels to end it early.
Daniels insisted on carrying him through it. Amell pulled off the coast-to-coast, but he landed badly and suffered another back injury. One of Amell’s conditions for working the show was that Daniels won clean.
Sports entrepreneur Tony Khan was interested in setting up his own wrestling promotion. All In convinced him to seek guidance from Rhodes and the Bucks.
All three men would be made Executive Vice-Presidents when All Elite Wrestling launched in 2019. Amell would make one appearance for the company. He was in Rhodes’ corner for his match against MJF at Revolution.
Amell’s genuine involvement with wrestling made him an obvious choice for the drama Heels. He plays Jack Spade, the second-generation owner of a struggling indie promotion in Georgia.
He tried to convince his younger brother to stop being the top babyface and turn heel so they can compete against a rival company.
The show was created by Michael Waldron. It initially aired on Starz before being picked up by Netflix with new writers.
Amell is often misquoted as promising a third season. This misunderstanding comes from comments he made before the decision to cancel the show. It had guest appearances from Mick Foley, CM Punk, and A.J. Lee.
With Cody Rhodes being back in WWE, the chances of Amell returning to cross-promote Baywatch are quite high.
We may also see other stars of the new show making appearances too. If the Baywatch producers will be ready, wrestling is always here.
