Celebrities Who Wrestled In WWE (But Failed)

Celebrities are an important part of the WWE landscape since the sports entertainment model was built on mainstream coverage. Vince McMahon needed famous figures to appear on the television product to bring in new viewers. Hulk Hogan working with celebrities helped make him a mainstream figure for the wrestling industry.

Multiple decades of the company growing has led to more names appearing to use their fame. Names like Bad Bunny and Logan Paul have proved that taking it seriously can lead to great in-ring results in recent years. However, the following names were the celebrities that tried to wrestle and failed in various manners.

Kevin Federline

Had A Horrible Program With John Cena

WWE went for low-hanging fruit when bringing in Britney Spears’ ex-husband Kevin Federline for a celebrity role. Vince McMahon thought that bringing in one of the most hated celebrities in the world could lead to effective heat in a program with top face John Cena.

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There was even a strange scenario of Umaga helping Federline score a pin over Cena. Unfortunately, Federline didn’t show enough athletic ability or natural skills to do much in the ring. WWE only trusted him to do the bare minimum and waste everyone’s time.

Charlie Sheen

Backed Out Of Wrestling Daniel Bryan

WWE believed they could find a lot of success by having celebrity actor Charlie Sheen appear on the product. Sheen was coming off his viral rants about “winning” and other strange quotes that made him a popular name in the United States again for the wrong reasons.

One filmed promo from Sheen set up his planned match against Daniel Bryan, but it never happened. Sheen apparently realized that learning to wrestle was much harder than he thought and chose to go back on his planned agreement.

Snooki

Received WrestleMania Match Over Roster

WWE used to be selective about if women would have a match on the big WrestleMania card before the evolution movement changed everything. WrestleMania 27 only featured the ladies having a mixed tag match involving celebrities, Hall of Famers, and current talent.

Reality TV fad name Snooki teamed with John Morrison and Trish Stratus to face Dolph Ziggler, Layla and Michelle McCool at the expense of the rest of the women’s roster. Snooki trained to do her limited moves, but it was still a weak match showing her weaknesses.

Insane Clown Posse

Had Better Matches Outside Of WWE

The rap duo of the Insane Clown Posse loved professional wrestling and tried to get involved in many ways. Only WWE matches count for this topic, so the many matches they’ve had in WCW and the independent circuit doesn’t matter in the context.

WWE used Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J as members of the Oddities faction, including performing their entrance theme. The Insane Clown Posse had one lackluster match in WWE teaming with other Oddities members falling short to Kai En Tai. Both rappers leaving WWE allowed them to showcase more once in WCW against the Filthy Animals.

Shaquille O’Neal

Backed Out Of A Match Against Big Show

Shaquille O’Neal has been involved in wrestling moments for WWE, WCW, TNA, and AEW. The WWE involvement featured a surprise appearance in the WrestleMania 32 Andre the Giant Memorial battle royal to have a face-off with Big Show.

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Rumors circulated that a bigger singles match between the two would take place at a later stage, but Shaq struggled to get in peak condition and backed out. AEW ended up benefiting from having O’Neal’s first advertised match teaming with Jade Cargill against Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet.

Snoop Dogg

Had An Unplanned Match Against The Miz

WWE placed Snoop Dogg in a tough spot of having a celebrity hosting duty for WrestleMania 39 during a segment between The Miz and Shane McMahon. A planned match with Shane’s surprise return backfired instantly when he suffered an injury and had to be removed from the ring.

Snoop Dogg was the unexpected replacement and did his best trying to hit any moves he remembered before pinning Miz. Even though the entertainment value was strong, Snoop proved he couldn’t work a competent match if needed.

Steve-O

Umaga Beat Him Down To End Match Plans

Johnny Knoxville had a tremendous outing vs Sami Zayn in WWE, but other Jackass members had issues in the past trying to do the same. Steve-O agreed to take part in a segment with Umaga that had the original plans of a big SummerSlam match.

Umaga getting livid at Steve-O not selling his moves in the segment led to some real stiff shots to make him sell. The Jackass crew backed out of the match after feeling the real pain and didn’t show up in WWE until over a decade later for the Knoxville storyline.

Rob Gronkowski

Never Hit His Bigger Plans To Have Big Matches

Former NFL legend Rob Gronkowski remains a popular name in the sport due to his wacky personality. However, there was once planned for Gronk to have a much bigger long-term role in WWE when his best friend Mojo Rawley was on the roster.

WWE convinced Gronkowski to make a handful of appearances and even win the 24/7 Championship for a memorable moment. Unfortunately, Gronk’s training never progressed to give him a bigger role or more important matches like originally hoped for since he felt like a novelty act.