WWE: The Rock and the 5 Best Wrestler/Actors of All Time

Undoubtedly, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the most successful wrestler-turned-actor ever. With hit money-making movies like The Game Plan, Get Smart, Fast & Furious and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,  the former WWE Champion has earned his place on the Hollywood A-list.

And he has even more major projects lined up in the upcoming year. Right after his WrestleMania match with John Cena, he's working with Transformers director Michael Bay on bodybuilding drama Pain & Gain. Per reports, he's also in serious talks to take on the lead role in Bret Ratner's upcoming live-action Hercules film. His already-impressive career is going from strength to strength.

Of course, while no wrestler has even come close to emulating Johnson's success in Hollywood, plenty have tipped their toe into acting. And while the results have sometimes been disastrous (check out any of Kurt Angle's embarrassingly bad, low-budget movies or Ted DiBiase's hilariously wooden performance in The Marine 2 ), some grapplers have proved they have a natural aptitude for acting and performed admirably in one or more of their acting roles.

With this in mind, here are the five best wrestler/actors of all time... 

Stacy Keibler

Unlike many of the women who have left WWE to forge Hollywood acting careers and promptly disappear off the radar (Chyna, Sable, Ashley Massaro, etc), Keibler, who parted ways with the company in 2006 after her success on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, managed to rack up some notable acting roles on shows like What About Brian, Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, October Road and Psych.

Generally, she performed well in these various roles. While Miss Keibler isn't exactly Meryl Streep when it comes to acting, she can, nonetheless, deliver her lines competently in a natural and unforced manner and doesn't embarrass herself or those around her. Hey, this is more than the likes of Megan Fox and Jessica Alba can do. 

And her career is set to skyrocket now, mainly due to her high-profile relationship with huge Hollywood-star George Clooney, which has garnered the former Nitro girl a great deal of attention on gossip sites, tabloid magazines and entertainment shows. Indeed, she has recently signed a major talent deal with high-profile acting agency WME, ensuing some big roles will be coming her way in the future. 

Steve Austin

While Steve Austin hasn't had the success of his fellow Attitude Era star The Rock, the 47-year-old has still managed to carve out his own little niche in the action movie market.

Although Austin's acting career got off to a rough start with WWE Studios turkey The Condemned, he has been working steadily ever since, taking on the lead role in straight-to-DVD action films like Damage, Recoil, Tactical Force, Hunt to Kill and Knockout. He also had a notable supporting role in action blockbuster The Expendables, which was a big success in theatres. 

While Austin doesn't have a ton of versatility as an actor (we're never going to see him inThe Notebook 2 or any other sensitive chick-flick/drama, for example) he knows how to play to his strengths on-screen and often outclasses many other leading men in the straight-to-DVD action genre, like the washed-up Steven Segal or the bland Dolph Lundgren.

Roddy Piper

While WWE legend Roddy Piper doesn't have the multitude of acting credits Rock or Austin do, he still makes the list due to his starring role in 1988 science fiction thriller They Live.

Directed by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing), They Live is about a lowly, nameless drifter, played by Piper, who accidentally discovers that aliens are in the process of taking over the earth and promptly sets out to stop their evil scheme.

Oozing charisma and attitude, Piper is a riot in the role. "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass," he snarls to a group of bad guys at one point. "And I'm all out of bubblegum." 

While not a huge commercial hit upon its release, the movie has since gone onto to become a cult hit, with special attention being paid to its themes about mass consumerism and greed-infused paranoia. Critics love They Live too (it has a fresh 88 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes), and it is widely considered to be one of Carpenter's best movies. 

Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura has quite the resume: Professional wrestler. Commentator. Governor of Minnesota. Crazed conspiracy theorist. 

He was also a fairly successful actor, thanks to his supporting roles in hit action movies like Predator and The Running Man. Indeed his memorable and hammy performance in the latter (he played Captain Freedom, a running man stalker who was after Arnold Schwarzenegger's character) was one of the highlights of the entire movie.

Additionally, he had a small role in 1997's Batman and Robin as an Arkham Asylum guard. But the less said about that movie the better... 

The Big Show

Due to his jaw-dropping height, Paul "The Big Show" Wight has often found himself in high demand in Hollywood, even before he became famous in pro wrestling. He's had supporting roles in films in The Waterboy, Jingle All the Way, Little Hercules in 3-D and MacGruber, and picked up parts in TV shows like Enterprise and Royal Pains.  

Unsurprisingly, WWE Studios also recruited the giant for the straight-to-DVD movie Knucklehead. The film was an abysmal, unfunny mess, but Wight (who was trying and giving it his all) can hardly be blamed for a poorly written script, can he?

Knucklehead was also a regrettable waste of the star because, unlike other wrestling monsters who get handed roles due to their size (Nathan Jones and The Great Khali spring to mind), The Big Show is actually a very good actor. Indeed, on WWE television he easily upstages everyone else on the roster when it comes to things like emoting and facial expressions. Check out his (utterly believable) distraught reaction when he accidentally injured Smackdown diva A.J as part of an angle.