TOP FIVE LIST: Superheroes Who Could Make Great Pro Wrestlers (and, yes, Peacemaker is on the list)

Wrestling and comic books exist in the same area of storytelling. A long time act who has had multiple arcs to their stories creating the characters they turn out to be. There are heroes doing battle with villains and there are tiers of who is more powerful than another based solely on how that character is presented. There are hot runs that a character can go on, and characters who are better in teams. The parallels are a list as long as the holds that Chris Jericho knows.

I was stoked to see the cross promotion between the new Superman movie and AEW. The two mediums have drawn inspiration from each other for years. You have the agreement between Marvel and the then WWF for the name of The Incredible Hulk Hogan, comic books written by wrestlers like Raven and CMPunk, various wrestling companies putting out comics based on wrestlers, and even recently Rick & Morty’s “Rickelmania” miniseries was released during WrestleMania season.

With all of the parallels, many of the characteristics that would make a compelling superhero, would also work well if they chose to step into the ring as a professional wrestler. This is a list of heroes, so I’m mostly looking at characters that would be great babyfaces. Villains and heels will have to be a separate list. This made the criteria someone who would do the right thing, even if that meant sacrificing one’s own personal goals. They also have to be compelling, so overpowered characters like Superman, the greatest superhero ever with absolutely zero debate, would be disqualified.

Peacemaker

It’s almost cheating to use the character that is known by more people as John Cena than there are people who ever read a Peacemaker comic book. There is also a reason that John Cena was the one to make this incarnation of Peacemaker get over. Mostly a low tier character in the DC Universe, John Cena and James Gunn were able to bring out the best aspects of a character that wants to do good. He wants to be known as a hero. His methods though, are a bit rough. I feel like he’s Randy Orton, when he was a beloved hero punts people in the head. He’s the man who will get peace, no matter how many men, women, or children he would leave behind him to get it. He would be chaos, but if you had a competing faction come after you, Peacemaker is definitely someone you’d make a deal with to put on your War Games team.

Deadpool

Part of being a great pro wrestler is being able to cut a great promo, and there’s no reason to think that The Merc With a Mouth wouldn’t be considered the best of whatever era he was placed into. Skilled in martial arts and his rapid healing abilities would make for a great competitor in ring. He’s a show off that would have flashy moves and entrances, and become one of the best.

Booster Gold

I love a great bit role player, and Booster Gold is one of my favorites. There haven’t been any movies or TV shows with him, and even in the comics, he’s more known as a remote member of The Justice League. Michael Jon Carter was perfectly average. Even his name was boring and unmemorable. He wanted to be great, whether that be as an athlete, a hero, or another route to being a celebrity, but simply wasn’t good enough in any of those roles to be the one picked. So he traveled back in time. With the future’s knowledge and technology, he would be way above average with a 500-year head start. The cockiness of someone coming in like that made him a useful joke character all too often. Then he became chosen to become a time cop. His ability to travel in and out of time gave him the ability to be in the right place at the right time.

I see Matt Cardona’s former Zach Ryder character. He’s goofy, but he loves what he does and wants to be the best at it. You can have him move up and down the card, able to mix it up with the big names, but also have a lot of fun in mid card angles with some haha thrown in.

Nightwing

The stories you could tell in the wrestling context for Dick Grayson would be legendary. Trained by the best to do it before him from a young age after your family of acrobats dies in an accident. Becoming an even more athletic version of your mentor, and ready to lead his own faction after breaking away from that father figure. Changing the entire identity to say that he is his own man and out of the shadows of that legend, he becomes a more inspiring leader than the one who lead you. After time away, a reunion team up can happen. All of this with years of drama in between is the story of the first sidekick to have the moniker of Robin.

Trained by Batman, but eventually Grayson grew up and needed to set out to make his own vision happen as his own man. There were fights and drama along the way, and eventually the entire Bat-Family would team up to take on the toughest threats and even times where Bruce Wayne handed the mantle of Batman off to Dick Grayson, like one masked luchadore may pass on his legacy to a younger wrestler on their way out.

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Spider-Man

The obvious choice. Be it Crusher Hogan in the pages of Stan Lee’s most recognizable Marvel creation or Bonesaw McGraw expertly played by The Macho Man Randy Savage in the character’s big screen debut. Spider-Man is the comic book version of a white-meat babyface.

He sacrifices what’s best for him, his future, his studies, or career. Peter Parker is poor and lives with his aunt after losing everyone else that would care for him. He gets through school on natural smarts and barely keeps a job. He spins too many plates at one time as a super people pleaser, but when plates start crashing, he makes to choice that’s right for society at large.

Constantly beaten up by bigger and stronger villains, Spider-Man still finds a way to never give up the fight. He will always stand for the right thing and why he has been the gold standard for Marvel since he appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15.