7 Wrestlers Who Thought They Were Musicians
Professional wrestlers have often been accused of living the "rock and roll" lifestyle. The parallels are there -- constantly working on the road, often being linked to drugs, and a propensity for dying young.
Some wrestlers don't just stop at the similarities, and attempt to cash-in on their squared-circle success for a chance at musical stardom.
Here is our list of pro wrestlers turned musicians... for better or worse.
Randy Savage
Randy 'Macho Man' Savage wrestled for thirty-plus years from the early 70's until a brief stint with Total Nonstop Action in 2005. In that time, Savage did everything there is to do in professional wrestling.
'Macho Man' Randy Savage had a career of hilarious moments, some intentional and others not, and I'm not quite sure where his musical career lands on this spectrum. Like many wrestlers working for the WWF in 1984, 'Macho Man' recorded a track for 'WrestleMania: The Album.' That wasn't the highlight of his musical endeavors, though, as he released 'Be a Man', a rap album. There were fourteen tracks recorded, even "perfect friend" in honor WWE Superstar Curtis Axel's father, Curt Hennig, but the gem is the title track.
The song 'Be a Man' was a song against another guy on this list, Hulk Hogan. It's just as hilarious as a battle rap song from 'Macho Man' Randy Savage aimed at Hulk Hogan should be.
Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan has done it all. Not just in wrestling, but in life. The guy has won championships, made sex tapes and regular movies, had insane tabloid scandals and is still thinking about working wrestling matches at almost 60 years old. Hulk Hogan has squeezed as much out of "Hulkamania" as humanly possible, and that even means a few forays into the music scene.
Hulk Hogan's greatest solo contribution to the industry was 'Hulk Rules.' It's just as silly as it sounds. There's a track where Hulk's ex-wife puts over his greatness for an entire three minutes ('Hulk's The One'), which may not sound like a long time but in music three minutes is an eternity.
Jillian Hall
Jillian Hall's musical career is a true case of "living the gimmick." During her stint as a WWE Diva, Jillian began working promos as a tone-deaf 'American Idol' contestant spoof. Her act never really caught on in the ring, but the character made Hall one of the most memorable Divas of the past ten years.
Her crazy singing eventually led to her recording a Christmas album called 'A Jingle with Jillian.' The songs were in the vein of her character, and each one was as ridiculous as the next.
Konnan
The New World Order was as big as any other faction in the history of wrestling. The N.W.O. featured a revolving door of wrestlers working for World Championship Wrestling during that time, and Konnan was one of the few who joined early and stuck around for the long haul.
K-Dogg, as he was more commonly known after joining the N.W.O., is one of the biggest wrestlers in the history of Mexican professional wrestling, or Lucha Libre. Besides being Hulk Hogan levels of popular south of the border, Konnan worked in the "big 3" of WWF, ECW, and WCW, before joining up with TNA in the states much later on.
Konnan wasn't shy about showing his hip-hop roots after joining up with the New World Order, and in 1999, K-Dogg released 'Bow Wow Wow.' The song isn't so much good as it is catchy, which may be more important in the music industry.
Konnan has had some obscure hip-hop guest appearances since, but this will always be the closest he'll ever come to a true hit.
John Cena
Before starring in commercials for breakfast cereals, John Cena was getting over with "thuganomics." He's always been about "hustle, loyalty and respect", but he just used to go about it in an entirely different demeanor.
Hip-Hop is a huge contributing factor to John Cena's early success. John Cena's use of rap music and freestyle rapping caught on like wildfire with the WWE Universe.
In 2005, John Cena and his cousin 'The Trademarc' recorded 'You Can't See Me.' It was a moderate success, even reaching #15 on the Billboard 200.
Michael 'P.S.' Hayes
Michael Hayes was one of The Fabulous Freebirds, which was basically your daddy's version of WWE's 'The Shield'. He would later go on to be WWE's resident hype man, Doc Hendrix, during the 'In Your House' PPV era. Hayes works backstage in various capacities and was last seen on WWE TV in 2011, in a hilariously short stint as Tyson Kidd's manager.
During his Freebird days, Hayes recorded a song that changed wrestling music forever. The song was 'Bad Street U.S.A.', and the video is just as legendary as the song itself.
Freddie Blassie
Wrestling promos have always been about buzzwords and catchphrases, and Freddie Blassie was the master of it all as far back as the 1930's. He took the world by storm calling his opponents "pencil neck geeks", amongst other things, and was one of the greatest bad guys the world has ever seen inside the squared-circle.
Freddie was so money on the microphone that musician Johnny Legend had Blassie record a couple of tunes ('Pencil Neck Geek' and 'Blassie, King of Men') in 1975.
If you think 'Classy' Freddie Blassie was great at cutting a wrestling promo, you're going to love hearing him laying down some jive with a soundtrack in the background.