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THE WORST POKER FACES IN WRESTLING

It’s no surprise that wrestling has one of the biggest followings of all sports worldwide. There’s the appealing mix of extreme violence with theatrical performances. There are also all the big characters who we love to support – or often love to hate – and who do so much to make it the spectacle that it is.

Because so much of pro wrestling hinges on pretence and illusion it would seem like once they’ve hung up their boots a natural progression for many fighters could be to try their hand at poker instead. After all, being able to trick opponents while hiding your own motives is key in poker and so is having the same kind of stamina that will see you through 10 rounds of WWF action. Plus, having a wrestler the size of someone like The Rock across the table from you is sure to intimidate any player into making some pretty major mistakes. These beneficial traits aren’t held by every athlete out there, this article by 888poker focuses on those who really aren’t suited to a game of poker…  

The key to winning in poker is to stay in control at all times, keeping emotions in check and never really letting other players know what’s going through your mind.

This is fine for the kind of fighter who can keep up the pretence in the face of adversity, but not so easy for ones who start to think it’s all too real.

The not-so-great Antonio . . .

Take the legendary 1977 battle between the Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki and his near namesake The Great Antonio. The latter had been recruited from Canada and was a strongman famed for pulling planes and buses behind him. Unfortunately, despite initially agreeing to play fight he soon started to take the whole thing far more seriously so the real wrestler, Inoki, replied by administering a severe, and all too real, beating. This inability to understand the unwritten rules of wrestling surely didn’t bode well for the poker future of The Great Antonio.

Antonio Inoki and The Great Antonio
Source: YouTube

… and the not-so-incredible Hulk

As we’ve said, staying in control is another integral skill needed for successful poker playing and that would seem to rule out the 80s wrestling icon Hulk Hogan. When appearing on a TV chat show along with the A-Team’s Mr T the host, Richard Belzer, spent the first section ridiculing wrestling as a fake sport. So when Hulk was invited to demonstrate some moves on Belzer he really went to town. The result was a reported $5 million lawsuit that the WWF and Hulk settled before it reached court.

Hulk Hogan
Source: Wikimedia

Putting the boot in

Some forms of wrestling, such as in the Olympics, are definitely not just for show but that’s not to say that the fighters and their coaches would be any more suited to poker. For example following a disputed decision in the Rio Olympics which saw Mongolia controversially lose to Uzbekistan, the coaches threw their shoes into the arena and even stripped down to their boxer trunks. It might be a good move in strip poker, but not one that would get you very far at the WSOP.

Of course there are lots of other sports people, away from the world of wrestling, who would be equally unsuited to a career in poker. But it does seem that professional wrestling may well have more than their fair share of them.

So, when the cards are down, it seems like switching from the ring to the poker table will only have one result – and it’s unlikely to be any kind of knockout.

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