Over the years, there have been a lot of professional wrestlers who’ve landed notable roles in Hollywood. For example, people like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Roddy Piper, Kevin Nash, Triple H, and Jesse Ventura have all made their mark on the movie business. However, none of those performers ever attained enough success in Hollywood to widely be considered true movie stars.
Of course, there is one wrestler who has become a big enough deal in Hollywood that it wouldn’t be a stretch to compare him to people like Tom Cruise. After all, Dwayne Johnson has headlined many beloved films and his box office receipts can stack up against almost any actor in the world today.
Since Dwayne Johnson is such a massive movie star, there is no doubt that John Cena and Dave Bautista don’t compare to him as of now. However, Bautista and Cena have also managed to become extremely successful in the movie business in recent years. Since Cena and Bautista have both enjoyed a great deal of success in Hollywood and professional wrestling, it begs an obvious question, which one of them has a higher net worth?
Bautista’s Big Bucks
During the mid-2000s, the wrestler now known as Dave Bautista took the WWE by storm once he joined a faction called Evolution. After rising through the ranks of that group, Bautista broke out on his own after his character rebelled against his controlling and self-interested compatriots. At that point, Bautista became one of the biggest stars in the WWE.
Throughout Dave Bautista’s WWE career, he became a 6-time World Champion and in his role, he won the hearts of many wrestling fans. As a result, the WWE signed Bautista to a big-money deal and he also raked in cash hand over first from merchandise sales. Despite all of the money Bautista was making at that time, he felt restless so he walked away when he was at the pinnacle of the wrestling world.
Once Dave Bautista left wrestling behind, he put all of his efforts into launching an acting career. After toiling around the acting world for a few years, everything changed for Bautista when he began portraying the MCU’s Drax on the big screen. Even though Bautista turned down a film franchise worth $5.9 billion, his film career has been on fire ever since his MCU debut. As a result of becoming a legitimate movie star and all of the money he made in wrestling, Bautista is worth $16 million according to celebritynetworth.com.
Cena Reigns Supreme
Just like Dave Bautista, John Cena began to take the WWE by storm during the mid-2000s. Initially an afterthought in the company, fans took note of Cena once he began rapping his way to the ring. More importantly, WWE head honcho Vince McMahon came to see Cena as the next big thing in the business and he began to push him to the moon.
At one point, John Cena and Dave Bautista were massive stars in the WWE at the same time. Once Bautista opted to walk away from the business, Cena became the standard-bearer in the WWE. In fact, Cena remained the WWE’s top star for more than a decade which is a feat that no other wrestler has pulled off. A 16-time world champion as of the time of this writing, Cena made a fortune throughout his WWE tenure.
Several years into his incredible WWE career, John Cena began to split his focus a little bit when he started to take on movie roles. Amazingly enough, Cena’s work ethic is so incredible that he continued to work a breakneck WWE schedule as he began to build up his Hollywood credentials. Eventually, the powers that be in Hollywood saw the same thing in Cena that Vince McMahon had years earlier. For that reason, Cena has landed roles in major franchises like the Fast & Furious series and the DCEU in recent years. As a result of the massive amounts of money he made in wrestling and his current acting success, Cena has accumulated a $60 million fortune according to celebritynetworth.com.
How Things Could Change
As of the time of this writing, John Cena has $44 million more than Dave Bautista according to celebritynetowrth.com. In most situations, it would be near impossible for Bautista to overcome a deficit like that, especially since Cena is still making a lot of cash. However, there are some reasons to think that Bautista could have a more impressive fortune than Cena in the future.
In the years since Guardians of the Galaxy made Dave Bautista a movie star, he has been a major part of the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On top of that, he has starred in a long list of non-MCU movies that performed well at the box office. More importantly, it has become clear that powerhouse Hollywood directors like James Gunn and Zack Snyder love working with Bautista. As a result of the connections Bautista has built in the business and his history of strong box office returns, it seems clear that major roles and lots of money will continue to roll in.
