Golden Globe/Emmy Award Winning Actor Paul Walter Hauser Is A Straight Up Wrestler Now
A LOT of things in the wrestling world went down this past weekend with the Royal Rumble happening in Indianapolis, but one thing I don't want to get lost in the shuffle is the fact that Emmy and Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser is now having matches like the above on the indies - launching himself off stages and through doors and into thumbtacks like he's Cactus Jack, laying his body on the line for the love of the game. I'm not sure if all the movie studios he's working with are currently watching on in horror, but I can't get enough personally.
Hauser's actually been doing this for a little while now, debuting in November of 2023, and he's improved pretty rapidly after working with a lot of the best names the indies have to offer (Matt Cardona, Danhausen, Paul London, and more) in his first dozen or so matches. He's obviously always had the showmanship down, and threw a mean crane kick from the jump....
....but since then he's really honed in on the fundamentals of the craft - the bumping, the selling, the offense, the psychology - and he's become damn good at it for a guy practically moonlighting! Even stuff as simple as the clotheslines in the corner at the opening of the match had my face naturally cringing as I watched, because PWH's wincing and screaming was so believable right away. He works to his advantages, and from what I've seen, his opponents never look bad for letting a "celebrity wrestler" get their offense in on them.
It makes sense when you zoom out: one of the best actors in the world is pretty damn good at this thing that relies very heavily on, well, acting - but knowing how much goes into the in-ring physicality and shape you have to be in to perform even a decent five minute match without blowing up (and possibly even throwing up) gives me a huge amount of respect for anyone willing to step in the squared circle and crush like that.
When I interviewed Paul in My Mom's Basement a few years back we got to talking about wrestling immediately, beyond just surface-level "Who'd you like in the Attitude Era?" type stuff - and you could tell he had a real passion for it right away....
Advertisement
He even pitched me a Ryan Gosling-led Ric Flair biopic that I still think about to this day! I was hoping the success of 'The Iron Claw' would jumpstart that into production….but maybe that Ric Flair put a bad taste in people's mouths. Kidding.
Hauser also had an AEW storyline where he got his Golden Globe stolen after he was smashed by a Jeff Jarrett guitar shot - THE WEEK AFTER HE WON THE GLOBE! I think he cared more about creating an interesting wrestling arc with the award than actually winning it, and he definitely succeeded! That got a lot of buzz for AEW at the time….
….so it was fairly easy to see how enthralled in this world he was even before his in-ring debut.
When discussing this recent "side-quest" of his with KFC and Feits….
(Start at 1:39:02 if it doesn't skip there automatically)
….Paul Walter Hauser basically described wrestling as his other "thing" just like the Bacon Brothers is Kevin Bacon's other "thing" or golf is most actor's other "thing" - it's what he loves to do the most when he's not acting. And I joked about studios watching on in horror, but they can't say they weren't warned! Check out this quote from Variety last year….
Advertisement
I admire the hell out of that pursuit of doing what you love, even if it may come at the cost of a production or two.
Judging by the 'Upcoming' slate on his IMDb, though, I think studios are more than willing to take the risk on Paul Walter Hauser. He'll make his MCU debut in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' (in a currently unknown role) and star alongside Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson in a reboot of 'The Naked Gun' from Akiva Schaffer this Summer, and also has a movie with Sydney Sweeney coming out at the end of August, he's playing Bruce Springsteen's guitar tech Mike Batlan in the new Jeremy Allen White biopic, a buddy comedy starring Mark Walhberg and him just went into post production, and oh yeah - he's also set to play Chris Farley in the movie about his life….
Who knows, maybe this time next year we'll be breaking down Paul Walter Hauser's debut at the Royal Rumble.