Batista or Cena, who is more famous to non-wrestling fans?

[Jindrak Mark]

The Rock is obviously the most famous but we're living in a bit of a golden age for wrestlers turned actors right now with Cena and Batista also being massively successful. The two guys who were anointed as top stars at Wrestlemania 21 have now outgrown WWE/wrestling.

Both have stolen the show in movies over more experienced actors. Guardians of the Galaxy/Trainwreck/Blade Runner 2049/Daddy's Home/Suicide Squad are all full of A-list talent but it's completely normal for reviewers to point out Batista and Cena as the highlight of those movies.

Both have a lot more stuff upcoming too. Batista has a bunch of big sequels in the next year or two with GOTG 3, Army of the Dead 2, Dune 2 and Knives Out 2. Cena's new HBO Max show just debuted, he just signed on to an action/comedy alongside Alison Brie, he's currently filming a political thriller with Brian Cox and before that he just finished filming a Matthew Vaughn spy film alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston, Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell and for some reason, Dua Lipa. 

Personally, I think Batista has been in the biggest franchise but Cena is the bigger star. Taking away their ensemble stuff like GOTG/SS/F&F and focusing on when they're THE main star of a movie, Cena's starring vehicles seem to be more successful than Batista's. Of their theatrical releases Blockers/Ferdinand/Playing with Fire made way more money than My Spy/Stuber. Is that because Cena's a bigger star though or were his movies just marketed better?

Cena was already famous enough 5 years ago to host Saturday Night Live and he's only gotten bigger since. I'm not sure Batista is at the level to do that solo. It would probably need to be like the GOTG cast co-hosting together.

BUT, at the end of the day, the Marvel/Avengers rub is massive and bigger than any individual thing Cena has done.

What say you, FAN?

[Push R Truth]

Cena is a walking Meme(And his name is... / Invisible Cena/etc). Whether you like it or not that skyrockets him to the top of a lot of lists even without taking into account his Hollywood success.


Rock, Cena and probably still Hogan are the Top 3 current famous wrestlers. Batista/Stone Cold probably in the 4-5 spots.

[1 Free Moon-Down with Burger]

Probably Cena on an individual level. Batista is famous right now yes but I still think Cena represents something bigger and is a bigger solo star in media.

I like this comparison better. I’ve heard podcasts actually try to say Batista is more famous than The Rock

[cosmo]

John Cena is John Cena, while Batista is still just "that dude from the Guardians movies."

[ISO Mid Thigh Pull]

Cena's got so many weird lil things keeping him in peoples' collective consciousness right now I think it's gotta be him. 





Like I can't even think about how many times I've heard this or LAO GAN MA LAO GAN MA in the last 365 days. 

[Cyno]

Dave's been in bigger movies in somewhat prominent roles, but I think Cena himself is still more famous.

[fw91]

Cena by a long mile, and that’s no disrespect to Big Dave.

[Feyrhausen]

Cena was already more known to the mainstream as a wrestler. And while Batista has has roles in bigger films he has most often been a supporting character or henchman. Cena is the star of most of his films.

[Jindrak Mark]

Jan 17, 2022 14:02:17 GMT -5 1 Free Moon-Down with Burger said:

I’ve heard podcasts actually try to say Batista is more famous than The Rock

I'd love to hear the argument in favor of that. I don't think there's anything they could possibly say to make me agree with it but I'd be interested to hear why they think that. Unless it just boils down to, "Avengers Endgame is bigger than any Rock movie." It's so obviously not as simple as that though. Sometimes maybe, like Titanic being as big as it was did probably turn Leo DiCaprio into a top 5 famous actor in the world overnight but on the other hand Avatar was the biggest movie of all time and Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are "just" solid recognizable actors, not massive household names.

Harrison Ford is famous for being Harrison Ford even outside of being Han Solo or Indiana Jones but is someone like Tom Hiddleston who plays a big role in movies that make billions really a massive name outside of the famous character? Put him in a non-Marvel movie and on a poster by himself and would he be enough to sell the movie and make it successful?

The way I see it is The Rock is famous for being The Rock and John Cena is famous for being John Cena while Dave Bautista probably isn't really that famous to the average person. It wouldn't even shock me if some GOTG fans don't even know his name and only know Drax. I don't think that happens with Rock or Cena though. People know who they are more than any specific character they play.

[thehottag]

I think Big Dave is doing better in Hollywood (prominent roles in Guardians & James Bond are nothing to be sniffed at), but that's not what the question is. The fact Cena is such a popular meme, never mind him being promoted as the face of WWE for 10 years, means he easily wins this for me.

[DiBiase is Good]

Batista stole the show in Blade Runner 2049?

[stoptheclocks]

If he'd never starred in a movie in his life, the answer would still be Cena. Let's not underestimate how famous someone is if they are the face of the WWE for a decade.

[eJm]

I honestly kind of hate discussions like this because there's no real way to tell since we're in that bubble of knowing who they both are and looking at it from the outside.

With how our culture is, people might only know Cena for the memes or being Peacewalker or his appearances in Daddy's Home 1 and 2 but there's no real way to tell that to make for a solid enough metric?

Basically, there's no real way of proving it unless we survey a bunch of people and we have to survey the right bunch of people like it's jury duty or something.

[Jindrak Mark]

Jan 17, 2022 16:03:18 GMT -5 DiBiase is Good said:

Batista stole the show in Blade Runner 2049?

I think it's arguable. For a small role he was great and I think it's the best work he's ever done.

If you look at reviews for that film he and Ana de Armas sometimes get more praise than Gosling and Ford, although that's maybe due to them being less known at the time so their performances surprised more people.

[dbrussel]

Cena by light years

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

I think both are equally recognizable. But Batista is very much in a "Hey, it's that guy!" character actor position, and people know John Cena's name.

[Cyno]

I have to say, Bautista is doing a lot better in Hollywood than I ever expected. Thought he'd just be a novelty as Drax in GOTG, but he ended up really showing some great comedic chops in the role. Really happy for him that he made it. He's not a leading man, but there's no shame in being a supporting actor in a lot of very successful movies.

[Zombie Mod is not a ghoul.]

Batista is more famous now (the marvel movies, blade runner 2049, spectre), but Cena is breathing down his neck and will probably end up more famous depending on projects for both in the future.

[bob]

my gut tells me it's Batista... at least for now

I think Dave's appearances in Spectre, the MCU and Blade Runner 2049 give him more mainstream name recognition then John

[Jindrak Mark]

For what it's worth, Google trends has Cena way ahead over the past 5 years.

trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F01ypx5,%2Fm%2F02_r_l

Cena comes out on top all over the world. If you change the search term to just "Batista" Cena still has almost every country but Batista gets Brazil, Spain, Chile and Venezuela. That could just be Batista being a common surname in those countries though.