Mickey Rourke: From Wrestler to Wrestlemania

The Wrestler star is poised to get in the ring for real and compete in the WWE's Wrestlemania 25 in April

By Josh Grossberg Jan 26, 2009 9:21 PMTags
The Wrestler, Mickey RourkeNiko Tavernise/Fox Searchlight Pictures

Mickey Rourke is taking this wrestling thing way too seriously.

Hollywood's comeback kid du jour, who just notched an Oscar nomination for playing a washed-up pro grappler in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, is eyeing the ring for real, announcing on the red carpet at last night's SAG Awards that he plans to participate in the WWE's Wrestlemania 25 in Houston April 5.

"The nicest thing has been the whole wrestling community embracing us," Rourke tells E! News. "The movie was about their world and so I think maybe I'm gonna do Wrestlemania in Houston.

"I had some dialogue with Vince McMahon and Rick Flair, Roddy Piper and all the rest of them and they've been really supportive."

To prepare for his Golden Globe-winning, SAG-nominated role, Rourke bulked up his 56-year-old frame and trained for months to master the complex ring moves.

Which begs the question: Is Rourke (a) taking Method acting to a new level, (b) still punch-drunk from that ill-fated boxing career, or (c) just playing by his own rules?

For now, we're going with (c).

While Rourke didn't say he was actually going to grapple with the pros, he does have his trash talk down pat.

"Chris Jericho, you better get in shape," said Rourke, "because I'm coming after your ass."

Guess we'll have to wait about 9 1/2 weeks to see how this plays out.