Top 5 WWE Stars Who Should Be The Marine’s Next Star

The Top 5 WWE Superstars Who Should Be The Next The Marine

I don’t think it’s wrong to say that The Marine movie franchise is the most successful movie series from WWE Films. The company has made six movies so far, with one big deal theatrical release (the first one starring John Cena) and then five direct-to-video entries (part 2 starred now former WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase, Jr., and 3-6 starred Mike “The Miz” Mizanin). As we saw in the last one, The Marine 6: Close Quarters, which also featured performances by Shawn Michaels and Becky Lynch, the Miz, unless he ends up playing a different character in a part 7, will not be coming back for a part 7 as his Jake Carter was killed off. So, if and when WWE Films decides to do another The Marine movie, they’re going to need a new Marine.

So who should be the next The Marine? I’ve picked five current WWE superstars (with three honorable mentions), choosing from the Raw and Smackdown! rosters (I don’t watch NXT so I’m not familiar enough with that roster to pick anyone from there, so that’s why no NXT wrestlers are on the list). And before anyone asks, Bobby Lashley doesn’t appear on this list because of his background in the U.S. Army. It would be cool if he appeared in a new The Marine, but I’d imagine there’d be some consternation from the actual U.S. Marines if an Army vet appeared in a The Marine movie as The Marine.

And so, without any further what have you, here are my Top 5 WWE Superstars Who Should Be The Next The Marine.

Honorable Mentions

–Naomi: Naomi was awesome as one of the villains in The Marine 5: Battleground. She showed that she could fight and do all of the stunts she would likely have to do as the new The Marine, so if the WWE picked her I’d be very okay with it. Will they pick someone, though, who was already in a previous movie?

–Charlotte Flair: Charlotte Flair is obviously super athletic and has a great look, so based on that she would be a good pick. She also does her best work in the wrestling world as a bad guy. The Miz showed that a bad guy can do the part, so why not Charlotte?

–Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler did a good job in the one WWE Films action flick he appeared in (Countdown, where he co-starred with Kane), so if no one else in WWE wanted to do the next one, why not Ziggler? He’s athletic enough to do the action stuff, he’s charismatic, so he would be an easy fit for the part. Would he want to do it, though?

5- Shelton Benjamin: When Shelton Benjamin returned to WWE in 2017 I was worried that he wouldn’t last very long. He didn’t get much of a return push when he reappeared, and until recently, when he became a member of The Hurt Business stable, I figured it was only a matter of time WWE got rid of him because they had nothing for him (I was surprised he wasn’t let go when the company did all of those firings because of the pandemic). Thankfully, his spot in The Hurt Business seems pretty secure and he’s on TV every week actually having matches. He’s one of the toughest guys on the roster (he’s one of the guys in WWE who, according to various things I’ve read, could actually legit beat up Brock Lesnar), and he looks like a guy who has been through some things in his life. So why not make him the new The Marine? He has an obvious presence, he has a real deal athletic background, and with the right director I think he could do a great job in a low budget action flick.

4-. Lacey Evans: If the WWE decided to go with a female The Marine, it would make sense to use Evans as the star of the movie because she is a Marine (she served for five years and was part of the military police). She would bring an automatic authenticity to the part. At the same time, I’m not sure if she would be better off doing a straight up, down and dirty action flick or if she would be better off doing something that is lighter. Her in ring character comes off as more of a goofy character as opposed to a full on ass kicker, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have Evans appear in a The Marine that leaned a little more on comedy than the previous six movies. But if the WWE decided to just do a straight up action flick and Evans is the star, I’m sure she would do fine. She probably has more range than we’ve seen.

3- Apollo Crews: When Ted DiBiase, Jr. was picked to star in The Marine 2 I was surprised that he got the nod because he wasn’t the megastar that John Cena was. It seemed odd, even for a direct-to-video movie, that the WWE would pick a mid-card guy. Shockingly, DiBiase, Jr. has been the best The Marine and been in the best The Marine movie. I think Apollo Crews could be the next one to kick ass in a “Why did they pick him?/Holy crap he was awesome!” kind of way. He’s a good guy you want to root for when he’s in the ring, he just oozes charisma, and the guy can fly (he’s super athletic). If you had him fighting terrorists or gun runners or some such, I bet the action movie audience would root for him immediately. It’s a damn shame that he seems to be getting de-pushed at the moment (he was the United States champion earlier this year), but that could be good for doing a low budget action flick. He could concentrate on doing the movie. Apollo Crews would rock in the role.

2-. Shayna Braszler: If the WWE needs a legit badass woman for the next The Marine, Braszler would be the number one obvious choice. She has a real deal MMA background, so she would be totally believable killing bad guys on screen and whatnot. Braszler also exudes a sense of danger when she’s on screen, which would help make her that much more formidable when her good guy character has to throw down for whatever reason. She also seems like she has a hidden humanity that she hasn’t shown in WWE, which would help in a movie part.

1- Ricochet: Ricochet is probably the most athletic wrestler in the WWE at the moment, at least when it comes to Raw and Smackdown!. The guy can do pretty much anything. Fly off the top rope? Jump off the ropes? Do a standing somersault? He can do them all and more. For a potential sequel with a heavy emphasis on high impact stunts and martial arts insanity, Ricochet is the wrestler they need. He’s also still pretty young (he’s in his early 30’s, I believe), so he can easily do a new one and any sequels if the potential new one is a hit. And he can obviously still wrestle like a motherfucker. I just wish, like with Apollo Crews, that he didn’t get de-pushed and he had more to do.

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