A WWE Champion Reveals His Black Panther 2 Role Was Taken Away - 'But Not From Marvel'

WWE has helped propel Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, and Dave Bautista to Hollywood superstardom, but more often than not, the company has forbidden its stars from waxing their acting chops. That's certainly the case for Damian Priest, who told "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" that he was prohibited from accepting a role in Marvel's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."

"It's a long story but basically it got taken away from me, but not from Marvel," Priest revealed. "I think we can read between the lines here that the [WWE] regime was a little bit different at that time." Priest didn't reveal which character he was set to play, but some social media users are convinced it was Namor, as he read for the role. That said, it's more likely that he was cast as a supporting character like Attuma, who was brought to life by Alex Livinalli in the end.

As for the regime Priest is referring to, it's that of retired former WWE boss Vince McMahon, who was forced to step down earlier this year after former employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against him for sex trafficking and misconduct. However, McMahon had a reputation for being difficult to work for outside of his array of scandals, and Priest is one of several WWE stars with a similar story.

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Vince McMahon didn't want every WWE Superstar to follow in the footsteps of Dwayne Johnson and John Cena. In fact, not getting to act could have been one of Dave Bautista's tragic stories, as his former boss wanted him to focus solely on wrestling. This prompted the "Guardians of the Galaxy" star to quit the company, and the rest is history.

Elsewhere, much has been said about how starring on "The Mandalorian" changed Sasha Banks for the better. However, the former WWE star, who now goes by the name Mercedes Mone in AEW, has been open about the company booking her to perform on house shows when she was supposed to be on the set of the "Star Wars" project. The wrestler-turned-actor noted that she had to fight hard to be part of the Disney+ series, and it was a struggle at times.

Paul "Big Show" Wight has a similar story to tell, as McMahon wouldn't let him be part of Ridley Scott's "Gladiator," as he was paying him to wrestle and not pursue mainstream gigs outside of the WWE. While Big Show had a cameo in an Adam Sandler classic, "Gladiator" could have taken his acting career to new heights, but it wasn't meant to be. That said, now that WWE is operating under a new regime led by Paul "Triple H" Levesque and Nick Khan, it will be interesting to see if its stars are permitted to embark on more non-wrestling ventures.