The line between reality and fiction is often blurred in the world of WWE, but whatever your perception of pro wrestling may be, there’s no way you can dismiss the brute strength necessary to pick up a bulky opponent and slam them down on the canvas with authority.
WWE Superstars are highly trained athletes who often come to pro wrestling via other sports or fitness disciplines, and every now and then a character emerges who seems to set a new standard for insane levels of strength.
Here, we take a look at 10 of the most impressive WWE Superstars.
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Lars Sullivan
A controversial newcomer, Lars Sullivan has wreaked havoc since making his debut on WWE’s main roster back in April. Prior to this, the 6’3” Sullivan was with NXT, where he impressed coaches at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. On top of his outstanding strength, there’s no denying that the guy’s got a distinct look.
A prime example of Sullivan’s brute strength came in March when the “Freak” was able to perform a Turkish getup with an astonishing 135-pound barbell. Sullivan, who weighs in at a monstrous 330 pounds, has been dominating in the ring in recent weeks, devastating anyone that gets in his way and literally throwing his hapless opponents from pillar to post.
Turkish get ups w 135lbs to cool down from today’s training session. This is a great movement for total body strength. Lars and in charge pic.twitter.com/wtn3KTYah5
Mark Henry once said that Cesaro is “beyond naturally strong. He trains hard, but he’s got that strength you don’t expect him to have.” That strength has earned the “Swiss Superman” a spot as a workout partner to powerhouses like John Cena and Sheamus while traveling on the road.
Cesaro is a proponent of Olympic weightlifting and can perform a single-arm snatch with a 145-pound dumbbell. His biggest claim to herculean strength came at WrestleMania 30, when he hoisted the Big Show up over his shoulder and tossed him over the top rope to win the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Feats like these solidify the claim that Cesaro is perhaps the strongest pound-for-pound athlete ever to step foot in a WWE ring.
The former United States Champion is also known for giving far heavier opponents the Giant Swing treatment (including a dizzying spin to the Great Khali). At WrestleMania 35, he had Ricochet seeing stars for an incredible 45 seconds as more than 80,000 fans watched on.
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Bobby Lashley
Before stepping foot into the ring, Bobby Lashley was a decorated amateur wrestler, winning both gold and silver International Military Sports Council medals during his three-year tenure with the US Army. But his dreams of competing in the 2004 Olympic games were cut short due to injuries suffered while avoiding gunfire during a bank robbery, so Lashley began training with WWE.
The big man’s first run included playing a part in the infamous “Battle of the Billionaires” between Vince McMahon and Donald Trump at WrestleMania 23 and holding the ECW Championship on two occasions.
In 2008, Lashley left WWE but quickly won further Championships in IMPACT! Wrestling. At the same time, he competed in MMA for promotions such as Strikeforce and Bellator, racking up an impressive 15-2-0 record.
The “Almighty” returned to WWE in April 2018 and wasted no time reminding fans that he is one of the strongest competitors in pro wrestling history. During Lashley’s return, the successful MMA star dominated Elias, holding the 217-pound Superstar in one arm in a stunning long-standing suplex.
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Braun Strowman
Viral videos of Braun Strowman lifting up trucks and toppling ambulances may have veered toward the more fantastical side of WWE, but when it comes to legitimate strength, the “Monster Among Men” has no shortage. Strowman attained pro strongman status in 2011 after winning the NAS US Amateur National Championships. One year later, Strowman won the Arnold Amateur Strongman Championships.
Since joining WWE in 2013, Strowman has built a reputation for his insane strength, and thinks nothing of powerslamming Mark Henry or catching his opponents in mid-air flight. It’s incredible to think that the Greatest Royal Rumble winner is yet to win a heavyweight title in WWE, but it can’t be long before he gets those massive hands on a belt.
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Kane
Even if the long-held rumor that Kane once beat Brock Lesnar in a backstage arm-wrestling contest is apparently untrue, “The Big Red Machine” once shared with Jim Ross that he could match “The Beast Incarnate” weight-for-weight in the gym: “Years and years ago, Brock and I were at the gym at the same time and were throwing around some serious weight—and we didn’t really have a weightlifting challenge…Brock was impressed, and we were matching each other pretty well,” he told The Ross Report podcast.
Standing at 6’7”, Kane has manhandled some of the heaviest grapplers in the business, and his feats of strength in the ring include lifting Triple H into a military press, delivering a Tombstone to the Undertaker, and lifting the Big Show over the top rope.
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Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar has no problem living up to his “Beast Incarnate” moniker. The multi-sport superstar has won WWE, UFC, and NCAA Division I wrestling championships. During his time with the UFC, he scored victories against more experienced opponents such as Randy Couture and Frank Mir, and while training for the NFL, Brock delivered some impressive numbers, including running a 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds and hitting a 35-inch vertical leap.
In the WWE, Lesnar has pressed John Cena over his head without breaking a sweat, thrown Rikishi around like a full-body pillow, and took the Big Show to “Suplex City” so many times that Show should have just rented an apartment there. He also once walked around the ringside area with Mark Henry on his shoulders before nailing the 400-pounder with a thunderous F5. More recently, Lesnar has thrown around Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns with relative ease, meaning that “Suplex City” is still very much open for business.
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John Cena
WWE’s franchise player and 16-time World Heavyweight Champion has built himself an impressive reputation for lifting some hefty opponents ever since his debut in 2002. The Big Show weighed more than 530 pounds when “Super Cena” hoisted him up for the F-U finisher at WrestleMania 20, a feat of strength that put the future WWE Hall of Famer on the map. Cena, who benches more than 465 pounds, managed to top that outstanding display a few years later at WrestleMania 25, when he carried the Big Show and Edge on his back at the same time.
“As far as people picking me up, nobody is like John. [When] Cena picks you up, it’s like you’re standing on concrete…he is literally like a machine,” Big Show said in an interview with Chris Van Valet of WSVN-TV. Considering that Big Show has been in the ring with the likes of Brock Lesnar and Mark Henry, that’s a bold statement.
While John Cena’s star may currently be on the rise in Hollywood, there’s no question that Super Cena will be back in action soon. During a Muscle & Fitness photoshoot, John told us: “Don’t let age define drive, just keep going.”
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Big E
As part of the highly entertaining New Day trio, Big E has a lot of fun in the ring. But this pro wrestler is also freakishly strong. A former powerlifter, he even won the 2011 USAPL Raw Nationals with a 711-pound squat, 529-pound bench press, and 799-pound deadlift.
“A lot of people are surprised I only train three days a week. It’s so extensive and exhaustive that I need the days [off] to recover and really grow,” Big E said during an open workout at Muscle Beach to promote SummerSlam in 2013.
It’s no wonder why Andre The Giant became known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” He stood at 7’4” with hands so immense that they could completely wrap around the heads of his opponents, making him the second-tallest pro wrestler in WWE history.
Tales of Andre’s capacity to consume alcohol and his gigantic feats of strength have since become the stuff of legend. In fact, it’s hard to know which feats of strength attributed to Andre are real and which are simply folklore. But one thing’s for sure: This man was extraordinarily strong.
In a documentary first shown on HBO in 2018 and now available on the WWE Network, the Frenchman is shown deadlifting a weight labeled 2,000 pounds to hype up his otherworldly powers. While that weight probably had some WWE magic behind it, Andre’s career was filled with legitimate awe-inspiring lifts. Who else could lift up the 360-pound Big John Studd with such ease, or literally walk around the ring with grown men pressed over their head? Andre faced many day-to-day challenges because of his size, like not fitting in public restrooms or sit comfortably on airplanes. But he displayed strength that was off the charts, allegedly lifting cars with ease and swinging his opponents around like rag dolls.
“He was stronger than all of us, he was bigger than all of us, he kept everybody in line. He was the guy,” Hulk Hogan shared in the documentary.
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Mark Henry
Mark Henry signed with WWE at the age of 24 and was a long-standing fixture until he retired shortly after WrestleMania 33. During his pro wrestling career, many stories surfaced about Henry’s incredible strength. Speaking with Pastor Ed Young in a very rare interview, The Undertaker named Henry as one of the strongest wrestlers he had ever known.
“Mark Henry is at a whole other level. When we travel overseas, we travel on buses. Good guys on one bus, bad guys on the other. We were checking out of the hotel, and we have a four-hour drive to the next city. In front of the first bus was a car. The driver didn’t have enough room to pull out,” The Undertaker recalled. “We’re sitting there and no one can find who owns this car. Mark gets wind of it and goes, ‘I’ll handle it.’ Mark gets off the bus, grabs a towel, and goes to the back end of the car. He puts the towel underneath the fender well, reaches under it, picks up and takes a couple of steps and puts it down. He looks at his hands, fixes the towel, lifts up again and takes a couple more steps. He does this until we had enough angle to get the bus out.”
As an Olympic weightlifter, powerlifter, and competitive strongman, Henry smashed records all over the world. Today, “The World’s Strongest Man” still holds the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation (WDFPF) world records in the squat and deadlift, and holds many other accolades.
Relive these amazing feats of strength on WWE Network. To subscribe, visit WWE.com.
