Wrestling has been a popular topic in rap for a long time. From Nas using lines on Illmatic like "Vocabalary spills, I'm ill plus matic, I freak beats, slam it, like Iron Sheik," to Andre 3000 claiming it's "time to drop these 'bows like Dusty Rhodes." Today, fans have seen both genres of art and entertainment become so connected that some wrestlers even make their personality a rapper.
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There are too many rappers that love wrestling to count, but honorable mentions to notorious wrestling fans such as Method Man, Wiz Khalifa, Open Mike Eagle, and Mega Ran, to name a few.
10 JPEGMafia
Fans have always been able to tell that JPEGMafia is an avid pro wrestling fan by the references in his music. The critically acclaimed rapper has rapped about Broken Matt Hardy, Edge, and even former WWE ECW wrestler, Braden Walker. He's made so many wrestling references that a Redditor collected all the wrestling bars Peggy has said all the way up to 2019.
Of course, JPEGMafia has continued to show his love of wrestling in his music. However, he has branched out to show his love of wrestling outside of music, cutting a promo against Team Taz and defending Darby Allin on AEW Dynamite.
9 Wale
Wale is genuinely passionate about his love for pro wrestling and goes the extra mile every time he can for the wrestling business. Outside of all of the wrestling references he drops in each project, Wale has hosted the rap battle between The Usos and New Day on SmackDown in 2017 and did guest commentary for 205 Live in 2018. The DMV rapper has performed Big E's entrance at WrestleMania 37 and introduced The Street Profits in their match against Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly on an episode of NXT.
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Of course, Wale is also known for hosting WaleMania, an annual event on WrestleMania weekend, blending wrestling and music at a must-see party for any wrestling and music fan.
8 Griselda
Griselda is one of the most respected and acclaimed rap groups currently out. The trio of Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, and Benny The Butcher is Buffalo, New York's biggest act, and they are huge wrestling fans. In particular, Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine are massive wrestling fans, so much so that they named the duo group Hall and Nash after Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
Griselda is known for naming many songs after wrestlers such as Eddie Kingston, Shawn vs. Flair, Lucha Bros, and even made a tribute song titled "RIP Bobby" after Bobby Heenan's passing. Westside Gunn and Conway were even seen at the debut episode of AEW Dynamite.
7 Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg has no bias when it comes to wrestling, as he has made appearances for both WWE and AEW. Snoop has been seen in a wrestling ring multiple times, hitting Chavo Guerrero Jr with a Spear, doing a segment with Curtis Axel and Hulk Hogan, and of course, performing his cousin Sasha Bank's theme song at WrestleMania 32. In 2016, Snoop Dogg was inducted into the WWE Celebrity Hall of Fame.
However, in 2021, Snoop jumped ship to the rival company and got involved after Cody Rhodes and Matt Sydal were ambushed by Chaos Project, hitting Serpentico with a frog splash.
6 Action Bronson
Action Bronson's name is being brought up in wrestling once again, and for a good reason. Bronson's "The Chairman's Intent" single off of his Blue Chips 7000 is the theme song for AEW's newest sensation, Hook. The new rookie phenomenon told Pitchfork in an interview that he came up with the idea of having Bronson's music licensed for himself, stating that he has been a fan of Bronson's music since the sixth grade. Bronson is a massive wrestling fan, typically dedicating a song title or two on each of his projects to a wrestler.
The New York rapper is obviously a fan of the rookie, stating in the same interview, "when that man walks out, and you hear that music pop, you hear that crowd jump, it's something special."
5 Bad Bunny
No wrestling fan will forget what Bad Bunny did at WrestleMania 37. The most listened to artist on Spotify the last two years running took celebrities getting in the ring to the next level and respected the business so much that he canceled everything to go train down in Orlando, Florida, for months for his WrestleMania match. During that time, Bad Bunny would align himself with Damian Priest and feud against The Miz and John Morrison, even gaining the WWE 24/7 Championship at one point.
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However, Bunny's match at WrestleMania gained fans and wrestlers alike's respect. Bad Bunny was incredibly smooth in the ring, and it could easily be seen how seriously he took training. Currently, he is undefeated in a square circle as he and Priest picked up the win against Miz & Morrison.
4 Smoke DZA
Every hardcore hip-hop fan knows about Smoke DZA and his love for professional wrestling. DZA can be described as a lifestyle rapper (including things that would make WWE icon RVD proud) who weaves his love of wrestling with his New York flow. Smoke DZA is such a wrestling fan that he makes a mixtape every year around WrestleMania called "Ringside."
He has done this for eight installments, not releasing one this year for the first time since the series started in 2013. The series is laced with wrestling-themed songs, tons of bars about his favorite wrestlers, and clips of old-school wrestling promos and moments.
3 Denzel Curry
South Florida rapper Denzel Curry's single "Ricky" was the theme song for NXT TakeOver War Games back in 2019. Curry did an interview on WWE's YouTube Channel, talking about what his single as the theme song of the event meant to him, and in the interview, he listed some of his favorite wrestlers of all time.
Curry stated his favorites were The Rock, Scotty 2 Hottie, Rey Mysterio, Rikishi, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Undertaker, and Kane. Curry even did a wrestling-themed concert with rap group, Flatbush Zombies, performing inside a wrestling ring in his hometown of Miami, Florida.
2 Flatbush Zombies
Speaking of Flatbush Zombies, the trio from New York have been rapping about wrestling from the beginning of their careers. The group has used references from the wrestling world in their music for years, even naming one of their tracks "New World Order" with the video featuring the group in a backyard wrestling match that includes an appearance by Shane "Swerve" Strickland.
Big E's boots even featured each other their faces in WWE2K19. On the SwerveCity Podcast, each group member revealed their favorite wrestlers, with Erick Arc Elliot's being Roddy Piper, Juice's being Undertaker and Meechy Darko's being Shawn Michaels.
1 MGK
Wrestling fans should be familiar with Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly. MGK was first seen on the road to WrestleMania 28, being brought out by John Cena for his appreciation of his music. Kelly's song "Invincible" would be one of WrestleMania's theme songs, and he delivered an incredible performance before Cena's entrance.
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That wouldn't be the only time MGK would show up at a WWE event, as he performed "A Little More" before showing his true commitment to the art of wrestling as he took a Powerbomb from Kevin Owens off the stage, becoming one of the most memorable and respectable celebrity appearances in WWE. A year later he would perform at WWE's "Tribute For The Troops" and luckily was not powerbombed off the stage.
