Sylvester Stallone Unlikely To Appear At WWE WrestleMania 40

Ever since the first ever WrestleMania in 1985, WWE have brought in all manner of celebrity to help celebrate the ‘Showcase of the Immortals’ with everyone from Muhammad Ali, to Ozzy Osbourne having appeared at a Mania show.

With the 40th edition of the supershow set for Philadelphia on April 6 and 7, WrestleVotes reported that WWE are exploring the option of bringing Sylvester Stallone in for WrestleMania XL.

The report stated that there is interest in collaborating with Stallone ‘in some form’, with WWE sources expressing ‘hope’ for the partnership to come to fruition.

That hope looks to have been misplaced, however, as Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that Stallone informed WWE he has a scheduling conflict. Unless Stallone can or wants to remove the conflict, he won't be at WrestleMania.

Stallone is best known for his role as Rocky Balboa, with the first Rocky movie in 1976 famously based in Philadelphia. Stallone also has links to WWE, with Hulk Hogan memorably appearing in Rocky III as Thunderlips - alongside WWE Hall of Famer Mr. T - whilst Stallone himself inducted Hogan into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.

If Stallone does manage to make some sort of appearance at WrestleMania XL then he won’t be the first 80s action hero to appear at the event, with Arnold Schwarzenegger having made a cameo as the T-800 terminator at WrestleMania 31. Current action hero The Rock will also be at WrestleMania XL, likely in a tag team match with Bloodline faction mate Roman Reigns.