"Hamilton" star says wrestling is Romanesque.
Okieriete Onaodowan is a decorated actor. He starred in "Hamilton" as both Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the beloved Broadway musical. He also appeared in the television series "Station 19" as Dean Miller, among other roles.
Speaking on the After We Wrap podcast, Okieriete Onaodowan was asked to name something that people did not know about him, and he revealed that he is a wrestling fan.
"I legitimately watch professional wrestling. I did as a kid, and then a couple years ago, because of Hulu, you can stream it now like anything. When I was a kid, I watched it, and at one point, I wanted to, and then you stopped. I was like, I’m doing stuff around the house, and I just put it on, and in the past two years, I’ve been watching it, catching up like, ‘Oh, I missed Raw, I have to catch up on it," Onaodowan said.
Later in the podcast, Onaodowan was asked whether he thought that wrestling was theater. He stated that he believed that it was. Onaodowan discussed the art form and detailed the power of the storytelling.
“Absolutely, wrestling is theater. I think wrestling is remarkable. I think it can be so much more than what it is. I think it’s sports and theater perfectly blended. You have to be very athletic, very aware in your body, like a dancer, and you also have to be able to tell a story, like really tell a story. I really, really loved wrestling and studied it. The greats, they’re just constantly storytellers. Even throughout their match, they’re constantly telling a story. A big thing with wrestlers as people know, if you can sell a move, that’s part of telling the story. If you can sell your opponent’s move, give them that up and down, it’s going this way. It’s truly theatrical in that sense," Onaodowan said.
Onaodowan continued by calling wrestling "Romanesque", as he explained how fans cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys at sold-out stadiums. He reiterated that the art was remarkable and stated that it was definitely theater.
"Now watching it, I’m like, the good guys are the good guys, the heels are the heels, the faces are the faces. The heel comes out and insults the crowd, everyone boos. It’s like Romanesque, in a way. They’re selling out major stadiums, but everyone knows this chants, everybody knows this is the good guy, that’s the bad guy. It’s truly this remarkable thing. If you really think about it, it’s like a traveling circus, but people will go and [they] sell out stadiums to watch men in tights throw each other around. But they go for the stories they created. We know that these two wrestlers don’t really hate each other. It’s all written and scripted. It’s never-ending. A wrestler, the character can be an asshole for three years and then they set it up in a way where he saves a good guy, and everyone instantly is like, ‘Okay, we like him now.’ There’s a beautiful thing about that. It’s kind of nuts and beautiful in that way. But yeah, I would say it’s definitely theater," Onaodowan said.
AEW's Chris Jericho has said that he would definitely consider an offer to do Broadway. Check out his comments here.
