There’s no hiding the fact that in the sport entertainment world, you have to be in pretty good shape, or at least able to run the ropes without getting gassed out.

Over the years we have seen superstars come and go in various wrestling promotions, most notably WWE!

It is becoming ever-more popular now that superstars are transitioning from a career in pro-wrestling to the bright lights of Hollywood and more often than not using their wrestling career as a baseline platform.

Now in the year 2020 and the start of a new decade, we know as a fanbase we can search and find out pretty much anything, and the spotlight on professional wrestlers/sports entertainers has never been brighter.

However, with more exposure comes more athletes becoming self-conscious of their appearance.

A lot of performers in the business have over the years gone through some truly extraordinary body transformations, either for purpose of a healthier lifestyle and personal choice, or for an upcoming Hollywood movie they might have to get in shape for.

We have highlighted a shortlist of eight superstars who have gone through pretty radical body transformations in their careers.

No.8 – Dean Ambrose, AKA Jon Moxley

Ambrose has always been a pretty tall dude, but seemed to blend in pretty insignificantly when part of the WWE’s mega-faction ‘The Shield’. Standing next to Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, Ambrose was never really seen as a heavy-hitter or a muscle-bound guy – he was always the mouthpiece, the conniving character or in some segments, the comic relief!

However, since his break away from the shield and from the company for that matter, Dean Ambrose, now Jon Moxley, has had time to rehabilitate niggling injuries and focus on getting himself healthy and put effort into becoming more of an athlete as opposed to previously in his career.

He has put on muscle-mass and looks to be in some pretty good shape by all accounts, if you look at him now compared to his early WWE run, you can really notice the difference!

No.7 – Akira Tozawa

At a billed height of 5ft7 and a billed weight of around 156lbs, it’s safe to say that Akira isn’t the biggest guy in the world, however, in his earlier days starting out in the business, he looked a lot different to the way he looks now – worlds apart in fact.

Tozawa was initially somewhat out of shape considering he was a professional athlete, however, has since gone onto transform his body to be much leaner, to the point where muscle definition is clearly visible – most noticeably on his stomach area.

No.6 – Braun Strowman

At 6ft8 and around 385lbs, Braun Strowman is one big dude, one of the biggest in fact!

Strowman has never looked better, he seems to have balanced mass size with a lean and athletic look.

Back in his earlier days as a competitive strong man, he was well over the 400lbs mark – having to be much heavier and less athletic in order to compete in predominantly lifting events. That’s not to say he wasn’t a healthy giant back then, he was! But just a lot fuller – as required for the environment he was in…

Nowadays, sporting a much leaner physique, he appears to have not lost muscle mass, but instead excess fat that was no longer required; we now see him able to do very athletic, nimble like moves in the ring – maybe even a kick-up or two!

Nevertheless, he is still very much the Monster Among Men.

No.5 – Batista

Dave Batista or ‘Bautista’ as he is now known in Hollywood has always been billed as a muscle-bound guy; and to be fair, it suited his physique.

Back in his early days with WWE, probably around his run in 2005, he was truly jacked, very muscle-bound and a lot of size and mass to boot.

Later on in his career we have seen him take on other ventures such as MMA and acting, both of which have required him to trim down substantially.

That’s not to say he isn’t in good shape, because as for dudes in their late 40’s/early 50’s, he’s really not too bad at all.

Yes, he no longer has 2-foot traps up to his ears, but is a lot more agile and would surely put a lot of other people his age to shame!

He is for sure still ‘Big Dave’

No.4 – Neville

Neville, AKA Pac, most notably known for his run with the WWE where he was a big player in the company’s cruiserweight division, now performing in AEW.

Neville has never been the tallest or heaviest of guys, but by god he looks like a genetic beast!

His moves in the ring are extremely athletic and high-flying, however, he has a truly incredibly jacked physique nowadays. Has he always been this way?

No.3 – The Rock

Having not made the cut to become an American pro-footballer, he began to pursue a career following his father and grandfather’s footsteps in the wrestling business.

The Rock was a key component in the company’s Attitude Era, often sporting large sideburns and a raised eyebrow.

The Rock is probably one of the most transformed in terms of body transformation; in the late 90’s he was very stocky and not as lean as we’re used to seeing him now. He was still a pretty big dude, but you wouldn’t have billed him as necessarily muscle bound.

It’s a weird one, he was muscled up, but didn’t have the definition we see today.

The early 2000’s saw him lean out his physique to accommodate incoming movie roles such as the Scorpion King; fans could see that his training regime had changed somewhat and was a lot more defined and leaner in the stomach area.

It wasn’t really until the 2010’s we saw a much more hardcore, veiny, defined version of The Rock and this really put him up there with the hardcore meat-heads.

He has stated that he trains every day and consumes an insane number of calories.

It would appear he is more disciplined about his training now than earlier on in his career.

No.2 – Jinder Mahal

Jinder Mahal started out in the WWE and blended in unfortunately very quickly into the squash matches, maybe mid-card at best and was never somebody you would think to take a second look at, not that he was out of shape or anything, but he wasn’t exactly in shape either.

Mahal went years with the same sort of bodily look for a large chunk of his career up until around three years ago.

Whatever prompted Mahal to make such a drastic lifestyle change, nobody’s quite sure, however, one thing is for certain – it worked!

Mahal, seemingly overnight, turned into a genetic muscle monster; muscle definition was off the rails and vascularity spoke for itself.

There is obviously a drastic change in diet and training regime one can assume, but nobody really knows the secret.

He looks too great and without doubt in the best shape of his career to date!

No.1 – The Big Show!

The Big Show is probably the most notable giant in the industry today, aside from the late great Andre of course!

Starting out in WCW in the mid to late 90’s, Big Show was obviously unlike anything anybody had ever seen before; he was over 7ft tall and probably around the 395lbs – 400lbs mark at that time, he actually looked pretty jacked!

Big Show has gone on several journeys with body transformation, fluctuating probably more than most athletes in the business.

In the early 2000’s, we saw Big Show balloon, he claims at his heaviest he was around the 530lbs mark – he was truly intimidating and not one to be messed with, even at his heaviest he was still unbelievably fast and agile.

Late 2000’s saw a reinvigorated Big Show, he dropped weight to around 425lbs and took on non-other than Floyd Mayweather at WrestleMania 24.

From there on out, we saw a much healthier looking and actively fit Big Show, so much so that in the late 2010’s, we saw him take on another transformation in which he stated to be down to below 400lbs – a weight he claims not to have been at since the 90’s.

He posted a picture on his Instagram of his ‘Giant Abs’ – he is truly in the best shape of his career to date.

And there’s your lot folks, who do you think has made the biggest body transformation from this list? Surely it has to be between The Big Show and Jinder Mahal!