Adelaide
November 2-3, 2024
Adelaide Showground
With a brooding gaze, lightning-fast reflexes and a penchant for laying the smack down on Star City’s most dangerous criminals, Supa-Star Stephen Amell certainly knows his way around the occasional rough and tumble on hit show Arrow.
With Arrow currently heading into its eighth and final season, Amell is no stranger to putting his body on the line, and he’s well-known for attempting much of the show’s stunt work and fight choreography himself. Amell even went as far as filming a fight-heavy episode at the end of last year whilst dealing with an occult fracture he had recently sustained to his right hip.
When Amell finally revealed the injury via his Twitter feed, episode director James Bamford had nothing but praise for the actor, who bore his way through filming with an Oliver Queen-like stoicism and “fought through all of this like a champ”. Yet despite the gruelling demands of his role, it was not the perils that come with playing the Green Arrow which so often put him in harm’s way, but rather his fanatical interest and involvement with professional wrestling which has seen him enter the ring for events organised by the likes of the WWE, Ring of Honor and All In.
As a lifelong, die-hard wrestling fan, Amell had often campaigned to secure himself a guest appearance as a host on WWE’s Monday Night Raw. In August 2015, Amell would finally be granted his wish in an episode of Raw which famously took him past the ropes and into the ring itself.
When pro-wrestler Stardust (aka recurring Arrow guest star Cody Rhodes) intervened in a match against his teammate Wade Barrett, Amell called him out for it and earned himself an unexpected showdown in response. Seeking his own reprisal, Amell jumped the security barrier and went after Stardust to the enthusiastic screams of spectators, until he was finally dragged off the wrestler by security.
Amell and Stardust’s public “feud” would later come to be played out in WWE’s 2015 Summer Slam event when he would enter the ring alongside wrestler Neville (now known as PAC, and wrestling for AEW), and face down Stardust and Wade Barrett in a tag team match.
Stephen Amell and Stardust (Corey Rhodes) in WWE’s 2015 Summer Slam
Both fans and wrestlers alike were impressed with Amell’s performance, and he even earned himself a WWE Slammy award for Best Celebrity Moment. Following the match, Amell and Rhodes became fast friends, earning the latter his first guest appearance on Arrow as a recurring villain and drug kingpin Derek Sampson in 2016.
In November 2017, Amell returned to the pro-wrestling ring, this time as part of the first night of Ring of Honor’s three-night, three-city mega event. Originally announced as the host for the first night of the tour in San Antonio, Texas, Amell would come to join the wrestling stable known as the Bullet Club alongside the likes of Kenny Omega, brothers Matt and Nick Jackson (known together as the Young Bucks), and his friend Rhodes in a five-on-four handicap match against Flip Gordon, Scorpio Sky, and wrestling tag team The Addiction (Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels). Despite being put through the middle of a table by The Addiction, Amell and his newfound friends would later come out on top in an epic match lasting nearly 36 minutes.
The Bullet Club pic.twitter.com/7SQCPOY55a
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) November 18, 2017
Finally, last year on September 1, and during the middle of filming for Arrow season seven, Amell had lined up his first-ever singles match in the Pay-Per-View All In event, which had been organised in part by Cody Rhodes. Held at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago, Amell was slated to face down The Addiction’s Christopher Daniels once more – who amusingly taunted Amell in a match lead up promotional video, all the while wearing a Marvel t-shirt designed to further antagonise the DC actor.
During the match itself, Amell was lined up to deliver a crushing blow to his opponent when he sustained the injury to his hip on live TV.
True story: I suffered an occult fracture to my left hip right before we started filming tonight’s episode. I couldn’t make it worse I could simply delay the healing process if it hit it on something. Also couldn’t complain bc it happened in a wrestling match. I’m an idiot.
— Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell) November 27, 2018
Injuries aside, Amell described his participation in the event as a “once in a lifetime, and possibly a last of a lifetime opportunity for him” in a typically humble and thankful manner which has earned him a legion of fans and a reputation as one of TV’s most likable stars. Unfortunately for wrestling fans, though, Amell’s comments may hint at last year’s match being the last of his pro-wrestling appearances, despite his obvious passion and talent for the sport. At least the upside is, a break from the wrestling ring will mean that he’s far more likely to be in better shape to don the hood and bow for Arrow’s eighth and final season scheduled to air later this year.
Stephen Amell will appear at Supanova Comic Con & Gaming Sydney (21–23 June) and Perth (29-30 June).
