Timothee Chalamet calls WWE and pro-wrestling ‘hugely inspirational’
Marty Supreme actor Timothee Chalamet recently reflected on how much WWE and pro-wrestling inspired him growing up.
Recently speaking to Matthew McConaughey on Variety & CNN Town Hall, Chalamet was questioned about the influence pro-wrestling had on his career. Answering the question, he opened up and called WWE and pro-wrestling as ‘hugely inspirational.’
Calling it a “guidepost,” Chalamet claimed, “Hugely. Professional wrestling for me was sort of a guidepost growing up because I wanted to be an athlete, I just didn’t have the skill, the body, the physique, the speed. Acting was sort of — I grew up in an actor’s building, and it wasn’t my dream at its core.”
“It just wasn’t for whatever reason. WWE and professional wrestling was somewhere in the middle. It was like the titans, our athletes, both men and women, but with this showmanship and storytelling. It’s planned, it’s scripted, it’s fake, some people say, but the blows are real. The bruises are real. So, it was hugely inspirational,” he added.
He further continued, “Professional wrestling and WWE has been hugely influential to me. I feel like what I love with Marty Supreme and Matthew’s work as a whole and WWE, you see this with Bad Bunny tapping in or IShowSpeed and stuff like that, I just feel like it’s of the people, no matter how cheesy that sounds. New York is sort of a weird spot on the map of the world because New York, you can get the highest of the high and the lowest of the low. WWE is more of an Americana thing. New York’s got a lot of love for WWE.”
Chalemet also shared his love and fandom for The Boogeyman and Kevin Nash, before continuing to heap praise on professional wrestling.
“Professional wrestling and all its representing is deeply archetypal storytelling. It’s War Of The Worlds, and it’s not told in a pretentious manner. It’s not about cinematic shots of whatever, but it gets to a core thing. It’s populist, it’s of the people. There’s nothing like WWE, man. They should pay me for saying this. The entrance themes, the vibes.”
Last year, during his podcast appearance with Cody Rhodes, Chalamet shocked the world by expressing his fandom and knowledge of professional wrestling, and he has continued doing so while speaking with McConaughey. Chalamet, 30, also believes his wrestling name should be called “The French Fool.”
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.