‘Arrow’ Star Stephen Amell Is Set to Star in Wrestling Drama

Actor Stephen Amell is set to return to the wrestling ring—sort of. Deadline first reported that the ripped star of Arrow will headline Heels, an hour-long show about the world of independent wrestling. 

Starz picked up the show for eight episodes, Deadline reported. Amell posted a screenshot of the story, and asked professional wrestler and former tag team partner Cody Rhodes if he wanted to join him. 

Rhodes, executive vice president of the up-and-coming All Elite Wrestling, replied that he’s on board. 

Heels will follow Amell’s character, Jack Spade, who in the ring is the main villain—known as a heel—of the Duffy Wrestling Association (DWA), according to Deadline. When he’s not wrestling, Spade is the owner of the DWA and is hellbent on building it into a wrestling empire. 

Amell made his name in TV by playing Oliver Queen, aka the Green Arrow, in the hit CW show Arrow, the final season of which will start this October. On the surface, transitioning from superhero to wrestling star might seem strange, but Amell is no stranger to the squared circle.

He’s wrestled in several promotions, and even put on an impressive performance at WWE’s SummerSlam 2015 when he and cruiserweight Neville took on Stardust (aka Cody Rhodes) and Wade Barrett. You can watch part of the match here:

That feud started when Rhodes pushed Amell, who was sitting ringside at WWE Raw. The superhero didn’t take that sitting down, and jumped over the ring ropes on his way to spearing Stardust and landing a few blows.

He’d later team up with Rhodes (alongside Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) in Ring of Honor to defeat on The Addiction, Flip Gordon, and Scorpio Sky. And in 2018, he had his first singles match against Christopher Daniels, but that match ended in defeat for him. 

While it’s unknown when Heels will debut, we’re excited to see how Amell will bring his wrestling expertise to this show. One might say it’ll be a knockout performance.