Mickey Rourke told Extra over two months ago (link leads to video) that he would fight Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 25 in a nod to his multiple award winning performance in The Wrestler. Rourke issued a warning directly to Jerico that “you better get in shape, because I’m coming after your ass.” His publicist then denied that Rourke would take to the ring, while Jericho told Rouke he better watch himself. The Wrestlemania star made a guest appearance on Larry King while Rourke was being interviewed and claimed “If you get your wish, Mr. Rourke, you will learn things you never learned in playing a wrestler in a movie.”

Rourke was classy in his response to Jericho, and tried to settle things with kindness. “Perhaps, I did put my foot in my mouth. I got nothing but respect for him.”

Despite saying ahead of the match that he wouldn’t fight Jericho due to contractual requirements for Iron Man 2, Rourke ended up in the ring. He was pulled in by Jericho, who had just defeated Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat. Instead of wrestling, Rourke punched Jericho out, felling him with a hard left hook. Rourke worked as a professional boxer when he fell on hard times in the 1990s:

After announcing to Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell at the Screen Actors Guild Awards that he would be at Wrestlemania 25, then later backing out, the “Wrestler” star stepped into the ring to take on WWE star Chris Jericho on Sunday in Houston.

“Contractually, because I’m doing this movie called ‘Iron Man 2’ now, I can’t get in the ring with (Jericho),” Rourke told a WWE reporter hours before the match.

However, the actor didn’t keep his word, entering the ring and knocking down Jericho to close out the match.

A feud had been brewing between Rourke and Jericho for weeks, with the wrestler calling out the actor’s friends, wrestling legends Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat, during previous events.

Flair, Piper and Steamboat got in the ring along with fellow WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka, where they were defeated by Jericho before Rourke’s entrance. After punching out Jericho, Rourke was joined by Ric in celebration.

“Jericho had made a comment that, that wrestler movie he made, that’s not my story,” Rourke said before the event. “And he can say all the s*** he wants about my friends Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat — these guys that he’s talking about, I’ve got a lot of respect for and I’ve got a lot of love for. They’re my friends and I think any one of them on any given night could kick Jericho’s a**.”

[From MSNBC]

That’s kind of cool of Rourke to go in the ring and fight Jericho. It was undoubtedly staged as most wrestling matches are, but he didn’t have to do that and it just shows that he’s a great sport. I had the opportunity to see The Wrestler and found Rourke very convincing and moving in the role. It’s a shame he didn’t win the Oscar, although he definitely turned his career around with that powerful film.

There are two videos of the fight on YouTube, but they’re all taped off television with a camcorder and neither are particularly clear. A fan on YouTube is complaining that there were only three fights in this pay-per-view special and that Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat dolls messed up “America The Beautiful.” At least Rourke was there to liven things up.

Header photo credit: WWE. Other photos credit Mavrixonline.