The WWE Champion may have played a big part in bringing one of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s top stars to Hollywood.
Production on the upcoming Street Fighter film is reportedly underway, with WWE’s Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, as well as former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto, officially confirmed as part of the cast.
Fightful Select have now provided an update on the reception Cody Rhodes has received on set thus far, additionally noting one source claimed that NJPW’s Hirooki Goto may have landed his role thanks to the WWE Champion putting in a good word.
“Fightful spoke with some who worked on set with Cody Rhodes during Street Fighter, who spoke glowingly of Rhodes. One person also indicated that Hirooki Goto may have gotten his role after Cody Rhodes put in a good word to help make that happen.”
-Fightful Select
Rhodes and Goto only crossed paths once inside the ring during Rhodes’ tenure in New Japan Pro Wrestling, when he teamed with his Bullet Club stablemates The Young Bucks and Adam Page against CHAOS (Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto, Rocky Romero, and Beretta) at ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds 2017.
In terms of who the trio of pro-wrestling stars will be portraying in the upcoming picture, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns have been cast as Guile and Akuma respectively, whilst Hirooki Goto is set to feature as E. Honda.
They join the likes of Noah Centino, Andrew Koji, 50 Cent, Andrew Schulz, Jason Momoa, Callina Liang, and UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski, amongst others, in a star studded cast directed by Kitao Sakurai, with the initial release date set for Octover 16th, 2026.
You can check out more on Rhodes’ on-set schedule here, whilst additional details on Reigns’ schedule can be found here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and Hirooki Goto’s involvement in ‘Street Fighter’ as soon as we hear more.
