Before Danny Trejo was cast as Rondo in The Devil's Rejects, former WWE and current AEW star Chris Jericho wanted the role, but didn't get it. Any fan of professional wrestling will be familiar with Jericho, who made a name for himself stateside first in ECW, then WCW, before becoming a hall of fame caliber performer during his time in WWE. Jericho also made waves in recent years by jumping to the new All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion, eventually reigning as their first world heavyweight champion.

Jericho has also extended his fame beyond wrestling, fronting the successful metal band Fozzy, and hosting the hit Talk is Jericho podcast, which draws an audience outside of just wrestling fans. He's also appeared in a few acting roles over the years, danced with the stars, hosted events, and currently narrates the popular wrestling documentary series Dark Side of the Ring. Jericho is basically an industry unto himself at this point, juggling lots of different gigs at basically all times.

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Before all that though, Jericho auditioned for The Devil's Rejects, and got turned down by writer/director Rob Zombie. It's rare that Jericho fails at something in the entertainment world, but the reason he lost out on the role wasn't exactly insulting.

Devil's Rejects: The WWE Star Who Was "Too Pretty" To Play Rondo

WWE - Chris Jericho

As later confirmed by Chris Jericho himself, the former multi-time WWE world champion auditioned for the role of Rondo in 2005 sequel The Devil's Rejects. Part of The Unholy Two, Rondo and his partner Billy Ray Snapper are a duo of bounty hunters willing to do anything to accomplish their mission. They're hired by Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe) to track down The Firefly Family. Unfortunately, Jericho didn't get the part, due to, in apparently Zombie's words being "too pretty" to play the character. While he's currently embracing a grizzled veteran look, Jericho has always looked very youthful in the face, and that was still especially the case back in the mid-2000s.

Considering the gruff and tough-looking Danny Trejo was eventually cast as Rondo, it's not hard to imagine why Zombie thought Jericho was too conventionally handsome for the role. What's funny is that Jericho's former WWE and WCW colleague "Diamond" Dallas Page was cast as Billy Ray Snapper, so one can assume Zombie found DDP just ugly enough to be half of The Unholy Two. To be fair, Page is 15 years older than Jericho, and that surely factored in. Interestingly, Jericho actually missed out on a potential two-film role, as Trejo briefly played Rondo again in 2019's 3 From Hell.

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