It happened at Silver Scream Con 4. The band Ice Nine Kills was performing their set-closing song, A Work of Art, which references the now iconic killer Art the Clown from the Terrifier horror movie series and was played at a few screenings of Terrifier 3. WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley came up on stage, sharing the spotlight with a bloodthirsty Art the Clown, who appeared nice at first. A fight ensued shortly after. Rhea was overpowered, giving Art an opening to dig into his bag of death to produce a nasty cleaver. And then it was over. Mami became Art’s latest victim.
This staged encounter was the result of Rhea Ripley’s very public comments on her desire to be cast in Terrifier 4. For fans of both horror and wrestling, this would be a match made in heaven. Rhea The Ripper sharing screentime with Art simply makes sense, either as an enemy or an ally.
If it happens, she wouldn’t be the first wrestler to be featured in the movie series. AEW star Chris Jericho appeared in Terrifier 2’s mid-credits scene as Adam Burke, a psychiatric hospital orderly that returns for part 3 to get his jaw ripped off. Given the theatrics of both wrestling and clown work, there’s a case to be made for more wrestlers to make the transition to this kind of horror. CM Punk and Kane have ventured into genre filmmaking and have found praise among fans.
Ripley’s push for a Terrifier 4 role does have some steam behind it. She’s already collaborated with the film’s creatives for an exclusive Hot Topic merch drop, which feels like a step in the right direction towards the goal. Also, Rhea’s in-ring persona embraces horror, often evoking imagery that would make her fit in well with Hellraiser’s Cenobites. It even extends to her theme song, “Demon In Your Dream,” which opens with the line “This is my brutality.”
In a sense, Rhea is a horror fan’s wrestler. Her hard-hitting style and her maniacal facial expressions all point to a brawler that wants her opponents to fear for their lives whenever she’s in the ring.
On Terrifier’s side of things, kinds of appearances and stunts such this just further cement Art’s new iconic status. From ringing the NASDAQ closing bell on Halloween to surprising fans at a Spirit Halloween store, it’s apparent that the character is quickly becoming a household name, a part of the zeitgeist.
The Rhea connection, though, is enough to make people ask themselves whether Art will have further opportunities to pad out his kill count with more wrestlers. Ripley and Jericho make two. Is Seth Rollins up for a deathmatch with the clown? Could Mick Foley be enticed to come out of retirement for a barbed-wire match with Art? Does Sandman have it in him to put his kendo stick to the test against a chainsaw? The possibilities are intoxicatingly gruesome. If the wrestling gods are listening, they’ll make sure this happens.
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