Jim Varney has taken Ernest P. Worrell on many wacky adventures, and you might be intrigued to know there could have been a wrestling Ernest movie. According to The Ernest P. Worrell Preservation Society on Twitter, a treatment for one such project was pitched to director John Cherry for approval to send along to WWF (now WWE) for a potential crossover movie. Referred to as Rasslin’ Ernest, the treatment is dated Aug. 19, 1998, and you can look at a photo of the cover page in the tweet below.
When you find out there could’ve been an Ernest/WWF crossover movie at the beginning of the Attitude era #UnmadeErnest #WWF #HeyVern #EPWPS #AttitudeEra #JimVarney pic.twitter.com/xVMQRX2PTZ
— The Ernest P. Worrell Preservation Society (@SeeingErnest) June 27, 2020
So, why didn’t the Ernest/WWE crossover come to be? While that’s not entirely clear, it could be speculated that professional wrestling at that time wouldn’t have been a good fit for a wholesome character like Ernest P. Worrell. WWE was getting far into the Attitude Era by the late ’90s, pushing the limits of what they could do on television with storylines involving wrestling porn stars, bra and panties matches, and even an elderly woman giving birth to a hand. I’m also not quite sure any of us really wanted to see Ernest take a Stone Cold Stunner or a Tombstone Piledriver — we love him too much for that.
Still, it’s very fun to think about what could have been with a Rasslin’ Ernest movie. Had there been no relation to WWE at the time and it had instead told an original story with Ernest battling some equally bizarre but more family-friendly opponents in a wrestling ring, I think it could have been great. It’s not too hard to picture Varney in wrestling tights, screaming in that signature Ernest voice as he makes a splash from the top rope.
As The Ernest P. Worrell Preservation Society also theorizes in a follow-up tweet, maybe they’d have been better off pitching Rasslin’ Ernest to WWF competitor WCW instead. Although they had their moments, WCW was not nearly as extreme when it came to the more mature content. They would also be the company to release the outlandish wrestling comedy Ready to Rumble in 2000, so chances are they’d be open to something like Rasslin’ Ernest as well.
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The Ernest P. Worrell Preservation Society will also speak at length about Rasslin’ Ernest in an upcoming episode of their official podcast, The Importance of Seeing Ernest. Each episode of the podcast delves into unmade Ernest movie scripts, so they also touch on other potential projects for Varney. You can check out other episodes now while waiting for the Rasslin’ Ernest episode to be explored at the official website.
Fans of Varney will also get to learn much, much more about the actor and the Ernest franchise in the upcoming documentary The Importance of Being Ernest. Maybe it will shed some other new details on Rasslin’ Ernest and other unmade Ernest movies that might have came to be had we not lost Varney in 2000. You can watch the official trailer for that doc below.
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I would of loved that RIP Jim Varnet