Street Fighter Movie: Biggest Reason Why Braun Strowman Will Struggle as Zangief but Roman Reigns Won’t as Akuma
Legendary’s Street Fighter reboot is loading up stars, fan theories, and wrestler cameos—now let’s hope it fights better than the 1994 mess.
Credits: WWE
Despite Capcom’s iconic video game already having turned into a movie in 1994, it deserved another chance in the film industry thanks to the unfortunate adaptation. Luckily, Legendary Entertainment is here to do just that. Street Fighter is all set to get its live-action adaptation in the coming days, and hopefully, they’ll get it right this time.
While nothing has been confirmed, there are reports floating around the Internet that are taking our excitement to the next level. Fans are also giving their two cents on who should star in the movie, including pro-wrestler Braun Strowman. If he does get the role that he’s being lobbied for, it might be a little difficult for him to pull it off, solely for one reason.
Braun Strowman as Zangief in Street Fighter?
Braun Strowman | Credits: WWE
Street Fighter, the upcoming live-action film based on Capcom’s fan-favorite video game, is currently in development. While we don’t know when it will see the light of day, one thing is for sure: the excitement is at an all-time high, especially for those who played the fighting game series growing up.
Digital creator Brian Rivera has been posting these epic edits, turning wrestlers into characters from Street Fighter. His latest addition to the series is Braun Strowman, aka Adam Scherr, as Zangief.
Check out the fire poster made by him below:
Honestly, consider us sold. However, there is just one tiny problem. If Strowman were to actually be cast as Zangief, he might end up having to learn a bit of Russian thanks to the character’s background. In the video game series, Zangief is a professional wrestler, fighting to prove Russia’s superiority over others in the sport.
As you would guess, Strowman does not know the language, which could be quite difficult for an English speaker to learn. Then there is Roman Reigns, who is reported to be in the movie. While his character hasn’t been disclosed, Rivera has put him up for Akuma, the Japanese dark fighter (via Instagram). No Russian needed here!
Who is in the upcoming Street Fighter movie?
Ultra Street Fighter 2 | Credits: Capcom
The live-action movie was announced back in 2023 after Legendary Entertainment revealed that they had acquired the film and TV rights for the franchise. The movie was supposed to release on March 20, 2026, but it was removed from the schedule and, earlier this year, was delayed indefinitely. Here’s everything we know so far about Street Fighter.
So while there is still hope for it to make it to our screens in the future, we just don’t know when that will happen. As for the cast, Deadline recently reported that Andrew Koji, Jason Momoa, Noah Centineo, and Reigns are all in conversations to star in the movie. At this stage, we cannot say with certainty which characters they would be playing.
Moving on, the film is all set to be directed by Kitao Sakurai. In 2023, YouTuber twins Danny and Michael Philippou (RackaRacka) were attached to the project, but they dropped out to focus on the 2025 horror flick, Bring Her Back.
Sakurai is best known for directing Netflix’s hidden camera comedy, Bad Trip, which was released in 2021. Moreover, he has directed Aardvark, the Twisted Metal TV series, and a short film, The Passage. Sukarai is also an actor, writer, and producer.
