Restaurants That Are Actually Owned By Pro Wrestling Stars

Professional wrestlers have a long history of branching out into vastly different fields during or after their careers.  The Japanese wrestler known for his monstrous morning breakfasts, Manabu Nakanishi, went on to work at a gas station. Others have decided to try their hand at opening up and operating restaurants during their free time. These wrestler-owned restaurants have experienced varying levels of success, with many struggling to remain open over the years for one reason or another.

Nevertheless, several wrestler-owned restaurants have been able to maintain a strong patronage via their overall quality, location, and the novelty of being owned by a wrestler. If you're a wrestling fan looking for a new eatery to visit that will let you support your favorite grapplers, or you're curious about what happened to some of the most iconic wrestler-owned establishments of the past, you're in luck. There are plenty of these restaurants to either visit or reminisce about, as long as you know where to look.

Likely the most famous instance of a wrestler-owned restaurant among fans (and arguably the least successful), PastaMania was a fast-food pasta chain inside the Mall of America opened by none other than the founder of Hulkamania himself, Hulk Hogan, in September 1995. With a menu consisting entirely of pasta, bread, and salad, the restaurant stood out due to its ability to be delivered anywhere within the Mall of America, not just the outlet's lobby and surrounding area. 

Despite Hogan's popularity and the fact that the restaurant was featured on the very first episode of "WCW Monday Nitro," PastaMania was closed down just a few months later.  The reason for this quick failure is believed to be due to its poor quality and weak concept, as the demand for fast-food Italian cuisine was remarkably low. Nevertheless, its quick closure likely allowed Hogan to have more wiggle-room with his squeaky-clean wrestling character, turning his back on the fans and joining the New World Order in July 1996, an event that changed the course of wrestling history forever. 

One of the less wrestling-related entries on this list was Scott Steiner's Shoney's location in Georgia, which the younger Steiner brother opened in 2016. "Big Papa Pump" was still wrestling occasionally during this time, but with his career actively slowing down, Steiner's love of Shoney's as a restaurant chain led him to renovate and reopen a closed-down Shoney's location in his town of residence. The restaurant's opening was big for the small community at the time, and included several wrestling legends appearing to support their friend. 

However, many fans who got the chance to visit the restaurant noted that, other than the large trophy case full of photos and memorabilia from Scott's career, it was exactly what you'd expect from any other Shoney's location, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, the restaurant only lasted a few years, as the Shoney's location eventually closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. While Steiner had quickly stated his intention to open up a sports bar after its closure,  the inventor of "Steiner Math" has yet to re-enter the restaurant industry.

For the short time that it lasted, Lisa Marie Varon's restaurant, The Squared Circle in Chicago, Illinois, was as close to a wrestling fan's dream restaurant as it came. With wrestling and MMA events regularly played on TVs for patrons to enjoy, the restaurant, which was first opened by the former WWE Women's Champion in 2013, filled the void of popular combat sport-centric sports bars in Chicago at the time. 

It was meant to bring together three "guilty pleasures" of Varon's, who was best known as Victoria in WWE and as Tara in TNA. The trio included stuffed burgers, pizza, and professional wrestling. The Squared Circle was a fairly popular establishment throughout its three years of operation. Nevertheless, the wrestler closed the restaurant down in 2017 largely due to a fallout between her and her husband, who co-owned and tended to the sports bar while she was away.

While you can find countless restaurants and Japanese izakayas in Japan, there are few quite as legendary as Toshiaki Kawada's ramen shop in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo. The All Japan Pro Wrestling legend added the word "ramen" to his long-held nickname, Dangerous K, to create the restaurant's identity beginning in 2010,  the same year he quietly stopped wrestling without a retirement ceremony.

What makes Kawada's ramen shop so unique is actually its longevity. Because most ramen restaurants in Japan close within the first three years of opening, Kawada has adopted a set of strict rules for patrons to follow to improve both customer service and profits. The most notable of these is to state how much ramen you want upon entering. He also asks customers not to photograph him while he is cooking. While the shop struggles financially, the iconic wrestler plans to continue feeding wrestlers, wrestling fans, and lovers of ramen as long as he can.

392 Caffe Davenport is a fairly rare instance of an active WWE superstar opening a restaurant, as they are at the peak of their career. Longtime main eventer Seth Rollins collaborated with 392 Caffe to initially open 392 Caffe Davenport in 2019, a coffee shop purposefully located near Rollins' wrestling academy. In the years since, the coffee shop has done well enough for Rollins to continue supporting 392 Caffe as it expanded to three locations and a pop-up shop in the surrounding area. 

While Rollins admitted he wasn't particularly hands-on in the process of running the café, the notorious coffee connoisseur is incredibly proud to play a monumental role in bringing more high-quality coffee shops to his home state of Iowa. Now six years into existence, the small café-turned-beloved local coffee chain continues to go strong as Seth Rollins simultaneously experiences yet another peak of his wrestling career.

Yet another restaurant to be opened up by a top professional wrestler is Hitman's Bar in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Bret "The Hitman" Hart dove headfirst into restauranteering when he launched the place back in 2023. Located within Cowboys Casino, the bar is adorned with Hart's signature colors of pink and black and is filled wall-to-wall with photos and memorabilia from Hart's remarkable wrestling career. 

Along with airing pro wrestling and other sporting events each night at the bar, Hitman's includes a menu full of drinks, including Hart's signature Hitman Ale, and a long list of wrestler-inspired bar foods like the "Cross-Face Chicken" Wings and the Balor C.L.U.B. Sandwich to enjoy.  Thus far, Bret Hart's foray into the restaurant business has seemingly been a successful one, with some wrestlers and wrestling fans considering it one of the must-see destinations within the historic pro wrestling city.