Comic-Con: Stephen Amell And Alexander Ludwig Hit The Mat Hard In New ‘Heels’ Footage

Comic-Con @Home kicked into full swing today, and the panel I was most looking forward to was Heels. How it could not be? Hello, it’s a series about professional wrestlers! And it stars Arrow and experienced pro wrestler himself, Stephen Amell, along with Alexander Ludwig. The two were on hand joined by Alison Luff, Mary McCormack, Kelli Berglund, James Harrison, Allen Maldonado, Chris Bauer, and executive producers Michael Waldron and Mike O’Malley.

Amell, who knows a thing or two about getting slammed after his time in the WWE (where he was fucking brilliant), talked about the bumps and bruises of shooting the show and how it’s just like in the squared circle for real…

“It’s not jumping off your couch onto cushions,” he shared. “It’s a wooden board and it gives a little in the middle and not so much at the edge—ask my back.”

Harrison, the former Pittsburgh Steeler and Super Bowl champion, added…

“We had to go through a little bit of training, but I think it was a little bit easier for me because I played professional football for 15 or 16 years. The thing about wrestling is that a lot of people want to say it’s fake but the actual physical nature of hitting the mat then getting up and hitting that mat again and making sure you don’t land the wrong way. The physical nature of it is 100 percent real because you’re putting your body on the line. If you do something wrong, something happens.”

Heels will finally take the ring on August 15th on Starz.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.