Here's How A Chicago-Based AEW Wrestler Landed A Role On Chicago Fire
You might associate NBC's "One Chicago" franchise with lots of things. You could look at "Chicago Fire," and think of the difficult work firemen do every day. You might wish to take a look at "Chicago Med," and ponder on the difficulties of various frontline healthcare professionals. There's also "Chicago P.D.," and its police procedural approach on the Chicago theme. If all of this isn't enough, you can feast on the shows' periodic crossovers specials ... and much more. Over the years, "One Chicago" characters have been known to turn up in shows ranging from "F.B.I." to "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit."
Nevertheless, there are still some areas of entertainment that you wouldn't necessarily associate these shows with. One such area is professional wrestling ... or so you might think. See, it turns out that a Chicago-based AEW wrestler recently landed a role on "Chicago Fire." Here's how it happened.
Colt Cabana enters the One Chicago universe
The wrestler in question is Colt Cabana, who appears as a Hazmat team leader in the "Chicago Fire" Season 8 episode "Infection: Part I." The pro wrestler recently shared the secrets of his "Chicago Fire" stint in a TikTok video that serves as an introduction to his brief scene.
"This is the show 'Chicago Fire', and I'm actually in this episode," Cabana said. "I'm a full-time AEW professional wrestler, but I like to act on the side. I got this audition while on tour in Edinburgh, Scotland. I got it at 5 a.m., and I had one hour to learn the lines and film it before I had to get on an international flight, so I figured ... I just kind of did it. I can't believe I booked it."
When Cabana arrived on the set, he discovered that the role was going to involve far more moving parts than he had assumed. "Little did I know it was going to be in front of like 400 people and there were just six shots we were going to get. I had to nail it every time," the wrestler revealed, and noted that he didn't quite manage to live up to the sky-high on-set expectations. "This chief guy, he yelled at me to a director because my footing was wrong. I never once got all the lines correctly," Cabana admitted, and praised the audio editors for mining the best out of his line readings.
While Cabana's turn as Hazmat Leader didn't lead to a regular role in "Chicago Fire," he certainly seems happy with the experience — and his story provides fans an interesting peek behind the "One Chicago" curtain.