Background and career
Nathan Jones (born 21 August 1970) is an Australian actor, strongman, powerlifter, and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA). A delinquent in his youth who served a prison sentence for armed robbery, Jones began his athletic career as a powerlifter and strongman, representing Australia in the World's Strongest Man competitions of 1995 and 1996. He made his acting career debut that same year in Police Story IV: First Strike (1996), opposite Jackie Chan. He began his wrestling career for Australian promotion WWA, followed by a stint in WWE, where he was billed as "The Colossus of Boggo Road" in reference to his criminal convictions. Jones retired from wrestling in the late 2000s, and has since focused on acting. He portrayed supporting villain Rictus Erectus in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and its 2024 prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. He also appeared in films such as Troy (2004), Tom-Yum-Goong (2005), Fearless (2006), Conan the Barbarian (2011), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), and Mortal Kombat (2021), usually playing antagonists.
Jones was born in Gold Coast, Queensland in 1970.
Before his career as a wrestler, Jones was sentenced to 16 years in 1987 at the age of 17 to Boggo Road Gaol for eight armed robberies between 1985 and 1987, two of which occurred in Tasmania. During the robberies, he became one of Australia's most wanted and ended up serving seven years in a maximum-security prison. In 1994, Jones was given one-year work release before being discharged at the age of 24. While in prison, he was introduced to the sport of powerlifting. He is also alleged to have begun taking steroids during this time. Within a short space of time, he became the National Powerlifting Champion of Australia.
Upon his release, Jones also began competing in strongman contests, and during this time, he was dubbed "Megaman". As the reigning Australian Strongest Man, he entered the World Strength Championship at Callander, Scotland, on 29–30 July 1995. He took first place, topping a field that included 1993 World's Strongest Man Gary Taylor. The following weekend, he competed in the World Muscle Power Classic held at Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. That contest was won by Magnús Ver Magnússon, with Nathan finishing fifth in a field of twelve competitors. Jones next took part in the 1995 World's Strongest Man contest. After quickly defeating Phil Martin twice in the arm wrestling event in the qualifying heat, Jones was then matched against Magnus Samuelsson, who had been Europe's arm wrestling champion for several years and who would become the World's Strongest Man in 1998. Samuelsson won the first round. In the second round, Jones refused to go down and pulled with his opposite arm, twisting his body. This resulted in breaking the arm he was using to wrestle (a spiral fracture of the humerus), and he subsequently was out of the competition. Jones returned to Strongman competition in 1996, winning the World Strongman Challenge, and placed third in a World's Strongest Man qualifying heat behind Magnús Ver Magnússon and Jorma Ojanaho. During the heat, Jones opted to retire from the penultimate event, confidently assuming he would win the last event to get the necessary points to get through to the final; however he placed fourth in the last event and angrily left the playing area, refusing to speak to any competitors or media.
He also participated in a mixed martial arts match at Pride Fighting Championships's debut event Pride 1 in October 1997, facing Japanese professional wrestler and former grand sumo champion Koji Kitao. Jones was submitted after being caught in an armlock.
After working as a bodyguard for multimillionaire Rene Rivkin, Jones began a career in wrestling during this time, working for Ultimate Pro Wrestling. Jones first gained fame working in World Wrestling All-Stars, making a large impression at the first WWA pay-per-view "Inception", where he was accompanied to the ring by Rove McManus. However, he was defeated after Rove was smashed with Jeff Jarrett's guitar and Jones was hit with the Stroke. During his time in the WWA, Nathan won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship on 7 April 2002 before losing the belt to Scott Steiner only 5 days later.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
