Depending on who you ask, director Steven Caple Jr.‘s Creed II was either a shockingly successful film or a disappointingly apolitical sequel to Ryan Coogler’s generally well-received Creed. Either way, the movie grossed over $211 million worldwide and effectively added to the growing story of Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) as it branches off from Rocky Balboa’s (Sylvester Stallone) swan song. According to the latter, however, it almost featured a Rocky IV rematch of sorts.
On Monday, Stallone posted a short video of himself and actor Dolph Lundgren, who plays the villainous Drago in both Rocky IV and Creed II, rehearsing for a fight. “Wait a minute,” you’re probably thinking. “Rocky and Drago didn’t fight in Creed II.” That’s because Caple Jr. ultimately decided to cut the scene. Per Stallone’s Instagram post:
This was an early rehearsal for a short fight ROCKY was suppose to have with DRAGO in CREED 2 It took place in the hospital just after Adonis had been terribly beaten by Drago’s son… Adonis Is in much pain and tells me to leave … Drago And the promoter show up with filmcrew ! They were planning on going upstairs to harass the beaten fighter but ROCKY stops them !!! It would’ve been extraordinary!, But regretfully it was cut … Pity …
With Stallone having decided to permanently hang up Rocky’s gloves (despite Lundgren’s claims to the contrary), not to mention the fact that the Creed franchise isn’t really about the Rocky character, Caple Jr.’s decision to cut the fight scene makes sense. Even so, it seems we missed out on the chance to see Rocky and Drago figuratively entering the ring again to literally fight one another. Check out Stallone’s full Instagram post below.
