The WWE has a number of former football players in their ranks and has done so throughout history. However, these are American footballers, not the soccer players that we call footballers in the UK.
The build of a professional football player and a wrestler are very different. Wrestlers prefer big muscles and maximum strength, while a soccer player is finely tuned for speed, agility and stamina.
Despite the big differences, a number of players have made the jump. Wrestlers like Nikki Bella and Tegan Nox played to a good level in football but never went pro before joining the wrestling world.
However, there have been some players who played at the top level of international football to have made the jump to the WWE. In this article, we’ll detail five football players who later became wrestlers.
5. Tim Wiese
Tim Wiese shocked the football world when he hung up his boots to chase a career in the WWE. The German keeper was just 32 when he retired and was arguably at the top of his game.
He was German International, having won six caps for Der Mannschaft and was a regular starter for Weder Bremen and Hoffeinheim before retirement. However, during this time he got heavily into bodybuilding which prompted the WWE to offer him a contract.
Tim Wiese joined the WWE just one year after retiring, flying over to America to join their NXT promotion. The former footballer spent two years training in their performance centre before debuting alongside The Bar in a six-man tag team match in Germany in 2016.
While the trio won the bout, Tim Wiese failed to impress. This was the former footballer’s only match in the WWE and he was released from his contract in 2017, promptly retiring.
4. Adebayo Akinfenwa
If any footballer could have made the transition into professional wrestling, Adebayo Akinfenwa seemed the most likely.
He never had the build of a footballer, let alone a striker. He stood at five foot eleven but packed on 16 stone of pure muscle, making him an unorthodox handful when in the box. His strength was unmatched and he was often lauded as the strongest footballer in the world.
Once retired, he sought to try his hand at wrestling. The former Swansea City and Wycombe Wanderers striker was primed to team with Anthony Ogogo at PROGRESS Chapter 146 in a tag team match against Malik and Kosta Konstantino.
Sadly, Akinfenwa’s debut match never came to be. While he intended to fight against the pair. A shoulder injury as well as being “called away” for another engagement meant the bout never took place.
Hopefully, we see Akinfenwa back in wrestling one day, as he is a physical specimen and a great personality to boot.
Adebayo Akinfenwa Pulled Out Of Wrestling Debut At The Last Minute
3. Orig Williams
It is a little-known fact nowadays that legendary Welsh wrestler and promoter Orig Williams started out as a footballer, not a wrestler.
The former British Wrestling Federation promoter is one of the greatest Welsh wrestlers of all time, but football was always his first love. He was first spotted playing it while in the army, having trained as a carpenter before being called up after World War II.
He found most success as Oldham Athetlic, but a head injury forced him to retire. However, as all good wrestlers do, he came out of retirement to play and manage a number of Welsh clubs. Orig Williams’ teams were known for their overly violent style of play and it is said he still holds the records for red cards in Wales!
After leaving football, Orig Williams got into wrestling and promoting. It was he who first put women’s wrestling on television, pushing the likes of Mitzi Mueller and Klondyke Kate as stars when Joint Promotions refused to feature them.
You can learn more about Orig Williams’ football background here.
2. Stuart Tomlinson
Former Barrow and Port Vale keeper Stuart Tomlinson made the jump from League 2 to the WWE in 2013 in what sounds like something out of a film!
The Englishman was forced to retire from football at the age of 28 after suffering a terrible ACL injury. That didn’t stop him from impressing at a WWE tryout and signing a contract with the WWE in late 2013.
Tomlinson flew over the Florida to join NXT, changing his name to Hugo Knox. While he spent three years working for the company, he only made one (short) TV appearance and failed to impress on the regular NXT house show loop.
The two parties mutually agreed to separate in 2016 and Stuart Tomlinson retired from wrestling. While he never became a big star, he made it further than 99% of wrestling fans ever have, so you must give him credit for that.
Discover Stuart Tomlinson’s transformation into WWE Superstar Hugo Knox and his startling downfall.
1. Grant Holt
Grant Holt has one of the strangest wrestling careers on this list. The Premier League striker appeared in multiple matches after his football retirement, as a special guest competitor in his local promotion.
The former Norwich ace even wrestled a singles match! He tangled with Brad O’Brien at a WAW show in December 2018. While the bout went a little under two minutes, Holt looked decent in his singles debut, selling well and hitting some big suplexes on his smaller opponent.
In the end, Grant Holt won the match by disqualification. He also wrestled with some high-profile stars, teaming with former WWE Superstars Billy Gunn and Renee Dupree in his final match so far.
While he hasn’t moved into the role of a full-time wrestler, Grant Holt is having fun rolling around with some big stars in his local area from time to time.
