lovchunky Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Neidhart played for the Raiders. George Wells is a stretch although he did have a run in WCCW. Dan Spivey played at Georgia, but I'm not sure he ever played in the pros. Same goes for the West Texas guys, not sure if any of them played in the pros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I had forgotten about Pillman's run with Bengals......... A better question would be, did anyone become famous as an NFLer and then successfully transition into full time wrestling? Wahoo might win that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolCB Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Kevin Greene might've had the best chance out of anyone within the past 15-20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mco543 Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I'd say it's either Wahoo or Ladd, unless you want to go all the way back to Nagurski. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Virgil/Dibiase at Summerslam 91 features probably one of the more underrated jobs on commentary from Piper. He makes you give a shit about this match. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwoy2j Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Kevin Greene might've had the best chance out of anyone within the past 15-20 years. Kevin Greene was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kafkonia Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I'm sure there's a lot from the old Nagurski/Snyder days and if we expand it to the other pro leagues like CFL, USFL, or WFL you can add in Orndorff, Luger, Reigns, Butch Reed, Ed Gantner, and probably a ton more. There was this guy named Dwayne Johnson who played in the CFL, I think he wrestled a bit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolCB Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Kevin Greene might've had the best chance out of anyone within the past 15-20 years.Kevin Greene was awesome. No doubt. Had he been able to fully transition into wrestling, he would've been light years ahead of Goldberg. Sure, Bill fit the needs of a late 90s guy with a couple of cool moves and a good push. Greene however, I feel, would've been way better long term. Also, if I must say, he would've been a way better 4 Horsemen member than Mongo. Not because of the usual Mongo bashing, but I honestly believe they could've gotten away with Greene as a member. Of course, as a non-frequent on-screen guy like the rest of them. It would've added a nice legitimacy dynamic to the group, with an active, great player, as the tough guy. Flair/mouthpiece, Arn/strategist, Benoit/technical go-to, and Greene covering the bases. It sounds crazy to some, sure, but you've gotta admit, that this would've been pretty fucking awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I think we're past the days of NFL stars going into wrestling based purely on the fact that it isn't worth it. They make too much money, their bodies are already beat to hell, and working 300 days a year for much less money probably doesn't appeal to them at all. There are too many jobs for former football players that involve sitting in a chair and not doing much for them to get into a wrestling ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 After seeing both of the Jeff Hardy BtR episodes, it's amazing how he tries to blow off his drug problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Guy Named Tracy Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I think we're past the days of NFL stars going into wrestling based purely on the fact that it isn't worth it. They make too much money, their bodies are already beat to hell, and working 300 days a year for much less money probably doesn't appeal to them at all. There are too many jobs for former football players that involve sitting in a chair and not doing much for them to get into a wrestling ring. I disagree. I've read that the WWE are recruiting former NFL players now more than ever. Mojo Rawley and Baron Corbin both played for the Cardinals. Shawne Merriman also had a tryout. If you are 25 years of age, 6'7", 300 pounds, where else can you get the rush of competing in front of big crowds once your NFL career is over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 New MNW episode is up regarding ECW. Same old shit. At this point, I feel like every episode is going to be about how this thing about WWE was the reason WWE took over in the ratings, when really, it had to do with shit like Sable. What was even funnier about this episode is that it goes all the way to 2005 when WCW was long dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Yeah I got from that show is that Malenko and Guerrero going to WCW was a huge thing (doubt it was) and that Taz going to the WWE was a huge thing in 1999. Tazz was a big thing in the WWE and it probably lasted 3 weeks at best when they realized he wasn't going to be taken seriously The highlight of the show was Mikey Whipreck saying "yeah the grass is greener on the other side but it is fertilized with bullshit" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Oh yeah, that Mikey comment was great. Back to Tazz, I love how they point out Raw's increase in the ratings at that time when he had nothing to do with that. The Monday Night War was already completely done with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EN090 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I found the level the level of hypocracy in this episode to be off the charts. Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko going to WCW = raid. Foley, Austin, Pillman, etc signing with WWF = just business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 To be fair, weren't Foley and Austin both cut and Pillman basically maneuvered his way out? The episode wound up devolving into a shorter version of the Rise and Fall of ECW. The series had a lot of potential. I love the brief moments they show the exact times and side by side of what each show was doing. They should have whole episodes with that feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Austin was fired. Mick quit. Pillman quit. ECW couldn't raid wcw, they didn't have the money. Foley and Pillman took paycuts to work elsewhere. The hypocrisy is still in Vince buying up hogan and company in the 80's... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EN090 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I was referring to Austin, Foley, etc leaving ECW for WWF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 We all know that in some form or another for one reason or another Paul got a check either personal or written out to ECW, once a week from the WWE or more so Titan Sports. More or less ECW got compensation from Vince for him signing away talent. Bischoff didn't, he just signed away talent. I'm saying he was obligated to, he wasn't. He was padding his roster with great midcard talent. Vince also supplied Paul with some talent. Vince raided talent from ECW too.He signed away their Champion just like Bischoff did. Actually it wasnt Bischoff that signed Awesome. The difference is Taz gave notice and Vince gave him and Paul some time to Drop the belt and figure out a direction before hand. Awesome just jumped ship. Mike wasnt being paid Paul was breaching contrac, Awesome had to feed his family, ETC. I'm not defending Vince but I feel theirs a difference in how Vince and Bischoff went about signing talent from ECW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Weren't Austin and Foley and even Pillman in ECW just waiting out their noncompete clauses and holding until there was a spot and background for their debut? Like, Taz, Douglas, and Snow were the only active people Vince scooped up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincey Greene Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I could be wrong as I certainly don't have any inside info, but I've always been of the opinion Snow was on loan from WWE, as were Justin Credible, Chris Candido, Brakkus etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sydneybrown Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I've been slowly going through all the RAWs in order and just watched the 6/6/94 episode that has Jeff Hardy's WWF debut against Razor Ramon that he talked about on the Jericho podcast. Jeff is billed as "Keith Davis" because the real Davis pussed out and wouldn't wrestle. Razor just absolutely massacres him. Jeff mentioned how Razor later apologized for it, and I can see why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I think we're past the days of NFL stars going into wrestling based purely on the fact that it isn't worth it. They make too much money, their bodies are already beat to hell, and working 300 days a year for much less money probably doesn't appeal to them at all. There are too many jobs for former football players that involve sitting in a chair and not doing much for them to get into a wrestling ring. I disagree. I've read that the WWE are recruiting former NFL players now more than ever. Mojo Rawley and Baron Corbin both played for the Cardinals. Shawne Merriman also had a tryout. If you are 25 years of age, 6'7", 300 pounds, where else can you get the rush of competing in front of big crowds once your NFL career is over? yeah, let's not forget there'll be a demographic of NFL guys who'll blow all their money within a few years of leaving the league and those guys will be the most likely to try and get a WWE tryout. There's 53 man rosters and only so many do-nothing office jobs and insurance sales positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EN090 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Weren't Austin and Foley and even Pillman in ECW just waiting out their noncompete clauses and holding until there was a spot and background for their debut? Like, Taz, Douglas, and Snow were the only active people Vince scooped up. There were no compete clauses back then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EN090 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Weren't Austin and Foley and even Pillman in ECW just waiting out their noncompete clauses and holding until there was a spot and background for their debut? Like, Taz, Douglas, and Snow were the only active people Vince scooped up. There were no compete clauses back then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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