When it comes to WWE wrestlers who once dreamed of playing in the NFL, it’s often a case of close but not quite.
Take the company’s top star, Roman Reigns. Then known as Joe Anoa’i, Reigns was a pretty good college football player at Georgia Tech, earning All-ACC first-team honors in 2006. But after going undrafted in 2007, he was signed by two teams, then released prior to the ensuing NFL season.
(He did, however, play a few games in the CFL, and we’d say he’s done alright for himself since then, what with the whole Undisputed WWE Universal Championship thing and all.)
How about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? Negative there as well. After his college career at The U (a.ka. the University of Miami), Johnson also went undrafted, and found his true calling after a short stint on a CFL practice roster.
Yet there have been a handful of others who gave the NFL a shot before seeking out pro wrestling and have actually experienced the thrill of playing football at the highest level. Let’s take a quick spin through some of the WWE wrestlers who were in the NFL first, and in the ring second.