Long line of athletes have tried their hand(s) in the ring
If Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski decides to leap into the ring, he will join a long list of athletes who went on to flex their muscles as pro wrestlers.
• Legendary Utah Jazz power forward Karl Malone fought alongside Diamond Dallas Page in a 1998 WCW tag-team match against former Detroit Pistons’ forward Dennis Rodman and Hulk Hogan. The blockbuster event was dubbed: “Bash at the Beach.”
• New York Giants Hall of Fame defensive end Lawrence Taylor squared up against Bam Bam Bigelow during WWF’s Wrestlemania XI. Taylor won the match.
• Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson won an NCAA championship with the University of Miami Hurricanes football team and also played in the professional Canadian Football League before rising to be a megastar in the WWF — a role he parlayed into a lucrative career in movies.
• Bill Goldberg played for the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons before soaring to popularity with the WCW.
• In 2016, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal stepped into the ring for Wrestlemania 32.
• Kurt Angle took home a gold medal in heavyweight freestyle wrestling before joining the WWF in 1998.
• William the “Refrigerator” Perry played on the defensive line
for the Chicago Bears and famously scored a touchdown in his team’s 1986 Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots. He took part in Wrestlemania 2 that year.
• Former Green Bay Packers defensive end Reggie White terrorized quarterbacks for 15 years in the NFL. In 1997, he took part in WCW’s “Slamboree.”