A few days ago I wrote a piece regarding 10 former NFL players who eventually became pro wrestlers full time. I finished that piece wondering if I should make a second part to that article. After much thought, I decided to go ahead and do it because it’s fascinating how many NFL players transitioned into the pro wrestling world.
By the way, I am making it known now both Gable Stevenson and Brock Lesnar will not count in this piece. They both are special cases of a full-time pro wrestler going into the NFL. This article focuses on NFL players turning into pro wrestlers full-time. So they won’t count on this list. Now that has been said, let’s get into the list.
Remember that big guy who followed Apollo Crews in that terrible Nigerian Royalty gimmick he had? His name is Commander Azeez. He also wrestled under other previous names including Dabba-Kato when Raw Underground was a thing during the pandemic. Gosh, Raw Underground was another terrible weekly segment I don’t want to be reminded of.
Well researching Commander Azeez, he has an interesting football career. His real name is Babatunde Aiyegbusi and he started playing football as an offensive tackle in Poland. He played in the Polish American Football League for multiple years with the Giant Wroclaw and Warsaw Eagles team. He also spent time in the German Football League with the Dresden Monarchs. Babatunde finally got a chance with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings in 2015 and played in their preseason games. He didn’t make the roster but did get a developmental contract with the WWE in 2016.
As of today Commander Azeez still wrestled in the independent circuit. His new ring name is Babathunder, and he even was seen in both the NWA and MLW promotions.
A.J. Francis is one of the more notable pro wrestlers in TNA, MLW, and Independent Circuit. He is also a wrestler as Top Dolla in the Hit Row faction. Remember when AEW’s Swerve Strickland was the leader of Hit Row? At the time Strickland wrestled as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Top Dolla was seen as the muscle of the group.
A.J. Francis is also known in the NFL world as a journeyman player. If you don’t know a journeyman who has played on multiple teams throughout his career. Guess how many teams AJ Francis played on as a nose tackle in the NFL? The answer to that question is six. He played for the Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, and New York Giants.
He is most known in the NFL as a member of the Washington Redskins. Especially as his time with the team did not end well at all. He felt underappreciated and even publicly called the Redskins logo and mascot was racist. Heck, he even made an Instagram post where he used the #AndYourLogoIsRacist. Yeah, he burned a bridge with that post. Eventually, he did get his wish as the Washington Redskins eventually rebranded to the Washington Commanders.
Marcus Cor Von is a professional wrestler who used to wrestle for both TNA and WWE. In WWE he was one of the members of the New Breed faction in ECW. The other members were Elijah Burke, Matt Striker, Kevin Thorne, Ariel, and CM Punk. Cor Von had so much potential, but he retired out of nowhere in 2007 once he got released from his WWE contract.
Marcus Cor Von also had a really solid career in the NFL. His real name is Monty Brown and he made 106 tackles through his entire career in the NFL as a linebacker. He played for both the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots in his 4-year career. Cor Von did also play in Superbowl XXVII during his time as a Buffalo Bill, but the Cowboys won that game. While spending one year with the Patriots he suffered an ankle injury which ended his NFL career. Once that happened, he chose to train and become a professional wrestler.
Chief Wahoo McDaniel has had a really interesting story. McDaniel also played both as a guard and linebacker in the NFL. He played with multiple teams including the Houston Oilers, Denver Broncos, New York Jets, and Miami Dolphins. He would always have the name Wahoo put on the back of his jersey and got a ton of Wahoo chants when he made a tackle.
The most fascinating fact about Ed “Cheifs Wahoo” McDaniel, is he only went into pro wrestling as a way to get more income while playing in the NFL. Think about how tough you have to be not only to play in the NFL but also to be a pro wrestler in the 60s. The rings back in the day too were not safe at all compared to today as well. I’m more stunned he managed to have an 8-year career in the NFL. When he got traded to another team, he would just work the wrestling promotion in that area. Like for example when he got traded to the New York Jets, he worked with the WWWF with Vincent J. McMahon. Then when he got traded to the Miami Dolphins, he wrestled with Eddie Graham’s CWF promotion.
After his football career ended, he eventually transitioned into being a full-time wrestler and became a big star in the 1970s, feuding with Superstar Billy Graham and Johnny Valentine. Heck, he even got to feud with Johnny’s son, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. Chief Wahoo McDaniel was also inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
This is another obvious one and Corbin talked about it in one of his interviews with Chris Van Vliet. Before Baron Corbin became a pro wrestler with a ton of awful gimmicks in WWE, he was a professional football player. His real name is Thomas Pestock and he played as an offensive guard and went to play at Northwest Missouri State University. He wasn’t drafted in the NFL but played with both the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals.
As an Indianapolis Colts, Did you know that he was roommates with Pat McAfee? It’s true, McAfee was the punter for the Colts and both stayed with each other during his time there. There is a reason why they both worked well together in that SummerSlam match in 2022. I wasn’t a tremendous fan of it, but I think it’s cool they got to work with each other.
Another crazy fact about Baron Corbin’s football career is his getting into fights at training camp. This was during his time with the Cardinals and Corbin tells this story perfectly during his time in Out of Character Ryan Satin podcast. The Cardinals o-line coach loved the fight. It’s crazy and to be honest, Corbin tells a lot of great stories in his shoot interviews and I will be interested to see him wrestle as Bishop Dyer on the independent circuit.
Darren “Droz” Drozdov wrestled full-time from 1997-1999. Droz had a ton of potential in his WWE days until he had an accident in a match against D’Lo Brown. This was told in the Dark Side of the Ring episode on the Brawl For All. In the match, there was a botch involving a powerbomb spot where Droz slipped and fell on his neck. Droz was left paralyzed and never wrestled again.
Before he became a pro wrestler, Droz also played football. He was a defensive tackle in his football career. He never got drafted, but he did play for the NFL’s New York Jets and Denver Broncos. Droz even played in the CFL with the Montreal Alouettes. Once his CFL career ended, he decided to be a pro wrestler full-time.
Superstar Billy Graham is one of the most important professional wrestlers of all time. Why do I call him the most important? Well, he is the man who inspired Hulk Hogan to pursue a pro wrestling career. Hogan always said he was inspired by him and chose to try and be him. While Hogan may be a lying piece of work, that is one of the two trustworthy things I believe about what he says. He modeled himself after Billy Graham including his steroid usage. That Dark Side of the Ring episode on Billy Graham in Season 6 is going to be interesting.
Something Interesting about the man is his football career. Eldridge Wayne Coleman is his real name and he played as a defensive tackle. He played in multiple different leagues from 1966 to 1969. The “Superstar” started in the Atlantic Coast Football League with the Waterbury Orbits. Graham would eventually join the Oakland Raiders in 1967, but wouldn’t play a game. After a brief stint in the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders and Continental Football League’s Las Vegas Cowboys, he would leave the sport. Thanks to his time in Calgary he trained with Stu Hart at the Hart Dungeon. The rest became history with him even becoming a WWE Hall of Fame in 2004.
Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff to me is one of the most wonderful professional wrestlers in the 70s and 80s for WWF. He was a very good heel back in the day and I loved the promos he would cut. Especially that 1984 promo/segment he did at the gym. It’s so funny and Orndorff was great in it. Heck, he was decent in WCW until his arm injury got worse and the entire right side of his body began to atrophy. Which is never a good thing as the muscles in your arms and legs shrink.
Orndorff wasn’t just a professional wrestler, but he was also involved in football. Orndorff was inducted into the University of Tampa Athletic Hall of Fame. It was well deserved as he had scored 21 touchdowns and got over 2000 all-purpose yards. He even got drafted in the 1973 NFL Draft in the 12th round 289th overall by the New Orleans Saints. Orndorff played as a tight end but was also positioned at fullback. Orndorff never stepped onto the field with the Saints. He did have a brief training camp appearance with the Chicago Bears. He even was a part of the World Football League’s Jacksonville Express, but only lasted a year ending his football career. With Orndorff out of football, he had a connection with Eddie Graham who was one of the promoters in Florida that helped train him.
After doing a top 10 list, there is always one that you leave off the list and regret. After doing research for this, I regret leaving Dick The Bruiser off the list in Part 1 as he had a fascinating football career. Not just for his time at Purdue University, but in the NFL. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 1951 NFL Draft. He was taken in the 16th round, 186th overall. William Afflis was his real name and he started multiple games throughout his time as a Packer. He played anywhere on the offensive line especially tackle and guard.
His NFL Career ended when he had that injury to his throat. In the last year of his career, Bruiser took a nasty shot to the throat by his larynx. The Larnyx is his voice box and this hit left him speechless for multiple months. He got a gravelly voice as a result and he never got his normal voice back. Which ultimately helped out his wrestling career as he sounded really tough and different from the others. It became his trademark and he became a tremendous pro wrestler with the AWA and WWWF. Bruiser was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021 in the legacy wing. Speaking of Bruiser, let’s get to another professional wrestler who used that word in his name.
Bruiser Brody is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of the 1970s and 1980s. He also is one of the greatest and darkest stories of professional wrestling. Especially when he was murdered by Jose Gonzalez in a locker room and Gonzalez got away with it. His Dark Side of the Ring episode is so sad and what happens gets me angry. I even reviewed the episode in a previous article.
Bruiser Brody’s real name is Frank Goodish and before he became a pro wrestler he was a football player. He played defensive end in football and went to West Texas A&M University. That college has a history of pro wrestlers going to and playing on the football team. He didn’t get drafted but did play in the NFL with the Washington Redskins in 1968. He got cut during his 2nd season and would eventually transition into a full-time professional wrestler.
Now there are so many other examples of NFL Players who went on to have full-time professional wrestling careers. I may even make a part three of this article in the future. However, out of the list I have given, who did I leave out? Did you learn something from this article? Let me know in the comment section and don’t forget to check out the rest of Stadium Rant’s content.
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