Professional football and wrestling have a long, intertwined history that goes back generations. In the early days of the National Football League, many players moonlighted as professional wrestlers during the off-season to supplement their salary. Others whose football careers wound down (or never really took off) found their way into the squared circle as a new vocation. The landscape of modern wrestling is littered with wrestlers who tried their hand at professional football, such as Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Ron Simmons, Lex Luger, Brian Pillman, Goldberg, Ernie Ladd and many others. Even today, there are several WWE and NXT stars who gave it a go on the gridiron before switching to wrestling: Mojo Rawley, Baron Corbin and even Roman Reigns. But there is a very select group of men who have reached the pinnacle of both sports. Only a handful of athletes have played in the NFLs Super Bowl and competed at WrestleMania. These men were good enough to play on a championship football team, and later lace up a pair of wrestling boots and step into the ring at the biggest sports entertainment event in the industry. To be fair, in several cases, players only appeared in WWF/E long enough to show up at Mania. But that doesnt diminish the rarity of the accomplishment. So with Super Bowl 50 taking place this weekend, lets take a look at the men who have appeared on the field for one of the previous 49 Super Bowls and in the ring at WrestleMania.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.
