For decades, there has been a link between college football and professional wrestling. You can go back to Bronko Nagurski, a two way star at the University of Minnesota, who played college football in the late 1920s and while playing professionally did double duty as a professional wrestler.
Can you imagine that happening today?
When talking about professional wrestlers and college football, you first have to talk about West Texas State University (now known as West Texas A&M). Here is a list of notable wrestlers who played for them:
Tully Blanchard
Bruiser Brody
Ted DiBiase
Bobby Duncum
Manny Fernandez
Dory Funk Jr
Terry Funk
Stan Hansen
Dick Murdoch
Dusty Rhodes
Tito Santana
Barry Windham
Could you imagine trying to coach that group?
What about current WWE Superstars? Here are some notable wrestlers on the current WWE roster (or who show up from time to time) who played college football:
Jon Cena- Springfield College
Kane- NE Missouri State (now known as Truman State University)
Big E Langston- Iowa
Roman Reigns- Georgia Tech
The Rock- Miami
Tensai- Pittsburgh
Titus O’Neil- Florida
Bray Wyatt- Troy
As you can see there is still quite an impact former football players are having in the WWE.
What about the rest? Here’s a list of wrestlers I could find that have college football experience. If you know of anyone who played (or if you feel I have any listed incorrectly) but is not on the list then let me know (you can add in comments or e-mail to collegefootballzealot at gmail dot com):
Steve Austin- Wharton County Jr College, North Texas
Monty Brown- Ferris State
Junkyard Dog- Fayetteville State University
Jim Duggan- SMU
Ric Flair- Minnesota
Greg Gagne- Minnesota
Verne Gagne- Minnesota
Bill Goldberg- Georgia
John Heidenreich- Louisiana-Monroe
JBL- Abilene Christian University
Ahmed Johnson- Tennessee
Nikita Koloff- Golden Valley Lutheran College, Moorhead State
Ernie Ladd- Grambling State
Lex Luger- Miami, Penn State
Wahoo McDaniel- Oklahoma
Steve McMichael- Texas
Paul Orndorff- University of Tampa
Brian Pillman- Miami (Ohio)
Butch Reed- NE Oklahoma A&M, Central Missouri
Ron Simmons- Florida State
Tatanka- James Madison
Fritz Von Erich- SMU
Vader- Colorado
Steve Williams- Oklahoma
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