Rugby Players becoming Pro Wrestlers?

[autisticgeordie]

There's no shortage of people who have played American Football and have gone on to being pro wrestlers, everyone from Ernie Ladd to Roman Reigns to Moose, it seems that a lot of wrestlers have previously played American Football, even if they weren't any good at it, they still played it to some extent.

Well, what about rugby? Have there ever been any wrestlers who used to previously play rugby? Also, why aren't there as many rugby players becoming pro wrestlers as there are American Footballers who became pro wrestlers?

Edit: I accidentally posted this thread in the wrong part of the forum, I put this in the section that I think it better suits; also, this is more of a non-kayfabe question, so Cesaro wouldn't count because I don't think his rugby experience was legitimate? I didn't mean to put this thread in the WWE section, so I just reposted it in this section since it was more of a general question.

[RKTaker]

luke menzies who's signed with wwe right now played rugby

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Why so few hockey players? Or swimmers? Or cricket players? Or chess?

Why anything?

[Mozenrath]

Bad Luck Fale is probably the biggest name I can think of who came from rugby. As in, big in wrestling, don't know anything one way or another about his rugby career.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Shuji Kondo was played rugby before starting in Toryumon.

[Viking Hall]

Big Daddy played Rugby League professionally so I'd argue that he's probably the most famous.

I seem to have a vague memory of both Bushwhackers mentioning playing Rugby before wrestling too, but not 100% on that.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Daniel Vidot played rugby league professionally in Australia and represented Samoa in the Rugby League world cup. He's currently signed to a development deal

[cuppacoffee - slight return]

Kenzo Suzuki played for the Japanese national team at one point, I think.

[Joe Neglia]

Jack Dempsey was a member of Bradford Northern

Malcolm "King Kong" Kirk, who died in the ring during a match with Big Daddy, was a former member of Featherstone Rovers and several other clubs before going into wrestling

Ted Heath, who got Kirk into wrestling, was Kirk's teammate at Dover, but I know very little about Heath.

"Gentleman" Chris Adams' wiki mentions him playing rugby, but is vague on details.

Francis Gregory, who wrestled in the first half of the 20th Century, was deeply involved in pro rugby as well.

[IgnahtaSempria]

Wasn't there a rugby player who got signed to WWE developmental a couple years ago? Might have been released, I don't know.

EDIT: Just saw the post above me. Nevermind.

[Mozenrath]

Jan 25, 2020 21:40:04 GMT -5 Viking Hall said:

Big Daddy played Rugby League professionally so I'd argue that he's probably the most famous.

I seem to have a vague memory of both Bushwhackers mentioning playing Rugby before wrestling too, but not 100% on that.

Rugby does seem big in New Zealand, so I mean, probably.

[67 more]

[Kayfabe] Cesaro played rugby but was kicked out of the Swiss league for being too rough! [/Kayfabe]

Seriously, the greatest rugby player in wrestling is...

[BRAINFADE]

He never played at a pro level, but Kenta Kobashi came from a rugby background, playing rugby union in high school. So I would argue the greatest bell to bell wrestler of all time came from rugby.

[jimmyjackezekiel]

I recall back in an old WWF magazine interview that the British Bulldog played Rugby growing up.

[AJ Smudgico]

Wasn't there an English rugby player (can't remember if Union or League) in TNA for a cage match as a corner man for Lashley or MVP or something? I'm sure I didn't imagine this