Andrew Flintoff has revealed he turned down a lucrative offer to join the WWE as he contemplated his career moves post his cricket retirement.
The England legend initially was forced to retire at the age of 31 before making a short-lived return a few years later.
And it has emerged that in the period of the first hiatus, the iconic all-rounder was close to swapping the rope of the boundary for the ropes of the wrestling ring.
Flintoff, who was living in the Middle East at the time, had ambitions to face The Undertaker in Manchester – with his pitch to Sky soon gaining momentum and reaching the offices of the then-WWE boss Vince McMahon.
However, despite the wealthy overtures, Flintoff declined the opportunity due to family reasons. Reflecting on how it all came about, he told The Overlap and Betfair’s Stick to Cricket show: ‘I got an email from WWE, saying “you can’t do your documentary because you’ll give the secrets away, we want to put you on a three-year contract”.
‘They said “we’ll fast-track you and in 18 months you’ll be at WrestleMania and Royal Rumble”.
Andrew Flintoff has revealed he came close to becoming a WWE wrestler but turned it down
Flintoff was offered an ‘obscene’ three-year contract to join the WWE but eventually said no
Yet, he decided to decline the WWE venture for family reasons (the Flintoffs pictured in 2014)
‘The money was obscene, but we wanted to move back from Dubai. The kids wanted to play cricket and didn’t want to go to America, so I just changed it to boxing and had a fight instead.’
The bout in question saw Flintoff climb off the canvas in the second round to win a points decision over American Richard Dawson on his heavyweight boxing debut in December 2012.
Speaking about the how WWE opportunity even began though, Flintoff expanded: ‘What happened was, it got to a point in Dubai where I was unfit, I’d put weight on and I was just not in a good place. I wanted to get fit again, but I needed motivation.
‘As a kid, I loved WWE, so I came up with this idea, because I was doing League of Their Own with Sky, to fight the Undertaker in Manchester!
‘I wrote this treatment up and presented the idea to Sky, it started gathering momentum and next minute it’s being passed onto WWE. I was in contact with the WWE, Vince McMahon!
‘Dave Roberts ‘Rooster’ who was a physiotherapist who lived with us throughout my career, lived with us and looked after us. I asked him to send a trainer over to Dubai for six weeks because I needed to bulk up.
‘He sent this fella over, I trained my nuts off, got fit and then the WWE flew me to Tampa. Me and the missus have gone over to Tampa, I’ve got two weeks at wrestling academy.
‘They fly us over business class, next morning we get in the car and go to WWE’s academy, two massive units all branded. We’re sitting in the car and these things are walking past me, like 6ft 8in monsters.’
He instead chose to box and beat American heavyweight Richard Dawson in December 2012
However, Flintoff soon realised how cut-throat the industry could get as he quickly sustained a severe injury.
‘My missus asked, are you going to be okay? I said, “yeah, I’ll be fine”. I walked in – on the first day, nobody liked me because it’s really competitive with 60 of us all wanting a contract with the WWE – then this English lad walked in.
‘So I go in and we do the warm-ups, then they put me in the ring for three hours and I just ran the ropes; I’d run into someone and they’d throw me.
‘The second day I went in there, I had lashes all down my back and my missus said “are you alright with this?”. I was sore and thought something’s not right here.
‘I said to this physio, “I think I’m having a back spasm”; so they’re all like “oh the English lad’s got a back spasm”. So they put me on the couch, he’s pushing me and I can feel my ribs separating.
Flintoff’s initials plans in the WWE would see him face the iconic The Undertaker in Manchester
‘I said “mate, I think I’ve broken my ribs”. He said I’d be in so much pain and I was like “mate, I want to cry but I can’t in there”. I went for an X-ray and this fella who puts it up asked ‘what do you do’ I said “I’m a wrestler”. He asked, “how long have you been doing this” and I said “two days”.
‘We did all of that – on the third day you do acting lessons, but I didn’t think I was in on it. I was just sitting minding my own business and they said ‘Fred, you’re up’. I got up, and I had the microphone in my hand saying how hard I am; but I didn’t like that so said ‘can I do another’.
‘I looked out and there were all of these weird and wonderful looking people, so I just tore them all a new one. They were trying to get me to wind up after two minutes but I was not finished.’
The Overlap and Betfair’s Stick to Cricket will be released on a weekly basis, featuring Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd and Phil ‘Tuffers’ Tufnell, and occasional special guests.
