5 Best WWE Stars Who Played College Football

Mike Janela

Of all the former college football players who found success in WWE, these are the five who had the best careers in both.

For almost as long as professional wrestling has existed, athletes from other sports have crossed over to achieve great success inside the ring. The most well-stocked sport from which pro wrestling has fished superstars over the years is football. In particular, college football, which has seen players transition to WWE.

Predating the WWE, for example, Bronko Nagurski not only earned a College Football Hall of Fame induction for his All-American career at Minnesota. He also enjoyed a hall of fame career for the Chicago Bears, while wrestling in the offseason and twice winning the National Wrestling Association world heavyweight championship. Nagurski even beat the iconic Lou Thesz for his first world title.

The list of college football players who eventually found fame in various wrestling promotions goes on and on. It also includes some of the biggest names the industry has ever seen.

Steve Austin. John Cena. Ric Flair. Dusty Rhodes. “Superstar” Billy Graham. The Rock. They all played college football, and some even pursued professional playing careers, before finding fame inside the squared circle.

But someone like Cena played at a Division III school. The Rock – while a member of the 1991 national champion Miami Hurricanes – only made one start his entire career.

Which five WWE superstars had the best combination of college football and pro wrestling careers? Let’s huddle up the best.

5. Paul Orndorff, University of Tampa

If you look for the Tampa Spartans on any college football schedule these days, you’ll be looking for awhile. The school’s program shut down in 1974 after 33 seasons, the final four of which competed in Division I.

The team standout for its final few years of existence: “Mr. Wonderful,” Paul Orndorff.

More famous for eventually headlining Wrestlemania I with Roddy Piper against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, Orndorff played fullback for the Spartans before being drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1973. He finished his Tampa career with 21 touchdowns and more than 2,000 all-purpose yards as a pass-catching running back. Orndorff also led the Spartans to just their third bowl win in history, catching two TDs in a 21-18 win over Kent State in the 1972 Tangerine Bowl.

Orndorff would earn Pro Wrestling Illustrated accolades for Match of the Year and Feud of the Year for his work against Hogan in the mid-80s. He would work with Bobby Heenan, fight again at Wrestlemania 2, and alternate between friend and foe to Hogan as the ’80s continued. The run would solidify Orndorff’s main event status, leading WWE to induct him into its Hall of Fame in 2005.

4. Roman Reigns, Georgia Tech

While Dwayne Johnson gets much more publicity for his playing career, it’s actually The Rock’s cousin who had a much more successful stint in the ACC.

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Roman Reigns – known then as Joseph Anoa’i – started for three years as a Georgia Tech defensive lineman, unlike his more famous relative, who made only one career start for Miami.

Reigns rose to achieve first-team All-ACC his senior year, playing at defensive tackle for one of the nation’s stingiest defenses in 2006. The Yellow Jackets finished 9th in the country in pass efficiency and 20th in rushing defense that season with Reigns anchoring the line.

Reigns finished his career with 29.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks. He was also named team captain his senior year, playing alongside future NFL receiving great Calvin Johnson. But Reigns couldn’t stick as a pro football player, lasting one season in the CFL.

Instead, he’s been hotshotted to the top of the current WWE scene, whether you like him or not. Since debuting with The Shield in 2012, Reigns has enjoyed three world title reigns, a Royal Rumble victory, a tag team title, seven Slammy awards, and is the current United States Champion on WWE’s flagship RAW brand.

Courtesy WWE.com

3. Goldberg, Georgia

It only makes sense that the spear is the preferred finishing move for former football players. After all, it’s not that hard to go from a form tackle on the gridiron to laying a guy out in the ring.

That’s the case for Roman Reigns and was also true for No. 3 on our list: Goldberg.

The Oklahoma native played a major role in the Monday Night Wars for WCW before migrating to WWE post-Invasion and continues to hint at a comeback for Vince McMahon any day now.

But long before his 173-match unbeaten streak in WCW; before his world title reigns in WCW and WWE; before his infamous Wrestlemania XX match against Brock Lesnar, Goldberg had one of the greatest careers in Georgia Bulldogs history.

As a defensive lineman, Goldberg played in all four seasons after a redshirt year, starting each of his final three years for Georgia. His 107 tackles as a sophomore set an interior lineman record at the school. As a junior, he was named first-team All-SEC. As a senior, he recorded 121 tackles, breaking his own record from two years prior. That same year, he was named a second-team All-American.

At such a hallowed football institution as Georgia, Goldberg left such an indelible mark that he still ranks ninth in school history with 348 total tackles.

2. Van Vader, Colorado

Big Van Vader actually never held a championship in the WWE. But that wouldn’t stop any fan from calling him one of the most influential wrestlers of all time.

Not only did Vader have a consistent main event run with the then-WWF throughout the mid-’90s, he’s returned multiple times to the company since, wrestling as recently as 2012. His feud at the time with The Undertaker still brings back memories and his brutish credibility helped provide the burgeoning Attitude Era with a veteran anchor.

Vader earned many other wrestling accolades around the world, including three heavyweight titles apiece in New Japan and WCW. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter inducted Vader into its Hall of Fame as far back as 1996, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him its Wrestler of the Year in 1993.

But, before all that, Vader did his best work on the gridiron as Leon White.

As a member of the Colorado Buffaloes, White was named team captain as a senior, a year he also earned first-team All-American status. White lettered as a guard, tackle and center, which Colorado claims is the only time in old Big Eight conference history someone did so at all three positions. He was also named a Playboy Preseason All-American, UPI second-team All-American, and was selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game after his senior year. White’s various college success led him to be picked in the third round by the Los Angeles Rams in that year’s NFL Draft.

Oh yeah, and he could do a top-turnbuckle moonsault weighing 400 pounds.

1. Ron Simmons, Florida State

If you know anything about Ron Simmons, this choice comes as no surprise.

The man you may also know as Faarooq boasts not only one of the most distinguished careers in pro wrestling and WWE history, but one of the best college football runs ever.

In fact, Simmons is enshrined in both the College Football Hall of Fame and WWE Hall of Fame, having earned the former in 2008 and the latter in 2012.

Simmons spent his playing days at Florida State under legendary head coach Bobby Bowden from 1977-80 as a nose guard. Simmons earned two consensus All-American nods and eventually had his No. 50 retired by the Seminoles. It was just the third number the program ever retired and first for a defender. Simmons finished Top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting his junior year and remains fifth all-time in career tackles (383), third in sacks (25), and first in most career fumbles caused (17) and recovered (8).

Oh and then he got to work. Simmons is recognized by WWE as the first black world heavyweight champion in wrestling history, for his 1992 WCW title reign. Going under his given name, Simmons joined John “Bradshaw” Layfield as three-time WWE tag-team champions as the Acolytes and APA. And, while wrestling as Faarooq, Simmons established the Nation of Domination faction. The militaristic Nation helped shape the edgy vibe of the early Attitude Era, while also providing the backdrop by which The Rock would jolt to superstardom and Mark Henry would begin his WWE career.

Next: The 10 Greatest Tag Teams of All Time

When it comes down to it, most of us will never be Hall of Famers in any walk of life. Ron Simmons has plaques in two halls. Damn, that’s pretty good.

Mike Janela