While New Japan made plenty of headlines for their first-ever United States shows, they didn’t feature the biggest debut of the weekend. That honor goes to Total Nonstop Action (TNA), who trotted out former Panthers and Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams to wrestle on its Slammiversary Pay-Per-View.
Williams is far from the first NFL player to show up at TNA. Adam “Pacman” Jones made several appearances for the company, most notably in 2013 when he and his Bengals teammate DeQuin Evans came out of the crowd to execute a quick pair of body slams. Meanwhile, Williams’ partner on Sunday, Moose, enjoyed a five-year NFL career with four different organizations.
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Neither of them, however, wrestled their first ever match on live pay-per-view like Williams did last night. And, it must be said, Williams looked pretty damn impressive for his first time out.
The only hairy spot came at the end, when Williams had one of his opponents set up on a table and was gearing up for a top-rope splash. It… didn’t quite go as planned.
Other than that, though, it was legitimately good. Williams is currently a free agent but if he doesn’t find a team or isn’t inclined to keep playing football, he has a second career waiting for him in wrestling.