Freddie Flintoff recalls his experience training in pro wrestling.
In 2012, Freddie Flintoff, a former international cricketer turned sporting television personality, would face off with Richard Dawson in a professional boxing match. However, before that, Flintoff had tried out pro wrestling with WWE.
While speaking on Stick To Cricket, Freddie would detail his experience training with WWE and how they even offered him a three year deal.
"What happened was, right, so it got to a point in Dubai where I was unfit. I'd put weight on. I was just not in a good place, and I wanted to get fit again, but I needed like a motivation. So as a kid, I loved WWE. So I came up with this idea because I was doing League of the Raw on my Skype, to fight The Undertaker in Manchester. So I wrote this treatment up, as you do in TV. So you write an idea up and you present it. So I wrote it up and presented it to Sky. They loved it, right? So this started gathering momentum. Next minute, it's been passed on to WWE. I'm in contact with WWE. (Vince McMahon?) Yeah. So I'm in with him. So I'm in there. I thought, right, I better get fit. So Dave Roberts Rooster, who is a physio through my career, who lived with us and looked after us, I said, 'can you send a trainer over to Dubai for six weeks? I need to bulk up.'"
Flintoff continued, noting that he'd been flown into Tampa, Florida to train in the ring with WWE.
"So he sent this fella over, trained me up so I've got fit. Then the WWE flew me to Tampa. So me and the missus have gone over to Tampa. I've got two weeks at Wrestling Academy. This is a true story. Right, so we go over.. So they fly us over from Dubai to Tampa on business class and then we get there, limo picks us up, takes us to the hotel. Next morning, Mrs, 'I'll come with you.' I said, alright. So we get in the car, we go to WWE's Academy. It's like two massive units, all branded. I'm sat in the car and these things are walking past me. six foot, eight, seven foot monsters. Look at my missus. 'Are you alright with this?' I said, yeah, I'll be fine. So I walked in and then the first day, nobody liked me because it's really competitive. There's like 60 of them. all want a contract with WWE and this English lads walked in. So I go in and we do the warmups and then they put me in the ring for three hours tough as I ran the ropes. Then I just run into someone and they throw me. So then we stopped for lunch. After lunch, I'm at the middle and now they're running at me. I got so tired, right? I had to jump under this lad's legs. I'm going, 'I couldn't lift my head.' I went straight through the apron, smacked my face on, nose went, legs are kimbo. Then the second day, I went, I had lashes all down me back. I was just getting beaten up left, right and center. The missus said, 'you alright with this?' So I went. So the second day, I was sore, so I'm thinking something's not right here. So I said to this physio, I think I'm having a back spasm. So they're all going, 'oh, the English has got a back spasm.' So he put me on the couch, and he's pushing me, and I can feel my ribs separating. I said, man, I think I broke my ribs. He said, 'well, you'd be in so much pain.' I said, I want to cry, but I can't in there. So I went for an x-ray. This fellow, he puts it up. He says, 'what do you do? I said, I'm a wrestler. He said, how long have you been doing it? I said, two days. So we did all that. Third day, you do acting lessons, but I didn't think I was in on it. So I'm just sat in the studio watching them go through the routine. They've got two minutes. So I'm just sat minding my own business, and they go, 'Fred, you're up.' I go, what do you mean? So I've got up. I've got the microphone in my hand saying how hard I am, because I'm like ranting. I said, 'I don't like that. Can I do another?' So I just looked out and there was all these weird and wonderful looking people and just tore them all a new one and they're trying to wire me up after two minutes. I go, 'I've not finished. I've not finished.' Sat down, nothing."
Flintoff finished off by noting that WWE would not allow him to use the footage for a documentary, but did offer him a three year contract.
"Then we went on holiday to Miami, and two weeks later, we got an email from WWE saying, you can't do your documentary because you'll give the secrets away. But we want to put you on a three-year contract. So we'll fast track you. In 18 months, you'll be at WrestleMania. You'll be at Royal Rumble. I'm thinking, you know what? The money was obscene, but we wanted to move back from Dubai at the time, and the kids wanted to play cricket, didn't want to move to America. So then I just changed it, actually, to boxing."
WWE NXT UK previously invited Flintoff back to train with WWE back in 2021. You can read more about that here.
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