Tebowmania running wild at WrestleMania? There was a chance it could have happened nearly a decade ago.
In ESPN reporter Mike Coppinger’s piece on the WWE moving on in the post-Vince McMahon era, Coppoinger shares an anecdote of how newly named co-CEO Nick Khan first met Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who’s now the head of the company’s talent relations and creative.
Khan had previously worked as an agent for CAA and one of his clients was former Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.
Coppinger writes: “Regarded as the most dominant sports media agent in the business, Khan was approached by Levesque with a pitch after the New England Patriots cut Tebow in August 2013. He proposed a WrestleMania 30 matchup featuring Tebow against the Big Show. The bout never materialized, but a friendship was forged.”
Tebow’s proposed opponent would have been appropriate. The Big Show is no stranger to taking on sports stars at major events, facing off in one-on-one matches against boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and a sumo match against grand champion Akebono. He also went nose-to-nose with Shaquille O’Neal in a multi-man match.
Instead, Big Show was part of the 31-man Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at the New Orleans show, where he was the last person eliminated, getting thrown over the top rope by eventual winner Cesaro.
Tebow began his college football broadcasting career that winter. He had a preseason stint with the Eagles in 2015 before trying to pursue a baseball career with the Mets’ farm system. He had one final attempt at pro football in 2021 when he tried converting to tight end with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
If Tebow had gotten into the ring, he would’ve joined a short list of former Broncos who entered the pro-wrestling world. Wahoo McDaniel — who was a linebacker in Denver from 1961-63 — wrestled for decades and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019. Darren Drozdov, who went by the name Droz, was a nose tackle for the Broncos from 1993-95. He wrestled in the then-WWF until 1999 when he suffered a neck injury that left him paralyzed.
