HeelByNature.com is reader-supported. When you click on links or make purchases through our site, we or our affiliated partners may earn a commission. Additionally, our site features Sponsored Content, which helps us maintain and operate the website.
Williams Has Been Training For Weeks, Has Met With IMPACT Executives
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nashville, Tenn. (June 9, 2017) – DeAngelo Williams is set to tackle professional wrestling, but is not giving up on plans to return to the NFL.
Williams – who has spent 11 seasons as a running back in the NFL, the first nine years for the Carolina Panthers and the last two for the Pittsburgh Steelers – will be a part of Slammiversary, a pay-per-view extravaganza originating from Orlando, Florida.
Williams’ exact role at Slammiversary has not yet been finalized, IMPACT officials announced.
Williams – who was a Pro Bowl player in 2009, has twice led the NFL in rushing touchdowns and is now a free agent – was at IMPACT WRESTLING’s corporate headquarters in Nashville earlier this week to meet with the company’s Chief Creative Officer, Jeff Jarrett.
What Williams and Jarrett discussed was not immediately known, but, news of Williams’ involvement with Slammiversary broke around the football world, including CBS Sports, FOX Sports, NFL.com and many other media outlets.
Williams attended the University of Memphis before being drafted into the NFL. While at Memphis, he set the Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record for 100-yard rushing games (34) and all-purpose yards (7,573). He still ranks fourth on the all-time NCAA rushing list with 6,026 yards.
Williams has been training under the watchful eye of former wrestler and esteemed trainer, Scott D’Amore.
“I’m a huge, huge, huge fan of professional wrestling, and everything I’m going to do in the ring will be for the wrestlers who I have watched in the past, as well as those I still watch today. I respect the sport, the wrestlers and everything that comes with it,” Williams said. “You’re going to get everything I have inside the IMPACT WRESTLING ring; I’m going to try to show off my athletic ability.”
Williams has been hooked on wrestling since he was 8 years-old, introduced to the sport by his uncle. “I think now I’m ready to step in the ring and see what it feels like to be a professional wrestler.”
For further updates on DeAngelo Williams’ and Slammiversary, be sure to watch #ImpactIndia on Thursday nights on Pop TV at 8/7CT.
About IMPACT Wrestling:
IMPACT Wrestling specializes in television properties, events, products, merchandise, and music, as well as the management and promotion of professional wrestlers. The roster features such greats as EC3, Bobby Lashley, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, James Storm, the high-flying X-Division, Gail Kim and the lovely and lethal Knockouts. Its highly successful flagship, IMPACT WRESTLING, broadcasts in more than 120 countries around the world, including Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Pop (a joint venture of CBS Corporation and Lionsgate) in the United States, and on Fight Network and GameTV in Canada.