Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, one of England’s most celebrated all-round cricketers, has shared the remarkable story of how he almost swapped the cricketing arena for the spectacle of professional wrestling in the WWE.
Speaking on the Stick To Cricket podcast, Andrew Flintoff revealed he was offered what he called “obscene money” to sign a three-year WWE contract and become a full-time wrestler under the ring name “Big Fred.”
The 47-year-old retired from cricket in 2010 but was left frustrated by persistent injuries that cut short a career he believed was entering its best phase. As he stepped away from the game, he and his family moved to Dubai, where he began exploring a life beyond cricket and stumbled across an idea as outlandish as it was ambitious: wrestling The Undertaker.
“I loved WWE as a kid,” Andrew Flintoff said. “I was unfit, had put weight on, and needed something to get me motivated again. So, while I was doing A League Of Their Own, I wrote a treatment to fight the Undertaker in Manchester.”
What started as a television idea quickly snowballed. Sky Sports loved the pitch, and soon Flintoff was in discussions with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon himself.
Reality quickly set in. Andrew Flintoff described grueling training sessions where he was thrown around the ring for hours, eventually collapsing in exhaustion and smashing his face on the apron.
“I feared I’d broken a rib,” he admitted. “I had lashes all down my back and was getting battered left, right, and centre.”
Despite the brutal initiation, WWE was impressed. Just two weeks later, Andrew Flintoff received an email offering him a fast-tracked contract, promising he would be performing at WWE’s flagship shows, WrestleMania and the Royal Rumble, within 18 months.
But the dream ended before it began. “The money was obscene,” he said, “but we wanted to move back from Dubai. The kids were into cricket, they didn’t want to move to America. So, I turned it down and had a boxing match instead.”
Andrew Flintoff did eventually fulfil his dream of fighting an opponent, but in the boxing ring. He beat American Richard Dawson in his only professional boxing fight in 2012 before building a successful media and coaching career.
While his wrestling dreams may not have come true, Flintoff is back in the England setup as the coach of the England Lions and remains a prominent figure in England’s cricketing history.