Sports in one of the biggest industries in the whole world. While there are different sports activities, and all of them have their own public and audience, it is not the first time when two activities have collided and come to the crossroad. Perhaps this is why sports are beloved, you never know what to expect and you never know what direction is the wind blowing.

WWE and football are two of perhaps the most uncompromising sports. Both of them have their own charism and flavor. Just like some other players and sportsmen, former German goalkeeper, Tim Wiese decided to combine his experience and try himself in both fronts going sports. The reason for that was the exciting and very attractive feature of WWE and his personal characteristics, that he was usually criticized for during his football career.

The former footballer was always honest in the interviews, and never hesitated to express his mind the way he wanted. Thus, he is famous for the very extravagant character, which did not always cause positive feedback from the fans and teammates. According to his own interviews, he says that WWE participation is a great alternative for sitting on the couch and not doing anything. Tim retired from football at a very young age, when he was only 32 and when his career success was supposed to be on the peak. His recent interviews are a bit confusing as you can not really say whether it is a former goalkeeper or the active WWE fighter talking to you.

The hated success

Back in 2010, Tim Wiese played for Werder Bremen during the 2010 World Cup, Champions League, which was very short before he made his mind about moving to the WWE. It was something not many would expect to form him, as he had great success in his footballing career. Although Tim was always criticized for his anger management problems and a very different approach to popularity, his gameplay was always something very outstanding and professional. One way or another, while some individual characteristics might have been on the second stage for Wiese, his professionalism and techniques were never under the question mark.

Back at the time, when Tim Wiese was a footballer, his normal weight would rarely exceed 90kg, while it has changed drastically since his retirement from football. He quickly gained 40 kilos and at the very highest point weightier over 130KG. Though, right before the match in March in Munich in 2016, he weighed 120kg. Tim himself said that women love the muscles and curves and thus he became way more attractive for the feminine line of his fans. Although to have the perfect shape, he was ready to cut his daily consuming calories and lose some more.

As a footballer, Wiese could never be described as calm and fluffy, more explosive and aggressive. To be honest, he was uncompromising weeper-keeper, never afraid to charge out of his area, once mistiming a tackle and drop-kicking Hamburg’s Ivica Olic in the throat, for which he received a yellow card – and could often be seen berating opponents, officials, and even members of his own side. In his favor, Tim mentioned that his childhood and adulthood hero was always Oliver Kahn, because of the similarities in the style. Now, just imagine what the uncompromising footballer could do in the ring? Could be terrifying as well.

There always were some very polarized opinions about Tim and his gameplay manner. He was never afraid of that. Actually, he has not once mentioned that he loves when people hate him and made everything during his football career in order to make people hate him. Why? Because people can never be happy for others’ success, at least not in Germany, he said. Thus, he always knew that the hatred and discussion he received from his Germann fans would mean his career success. This never changed in wrestling. There are always people who either love him or hate him and well, now you guess which is favored by Tim?

Fans might differ according to the origin, at least this is what everything seems like now. While his German fans would mostly hate him or disliked him, Scandinavian and especially Nordic fans would love him. This has not changed even after his transition from football to wrestling. The assumptions have a valid background from the betting companies in Scandinavia as they provide the results and the statistics from the placed bets. According to them, Tim is one of the favorite players to watch for Scandinavian fans, perhaps because of his Vikingi-sh characteristics.

The Pressure

Wiese has never been resistant to the trash-talks and the similar stuff, so he was often unbalanced towards his fans and their attitude. The long-term success of a career in wrestling is built on a foundation of trash-talking and bravado, and it is blindingly obvious Wiese – both the man and the character – no longer wants to be seen as physically or mentally weak. When asked whether he has sustained any injuries in the ring, Wiese says: “That’s a stupid question, of course, I haven’t had any injuries, because I dole out the punishment, I don’t receive it. Next question.”

Now, this is definitely a person with perhaps one of the biggest confidence in himself, but it was not always like that. While we might not bend, we might be broken every once in a while. In 2012, Wiese refused the offer for Real Madrid and instead took a turn as a captain of the Hoffenheim, simply because he felt closer and wanted to maintain his career in Germany. This was the time when the pressure was too much even for his unbent character and charisma. The fans were very massively passive-aggressive or expressional aggressive towards him, which was why the protests near the clubs and offices became something very casual. The pressure was inhuman, something that the former footballer does not wish anyone to experience.

The continuous pressure and the very difficult moral situation, became the reason why he decided to finally retire. Although he was not a bad Capitan and did not have any major fails, still, he would blame himself for every single fail and would question his skills and professionalism. He was not able to play freely, as would feel guilty every single time. Not long after, back in 2014 Hoffenheim and Wiese mutually terminated the contract, though it seems like his contract only ended after four full years in January of 2016. Which can explain his long time no see on the ring. It took him two years to prepare and to do some basics.

Wiese Debut

When finally Wiese showed off on the ring, it was a very different sculpted musculus man, facing every shining star of wrestling and not fearing any of the opponents. The blue blood is something that can be used to describe his attitude as a look. Shining Stars on the rings were dreams that came true at that point. “My game plan against the Shining Stars will basically be to go full throttle, beat them down out of the ring, and seeing as they weigh 30-40lbs less than I do, I will grab them, one with the left hand, one with the right, and end them. I’ll drop-kick Bo Dallas and throw him off the stage.” – mentioned Tim Wiese in one of his interviews.

Whatever we think about the WWE, it features quite a decent show, with a bunch of violent fights, which is something Wiese was aiming at. He achieved quite a few furious fights and just like his football career, his professional and aggressive approach made him a way through the extremely populous sports industry. While his choice of a football career was not his life meaning desire, but rather a decent way of earning money, his wrestling career was something he wanted to try himself in. Tim Wiese, former goalkeeper and then WWE fearless wrestler, dropped out of school because he understood that with the knowledge you get in school there was no big chance of earning good money unless you become the businessmen in the top rows. Thus, he decided to become a footballer and multimillionaire simultaneously. He never cares about the opinion of others and now he is quite enjoying his spare time and ability to try himself in different shades.