Not everyone who is in the sports entertainment business originally set out to become a sports entertainer. Sometimes, they try their hand at several different promotions before landing at a wrestling school to start their journey. Some people do a little more than a typical nine to five. But others for a brief time, answered a higher calling in law enforcement.
Related: 10 Occupational Gimmicks From The 90's That Were Actually Good
It’s a career that not many can stomach and you certainly don’t choose to do it just to collect a paycheck. When these stars were done serving and protecting, they headed into the far more dangerous world of sports entertainment, and in some cases became some of the greatest stars the sport ever saw.
6 Kevin Nash
Can you imagine if Big Daddy Cool, Kevin Nash was patrolling the mean streets of his hometown of Detroit? The Motor City might have far less madmen running around! But instead the seven foot nWo legend headed off to the military.
After a brief stint trying to play basketball in Europe, Nash headed to the military. In the army, he was assigned to work the 202nd Military Police Company in Germany where he worked for NATO for several years, eventually becoming a specialist.
5 The Great Khali
The wrestling world might be split on the glory of The Great Khali. But when you’re a seven-foot-three giant like Khali, you know full well that Vince McMahon is going to give the Punjabi Playboy an opportunity. Long before he began his career in the States and become a globally known giant, the former security guard was invited to join the Punjab Police in 1993.
Related: 8 Backstage Stories About The Great Khali We Can't Believe
While he was serving and protecting, he was also training in the gym non-stop when he would get selected for wrestling training stateside. For fans of Bruce Prichard’s Something To Wrestle With, the cantankerous podcaster once even parodied Khali with the Big Boss Man’s old theme song.
4 The Big Boss Man
Speaking of the wrestling world’s most famous on-screen law enforcer, if you didn’t immediately start humming the Boss Man’s iconic theme, are you even a wrestling fan? The Big Boss Man was actually a former prison guard in Cobb County, Georgia. It’s pretty wild to think that of all of the ridiculous occupational gimmicks of the late eighties and early nineties, that one of them was actually real.
Thankfully, the story of Nailz was entirely fabricated and no real life stories of the Hall Of Famer being a nasty prison guard ever surfaced.
3 Lacey Evans
While she is currently on maternity leave, if Lacey Evans doesn’t become an absolute megastar then there are far more serious problems with the WWE brass than anyone could possibly know. That’s because not only does she have one of the many looks that Vince McMahon covets as a page turning statuesque blond bombshell, Evans is incredibly talented in the ring as well.
She’s a wife and mother and is the perfect role model. Before heading to the squared circle, Evans was a military woman. She's a badass marine military police officer, part of the unit's elite Special Reaction Team.
2 Mustafa Ali
For several years after his debut in WWE, Mustafa Ali tried to be the good guy and an entertaining babyface. When that didn’t work, he tried to unleash a lot of chaos as the leader of Retribution. That didn’t work out so well either, as his own group ousted him and then disbanded. Since not much of Ali’s career has made much sense or worked out on the main roster, perhaps he needs to revisit his roots.
Related: 10 Backstage Stories About Mustafa Ali We Can't Believe
The Chicago made, Pakistani superstar was working hard to clean up the streets of Homewood, Illinois. He would even wrestle on indy shows before racing to his graveyard shift, dripping in sweat from whatever event he was working. While he was coming up with his colleagues, he was unable to traverse the globe because of his job. However once the Cruiserweight Classic came calling, Ali was able to participate as an alternate and was able to earn a contract.
1 Rico Constantino
Out of all the wild gimmicks wrestlers could have, when you’re playing an androgynous stylist, you need to be a bit of a confident, tough guy outside of the ring. Rico Constantino isn’t just any tough guy, the former WWE superstar was even an American Gladiator. But prior to his life as a two-sports entertainer, the stylist was a police officer in the Las Vegas Police Department.
While many fans already know that police officers are heroes, Rico literally saved a life during his time on the job! He was driving around and saw a motorcycle accident happen. He was immediately on the scene and did all he could to keep the guy alive while the paramedics arrived on the scene.
