'Nearly Joined WWE, Was Going To Fight...': Andrew Flintoff drops stunning revelation about post-retirement plans

Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has made a surprising revelation, saying he was close to signing with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for a bout against wrestling legend The Undertaker. The deal was proposed shortly after Flintoff retired from international cricket in 2010. The former cricketer, who played 227 matches for England, admitted he was unsure of his next steps after retirement and was exploring new avenues—including an unexpected leap into professional wrestling.

"I just hid for a bit and started to wonder, 'What am I going to do now?' Some of the TV offers started to come, which was never the plan—I stumbled into that. I nearly joined the WWE. I didn't want to box; that was never the plan! I would have been called 'Big Fred'!" he said during a conversation on The Overlap's Stick to Cricket. Flintoff explained that during his time in Dubai, he found himself out of shape and needed motivation to get fit again. His childhood love for WWE sparked an ambitious idea.

"What happened was, it got to a point in Dubai where I was unfit; I'd put weight on, and I was just not in a good place. I wanted to get fit again, but I needed motivation. As a kid, I loved WWE, so I came up with this idea because I was doing League of Their Own with Sky to fight The Undertaker in Manchester."

WWE Offered Obscene Money, But Family Came First

The idea began to gain traction quickly. "I wrote this treatment up and presented the idea to Sky; it started gathering momentum, and the next minute it's being passed onto WWE. I was in contact with the WWE, Vince McMahon!" he revealed. WWE's response was swift and serious, with an offer to fast-track him into major events like WrestleMania and Royal Rumble.

See Also: [WATCH] : 'Love watching him play' - Ben Stokes praises India batter ahead of ENG vs IND, 2nd Test

"Two weeks later, I got an email from WWE, saying, 'You can't do your documentary because you'll give the secrets away; we want to put you on a three-year contract.' They said, 'We'll fast-track you, and in 18 months you'll be at WrestleMania and Royal Rumble.' The money was obscene, but we wanted to move back from Dubai. The kids wanted to play cricket and didn't want to go to America, so I just changed it to boxing and had a fight instead."