5 times WWE worked with NFL players

#1. NFL legend Lawrence Taylor headlines WWE WrestleMania XI

While the WWE/NFL Battle Royal at WrestleMania 2 featured plenty of pro football greats, it wasn't the main event of the show. Heck, it wasn't even the main event of its hour of the show. But ten years later, an NFL legend - albeit a retired one - would headline the Show of Shows. It would also give one of the most underrated WWE stars ever a much deserved WrestleMania moment.

Lawrence Taylor, who played with the New York Giants for his whole NFL career, is one of the greatest athletes to ever play the sport of American Football. He was also one of the most feared - so much so that offensive coordinators from other teams would develop whole new play systems to counter his speed and ferocity. He would play up his reputation as an unstoppable monster on defense in video games like Blitz: The League and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and movies like Any Given Sunday.

So, while Taylor had been retired for nearly two years as WrestleMania XI came around, the NFL Hall of Famer still had an aura about him. WWE decided to capitalize on that - and we ended up with one of the weirdest main events in WrestleMania history.

At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Taylor was seated ringside with his entourage as a "guest" of then-WWF Champion Diesel. The final bout before the Rumble match itself was a tournament final to determine the new WWF Tag Team Champions. Sean Waltman and Bob Holly, both in their 1-2-3 Kid and "Sparkplug" days - face off against Million Dollar Corporation members Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow. The match ended with Waltman pinning Bigelow and the crowd taunting the Beast From the East because of it.

Taylor was one of those in the crowd openly chuckling at Bigelow's misfortune. Despite the NFL star's offer of a handshake, Bam Bam shoved Taylor and it was on.

Bigelow would follow that up with a challenge to Taylor for a match at WrestleMania XI - one that the Hall of Fame linebacker would initially refuse. Eventually, though, Taylor would pick up the guantlet thrown down by the New Jersey native, and our 'Mania XI main event was set.

Since Bam Bam had the rest of the Million Dollar Corporation to watch his six, Taylor needed to have a team to have his back, as well. He found it in a group of his fellow NFL stars, including Reggie White and future WCW United States Champion and Four Horsemen member Steve "Mongo" McMichael.

The match itself was pretty outstanding, all things considered. Taylor was clearly taking all of this seriously, showing lots of respect for this new athletic world he found himself in. Bigelow, one of the promotion's most unappreciated stars, got to perform in the main event of WrestleMania. He helped carry Taylor to one of the best performances from a non-wrestler ever.

In the end, Taylor won the match following a forearm off the second rope. The NFL star was clearly exhausted following the match but, over the years, has had nothing but fond memories of the show. He even told Ric Flair, on an episode of his WOOOOO! NATION podcast, that there's an audience out there that is only familiar with his WrestleMania XI match.

“To this day, people come and say, ‘Hey, I know you! You were on WrestleMania 11!’ and I say, ‘Yeah, okay. That’s one of the things I did! Yeah, okay!”

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