Former Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese's professional wrestling career got off to a winning start after he won his first match in the WWE
Former German goalie Tim Wiese scores on WWE debut as 'The Machine'
Former German goalkeeper star Tim Wiese reacts after the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) Six-Man-Tag-Team-Match at the Olympic Hall in Munich, southern Germany on Thursday. Pic/AFP
Former Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese's professional wrestling life got off to a winning start after he won his first match in the WWE.
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Wiese and his partners Cesaro and Sheamus beat the team of The Shining Stars and Bo Dallas in a "tag-team match".
The 34-year-old who retired from the sport of football three years ago after winning six caps for Germany and making their 2010 World Cup squad.
Wiese, now known as 'The Machine' played for Werder Bremen, Kaiserslautern and Hoffenheim, put on 40kgs (88lbs) of muscle, to start his career as a professional wrestler.
Wiese, standing 1.93m (6ft 4in) and weighing around 130kgs (20st, 6lbs), won his maiden World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) bout at Munich's Olympiahalle.
"That was great -- but tonight was just the start, a warm up match against kids. Now I want men," Wiese vowed after his successful entry into what he calls the 'Champions League' of wrestling.
Former German goalkeeper star Tim Wiese reacts during the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) Six-Man-Tag-Team-Match at the Olympic Hall in Munich, southern Germany on Thursday. Pic/AFP
An intensive schedule of weight-training sessions in Florida and a diet including a kilo of meat per day enabled him to bulk up and he cut an imposing figure as he entered the ring to fight alongside established WWE stars Cesaro and Sheamus in a six-man tag team match against the likes of Taylor Michael Rotunda, aka Bo Dallas.
A Big Splash bellyflop finishing manoeuvre later and he had helped his team land a ten-minute bout with a pinfall.
"The atmosphere in the ring was something else, totally different from in a stadium. Really close up and an incredible noise the like of which I've never experienced before," Wiese told AFP sports subsidiary SID.
"I take my hat off to him, that was a great debut, one of the best I've seen," said Swiss Cesaro afterwards.
WWE vice president and general manager Europa Stefan Kasenmueller dubbed Wiese's opening gambit "extraordinary". "He turned in a super showing," Kasenmueller said.
Even so, for the time being Wiese has no further bouts officially planned.
Asked if he was looking to carve out a career as a solo fighter, the former shot-stopper would only say: "I'm ready for anything. They just need to call me and The Machine is there."
Wiese turned his back on the Bundesliga in 2013 after 269 appearances in Germany's top flight for Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim, for whom he made the last of his total of 269 Bundesliga appearances in January 2013 after a fallout with club bosses.
Interestingly, Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker was in attendance as Wiese made his WWE debut. Mertesacker, who was Wiese's teammate, for both Germany and Bremen, was keen to cheer his pal on.
Mertesacker posted on Twitter: "Stay loyal to your former teammates !"
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