Shawne Merriman, aka Lights Out, aka Gigantosaur, hasn’t been in the NFL since 2012. “What’s he been doing with his time?” you may ask. “Choking out Tila Tequila? Feuding with people over Wal-Mart t-shirts? Maybe trying his hand at foxy boxing?”
You weren’t far off with the last one. Yesterday was Shawne Merriman’s first day at WWE Performance Center, a new facility in Florida that trains people to become pro wrestlers. No, seriously. Merriman posted this pictured on Facebook, and as someone who has been through training himself, I can verify that it’s only one of a thousand bloody selfies to come:
A hard days work 1 down 364 to go #PainWhatPain #LightsOut
If you’re wondering what caused that kind of marking, it was running the ropes, believe it or not. When your body isn’t used to hitting a trio of tightly strung-together cables it bunches up and bruises like that until you’ve trained it to get beaten up. It’s one of the most painful things about wrestling school if you don’t get used to it quickly.
WWE fans may remember (yeah right) that this isn’t Merriman’s first attempt to get into a match … back in 2008 he assisted CM Punk in attacking Chavo Guerrero with a singapore cane.
It’ll be a while before we know if the former football star ends up more like Vader or Mongo, but we’ll keep you updated.
