Once Sourav Ganguly's Nemesis, Why did Former CSK player Andrew Flintoff reject Lucrative WWE Contract? Shocking Reason Revealed

Andrew Flintoff, the talismanic former England all-rounder and Chennai Super Kings' one-season wonder, once came strikingly close to switching his cricket whites for the bright lights of the WWE. After retiring from cricket in 2010, Flintoff flirted with several post-career options - one of the most surprising being a full-fledged career in professional wrestling.

While he briefly returned to cricket in 2014-15 with Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League, Flintoff could have taken a drastically different path - one that might have seen him battling at WrestleMania or entering the Royal Rumble as "Big Fred."

In a candid chat on Betfair's Stick to Cricket show, the 47-year-old revealed the inside story of his near-move to the squared circle and why he ultimately walked away from an "obscene" WWE offer.

'Big Fred' vs. The Undertaker?

Flintoff's WWE dream began in Dubai, during a period of uncertainty after his first retirement. With television offers rolling in and boxing never quite appealing to him, an out-of-the-box idea struck - fight the Undertaker in Manchester.

"I just hid for a bit and started to wonder, 'What am I going to do now?'" Flintoff recalled.

"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'!"

The concept gained momentum. He pitched it to Sky, and it reached WWE's inner circle, including Vince McMahon himself.

"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.
"I wrote this treatment up and presented the idea to Sky, it started gathering momentum and next minute it's being passed onto WWE. I was in contact with the WWE, Vince McMahon!"

Training with the Beasts

Determined to get into peak shape, Flintoff trained rigorously in Dubai before heading to the WWE Performance Center in Tampa for a two-week camp. Despite the daunting environment, Flintoff threw himself into training, facing fierce competition from 60 other prospects all aiming for a WWE contract.

"On the first day, nobody liked me because it's really competitive with 60 of us all wanting a contract with the WWE - then this English lad walked in."

Why did Andrew Flintoff reject WWE?

But reality soon hit. The physical toll was brutal - even for someone used to the demands of international sport.

"So I go in and we do the warm-ups, then they put me in the ring for three hours and I just ran the ropes, I'd run into someone and they'd throw me. The second day I went in there, I had lashes all down my back and my missus said, 'Are you alright with this?' I was sore and thought something's not right here.

"I said to this physio, 'I think I'm having a back spasm,' so they're all like, 'Ohh the English lad's got a back spasm,' so they put me on the couch, he's pushing me and I can feel my ribs separating."

Flintoff suffered broken ribs - a rude awakening to the dangers of wrestling. But that wasn't the ultimate deterrent. Despite the lure of performing under the WWE banner and the eye-watering money on the table, Flintoff wasn't sold on the lifestyle that came with it.