Steve Williams, in Oklahoma uniform, prepares to launch himself at Jim Duggan.

A podcast years in the making finally gets recorded, albeit minus one of the proposed participants.

I’m joined by Mike Sempervive to discuss football-playing wrestlers and who had the most success in combining a collegiate and/or professional football with their exploits inside the ring. Some oustanding football players could not bring that sucess to the squared circle. Some football players became all-time grappling greats. But who was the best at combing the two.

Some caveats: This chat only is concerned with the territory era of the sport, so excludes early pioneers like Bronco Nagurski and post 1980s stars like The Rock, Bill Goldberg and competitors from the modern scene.

A sampling of the almost 100 names on the list for discussion include Ernie Ladd, Wahoo McDaniel, Dick the Bruiser, Wilbur Snyder, Angelo Mosca, Steve Williams, Jim Duggan, Lex Luger, Ron Simmons, JBL, Russ Francis and the 11 alumni from West Texas State, from Dory and Terry Funk to Ted DiBiase, Tully Blanchard and Tito Santana. Some of the names on the list may surprise you, since their football past was never part of their wrestling gimmick.

Which wrestlers’ football exploits were real and which were just works to enhance their reputation for toughness? Which football players could have been exceptional wrestlers had they given up the gridiron for the ring? These topics and more are in this episode.

NB: Hopefully this is the first of two shows on the topic and we can schedule our absent third man in the booth for a follow-up show.