Former St Helens player and the most-capped English international James Graham is set to embark on a bizarre career change.
Graham has become a leading voice down under after calling time on his career after returning to St Helens and helping them lift the Grand Final in 2020, following his eight-year NRL stint.
He had previously played over 200 games for St Helens from 2003 to 2011 before returning for one last dance but the 38-year-old is now set for a new career move, a move into professional wrestling.
It’s been confirmed that James Graham will make his official professional wrestling debut in just over a month’s time on October 13th in Sydney.
Graham will be part of Pro Wrestling Australia’s tag team match against ‘The Regime’, pairing up with Jack J. Bonza to take on Ricky ‘The Example’ South and Blackman Lex.
Strangely enough, he is not the first rugby league player to make the move into wrestling with former Hull KR man Luke Menzies making the move to the WWE as ‘Ridge Holland’.
How St Helens legend James Graham made the move to wrestling
Credit: Imago Images
It seemed that Graham was approached by one of the head honchos at Professional Wrestling Australia (PWA) to take part in the sport, something he jokingly agreed to.
However, it’s now official that he will take part and that’s been confirmed by both the PWA and Graham who announced the news on his podcast The Bye Round.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to actually train for something. I’m so out of my depth”, he admitted with this likely being the first professional training that he has done since the Grand Final success with St Helens back in 2020.
What was the catalyst for Graham’s involvement to become official was the fact he was called out by one half of the tag-team duo ‘The Regime’ as Ricky ‘The Example’ South took to Instragam to lay down the gauntlet.
“I got word from Triple M Sunday Scrum that one James Graham decided to talk a little bit of trash about the PWA and The Example Ricky South.
“Well listen here bruv, James Graham, you may be one of the GOAT prop forwards of all time but I am the best professional wrestler in the world.
“Graham, if you ever want to step into the ring with The Example and step into the world of the PWA, you have an open invite from The Example.
The former St Helens man then confirmed the fight after ‘The Example’ appeared on his podcast with Graham stating: “I’m not the sort of person that’s going to say I will do something and then back out, I’m not going to bottle it.”
The match will take place in five weeks time on October 13th.
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