Jim Ayello

Jim Ayello

The brute’s name was Warpig. He donned a boar mask, a blood-stained apron and he wanted a piece of Pat McAfee.

“I was lucky to escape with my life,” McAfee said — still in character — after his first professional wrestling match. “If I didn’t get lucky a few times, he could have killed me.”

That was way back in March 2009, during that perfect time in McAfee’s football career where no one could tell him what do. He could pursue, without fear, his lifelong dream of becoming a professional wrestler.

The young thrill-seeker had just finished up at West Virginia, so his college football coaches had no control over him, and he had not yet been drafted, so the NFL was no concern.

Of course, there was someone who tried to talk him out of putting his football career and future at risk: his agent. He knew all too well McAfee’s dream of becoming a pro wrestler. He pleaded with McAfee not to climb into the ring after he found out the young punter had been invited to sign autographs at a small semi-pro wrestling event in South Charleston, W. Va.

“My agent said, ‘Do not get in that ring, whatever you do. Please!’” McAfee remembered. “So I go down there, and they go, ‘You want to get in the ring?’ And I go, ‘Yeah! ‘Absolutely!’”

Thus, McAfee’s professional wrestling career was born. And much like that other career of his , it was a resounding success. After getting tossed around the ring for a few minutes by Warpig, McAfee turned the tables late in the match and felled the behemoth with a swift kick to the chin — at least a very realistic looking swift kick to the chin.

“I don’t want to say it was perfect,” McAfee said, “but I didn’t kick him in the head, I just nicked him. I slapped my leg and everything. I made it look good.”

But, much to McAfee's disappointment, that would be his last opportunity to show the world what he could do inside the squared circle. Not long after he pinned Warpig, the Indianapolis Colts selected him in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft, putting an immediate end to activities that endanger his very valuable right leg.

“If it wasn’t for finding out that my right leg could kick a ball really far, which is what I did, I am 100 percent certain that I would be attempting to be or would be a professional wrestler,” McAfee said.

If you think he’s kidding, he’s not. He’s dead serious.

“I used to sit in my room — I grew up in a very blue-collar family, and every Monday night was my escape. I’d watch (WCW’s Monday Night) 'Nitro' and (WWE’s Monday Night) 'Raw,' and I would see the Nature Boy (Ric Flair) talking about limousine-ridin’, jet-flyin’, all that stuff. And you’d hear the Rock and his persona and his image and Triple-H, Stone Cold … those are the guys I wanted to be. My dream was always to become a professional wrestler. I kicked a football one day and found out it would go real far and a business decision kind of took me that way. But wrestling is still on my mind.”

And in his heart. And at his house. McAfee actually owns a wrestling ring, which he says he uses in the offseason, though (likely) not for hosting wrestling events.

McAfee knows part of the deal of being an NFL player is that you have to protect your body. So instead of climbing into the ring, he has to quench his thirst for wrestling with things like performing wrestling moves on his friends in the Colts locker room , trying to start (fake) Twitter spats with the WWE and paying homage to his idols via on-field celebration.

Honoring a childhood idol is what millions around the world watched him do a month ago on Monday Night Football. After seeing one of his punts downed at the 3-yard-line, McAfee imitated the celebration of WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon).

McAfee had just watched a documentary that, in part, detailed Hall’s long battle against substance abuse and wanted to pay tribute to his childhood hero and a “really cool story.”

So, what’s next for McAfee? More like, “Who’s next?”

“I’m undefeated,” he says with a grin. “1-0. I took down Warpig. Now it’s like, Who’s next?”

While a rematch with Warpig or a throwdown with WWE owner and chairman Vince McMahon (the person McAfee would most like to fight) isn’t in the cards anytime soon, don’t underestimate McAfee. The moment he retires from the NFL, he’s “going for it.”

He has his entrance song picked out and everything.

“I’m still just a little kid at heart and I just want to — I want to come through that curtain on 'Monday Night Raw.' That would be one of the coolest moments of my life.”

Wrestling Q&A with Pat McAfee

Question: If/when you become a professional wrestler, are you going to be a heel (bad guy) or babyface (good guy)?

Answer: I’d definitely be a heel. But I’d be a lovable heel, because I’d be so good at it. Like the Rock, or basically anybody who’s ever become a gigantic superstar. They’re hated at first, then the whole universe starts to respect him. I think that’s what I’d do. I couldn’t be much of a babyface because I keep it real too much. I think the universe would appreciate my perspective.

Q: What would be your finishing maneuver?

A: Probably the million-dollar leg drop. It’d be a leg drop off the top turnbuckle. But it wouldn’t be with my left leg, because my left leg hasn’t earned (expletive). But my right leg has made some money, so I think I’d do the million-dollar leg drop.

Q: If you had to tag-team with someone in the Colts locker room, who would it be?

A: If I were to tag up with somebody it’d probably be (Anthony) Castonzo. He’s a gigantic man, and I’d be able to do the talking. We’d be a good tag team. But, hmm, strictly on personality (looks around the locker room) ... Erik Walden. He’s the guy. Tough guy. Hilarious guy. I think EWal’s the guy to team up with.

Q: If you could wrestle anyone, who would it be?

A: (WWE owner and chairman) Vince McMahon. My entire life I’ve been hated by authority but loved by my peers. People above me have always hated me — teachers, bosses, you name it. People above me have always hated me, but my peers have loved me. And I think it would make a good storyline with Vince McMahon. … I’ve thought this through a few times.

Q: What does your entrance on RAW look/sound like?

A: “Heathens” (by Twenty One Pilots) — I think that’s a great entrance song. I think we’d have to splice it up when the beat drops, but I think “Heathens” is it. Then I think I’d have a microphone out before I come out, you know, backstage. ... I’d say a couple things, then the music would hit and then I’d come out. It’d be a impressive walk. People would enjoy my walk down to the ring. It’s wouldn’t be the Billionaire Strut like Vince McMahon or Conor McGregor, but I think I’d be able to figure out something that people would like.

Q: Who’s your all-time favorite wrestler?

A: Oh, that’s too hard. There’s too many.

Q: OK. From each era, then.

A: OK. Stone Cold Steve Austin from the Attitude Era (late 1990s). Before that, Mr. Perfect. And I think Triple H is the guy. Mostly because we look alike, and I think he’s adept at being a heel and a face. He’s done it all: Kings of Kings, The Game, Degeneration X. He’s a talented performer. And right now — Dolph Ziggler the guy I like most (currently wrestling), because he’s the guy that you hear about most getting screwed over, and they’re always saying he’s such a good worker.

WWE in Indianapolis

The Murat Egyptian Room at Old National Centre, 502 N. New Jersey St., will play host to a WWE NXT event at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are available here.