Former NFL player-turned-wrestler Moose is turning to his previous profession to find a tag team partner against Eli Drake and Chris Adonis at Slammiversary. That night, he’ll be teaming with former Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers star running back DeAngelo Williams.

Moose admits it was the idea came from Impact Wrestling executive producer Jeff Jarrett.

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“He had called me a while ago asking me if I knew anybody that would want to wrestle,” said Moose (real name Quinn Ojinnaka). "I was like just let me work on it and I'll see what I can do. DeAngelo happened to be at one of our Impact tapings. I went to Jeff and was like, 'I think he would be the perfect guy to be my partner for Slammiversary.'

“Well, we didn't even know what was going to happen at that point but I told them he would be the perfect guy that he was asking me about. DeAngelo and I had a conversation and the rest is history.”

The match will take place at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary XV pay-per-view on July 2 in Orlando, Fla. The timing couldn’t have worked better since Williams, a long-time wrestling fan, is currently a free agent. Otherwise, it’s unlikely a team would have allowed him to get in the ring and participate.

“I know DeAngelo is passionate about playing but he's going through the process very smartly because he doesn't want to just play for anybody,” said Moose. “He wants a Super Bowl ring and I think that's very smart of him. Hopefully, we get Slammiversary out of the way and then he can continue his search to find that contender.”

Moose thinks would be a great fit for Williams is the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. That team already has one huge wrestling fan in Rob Gronkowski, who made an in-ring appearance this past April at WrestleMania 33.

“Him and Gronk could be tag team partners some day,” admitted Moose. “It would be very fun to watch. I played with Gronk so I kind of know him and I know how crazy he is. That would just be bananas.”

The opportunity to get in the ring is a dream come true for Williams who is taking this very serious with his in-ring training. Whether or not he continues after football remains to be seen.

“As of right now, he feels like this is a one-and-done,” explained Moose. “But we'll see. It's kind of like a tattoo. You feel like 'I'm only going to get one and I'm done' and three years down the road you're all covered up I don't think it's going to be a one-and-done thing but we'll see.”

Wrestling had always been a lifelong passion for Moose but it was football that he pursued considering his athleticism and impressive 6-5, 300-pound frame. His natural gifts on the gridiron, playing offensive lineman led the Atlanta Falcons to draft him in the 5th round of the 2006 NFL Draft.

After playing for four different teams over seven years, he chose to leave the game of football and pursue his dream.

“I knew wrestling was something I wanted to do,” said Moose. “I knew football was something I was good at and I made a bunch of money doing it but, at the same time, I fell out of love of football and I also knew that I had to get out of it and become a wrestler before my age interfered with it. So, it was an easy decision.”

Moose has now been wrestling for nearly four years. His first big break was with Ring of Honor. After two years, he chose to leave and sign with Impact Wrestling where he has been for the past year.

“I love being part of Impact Wrestling and especially love that Jeff Jarrett is back with the company,” said Moose. “He's our leader. It's awesome because he's the one who started the company and he's the one who made the company great. I think we went into a slump when he left it. He's going to bring us back to where we were when he was there.”

Jarrett had parted ways with the company in 2014 but returned to the company last January when new ownership — Anthem Sports & Entertainment — took control, replacing former majority owner Dixie Carter. He has seen a change since Jarrett has taken control of the day-to-day operations of Impact Wrestling.

“I think the biggest thing is just knowing that there's somebody in the office that actually knows what they're doing,” said Moose. “Dixie was a great person but I think her only flaw was that she didn't know much about wrestling. The product actually showed. But I think it's great now that we have Jeff who knows about wrestling and was brought up in the wrestling business and he's leading us.”

Those who said I should be a World Champion in @IMPACTWRESTLING. This title has been to 🇮🇪 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇯🇵 🇬🇧 🇲🇽 🇩🇪 that makes me a World Champ pic.twitter.com/DPVPdOMlAH — Moose Moose Moose (@MooseNation69) June 25, 2017

Moose hit the ground running with a big role in the company over the past year and the current Impact Grand Champion, a title he has held twice. Earlier this this year, he worked a short program with Cody Rhodes who just made news winning the ROH World Championship.

“I'm happy for Cody,” said Moose. “I'm very happy for him. He's been busting his ass, working hard, traveling all over the world and it's paying off for him.”

This coming weekend presents a unique opportunity in wrestling when Rhodes as the ROH World Champion faces New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in their debut event in the United States.

Moose hopes that the Impact Wrestling could follow suit in having championship matches with other promotions like ROH and NJPW.

“It gets me so mad when companies are like 'we don't work with this company' or 'we don't work with this company',” explained Moose. “I think that's so stupid because as of right now, WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world. Everybody knows that. I feel like the only way that companies could catch up to WWE is to do a combination. I think it would be great for business for a company like Impact Wrestling to work with Ring of Honor and I think we were close to having that relationship before the Hardy's left the company. We'll see. You never say never in wrestling.”

Right now, his focus is on Slammiversary and teaming up with Williams.

And Moose believes his partner won’t disappoint.

“You guys just wait to see what he does,” said Moose. “I've trained with him and I was blown away by how quick he picked it up and how athletic and gifted he was in the ring. Just wait to see.”

Brian Fritz can be reached at btrfritz@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.