WWE: Former Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese claims victory on debut
Wiese's former team-mate, Per Mertesacker, watches the match!
By Nick Lustig
Last Updated: 04/11/16 12:40pm
Former Germany international goalkeeper Tim Wiese made a winning start to his career as a professional wrestler after claiming victory on his WWE debut.
Wiese, who was capped six times by Germany, joined forces with Cesaro and Sheamus to defeat the team of The Shining Stars and Bo Dallas in Munich on Thursday.
The 34-year-old, under his alias of "The Machine", secured the win by pinfall after performing his signature move, a body splash.
Wiese's former Werder Bremen colleague and current Arsenal captain Per Meresacker watched the fight, posting a tweet with pictures of him and Wiese with the caption: "Stay loyal to your former teammates."
Wiese, whose former clubs also include Hoffenheim and Kaiserslautern, hung up his gloves in 2014 in order to chase his new dream of becoming a professional wrestler.
He began training at the WWE performance Centre in Orlando, Florida in June after receiving a personal invitation from Paul "Triple H" Levesque, the WWE's executive vice president of talent.
But Thursday night's dust-up at the Olympic Hall was not the first time 6ft 4in Wiese had stepped into a WWE ring.
In September 2014, Wiese appeared as a guest timekeeper at a WWE event in Frankfurt and secured immediate fan approval after interjecting himself into a match.
Wiese was subsequently invited to a one-day workout at the WWE Performance Centre, where he impressed the facility's trainers and WWE executives, including Levesque.
