AEW's Big Bill Looks Back On Life Before Wrestling

Currently, Big Bill finds himself as a regular fixture on AEW television alongside the leader of The Learning Tree, Chris Jericho. Nearly two decades ago, however, Bill started his undergraduate journey at New York University (NYU) with the aim of eventually elevating to medical school.

"I was a finance major, but also pre-med in college," Bill recalled on "Talk Is Jericho." "I thought I was going to go to med school, was almost positive, which is ridiculous now looking back. I took the MCAT and everything, but studying for the MCAT, that was like a six month process. I took the Kaplan course and everything. That was a process. The whole time I'm thinking, there's no way I'm doing this the rest of my life. I'm just not that passionate. I always loved wrestling."

According to Bill, he had long been a wrestling fan, but never saw professional wrestling as an attainable career path for himself. Or as he put it, "that's like making it in rock and roll or making it to the NBA, the odds are [not great]."

Upon graduating college, Bill finally moved past his doubts, so much so that he signed up for in-ring training at the World of Unpredictable Wrestling school, led by WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz. At WWE WrestleMania 26, Bill came across wrestler-turned-broadcaster Matt Striker, who was so impressed by his size that he later came to assess him at one of Bill's wrestling shows. After seeing Bill in action first-hand, Striker put in a good word for Bill to WWE executive John Laurinaitis, who then reached out for an interview. From there, Bill attended a WWE tryout and subsequently signed with the company.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Talk Is Jericho" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription