As most people know, Justice was a contestant on Tough Enough 4 in 2004. He finished in third place in the contest. The Gladiator known as Wolf is actually a former professional wrestler as he used to compete under the name Hollywood in UPW a few years ago. He was also the tag team partner of Mike Knox at one point. You can see his old profile in UPW’s official website at UPW.com. In his profile he lists his wrestling inspirations as Triple H, Undertaker, Sting, Shawn Micheals. The Gladiator known as Helga also tried out wrestling a few years ago in the Southern California area, but didn’t last too long.
That’s not all as two other Gladiators have ties to people in wrestling. Tanoai “Toa” Reed is a stuntman and personal body double to his cousin Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in movies. The Gladiator who looks kind of like a wax statue, Titan, is Michael O’Hearn, the ex-husband of Scott Steiner’s valet in WCW, Midajah. Furthermore, at one point, Michael O’Hearn was actually signed to a WWE contract. In an interview he did with Iron Man Magazine in 2003 or so, he said: “Back in 1994 Shane McMahon [son of World Wrestling Federation owner Vince McMahon] flew out to California and took me and Achim Albrecht [former IFBB bodybuilder] to dinner. Then he flew me back to Connecticut and signed me, but ‘American Gladiators’ put a stop to it,’ O’Hearn relates. ‘When I was doing ‘Battledome,’ the WCW contacted me. They put me on TV with their wrestlers. They wanted to sign me, but ‘Battledome’ put a stop to that.” He had talks with Johnny Ace about joining WWE a few years ago, but it didn’t work out for whatever reason, obviously. This is what he said: ‘This is the first time I don’t have a TV show to prevent me from doing wrestling. Now I’m back in talks with Johnny Ace of WWE. I may be a pro wrestler within the next six months.”
Additionally, at least four wrestlers tried out for American Gladiators. Tough Enough 4 contestant Daniel Puder tried out for the show, but didn’t make the cut. Ring of Honor wrestler Matt Cross also tried out for the show, but was deemed too short as he is 5’7″. And as noted earlier in the week, former WWE tag team The Gymini also tried out for the program, but didn’t receive a call-back.
