Randy Thornton
| No. 94, 58 | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Defensive end Linebacker |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | December 23, 1964 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Weight: | 250 lb (113 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | West Jefferson (New Orleans, Louisiana) |
| College: | Houston |
| Undrafted: | 1988 |
| Career history | |
| |
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
Randall Thornton[1][2] (born December 23, 1964) is an American former football player and professional wrestler. He is also known for his stint in World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Swoll.
Football career
[edit]Thornton attended the University of Houston, where he played for the Houston Cougars as a defensive back and free safety between 1984 and 1987.
From 1988 to 1990, he was a member of the Denver Broncos as a linebacker. In 1990, he was sidelined with a knee injury.[3][4] In 1990, he was also courted by the New York Giants.[5] He left the Broncos in the same year without ever having played in a game.[6]
He played for the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football in 1992.[7]
In the 1993 CFL season, he played for the Sacramento Gold Miners as a defensive end.
Professional wrestling career
[edit]| Swoll | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Randall Thornton |
| Born | December 23, 1964[8] |
| Alma mater | University of Houston |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Swoll[1][2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 325 lb (147 kg; 23.2 st)[1][2] |
| Billed from | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Trained by | Brad Rheingans[1] |
| Debut | May 3, 1991[9] |
| Retired | August 31, 1999 |
Early career
[edit]Thornton trained as a wrestler under Brad Rheingans.
On May 3, 1991, he debuted in the American Wrestling Association, where he lost to Frank Andersson.[10] That same month, he toured New Japan Pro-Wrestling and fought in a "Different Style Fight" against Shinya Hashimoto, which he lost in the second round. He would lose another Different Style Fight to Masashi Aoyagi in October 1991.[11]
World Championship Wrestling (1999)
[edit]In 1999, Thornton, under the ring name Swoll, debuted in World Championship Wrestling as a member of Master P's No Limit Soldiers.[1] The Soldiers immediately began a feud with The West Texas Rednecks due to the Rednecks' hatred of rap music. On June 13, 1999, at The Great American Bash, Swoll assisted fellow Soldiers Konnan and Rey Misterio Jr. in defeating the Rednecks' Curt Hennig and Bobby Duncum Jr.[12] On the June 24 episode of Thunder, Swoll made his in-ring debut as he and B.A. defeated Disorderly Conduct (Mean Mike and Tough Tom).[13] At Bash at the Beach, the Soldiers (Swoll, Konnan, B.A. and Misterio Jr.) defeated the Rednecks (Hennig, Duncum Jr. Barry Windham and Kendall Windham) in an elimination tag team match.[13][14] After defeating a few other teams over the next few weeks, Swoll and B.A. lost to the Windhams on the August 3 episode of Saturday Night, thus ending both Swoll's undefeated streak and the feud between the Soldiers and the Rednecks.[13] On the August 17 episode of Saturday Night, Swoll competed in his final match for WCW as he and B.A. defeated Hugh Morrus and Jerry Flynn via disqualification.[13] Thornton retired from professional wrestling immediately afterwards.
Retirement
[edit]After retiring from wrestling, Thornton began working for the American Center For Character and Cultural Education.[2] He is a born again Christian[1] and also speaks for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g "Cagematch profile".
- ^ a b c d e "Accelerator profile".
- ^ [1] Archived July 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine[2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ "The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ "Holdouts Approach a Critical Juncture".
- ^ "Randy Thornton". statscrew.com. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
- ^ "Randy Thornton's Football Database Profile".
- ^ "WrestlingData profile".
- ^ "WrestlingData match history of 1991".
- ^ "Randy Thornton". WrestlingData.com. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
- ^ "The Great American Bash report on June 13, 1999".
- ^ a b c d "Cagematch match listings".
- ^ "Bash at the Beach report on July 11, 1999".
External links
[edit]- Randy Thornton at IMDb
- Randy Thornton's profile at Cagematch.net
- 1964 births
- Living people
- 20th-century African-American sportspeople
- 20th-century evangelicals
- 21st-century African-American sportspeople
- 21st-century evangelicals
- African-American professional wrestlers
- American evangelicals
- American male professional wrestlers
- Denver Broncos players
- Chicago Bears players
- Houston Cougars football players
- Players of American football from New Orleans
- Players of Canadian football from New Orleans
- Professional wrestlers from Louisiana
- Sacramento Gold Miners players
- Sacramento Surge players
- 20th-century male professional wrestlers