The Carolina Panthers are bringing James Campen aboard due, in most part, to his 18 years’ worth of experience coaching up large football players. But in case they need any training on how to body-slam a near 600-pound professional wrestler, he may have some wisdom on that as well.
Campen, who agreed to terms to become the team’s newest offensive line coach on Monday, participated in the then WWF’s “Stars and Stripes Challenge” way back on July 4, 1993. The challenge, you ask? Oh, nothing more than picking up and body-slamming the 589-pound Yokozuna.
A center for the Green Bay Packers at the time, Campen seemed rather confident he’d be able to accomplish the potentially backbreaking feat. Just check out this spicy promo he cut on the legendary two-time world champion.
Well, those traps may have been too much for those grizzlies, but they weren’t enough to get Yoko to the mat.
Ultimately, the man who did was everyone’s American hero Lex Luger. Coincidentally, Luger also played for the Packers, in 1982 and 1983 when he was known as the 270-pound offensive lineman Larry Pfohl.
Although Campen may be no Luger, at least inside that squared circle, he’s still bringing the smackdown as a coach.
