Former Falcons lineman back in Atlanta as pro wrestler

Former Falcons lineman back in Atlanta as pro wrestler

You may remember Quinn Ojinnaka from when the Falcons drafted the former offensive lineman in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Now he goes by the name "Moose" in the ring.

ATLANTA - Lots of young boys dream of one day playing in the NFL.

Quinn Ojinnaka did that. And he still dreamed of doing something else.

"I've been a big wrestling fan since I was like eight years old. I remember begging my mom to order pay-per-views so me and my brothers and friends of mine could sit in my living room and watch some of the greats like Ric Flair and Razor Ramon and Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and Shawn Michaels perform," Ojinnaka said. "So it's always something I knew I wanted to do when I got older."

You may remember Ojinnaka -- now known as Moose -- from when the Falcons drafted the former offensive lineman in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played at left tackle and right guard before being traded to the Patriots in 2010. He later spent time with the Rams and Colts as well, but he still called Atlanta home in 2012, when he left his football career and started training in the Atlanta area with Curtis "Big Cat" Hughes.

And since Ojinnaka's pro wrestling debut in 2013, he said he has seen huge growth in his performance, physically and charismatically.

"You know sometimes when you go on Facebook and it shows you a video from five, six years ago?" he said. "It was just a couple days ago I was on Facebook, and it showed me a clip of my very first match. And I looked at it, and I thought, 'Wow. I look terrible.' That just shows the growth I’ve made to now in 2020."

And on March 6 and 7, it'll be a full circle moment in his former home, Moose wrestles in Atlanta for the first time since signing with IMPACT.

"This is going to be exciting," he said. "I can’t wait to see how the crowd reacts when I come out. I'm usually the heel on TV, the bad guy, so I wonder if they're going to play it accordingly and boo me or if they’re going to give me a nice welcome home."

And for any fans who want to give him that welcome-home crowd, find Moose on Friday and Saturday at the Coca-Cola Roxy.