Joe Thomas is a sure fire Hall of Famer in the NFL, known for his incredible play and hard-to-fathom consecutive snap streak. He may soon be adding another streak to his resume, and that's a win streak in the grueling "Titan Games."
Thomas had a huge win on Monday's season premiere of the show and joined Cleveland Browns Daily on Tuesday as the #ReigningTitan.
Thomas admitted he had no idea what he was in for but couldn't refuse to join the Titan Games when his agency made it clear that The Rock had "hand-picked" the legendary LT for the show.
"I'll do it. Everything Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson touches is gold," Thomas said.
Thomas may have gotten more from the grueling obstacle course than he bargained for, but he also got a show of respect from The Great One himself that truly struck him.
"The first time he came and talked to me, it was really cool. It was totally a star-struck moment, but I felt an amazing amount of appreciation, because he showed a ton of mutual respect that I didn't expect." Thomas said. "Being that I was an NFL player, I played football. He was a defensive lineman at (The University of) Miami but wasn't able to make it in the NFL, so there was that really cool mutual respect between the two of us."
The two made plans to work out in The Rock's Iron Paradise in the future, but the biggest news to come out of the interview was — to quote an old Wrestling adage — to "never say never" when it comes to the possibility of the The Rock and Thomas teaming up in the squared circle.
When I asked Thomas about the possibility of a Rock and Thomas Tag Team at a WrestleMania, Thomas said, "I don't want any spoiler alerts, but there's a few things in the works that might be kind of fun."
In addition to teasing us with a potential WrestleMania Main event, Thomas dove into his tactics, the grueling course, what disappointed him about his performance, becoming cool to his kids and much more about the Titan Games on Tuesday's Browns Daily.
Here are some of the top quotes from our 17-minute interview:
On if he knew how brutal the Titan Games would be:
"You and me both didn't know what I was signing up for, because if I had known how brutal it was, I'm not sure I would have signed up for it."
On his one requirement to participate, given that he had to retire from the Browns due to an injured knee
"I can't run. If there's any running at all, I'm OUT!"
On his thought process to join the show:
"I think it will be fun. It will give me a chance to get those competition juices flowing like back when I was playing. Let's do it!"
On how he felt at the end of the week of taping:
"Let me tell you. At the end of that week, I got home on that plane and I felt like I was recovering from a football season. I was so beaten mentally and physically that I couldn't wait to get home and put my feet up on the couch and not move for a week."
On his calm, focused demeanor in the competition:
"Throughout my NFL career everyone always said, 'you always look like you're not even trying' and I said, 'yeah, that's the point.' I'm not trying to waste any energy with unnecessary movements."
On the tip from the Navy Seals that stuck with him and helped him win:
"When we move smooth, we move fast."
On The Rock's physique:
"On TV he looks enormous. When I looked at his arms, I was like 'Dude! What did you do to those biceps,' because I want that. Those things are massive! I was so jealous of how jacked his arms were."
On his kids' reaction to him hanging with The Rock and getting to see him perform on the Titan Games:
"That was the big motivating factor to me. When I played, one of my kids was not even born yet and the other two were kind of young and the one that was old enough just didn't care. So I was searching for something. Can I find something that I can do that my kids will think I'm cool? Yes. Titan Games. That's what it's gotta be. Maui, Moana, my kids love that movie. They know Maui. So I was like, this is finally it! That has been the coolest part, is my kids seeing me and they go, 'Daddy, let's see you and Maui!' For 10 minutes, I was a cool dad!"
