“It’s a good feeling,” Nowinski says. “You really get to get some rage out.”

Which isn’t to say that he’s avoided all physical punishment all together. Nowinski’s character has been on the receiving end of one of wrestling’s other favorite punishing weapons—the table.

“It’s a very odd feeling,” Nowinski says. “I’ve actually gone off the top rope through a table on the floor, ripping part of my lat in the process. But it’s weird getting little cuts on my body.”

But despite what seems to be a quite violent environment, the physical toll on his body has been surprisingly light. At least compared to football.

“It’s actually a ton better,” Nowinski says. “Day in and day out I feel a hundred times better, partly because I’m fifty pounds lighter. It usually took 4 or 5 days to recover from a football game.”

It isn’t all pain and suffering. Though Nowinski takes quite a beating on occasion, there are those shining moments in which he finishes off his opponents with a stunning move that crushes both their and the crowd’s spirits—the honor roll.

“It’s a double under hook [similar to Triple H’s pedigree],” Nowinski said. “I flip them on their backs, hold them on their shoulders. I just came up with it screwing around one day.”

Moving steadily up through the ranks of the WWE, Nowinski, as Harvard, is living his latest dream.

“I’m really lucky to have been with Scott Steiner for about five weeks now,” Nowinski says. “He’s a former WCW champion. It takes time to learn to do this job right, so I’m not in a huge hurry.”

For now, that keeps the former football player happy. Whether new aspirations will develop in the future, only time will tell.

“I’m taking it as it comes,” Nowinski says. “You never know what this will lead to.”