Terence Crawford is staying on his side of the squared circle.
The undefeated boxer recently made a thrilling appearance on an episode of WWE SmackDown, where he was involved in a segment that saw him assist top star Cody Rhodes against rival Grayson Waller. Crawford was ringside at CHI Health Center in his hometown of Omaha, Neb., and when he got his cue, he handed Rhodes a chair that the wrestler then smacked Waller with.
Watch the segment below.
Crawford, a longtime pro wrestling fan, loved being part of the show, and was involved in another segment the following week, this time showing off his hands and laying out Waller’s ally Austin Theory.
Is this the start of a new career for Crawford?
“I don’t know,” Crawford said on The MMA Hour. “I haven’t really got into it that far, but just saying that the experience was second to none, I must say. It was electrifying. I was actually nervous doing it. It was different. Like, alright, I’m going to give him this chair. Go hit this dude with it.
“It was dope, just because not only was it in my hometown but it was live on WWE and that’s a big thing. That’s a big platform.”
Crawford added that he was “probably” open to it if the right opportunity came along to work with WWE again. On these occasions, he was simply asked to play a small part in the scripted drama, with the rest of his time spent taking his kids backstage for a behind-the-scenes look at the sports entertainment organization.
The peek gave Crawford real insight into what it takes to succeed as a professional wrestler and given what he knows now, he wouldn’t take a decision to step into the WWE ring lightly.
“[My children] know all of it’s not real, but a lot of it is real,” Crawford said. “Those guys, they deal with a lot of pain and agony and injuries just like us as fighters. I was talking to a guy there and I was just asking him the injury rate, and he said, ‘It’s 100 percent injury rate. There’s no way around it. There’s going to be 100 percent injury rate that you’re going to get hurt at some point.’ I was just like, ‘Damn.’
“The level of toughness that you’ve got to have to know that you’re going to get injured one way or another to entertain these fans is dope. The things that people go through just to put a smile on the fans’ face is amazing.”
If not WWE, would Crawford ever consider putting his real wrestling skills to use? Crawford — who challenges Israil Madrimov for a WBA super welterweight title this Saturday in Los Angeles — has a background in amateur wrestling and has been known to still dabble, as evidenced by a clip of him tussling with a friend that went viral in 2023.
The clip immediately led to fan speculation that Crawford could make a successful transition to MMA, but Crawford made it clear he hardly takes the wrestling seriously, so a late career change is doubtful.
“I don’t try to because you can get injured playing around, just doing crazy stuff, but at the same time here and there I’ll mess around with my kids or a couple of friends, things like that,” Crawford said. “Because being around wrestling and going to their practices and your old wrestling buddies are coming to the gym because they’ve got their kids or nephews or nieces wrestling at the same time, we tend to mess around a little bit here and there and challenge each other. But for the most part, me putting on my wrestling shoes and going out there and practicing, I don’t do none of that.”