Jessie Godderz was almost a WWE Superstar.
“Mr. PEC-Tacular” made his television debut in the summer of 2008 on the 10th season of reality competition show Big Brother. Godderz received his eviction in the fourth week of the game, before returning the following year for season 11. He found slightly better success there, receiving his elimination in the fifth week. Amidst his second run in 2009, Godderz expressed his wish to be a WWE Superstar one day. This later caught the attention of World Wrestling Entertainment itself.
In a recent interview with PWMania, Jessie Godderz revealed that the company attempted to contact him during his season 11 stint on Big Brother. “As soon as I mentioned on CBS that I wanted to become a WWE Superstar, the WWE Talent Relations Department tried reaching out to me to offer me a contract!”
Due to Big Brother‘s restrictions from the outside world, Godderz remained unaware of their initial interest, until 10 years later. “I ran into another member of the WWE Talent Relations Department at an OVW Combine where I was making a Guest Appearance at (in 2019) and he told me the whole story,” Godderz explained.
WWE CEO Vince McMahon and Senior Vice President of Talent Operations John Laurinaitis seemingly enjoyed the professional bodybuilder’s look. The duo even pitched an idea for the Big Brother contestant to begin a rivalry with another former reality show star, and multi-time champion, The Miz.
“Apparently Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis liked my look, my charisma, and liked the fact that I was promoting WWE to a huge mainstream audience. I later found out that they had an idea to have me start a Reality Show Rivalry with The Miz (who had come off of MTV’s The Real World years earlier).
“Unfortunately though, on Big Brother, you’re locked away for several months during the summer with no telephone and no communication with the outside world so they were not able to get a hold of me at the time. So after a few weeks, their interest waned, they gave up and moved on. That was in July of 2009 I believe. Then when the season ended in September and I got out of the house, I had no idea that WWE had been frantically trying to reach me months earlier! I only found out about it 10 YEARS later when I ran into another member of the WWE Talent Relations Department at an OVW Combine where I was making a Guest Appearance at (in 2019) and he told me the whole story. To say the least, I was in shock. Oh well!”
The aspiring wrestler would soon earn the opportunity to debut for another well-known company though. Following his Big Brother 11 performance, IMPACT Wrestling contacted Godderz. “Mr. PEC-Tacular” then reported to their developmental territory. He made his official IMPACT (TNA at the time) debut at Bound For Glory in 2012, alongside his “girlfriend” Tara. Godderz remained with the company until mid-2017.
The former TNA World Tag Team Champion then gauged a second opportunity with WWE. “Triple H and Canyon Ceman invited me to an NXT tryout in 2018,” Godderz explained. “But I was doing other projects for CBS at the time so the timing didn’t work out.”
Now, Jessie Godderz regularly works with Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he notably captured the company’s Television and Tag Team Championships.
RELATED: Jessie Godderz Lands New Gig Hosting ‘Whacked Out Sports’
