09 July 2023 , 07:00
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A former WWE star has a job worlds away from entertaining wrestling fans across the globe.
Spike, real name Matthew Hyson, was part of The Dudley Brothers during his career, alongside icons D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley. Known primarily for taking beatings from the likes of The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar and being slammed through tables, the former grappler has taken up the role of financial planner.
The 52-year-old now sports a greying beard and a shaved head, compared to the long blonde hair he rocked during his wrestling days. During an interview with TV personality Chris Van Vliet, Dudley explained his current role.
"I work with Merrill Edge, which is a financial investment company,” he began. “What my role is, is when people die, their assets, their accounts have to get transitioned to their beneficiaries or to the estate or to the trust. My job is getting the assets to wherever they have to go.
"It’s kind of interesting, to me it’s fascinating because you’re dealing with a lot of grieving family members going ‘Hey you know, my dad left us X amount of dollars, what do we have to do?’
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"Everything is different, you either have the grieving widow or you know the kids or the squabbling family or you have the estate attorneys, the trust accounts. Every call, every case is different and it’s a little bit of everything.
"It’s part financial planning, part psychiatrist. But to me, it fits my personality. I find it very fulfilling, it’s a really cool job."
Dudley spent five years in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) before making the switch to WWE in 2001 when ECW went bankrupt.
Spike Dudley wrestled in WWE from 2001-2005 (Regis Martin/Getty Images)During his four-year stint in WWE Dudley won the Hardcore Championship seven times and also captured the Cruiserweight, European, and Tag Team belts each once. He featured in several high-profile Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches, a stipulation that became one of the hallmarks of early to mid-2000s WWE.
Dudley was famously slammed through a table during one such match by icon Jeff Hardy at Wrestlemania X-Seven in 2001. Spike credited his wife for convincing him to retire when he did as opposed to holding out for more wrestling moments against his better judgment.
The wrestler called time on his career in 2015 and during the interview he even claimed the wrestling industry possessed similarities to his new line of work.
"Every job has a lot of similarities, whether it's corporate working in a suit, working a McDonald's, or whether you are a wrestler," he said. "There is a hierarchy, there is a food chain, you have to learn how to play the game.”