Tim Wiese

Tim Wiese (German pronunciation: [tʰɪm ˈviːzə]; born 17 December 1981) is a German professional wrestler and retired football goalkeeper.
Having progressed through the youth teams at DJK Dürscheid and Bayer Leverkusen, Wiese started his professional career at Fortuna Köln, and went on to play for 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Werder Bremen before signing for 1899 Hoffenheim in 2012.
Wiese made 13 appearances for the German under-21 squad between 2003 and 2005, before making his full international debut three years later against England. He went on to win five further caps and was part of the German 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, but did not make an appearance in that tournament.
Following Wiese's retirement from football in 2014, he gained a significant amount of muscle mass and was subsequently linked to a career in professional wrestling, eventually joining WWE in 2016.

Club

Early career and Fortuna Köln

He started his playing career at DJK Dürscheid, in 1987. Two years later, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen's youth system, before moving to Fortuna Köln, where he made his first-team debut in the Regionalliga in 2000.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

He moved to Bundesliga side Kaiserslautern in the winter break of the 2001–02 season and initially played for their reserve squad in the third division and served as backup for Georg Koch and Roman Weidenfeller in the first team. Following Weidenfeller's transfer to Borussia Dortmund, he fought with Koch for the place of the first goalkeeper and made his Bundesliga debut at the beginning of the 2002–03 season, being replaced by Koch after conceding four goals in two matches. After the winter break, however, he managed to secure himself the position of the first-choice goalkeeper and established himself as one of the most talented new keepers in the Bundesliga. He was considered first-choice throughout the 2003–04 season, despite being sent off during the second match of the season (the first of two red cards he has received during his league career). He remained the first goalkeeper for Kaiserslautern until late November 2004, when he lost his place to veteran Thomas Ernst.

Werder Bremen

Wiese with Werder Bremen in 2009

Wiese moved to Werder Bremen in 2005 and was favoured to replace the aging Andreas Reinke, but tore his cruciate ligaments twice and missed the entire first part of the season. Following Reinke sustaining an injury in a match against VfB Stuttgart in February 2006, Wiese made his Bundesliga debut for Werder Bremen, and remained their first goalkeeper for the rest of the 2005–06 season.

Wiese, however, (who is often compared to former German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn for his emotional outbursts) had a shaky start, with an error against Juventus in the second round of the UEFA Champions League on 7 March 2006 being of particular note. With only two minutes of the game left to play, and Bremen on course to reach the quarter-finals, he made a routine catch, but then dropped the ball as he rolled on the ground, allowing Emerson to score and Juventus to progress. He has stabilized since then, however, and was vital for Bremen's late surge that moved them past rivals Hamburger SV to claim second place during the 2005–06 season.

In the 2006–07 season, he eventually established himself as the first goalkeeper at Werder Bremen and only missed three Bundesliga matches throughout the season. In the 2008–09 DFB-Pokal semi-final against Hamburg, Wiese helped Werder Bremen progress to the final when he saved three consecutive penalties.

1899 Hoffenheim

On 2 May 2012, Wiese signed for 1899 Hoffenheim for an undisclosed fee, and was made club captain in August. A poor start to the season, however, saw Wiese conceding 15 goals in four games, resulting in Hoffenheim's manager Markus Babbel issuing a statement defending the goalkeeper. In November 2012, it was announced that Wiese had injured his knee in a training session and would be unavailable until January. Following the signing of Heurelho Gomes from Tottenham Hotspur on loan at the end of January 2013, Wiese was dropped from the squad, with Hoffenheim's manager Andreas Mueller stating, "Tim doesn't have a chance in the current situation. No matter what he does, he doesn't have an opportunity to be assessed sensibly." Wiese and teammate Tobias Weis were fined an undisclosed amount following an incident at a carnival party on 11 February 2013, where the two players were ejected by security. In March 2013, Mueller announced that Wiese could leave the club on a free transfer if they were relegated, prompting several of his teammates to come to his defence, including Weis and team captain Sejad Salihović. During the season, Wiese made ten appearances for Hoffenheim, conceding 25 goals, with his last appearance coming in a 2–1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt on 26 January. Hoffenheim avoided relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, prompting further speculation about Wiese's future at the club.

His contract with Hoffenheim was mutually terminated on 21 January 2014, making him a free agent, after it was revealed that his body was in a bodybuilding style, unsuited to professional football.

International

Wiese earned his first international cap for Germany against England on 19 November 2008, when he came in as a substitute for René Adler at the beginning of the second half.

Wiese was a squad member for Germany in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but was the only player not seeing any action as an understudy to Schalke 04 goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and was denied an appearance in the third-place playoff due to injury, enabling Bayern Munich veteran Hans-Jörg Butt to step in.

Retirement

On 17 September 2014, Wiese announced his retirement from professional football stating, "I am not a dreamer, but a realist and I assume that I have my best years behind me and I will no longer play as a professional."

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Werder Bremen

• DFB-Pokal: 2008–09
• DFL-Ligapokal: 2006

National team

Germany

• FIFA World Cup third place: 2010
• UEFA European Championship semi-finalist: 2012

Individual

• Silbernes Lorbeerblatt: 2010

• "Official: Hoffenheim announce summer signings of Wiese & Derdiyok". Goal.com. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012. 
• "Nationaltorwart Tim Wiese verstärkt die TSG" (in German). Hoffenheim official website. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012. 
• "Tim Wiese to take captain's armband". achtzehn99.de. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• "Babbel: Wiese not to blame". FIFA.com. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• Zocher, Thomas (27 November 2012). "Bundesliga: Knee injury sidelines Hoffenheim's Tim Wiese until 2013". Sky Sports. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• "Hoffenheim drops former Germany keeper Tim Wiese". NewsOK. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• Uersfeld, Stephan (13 February 2013). "Hoffenheim duo fined after carnival row". ESPN. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• Caferoglu, Livio (2 March 2013). "Wiese free to leave if Hoffenheim are relegated". Goal.com. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• "Hoffenheim players defend Wiese". ESPN. 23 March 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• "Games played by Tim Wiese in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• Sagioglou, Philip (28 May 2013). "Klasse gehalten, aber was wird aus Tim Wiese?". Die Welt. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
• "Vertrag aufgelöst: Hoffenheim schmeißt Tim Wiese raus" (in German). Soccerbase. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014. 
• "Ex-Germany keeper Wiese explains sad story of why he became a bodybuilder". eurosport.yahoo.com. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014. 
• "Deutschland – England". kicker.de. 19 November 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2009. 
• "Tim Wiese". fussballdaten.de (in German). Fußballdaten Verwaltungs-GmbH. Retrieved 8 January 2017. 
• "Tim Wiese". National Football Teams. Retrieved 16 September 2014. 
• "Werders Triumph dank Özil" [Werder's triumph thanks to Özil]. kicker.de (in German). kicker-sportmagazin. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2017. 
• "Doppelpack von Klasnic" [Brace by Ivan Klasnić]. kicker.de (in German). kicker-sportmagazin. 5 August 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2017. 
• Ornstein, David (10 July 2010). "Uruguay 2–3 Germany". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 July 2010. 
• "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010–12" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 8 January 2017. 
• "DFB-Elf erhält Silbernes Lorbeerblatt". Rheinische Post (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2010. 

WWE (2016–present)

In September 2014, Wiese claimed he had been offered a development contract by WWE to join their NXT division. He appeared as a guest timekeeper at a WWE live event in Frankfurt. On 7 June 2016, it was reported that Wiese accepted Triple H's invitation to train at WWE's developmental facility, the WWE Performance Center. Wiese made his professional wrestling debut at a WWE live event in Munich on 3 November 2016, teaming with Sheamus and Cesaro to defeat The Shining Stars and Bo Dallas.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Running splash
• Signature moves
  • Biel throw
  • Body slam
  • Double rolling vertical suplex
  • Powerslam
  • Hip toss
• Nicknames
  • "The Machine"

Wiese has been married to his longtime spouse Grit Freibberg since 20 December 2010, and has a daughter. He completed his Realschulabschluss at the Gesamtschule Kürten.