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Rising: Chris Nowinski, A.K.A. Chris Harvard

by Alex Pickering
Spring 2007

Christopher Nowinski is the author of Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis (Drummond Publishing) and a crusader for better treatment for athletes with head injuries. In a previous incarnation, he was Chris Harvard, World Wrestling Entertainment’s villainous prig.

Why did you write Head Games? I was horrified when I read the NFL’s concussion policy. It’s causing athletes harm.

What did you want to be when you grew up? I still don’t know what I want to be.

Why were you a villain in the ring? Once people found out I went to Harvard, I knew I could never be a good guy.

Did you ever want to be the hero? We were all in it together—the crowd doesn’t show up if they don’t have people they want to see get beat up.

What did you learn from wrestling? Every movement you make has to make sense within the grand story you’re telling. If you make a mistake, that’s when the audience stops suspending their disbelief.

What was the best gag you did for WWE? I had a lot of good lines. I once told the Boston crowd, “The electricity generated by the brainpower in this room wouldn’t generate enough heat to melt Ted Williams’s frozen corpse.” I could get away with saying anything.