Kendra Wilkinson is in good hands when pro wrestler Scott "Flash" Norton is around.
Wilkinson -- a reality television star and former Playboy model -- has employed Norton as one of her bodyguards at public events. Having previously worked in the same role for such celebrities as Prince, the 6-foot-3, 350-pound Norton knows how to keep Wilkinson safe and sound. He recently worked as part of her security team at an autograph-signing in Los Angeles.
"Several thousand people come through and you have to watch each and every one," Norton recently said in a telephone interview. "You've got to be prepared for anything. Pretty much nothing is going to happen. But if one person does something stupid, it could be bad."
Bad for the perpetrator, that is.
Pity the fool who would cross Norton, one of grappling's top powerhouses during the 1990s. At his peak, Norton juggled a headline role with New Japan Pro Wrestling with a complementary role stateside in the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling as a member of the ballyhooed New World Order. Along with such bigwigs as Hulk Hogan and Leon "Vader" White, Norton became only the third American to hold New Japan's prestigious International Wrestling Grand Prix heavyweight title.
The balancing act between two nations had its pros and cons. Norton parlayed his NWO role into even more international success. Norton, though, was never able to gain a steady foothold in WCW or build a major name among mainstream U.S. fans because of all the time he spent in Japan. Any storylines that WCW tried to develop were truncated because of Norton's New Japan commitments.
"The traveling was harder than the wrestling," said Norton, whose wrestling fame led to Japanese beer commercials and game-show appearances. "The tough part was going back and forth. New Japan was using me on top. When I came back to WCW, they had to try and fit me in."
A regular in Japan until 2006, Norton is now interested in resuming a full-time pro-wrestling career in the U.S. That desire stands in stark contrast to Norton's feelings toward the grappling game when he was a world-class arm-wrestling champion in the mid-1980s. Norton -- whose mighty wrist earned him a spot in the Sylvester Stallone arm-wrestling movie "Over the Top" -- gradually desired a taste for the grunt-and-groan business. Along the way, Norton shed the shyness that kept him from pursuing some of the opportunities previously presented him.
"I had a chance to be the lead in ('Over the Top'), but when I got on stage with Stallone, I couldn't even talk," said Norton, whose rushed 1989 pro-wrestling debut came with the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association. "Now I can go out and do that stuff easily. The older I got, the more confident I got in doing things and doors opened.
"It's funny. When I was younger, I would much rather have gone the NFL route. I'm glad things worked out the way they did."
Even at age 49, Norton believes he still has plenty to offer in pro wrestling. Now living in Brentwood, Tenn., Norton would ideally like to gain a spot with Nashville-based TNA Wrestling.
"It's something I enjoy doing. You miss it," said Norton, who keeps fans abreast of his exploits at www.myspace.com/nortonsan. "I can still perform at a high level. I'm still a big, strong man. I would like to give it another shot. If I can get a couple-year run, I'll fold up my tent and call it a day."
Norton can be booked for independent pro-wrestling dates through National Wrestling Alliance promoter Bill Behrens at showbis(at)aol.com.
(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro-wrestling column for Scripps Howard News Service. Contact him at alex1marv@aol.com or follow him via Twitter at http://twitter.com/alexmarvez.)
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