The Key Moments That WWE Saved My Life
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a WWE fan. It’s something that’s been a part of me all my life. Growing up, my favorites were Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect and Ted Dibiase. My dream was to be a pro wrestler, but being born with Congenital Heart Disease, my liver outside my body and having club feet made the impossible. That still didn’t stop me from loving WWE and being passionate about the pro wrestling industry as whole. My other dream was to be like Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and be able to do commentary along with being manager. I was able to do that for a short period of time for my local hometown wrestling promotion. However, my connection with WWE runs deeper than just dreams. There are moments that happened in WWE that correlated with the events that were going on in my life, and it’s those events that saved my life.
In January 2002, my one of my closest friends that I grew up with passed away unexpectedly. For me, I had never experienced loss like that before. I was in a very deep and dark place at the time. I wasn’t sure how I was going to escape it. A few weeks after my friends passing, I was watching Raw on a typical Monday Night. During this specific episode, Ric Flair and Mr. McMahon were feuding and McMahon dropped a bombshell. The n.W.o. was on their way to the WWE. My childhood hero was returning after nine long years away. When “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan came back, it brought me out the deep dark depression I was in and all the negative thoughts began to go away as it got closer to WrestleMania 18. Hogan and The Rock had so much energy in their match that it re-energized me. Hogan’s comeback was capped off by a WWE Championship win against Triple H. Hogan’s matches with The Rock and Triple H brought me happiness, hope, and a positive attitude again. Little did I know, another return would motivate and inspire me a few months later.
When June 2002 rolled around, I went to my yearly cardiologist appointment for my checkup like I do every year. This time a major bombshell was dropped on me. My doctor said that I needed to undergo open heart surgery. This news put me right back into a depression, because this would be the first time, I ever had to face surgery as a teenager. Prior to 2002, most of surgeries were as an infant and toddler. I have no memory of any of them. Right around this time, Shawn Michaels returned to WWE television as a member of the n.W.o. When Hogan left WWE in 1993, the Heartbreak Kid became my guy in WWE. I loved his in-ring style and confidence. When he left in 1998, I was sad and thought that his career was over. That Summer when Shawn returned, I just thought it was going to be as a manager. Two weeks before my second open heart surgery, Shawn Michaels made his in-ring return at Summerslam against his best friend Triple H. Shawn made me believe. Shawn made me feel that anything was possible. That night, Shawn wore my favorite bible verse on his t-shirt, which is Philippians 4:13. Like HBK, I was also a devout Christian. Shawn’s return to the ring gave me the mindset of, “if he can do it. I can do it too.” In fact, when I had my second open heart surgery, I had a miraculous recovery. I was out of the hospital in three and a half days and I went back to school in ten days. Three months later, Michaels completed his comeback by winning the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series. It was one of the few moments I cried tears of joy for someone winning the championship.
Prior to the events of 2014, I had discovered independent wrestling and other promotions. It was there I discovered a guy named Claudio Castagnoli. This was so unique with moves like the UFO, the Big Swing, and the Very European Uppercut. I thought to myself that he’s one of a kind just like me. In 2011, Castagnoli signed with WWE and became Cesaro. Along the way Cesaro had some incredible matches in FCW and NXT, but it was in February 2014 that his momentum that gave me strength. I had my third open heart surgery on February 12th, 2014. It was the hardest surgery I’ve ever been through and I knew the recovery was going to be just as hard. Two days after my surgery on Valentine’s Day, Cesaro defeated Randy Orton on Smackdown and that gave me first bit of energy that I had in six months. Three days later is still one of the best stories of my life. Prior to February 17th, Cesaro had battled John Cena multiple times but was never able to do the Big Swing to Cena. I had been dozing off that night because I had walked a lot that day, and my girlfriend woke me up out of a deep sleep because Cesaro was swinging John Cena. The nurse was a little annoyed with my girlfriend and her response was, “This is good for him. You don’t understand.” It was good for me because the next I went home to start my eight-week recovery.
During those eight weeks, Cesaro did some incredible things. He had an epic match at NXT Arrival with Sami Zayn, which made me so happy. I had enjoyed their rivalry dating back to their Ring of Honor days. The last week of my recovery Wrestlemania 30 took place. Seeing Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve and The Rock together gave me goosebumps and a positive energy after a long road to being healthy again. Later that night, I was overcome with emotion when Cesaro won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Cesaro’s monumental win capped off me getting my life back and being able to go on to do positive and productive things in my life.
I will always be grateful for these moments and the WWE Superstars that were involved in them. I was often picked on growing up for being a pro wrestling fan, but I didn’t care. For me it was athleticism, magical and positive energy. I have always been captivated by the amazing people who call themselves pro wrestlers and sports entertainers. They have gifts that many only dream of having. They can bring out emotion in someone like no other type of entertainer on this planet. Even though I don’t know Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, or Cesaro, they are a huge part of my life. Their characters, personalities and presence on Television make me believe. Not only do they make me believe in them. They make me believe in myself. Not many get to express how they feel about their heroes, but in doing so I hope that this inspires them to express what their heroes mean to them. If by chance, my heroes read this, I hope they are inspired by how they impacted my life. Someone once said, “If you put good out in the world, good will come back to you.” I will always believe in good and that love will always succeed.
