JC
I'm going to open up with the first person that really stood out to me in wrestling. John Cena. Well it was back in 2004 and I believe i was a Sophmore in high school at that. My friend had bought the newest wrestling game that came out that year and he was in it. Now i remember going who the fuck is that. I really wasn't keeping up too much with wrestling at that time. Just whatever my friend showed me. So here i see this guy acting like a thug (whigger as we called it here.) And i immediately hated him. Because all of the kids that dressed and acted the same way in high school were dicks. So obviously i judged him by his image immediately. How wrong I was. My friend was getting into wrestling even more and so he'd tape the episodes and when he was at his dad's house for the weekend we'd watch it. Some of Cena's skits actually made me laugh. This was also when I hated all things rap related btw. Of course he'd go on the show and do silly raps and shit but it continued to amuse me. So the man grew on me. It eventually got to the point where i was tuning in to watch him. From there my interest peaked. So one night i remember going on the internet and looking him up. I must have been 15-16. I came across his website. Legitmate website. And on there he had a mini biography about what he's done and how he got into wrestling and the long road till he made it to the big leagues. I was actually pretty inspired after reading all that and found a lot of respect for the man. He had gone across country to where they train to become on screen wrestlers. Consider it like the minor leagues like baseball has. He had lived out of his car for several weeks until he scored a job as a bouncer. Eventually one night he heard them talking about open try-outs and he went for it. He apparently stood out and practiced for years before they moved him up. I was inspired to chase my dreams for a while. While on his website i found out he was doing autograph signings near by. Thankfully my dad was working in that part of Phildadelphia that day and dropped me off for a bit. I went there and got a poster signed. (Still have it hidden away.) Everyone that came got to talk and get stuff signed for a few minutes each. There were maybe 4-5 wrestlers there. I went to his area and stood in line for a while. I was one of the last ones and was kind of worried i'd get turned away. Which i ended not. When he got there I had him sign it. And i remember saying something along the lines "You know i have a lot of respect for you, you took a chance on your dreams and it worked out. I hope I can do something similar." And he actually looked up and smiled. Not one of those fake smiles that you put on just to shut someone up. "What'd your name kid?" Course I told him and he said "Never give up on your dreams and don't ever change for anyone is the best advice I can give you. Don't let anyone change who you are." And i thanked him for the advice and we did the whole small talk for a bit longer and then they were leaving. It really did mean a lot to me. I will always be idealistic. One to two years later. My dad got us backstage passes one night to one of the shows that they were doing in Philly. I was excited I'd get to meet a few of the less popular superstars at least. Since from what i always read that the bigger up stars usually were to busy to see people. So I wouldn't get to see Cena. It wouldn't be the end of my life. We were back there and I got to say hello to a few of them. I got to meet one of my favorite female superstars so that was awesome. As we were getting ready to be sent back to the front. Cena came walking by. He stopped and kind of did a double take. If it was a cartoon you'd probably would have seen a lightbulb going off. "How has pursuing your dreams working for you kid?" I looked at him pretty shocked that he'd actually remembered that conversation. He just smiled and more small talk. He gave me a hat too but of course someone stole it from me that night. One afternoon I was in Philly with a few of my friends and we were going to see a show in Philly again. This was like 07 I believe maybe 08. Though i doubt. We were getting cheesesteaks from Pat's. I was being oblivious which is pretty shocking. And someone tapped my shoulder. My friends all looked pretty dumbfounded so i turned. And woah. Right there is Mr.Cena himself. "Any luck yet?" It was still shocking that he remembered it. He's probably one of the nicest people i have ever met even after he has achieved fame and what not. And he's funny too.
I haven't ever really met famous people outside of wrestling but let's face it. You hear that some of them are dicks or worse. I was pretty happy to find out Cena wasn't. I admit that i once had a crush on him. Everyone seems to have a famous person crush. He was mine as far as males go. I first realized it back when i got my autographed signed. But since i stopped watching wrestling between 07-08 it disappeared. I still will hold a lot of respect for the man. But I hate his wrestling character now. They made him into a cheesefest. He pretty much is only there for the kids and women anymore. He's also grown much older looking and lost some of his attractiveness. They also censored him quite a bit which took away a lot from his character. It's a shame but he's not going anywhere. He's also not the best of wrestlers. In fact he literally does almost no wrestling moves anymore. Since coming back and tuning in every so often. I can say that i'll always respect him but he's quite dull now. But he's what ultimately lored me into wrestling, next to my old best friend.
I haven't ever really met famous people outside of wrestling but let's face it. You hear that some of them are dicks or worse. I was pretty happy to find out Cena wasn't. I admit that i once had a crush on him. Everyone seems to have a famous person crush. He was mine as far as males go. I first realized it back when i got my autographed signed. But since i stopped watching wrestling between 07-08 it disappeared. I still will hold a lot of respect for the man. But I hate his wrestling character now. They made him into a cheesefest. He pretty much is only there for the kids and women anymore. He's also grown much older looking and lost some of his attractiveness. They also censored him quite a bit which took away a lot from his character. It's a shame but he's not going anywhere. He's also not the best of wrestlers. In fact he literally does almost no wrestling moves anymore. Since coming back and tuning in every so often. I can say that i'll always respect him but he's quite dull now. But he's what ultimately lored me into wrestling, next to my old best friend.