ESPN Covers Wrestlers That Are Cleveland Browns Fans
If anybody knows how much of a grind NFL football fandom can be, it’s the men and women that dabble in professional wrestling. It only makes sense that some of wrestling’s big stars happen to be Cleveland Brown fans. Jerry Lawler may be the most notable one, but ESPN did a story on several talents who happen to root for that pro football team up by Lake Erie and it includes The Miz, Johnny Gargano, EC3 and IMPACT’s Dave Crist. Some quotes are below:
The Miz on first becoming a Browns’ fan:
“Bernie is my first recollections of the Browns and of a quarterback,” said Miz, who despite the extraordinarily busy schedule of a WWE superstar manages to get to a game or two every year. “I’m too young to remember Jim Brown.”
On what he feels about this upcoming 2019 season:
“Baker is the real deal,” said Miz, who was born in Parma, Ohio. “And the young crew that we have will make heads turn. The North is going downhill. The Steelers are a mess with Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. They just can’t figure that stuff out. You’ve got two All-Stars who don’t want to play there. Why is that? The Bengals are already downhill. I don’t think the Ravens can sustain it. I don’t think Lamar Jackson is that guy. Baker is. He’s the guy people will talk about for years to come. I’m excited. I say playoffs this year.”
Johnny Gargano on how being a Browns fan meant he became an NFL Draft fan:
“I started getting really into the NFL draft because as a Browns fan, that’s our Super Bowl. Every year it was new hope. ‘We got Luke McCown! We got Charlie Frye!’ I was such a big draft guy and still am to this day. Every April I would hone in on a player I wanted the Browns to go after and just hope and hope. Then they would draft somebody else and I’d talk myself into him, like all Browns fans do.”
EC3 on the infamous “Dawg Pound” & being banned from the Browns Stadium for a time:
“It could get nasty and messy, and there were beers flying all round,” EC3 said. “I was almost like a mascot for the day. But I can remember Michael Jackson caught a touchdown on our end, and he pulled me out of the Dawg Pound and gave me a bear hug.”
EC3 also holds the distinction of having been banned from Cleveland Stadium by then-Browns owner Randy Lerner.
“I may have gotten a little unruly once. I have a letter from 2006 that says I’m not welcomed back,” EC3 said. “I got it framed, and it hangs in my office. I sent a letter saying I won’t be coming back due to your management.”
Dave Crist on taking a tour of The Browns’ practice facility:
“Being a lifelong Browns fan, it has always been a dream of mine to visit the practice facility to see where they hone their craft,” said Crist, who made it to four home games in 2018 and road games at Cincinnati, Oakland and Baltimore. “Larry Ogunjobi was literally 5 feet away from me. I missed Baker by like 10 minutes. I was just … it was an amazing situation. When I was talking to them, they were like, ‘You’re a pro wrestler, but your knowledge of football is pretty good.’ I was like, ‘This is what I do.’ Football season, I submerge myself in football.”
Not wanting to miss his 1 p.m. appointment in Berea, Crist and his fiancée arrived at the facility 30 minutes early and sat in the lobby. He said she told him this was going to be the longest 30 minutes of his life. He just stared at the jerseys and photos on the wall.
They went on their tour. They took loads of pictures. Crist had a goofy smile plastered on his face from start to finish.
“The entire time,” he said, “my fiancée was like, ‘You need to calm down. I love that you’re this happy, but like, you just need to calm down a little bit. You’re coming off as though you might be a little off.”
The IIconics Use A Fan’s Design For New Ring Gear
The IIconics certainly know how to show love to their fans as Peyton Royce and Billie Kay donned some new wrestling duds that reflected a fan’s personal design of their wrestling gear. Their exchange with the elated designer is below:
I'm crying they made it omfg thank you so much I love you both @PeytonRoyceWWE @BillieKayWWE this means the world to me that you made it ???? #SDLive pic.twitter.com/0VeAdbxtE9
— ?♡? (@CassHummel) July 17, 2019
