PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

 
 

WITH THE BURDEN COMES THE BLESSING: REFLECTIONS ON WWE'S VISIT TO MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL

By Mike Johnson on 2017-08-17 21:41:00

It's a scene not unlike any other personal appearance or autograph signing.  The New Day - Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E  - are surrounded by fans, all seeking photos and autographs.  There are children of all ages screaming excitedly as the trio sign away, trying to make sure everyone leaves with an autograph, a photo, a memory, a smile.

The children assembled are indeed smiling and they are pulling on their parents, pointing out who it is.  They are playing.  They are happy.  They are thrilled.  

It's a great scene, until you remember that you are standing in the middle of Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, and that every one of these children are fighting for their lives.

It's a sobering thought, to know that all these children are fighting a battle far more important and far more scary than one openly wants to admit.  In a world that seems more divisive than ever, where everyone wants to assume their side is right and everyone else is wrong or stupid or evil, these children and their families are the ones who are actually fighting the good fight, because they are fighting for their lives, sometimes at an age too young to even truly understand why they have to fight to begin with. 

It's not right and it's not fair.

For the second year in a row, World Wrestling Entertainment talents came to visit Montefiore Hospital yesterday, throwing a party for patients who could come down from their rooms to an area that was decorated with WWE party favors and populated by a roaming clown who painted faces.  There were toy WWE championship belts for everyone in attendance, which was only fitting, since these children were more of a champion than most of us can ever hope to be.

Whether it was the young boy clutching WWE action figures and wearing a protective helmet or the young girl who was so tired in her wheelchair that her head laid against a pillow for the duration of her visit to the party or the kids who walked slowly with an IV drip on wheels, the one constant among them yesterday was excitement.  Even if they were too young to know the ins and outs of WWE storylines, they knew something fun and special was happening and that the WWE stars were the main attraction.

"I think it's incredibly important for us to be part of the community that is going to host the event we're going to have, Summerslam," said WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior. "We come here a week early and we have these types of events that allow us to get to know the people of the community. It means so much to the Superstars. It means so much to myself, because we get to really have a face to face interaction with incredible people. The truth of what everybody does in this business is that we want to give back to the communities who are hosting us and that we can serve."

The New Day, Becky Lynch, Dana Warrior and Bayley spent hours with these children, far longer than their schedule called for, signing away, taking photos and sitting with the families.   For the patients too ill to make the elevator ride downstairs, the kids undergoing dialysis or unable to travel because of the machines they were attached to, the WWE stars came to them, disappearing upstairs immediately as soon as they made their way to the Hospital. 

Most of the talents making the visit arrived in New York City around 2-3 AM after traveling from the Smackdown Live taping in Providence, Rhode Island.  Less than 12 hours later, they were at Montefiore Hospital.

The life of a WWE star, on paper, sounds glamorous.  You are on television and travel all over the world.  You are competing in the ring and taking bumps every night.  You get to be everything from a videogame character to an action figure to the guy people stop at 4 AM at the airport for an autograph.  The reality is that with the job comes a hard grind of hardly ever being home, putting pro wrestling before your family and constant aches and pains that exist alongside the physicality in the ring.  There are long drives and longer flights and an a consistent existence where you are always on the go and bleary-eyed and just trying to make it to the next town, the next match, the next day.  It sounds cool on paper, but like everything, it comes with a price and there's a burden that you place on yourself to be the best.

With every burden, however, comes a blessing.  The biggest blessings are visits like yesterday.

"This has been an amazing visit with these amazing, amazing children," said Becky Lynch.  "It's an absolute pleasure.  I think, for us, we get more out of it than even they do.  Just seeing them being so happy and so excited and so gracious and so lovely to see us.  But, as excited as they are to see us, we are a million times more excited to see them.  It might sounds cliché but WWE's message is to put smiles on people's faces, but that's what we get to do here and that's what we get to see and it's incredible.  We can talk about being heroes or this, that or whatever, but these kids are the real heroes."

Every single WWE talent, no matter who they are, will say an event like the Montefiore Hospital yesterday is the best thing they get to do as part of the company.  They literally get the chance to walk into a room and for a short, magical moment, distract from all the pain and all the struggles that these children and their families are going through.  For an all too short, but important, they get to be just children again and their families get to have all that is weighed upon their shoulders lifted.   That's the magic of a visit like this.

The "putting smiles on people's faces" line has been uttered so often by WWE personnel that has been mocked by the more cynical of us, but it's likely the most true statement ever uttered by a pro wrestling personality.  Yesterday I witnessed countless moments where WWE talents proved just that.  

There was the moment where a young girl was scared by the size of New Day while waiting to take a photo with them that she began refusing to stay on the short line and began pulling her mother away.  Sensing the scene unfolding before her, WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior went right to the little one and began talking to her to ease whatever anxieties she may have had, offering to go alongside her and assuring her that they were nice.  The young girl, who at one point looked to begin to be going into a panic attack was now so excited to get her photo that she and Kofi Kingston were posing together, holding up their hair in the same pose as she smiled brightly.  The only person smiling brighter was her mother, snapping photos away on her phone.  

There was the moment where Becky Lynch and Bayley returned from visiting patients on dialysis and immediately dove into the middle of the party.  When I say dove, I am not kidding.  One minute they were there and the next, they disappeared into the throng of children, going down to their level to hang out with them and take photos and talk with the children and their families.  I have no idea when I actually saw them again because they eventually disappeared again, going back upstairs to go see more patients.

There were lots of moments like this, most of them not even in front of WWE cameras.  Lots of popcorn and ice cream.  Lots of face painting.  Lots of happy children.  Lots of little tiny moments that they and their families will cling to, the type of moments that will bring strength and joy as they continue to face their battles.  The strength and joy that will hopefully reinvigorate their souls as they struggle to overcome the type of battles that most of us put out of our minds unless they affect someone immediately close to us, because they are the most unfair and the most depressing.

Yesterday, WWE stars walked into a hospital and right into the middle of those battlefields most want to pretend don't exist, in an attempt to make the day a little brighter, a little more fun, a little more magical for families that need it the most.  It's the type of thing that WWE talents do every week, sometimes celebrated, sometimes not, sometimes publicly, sometimes in private, but with every visit, every interaction, every hug, every autograph, every handshake, it's the most important aspect of their job - forget smiles on faces, they are spreading hope where hope is needed.

"It makes me feel really blessed and really privileged, really honored that I get to make their day," Lynch said of the visit.  "But, just know that they have made my day in a whole other way."

With the burden, comes the blessing.

Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!