Titus Worldwide!!!
Former WWE Tag Team Champion Titus O'Neil slid into the hearts of wrestling fans with his fall during the 'Greatest Royal Rumble' match last month. Titus is back to running and promoting 'Titus Worldwide' and in doing so he spoke with 'Richmond.com' and went over his football career and how he ended up transitioning into the land of sports-entertainment.
Titus O'Neil signed a developmental deal with WWE in 2009 and began training in their then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling. O'Neil stated that his good friend, former 6-time WWE World Champion Dave Bautista alerted him that FCW trained in Tampa which is his hometown and everything just fell into place from there.
"One of my closest friends is Dave Bautista and we?ve had several conversations about wrestling but it wasn?t something I was looking to make into a career." He said. "But he did tell me where they trained at, which was in Tampa. I was driving one day to get a pair of dress shoes and saw the (training center) in the plaza across the street. So I poked my head in the back door to see what it?s all about. Two weeks later I was signed and learning how to become a WWE superstar."
O'Neil was then asked if he were able to decide how his last match in professional wrestling would go down he stated that it would be a tag team match consisting of himself teaming alongside Dave Bautista taking on John Cena & The Rock.
"Dave Bautista [Is who he would choose]. We were neighbors for years. He?s one of my closest friends. Long before I got into WWE we became friends. That?s the beauty of life, you never know why you get to meet certain people." O'Neil said.
The leader of "Titus Worldwide" shared that his children were the inspiration for him pursuing a career in WWE. They were on a family outing at a WWE event and Titus asked his kids if they believed that he could do what they were watching and they gave him the encouragement to chase the job.
"I went to the show with my kids and they were 3 and 5 at the time. I looked over at both my sons and asked, 'Do you think I can do this?' My youngest son said, 'Absolutely'. My oldest son said, 'I think you can do anything daddy.' After that, that was the hook." He shared.
O'Neil also discussed his career in football and compared playing in what is known as "The Swamp" to Florida Gators and performing in arenas as a part of WWE. To read the full interview, click here.