Titus O'Neil on WWE WrestleMania 37 heading to Raymond James Stadium following the Super Bowl
WWE Superstar Titus O'Neil will co-host this year's WrestleMania, which will take place in his residence city of Tampa, Florida. The former 24/7 Champion opened up on the event heading to Raymond James Stadium following a successful Super Bowl.
Titus O'Neil will host the show along with WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan. He is also reportedly going to receive the Warrior Award at the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame due to the charity work he has done for the Tampa Bay community. He attended the University of Florida and played for the Florida Gators football team.
Titus O’Neil recently shared his thoughts on WWE WrestleMania 37 taking place in Raymond James Stadium by revealing that he is looking forward to being a part of the event.
"Playing at the University of Florida was bigger than most crowds in the NFL anyway, playing in front of 90,000 people week in week out, whether it be home or away. Every time I go into a WrestleMania stadium, I feel like I'm going into a football game just because I spent so much time as a college and professional athlete going in and out of stadiums the same way, dressed the same way, headphones on, fully focused, ready to put on the best show, the best performance possible."
"I feel the same way going into Raymond James stadium. I have obviously attended a lot of events there, whether it be college football, the National Championship, the Super Bowl. It's the biggest game on the biggest stage in all of sports and entertainment and all eyes are focused on the City of Tampa and Raymond James stadium. I'm looking forward to being a part of that."
WWE WrestleMania 37 was originally supposed to take place in the newly constructed SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. But it was moved to the Raymond James Stadium after Tampa couldn't host last year's event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Titus O’Neil reveals how playing football can prepare someone for a career in WWE
Before pursuing a career in professional wrestling, Titus O’Neil played American football with the Utah Blaze, Tampa Bay Storm, Las Vegas Gladiators and Carolina Cobras. When asked how playing football could prepare someone to become a WWE Superstar, he stated:
"Playing American Football and being in WWE takes an extreme work ethic. There is a certain type of pageantry and charisma on the field. There are a lot of great personalities in football locker rooms, all across the country. And so that lends great to when it comes to transitioning to WWE because you're out to become a sports entertainer. Some of us were already sports entertainers. We just weren’t getting paid for it and not being shown in over 130 countries and translated into 25 different languages. We were just doing it on an American football field or in an American football locker room."
"It was the hardest transition I've ever had to make, both from a physical and mental standpoint because football, you go and you execute everything within that position that you play: whether you’re a quarterback, or another position. You have to be able to go with the punches, go with the flow, feed off the energy of the crowd, give the crowd some energy so that you can ultimately take them on a rollercoaster. And in football, American football, you take them on a roller coaster by scoring points. In the WWE you take them on a rollercoaster by storytelling. A good guy versus bad guy. Most of the time, good guy. They want the good guy to win it - unless you're a really good bad guy! Nobody does it better than us in WWE."
WrestleMania 37 is scheduled to take place on April 10 and 11, 2021 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.