One of the coolest experiences ever for me throughout my radio career was getting to go to the center of the WWE ring to get the crowd amped for the event. I remember walking down to the ring, and it was completely surreal! I felt like Russel Crowe from Gladiator, when he's punking out the Emperor!

Before I assaulted the crowd with sweetness, I was waiting in the backstage area of The Breslin Center on the campus of MSU. There were a ton of wrestlers coming and going. A group of them were sitting by the lockers, getting taped up and ready before the match. Among the group was Umaga; who sadly, recently passed away. He was sitting on a bench having talking to the other wrestlers. He is a big dude. If you ran into Umaga in a dark alley, you would let out a girly screech! I remember thinking to myself "Man, I hope he got the face tatoos after he became a wrestler, otherwise landing supplemental employment could be a bumpy road!" Could you imagine going into the bank and Umaga is your teller. I still don't know if they were fake or real!

His recent death is a huge loss to the wrestling world, and hopefully it helps awaken the industry to the harmful nature of some of the common practices and pressures found in professional wrestling.

Read about the untimely death of WWE Superstar Umaga in Michael Essany's blog: HERE

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