Twenty-five Make-A-Wish kids were given the experience of a lifetime Thursday at WWE World at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The group of children and their families enjoyed an exclusive shopping spree for WrestleMania 41 merchandise.
Each kid made their own signature ring entrance with a custom theme song and wrestling persona, and they were awarded their own title belts by WWE superstars Tiffany Stratton and Braun Strowman.
‘Seeing the smiles’
Strowman, who has made countless ring entrances throughout his career, exclaimed that all the kids did an unbelievable job.
For him, supporting the kids was just as rewarding as performing in front of thousands of fans during WWE events.
“It’s so cool being able to do this with the community and the kids,” Strowman shared.
“Seeing the smiles on all their faces — that’s what keeps this old man doing it.
Twelve years in with six surgeries, two spine surgeries, this is why I keep pushing through all of this stuff.
It’s to see the smiles on these kids’ faces.
It really is a blessing to be able to do this.”
The families’ wish week will continue through the weekend as they are all attending WrestleMania 41 Saturday and Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
Gift for us all
Betty Vertin, the mother of Charlie Vertin, a wish kid from Nebraska, expressed her gratitude by saying the weekend will be an escape from their everyday life, which can be challenging while raising a child with a critical illness.
“I was crying,” Betty Vertin admitted, becoming emotional.
“Not just for my son, but for all of those kids because, man, this can be a hard life watching your kids suffer.
They do a lot of hard things, so for them to get to do something and to pretend that they are these great superstars and forget about all that the rest of the day, it’s pretty amazing.
It’s a gift for all of us.”
Strowman, who stands 6 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs over 330 pounds, rushed backstage to help 14-year-old Charlie’s wheelchair after it became stuck in a lift.
This allowed Charlie to make his grand entrance and receive his belt with ease.
“That was special to see him (Strowman) run out ahead of Charlie,” Betty Vertin said.
“It was really fun.”
Charlie expressed how he felt living the dream this week, saying after kicking off with the WWE World experience, he was really looking forward to attending WrestleMania to see his favorite wrestler Jey Uso and others in person.
“It’s awesome,” Charlie Vertin exclaimed.
“I can’t believe that I’m going.”
Betty Vertin mentioned that she has two other children who were also previously wish kids.
This time around, it was special to have the entire family present to take part in the experience.
“I don’t know how Make-A-Wish does it, but they’ve kind of wrapped us in a little bubble and we’re just happy and fun, and all of our trouble seems to have disappeared for a week,” Betty said.
“It’s amazing.”
Dream come true
For Evan Makel, a wish kid from Pennsylvania, having the opportunity to strut down a runway like his favorite WWE stars while being introduced by ring announcer Mark Shunock was a dream experience.
A long-time wrestling fan, the teenager never imagined he’d make a ring walk, let alone one alongside two stars he watches on television each week.
“I was nervous, but I had to put the game face on,” said Makel.
“It was crazy.
I thought a wrestler might come out, but I wasn’t sure who and it ended up being Braun and Tiffy, which I was really happy about.
It was really cool.”
Weeks of planning
The event was made possible through collaboration between the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Fanatics Foundation, and WWE.
The event took about eight weeks to plan, which included polling the kids to find out what their pro wrestling persona would be, according to Grace Farraj, executive director of the Fanatics Foundation.
From there, the creative team took over and made custom graphics and theme songs so the Wish Kids could live out their WWE dreams.
“When we learned that there were 25 kids on the list for WrestleMania, we went to town,” Farraj stated.
“We rounded up our creative geniuses across the company and were like: ‘What can we do for them to bring this to life for these kids so that they could get their own superstar entrance and own custom title belt at the end?’”
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