Big E was in awe of the energy emitted by Tamyra Mensah-Stock while she was backstage at SummerSlam.
WWE often tries to reach out to celebrities and other athletes, extending a welcome hand whenever somebody from outside the WWE Universe can attend an event and help get extra eyes on WWE. At this year's SummerSlam, WWE invited Olympic gold medalists Gable Steveson and Tamyra Mensah-Stock to come to the event and share a brief moment in the ring where they could be acknowledged by the crowd in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Although the fans only saw the gold medalists for a brief moment, both were able to hang out backstage. Gable, who had been backstage at events before, met Vince McMahon. The New Day went out of their way to meet Tamyra and on the most recent episode of their podcast, Big E expresses how inspired he was by the positive energy she carries.
"Speaking of incredible athletes, I almost forgot to mention I got to meet two of them," Big E began. "Tamyra Mensah-Stock, she was backstage at SummerSlam. I had like, so I watched [the Olympics], obviously, I knew that she wanted the gold, I think at 68 kilos. I just loved her energy, and her interviews. As soon as I saw her, like, I was kind of getting ready for my match. But I just said, ‘Sorry to interrupt, but you are incredible. I love your energy.’That's the most bubbly, most naturally, --gave the greatest hug. Her energy is so incredible. Whatever it is that she wants to do or chooses to do, I'm sure she'll be incredible at it. She's one of the people like, I don't know how you're always that bubbly, but it feels so genuine and raw. But she was awesome and just getting like a minute or two to talk to her and just say, ‘Hey, I'm a huge fan.’ Gable Steveson, too. Just having a moment where I had to stop and say salute. I just have to turn I think just because I wrestled-- we wrestled in high school. I know just how hard it is at the high school level to -- I became a state champion. I know how much work that took. That's not even a 10th of a percentage of what it takes to get to the Olympics, let alone become a gold medalist. It was really cool because the US had just a great Olympics for wrestling. They just did incredible and to see Gable and Tamyra both win gold.
"Also, the fact [that] it's also cool, I don't remember ever seeing -- there's obviously you know, black wrestlers when when I was wrestling, but you know, to see a black man and a black woman when gold for us in wrestling was just, I don't know, I was just really inspired and the way that Gable did it too, down by three points. We've talked about it, but just it's just really cool just to have a moment I think just to say hey, you're you're awesome to just I don't know, but yeah, these SummerSlam are always filled with celebrities and people backstage and whatever and like salute to everyone there and everyone involved but meeting those two was definitely one of the highlights for me. of the weekend. So yeah, salute to those Olympians for winning gold.”
Xavier Woods added, "Yeah, it's kind of like so we were talking the other week about Olympic athletes and like, you know, you have to love this… So when you're saying like, She's so bubbly and happy, it was really cool to see how pumped she was. Then thinking about the reason that she's here is because she loved what she did so much, she worked to be the best at it. I think that's really cool to be able to become the best in your field, whatever it is that you're doing, and it opens up doors that may not have been open to you previously and so you get to kind of, like revel in it a little bit and get these cool opportunities to go do stuff that you haven't done before. So it was definitely really cool to see how happy and pumped she was because like, you know, she was like in the makeup chair and I just see her chatting to everybody, and it's so just happy to be there. As you guys know, like when there's a special guest or something, you know, sometimes they're like not wrestling fans, or sometimes they're just like, let me come in and do my segment, get out of here. But she was just genuinely pleased to be at the show and that's really cool to me."
E concluded, "Agree, especially I think, too, I guess it's just easy to get jaded. in any industry. We're around long enough. You know, like you said, just because a lot of us have, you know, we've been to many of these shows and whatever is but I think it just feels so fresh. It kind of reinvigorates you because a lot of us you know, where we are, I probably slept three or four hours and then showed up and was in a bit of a rush but when someone meets life with that kind of enthusiasm, it kind of shakes you for a second and makes you re evaluate and think man I I can be more energetic I can be so you know, she's she's a special human being, I think because I think that that kind of energy. It's contagious. Yeah, it is very contagious. So very cool to meet her [and] chop it up. Yeah, that's what we did. We chopped it up."
Both Gable Steveson and Tamyra Mensah-Stock have expressed a desire to get into WWE in the future. Gable spoke with Fighful’s Sean Ross Sapp before the Olympics. You can check out that full interview here.
Should you use any portion of the quotes above, transcription credit should go to Fightful with a H/T linking back to this article.
