‘Gift for us all’: WrestleMania event an escape for Make-A-Wish families in Las Vegas
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 got an exclusive shopping spree for WrestleMania 41 merchandise. Each kid also 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 too many ring entrances to count, said all of the kids did an unbelievable job. Being there to support them, he said, is just as big to him as taking to the ring 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 said. “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, said the weekend will be an escape from everyday life, which can be tough raising a child with a critical illness.
“I was crying,” Betty Vertin said while 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, had to run backstage to help 14-year-old Charlie’s wheelchair get out of the lift, after it became stuck, so the boy could make his grand entrance and receive his belt.
“That was special to see him (Strowman) run out ahead of Charlie,” Betty Vertin said. “It was really fun.”
Charlie said he is living the dream this week and after kicking it off with the WWE World experience, he is really looking forward to attending WrestleMania this weekend to see his favorite wrestler Jey Uso and others in person.
“It’s awesome,” Charlie Vertin said. “I can’t believe that I’m going.”
Betty Vertin has two other children who were also previously wish kids. This time around it was nice to have the entire family on hand to take part in the experience, which made it all the more special, she said.
“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 Vertin said. “It’s amazing.”
Dream come true
Having the opportunity to strut down a way runlike his favorite WWE stars while being introduced by ring announcer Mark Shunock was a dream experience for Evan Makel, a wish kid from Pennsylvania.
Growing up a wrestling fan, the teenager never imagined he’d have the opportunity to make a ring walk, let alone one with two stars that he watches on television each week.
“I was nervous, but I had to put the game face on,” Makel said. “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 via a collaboration by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Fanatics Foundation and the WWE.
The event took about eight weeks to plan out, which included polling the kids to what their pro wrestling persona would be, said Grace Farraj, executive director of the Fanatics Foundation. From there the creative team took over and made custom graphics and theme songs to have the Wish Kids live out their WWE dreams.
“When we learned that there were 25 kids on the list for WrestleMania, we went to town,” Farraj said. “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?”’
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.