Titus O’Neil spoke with Eduardo Encina of The Tampa Bay Times about being the first wrestler to receive the Warrior Award for the WWE Hall of Fame. WWE confirmed this morning that Titus will receive the award as a part of the 2020 Hall of Fame Class.
The Warrior Award previously went to journalist Joan Lunden, longtime WWE employee, Sue Aitchison, paralyzed football player Eric LeGrand, and Connor “The Crusher” Michalek, who passed away at the age of 8 after battling cancer. Titus is the first WWE Superstar to receive the award, and he said that makes it special.
“This first is so much bigger because it means that I impacted a lot of people’s lives, both inside our locker room, our company, but most importantly outside with our fans and our supporters and our partners,” Titus said.
“This award is right up there with being nominated with the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award from ESPN. This has been one of those awards that really is about character. It’s about leaders. It’s about people that see you as a great human being.”
Titus is being honored for his philanthropic work in the Tampa Bay area, and how he worked even harder to make the region a better place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Titus said he’s all about making real change.
“Everybody knows that I’m someone who just wants to do the work,” Titus said. “I don’t care who I need to work with, as long as the work is done, as long as people’s lives are changed, that environments have been made better — whether it be a school environment or health environment, whatever it may be. I’m about change, real transformational change, not transactional change.”
Titus will also serve as a WrestleMania 37 host with WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan.
The 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will air tomorrow night on the WWE Network. Titus joins the following stars in the 2020 Class – JBL, The Bella Twins, Jushin Thunder Liger, The British Bulldog, the nWo (Hulk Hogan, Sean Waltman, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash), and William Shatner (Celebrity Wing).
Stay tuned for more.
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