WWE star Carmelo Hayes spoke with CBS Boston about various topics, including his ambition to start wrestling at age 9 and how he pursued his dream despite being told it was impossible.
Hayes said, “Like you said, nine years old. I was watching as a kid and in our backyard, we were wrestling, we were hanging out. You know, get the whole neighborhood together in the backyard. I just knew I wanted to do it. It just didn’t seem like a reality. I get through school, I tell everybody I want to do this. Everybody shuts it down. ‘You’re too small. Get a real job,’ whatever it is, whatever it is. I had that mentality. I got out of school, I said, ‘You know what? Let me just try.’ I tried, and I never left and I made it. So that’s why I always tell people — as crazy as your dream is in your head and however many people are going to tell you ‘Don’t try to do it’ or maybe, ‘It’s not possible,’ or ‘You’re too little’ or whatever, just try. You never know, You truly never know.”
On his favorite wrestlers growing up:
“So I liked Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero, RVD, Rey Mysterio. I had a group of guys that I was just like, ‘I could see myself in their shoes.’ There’s a lot of kids now — you know, like superheroes, right? Those guys were superheroes to me. That was my Batman, and that was my Superman and Spider-Man.”
You can check out Hayes’ comments in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
