Soccer and wrestling are worlds apart as sports, but there are some connections between these two wildly popular sports. For example, some of the biggest stars in the WWE are huge fans of soccer and have often revealed which teams are their favorites.
Sheamus – Liverpool
Irish wrestler Stephen Farrelly is known by the name of Sheamus in the WWE, and he’s been on their main roster of fighters since 2009 and has been a world champion four times. In fact, Sheamus is the first Irish wrestler to become WWE world champion.
You might also have seen him in the 2008 movie The Escapist or in Once Upon a Time in Dublin, as well as in a few other movies and TV shows where he’s had relatively minor roles. He’s also turned up in several WWE video games and you’ll find him on his own YouTube channel called Celtic Warrior Workouts.
In terms of soccer, the Celtic Warrior has said that he is mainly a fan of English team Liverpool but that he also supports Scottish team Celtic. He now lives in the US and has added the Tennessee Titans football team to his list of favorites.
As for Liverpool, this is one of the most historic and famous teams in the sport, with a long list of trophies to their name. They went through some barren spells but the arrival of coach Jürgen Klopp has seen them once again among the biggest names in the game, and they’re currently the favorites on many sportsbooks to win the EPL this season.
Unfortunately for Sheamus, his national team or Ireland was left out of the World Cup football betting odds, as they did not qualify for the competition, so the popular wrestler will have to back up some other nation to cheer during the Qatar event.
Rey Mysterio – Real Madrid
Óscar Gutiérrez was born in California but made his start in the wrestling world in Mexico as a masked fighter before making the move to the WWE. He was unmasked in 1999 but continues to believe that it was a bad move and that he should have continued to fight was a mask on.
Arguably the most famous wrestler from the lucha libre world, Rey Mysterio comes from a family of masked wrestlers and has won a lot of different titles during his long career that began in 1989. Away from his own sport, the wrestler is known to be a fan of Spanish soccer team Real Madrid.
This team plays in La Liga and has long-standing rivalries with the likes of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona that are among the most widely-watched soccer games on the planet. They hold the record for most Champions League wins, with 14 if we include their earlier victories when the trophy was known as the European Cup.
Currently, Carlo Ancelotti is the head coach, having taken over from Zinedine Zidane in 2021. Real Madrid is currently among the favorites to win the Champions League yet again this season, just behind Liverpool and Bayern Munich on some sites.
Fandango / Dirty Dango
Curtis Hussey began his pro wrestling career in 1999 and was best known as Johnny Curtis before appearing in the WWE in 2013 under the name of Fandango. In 2021, he wrestled on the independent circuit under the new name of Dirty Dango, but it isn’t clear if he’ll see him back as Fandango in the WWE at some point in the future.
His finest moment to date as Dirty Dango came recently, as he became the Immortal Heavyweight Champion by beating Mike Skyros at the Immortal Championship Wrestling in New York. He has mentioned in the past that Everton is his soccer team, which set him up nicely for a rivalry with Sheamus since Everton and Liverpool are fierce rivals from the same city.
Indeed, back in 2013 there was a moment of controversy when Everton fans requested that the team play Fandango’s theme before a game, but Everton refused to do so. This caused the wrestler to get into a debate with the soccer team on Twitter before they eventually agreed to play his theme.
Fandango was pictured by the WWE visiting Everton’s Goodison Park venue, but he hasn’t had a lot to cheer about lately. The team finished in 18th place last season and narrowly avoided being relegated. However, iconic former player Frank Lampard is their coach and he expects to see Everton perform more strongly this season.
Killian Dain / Big Damo- Manchester United
While he’s not currently fighting in the WWE, Irish wrestler Damian Mackie is still fondly remembered for his time there as Killian Dain. He now uses the name Big Damo on the independent wrestling circuit.
This wrestler is well known for his love of Manchester United, the famous English side that has dominated the sport but that has gone through a difficult period lately. Despite their lack of recent success, the team from Old Trafford remain one of the biggest names in soccer and are still in with a chance of winning the EPL and the Champions League thanks to a strong roster of big stars.
