Originally published in The West Australian.
Excitement filled the wards of Perth Children’s Hospital when the sick kids had a special visit from WWE superstars before they take it to the ring on Saturday night.
As part of WWE and Telethon’s Community Champions day, WWE stars including Grayson Waller, Drew McIntyre and Bianca Belair delighted the young patients on Thursday as they toured the wards and gifted the iconic replica championship belts.
The wrestling personalities then paid a visit to 500 buzzing students at Telethon Community Fundraiser school Aquinas College, and were met with excited chants of “Fat Cat, Fat Cat” as they were joined by the famous mascot.
Image: WWE stars Drew McIntyre and Bianca Belair visit teenager Abby Kerr, who has cystic fybrosis, at Perth Children’s Hospital ahead of Saturday night’s WWE Elimination Chamber. Credit: Danella Bevis/ Danella Bevis
They took part in an action-packed wheelchair basketball game involving Aquinas College students who played against the Rebound WA team, a Telethon beneficiary.
Former Little Telethon star Oliver Lim commentated the match alongside WWE ring announcer Mike Rome.
“I think Aquinas did not so well, but seeing all of them together was really really cool,” Oliver said.
Image: WWE announcer Mike Rome and star Grayson Waller visit 15-year-old Rinaldo Osborne at Perth Children’s Hospital ahead of Saturday night’s WWE Elimination Chamber. Credit: Danella Bevis/ Danella Bevis
Ahead of the highly anticipated Elimination Chamber at Optus Stadium on Saturday, Oliver said he was looking forward to the “comical action” and seeing “big muscly dudes” just “pounding it down”.
Mr Rome said he especially loved meeting the Little Telethon stars and hanging out with Fat Cat.
“I feel like with WWE people don’t see how much we do in the community,” he said
Image: Drew McIntyre wears a Telethon hat and held a Fat Cat toy when he arrived to visit children at Perth Children’s Hospital. Credit: Danella Bevis/ Danella Bevis
“It’s good for us to go out there and help give back to these places, honestly, it’s some of the favourite stuff that we do no matter where we go.
“But it’s very important to get out there and get to know the town. This is my first time here so to walk through the city and be a part of things like Telethon, it’s nice.”
Mr Rome said fans should expect the “extraordinary” on Saturday night.
“It’s going to be large, it’s going to be wild, it’s going to be crazy. It’s something that’s going to be talked about for a long time for sure,” he said.
“Elimination Chamber is one of those wild events where there’s a big, big cage and a lot of dudes just going at it.”
Waller, one of the Australian wrestlers in the show, said it was important to show up to schools and encourage children to get into sport.
“We always love doing this, WWE gets involved in as much as we can. Personally being Australian and doing these things in my home country means a little bit more,” he said.
“For a lot of us, we like to promote positive energy and being athletes ourselves — getting kids to play sport. The wheelchair basketball was awesome, these kids are so athletic.”