How Christian WWE wrestlers were given the nickname “Christian” by fans

Posted October 04, 2018 15:37:48A new interview with Christian WWE stars Kevin Owens, John Cena and Seth Rollins reveals that wrestlers in the company’s past had to endure a lot of discrimination and ridicule because they were “too Christian” to play the stereotypical white, upper-class male.

The interviews, which were filmed for the documentary “The Real World: The Inside Story of WWE,” were first broadcast on the WWE Network and are now available to watch in full.

“The first thing that I remember was going to church and going through the whole ritual, all the things that we were taught to do, it just made me uncomfortable,” Owens said.

“The only thing that made me really feel like I was a Christian, and I was supposed to be the one that was supposed of being the one.”

“There was always a little bit of ridicule and that’s when I knew that I was meant to be a part of the company,” Rollins said.

“There were people that didn’t believe in Christianity, people that said I wasn’t a real Christian, people who said I shouldn’t be a Christian because I wasn`t supposed to go to church,” Cena said.

In the documentary, Owens and Cena also talk about their experiences with homophobic slurs, racism and bullying, which they said has led to their decision to embrace Christianity.

“I’ve had people call me a faggot,” Owens joked.

“I’ve been called the n-word a million times.”

“They [the people] didn’t have to see a real person that was going through those things, because I was going from an environment where they were doing that, to a place where I was being like, ‘Wow, you’re actually a Christian,'” Rollins said, laughing.

“That was when I really started thinking about myself as a Christian,” Cena added.

“As a Christian myself, I started to understand that if you’re going to be in a place, where that kind of discrimination is going to continue, then you should be doing it on a level that is more than just that.”

The documentary also reveals that the wrestlers were encouraged to take part in a series of “Christianity-themed activities” for their parents and friends to watch while they were at work.

“We went to church every Sunday, we got baptized every Sunday,” Rollins joked.

The documentary was shot in New Zealand, where the wrestling world is relatively small compared to the rest of the world.

While the main focus of the documentary is the wrestlers’ experiences, it also examines how they grew up in the United States and the way they are viewed in other parts of the globe.

The documentary also includes interviews with former WWE superstars John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, Big Show and Bray Wyatt.

Watch the documentary on the BBC World Service:Watch the interview with Owens and Rollins above.