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Many pro wrestlers are enamoured with soccer teams from around the world. Some have had a connection to a team their whole lives, others have discovered their fandom later in life. Many of these superstars will voice their support for their teams wherever possible. Several of them have visited their stadiums and even saw live matches. Some even go as far as to make soccer predictions on their social media. Here are five WWE superstars who absolutely love soccer, and their favourite teams.
The Celtic Warrior has to be one of the first names on this list. Some wrestlers have a fake affinity with a club because they met some players once during a PR exercise. That is not the case for Sheamus. The Irishman is a legit and lifelong Liverpool supporter. He's even appeared on Liverpool fan YouTube channel The Redmen TV. He's threatened to give a brogue kick to Gary Neville, famous soccer pundit and former player for The Reds' biggest rivals Manchester United. He's visited the stadium several times and can often be seen sporting the famous red jersey. Despite being half way across the world, Sheamus always seems to be chiming in on Liverpool in interviews or on Twitter - a geniune red.
NXT colour commentator Wade Barrett closely follows his boyhood club Preston North End. He's expressed and explained his love for PNE in several high profile interviews, including the BBC, in which he goes into great detail about the players and the manager. He really knows his stuff and has followed Preston through thick and thin, despite them playing in the Championship, English football's second tier, and his dedication has even extended to sticking by them in lower divisions. Wade Barrett seems to be a true PNE fan.
In an interview with Tottenham Hotspur's in-house media, Irish born Finn Balor explained how he became a Spurs fan at the age of eight, while following the lead of his older brother who is also a big fan. Many people in Ireland have an English Premier League team to follow, just like Finn Balor and Sheamus. Balor has been to matches, done interviews with the likes of Kyle Walker, and described meeting club legend Ledley King as more nerveracking than meeting his wrestling heroes. No fake PR love here.
Exective Producer of NXT Triple H's connection to West Ham is a very strange one. Despite not being one of the biggest clubs in elite European football, The Game has expressed his love for the team on many occasions. He likely hasn't been a fan since childhood, but his fandom does appear to be passionate and unexpected. Triple H has compared the team positively to WWE in several interviews, he has allowed them to use his entrance music at their stadium during games, and is often seen on Twitter offering support for The Hammers. He even once recorded a rallying cry video to inspire the players and fans ahead of a crunch match. The King of Kings seems to have a strange but strong connection to the London Club.
Drew McIntyre's love for Scottish club Rangers is less surprising, for obvious reasons. The man mountain, born in Ayr, has been a fan of the Glasgow club since childhood and that love and dedication doesn't seem to have waned over the years. In just the last few years alone, he's used his large online presence to jokingly threaten to show up on the door of Steven Gerrard after he left the club to join Aston Villa, tweeted at WWE brass demanding the night off to watch his team compete in the UEFA Europa League final and cheered on the club during some other big moments. Despite being so far from home, McIntyre seems to relish in using the internet to stay connected to his favourite soccer team.
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