BC News|August 11, 2015 05:45 EDT
Superstar Titus O'Neil Talks 'Accidental' WWE 'Leap of Faith'; Says Company Fully Supports Diversity & the Practice of Religion [INTERVIEW 2]
WWE Tag Team Champion Titus O'Neil spoke to BREATHEcast about his incredible "leap of faith" in joining the WWE and shared a bit about a life he almost never had.
Read part one of this interview where Titus talks about being an inspiration and overcoming obstacles here.
As previously stated in part one of this interview O'Neil's dream was to help others on a large platform. Now, as a pro wrestler, he gets the opportunity to do so every week. Interestingly enough however, the WWE was never on his radar and something that was not planned at all.
"This was an accidental move. It wasn't something I wanted to do," he revealed. "Literally walked in the back doors of FCW, which is now NXT, had a 15 minute conversation and two weeks later I was signed to be a WWE sports entertainer. It's the best leap of faith I've ever taken."
This not planned "leap of faith" theme seems to be a reoccurring one in O'Neil's life going back to his birth. His life began tragically, as the result of the rape of his at the time 11-year-old mother. Yet, she bravely faced her situation head on and took a "leap of faith" in going through with the pregnancy that many told her to terminate. Although unplanned, Titus was born out of the desire to let life have a chance. They struggled as a young family and after much trial and struggle, Titus made it to a place where he can be an influence. From out of tragedy a purpose was birthed.
With the topic of abortion it would be easy to say Titus is not a fan because of circumstance, but ultimately he knows it is not a decision that can be easily reached or understood.
"I can never speak for other people because I'm not in that situation, it's no different than I wasn't in my mom's situation," he shared. "In my opinion life is important for everyone and I think we should all be given a fair opportunity to live it. If it was under the condition of my mom, I don't know how I would receive that or not receive that."
O'Neil said while many people from religious backgrounds may be against decisions such as abortion and same sex marriage; what it all comes down to is the constitution of this country. "That's not my place to say, 'Oh you shouldn't do this or do that' constitutionally they have the right to do whatever they want to do in that realm.
He continued, "Again, it's no different than what I felt in same sex marriage. No matter what religious beliefs I practice or anyone else practices, this wasn't the decision based on religion. This was a decision based on the constitution. No differently than, we don't have segregated schools, we don't have whites only or blacks only restaurants or water fountains...it's the same thing."
The athlete admitted whatever is constitutionally right may not always abide with what's religiously right or based but for Titus, he knows his mom made a decision based on wanting to give a child a chance at life no matter what happened or how it occurred.
"My mom was raped, it was not something she wanted and in a lot of sense we struggled a lot because she was stubborn enough to say, 'I don't want to do this'. At the end of the day God was at the end of that decision because he had plans for me. My mom didn't know those plans, I didn't know those plans."
Titus said he didn't figure out those plans for his life until his sophomore year of college. "You're talking to a guy who was told, you'll never be able to play division one football, but I ended up being the number one recruit in all of America. Again, it's not about what the world thinks, it's what God thinks and at the end of the day we all have to face the music, not with man, because man will tell you what you can't do and God will tell you what you can do. There's nowhere in the Bible that tells you what you can't do, the Bible says we can do all things."
According to O'Neil, he said he is not the only Christian in the WWE. Without naming anyone in particular, he said many fellow "believers" are people everyone watches on the TV screen every week.
He credits the WWE for being very diverse in a lot of things with religion and the practice of it as one of them. "You're seeing good people out there performing and putting their lives on the line to entertain the masses."
Titus also wants to encourage Christians to do the same thing, which is help the masses. He said it doesn't matter what your background is, no matter how much money you have or don't have or what your sexual orientation is.
"It takes a village to raise a child and also to raise a community and raise this world to be better than we left it," he maintained. "Drop the stereotypes, drop the religious aspect of it and lets focus on relationships with people from all walks of life and you may find yourself more educated in this world, and most importantly more educated about the love of Christ."
Lastly, Titus urged fans to check him and the rest of his sports entertainment friends out at SummerSlam coming up at the Barclay's Center. "Watch it on the WWE Network for free as new subscriber by signing up for $9.99."
Catch Titus O'Neil on Monday Night Raw, Smackdown, and Superstars weekly and follow him on Twitter here.
Read part one of our interview with Titus O'Neil here.