WWE wrestlers Titus O’Neil and Darren Young may work in Speedos for a living but that doesn’t mean they’re not responsible men. This year, they will be participating in the 2015 Tom Joyner Family Reunion and are donating their talent fees to a nonprofit that supports the “Everything for Dads Foundation.”
The two came to wrestling two very different ways – O’Neil fell into it after a football career and Young, a lifelong rang worked his way up through the minor leagues of professional wrestling.
O’Neil says it’s just as grueling a schedule as football with wrestlers heading out on the road every Friday and returning on Wednesday. If they are overseas, they could be away for up to three weeks and the includes ring appearances as well as charitable and other public events. And that, he says, is year-round.
“There’s no off-season in wrestling,” O’Neil says.
Young is openly gay and that’s complicated things for him in countries that are not as open to homosexuality as others.
“It it what it is,” says Young. “At the end of the day it’s a business decision.” It doesn’t impact his wrestling career otherwise though, as other wrestlers treat him as the professional he is. “We’re like a family. When I step inside the arena I’m there to work.”
O’Neil and Young are known around the world, and O’Neil says that energy of the fans helps the duo stay popular.
“There’s nothing like it. On most days, that’s what gets us through the entire week. Just as any performer you want to go out and get a response. Fortunately for both me and Darren, we’ve had the opportunity to go all over the world. [The WWE] reaches 165 countries and over 35 different languages. We have people doing the Million Dollar Dance and calling Titus O’Neal and Darren Young and the Prime-time Players all over the world.”
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