In a revealing interview, four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski looked back on his memorable WWE 24/7 Championship win at WrestleMania 36, a moment that was complicated by the fact that he had secretly already decided to come out of retirement and return to the NFL. The former New England Patriot and Tampa Bay Buccaneer detailed the “mind f—” of having to perform a high-risk dive from a scaffold while knowing his football career was back on the line, and how a demonstration from Vince McMahon himself was the motivation he needed to take the leap.
Speaking with Stephanie McMahon on her What’s Your Story? podcast, Gronkowski explained that the decision to return to football with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had been made just weeks before he was scheduled to host WrestleMania.
“I already knew I was coming back to football, actually. So the football thing went down about a week before this, about two weeks before…. it kind of mind fucked me a little that I was going back to football because, like, in back of my mind I felt like, it’s not good, I can’t be too crazy. I can’t get hurt or something, right?”
Gronkowski then told the story of how a fearless Vince McMahon, who was 74 years old at the time, showed him how the stunt was done. The former WWE Chairman’s willingness to take the risk himself was the push Gronkowski needed to overcome his own hesitation and create the WrestleMania moment.
“So, like, I was kind of hesitant to [do]. Your dad came over and just jumped right off of the scaffold… I was like, dude, wow, that was impressive. Like, he did such a good job. I was like, to myself, I’m a huge pussy… He was going for that….And then [I had] no hesitation from there. And did it, and won the belt, the 24/7 belt right there…that was so fun.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Whats Your Story? With Steph McMahon with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
