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Then, Now, Forever — WWE Fans Piledriven · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

• 0:00
  Music.
• 0:13
  Today's episode is designed to share my frustrations and hurtness that I have as a wrestling fan.
• 0:24
  For those of you that listen to Have Faith, Let It Begin, we are a show about
• 0:27
  motivational topics, inspirational stories, personal testimony set out to change the world.
• 0:33
  So I'm going to begin today's episode like this.
• 0:38
  It's called Then, Now, Forever, Together.
• 0:44
  Where's the together?
• 0:46
  Then, affordable. Now, I can't even afford to watch.
• 0:52
  Forever? Is this really the end for those who can't keep up with rising prices?
• 0:59
  Together, did you really make this decision with the fans in your heart or just in your pockets?
• 1:06
  This is Half Faith Let It Begin. And today I'm speaking as a,
• 1:11
  not only a pastor in training, a father, and above all, a wrestling fan who's hurting today.
• 1:19
  Let me tell you about the wrestling in my veins. Wrestling is in my DNA.
• 1:25
  Wrestling has been in my life since 1983.
• 1:29
  As a young boy struggling with my weight, I found heroes.
• 1:33
  Heroes in the ring, like Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, Triple H, Randy Orton.
• 1:41
  Wrestlers like Bret the Hitman Hart,
• 1:44
  Bruno Sammartino, Gorilla Monsoon, entertainers like Bobby the Brain Heenan.
• 1:50
  Jerry Lawler, and Jesse the Body Ventura.
• 1:54
  These are men who inspired me to keep on going, even though through my toughest moments,
• 2:02
  including recovering from back surgery, on December 25th, 1994,
• 2:08
  I was actually invited to be a guest ring announcer.
• 2:11
  You can check that out on Peacock, at least until that's over.
• 2:14
  It was on Superstars of Wrestling.
• 2:16
  That moment was a dream come true.
• 2:19
  At my very first WrestleMania that I attended in New Orleans, I met John Cena.
• 2:26
  John Cena went out of his way to help me record a video, announcing to my family
• 2:31
  that my wife and I were expecting our first child.
• 2:36
  Just this past March, Hulk Hogan learned I was in ministry school,
• 2:41
  and he smiled at me and he sold me while I was trying to purchase a hat with
• 2:47
  his signature that brothers in Christ don't get charged.
• 2:50
  He handed me the hat for free.
• 2:53
  These weren't just encounters. They were reminders that wrestling is more than entertainment.
• 2:59
  Wrestling is in my DNA.
• 3:02
  I cherish my memories. I can still see Tito Santana receiving the intercontinental
• 3:07
  title, the new intercontinental title from Mean Gene Okerlund after Greg the
• 3:12
  Hammer Valentine destroyed it by smashing it against a steel cage after losing it.
• 3:16
  I remember Hulk Hogan rushing down the aisle to save Bob Backlund from the Wild Samoans.
• 3:21
  I'll never forget Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson capturing the tag team titles
• 3:26
  and being the first ever African-American tag team to do it.
• 3:32
  Or Mr. T jumping over the barricade to save Cyndi Lauper from Roddy Piper at Madison Square Garden.
• 3:37
  I remember crying when Bob Backlund was trapped in the camel clutch and watching
• 3:43
  Arnold Skolan throw in the towel.
• 3:45
  And of course, who can ever forget, striding to the eye of the tiger to defeat
• 3:52
  Iron Sheik and becoming the world heavyweight champion, Hulk Hogan.
• 3:58
  Phenomenal. Those weren't just matches to me.
• 4:02
  They were life moments. Life moments that shaped who I am today.
• 4:07
  Fast forward to now, wrestling filled with amazing talents like CM Punk,
• 4:14
  Seth Rollins, role models like Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Bayley,
• 4:21
  EO Sky, and most recently, the return of AJ Lee.
• 4:25
  But here's the painful truth now as
• 4:29
  a 47 year old father of two i can
• 4:31
  no longer afford to be a fan what used to
• 4:34
  cost 110 a year on peacock
• 4:37
  for everything pay-per-views i'm
• 4:40
  sorry ple's next i'm sorry nxt the entire library has been broken into four
• 4:48
  separate platforms now in order to watch raw you have to have netflix in order
• 4:53
  to stay with the library and NXT you have to stay on Peacock,
• 4:58
  in order to get the USA channel you have to have cable so you have to have cable to get Smackdown,
• 5:03
  and I'm not going to call them PLEs because we're talking about then,
• 5:07
  and the now so we know them as pay per views.
• 5:12
  ESPN has just picked up a 1.6 billion dollar contract with the World Wrestling
• 5:18
  Entertainment and at $29.95 a month that brings it to nearly $300 a year,
• 5:25
  What was once affordable has now tripled in price.
• 5:28
  As a dad, I dreamed of taking my two children, six-year-old Ariel,
• 5:34
  three-year-old Noah, to their first live WWE event.
• 5:38
  But ticket prices have skyrocketed too. And that dream is slipping away.
• 5:43
  We the fans feel like we've been thrown into the corner, beaten down and pile-driven
• 5:49
  by corporate greed. Maybe they're called Money in Ink.
• 5:54
  Where's the together? WWE's motto has always been, then, now, forever, together.
• 6:02
  But today, many of us are asking, where is the together?
• 6:07
  Families, the heart of your audience are being priced out.
• 6:12
  Without fans in the cheap seats, without kids holding signs in the stands,
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  without loyal communities cheering at home, there is no show.
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  So I have an open letter for you all in the WWE and ESPN.
• 6:27
  Let me read this open letter to you. To WWE and ESPN.
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  I have been a loyal fan, a loyal wrestling fan since 1983.
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  Wrestling has been a special part of my life. From watching wrestlers like I
• 6:44
  said, Tito Santana, Hulk Hogan as a kid.
• 6:48
  And then meeting John Cena at my first WrestleMania.
• 6:51
  And even recently meeting Hulk
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  Hogan, who encouraged me in my ministry journey, wrestling is in my DNA.
• 6:59
  And I dreamed of passing it on to my two children. To watch. To be entertained.
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  To watch something that made me feel great.
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  But today, that dreams feel as if they're out of reach.
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  Again, what used to cost $110 a year
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  on Peacock now requires four separate platforms
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  raw netflix usa network
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  and for what so that the
• 7:29
  network and pay-per-views ple's as you like to call them are on espn for 30
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  each this is nearly triple that cost of being a fan and making it impossible
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  for families like mine to keep up i keep thinking of the opening line of WWE,
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  then, now,
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  forever, together.
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  But right. Now fans are asking, where is the together?
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  Without fans, I keep telling you there's no show.
• 8:00
  So I respectfully urge you to reconsider, and please don't push families away with rising costs.
• 8:07
  Wrestling is more than a business, it's a community. Family and inspiration.
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  So here is my plea.
• 8:16
  TKO. Don't drop the elbow on your fans. Don't hit us with the pedigree.
• 8:22
  Be our tag team partners, not our opponents.
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  Without us, there is no cheers. Without us, there's no chance.
• 8:31
  Without us, there's no magic.
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  Without us, there is no business. We are asking you to take a loss.
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  We're asking you to meet us halfway.
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  Keep wrestling affordable.
• 8:43
  Restore the together. In closing, let me give you what my motto would be.
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  Based on everything that you're doing to me and my family and others all over the world.
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  Then, it was fun. Now, it's time to say goodbye.
• 9:02
  Forever? Well, in wrestling, we never say never, right? But if the prices don't
• 9:07
  change for families like mine, it really is forever.
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  Together, I guess it's time to find another product or another way to enjoy
• 9:16
  entertainment with my kids.
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  So if there is not going to be an adjustment goodbye WWE and goodbye to the
• 9:24
  dream I hope to share with my children I hope this reaches you and urges you
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  and you seek to do something different,
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  we close out our show today the way I close out every show may God be with you,
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  may he shine his light upon you and grant each and every single one of you peace
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  on earth and never forget,
• 9:43
  have faith let it begin ooh yeah as my father would say macho man take care
• 9:50
  breaking news for the santana family this just handed to me age is gonna be a dad.