WWE superstar helps Guelph accessibility advocate attend event

One local accessibility advocate was blown away with the kindness a WWE superstar showed him after helping him attend an event held in Toronto.

Guelph’s Mike Ashkewe recently won tickets to this past weekend’s Money In The Bank event at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, but his excitement turned to disappointment after he learned his tickets could not be exchanged for the wheelchair accessible seating he required.

As is the norm these days, Ashkewe took to social media to vent his frustration, which turned out to be the best thing he could have done.

His story went viral, catching the attention of both local media and the WWE itself. While conducting a TV interview, the reporter received a phone call from the wrestling company, on the line was Ashkewe’s favourite wrestler The American Nightmare — Cody Rhodes.

Ashkewe told The Mike Farwell Show, when he learned who he was talking to, his jaw hit the floor.

“I thought my heart was going to drop out of my stomach. It was just utter shock.”

Rhodes told Ashkewe he would be the guest of the WWE with ringside accessible seating and they would pick-up the bill for transportation.

The moment was not lost on Ashkewe who used the opportunity to let the superstar know why he was his favourite wrestler.

“‘It’s the strength of your character that makes me like you,'” Ashkewe told Rhodes. “‘That makes me love what you do with the community. This is the Fourth of July, your day off, and you’re calling some dork from Guelph.'”

Ashkewe said he was emboldened by the joy he saw on the faces of other people with disabilities who attended Money In The Bank, to continue his advocacy.

“I don’t want anything, I really just want to help the conversation continue. To fix things that are for everybody,” he said. “We don’t often get to live these wonderful experiences that other people take for granted. We are just as entitled to the happiness and cool experiences that everyone else gets.”