IOWA CITY, Iowa — As an Iowa defensive lineman from 2004 to ’06, Ettore Ewen kept a low profile. But last month, Kinnick Stadium gave him a reception reserved for the greatest Hawkeye football heroes.
Twelve years after departing for a surprise opportunity in wrestling, Ewen returned to campus as WWE champion and one of the industry’s most recognizable figures. His outsized character, known as Big E, was barely recognizable to those who remember a largely introverted teammate.
During a timeout in Iowa’s Oct. 9 game against Penn State, Ewen emerged from the same tunnel he had run out of as a player. Wearing a gray “Iowa Football” T-shirt that could barely contain his massive chest and arms, Ewen strolled onto the field, clutching a microphone and yelling, “Yo, Kinnick!” He flexed in front of Iowa’s cheerleaders and mascot, then pumped up the sellout crowd, saying, “I am damn proud to be a Hawkeye.”
And before Ewen rushed off to Las Vegas, where he would introduce boxers Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder for their highly anticipated heavyweight bout that evening, he also thought about the man he was when he had left Iowa’s campus.
Injuries had ended a football career that never really got started. Ewen didn’t know where life would take him, and he wasn’t particularly excited about any of his potential paths. He battled with his mental health.
“I describe my time at Iowa as the best of times and the worst of times,” Ewen told ESPN. “I met all these incredible people, and I have such a strong connection to my alma mater. But between injuries and all my issues with depression, I really had a lot of my struggles then, too.”
Ewen’s path to the ring — and to college football, for that matter — was never a sure thing. He certainly looks the part when he walks down the aisle, as he will Sunday…
Source : espn
