Being Married to a Wrestler.

I am often asked what is it like being married to a WWE Superstar? Or “wait, he’s a wrestler? Do you travel with him?” Or my personal favorite, when people call me “Mrs. Hawkins” and all of a sudden I have a new last name and alter ego. 

Watching Brian wrestle is one of my favorite things to do.  I have never met anyone so passionate about something in my life.  How many people do you know that get to live out their childhood dreams?  It’s so wild to me how great of a wrestler he is too. He can make some pretty bad wrestlers look good which is so impressive.  Being married to a wrestler, you sort of feel like you’re on a high-speed roller coaster not sure what twists and turns to expect next. Brian was released from WWE in 2014, I think it was then that I really realized how amazing he is.  I honestly thought our world would get turned upside down after that, but Brian didn’t let that happen.  He had been sitting home for 7 or 8 months after recovering from knee surgery and not being booked and was all of a sudden fired. I felt horrible for him.  If something like that happened to anyone else they could easily get down on themselves, maybe even hide away for a bit. Not Brian.  He saw the next opportunity. It was as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders and he was excited and ready to make a name for himself.  That is exactly what he did.  He hustled and got himself booked on independent wrestling shows almost every weekend.  I usually went with him when he didn’t have a friend booked or someone to drive with him, he would refer to me as his “merch girl”. I think Brian saw that I was ready to take on anything life throws our way and support him.  Don’t get me wrong, there were a few times if Brian didn’t get booked a few weekends in a row that we would talk about him potentially getting a second job. It never had to come to that though. 

When Brian called me to tell me WWE wanted to re-hire him, I was so emotional and happy for him.  I knew Brian would get back, I honestly just never imagined it would be that quick. We really wanted to start a family and Brian being back with WWE would give us more stability which was very reassuring.   

We live a pretty crazy/hectic life most of the time, but there are many weekends that I am lucky enough to have Brian home with me.  It’s funny because whenever someone hears that I am married to Brian, they think I travel with him.  Imagine that. 30 significant others on the road with the superstars? I always say Brian has been everywhere and has seen nowhere.  Though he travels almost every weekend, it’s not like he stays in one place the whole time in a luxury hotel.  A normal schedule would be him flying out at 6am Friday morning, working out once they land and then performing in a live event.  He then usually has to drive 2-4 hours to the next city.  I’ll get a text like “show just ended, 4-hour drive.  Text you when I get in”. Then 4 hours later, “just checked in, ILY”.  And that’s usually what I wake up to.  They basically do the same thing on Saturday and Sunday, on Monday they have TV which is an even longer day.  Sometimes he will have a red-eye after the show on Monday or an early morning flight home.  Either way, he gets home on Tuesday at some point and is either a zombie from traveling or jumps right into Dad mode.  We usually make the most out of Tuesday nights and will do a family dinner somewhere, especially if Brian has to leave again on Friday. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are some months where Brian does this every week and others where he only has to travel Sunday-Tuesday for TV.  Of course, I want him to be booked every weekend, it’s better for his career and he gets to wrestle every night which is what he loves.  But when I know Brian has off for a weekend, I feel like our world slows down and we get more family time together.  We will typically do something altogether on Saturday if he is home. During baseball season Brian usually has McKenzie and I go to a Mets game I’d say at least once a month. 

I love when fans come up to Brian at Met’s games.  They’re (usually) the most genuine people who relate to Brian as a Met’s fan as well as a fan of his as a wrestler. I can’t wait until Kenzie realizes how cool her Dad is and understands when fans come up to meet him.  On the other hand, we get stopped randomly on the street which can sometimes be frustrating.  One time, we had just finished eating and Mckenzie had a huge explosion as we were walking to the car.  Brian and I are trying to change her in the front seat and this couple comes over to take a picture with him.  I was like there is no way this is actually happening right now during a diaper change.  Brian said “I’m kind of busy right now guys” and they replied “That’s ok, we will wait. We want a picture”.  Oh, do you? Cool. Do you want this dirty diaper in your photo or no?  I can only imagine how A-list celebrities feel when this happens to them daily since I only have a handful of times that this actually happens to us.  It’s still funny to me though because we’re out doing normal things living our life but fans still want to meet “Curt Hawkins”. 

McKenzie and I do get to go to some local shows near us when Brian wants his friends to see McKenzie which is really sweet. The only other time of the year when families travel with the Superstars is Wrestlemania.  Mainly because this is one of the only times when they stay in the same location for a week straight plus, it’s their biggest event of the year.  Last year we took McKenzie to New Orleans which was so much fun.  She was only 9 months old so it was pretty easy to bring her around to everything.  Both of our parents came with us too, so we were able to go to the Hall of Fame while they watched McKenzie.  It’s fun to see the other families and catch up with the other wrestlers since we don’t get to see each other often.  It also gives us something to look forward to each year and sometimes a cool place to travel to.  This year we don’t have to go far since it’s in NJ but we’re still really excited about it! Maybe we will get a win 🙂 (Side Prayer)