During his extensive career both as a wrestler and a boxer, you probably wouldn’t believe that Marc Mero (or Johnny B. Badd), as he was known in the business would ever turn out to be nothing more than a fighter. How about a motivational speaker? Do you think a former wrestler could do it? They seem to live a life that’s so different from ours.
A lot has happened in the life of the former wrestler and boxer, but the most important thing was starting an anti-bullying group called: “Champion of Choices.” He suffered a lot of bullying as a kid and it was this that lead him to work out and be a wrestler. He also knows first-hand that the choices that you make define the person you become.
He used to travel throughout the United States and wrestle in front of sold-out crowds. Now, he travels to packed school gyms to lecture students on the power of positive thinking, love and making good choices. “The choices you make not only define your present,” as he says, “but also define our future.” We tend to form habits and stick to them for many years. If you form a bad habit or two, chances are they’ll stick with you for the rest of your life.
The message today focuses on death, love, regret, and redemption. Each one of these topics can be a lecture by themselves, but Marc wishes to show them today how all of them are connected. He knows that by leading them to these topics, he can help them rethink what they’re doing and the impact it can have. He starts talking and you can see the teens’ expressions start to change as they realize what’s starting to happen.
The former wrestling heel starts his speech by explaining the type of relationship he had with his mother. His mother was always very supportive of him. Even though his mother always wanted to talk to him, he would never want to listen. He would say he was tired or not in the mood. He never stopped giving excuses and his mother never stopped insisting. He would go out and get trashed even as an adult.
At about the 1:30 mark if the video, he starts telling the students how he gets a call while he was working in Japan. Someone tells him about an emergency back in the States. He rushes down to the lobby and calls back home. When he gets the answer, he throws the phone down and runs out of his hotel room…
