Big E on How Huge It Is to Have Live Fans Back for WrestleMania, the Importance of Meditation

– The Orlando Sentinel recently spoke to WWE Intercontinental champion Big E on WrestleMania 37. He’s scheduled to defend his title against Apollo Crews at the event in a Nigerian Drum Fight. Below are some highlights.

Big E on meditation: “I preach the gospel of meditation now to anyone who’ll listen. It has helped me appreciate the small things. It helps me be present and stay grounded every day.”

On how time off and meditation have helped him a lot: “The time off and the meditation have really changed my whole adrenaline,” said Big E, who trained at the WWE Performance Center and spent several years wrestling on its Orlando-based NXT brand. “It used to be, when somebody asked me to go for a walk, I bristled. Now I can’t tell you how much I love to go on a stroll up the street.”

His thoughts on having live fans back at WrestleMania: “It’s huge! There’s no replacement for a live crowd. The fans are our barometer — whether they love something or hate it, they will let you know. The beauty of wrestling is in adjusting what you do to give the crowd what they want, and we’ve missed that so much.”

On his time in NXT: “NXT was the first time I knew I could be a player. The people (fans) there were so behind me, it was like we were all one organism breathing and working together. It’s hard for me to say, when I was wrestling in front of a few dozen people in Largo, that I deserved to wrestle in front of thousands, but I knew it then … and I’m proving it now.”