After WrestleMania announcement, Hulk Hogan, Bayley, Titus lead WWE Be a STAR rally in Tampa

Just hours after WWE announced WrestleMania 36 in 2020 in Tampa, the community efforts already began on Thursday with a WWE Be a STAR anti-bullying rally at the Garcia Salesian Boys & Girls Club, about three miles from Raymond James Stadium, home of WrestleMania 36.

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan joined WWE Women’s Tag Team Champ Bayley and WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil at the rally to discuss bullying — the various types — and what to do, if confronted with the issue. Each WWE representative spoke about personal experiences dealing with bullying.

Leading to WrestleMania 36 on April 5, 2020, WWE will conduct many more community-related activities and events in the host WrestleMania area. It’s part of WWE and talents way of giving back.

Hogan is also a Boys & Girls Club Alumni Hall of Famer. He was a member as a youth in Tampa.

Growing up in Live Oak, O’Neil joined the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch, which was started by WWE Hall of Famer and Championship Wrestling from Florida original Eddie Graham. CWF was based in Tampa.

The 6-6, 270-pound O’Neil, a University of Florida grad, is a former Gators’ football player.

WWE Interviewer Dasha Fuentes emceed the event, which included WWE Be a STAR T-shirts and WWE prize packs.

Chris Letsos, President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, and Frank Sanchez, National Vice President, Business & Community Affairs, Boys & Girls Clubs of America attended along with about 200 kids and teens, who answered questions posed by the WWE superstars.

WWE concluded the rally by awarding Garcia Salesian Boys & Girls Club members Aleila and Ben for their leadership and respectful efforts. Hogan, Bayley, O’Neil, Fuentes and Letsos presented certificates to them.

Be a STAR (Show Tolerance And Respect)

The S.T.A.R. Alliance is a group of actors, musicians, comedians, athletes, and television personalities have joined together to help put an end to bullying.

Members of the S.T.A.R. Alliance and WWE will use their reach of more than 400 million social media followers to spread the Be a STAR message of showing tolerance and respect to help combat bullying. S.T.A.R. Alliance members will also participate and share their stories at Be a STAR anti-bullying rallies across the United States.

Videos of WWE Be a STAR event

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This story was originally published March 12, 2019 at 2:59 PM.

Jim Varsallone

Miami Herald

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Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel). Support my work with a digital subscription