Before NHL returns, Panthers star defenseman Keith Yandle talks pro wrestling, John Cena

Keith Yandle, an NHL all-star defenseman with the Florida Panthers, is a longtime pro wrestling fan., and he enjoys talking and watching the action in the squared circle.

Yandle is one of many pro athletes who are fans of professional wrestling, especially WWE.

Yandle, 33, is from Milton, Massachusetts, and a graduate of the Cushing Academy, where WWE standout John Cena starred in football several years prior.

Yandle attended pro wrestling shows in Boston as a youth. His favorites include The Undertaker, Sting and of coruse Cena. He went to WrestleMania 26 in 2010 as an adult in Phoenix, when he played for the Arizona Coyotes.

During COVID-19, he and friends binged watched WWE Royal Rumbles.

Yandle’s former teammate on the Panthers, future NHL Hall of Fame goalie Roberto Luongo, is also a big pro wrestling fan, attending WWE shows with his family regularly in South Florida.

Yandle is into horse racing, too, attending a Kentucky Derby.

Yandle is preparing for the NHL’s return, which looks to occur in July. The NHL took a hiatus, like most pro sports, because of coronavirus concerns.

Here is my two-part audio interview with Yandle — mostly pro wrestling talk with a little pro hockey and some horse racing banter.

Website: https://www.nhl.com/panthers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlaPanthers

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Flapanthers/

YouTube: https://www.facebook.com/Flapanthers/

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/27732731/florida-panthers-2019-20-season-preview-joel-quenneville-do-year-1

https://www.nhl.com/panthers/news/inside-the-panthers-keith-yandle-to-debut-1120/c-283870188

My Pro Wrestling Talk on the Web and Social Media

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Jim Varsallone

Miami Herald

305-376-3621

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