Arvind Singh Sidhu travelled 16,000km to watch WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans, Louisiana, and also to get 95 WWE signatures on the Malaysian flag in tribute to Flight MH370.
One Malaysian who embarked on a solo journey to fulfill his boyhood dream of watching Wrestlemania live in America, travelled 16,000km to get tributes for MAS Flight MH370.
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restleMania XXX (WrestleMania 30) was the 30th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE that was held on April 6 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Wrestlemania is to wrestling fans what the Superbowl is to football fans and the World Cup is to soccer fans.
A wrestling fan since he was 5, Arvind Singh Sidhu, 30, a recruitment manager at Unilever Malaysia set off on his 30-hour journey to watch the event, a trip he fantasised about 6 years ago, and financially and logistically planned out 8 months ago.
But what he didn’t know was that the trip would be defined in a different way than what he first imagined it to be.
“When we all heard of MH370 disappearing off the grid, it shocked and hurt us deep down inside.
“The trip to New Orleans was always going to be special, but I knew I had to dedicate it to the memory of the passengers on board MH370 and to the families of the passengers and crew.”
WrestleMania XXX in itself was history in the making. The Undertaker’s incredible string of 21 consecutive victories came to an end while The Ultimate Warrior, who was famous during the 90s, died at 54, just days after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame recently.
Daniel Bryan won the WWE world heavyweight title after defeating Randy Orton and Batista in the main event of the spectacle.
But Sidhu took it upon himself to get signatures of 95 WWE superstars on the national flag. It included current WWE world heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan, WWE principal owner Stephanie McMahon, legends Bret Hart, Bob Backlund, Kevin Nash, former WWE champion Randy Orton, upcoming groups from The Shield and The Wyatts, current WWE women’s champion Paige, Intercontinental champion Big E, US champion Dean Ambrose and previous stars that came to Malaysia, Big Show and Booker T.
Days before the event, Sidhu set up the Jalur Gemilang at the lobby of the hotel where the stars were staying — the Roosevelt A Waldorf Astoria Hotel — to ensure that he was strategically located, so that when the WWE stars walked past, he could get them to sign the flag.
“Most of the stars I met and talked to already knew about the plane and how unprecedented the incident was. They were immediately sympathetic about the incident.
“I even gathered my courage to approach the principal owner of the multi-billion dollar company, Stephanie McMahon, who had just arrived at the hotel at one point.
“She was very concerned about what had happened to the plane and the sensitivity of the incident.
“She asked me if it was okay to sign the flag, which surprised me.”
He said Stephanie thought the idea of getting signatures on the flag as tribute was a really “cool idea”.
WWE Legend and former 7-time world champion Bret “Hitman” Hart, asked Sidhu if people still had confidence in flying with Malaysia Airlines.
“I told him we had one of the safest records around and the safety of the carrier had nothing to do with what had happened.
“Hart said what had happened was a sad tragedy.”
Sidhu said most of the WWE stars were very sympathetic to what had happened and they acknowledged what he was trying to do.
“Most of the people I met and talked to, wrestlers and fans, believed that the plane did not crash and was instead parked somewhere.
“But they defended Malaysia for the way it handled the unprecedented incident.
“They agreed that there wasn’t much the government could have done differently.”
Sidhu said the wrestlers even agreed to help the cause by retweeting the pictures of them and the Malaysian flag when it went up on Twitter.
“They were ready to spread the word in tribute to MH370 and that’s the sweetest part of my WrestleMania XXX memory.”
Sidhu attributed the trip to his late grandfather, who introduced him to wrestling.
“The support of my parents and my sister was crucial for the trip to be a success.
“I can safely say that being able to make this tribute for MH370, watching the grand spectacle live and meeting my favourite wrestler of all time, Shawn Michaels, are memories that I will keep close to my heart forever.”
Wrestlemania is to wrestling fans what the Superbowl is to football fans and the World Cup is to soccer fans.
A wrestling fan since he was 5, Arvind Singh Sidhu, 30, a recruitment manager at Unilever Malaysia set off on his 30-hour journey to watch the event, a trip he fantasised about 6 years ago, and financially and logistically planned out 8 months ago.
But what he didn’t know was that the trip would be defined in a different way than what he first imagined it to be.
“When we all heard of MH370 disappearing off the grid, it shocked and hurt us deep down inside.
“The trip to New Orleans was always going to be special, but I knew I had to dedicate it to the memory of the passengers on board MH370 and to the families of the passengers and crew.”
WrestleMania XXX in itself was history in the making. The Undertaker’s incredible string of 21 consecutive victories came to an end while The Ultimate Warrior, who was famous during the 90s, died at 54, just days after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame recently.
Daniel Bryan won the WWE world heavyweight title after defeating Randy Orton and Batista in the main event of the spectacle.
But Sidhu took it upon himself to get signatures of 95 WWE superstars on the national flag. It included current WWE world heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan, WWE principal owner Stephanie McMahon, legends Bret Hart, Bob Backlund, Kevin Nash, former WWE champion Randy Orton, upcoming groups from The Shield and The Wyatts, current WWE women’s champion Paige, Intercontinental champion Big E, US champion Dean Ambrose and previous stars that came to Malaysia, Big Show and Booker T.
Days before the event, Sidhu set up the Jalur Gemilang at the lobby of the hotel where the stars were staying — the Roosevelt A Waldorf Astoria Hotel — to ensure that he was strategically located, so that when the WWE stars walked past, he could get them to sign the flag.
“Most of the stars I met and talked to already knew about the plane and how unprecedented the incident was. They were immediately sympathetic about the incident.
“I even gathered my courage to approach the principal owner of the multi-billion dollar company, Stephanie McMahon, who had just arrived at the hotel at one point.
“She was very concerned about what had happened to the plane and the sensitivity of the incident.
“She asked me if it was okay to sign the flag, which surprised me.”
He said Stephanie thought the idea of getting signatures on the flag as tribute was a really “cool idea”.
WWE Legend and former 7-time world champion Bret “Hitman” Hart, asked Sidhu if people still had confidence in flying with Malaysia Airlines.
“I told him we had one of the safest records around and the safety of the carrier had nothing to do with what had happened.
“Hart said what had happened was a sad tragedy.”
Sidhu said most of the WWE stars were very sympathetic to what had happened and they acknowledged what he was trying to do.
“Most of the people I met and talked to, wrestlers and fans, believed that the plane did not crash and was instead parked somewhere.
“But they defended Malaysia for the way it handled the unprecedented incident.
“They agreed that there wasn’t much the government could have done differently.”
Sidhu said the wrestlers even agreed to help the cause by retweeting the pictures of them and the Malaysian flag when it went up on Twitter.
“They were ready to spread the word in tribute to MH370 and that’s the sweetest part of my WrestleMania XXX memory.”
Sidhu attributed the trip to his late grandfather, who introduced him to wrestling.
“The support of my parents and my sister was crucial for the trip to be a success.
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| WWE legends 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper, Arvind Sidhu and Bret 'Hitman' Hart proudly holding up the Jalur Gemilang as a tribute to MH370. |
