Penn State wrestling legend David Taylor hasn’t had a chance to defend his Olympic gold medal yet.
To make it to Paris, Taylor must take care of business at the Olympic Trials scheduled for April 19-20 at, wouldn’t you know it, Penn State.
But the expectation is that Taylor will be competing at the Olympics in July, so much so that the new WWE Champion is hyping him up.
“It takes magic,” Cody Rhodes, who ended Roman Reigns’ run 1,300+-run as WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion, said of Taylor, referencing Taylor’s “magic man” nickname. “Take U.S. Wrestling phenom David Taylor. Since his days as a Penn State legend, he’s been “The Magic Man, and this summer in Paris, he seeks to pull off his greatest trick of all: Back to back gold medals.”
Rhodes ended the ad by saying “David Taylor will make you a believer.”
A lot of WWE’s promotion of the Olympics is due to the company’s partnership with Peacock, which is own by the Network that carries the Olympics, NBC. But Rhodes himself probably has an appreciation for Taylor considering his amateur wrestling background. Rhodes was a two-time Georgia state champion at Lassiter High School. He also likely has an appreciation for Penn State wrestling. He told a fan on X (formerly Twitter) back in 2017 that if he decided to pursue college wrestling, he would have gone to PSU.
https://x.com/codyrhodes/status/930922769734340609?s=46&t=WlFZGfPS7D6jEGd6aRZnCQ
Instead, Rhodes chose to follow his legendary father, Dusty’s, path and get into professional wrestling. That decision has paid off for him, and this past Sunday was the crowning moment.
Taylor could be a few months away from another crowning moment.
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