Declan McMahon recently appeared as a guest on the WU Online podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
Declan is a fifth generation of the McMahon Family. He’s currently attending Indiana University and currently plays for the IU Hoosiers as #37 and as a running back.
During the interview, he speaks about why he committed to Indiana University, the positives and negatives of having the famous McMahon last name, the true meaning behind his “Born for this” pictures, the IU Takeaway Belt, and more.
Potentially having a career in WWE:
“I’m never ruling it out. I would love get in the ring a couple times, but you have to see if the opportunity presents itself, it’s all about the story, we’ll see. I think a lot of fans would get behind it if we ended up doing it. I think I would be pretty good at it. You never know, never ruling an option out. As for now, focusing on football and school and we’ll play it by ear.”
“I was born into the business. Being a champion isn’t something that is just displayed by having the belt, it’s something you have to live every day of your life, whether it’s your school work, I’m an older brother to two younger brothers, being an older brother and a great role model, you have to be a champion for them as well. It’s being a champion for yourself every day, showing up every day, and being consistent with that… When you come up in this family business, and you see it…when WrestleMania 32 came to AT&T Stadium, and running oout there with my bad, it was the coolest experience of my life, just to see 100,000 and a sold out crowd cheering for something that is way bigger than yourself. It really gets to put it in perspective of not only what it means to be a champion, but to be a superstar.”
On If He Has Any Aspirations To Play For The NFL Or XFL:
“You never know. Obviously, you know my Grandfather (Vince McMahon) owned the XFL before he sold it. Obviously, you know there’s options and I think it’s one of those things if the opportunity presents itself, I would love to obviously play in the NFL but if that opportunity doesn’t come, you know, there’s obviously so many options: family business, things like that. So you never know. But in terms of aspirations, whenever duty calls, or whatever opportunity presents itself I’d be willing to jump on it.”
“Mustache” Vince Or “Non-Mustache” Vince:
“Non-mustache Vince! 100%! !00% non-mustache Vince!”
Why He Chose Indiana University:
“What really made me decide to take IU’s offer was just…one, it’s just an amazing school, you know, and working to be in the Kelly’s School of Business and you know trying to get a degree from there, that was obviously a big, big, big thing because my Mom would always preach, growing up, education. They wanted me to get a good degree, you know in whatever you do, whether it’s make the NFL, join the WWE, who knows. You want to make sure you get a good degree to set yourself up for the future.
But in terms of the football side of it, I really chose Indiana because we love Coach Allen. He preaches something called LEO – which is Love Each Other. And in just being here, you know and being here in my visits, everybody just treated me with such kindness, you know and brought me in with just open arms.”
You can check out the complete interview below:
