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Several WWE and AEW Superstars have passions other than wrestling that help them from falling into the trap of mediocrity. Pro wrestling can be physically and mentally taxing, which is why Superstars try their hand at various other avenues that reinvigorate them and help them perform at their best level. One of the most popular forms of fan interaction platform for WWE and AEW Superstars is gaming.
Not only these performers have been open about their love for gaming, but they are also actively trying to carve out a business opportunity from the same. Here in this slideshow, we will look at six WWE and AEW Superstars who are obsessed with gaming.
#6 WWE NXT Superstar Dakota Kai
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WWE NXT Superstar Dakota Kai is currently in the midst of a career-defining heel run on the Black and Gold brand. Her tag team with Raquel Gonzalez has won plaudits from the fans, and they have advanced to the finals of the Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and are the favorites to win the tournament.
Apart from her exploits in the ring, Dakota Kai is obsessed with gaming if we go by her streams on her now-defunct Twitch account. Terming herself as a 'wannabe gamer', Kai streamed a variety of games like The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima. She has even expressed in several interviews that she would love to bring the gaming culture into WWE by basing her personality on characters of her favorite video games.
#5 AEW star Kenny Omega
A lifelong gamer, AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, has on several occasions revealed how much influenced he is by the gaming culture around the world. Not only has he based a lot of his character on the video games he grew up playing, but he also is an active part of AEW's video game division and contributes to the developments of the game the company is planning to put out in 2021.
One of the prominent reasons why he decided to live and work in Japan for a long part of his career was because of the rich gaming culture in the country. From his ring gear to the name of his finisher One-Winged Angel, Omega can be termed as the torchbearer for inculcating gaming culture into wrestling.
#4 WWE SmackDown Superstar Cesaro
One of the most underrated WWE Superstars of the last few years, Cesaro has earned the respect of his peers as well as that of fans for his incredible in-ring skills. Though he's still mightly underrated, he's going through a career renaissance of sorts in recent weeks with his unexpected but long-due push on WWE SmackDown.
However, apart from his wrestling chops, The Swiss Superman is an avid gamer and has made it public on multiple occasions. Not only is he a regular feature on fellow WWE Superstar Xavier Woods's gaming YouTube channel UpUpDownDown, but he also streamed games on his Twitch account. However, the policy introduced by WWE recently has forced him to quit streaming.
Quite recently, Cesaro responded to popular gamer Mr.Beast's tweet by saying that he is ready to play League of Legends with him. With his wrestling career possibly winding up in the next few years, considering he's 40 now, we can see the former WWE US Champion seamlessly transitioning into the world of gaming.
#3 WWE NXT Superstar Adam Cole
Former WWE NXT Champion Adam Cole has achieved just about everything on the Black and Gold brand. The leader of The Undisputed Era is currently involved in a stable war with Kings of NXT, and is sure to be a main event talent on the main roster whenever he's called up.
Apart from his wrestling career, Cole is a video game geek whose love for online gaming is evidenced by his successful Twitch account which, had over 30K followers before it shut down due to WWE's new policy. Unlike his in-ring persona, Cole had a pretty laid back personality during his gaming streams. He comes across as a humorous guy who's always up for gaming challenges from his fans and followers.
The former NXT Champion is also a constant presence on Xavier Wood's gaming channel, where he goes by the nickname CHUGS. Cole is a fan of games like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, The Last of Us Part II, Final Fantasy, Streets of Rage 2, and more.
#2 Former WWE and current AEW Superstar Superstar Miro
Former WWE and current AEW Superstar Miro, formerly known as Rusev, is one of the most popular gamers among pro wrestlers. His Twitch account has over 75K followers, and at one point in time, after his WWE release, he said he'll be carving a full-time career in online gaming.
During his WWE career, Miro appeared several times on Xavier Woods's channel and credits The New Day member for introducing him to Twitch. During AEW Unrestricted podcast, the former US Champion revealed how much Woods influenced him to try his hand at gaming and Twitch.
"Xavier Woods was the main reason I'm on Twitch today. We shared a love of video games for many years. I played video games for as long as I remember, but I never thought of myself as playing video games in front of different people because we all have different emotions playing video games and I wasn't sure if people wanted to see that. He told me, 'No, you're an entertainer, you're so funny, and you love video games. You should do it.'"
While Miro's AEW debut and consequent appearances have attempted to bring his gaming persona to his wrestling character, it hasn't landed very well. Time and again, fans have clamored to see him booked like a monster, like his early days in WWE where he feuded with John Cena for the US Championship.
#1 WWE RAW Superstar Xavier Woods
WWE RAW Superstar Xavier Woods is possibly the most popular gamer-wrestler in the world right now. His YouTube gaming channel UpUpDownDown has been a runaway success since its inception in 2015 and consistently pulls in WWE fans as well as gaming fans in general. The platform grew so big that it even received WWE's stamp of approval, with the company regularly promoting it on its programming.
Woods invites countless WWE Superstars and other celebrities to his channel but ensures gaming is the prime focus during the live streams and videos. The former Tag Team Champion's stature as a gamer has grown so big that he was recently announced as the host of the rebooted G4. He shared his excitement about the same in an interview last year.
"I was losing my mind… It was incredible. 'I'm just a random dude from Georgia who loves video games and loves wrestling. So getting my WWE contract while sitting in the middle of a Walgreens in Orlando, Florida at the time doing like backflips, calling my parents... I had the exact same reaction when I found out I was going to be a host on G4."
While his main career remains wrestling, it wouldn't come as a surprise if Woods decides to take a full-time jump into the world of video gaming, as The Rock and John Cena did with their respective acting careers.
