Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are two of wrestling's most hated villains. As figures of authority, they have mastered the art of drawing heat. Needless to say, they are unquestionably two of the best heels of the modern era.
Simply put, they're good at what they do. Very good.
With that fact in mind, there's also another side to Steph and Trips, a side that most of the world will never get to experience first hand. That's where this story comes in.
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In this article, we will talk about the two most hated authority figures in wrestling today. However, we won't be discussing the sibling rivalry involving Raw vs. Smackdown, we won't bring up the way Stephanie attempts to undermine any and everyone in her path and we will not be discussing some sort of shovel Triple H keeps in his locker room to bury deserving talent.
In fact, the tone of this column may surprise you all together. Today, we take a look at something amazing that happened, thanks to the generosity of WWE's power couple.
Elijah Mainville is a young man from North/Central California, where he lives with his mom, dad, brother and a miniature petting zoo of really cool pets. Just like any other kid his age. He loves video games, marvel superheroes and of course, he's obsessed with WWE.
In fact, the whole family is crazy about wrestling.
They're like any other normal family, except one primary detail, Elijah has a form of pediatric cancer known as Neuroblastoma. For those who are not familiar with this disease, basically, neuroblastoma has a mutated gene, which eventually becomes resistant to pretty much any type of treatment.
There's even a possibility that the cancer can even become immune to aggressive forms of treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation.
When Elijah was first diagnosed in 2013, doctors gave him a grim prognosis. Most who evaluated him were simply too pessimistic to even give him a chance at all. Little did they know, they were in fact dealing with a superhero.
Over the past few years, Elijah has defeated the disease several times. Unfortunately, he has also endured multiple relapses as well and today, the 9 year old is fighting the battle of his life as doctors are struggling to find answers to many questions surrounding his case.
Before we go any further into Elijah's latest battle, let's go back to the middle of last year. WWE had started searching for contestants to be on the latest season of Tough Enough and in order to find those who were in fact tough enough, they asked prospective contestants to submit a short video on YouTube, explaining why they deserved to be on the show.
Little did they know, someone far stronger and tougher than anyone they had ever met, was about to submit his own audition video.
While scouring through the thousands of audition videos submitted, Triple H came across a video from a then 8 year old Elijah Mainville and in that short video, they found out that this kid was in need of something that only they could offer.
What Elijah and his family didn't know, was that Hunter and Steph were preparing to do something very special and borderline magical for Elijah.
Then one day it finally dawned. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon contacted Elijah's mom, Melody and through her, they linked up with Elijah via Skype, to deliver a message to Elijah.
Despite the pain he was going through, you could see the hope and happiness in his face when he realized that both Stephanie and Triple H were on the line, just to speak with Elijah.
Triple H told Elijah that he had watched his video and out of the many, many videos he had to go through, Elijah's caught his attention to the point where he felt it necessary to personally contact him.
Triple H and Stephanie explained to Elijah that they both believed he was in fact "tough enough." Not only that, but they wanted to bring Elijah and his entire family to an upcoming episode of Raw, so they could meet him in person, as well as to offer him a special honorary superstar contract.
On August 3, 2015, Elijah was able to see a dream come true. WWE rolled out the red carpet for him and his family to sit ringside at Raw, go backstage prior to the show and, Elijah was about to sign an official WWE contract, right there in the middle of the Raw ring.
Not to mention, Elijah was able to meet his personal hero and favorite superstar- Stardust.
When Elijah got into the ring, he was accompanied by his hero, Stardust and he even came up with his own ring-name, which was "Drax Shadow." When Triple H asked if he had a catchphrase, Elijah....excuse me, Drax Shadow responded with "don't fear the darkness, fear the shadow!"
Everything was perfect on this wonderful night in San Jose. Elijah met his favorite wrestlers and had an opportunity of a lifetime to step into a WWE ring, sign an official WWE contract in front of the entire WWE Universe.
It was on this night that for once, Elijah was able to get his mind off of cancer. He was able to simply be a kid and experience his ultimate dream come true.
It's been a year since WWE made this child's dream come true and a lot has happened. Stephanie has remained in contact with Elijah and his family and even invited the family to a couple of other events since this historic night in San Jose.
Despite leaving WWE, Cody Rhodes has also remained in very close contact with Elijah. It's truly been an amazing ordeal that has happened. WWE as a company, including the talent, management and everyone in between has been nothing but amazing to Elijah and his family.
In the months since all of this took place, I have taken a personal interest in this story. I've also made sure I've stayed up to date on what's going on with Elijah, his battle with cancer and just his wellbeing in general.
I wish I could say that Elijah has conquered his battle with neuroblastoma, but that's not the case just yet. In fact, Elijah is having a rough time right now. As of this writing, he is currently in Seattle, where doctors are trying to find the answers to the questions they have yet to understand.
Needless to say, the little guy has had better days, but one thing is certain, he's a warrior and somehow, someway, he'll come out on top.
As wrestling fans, I think it's important for us to see, or hear about this side of stars such as Hunter and Stephanie. They live their lives through the eyes of fans who only see the storyline aspect of what they do, when in fact, there is a whole other side of what they do and at times, it's just as important as what they do in front of the camera on Monday nights.
This situation has caused me to gain a world of respect and adoration I didn't have at one time.
Thank you, Stephanie and thank you, Triple H. Thank you for giving life, hope and love to a child who sincerely needed it.
