NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
Former NFL star Shawne Merriman was in Las Vegas to see Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) make history with her first solo show in the United States as part of Slam Fest.
Merriman remembers watching the event as well as the Stardom show. The all-female Japanese promotion also performed at the Pearl Theater at the Palms Casino Resort during the week as pro wrestling fans descended on the city ahead of WrestleMania 42. Merriman said he had already watched CMLL in Mexico and hoped to go to more shows.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman celebrates a big hit against the Arizona Cardinals at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California December 31, 2006. The Chargers won 27-20. (Lower Gene/Getty Images)
“I’m a huge wrestling fan,” he told PK Press Club Digital. “I watched their show and I went to Stardom, an all-female Japanese show, which is crazy. I was blown away by them. I saw the other show, two shows in Mexico, and there were almost 10,000 people there. It was just crazy.
“For them to have their first show here in the United States, I think they did a really good job. There were a little over 2,000 people there. I thought it was awesome. Some (wrestlers) I already knew and I got a chance to see them up close and personal. I got a chance to go back and meet some of the talent and shake hands. Believe it or not, some of them were San Diego Chargers fans because they watched me grow up, obviously playing in San Diego.
Merriman has a soft spot for professional wrestling.
He made a few appearances on WWE programming and appeared for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2024 (TNA), interfering in Joe Hendry’s match at Rebellion.
Joe Hendry faces Tony D’Angelo at The Factory in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 2026. (Bradlee Rutledge/WWE)
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
“It’s a craft. It’s an art. It speaks to the crowd,” he said. “Even as a player, what I still love is playing on people’s emotions when I go to stadiums. I love that. Having a big bag, dancing ‘lights out’, you make them happy or make them angry at you, you control the crowd, you control people’s emotions. Even Randy Orton losing (at WrestleMania 42) and how that made people feel. I remember when Undertaker, that streak was gone.”
Merriman compared crowd emotions at professional wrestling events to those at NFL matches and praised everything it takes to have a successful professional wrestling match.
“So when you see these wrestlers, the choreography that goes into them, the storylines that build, their storytelling, their twist… When I did the wrestling show, myself, (TNA) Impact and AJ Francis, who went to the University of Maryland and is now with TNA Wrestling, the fact that I had the chance to clothesline Joe Hendry, no one saw it coming. No one saw what was happening and how it happened. was going to unfold,” he said.
Shawne Merriman attends the grand opening of Resorts World Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 24, 2021. (Ryan Steffy/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PK Press Club APP
“The fact that I got there and Joe Hendry was already so hot as one of their up-and-coming guys, and I just thought that whole plot twist, I mean, the boos that followed, it was outstanding and it couldn’t have gone better. When you talk about professional wrestling, I’m with you. I’m all in and I wish I had done more.”
