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Tragedy, Triumph, Love Drive Former Razorback to WWE Dream

Gymnast beats Arkansas boys to first official TV appearance as wrestler

Kent Smith

Former Arkansas gymnast Sirena Linton poses for a WWE promotional shoot for A&E's "Legends & Future Greats" wrapped in the Mexican flag.
Former Arkansas gymnast Sirena Linton poses for a WWE promotional shoot for A&E's "Legends & Future Greats" wrapped in the Mexican flag. / WWE Promotional Material
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas fans thought if they were ever going to see a former Razorback come through the curtain at WWE it would be Dalton Wagner, the first Hog to be offered a Next in Line contract.

It stood to reason. Not only did he fit the bill at 6-foot-8 and 320 pounds with a look that had people wondering if he were the Undertaker's son, but he had a mean side to himself he could draw upon in the heat of competition.

However, as of Sunday night, that honor comes to former gymnast Sirena Linton, who less than a year ago was competing with Jordyn Wieber's Razorbacks, scoring a 9.925 on beam in regionals to send the Razorbacks to Dickies Arena in Fort Worth for the national championships.

Linton formally announced her arrival to the professional wrestling world by walking out to the ring to cut a promo in front of legends Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, Mickie James and The Undertaker on a new WWE show called "LFG" (Legends & Future Greats). The four coaches had arrived on set earlier that day where they learned 16 athletes had been chosen from over 100 training in the WWE Performance Center in Florida.

The legends found out that while a lot of people they would see had been training for nine months to a year, there was at least one who had only been around for a week, but had shown more than enough to impress Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels to be added to the group competing for an NXT contract. A Next in Line contract is just for the right to train, while NXT is the the last stopping point before debuting on the main roster, and with only a single week of training, it was Linton who had skipped the line to learn from the best and compete for a shot at stardom.

While her promo was nowhere near the best, Linton's story of the heartbreak of how she lost her father as a teenager and how it prepared her to deal with anything she might face from the female wrestlers in the WWE gave the coaches something to work with. More importantly, Linton showed she was quick to process and easy to coach.

"I was born a warrior," Linton said. "I never had an easy life. At just 16 years old, my father, the man who loved me, was deported, taken from me. I know what it's like to have everything you love taken. So to all the women in the WWE I'm gonna take everything you love. Lacita Nita will be a champion."

Immediately afterward, Bubba Ray Dudley began peppering Linton with questions looking to see if she would realize what he was doing. What he pulled out was a backstory much better built for television that works because it draws on specifics from her real life that make her more relatable to the audience.

Dudley: Who got deported?
Linton: My father.
Dudley: How did that make you feel?
Linton: Like I lost everything.
Dudley: Are you close with your dad? How close?
Linton: Very close, my best friend.
Dudley: So then tell me about the moment that you lost, that you found out that your dad was deported.
Linton: It was on my birthday.
Dudley: You found out that your dad was deported on your birthday?
Linton: (Beginning to tear up) Yeah, immigration came and got him the morning of my birthday.
Dudley: Did you watch him taken away?
Linton: Yes sir.
Dudley: Do you see what I was just able to do for you or not?
Linton: You brought out emotion in me now.
Dudley: Bring it out on your own. Tap into that on your own. Good job.

Having only been there a week, Linton's primary focus was like all beginners. She was learning how to hit the ropes correctly, take a bump (fall) properly so she is less likely to injure herself, and how to get through in-ring workouts without getting blown up (tired). Getting a lesson on how to reach deeper into personal experience to reveal true, authentic emotion that is believable and can connect with an audience isn't something that typically comes until much later.

"Being completely vulnerable with my story and sharing that the people that I idolize, it's is a cool moment for me," Linton said. "And obviously, you saw it brought a lot of tears but they're all good, tears, it comes from a lot of passion."

In a promotional video introducing the people who would compete, Linton mentioned her brother Adrian, a U.S. military veteran, filled the role of her father after the deportation. He was the one who played the part at graduation and provided encouragement when a serious injury in high school took away her gymnastics scholarship opportunities.

However, following her brother's example of strength, Linton pushed through recovery and got into the University of Arizona, her state school, on an academic scholarship instead. Still, she wasn't one to give up on dreams as she found a way to walk onto the team there while rebuilding her body and skills.

By junior year, her goal of reaching the national championships came true. Unfortunately, this time Adrian wouldn't be there to be a part of her journey.

He and his wife went into a bar in El Paso where words were apparently exchanged with a 27-year-old man. When the couple walked out to leave, the man slammed his car in reverse, jammed on the gas, jumped a curb and plowed toward Adrian and his wife who were alongside the building.

Adrian, age 33, shoved his wife out of the way. While his actions did enough to limit his wife's life's injuries to a dislocated hip and broken leg, he died in an act of murder that took away a second father figure for Linton.

"This world is an evil place and all through my life you protected me from it," Linton wrote on social media in tribute. "I was convinced that you were invincible. I am still convinced you are. You are my superhero. You were my Batman."

While Linton is largely responsible for her own path that made her the first college athlete in her family and the first to graduate with a master's degree, her dad and brother get credit for tipping her down the path that led to Sunday night. Their love of wrestling while dragging Linton along for the experience created an atmosphere of fond memories that built a potential love for the business that is key to any sports entertainer's success.

"I didn't really see a lot of women at the indie shows, but I had my brother Adrian and I had my dad, and I also have two other brothers that would play around imitating the WWE," Linton said. "I think that is ultimately where I started falling in love with it."

It's been a while since taping first began, and photos that have made their way onto social media indicate things have been going well for Linton. There are images of her walking out into an NXT ring with a tag team partner to perform in front of a live crowd.

That doesn't mean she won a contract. A big part of the shows is after a pair of competitions where the legends assess how well athletes are taking coaching and stepping up their game, a set of men and a set of women get paired up to wrestle an actual match in the performance center.

That can only go on for so long. Eventually, the coaches are going to want to see them work a live crowd that isn't their peers, which likely explains the photos going around.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of what Linton brings, which goes beyond being a great athlete because everyone there is a great athlete, is her ability to sell. It's the No. 1 characteristic of a great sports entertainer and before Linton ever appeared on the show, she was getting noticed for believably selling something as simple as reacting with heartbreak to a Chase U match from the stands at NXT.

That one photo, along with a horrific backstory of tragedy and triumph upon which she can draw, makes Linton a prime candidate to rise quickly in WWE. How fast that is will unfold each week on "LFG."

It airs Sunday nights on A&E at 7 p.m. The first episode can be seen here.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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