For fans of pro wrestling and competitive eating contests, there is probably no greater hero than Megabyte Ronnie. The recently retired pro wrestler has been featured the past few July 4th weekends down on Coney Island as part of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Each year, the jacked-up former military member receives a pro-wrestling-styled entrance courtesy of the contest’s legendary emcee, George Shea, in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans.
Sadly, for Ronnie and his fans, his career was cut short after only five years due to back issues. Along with his retirement goes his chances of receiving the same thunderous response in a pro wrestling arena that he does when downing hot dogs on national television. Fortunately, Ronnie was able to notch at least one notable career highlight as an active in-ring competitor, performing for All Elite Wrestling.
In an exclusive Haus of Wrestling interview, Ronnie detailed how his match against then-FTW Champion “The Machine” Brian Cage on the September 15, 2020 edition of AEW: Dark came about.
“I got to AEW because I did an episode of Hot Ones with Cody Rhodes,” he revealed. “I’m sitting there eating chicken wings with Cody Rhodes, and after that episode, he told me he was going to bring me down to Jacksonville. He didn’t tell me he was gonna bring me down there to wrestle. I thought I was just going down there for sort of like a fan experience, right? But, you know, I brought my gear, of course, I’m gonna bring my gear.
“I show up down there in Jacksonville and sure enough, there I am on the rundown, Megabyte Ronnie versus Brian Cage at 3 am in the morning. Then, while I’m there, The Bucks come up to me and they’re like, ‘Hey, do you want to be on Being The Elite?’ And I was like, ‘F-ck yeah, I want to be on Being The Elite.’ So, like, AEW, Brian Cage, Bucks, Cody, all those guys, man, I wouldn’t even be half of where I am without all of them. Yeah, that’s, that’s probably the best weekend of my wrestling career.”
If you use any quotes from this article please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling for the transcription and link back