Triple H gifts WWE championship to London Bridge hero cop
A heroic police officer who was wounded while trying to stop the London Bridge terrorist attack has broken down in tears while being awarded a WWE championship belt.
Charlie Guenigault was off duty and out with friends on June 3 when three men mowed down pedestrians with a van before unleashing a stabbing attack in the entertainment precinct.
Guenigault rushed at the attackers, suffering multiple stab wounds which required emergency surgery.
During his heroic attempt, he was wearing a shirt of wrestler Sami Zayn, a Canadian Muslim of Syrian descent.
The WWE reached out after hearing of the officer’s actions and arranged a secret meeting with Guenigault.
Triple H, the multiple-time world champion presented the personalized belt to a visibly moved Guenigault.
“It was an absolute pleasure to meet one of the greatest superstars ever,” Guenigault said.
“My comments when he first walked in the room are probably not suitable for a PG audience.”
“To run in the direction of a scary situation that can’t even be described in words, to help others, for that to be your instinct to help others … that is a hero,” Triple H, whose real name is Paul Levesque, said.
“People say a lot of times that they watch WWE because these guys are like real-life superheroes. Well, Charlie is a real hero.”
Triple H also relayed a personal video message from Zayn.
“I feel like Sami Zayn is always been known to stand up to the bad guys and put himself out there, but you did it in the most horrific of circumstances and the most real and dangerous of circumstances, and man I’m just blown away, I really am.”
Zayn added that he was supposed to get a new shirt, but now he would be wearing the same one Guenigault was the night of the attack with great pride.
When President Trump signed his first executive order on immigration in January, Zayn tweeted out: “I can’t articulate how truly disgusted I am right now,” along with the hashtag “MuslimBan.” He added, “The fear, hatred & division sold to us is a much bigger problem than our struggling brothers and sisters are. CHOOSE an open heart over anger.”
“It’s definitely a sensitive topic to discuss, but I have felt since I signed with the WWE I was in a unique position to reestablish how Arabs were perceived in the WWE and Western media,” Zayn told ESPN previously.
“Ever since I was a kid and growing up and watching things like the ‘Naked Gun’ movies, there was always this stereotype about how Arabs were perceived and portrayed. I’ve never watched those Arab villains in the movie and felt like that was me. They were nothing like me, and now I get to just be me — and hopefully being me strikes a chord with a lot of young Arabs and non-Arabs, honestly. We’re really not all that different.”
