The Orlando Sentinel reports
that WWE NXT and the Special Olympics will team up to break a world record and
pull a 50-ton airline jet. The feat will feature ten NXT talents (seven
wrestlers and three coaches) and 10 athletes from Special Olympics Florida. It
will happen at the Orlando International Airport. The NXT wrestlers will work
with the Special Olympic athletes on strength training.
There will be twenty teams overall to see who can pull the jet the
fastest. Each team had to raise at least a thousand to compete, with all of it
going to the Special Olympics. Trainer Bill DeMott said one team already raised
$7,000. There will be two 10-person teams of NXT wrestlers and Special Olympics
athletes, with five each from both groups. It’s unknown what the world record is
or if Guinness even has a category for the plane being pulled by the same number
of people the same distance. In September, 25 people pulled a 72-ton plane over
12 feet in 4.29 seconds at an airport in Portland, Oregon.
DeMott said: “When we were approached about the plane
pull, we just thought: ‘What a great way to be involved’. So we’ve all been
training together, and they [the Special Olympics athletes] have been really
inspirational to our talent. Their energy is contagious; there’s so much
positivity. At the end of the day, we’re all competitors at heart. And I think
we’re going to have a great time out there.”
The event happens tomorrow from 9:30 AM to 1 PM at the OIA’s
JetBlue Hangar, 8265 Hangar Blvd., Orlando. There is no price for admission or
parking. There will also be exhibits, vendors, food and entertainment.
