We were all feeling it. Ellis Mbeh was just the first to put a face to it.
The now-famous fan whose flabbergasted face appeared on WWE Network after Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30, Mbeh’s reaction (the best since Angry Miz Girl in 2010) not only spread across the Internet faster than Grumpy Cat on a jetski, it earned him a catchy — in an obvious way — nickname among wrestling fans: “Shocked Undertaker Guy.”
Hilarious memes and fake Twitter accounts followed in droves, but when WWE.com got in touch with the man himself, what we got was an unexpectedly tender story of a childhood dream fulfilled—one that happened to involve a cameo appearance from Matt Hardy. When you hear it, your jaws just might drop, too.
WWE.COM: You became the unofficial face of 21-1 at the end of The Undertaker match. What was going through your mind at that moment?
ELLIS MBEH: I was actually rooting for Brock Lesnar! For the past few years I’ve been rooting [against The Streak]. I rooted for Triple H, who is my favorite wrestler … I rooted for CM Punk. But I never expected [any of them would win]. I knew Undertaker would win. Somehow, someway, Undertaker always wins. So with Brock, in my head I didn’t think it would actually happen, you know? When it happened, my mind was stopped. It was like, “Oh my God, what happened … I just witnessed history.”
WWE.COM: At what point did you realize you’d become an Internet sensation?
MBEH: I realized when someone behind me in the second row tapped my shoulder and showed me a phone. [It was a meme that said], “The face you made when you realized Undertaker lost.” And I was like, “Oh, crap.”
WWE.COM: Did you have a favorite out of all the memes that were made of your reaction?
MBEH: There are some pictures up there where everyone’s face was my face, like the guys behind me all have my face. There are a lot of them, and the majority are funny.
WWE.COM: You also got a shout-out from Matt Hardy on Twitter. What was that like?
MBEH: That was cool. I saw it when I was coming back to the hotel and realized, “Oh wow, everyone saw this.” It was cool that Matt said, “Be cool, it’s okay, embrace it.” It was helpful, because it helped me get back to the fact that … I was there for history.
WWE.COM: You’ve been to two WrestleManias. What were some of the highlights of your experiences?
MBEH: Last year was all about meeting Triple H. His [book, “Building a Better Game”] was the first one I actually read outside of school. It gave me confidence that I could work out. At one point I weighed 375 pounds, and that was in 2010, 2011. Something happened with me in a hospital I couldn’t explain; my blood pressure was really high … I took what I learned from Triple H and just committed myself. Every day I just went to the gym, worked out for hours with what I saw in the book and I just stayed determined. I know for a fact that if I’d never read his book I would not be here.
WWE.COM: What happened when you met him?
MBEH: Someone told me I only had 30 seconds, so I go “OK. I’ll just say what I have to say real quick, show him [my before and after picture] and that’s it.” I’d never been to Axxess before, never been to WrestleMania before.
I get in line and I’m third in line, my wife is right behind me, and the two guys in front of me just walk away. I guess they were going to see other Superstars. So out of nowhere, I was first and I’m crapping my pants. All the planning I had about 30 seconds ago is gone. I see him and he’s like, “How you doin,’ man?” and I go, “Um, I’m good.” He signed my title belt and I said, “I just want to thank you for saving my life,” and I just started crying. I just kept on talking and he just stopped and looked at me and I told him everything.
Like, who in the world gets to [meet] the person who saved their life, you know? People don’t get that moment. And he just listened to everything I said and he said, “I’m proud of you. You say you look up to me, but I’m proud of you.” Just hearing that made me feel like I did something right. He got the camera crew, we did an interview, he told me he was proud of me, he hugged me and that was it, but it meant a lot to me.
WWE.COM: What about this year?
ELLIS: When I met John Cena, I told him, “as a fan, I like you and dislike you.” I like him because he’s a great person to kids and a great role model. Also I train at CrossFit, and we always talk about him. We lift cleans, jerks and deadlifts. We always see him do it and we’re really impressed. I respect his work ethic and his training ethic. But I told him I dislike him because he beat my heroes. He beat Shawn Michaels, he beat Triple H. He said he can respect that, he stood up, shook my hand and took a picture. It was a very, very cool moment.
During Axxess, I [also] met Xavier Woods. I told him the coolest thing from his debut was when he did the Power Ranger thing, yelled “It’s Morphin’ Time!” flipped and did an actual Power Ranger jump. That was so cool. He said, “Yeah, man, it’s all about embracing your inner geekdom. There’s no reason anyone should be ashamed of what they love or what they’re passionate about.”
WWE.com: So we’re going to end on a fun question, because this is all about fun. Who would win in a bench press contest: You or “Brock Lesnar Guy”?
ELLIS: Oh, me! I can totally bench more than Brock Lesnar Guy.
WWE.COM: That could happen for WrestleMania 31, you never know.
ELLIS: I rep 225 pounds. If it happens at WrestleMania 31, I guarantee I will win. He’s not ready.
