The Journal Review

By Arnie Aurellano

Many people aren’t aware that Crawfordsville is the original home of the the Ultimate Warrior, one of the WWE’s most popular wrestlers of the 80s. While Crawfordsville junior Dylan McBride is building an impressive wrestling resume himself, he’d rather not follow in the Warrior’s footsteps.

“Nah, man,” said McBride, laughing. “I’m not into pro wrestling. That stuff’s all fake. I’ve got friends who are into it, but when they turn the camera when the guy’s about to ‘land’ a punch...I’m just not into that.”

Instead, McBride, who won a semistate championship two weeks ago and advanced to the state finals at Indianapolis’ Conseco Fieldhouse, prefers the real impact of the amateur wrestling mat to the staged action in the WWE ring.
While McBride does confess to listening to his “theme music” (Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy”) to pump himself up before a match, once he steps onto the mat, it becomes all business and full contact. A two-sport athlete at Crawfordsville — he also plays on the football team’s offensive and defensive lines — McBride relishes the one-on-one physicality that scholastic wrestling has to offer.