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George Kittle explains the wrestling roots of his first-down celebration

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If you weren’t already aware, George Kittle is quite the wrestling fan. He’s earned the nickname “Stone Cold Kittle” (an homage to one of Kittle’s favorite WWE Legends, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin), has done a rendition of The Rock’s iconic “Can you smell?” expression (see below) which earned him a message from The Rock naming him “The People’s Tight End”, and was in a hurry last year to get out of a press conference to get to a WWE Smackdown event.

He’s been a massive supporter of wrestling, whether it’s WWE or the upstart AEW, and is close friends with WWE wrestler Seth Rollins. His first down celebration, he revealed on Friday, is based on the entrance of Pentagon Jr., an AEW wrestler.

“From Pentagon Jr, he’s an AEW wrestler now,” Kittle said. “‘Cero miedo,’ no fear. And so two years ago in New Orleans, I went to WrestleMania and I watched him wrestle like six different times at a bunch of different shows.  And just his swagger in the ring and his confidence kind of stuck with me and I mean, wrestling, it’s something that I love and enjoy too, so just seeing that in the ring and just how he holds himself and and how he enters the ring, how he leaves the ring. Everything he does has a purpose and I just kind of love that.”

Earlier this week, Pentagon Jr. paid tribute to Kittle:

Kittle’s first down celebration

Kittle’s first rendition of The Rock’s saying:

Kittle at the WWE event doing the impression again:

Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo downing beers at the Smackdown event:

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