This Pasco grandmother is a pro wrestling superfan. She’ll be in WWE heaven this weekend
One room of Debbie Deweber’s Pasco home is dedicated to professional wrestling.
She has action figures, posters, beach towels, pint glasses and a throw blanket on the shelves. Along the wall are chairs that she’s brought back from meet-and-greets.
Watching over all of it is Roman Reigns — well, a cardboard version of the studly World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar.
It’s just a fraction of the collectibles Deweber’s gathered in seven years.
Some she ordered online or through the WWE and some items she found at toy stores.
“I found a Barbie doll of them from Target,” she said. “I’ve got a Roman Reigns Halloween costume from one of my friends.”
This weekend, Deweber gets a chance to meet some of her favorite wrestling stars without needing to travel across the mountains or to a different state.
The Road to Wrestlemania is coming to the Toyota Center on Sunday, Feb. 16.
It is the first super show to come to Kennewick, and will bring a host of wrestling superstars to the ring, including Reigns, Seth Rollins, WWE Raw Women’s Champion Becky “The Man” Lynch and others.
Childhood wrestling passion
Deweber first became interested in wrestling when she was a child. At the time, she would watch “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Jesse Ventura.
She stopped following wrestling for a couple of decades, but her other passion, the rock band KISS, never faded. Her collection of KISS items is even larger than her wrestling memorabilia.
When Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins lured her back to wrestling fandom, it was only natural that she would start seeking out items from her favorite wrestlers. Often, her two passions coincide and she discovers wrestling items while she searching for KISS stuff.
“It’s probably because they have long hair that I like them,” she joked.
Her collection is largely focused on Reigns, Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
Along the way she met a photographer who sends pictures of Reigns. Her favorite is one from his first championship belt victory.
She’s already had some of the photographs signed, and plans to take some to a meet-and-greet event Sunday.
WWE Backstage
She also keeps up with the weekly drama of her favorite wrestlers by tuning in to watch WWE BACKSTAGE, a Fox Sports TV show.
Now Deweber is sharing that passion with her grandchildren and bringing a new generation into the wrestling fandom.
The boys weren’t able to talk yet when they began watching with her and looking at her pictures.
“One day, he said, ‘That’s Crazy Dean (Ambrose),’” she said. “They would hear what is going on. ... They learned how to talk with wrestling.”
Sunday, she’s bringing one of her grandsons to the Toyota Center show.
“He won’t know until we pull up and see the trucks,” she said.
Tickets to Sunday’s event start at $15 and are available online at yourtoyotacenter.com, through Ticketmaster or in person at the Toyota Center Ticket Office at 7000 W. Grandridge Blvd., or call 509-737-3700 for more information.