If one of the men Heavy Machinery defeated to capture a pair of cardboard belts on SmackDown last night (June 11) looked familiar, it’s because he’s got a resume full of WWE-related and adjacent work.
“Yolo County Tag” champ AJ Kirsch was a contestant on the 2011 season of Tough Enough, the winner of Dwayne Johnson’s “Rock The Promo” YouTube contest, and voiced characters in the WWE 2K19 video game. He also works the independent scene, performing in a variety of roles for a variety of companies.
Hey, @WWEgames: let’s put the word out...
— A.J. Kirsch (@AJKirsch) June 12, 2019
I WANNA SEE WHAT THOSE SWEET #YoloCountyTagTeamChampionships WOULD LOOK LIKE IN #WWE2K19! pic.twitter.com/TXAC0kgxfB
It was through Fresno, California’s Best of the West Wrestling that Kirsch met the Boyles. The family suffered a home fire which severely damaged their house and destroyed a lot of their belongings - including the wrestling memorabilia collection of their mentally and physically challenged son Morgan.
Kirsch first rallied the troops at Best of the West, dedicating a portion of one of their recent live events to wrestlers presenting Morgan with new merch and collectibles to replace what he lost:
And, as you you see at the end of that news story, he used his WWE connections to get the Boyles to the Raw house show in Fresno on Sun., June 9 - and backstage to meet The Man.
It prompted Becky Lynch to break character on social media:
That’s the good stuff.