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Former NFL star Shawne Merriman was in Las Vegas to watch as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) made history with their first US solo show as part of Slam Fest.
Merriman recalled watching the event as well as Stardom’s show. The all-female Japanese promotion also performed at the Pearl Theater at the Palms Casino Resort during the week as pro wrestling fans came to town ahead of WrestleMania 42. Merriman said he previously watched CMLL in Mexico City and hoped to make it to more shows.
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San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman celebrates a big hit against the Arizona Cardinals at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, December 31, 2006. The Chargers won 27-20. (Gene Lower/Getty Images)
“I’m a big wrestling fan,” he told Pakinomist Digital. “I checked out their show and I went to Stardom, which is the Japanese all-female show, which is crazy. I was blown away by them. I saw the other show, two shows in Mexico City, and it was almost 10,000 plus people out there. It was just crazy.
“For them to have their first show here in the States, I think they did a really good job. There were a little over 2,000 people there. I thought it was great. Some of those (wrestlers) I already knew and I got a chance to see up close and personal. I got a chance to go back and meet some of the talent and shake hands. Believe it or not, because some of them played up in San Die of course, watching the Chargers grow up in San Die. Diego. I looking forward to going to more shows.”
Merriman has a soft spot for pro wrestling.
He made a few appearances on WWE programming and appeared for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2024 (TNA), where he interfered in Joe Hendry’s match at Rebellion.
Joe Hendry meets Tony D’Angelo at The Factory in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 2026. (Bradlee Rutledge/WWE)
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“It’s a craft. It’s an art. It plays to the crowd,” he said. “Even as a player, what I always love is playing on people’s emotions when I go to stadiums. I love that. Having a big sack, ‘lights out’ dance, you make them happy or you make them mad at you, you control the crowd, you control people’s emotions. Even Randy Orton losing (at WrestleMania 42) and how that made people feel, I remember that.
Merriman compared crowd emotion at pro wrestling events to NFL matches and praised everything that goes into making a successful pro wrestling match.
“So when you look at the wrestlers, the choreography that goes into it, the storylines that build up, the storytelling of it, the twist of it… When I was doing the wrestling show, myself, (TNA) Impact, and AJ Francis, who went to the University of Maryland and is now with TNA Wrestling, the fact that I got a chance to clothesline Joe Hendry, nobody and nobody saw how it was going to turn out,” he said.
Shawne Merriman attends the Grand Opening of Resorts World Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on June 24, 2021. (Ryan Steffy/Getty Images)
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“The fact that I get there and Joe Hendry was already so hot as one of their up-and-coming guys, and I just thought that the whole plot twist, I mean, the boos that came after that, it was excellent and it couldn’t have gone better. When you talk about pro wrestling, I’m with you. I’m all in and I wish I did more of it.”
