THE RAWLINGS FAMILY
Kid: Jared “X” Rawlings, 16 years old
Parents:Darrel & kerri “Momma X” Rawlings
MEMPHIS, TN
Before Keri got married and had kids, she was very fascinated by the Memphis wrestling scene. She loved how intense it was and she got to be her true loud self in the stands. What she didn’t know then, was that 15+ years later, she’d still be yelling in the same stands, except this time for her son, Jared. Jared became obsessed with wrestling at age 5 after his brother introduced him to John Cena and the WWE. It became a common family activity to all watch together. They went to live events, had WrestleMania themed birthday parties and he’d fully fallen in love with the sport. When he got older, around 12 years old, he openly struggled with body dysmorphia and started training on his own. He knew that if this dream was going to come true, he had to become regimented and strong. When he turned 14, he scripted an email to VCA Wrestling begging them to take him on, even though he was too young. He knew he had to follow through on this, and being the wrestling fans they were, his parents supported this journey. The school let him in with parent consent and his true training finally began. At the same time, VCA trained him to be a referee, which was helpful and gave him a lot of insight. The first few weeks he had some injuries but the bottom line was he was happy and healthy, which was all that mattered to his parents.
Now, years later, Jared goes by Jared “X” Rawlings, which he took from his father, a musician (the band Skid Row) who went under the stage name Randall X Rawlings. The X is inspired by one of the writers on Futurama, David X. Cohen. Jared performs every weekend and is a 3-time champion in the VCA Junior division. He’s fully committed to this and wants to be signed by a major promotion by the time he’s 18. His mom, who now also goes by Momma X Rawlings, is his biggest fan, but also brings him the most anxiety. She’s just as eager for him to make it to the top and believes he will. But she tends to over analyze every opponent and makes him nervous before shows. She also is a hair stylist, so she takes charge when it comes to his looks for his character, which she has no problem giving her opinion on. And it’s a whole other story when she’s in the stands. She’s yelling at refs, at other spectators, basically anyone who will listen. She prides herself of being the loudest person in the room. In her opinion, that’s what get the merchandise sold. Jared is so thankful for his parents and all they have done for him with this career path (lots of money and time for training and shows), but he’s starting to wish his mom would take a back seat. This is his dream, not hers. And with Memphis being such a wrestling-heavy city, there is immense amounts of competition at VCA as well as all neighboring professional wrestling schools/teams. Jared knows he must fight smart and hard to succeed, but sometimes that 12-year-old boy with body dysmorphia is still in that mirror telling himself he won’t make it.