While only time will tell if Stephen Amell and his sports entertainment nemesis Stardust have settled their differences in the ring, it’s an entirely different story outside of the ring. The Arrow star and his SummerSlam opponent were in Toronto together yesterday to present a check for nearly $300,000 to a hospice care facility.
Sometimes you need to put your differences aside for a good cause. So today... Stardust and I presented Emily's House in...Posted by Stephen Amell on Sunday, September 13, 2015
Amell posted the image to his Facebook page, and it includes the staff of Emily’s House, whom Amell refers to as “real superheros” while he stands right next to his wrestling opponent. The donation totaled $297,557 and was raised through sales of a special Stardust v. Arrow t-shirt that was sold online prior to the actor’s WWE debut. The money will be used to open a new playroom, called Dream Space.
The money was donated in the name of Oliver Muirhead. “Odd Sock Ollie” was a child who was staying at the hospice facility when he lost his battle with leukemia in July. Amell was introduced to the Muirhead family through mutual friends.
Amell spent his summer vacation working to live a childhood dream of being a professional wrestler. Being a guy who plays a superhero on TV, he was paired up with the guy who looks most like a comic book super villain, Cody Rhodes, who currently plays a painted-up character who thinks he’s from another planet, Stardust. The two finally met face-to-face in the ring this past August at the WWE’s Summerslam event, albeit with tag team partners in tow. Amell’s performance has received fairly high marks for his willingness to take some stiff shots and dive off the top rope. Amell’s team was victorious, though it’s possible we haven’t seen the last of Amell in WWE.
Stardust, who has a character to play even when the cameras aren’t rolling, played up that he would only attend the delivery if a ridiculous number of shirts were sold, over 10,000.
This, of course, is exactly what happened. The campaign actually sold over 15,000 shirts and the total amount of money donated doubled in the period after Stardust made his announcement. Not bad, considering the fundraising campaign's goal was only 1,000 shirts.
Stephen Amell takes a moment to thank Cody Rhodes as well, calling him “one of the most selfless, genuine human beings I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.” The line between fiction and reality is somewhat blurry when it comes to WWE, so it’s nice to see that even the “bad guy” is actually a good guy, as that’s not always the case. If we do see a rematch, we hope the two stars try to outdo themselves both in and out of the ring.
