A wrestling fan from Guelph, Ont. thought he was down for the count after winning tickets to a “once-in-a-lifetime” WWE event in Toronto.
At first, Mike “O’dah ziibing” Ashkewe couldn’t believe his luck in securing the highly-coveted prize from a Toys “R” Us contest for this weekend’s WWE Money in the Bank event.
“We’re thrilled,” he told CTV News. “[We were] excited for the event.”
Then, he tried to request accommodation.
“I need accessible seating, I’m in a wheelchair,” he explained. “Then Toys “R” Us said: ‘Hey, yep, that’s cool. We’ve got you covered.”
Ashkewe then reached out to a local cab company who went above and beyond to free up a wheelchair van on short notice.
The next day, everything changed.
Mike “O’dah ziibing” Ashkewe on July 4, 2024. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV News)
Ashkewe was told the venue, Scotiabank Arena, couldn’t accommodate his wheelchair.
“’Unfortunately, accessibility tickets are all sold out,’” he said, reading the email from Toys “R” Us. “’We’re terribly sorry for this. These tickets were secured for us through our vendor partnership quite some time ago. At this time, we can offer you the cash value for the prize, $301.99.’”
Ashkewe was left stunned.
“My heart just sank.”
He was even more disappointed that he would miss seeing his favourite WWE superstar.
“The one I really want to see is Cody Rhodes,” he said. “I’ve been following him for a couple of years.”
Cody Rhodes celebrates after winning the Undisputed WWE universal championship match during WrestleMania 40 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, on Sunday, April 7, 2024. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
CTV News reached out to Toys “R” Us, WWE and MLSE, which owns the Scotiabank Arena, to find out what went wrong.
Then suddenly, during our interview with Ashkewe, we got a phone call.
“This is Chris from WWE, but I’d love to introduce you and Mike to the “American Nightmare” – Cody Rhodes,” said the caller.
Ashkewe, completely stunned, blurted out an expletive.
“I’m so sorry,” Rhodes said over the phone. “The cool thing here is that we do have some tickets that are for you. Not only that, we’re going to pay for your transportation to come to Money in the Bank. We can’t have a fan like you sitting on the sidelines.”
EXTRA: You can watch Ashkewe’s full reaction to Rhodes’ call here
The conversation continued for several minutes.
“This is going to sound cheesy as f—, but I did not expect the ‘American Nightmare’ to turn this into a Canadian dream,” Ashkewe told the superstar.
The moment also brought his wife to tears.
After the call, Ashkewe wrote on social media: “WWE has contacted me directly and apologized profusely for what has happened. I am going to Money in the Bank with all my accessibility needs covered. This is a good ending, whatever happens next is magical and unexpected. THANK ALL of you who posted and helped.”
Both Toys “R” Us and MLSE acknowledged that the situation has been resolved.
Ashkewe, for his part, hopes this incident has been learning experience for everyone involved.
He’s also thrilled the American Nightmare turned his “nightmare” into a dream come true.
