Former WWE Star Aiden English: 'My Dad's Friend Is The Pope'

Chicagoland residents are celebrating the first American Pope hailing from "The Second City." Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope on Thursday, taking the papal name Leo XIV. While much of his career has been spent in Peru, Leo XIV spent much of his childhood in the Chicago-adjacent suburb of Dolton, IL. Sometime during his life in Chicago, he apparently rubbed shoulders with the father of former WWE NXT Tag Team Champion and current TNA Broadcaster Aiden English, known as Matthew Rehwoldt.

"Dude," Rehwoldt wrote. "My dad's friend is the Pope."

It's possible Rehwoldt, much like many Chicagoans on social media, was simply having fun with the news that the new Pontiff is Chicago made, but the geography does check out. Rehwoldt grew up in the Lyon Township area of Chicagoland, a bit more west than Prevost's Dolton, and near enough to the city, where Prevost was provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago in 1999, followed by a tenure as Prior General in 2001. 

Rehwoldt retired from in-ring competition in 2022, and now is focused solely on broadcasting. He can be heard on TNA broadcasts and PPVs. For a while, Rehwoldt was known for introducing Rusev, as he would belt out the word "Rusev Day" before the former-WWE United States Champion's entrances. Rehwoldt saw little opportunity to reunite with Rusev in AEW, where Rusev was known as Miro. Rusev recently returned to WWE, debuting after WrestleMania 41, but there have been seemingly no known plans to bring back Rehwoldt.