Tributes Pour in for Matt Travis — Pro Wrestler and Cyclist Killed by Hit-and-Run Trucker
Fans and friends of professional wrestler Matt Travis have been filling social media with tributes to the much-liked grappler since the 25-year-old was fatally struck by a reckless hit-and-run dump truck driver early Saturday morning.
Police have not officially released Travis’s name or address pending notification of his family, but friends indeed already know — and are making sure the world knows more about the wrestler with the braids who competed for Game Changer Wrestling and trained at the House of Glory in Queens.
On Twitter, the league called Travis “a passionate rising star with a big heart and a world of potential.”
Another wrestler, Amazing Red, who may have also trained Travis, posted what appeared to be an impromptu memorial for Travis at the crash site.
I just can't.
I don't understand life sometimes.
I'm gonna try and pull it together for you today.
I just want to see you! Talk to you!
I'm sorry. I love you Matty pic.twitter.com/LoZhbitbjX— ??????? R?D (@AmazingRed1) November 9, 2019
On his own Twitter account, Travis described himself as a “diamond in the dirt; raw and uncut.”
“Coming out the gutter, South Bronx concrete jungle baby; Young Capo of NYC: entrepreneur in the making,” he wrote.
AHH!! @MATT___TRAVIS with a shooting star press off a van!! #GCW #GCW5150 @GCWrestling_
??https://t.co/03hbjIz6ad pic.twitter.com/taij8OtfFk— Kayden (@KVR216) July 14, 2019
The tributes show that Travis was seen by many as a rising star in his profession, but they only underscore that every death on a New York City street takes away someone who was central to a group of people — perhaps a community of bicycle messengers or restaurant workers or students or artists. Every death leaves our world a little bit more empty.
“It feels like the very fabric of New York becomes frayed with each of these losses,” tweeted Doug Gordon.
Like a lot of people killed on our streets this year, Matt Travis was a New Yorker in the prime of his life, passionate about what he did, admired by many and poised for success. It feels like the very fabric of New York becomes frayed with each of these losses. https://t.co/jMnPE0nS9I
— Doug Gordon (@BrooklynSpoke) November 10, 2019
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