Story time with Donovan Dongo, Dongo brothers selected for W.W.E

   Storytime with Donovan Dongo, Dongo Brothers selected 

The Dongo brothers holding the Surinamese flag in front of the W.W.E performance center in America.

Today I have some good news for the people of Suriname. I know I am a bit late with this story, but what can I say. I have been having problems with my Internet provider for a while now. 

If you live in Suriname, you probably can relate. But on with Storytime, today we are going to talk about the Dongo brothers.  These guys have proven that dreams do come true, with a lot of hard work and effort.  The World Wrestling Entertainment (W.W.E) has selected Donovan and Leandro Dongo to represent Suriname. They made it past their last tryouts and were selected out of 30.000 applicants. The Dongo brothers have proven what they are made of, but they have also put Suriname on the world map when it comes to wrestling entertainment.  Donovan Dongo shares his experiences with Storytime in a video he recorded. But since I have a lot of readers around the world who don't speak dutch I'm going to translate his video recording into English. If you are not aware of who the Dongo brothers are, be sure to read my previous article about the Dongo brothers. 

The Dongo Brothers Donovan and Leandro during their last W.W.E tryout

                       How the Dongo brothers experienced their last try out

The Dongo brothers posing with other W.W.E applicants during their last try out

From the 23rd to the 29th of April Leandro and Donovan Dongo were in the United States for their last W.W. E try out.  Donovan Dongo explains the process of this tryout and what the brothers their daily schedule consisted of.  He also shares the lessons he has learned and the positive experiences he and his brother Leandro  Dongo gained. 

 " The tryouts started on the 23rd of April in Miami, after that we flew to Orlando.  On the 24th of April, we had to do a medical test.  The medical test came with a lot of things, they check your cardio system, your heartbeat, etc., etc.  They even check if you don't have any heart problems. It's a real full health check-up! They really do it professionally.  Besides that, they also check your bones and muscles for fractures.  After a complete check-up, we had to start training. The training was intense. We had to sign a contract, a waiver stating that we attended the W.W.E tryouts at our own risk.  People mostly think it's pro wrestling so it's fake fighting. But believe me, it isn't called professional wrestling for nothing.  Everything about it is professional, from rolling in the ring, shoulder rolls, forward rolls, backward rolls, taking bumps and falling in the ring, doing a flip bump. They are all aspects of the entertaining part. Every day we had to train 6 hours long, we did get short breaks in between.  The longest break was only during eating,  then we only got an hour. After that, it is training hard again. We started at 9 am and were there until 6 pm in the afternoon.  We have learned a lot of new things from the W.W. E performance center.  Their introduction was that they didn't need us.  We don't need you guys here we have enough athletes waiting in line to become a W.W.E superstar.  They said that since the previous trial. You have to show us that you really want this." The Dongo brothers indeed managed to prove that they wanted the dream and are turning it into their reality.  

The Dongo brothers Leandro and Donovan

" We did it and Suriname didn't get a bad name, we put Suriname on the map in the days that we were there. My younger brother Leandro Dongo, when it comes to condition and an athletic background he is better than me.  But physically I am a bit stronger than him.  My mindset is a killer instinct. I get that from my father, my mindset is to never give up. I didn't give up and went through everything. Even if I had to crawl, I crawled through everything.  I did everything and I finished everything. I didn't stop once to say that I can't!  I just went through all the training. My background is actually a powerlifting strongman. I also took a few wrestle classes, but I only did it for a short while. So my background is more powerlifting and strongman.  That's lifting, pushing, and throwing heavy objects. We did the tryout and in the last few days, they gave us more tests. We had to answer questions about the entire pro wrestling history. Simple questions like who is the c.e.o. of the W.W.E.  They were all multiple choice and it was a part of the try-out to test your knowledge and passion for the W.W.E. It also weighs in as much as the training.  We did a promo, a promo is when you introduce yourself as a person they describe you as. They give you a script, a wrestling gimmick, or a wrestling character. You have to bring that out in your own way.  They give you points for that, that was one of the things we had to do as well.  They also paid close attention to who you are as an individual there. There are six wrestling rings in the performance center and after training the wrestling rings are cleaned.  So we had to clean the rings and help with cleaning everything else.  The scouts and coaches then observe what your character is when you need to work. Or if you need to help with something.  So you're not only there thinking about making a lot of money, becoming popular. That is just the icing on the cake. Every athlete that was present, was there with a different goal. Our goal was to be there as Surinamese citizens, a small country with no professional background. We are professional athletes in Suriname, but that's nothing. If you become a national champion in Suriname it's a reasonable achievement. But the moment you go abroad it's a different story. Our luck is that we cannot give up and adapt fast to the situation.That way you can't intimidate us with challenges.  We give it our everything, to prove that we can do it! That's just our Dongo and Kranthoven mentality. We made it through the W.W.E tryouts. We didn't immediately get a result but now we have a developmental contract in our hands.  People think if you do the try-out a few days you are instantly on Monday night raw or on Smackdown. It doesn't work like that, it's a long process. To become a pro wrestler and make an appearance on a show you have to build up years of experience. It's like people practicing karate or judo that want to participate in Olympic sports. They are mostly people who have trained for at least 8 to 10 years with competition experience.  The tryout is simply to see if you want to do it if it is something you want to do for the next 10 to 20 years.  After that, they will form you within six months. Those six months are actually shortened. After six months you are introduced to W.W. E NXT (an American t.v. show about professional wrestling). You become a W.W.E NXT superstar, then they will form you with time. Maybe for a year or two after that, you are placed in the main roster ( Personal appearing on Monday night raw and SmackDown live ).  " NXT is the practicing ground to reach the top according to Donovan Dongo. " Our feedback was that the tryout group we were in had 45 athletes from which a lot of them were pro NFL ( National Football League in America) players who weren't under contract at that moment, world-class CrossFit athletes, Brazilian Jujitsu Champion, freestyle wrestling athlete who is a part of the American Olympic team, yeah there were a lot of professional athletes there. And we were Surinamese boys from Paramaribo, from the Hogestraat Frimangrong! Who just did a bit of sport here and there, but because we give our all when it comes to the competition we looked like pro athletes as well.  We really looked like pro athletes because I and my younger brother Leandro really dominated in almost all of the training aspects. That is something that I can indeed say. Especially with power and condition, we didn't make Suriname's name fall.  We didn't go with the mindset that we were going to attend for the experience.  F**k that, we went intending to get a contract and we made it. So now we are heading towards the next step. That is to train there for six months, gain wrestling experience in the ring.  And then you will see us after let's say a year on t.v.  You're going to see the Surinamese flag on W.W.E NXT. We are going to realize the dream for Suriname.  For the young people, for everyone, for our friends. Everyone is supporting us, if I say that we didn't get any support from our country then I am lying. "

Indeed a proud moment for Suriname, and this Surinamese blogger is happy to report on it. Storytime wishes the Dongo brothers a lot of luck on their journey. I can't wait to see our local boys from around the block on W.W.E NXT. They have made us proud up until now, and are slowly making their dreams come true. This shows that Surinamese people are talented and that we have a whole world outside of us to reach. We can learn from the Dongo brothers to never give up on your dreams and keep giving it your all. After all, there are a lot of talented people from Suriname doing great things around the world. But that's for another edition of the storytime hint.