As Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman prepares for a National Championship showdown against his Alma Mater, Ohio State University, the Orange Bowl-winning head coach has been asked about pretty much everything one can think about, from his potential NFL future to the game's current conditions, and… WWE?

That's right, in a recent media session before the big game, Freeman revealed that he and now his whole family are huge fans of WWE, with his time playing alongside James Laurinaitis at OSU helping to further fortify his lifelong appreciation for the squared circle.

“Yeah, I grew up a wrestling fan, and he came in the year after I got to Ohio State, and when I found out that the son of The Animal was coming in, it was, uh… I was a fan, you know? I always wrestled and, you know, we did go to a lot of WrestleMania's together, I can't remember how many, but now my kids are fans so it's weird. If we can get to a wrestling event, I can take my kids, we try to,” Marcus Freeman told reporters.

“We went to one in Chicago, I can't remember when it was, a couple of months ago, it might have been before the season, but we went to a Friday Night SmackDown event in Chicago.”

Welp, that's certainly unexpected, to the point where WWE even shared the video on their official social media with Roman Reigns' “We the Ones!” hand gesture. But what keeps Freeman coming back now, when he's one of the biggest stars in college football and has a long and fruitful career ahead of him in his chosen profession? Well, it's the confluence of his own childhood and the childhood he's making for his kids.

“I grew up watching, I don't know, I like the characters. You know. I think at different phases you enjoy different things. When I was young, everything was real, you know? I ended up thinking, idolizing the Hulk Hogans and Ultimate Warriors and al l of those guys and then I got to go to the WrestleManias with James and I got to know some of the people, now it's about seeing my kids happy. If my kids want to go see wrestling, as a father I'll try to do that.”

Welp, there you go, folks; Freeman was a fan of Hulk Hogan and Warrior, became part of the extended family via his relationship with Laurinaitis, and now almost certainly has at least one WWE Superstar's number in his phone. While only time will tell if Freeman gets to add National Champion to his resume on Monday, it's clear he won't have to pay for a ticket to WrestleMania this spring in Las Vegas, as he just became a certified part of the family who is grandfathered into the WWE Universe.