Credit a brotherhood (and inspiration from the WWE) for the rise of Drexel wrestler Mickey O’Malley

Mickey O’Malley has his brother Sean to thank for his success.

And the World Wrestling Entertainment to thank for serving as inspiration.

As a standout wrestler in the 174-pound weight class for Drexel, O’Malley says the support he gets from his brother Sean, who doubles as his Dragons teammate as a redshirt senior in the 197-pound division, has made the difference.

“I convinced my brother to start wrestling with me, and we’ve been doing it ever since,” said Mickey before the start of the Dragons season. “It was a good choice, and it got us into a great school.”

Last season, O’Malley finished second in USA Wrestling’s Under-23 World Team Trials. This season he hopes to go one step further. O’Malley decided to start wrestling when he was around 5 years old, citing the WWE as his main inspiration. Despite his style of wrestling being nothing like the dramatics of the WWE, O’Malley still found a love for the sport and has continued on with it ever since.

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O’Malley says one of the determining factors in choosing Drexel was that his brother was already here.

“I looked into a few other schools, but I ended up choosing Drexel,” he said. “I liked the idea of being with my brother, not being too far from home, and I liked the team and the coaches.”

Now entering his fifth year, O’Malley realizes how important it has been to have his brother alongside him.

“He holds me accountable for what I need to do, and I do the same for him,” said O’Malley. “You can mess around with your friends, but when it comes down to it, nobody has your back like your brother. If I’m not doing something right, he will tell me to straighten up, whether it’s with school or wrestling. It can be hard to stay focused with our long season, so he always makes sure to keep me on the path. He helps me stay in line.”

O’Malley won a title at the Pan American Championships when he was in high school in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., and qualified to represent the United States at the under-20 World Team Wrestling Championships, although it was canceled because of the pandemic. His second-place finish at the U-23 World Team Trials in June qualified him as an alternate at the World Championships in Spain in October.

Looking forward, O’Malley trusts that his hard work will pay off, saying that his “goal every year is to do better than the year before.”

“Everybody wants to be a national champion, but I like to be realistic and evaluate my performances [from the year before],” said O’Malley. “Last year I went to nationals and I lost in the round of 12, so my goal is to win one more match at nationals, which would make me an All-American.”

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For O’Malley, success is not something that can be accredited to just one area of his life.

“I think my success comes down to a little bit of everything. It comes from being a kid wrestling every day of the week, having my brother pushing me every day, to always having a great group of coaches, and to everyone supporting me.”