“Stand clear of the closing doors, please.”

If you’re a New Yorker, you probably read that sentence in the exact same cadence and tempo of Charlie Pellett, the iconic voice of the New York City subway system.

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Millions of people ride the subway every day. Whether they’re heading to work, out to meet friends, or just need to get from point A to point B, it’s one of the most reliable forms of transportation there is — yes, even you, L train.

For born-and-raised New Yorkers like Tim Rivera, the subway is ingrained in their DNA.

“I take the train every day and I have been since I was a kid,” Rivera told Uncrowned. “My life revolves around the train. Everything I’ve experienced has involved the train. Going to the movie theater, hanging out with friends — it always involved the train.”

Rivera’s internet claim to fame also just so happens to have a direct link to the subway, as the Spanish Harlem-born video editor is the creator and one of the stars of SubwayMania, the viral wrestling sensation that stages wrestling matches on the same trains that carry millions of New York commuters during rush hour.

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When it comes to Rivera, 29, the idea for SubwayMania was born from a high-school graduation present. Rivera’s mother bought him a replica, “Attitude Era” WWE championship belt (not the Winged Eagle, he specifically clarifies) more than a decade ago, and he envisioned a playful cosplay segment involving The Rock and X-Pac. Initially planned as a one-off, the 2016 video eventually led to the first match in SubwayMania’s history — then branded Subway Slam.

“I’ve always been doing content, always trying to find my niche, but I always loved wrestling,” Rivera said. “One day, I thought it would be funny if my friend — who played The Rock — if he just posed on the train as if the corner of the train was the turnbuckle, holding the championship belt. I love storytelling and skits so I decided to push myself and do a whole segment on the train — cutting a promo and whatnot. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but I posted it and it went viral. People wanted a match because it’s what we were hyping up. It was just for giggles though. They wanted us to wrestle on the train, I wasn’t sure how we were going to do it, but we did it.”

Anyone who relies on public transportation knows there are certain pitfalls you may need to navigate — delays, crowds, etc. — and that’s just your standard commute. Even though the New York City subway system is no stranger to entrepreneurial endeavors — train cars have long served as stages for musicians, dance floors for aspiring performers, or even makeshift bodegas where you can buy anything from candy to churros to batteries — pulling off an entire wrestling match presents Rivera and his team with an entirely new set of challenges, especially as the operation and production has become more complex.

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“Nobody else could really pull this off,” Rivera said. “How do I know what stops are crowded, what stops are low-key, what trains to use? You have the 4, 5, 6 trains, those train cars are smaller than the 7 train or N, Q and R. How do I know this? I’m not out here Googling what train cars are bigger. It’s through experience, life. There are times where it can be tough. Not every SubwayMania is 100 percent guaranteed, but with my team, especially throughout the years, we’re all from New York and have confidence, we prep, we plan and rehearse our stuff — that way, when we do shoot it, it’s less than 10 minutes and that’s it.”

That first Subway Slam video generated 55,000 views, with the resulting match nearly doubling that number. The exponential growth continued a year later as Rivera created another train match, this time a full-on Royal Rumble, with eliminations happening at actual subway stations. The Subway Royal Rumble’s 285,000 streams paled in comparison to what happened in 2019 as WWE brought WrestleMania to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and Rivera’s creation fully exploded, with the first branded SubwayMania video drawing more than 2 million views on YouTube alone. The success has even permeated to the props, as the old replica WWE belt has since been swapped for a custom SubwayMania one.

“With WrestleMania coming [to the area in 2019], I said we needed SubwayMania, and that one really went crazy,” Rivera said. “The name stuck, too. I just kept going — let’s see what else we could do on the train. It’s being creative and pushing the boundaries, there’s always more.”

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That penchant for more also presents new hurdles. A traditional WWE wrestling ring measures 20 feet by 20 feet. The average New York City Subway car has a width that is half that, not accounting for seating and dozens of straphangers who may be onboard. As SubwayMania has grown, Rivera and his crew have upped the ante in the sense that chairs, ladders and even tables have been introduced.

While Rivera isn’t a trained wrestler himself, the other talent in the videos do have professional training. Rivera’s friends, three wrestlers who go by the monikers of Lex Gunz, Deadkid and Mahdi Ladjo, play various characters in the SubwayMania universe, from referees to Kevin Owens to The Undertaker. They’re in a faction together outside of SubwayMania on the independent wrestling circuit and that experience allows them take on key roles in planning the matches.

“[The guys I work with] are trained and go by ‘The Cult’ faction,” Rivera said. “Deadkid and Justin are from Harlem. Deadkid was onboard from the beginning and I was trying to get the other two and they eventually started doing it. They help a lot, they teach me moves, me and my boy Spag, we just do [SubwayMania] but we know how to sell. I’m in the wrestling scene but I never wanted to be a wrestler, I guess I just do it on the subway.”

SubwayMania has opened doors — pun intended — for Rivera as a wrestling content creator, even earning him recognition from WWE and executives Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Nick Khan in the process. Rivera met Levesque and Khan in a chance work encounter last year and he happened to be wearing a SubwayMania shirt at the time. Arguably the two most powerful men in WWE knew of the videos and offered him tickets to WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia. A year later, Rivera — cosplaying as Jey Uso — managed to be featured in the “Showcase of the Immortals,” thanks to SubwayMania.

“In April we were featured on WrestleMania 41,” Rivera said. “I was here watching with my partner and I’m laying down with her and I just saw myself and we lost it. I sometimes wonder, how did I get here? From the subway to being part of WrestleMania.”

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SubwayMania has also become an unofficial right of passage for pro wrestlers who come through New York City. In the past month alone, Matt and Jeff Hardy, Mike Santana and TNA President Carlos Silva all took part in SubwayMania, with Jeff Hardy making his maiden voyage on the New York City subway system.

“It’s been really cool. I feel like SubwayMania has been a blessing for me,” Rivera said. “I believe [the success is about] consistency and continuing to innovate. Matt Hardy said that on his podcast and it’s true — nobody is doing what I do. On top of that, having the creativity with the cosplay, the moves, the commentary, the camera angles, the video editing — I edit all my stuff — it feels like a real wrestling match. It’s never been done before the way I’m doing it. It’s consistency, quality and the fans sharing it, that’s what is getting wrestlers and legends to want to be a part of this.”

With WWE SummerSlam 2025 taking place this weekend at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, SubwayMania and Rivera will certainly have a presence. Rivera is hosting an event alongside professional wrestler Big Swole called Summer Bash, which is run by the people behind WaleMania. Rivera declined to divulge the details as to who may appear on the inevitable SubwayMania segments, and instead did what any good wrestling promoter does: Sell for his promotion.

“It’s cosplay and we’re paying homage,” he said, “but also this has added the factor that you never know who is coming through those doors.”