WWE superstars, D-backs visit Phoenix school to help announce WWE's partnership with UNICEF

WWE superstar Bayley is a favorite among kids, and she does a lot of WWE community-related events that are kid-centered.

But Bayley wasn't prepared for what she was about to experience at Valencia Newcomer School in Phoenix on Monday, one day after she competed at the WWE Royal Rumble at Chase Field.

"I didn’t know this morning that I was going to come to a school like this," she said. "It’s making me very emotional."

Bayley was one of several WWE superstars who stopped by Valencia in Phoenix on Monday to help launch WWE's new partnership with UNICEF Kid Power, a series of interactive programs designed to help young children learn, improve social skills and be physically active. The program will reach over 7,000 schools across the United States.

Valencia is home to over 100 kids who have been lifted out of difficult situations in nations around the world. At Valencia, they learn to speak English and gain other vital skills.

Bayley and other WWE superstars created exercise videos for the UNICEF Kid Power program. Part of their visit to Valencia included a discussion of dreams they have for themselves and the world.

Bayley became emotional after the kids she spoke with wished for the fulfillment of basic needs for others, rather than for themselves.

"These kids are wishing for safe homes and food for families, not even for themselves. They came here from another country and don’t know anything, and that’s what they wish for in their hearts. I really needed that today," she said. "It’s really cool to see a whole school come together and just see people care about something else, something real."

Fellow WWE superstar No Way Jose was just as impressed with the children he met at Valencia.

"It wasn’t even about themselves. They wanted their classmates and everybody else to have everything," he said. "It’s pretty cool. I didn’t even know a school like this existed until today."

Jose used to be a teacher himself, so he knows just how valuable the teachers at Valencia are in molding the minds of children -- especially those who have had difficult beginnings to their lives.

"Teachers are the most underappreciated people, I feel like, because they do so much to sort of shape and mold a child’s life," he said. "These teachers are just excited, happy. They know what these kids have been through, and they just make them feel like they belong. It’s just a great atmosphere to be around, and the teachers create that."

The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation has donated $5,000 toward the UNICEF Kid Power program. Valencia was the first school to benefit from the program, but it will soon be spread to other schools in Arizona.

"They’re normal kids. They’re human beings, and lot of them have come through different challenges to come to where they’re at right now, but for us, to spend some time with them, the human being aspect comes into it," Gonzalez said. "For us to spend time with them and do some dance moves and work up a little lather here in the morning was a lot of fun."

Indeed, Gonzo, along with Bayley, Jose, fellow WWE superstar Tyler Breeze and WWE community ambassador Dana Warrior, tried out some of the dance/exercise videos with the kids, including No Way Jose's own video that he made for the program.

"The fact that we were able to be able for that — I don’t know. Life works in crazy ways and the universe works in awesome ways, so I’m just happy that I got to be here and be a part of UNICEF Kid Power Up videos that we did a while ago and just watch the kids’ smiles, honestly," Bayley said. "Seeing them excited just to do that was life-changing."

For as much as Bayley does for kids who look up to her, the kids at Valencia did even more for her Monday morning.

"It’s really watching them smile and sing along and enjoy their company together. You can’t find it anywhere else," she said. "We get wrapped up in so many different things, and you can think it’s all about a career, but it’s really about working with people like UNICEF and coming to meet kids like this."