September 27, 2023 • 39 mins
Welcome to Unbreakable! A mental health podcast hosted by Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer. On today’s episode, WWE Superstar Mike "The Miz" Mizanin takes Jay inside the ropes for a chat unlike any other.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome into Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer.
I'm Jay Glazer, and today, before I get to him, though,
I have a really special trend. Close friend of mine
used to be a training partner of mine and this
guy is like reinvented himself over and over and over
and over what the great ones do. Before I get
to him, I just want to chime and the start
here from our sponsor. If you're like many people, you
(00:35):
may be surprised to learn that one in five adults
in this country experienced mental illness last year. Get far
too many failed to receive the support they need. Carolyn,
behavioral health is doing something about it. They understand the
behavioral health is a key part of whole health, delivering
compassionate care that treats physical, mental, emotional, and social needs.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
In tantem, CAROLM.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Behavioral health raising the quality of life through empathy and action.
Action is probably the best way I can describe my
friend coming in here. It is the one and only
the Miss ww Star, Hollywood Star Reality TV star like
I could say that resent what's called from back in
the day. But man, just an overall great dude. We
used to train together in a breakable performance center. Man,
(01:17):
he is one of my favorite dudes. And he's also
the man who led the Cleveland Browns out of the
tunnel for their first opening game win this year against
the Cincinnati Bevegels.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
And I'm thinking that's probably what you're most proud of
these days, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I mean, let me tell you, by the way, what
an introduction? Oh my gosh. I mean, it's like you've
been doing this for years.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
I mean, maybe you can come to WW and just
introduce me all day every day.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Let's go. But yes, Like, let me tell you something.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
When they called the Cleveland Browns call and say, hey,
would you like to be the dog Pound Captain? And
what you get to do as a dog Pound captain
is you take a guitar. Obviously the Rockerball Hall of
Fame is in Cleveland. You take a guitar with the
opposing team on it, like there at logo like it
was the the Cincinnati Bengals, it said whoda on it,
(02:03):
and you slam it up against an amplifier and smoke
comes out of it and you just break a guitar.
It's like every kid's dream, and so I got to
actually do that for the home opener, and what a
game it was in the rain. Just the Browns like
people are like, oh, same old Browns. This isn't the
same old Browns. That defense is revamped, revitalized and took
(02:25):
Joe Burrow out. And so it was a fun game
to watch, fun game to be there in person. Whether
it was raining or sunshine, I don't care to see
the Browns and the way they conducted themselves during that
game was unbelievable and.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Had dominated the Cincinnati Bengals. I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
What was a bit of rush for you?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Like you headline WrestleMania one, You're right, headline of WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Were this experience?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Come on, I mean anytime you could headline WrestleMania, be
the main event and you go up against John Cena
and you're the WWE Champion and you walk in the
ww Champion and you walk out the WWE Champion. And
by the way, the Rock the biggest movie star in
the world, was involved in that match. I mean, that's
one of the most memorable moments I've ever had. Unfortunately,
I actually don't actually remember it because I got a
(03:10):
concussion at the end of the match, and so yeah,
it was it was crazy, like my head hit the
cement and I just I kind of like I have
little like the one moment you always want to remember
for the rest of your life is the one moment.
I have bits and pieces that I remember, but I
don't remember, if that makes any sense at all.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Of course, Hey, you're talking to the guy who's been
could cussed quite a bit. Absolutely, yeah, Harry Man. So
so you could cuss. When do you kind of come
to and realize what it's just happened? Later on?
Speaker 5 (03:41):
No, yeah, so so later on that night, I would say,
I remember going back into the gorilla position, as we
call it, which is right when you go out whenever
we go out into the audience under the ramp, we
leave a place called the gorilla position where all the
people are telling you, you know, your music goes, and
that's where the entrance to the ramp is and that's
where you.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Go back into.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
So once I hit the gorilla position, I remember being
in there and I think I was like apologizing profusely
like I messed everything up because that was concussed I
I don't remember anything, so I imagined I messed the
whole main event of WrestleMania. Luckily I didn't, and it
came off like perfectly, and not many people knew exactly
what was going on except for the professionals that were
(04:23):
in there. I was very fortunate to have someone like
the Rock and John Cena and even Mike Yoda who
was the referee in there to kind of guide me
safely throughout the whole the whole time we were in there.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
They know that you're not they like helped you through.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Yeah, So basically everyone was guided safely throughout this entire
thing and made sure that I was able to do
what I needed to do without the audience knowing because
we're live. This is the main event, right, you know,
And yeah, you're at the.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Super Bowl and you got to you don't want to leave.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
And by the way, I don't have fifty two other
or fifty two people to rely on.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
It's just me and the people that are in that ring.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
So it's me, Sina Rock and Mike Kyota are the
only people that we can rely on, and obviously the
trainers and everyone and the doctors are all there and
everyone's making sure that I can get through that match
and go through what I need to do. But by
the way, it was at the end of the match,
so luckily it was kind of all over.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
But I just remember going to the girl position.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
I remember being back there being like, wow, I think
I messed up everything. And then I remember going back
to the trainer, everyone getting me okay.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
I remember going back talking.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
With my wife Maurice and just being like and she's
just like, you did great, you did great. But I
was like, not necessarily depressed, but it was like a god.
I remember the next day everything was just foggy, and
I was like, wow, like everything's just kind of foggy.
And but now, like I look at look back on it,
and I watched that match. It's hard to watch, but
(05:52):
it's like it went off without a hitch diat.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
What's that?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Why is it hard to watch?
Speaker 5 (05:58):
I don't know, you don't I don't like seeing my
self concussed to you.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh you you say in the end, okay at that.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Part, Okay, Yeah, maybe I'm.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Seeing myself locked out quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, when you originally got into to wrestle, right, what's
more taxing on you?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
The developmental league for the big leagues.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
You know, it's so it's it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
So I started in California a place called in El
Segondo called UPW Ultimate Pro Wrestling, and I paid like
twenty five hundred dollars to learn the art of professional wrestling,
and they taught me how how to do for the arts,
you know, what I have to do in the ring
to succeed. Finally, I got on a show called Tough Enough,
which was a reality show where you could win a
contract to WW. I didn't win, I got second place,
(06:41):
but I impressed the execs so much that they gave
me a contract to our developmental system, which was brand
new at the time called Deep South Wrestling. So I
went to McDonough, Georgia, moved from LA, packed up all
my stuff, moved to McDonagh, Georgia, and started training under
Bill DeMott. And I swear to you every day I
would go, one more day, you can do it, one
(07:03):
more day, you can do it, like because your body
is aching and there it's almost it almost felt like
they're trying to break you because they're preparing you for
what you have to get ready for to get into
Monday night Raw, Friday night SmackDown.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Is this guy in love with the business does he?
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Is he here for the right reasons or is he
just here to be famous or money? And I'm a
guy off a reality show, so everyone expected me to
just be like, I'm here to be famous.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I don't love this business, but.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
I did truly genuinely love the art of professional wrestling.
I've loved it since I was a child. I loved
the ultimate warrior, you know, PAULK. Hogan, Macho Man, Randy Savage,
like these were all my heroes, my idols growing up,
and so to be able to do what they were doing,
I wanted to put it full force. So going to
McDonough it was tough training, like very very tough. I
(07:51):
remember sweating, breathing heavy every day, thinking, man, should I
just quit? Should I just give up? I mean, can
my body take it? Can my mind take it? Mentally
and physically?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Can I do this? I don't know if I can.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
And every day going one more day, you can do it,
one more day, you can do it, one more day,
you can do it. And so finally I was six
months there, I became the first ever Deep South Heavyweight champion,
and once I was there, one of the sayings that
they would say was if you can sell out in
I guess you could say the developmental system, because we'd
have shows every Thursday. We would have a show, and
(08:25):
if you could sell out this show, which is like
two three hundred people, then you go to the next territory.
And that's the old school way. There was territories everywhere,
and superstars would go from territory to territory to sell
out everywhere. If you could sell out everywhere, then you're
a bona fide worldwide superstar. So when I was World
Heavyweight Champion or Deep South Evyweight Champion, we were selling
(08:47):
out every show.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
So then they moved me.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
To Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville because I was there
for six months in Deep South, moved.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Me to Louisville, and so we went.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
To Louisville, and it was tough because I was a
good guy at Deep South Wrestling.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
I was a good guy and by the way, that's
all I knew.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
So when I went to Ohio Valley Wrestling, they hated
me because I was this guy from real world and
it was a little bit. It was a different territory,
different audience, different people. So now I had to learn
how to utilize this audience like I did down at
Deep South. Because Deep South it was like, oh, it
just came to me. Now I actually had to really
work and try to figure out this audience. That's where
(09:25):
Paul Hayman came up to me and he goes, you
know why this isn't working? And I was like, nah, yeah, yeah,
and he goes, You're not a good guy, and I
go what do you mean. He goes, you're a heel,
which is a bad guy as a term for bad
guy in our world, and I.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Was like, I don't know. He goes, watch.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
So Paul and I sat down and we came up
with a promo and I went out there and I
don't think I've been a good guy for the last
twenty years in WWE because of that moment, that one
moment where Paul was like, you're not.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
A good guy, You're a bad guy.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
And from there I went six months in Ohio Valley Wrestling.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
We were selling out every night and they brought.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Me up to smack down as like the host, and
I didn't want to be a host.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I want to be like you know, I want.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
To be a guy that puts asses in seats, you know,
I want to be the guy that people.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Paid tickets for. And a host.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Being the next Ryan Seacrests is not going to do
it in ww A credit Ryan Seacrests very talented person,
no doubt.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
In my mind.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
But I want to be like the biggest star in WWE,
not a host. But I figured if they can give
me a microphone, no problem. I can set myself up
and make sure that they want to punch me or
beat me up or do whatever to where they have
to get me in the ring. And that's exactly kind
of what happened. So you asked, like a long story short,
what's harder developmental or being in WWE. It's all tough
(10:45):
if you want to be a superstar in any sport,
in anything that you are doing. The developmental is very
difficult because you're trying to learn the process and your
brain is absorbing something brand new.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
But once you're there and you know what you're doing,
you're still learning. And I'm still even twenty years to
this day, I'm still a sponge. I'm still absorbing everything
I learned from so many people. When you introduced me
to Sean.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
McVay, and it was before he won the Super Bowl,
before when he first got a coach, you had him
working out with me and I was like, wow, this
guy is so young and he's the head coach of
the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
I mean, this is crazy.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
And then once I worked out with him, I was like, wow,
I will run through a wall with this guy like
this is this There's there's something special about him. And
so from that day I was learning. I took something
from that day and then sitting down with dinners that
you've that you've brought me to with him, talking to him,
having conversation with it, with him, his motivation, his dedication.
(11:42):
You could see the star power of why he is
a head coach and a successful head coach on who
he is because when you work at it, when you
work at your job, when you work at your profession,
and you keep working no matter what, and you're always learning,
always progressing and learning from everybody.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
It's a tough question. It's the hardest. There's no hardest.
It's all hard if you want to be successful.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I got two.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Questions off of that before we do that we gotta
talk about the just real sign on here, the coincidence
of coincidences. I hope these two guys up to go
work out on breakables great place because everybody trains together.
I had John Lynch training with Sliced alone. I have
the you know, Rock is coming in there, going with
this person.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
I meet you. You come to one of my parties,
right and I meet you for the first time.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
You're like, come to my gym. You're gonna love it.
I'm like, ah, yeah, whatever. So I call you. I go, hey,
do you mind if I stop by? Yeah, sure, no problem.
I walk in. Sofessor Solon is sitting there just doing shrugs,
and I'm like, what is this place?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
This is absolutely nuts.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Like every celebrity you could possibly think of is like there,
or athlete like Terrell Owens is there, like on the
running machine like slides over here doing shrugs.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
You know you have you have Levano's kicking.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I'm like, what is this place? Like all all different
walks of life. It's not just sports, it's not music,
it's not just it's everything. And I was like, this
is the greatest gym I've ever seen in my entire life.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Because everyone was by the way, no one was a
superstar there.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Everyone was like it's almost like a family, and everyone
like kind of gelled together. And what the thing I
loved most about Unbreakable that what you did was the
merging vets and players. You would have all these veterans
come in on like a certain day. I think it
was like a Wednesday, and I'll never forget I'll never
forget Wit coming in And it was the first time
(13:31):
I ever met Wit Whitworth and uh, he had always
like he was he was talking to these these these
kids and all these people that were there were vets,
like there were kids, there were older people, and everyone
was just talking about their story and what they're dealing with.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And Wit was so honest and so.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
So involved, and it was just it was a very cool,
just thing that that that I got to experience and
be there with and hear their stories and make me
appreciate our vets even more than I already did.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And I've been Diraq, I've been.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
I've done shows, I've done tours with us, so but
to be in there in that gym and work out
with the veterans and you give them a place to.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Kind of open up and and kind of.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Tell their story and look at the support system that
they had.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
I appreciate that, bro. Yeah, and it looks it's not
a gym, it's a mental health place.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
We're a community and we're.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
A family, and especially it's a scarier world. But the
thing that I set him up with Chris jul And
who's a linebacker coach with the Rounds right now and
Sean McVay. Right, you guys start talking and you're like, hey,
whre'd you go to school?
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I went to Miamia Maha, right, and then I went
to Miamibleau. Where'd you go? You guys know you lived
in the same building.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Right, I know we lived in We lived in Sim's dorm.
And then not only that, Like I was like, do
you ever go to attractions?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Did you ever go to First Run?
Speaker 5 (14:52):
And we were like stadium and we're like talking, Like
I was like, what is this?
Speaker 4 (14:56):
This is crazy?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
See if people I don't know that Missus Shavin went
to the same school, live in the same dorm.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
People have no idea my lie.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Of Ohio, baby, my Moe of Ohio.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
So how much were you getting paid? In the Developmental
League for a week.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Oh gosh. Ever then, yeah, back then, not much. I
mean you were getting paid. So I think, honestly, I
think from the real world.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
So when I was on the Real World, and obviously
before I was in WWE, I was on a show
called The Real World, very popular show on MTV. I
did all the challenges, So I was winning these challenges.
So I was making quite a bit of money back then,
like I would make if you'd win a challenge, you'd
make like fifty grand. And then I would go do
college tours where I would get paid like anywhere from
(15:37):
fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars to do motivational speeches.
Now I didn't graduate from mine in Ohio, but Real
World is so much like college that colleges would pay
me to come motivate their students.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
And I looked at it as a way to cut promos.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
You know, learn how to cut promos, how do you
you know, hone my craft in a different way to
get an audience. And thousands of people would come and
you know, watch these speeches that I would do from
the schools. I went to every college you can think of.
It was crazy. And then I'd also do like I
get paid to go do host parties.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
So I was getting paid a lot.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
But then also I created a merchandise line where I
had T shirts because I saw that WWE, you know,
their superstars had T shirts, and I figured, well, if
they have T shirts, I'm going to make my own
T shirts and show that I can sell T shirts.
So I would wear these T shirts on the challenges
and then I would sell them. So if anyone ever
got a b MIS T shirt that was off my website,
(16:33):
then they were getting it from me.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Like I was stuffing these T shirts in and posting.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Them and taking them all to the to the post
office every single week.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
It was. It was crazy. So I was making a
lot of money. I was making six figures.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
When I got in developmental, I was I took a
pay cut because I wanted to. I said, I can
take a pay cut in this because I am. I
believe that I can make more, and so I invested
in myself. I've always invested in myself. Some people were like,
you know, oh, when I want to challenge my first challenge,
I moved to LA I paid for acting classes inprov
(17:07):
classes and learning the art of profession wrestling u PW
wrestling classes.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
So and then I also was like, all.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Right, we're do all like the big world trainers Golds Gym.
So I was in Santa Monica at the time. This
was before Unbreakable, by the way, And so I was
in Santa Monica.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Where do you go the mecca?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
You go to golds Gym, right, and so worked out there,
got a nutritionist. So I invested all my money that
I would make into myself. I bought all these T
shirts ahead of time and got them like three dollars
a T shirt and sold them for like fifteen bucks
a T shirt, and so I would make money off
of them. But it wasn't necessarily to make money. It
was necessary to promote myself and get people talking about
(17:45):
me and get to people talking about that. So ww'd
see that WVI did see that. They gave me a contract.
I took a pay cut, went to mcdonne a Georgia.
Then I went to Louisville, and then from Louisville, I
got like into WWE and started making the money that
I thought I could possibly make.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And I want people to hear the aults because the
secret to success is outwork in the world and being
miserable and broke and getting turned down and rejected for
years and years.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
My first Super Bowl I covered nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
The New York Post said, if you can get yourself
down there, we'll pay you two hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
But I to write eight stories for two hundred fifty bucks.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And the New York One TV said, if you get
yourself down there, we'll give you one hundred and fifty
dollars for three hits from four hundred and fifty bucks total.
So I got myself down there, but I don't remember
how I get myself because I was making.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Nine grand a year during that time.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
I was.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
So I can tell you how you got down there,
and I don't even know the story.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
I know you, Jay, So I got down the Emperor.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
You're you're a people person, and you're just a likable
human being.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I appreciate, and I remember I got the plate.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
You have an amazing ability to bring people together and
to unite people, and I've never seen anyone do it
as well as you. So when you say I don't know,
oh I got down there, I knew he tech. Now
you got down there, you met one guy this guy
was like, oh, let me introduce you to my buddy here.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Oh okay, I jay, I am saying, And all of
a sudden, there you.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Are on the floor or on the field, and and
how did I get there?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Because you're just a people person and that's what.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
You got to do, right. But that's but my point
is it's the grind, Like you got to put that
grind in. I had to put that grind.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
People nowadays they're like, oh my gosh, they're so in
the time because it doesn't happen for them.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Overnight. Shit does not happen overnight.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Min was eleven years worth, making nine thousand, fours and
fifty bucks a fucking year until I finally got a
job for fifty grand for CBS.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
That was bleep.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
But this again, I invested in myself. You invested in
yourself by deciding to outwork the world. The other question
I have for you as you realize that you're laying
a success is to be the heel. Okay, that is
such a rare trait. So I'm a sensitive Now.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Do you have a face like this? I have a
very coachable face.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, that's what I'm saying. I'm sensitive. Shit like I broke,
you know, Look, I break the story. You know, I
remember that one year up broke. You know, Jive's gonna
trade O'Dell Beckham and I got murdered, and so did
every one of the followers. An unbreakable people just destroying,
like holy shit ball and I can't I've sent him.
I can't take you like that. How are you able
to like departmentalize and take the hate that you're making
(20:16):
sure you get.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
There's a lot of people in you know, even in
WW right now that do not like getting hated on,
do not like getting booed.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
They love the cheers. They live for the cheers. I
guess I'm different that way.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
I've always been a button pusher, and so if I
see a button, I'm gonna push it.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
And I enjoy the boot and I love the most
thank you, thank you. Yeah. Maybe I'm just I don't know.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Maybe I'm just confident with myself and my ability and
know that I am truly genuinely always doing right. I
feel like, but my character in WWE is a bad guy, egotistical, arrogant.
But there's a reason that he and I always think
about like mentally, all right, what's going on? In the
miss's brain, like the mis character in WW, why is
(21:01):
he acting the way he's acting? And the main reason
I always come up with is I never got the
respect I feel like I've ever deserved. And when I
walk out there and people are booing me, you shouldn't
be booing me, you should be booing the guy, like,
why are you booing me? When the guy across the
ring from me, my opponent, the person I'm going up against,
has done X, Y and Z, And whenever I do X,
(21:22):
Y and Z the same thing, you boo me, but
you cheer him. So this person can can do something
the same thing I do, and you cheer him, and
then I get booed. So that's all the mentality in there.
And I never take anything I guess too seriously and
it just doesn't bother me. I'll go on X and
I'll look at all the comments, just the hatred or
the misstucks. I can't stand him. He's nothing. It motivates me,
(21:46):
it feels my fire. Oh my god, you're there.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I heard somebody do my own social media. I can't
do it. I can't look at them nothing. I can't
do it. Really, yeah, Oh absolutely say.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
I love the blaw I love the blogs, I love
the tweets or the axes, whatever you want to call them. Now,
like I enjoy reading all about the hatred and disdain.
And then whenever I find something that has really poked
the bear, I'll poke it even more and I'll find
more ammo for it in order ammunition, so they'll boo
(22:17):
me even more.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
What about in public?
Speaker 4 (22:19):
In public?
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Honestly, people don't hate me in public. When I went
to say, when I went to the Browns game as
the dog Pound captain, everyone.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Was like, moos, moos, moos.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I love you, I love you on Dancing with the Stars,
I love you on miss and missus. Oh my god,
blah blah blah, like oh, you're the worst. You're the
worst in WWA. But it's so much fun to hate you,
you know, it's like, oh, thank you. It's more implements
than anything else.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Really, Yeah, I'm not Yeah, I remember an accent. I've
never said that publicly, but I've broken the story.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
When we're in Arizona, the Patriots are flying in to
play the Seahawks, and again they didn'thit the Baltimore Sea
on and I've reported that as Patriots trunk playing. I
reported that they found who they accused of Tampa with
the balls for the flay cake, and then they have
the video of it, and they got these guys and
you know all those videos and with the time they landed, well, man,
(23:08):
we're down there and all these Patriots fans are hating me,
and I'm.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Like, ah, no problem, just don't dude, don't touch me.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And twice someone grabby and I end up snatching two
Patriot fans in front of my bosses at Fox. I
was just like, hey, hey, hey, you can't touch me.
And then one celebrity came and jumped my shit over.
Now I'm not gonna say his fucking name, but I
was like, hey, you fucking play a tough guy on TV.
Let's not get a roles mixed up here. But that's
(23:36):
why I was like, And so these are football fans.
They go a little nuts. So you've never had a
wrestling fan take it too.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Far with you? Not yet. No, I've never had that
that happen. I've been very fortunate in that instance.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
And I think our fans, they're very dedicated and very loyal.
I don't think our fans maybe they would do that,
but so far, I haven't had the experience of doing that.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Now.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
Granted I have been in and you know overseas where
someone threw a drink that I don't believe was a
drink at me and so we got I've had things
thrown at me in the ring, but I always take
that as a compliment to be honest that I'm doing
my job, that you're hating me as much. So, but
I've never had anyone throw at me. But I also
don't like hang out at the bars at two and
(24:20):
two three o'clock in the morning waiting for someone to
like kind of eg get on. If someone is, you know,
all whoop, well whoop missus us blah blah blah blah blah,
like I'll just be like, you know what, yes, you can,
good job perfect.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Does that make you happy? If that makes you happy, then.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
I'll just walk away because I'd rather I'd rather walk
away than then get a lawsuit from millions of dollars
because I elbowed someone in a mash fit or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I don't know what motivates you to constantly throughout your
life reinvent yourself.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
What motivates me to keep reinventing myself. I guess the
love of what I'm doing. I enjoy my job. People
are always like, you know, you're you're forty three years old,
you know, how are you How are you still going?
Speaker 4 (25:00):
And how are you still doing this? How are you
still loving it? It's because when you love your job,
it's not a job.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
And so I am always trying to always evolve and
figure out new ways to entertain.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
And have fun.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
It's like with WWE, it has such you know, it's
not just WWE in the ring. I mean, we have
shows now where it's like miss and Missus.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Now.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
I have a production company that we're developing shows. So
my wife and I are developing shows for other people
as well as ourselves. We have a couple of things
on the horizon that I can't really discuss, but it's
been great.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
You know.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
We started Mad Road Productions a couple of years ago,
and people have been you know, lining up to like
work with us, and so that's kind of cool. Yeah,
that's it's one of those things like I guess it's
always been since I was a kid, you know, when
I was you know, working at Mister Hero flipping Burgers,
working for my dad Drop and fries. You know, you
wanted to do something better. So I went to college,
(25:54):
and once I got onto college, I saw that you
could try out for the real road. Once I tried
out for the real world, it changed my mindset that
I could act do what I wanted to do and
not do what go against the green. I guess you
could say because once you once you go to high school,
you get to college. After college, you go back to
where you're from. You do your job, which is, you know,
whatever it is that you set out to do in college.
But real world changed my whole perspective on that and said,
(26:15):
if you have dreams, you can pursue them. So once
I got the dreams, I found the tools that I
needed to pursue my dreams. There's different tools that you
need to gather all so you can build the right
career that you want.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
And so that's exactly what I did. I worked my
butt off.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
I progressed and progressed until I made it to the WWE,
utilizing real World to evolve into a WWE superstar. Then
going to WWE and evolving my character from you know
this reality star to the Hollywood A lister to oh
now he's got his own reality show. Now he's a
two time the only, like, the first ever two time
(26:53):
Grand Slam champion the history of WWE. It's not The Rock,
it's not Austin, it's not Hogan, it's not Sean Michaels,
it's not John Cena. I'm the first ever two time
Grand Slam champion in the history of WWE. And most
people wouldn't know that, but it's the truth, and it's
crazy to me. And so how do I keep evolving?
All Right, You've done everything there is to do in WWE, No,
(27:14):
I haven't. In my mind, I always want to be
number one. I always want to be the WWE Champion.
I always want to be the main event of Wrestlemanian.
If I'm not there, I'm working my butt off to
get there. And then how am I evolving from that?
I'm evolving outside of WWE, doing the reality shows, doing
the production company, doing the movies, doing the TV shows,
acting all these.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Other things like I have.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
I mean, honestly, I wrote I wrote a children's book
that I was like, oh, I have two kids, I'm
just going to write a book. And so every time
I was on the airplane flying to wherever, I would
just write this book, and so I wrote a book
and now we're doing the illustrations and trying to find
a publisher for it.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
So it's like my mind is always going.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
My mind is always trying to remain fresh and trying
to do exactly what I need to do to get
to where I want to be.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
And right now I'm very happy.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
That's incredible. So first of all, as far as you
publish here, we'll talk off line here. I got people
before it. And then when you're in the ring is
what I love about. Like I was looking at you're
in a ring, you go on these tangents. Right when
I'm on TV, I.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Do minute and a half minute hits, minute and a
half hits, right, I don't use teleprompter when I was
hosted for like UFC, I have to use teleprompter for
sponsors in but otherwise I'm Fox and novels that I
don't have teleprompter and we don't really rehearse. But again
we're just going in little sports, you're going for like
three minutes, like you're.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Going long, long, long. Even when I'm doing doing ballers,
I wasn't following my fucking scripts. I got the ADHD.
I can't follow my scripts. What do you do when
you go in? Are you have you scripted it out
or do you just have bullet points you kind of
know where you're going?
Speaker 4 (28:47):
How do you do it?
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Okay, so you say three minutes, I just had, like
I don't know how long ago, but I just did
a segment.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Where I interviewed John Cena.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
And you know how John Cena says, you can't see
you right, Well, John Cena wasn't there, but I interviewed
John Cena because you can't see him, but I can
because I've been able to see John Cena since I
beat him at WrestleMania. So I interviewed nothing and no
one for eight minutes and it was an It was an.
I even had a match with Air. I had a
match with Air with you can't see me John Cena,
(29:21):
I had a match with him put a skull crush
at finale. Like, how do I come up with these things?
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Is beyond me? Obviously, it's a team in WWE.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
You know, we have a lot of creative minds that
make sure that our show goes on without a hitch,
and to do something like that, to go out there
and literally have an interview with no one and make
it entertaining in front of and live. You only get
one take. And so do I memorize? I memorize a
certain portion of what I need to be memorized. But
(29:50):
a lot of times, and where you're out there, things change.
The audience isn't where they need to be. I need
the audience to be here to react a certain way.
If they're not reacting a certain way, I need to
figure out how to get them to react that way
to advance the story that I'm trying to portray and
to advance my character.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
So, yes, I have bullet points.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Yes, I have a script in my mind of where
I want to go and what I want to do
and what I want to say, and I'll go over
it and rehearse and rehearse, rehearse in my head, And
a lot of times when I go out there, it
changes because you don't know what the audience is going
to do.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
What do you rehearse it for half hour before? Do
you rehearse it for days? Do you rehearse it for no?
Speaker 4 (30:27):
No, no, half hour before? Right, it's not days?
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Do you want to past somebody else's w W? What
your script is going to be.
Speaker 5 (30:34):
Everything is run past like yeah, some of it, yes,
But whenever you go out there and it's live and
you have to change everything up, you can't go back
and say, hey, I'm going to try this.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
You just kind of do it out there.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
But you got to work beforehand and come in and say, okay, yeah,
here's where I want to go. It's not like you
just showing up like you know, no yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean me and Brad Yeah, no, you can.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
We have we have storylines in place, we have larger
than like characters. This is like you know, a soap
opera if you will, you know, and so we have
stories that we have to portray. So obviously, all right,
what's the story we're trying to tell? And how do
we get from A to B all the way to
where we need to go, which is usually our pinnacle
is a match?
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Did they tell you this is a story we need
you to go with or do you say do you
try and sell it to them?
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Hey, this is everything.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
There's a lot of creative minds in this business where
everyone is trying to put forth the best shows possible.
So I'll put forth creative. Sometimes it's taken other times
it's not. And then sometimes it's given to me and
I'm like, uh, this is great, or I need to
work on this to make it great.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
I'll tell you the most impressive people and pro wrestling are.
I don't know if you're allowed to say anything about this,
And obviously I have a love.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Friends for wrestling, but how how you Your referee is
like your director out there and you just can never
see it, like you never see that they're part of it.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Never you know.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
They couldn't even see John Cena a couple of weeks ago,
so they can't see anything. That's the idea. That's why
we're professionals and do what we do. Everyone always says,
you know, I could do this. Anyone could do this.
And it's funny whenever we get whenever we get like
a sports figure or a celebrity, everyone always says, wow,
this is a lot harder than I thought. Wait, you
don't have teleprompters. Wait, you don't have que cards. Wait,
(32:15):
this is live. Wait we don't get to tape. No,
it's live, it's in your face, it's ready to go.
We don't get que cards, we don't get teleprompters. You
get one take and you're out there in front of
ten to twenty thousand people. If you're at WrestleMania, you're
front of ninety thousand. Like literally, George Kittle that day
learned how to do everything he needed to do during
that match. I had with Pat McAfee, like, so, you know,
(32:37):
for him to come out there, and yes, that was
his dream, yes, yes, And honestly, after he's done, after
he's done with the forty nine ers, like, I think
the dude could have a career if he wanted to.
You know, he's such an athlete, great brain. But if
he ever does that again, I'll have to put a
skull question.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Cannatly on.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I think you'd be perfect right there.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I think you could be your next Buck somebody you
bon it, no doubt he's born for something like that.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
And it's natural too. Tittles hilarious, dude, if.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
You're around, he's hilarious and he's not trying to be hilarious.
There's a couple of guys like that, Like Jared Allen
was like that. Tittle's like that too. He's not trying
to be hilarious. He's fucking just hilarious, and it's just
he'd be great for that. All right, listen, before I
let you go, I asked, all my my guess is
give me your unbreakable moment in life, like the one
(33:26):
moment that should have or could have broken you and didn't,
and as a result, you came out of the other
side of that tuttle stronger.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
I think there's a couple of moments, you know. I
think the first moment is developmental. Developmental was very difficult
for me. And like I said before, when we were
talking every day and this isn't a lie, this is
absolute truth, I would get up my body was aching,
rump bumps and bruises inside outside, just absolutely aching. And
(33:53):
every day I'd wake up and say, one more day,
you could do this, one more day, you could do this.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
That broke a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
I watched a lot of people walk in developmental and
walk right back out because they couldn't handle what it
took to become a WWE superstar. And then there was
a moment when I main evented WrestleMania, I lost the
WWE Championship, and then literally that entire year, I couldn't
win a match and I couldn't figure I was at
(34:20):
the top like, you you don't get higher than main
eventing WrestleMania and retaining the WWE Championship against the poster
child w WW at the time, John Cena with the
rock in there.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
You don't get higher than that, right, So I lost
the title.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
Then I started losing every single match, and by the
time we got back to WrestleMania, I was almost not
even on it. So I went from being the main
event of WrestleMania to the very next year. I was
like I was in a not a mid cup, but
it was like a middle match Team Johnny versus Team Teddy,
(34:57):
which I felt I was just thrown in there. Now,
granted I got the win, I got the w but
I just came off of main eventing WrestleMania, and the
very next year I was almost not even on WrestleMania,
like I was I was.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
I was almost like poof gone, And it was very
embarrassing for me, and that.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Like what it happened, you know, I don't know what happened,
you know, it just kind of like steamrolled, like it
kept on tumbling. It was like a domino effect, like
there's one loss, there's two loss, there's three loss. And
I couldn't figure out how to maneuver myself to be
a top tier talent. And it took I would say,
six years of all of this, and your brain is
(35:39):
just doing numbers on you, and you're saying, am I
good enough?
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Can I get back to where I was? What am
I doing?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Like?
Speaker 4 (35:45):
What am I doing wrong? Like what am I figuring out?
Speaker 5 (35:47):
And then it wasn't until a guy named aj Styles
came back and I had he was brand new to
ww A. Now he was a huge star everywhere else,
but in WWE it's just different. And so when he
came in, we started having a program together and it
(36:08):
elevated him and that was obviously our job is to
elevate him because he was he is now a huge
star and he was back then, but in WWE is
brand new, and I think we just elevated each other.
And I think everyone in the back saw that and
was like, WHOA, we need to we need to start
stepping up on the mizz And my brain was like, yeah,
we need to start stepping up, and I need to
(36:29):
start stepping up and I need to start realizing how
good I am, because I think sometimes you go into
when you start losing and you start going down a
tunnel that it's like, oh man, maybe I'm not good enough,
Maybe this isn't for me, maybe I should try something else,
And then you go, wait a second, there's something that
clicks and goes, nah, I'm good enough.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
I'm better than good enough, I'm.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Number one, And then you start really figuring out what
you need to do to be a top tier talent.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
And from then on, I've been going up, up, up,
in a way.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
I could lose every match in WWA and it will
not matter because I am Teflon like you cannot. I'm
indestructible in WWE, And so now that's my mindset. Am
I am completely indestructible. I will make you believe whatever
I want you to believe when I want you to
believe it. And I'm good enough to have five star
matches each and every time, five star segments each and
(37:21):
every time. You can revolve an entire show around me,
or you can give me one minute. You better believe
you're gonna have moments that the fans will have for
the last rest of their life. And so that's where
I'm at today. Was I there when I got done
with WWE Championship in twenty eleven. Hell no, it took
a long time to develop that confident, to get that
confidence back when I was on the rise, getting and
(37:42):
I had the title in the WWE, I was I
was like, I'm the man, I'm great. But then once
you start going downhill and use that slippery slope, it's
like you always see those UFC fighters that lose.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
That one match. They're on that that trajectory and then
they went and then all of a sudden, what happens
to them? Like, Yeah, and I've had that glass break.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
And it took a long time to fit find all
the pieces to put it back together and make it.
Now it's a nice shiny glass you can see right
through and there's no cracks. And those cracks, by the way,
we're all learning moments, right And I want to keep
those scars. I want to keep those little pieces, if
you will, because they taught me what I need to
do and how I need to be and how need.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
To conduct to myself in order to be where I
am today, which is I'm a proud father, a proud.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
Husband, and I'm doing what I love in my job
and then even.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Outside I'm doing what I love.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
And so I'm I feel like I'm very very happy
and in a great spot and just enjoying life.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Proof right there. Also, adversity is a gift, right fuck
self doubt. Self belief is everything, but adversity really, you know,
builds that self belief.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
When you're in that downroof spiral and people are like
and and and people are are not necessarily ganging up
on you, but like telling you you suck and that
you have a choice whether you can believe what they
believe or you can believe what you believe what's deep
down in your heart. And so I always go, what
do I believe? What do I know in my heart?
I know I'm a good guy. I know I'm a
good person. I know I'm trying to do right by
(39:12):
everyone and by everything, and sometimes my ways are different
than everybody else's. But in the end, I'm trying to
do what's right and do what's best for what I
feel like everyone that's involved in the party.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
So thank you so much for joining me here.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Man, you know I haven't seen you in brou Yeah, buddy.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
He moved away. I moved away. We're back there. We're
coming to your house, Rosie and I are coming to
your house.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Celebrate, love it all right, I love you, dude, game On,
Thank you for joining us here on the Unbreakable Podcast.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
Thanks buddy, appreciate it.
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome into Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer.
I'm Jay Glazer, and today, before I get to him, though,
I have a really special trend. Close friend of mine
used to be a training partner of mine and this
guy is like reinvented himself over and over and over
and over what the great ones do. Before I get
to him, I just want to chime and the start
here from our sponsor. If you're like many people, you
(00:35):
may be surprised to learn that one in five adults
in this country experienced mental illness last year. Get far
too many failed to receive the support they need. Carolyn,
behavioral health is doing something about it. They understand the
behavioral health is a key part of whole health, delivering
compassionate care that treats physical, mental, emotional, and social needs.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
In tantem, CAROLM.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Behavioral health raising the quality of life through empathy and action.
Action is probably the best way I can describe my
friend coming in here. It is the one and only
the Miss ww Star, Hollywood Star Reality TV star like
I could say that resent what's called from back in
the day. But man, just an overall great dude. We
used to train together in a breakable performance center. Man,
(01:17):
he is one of my favorite dudes. And he's also
the man who led the Cleveland Browns out of the
tunnel for their first opening game win this year against
the Cincinnati Bevegels.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
And I'm thinking that's probably what you're most proud of
these days, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I mean, let me tell you, by the way, what
an introduction? Oh my gosh. I mean, it's like you've
been doing this for years.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
I mean, maybe you can come to WW and just
introduce me all day every day.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Let's go. But yes, Like, let me tell you something.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
When they called the Cleveland Browns call and say, hey,
would you like to be the dog Pound Captain? And
what you get to do as a dog Pound captain
is you take a guitar. Obviously the Rockerball Hall of
Fame is in Cleveland. You take a guitar with the
opposing team on it, like there at logo like it
was the the Cincinnati Bengals, it said whoda on it,
(02:03):
and you slam it up against an amplifier and smoke
comes out of it and you just break a guitar.
It's like every kid's dream, and so I got to
actually do that for the home opener, and what a
game it was in the rain. Just the Browns like
people are like, oh, same old Browns. This isn't the
same old Browns. That defense is revamped, revitalized and took
(02:25):
Joe Burrow out. And so it was a fun game
to watch, fun game to be there in person. Whether
it was raining or sunshine, I don't care to see
the Browns and the way they conducted themselves during that
game was unbelievable and.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Had dominated the Cincinnati Bengals. I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
What was a bit of rush for you?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Like you headline WrestleMania one, You're right, headline of WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Were this experience?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Come on, I mean anytime you could headline WrestleMania, be
the main event and you go up against John Cena
and you're the WWE Champion and you walk in the
ww Champion and you walk out the WWE Champion. And
by the way, the Rock the biggest movie star in
the world, was involved in that match. I mean, that's
one of the most memorable moments I've ever had. Unfortunately,
I actually don't actually remember it because I got a
(03:10):
concussion at the end of the match, and so yeah,
it was it was crazy, like my head hit the
cement and I just I kind of like I have
little like the one moment you always want to remember
for the rest of your life is the one moment.
I have bits and pieces that I remember, but I
don't remember, if that makes any sense at all.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Of course, Hey, you're talking to the guy who's been
could cussed quite a bit. Absolutely, yeah, Harry Man. So
so you could cuss. When do you kind of come
to and realize what it's just happened? Later on?
Speaker 5 (03:41):
No, yeah, so so later on that night, I would say,
I remember going back into the gorilla position, as we
call it, which is right when you go out whenever
we go out into the audience under the ramp, we
leave a place called the gorilla position where all the
people are telling you, you know, your music goes, and
that's where the entrance to the ramp is and that's
where you.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Go back into.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
So once I hit the gorilla position, I remember being
in there and I think I was like apologizing profusely
like I messed everything up because that was concussed I
I don't remember anything, so I imagined I messed the
whole main event of WrestleMania. Luckily I didn't, and it
came off like perfectly, and not many people knew exactly
what was going on except for the professionals that were
(04:23):
in there. I was very fortunate to have someone like
the Rock and John Cena and even Mike Yoda who
was the referee in there to kind of guide me
safely throughout the whole the whole time we were in there.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
They know that you're not they like helped you through.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Yeah, So basically everyone was guided safely throughout this entire
thing and made sure that I was able to do
what I needed to do without the audience knowing because
we're live. This is the main event, right, you know,
And yeah, you're at the.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Super Bowl and you got to you don't want to leave.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
And by the way, I don't have fifty two other
or fifty two people to rely on.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
It's just me and the people that are in that ring.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
So it's me, Sina Rock and Mike Kyota are the
only people that we can rely on, and obviously the
trainers and everyone and the doctors are all there and
everyone's making sure that I can get through that match
and go through what I need to do. But by
the way, it was at the end of the match,
so luckily it was kind of all over.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
But I just remember going to the girl position.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
I remember being back there being like, wow, I think
I messed up everything. And then I remember going back
to the trainer, everyone getting me okay.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
I remember going back talking.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
With my wife Maurice and just being like and she's
just like, you did great, you did great. But I
was like, not necessarily depressed, but it was like a god.
I remember the next day everything was just foggy, and
I was like, wow, like everything's just kind of foggy.
And but now, like I look at look back on it,
and I watched that match. It's hard to watch, but
(05:52):
it's like it went off without a hitch diat.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
What's that?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Why is it hard to watch?
Speaker 5 (05:58):
I don't know, you don't I don't like seeing my
self concussed to you.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh you you say in the end, okay at that.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Part, Okay, Yeah, maybe I'm.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Seeing myself locked out quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, when you originally got into to wrestle, right, what's
more taxing on you?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
The developmental league for the big leagues.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
You know, it's so it's it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
So I started in California a place called in El
Segondo called UPW Ultimate Pro Wrestling, and I paid like
twenty five hundred dollars to learn the art of professional wrestling,
and they taught me how how to do for the arts,
you know, what I have to do in the ring
to succeed. Finally, I got on a show called Tough Enough,
which was a reality show where you could win a
contract to WW. I didn't win, I got second place,
(06:41):
but I impressed the execs so much that they gave
me a contract to our developmental system, which was brand
new at the time called Deep South Wrestling. So I
went to McDonough, Georgia, moved from LA, packed up all
my stuff, moved to McDonagh, Georgia, and started training under
Bill DeMott. And I swear to you every day I
would go, one more day, you can do it, one
(07:03):
more day, you can do it, like because your body
is aching and there it's almost it almost felt like
they're trying to break you because they're preparing you for
what you have to get ready for to get into
Monday night Raw, Friday night SmackDown.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Is this guy in love with the business does he?
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Is he here for the right reasons or is he
just here to be famous or money? And I'm a
guy off a reality show, so everyone expected me to
just be like, I'm here to be famous.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I don't love this business, but.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
I did truly genuinely love the art of professional wrestling.
I've loved it since I was a child. I loved
the ultimate warrior, you know, PAULK. Hogan, Macho Man, Randy Savage,
like these were all my heroes, my idols growing up,
and so to be able to do what they were doing,
I wanted to put it full force. So going to
McDonough it was tough training, like very very tough. I
(07:51):
remember sweating, breathing heavy every day, thinking, man, should I
just quit? Should I just give up? I mean, can
my body take it? Can my mind take it? Mentally
and physically?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Can I do this? I don't know if I can.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
And every day going one more day, you can do it,
one more day, you can do it, one more day,
you can do it. And so finally I was six
months there, I became the first ever Deep South Heavyweight champion,
and once I was there, one of the sayings that
they would say was if you can sell out in
I guess you could say the developmental system, because we'd
have shows every Thursday. We would have a show, and
(08:25):
if you could sell out this show, which is like
two three hundred people, then you go to the next territory.
And that's the old school way. There was territories everywhere,
and superstars would go from territory to territory to sell
out everywhere. If you could sell out everywhere, then you're
a bona fide worldwide superstar. So when I was World
Heavyweight Champion or Deep South Evyweight Champion, we were selling
(08:47):
out every show.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
So then they moved me.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
To Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville because I was there
for six months in Deep South, moved.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Me to Louisville, and so we went.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
To Louisville, and it was tough because I was a
good guy at Deep South Wrestling.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
I was a good guy and by the way, that's
all I knew.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
So when I went to Ohio Valley Wrestling, they hated
me because I was this guy from real world and
it was a little bit. It was a different territory,
different audience, different people. So now I had to learn
how to utilize this audience like I did down at
Deep South. Because Deep South it was like, oh, it
just came to me. Now I actually had to really
work and try to figure out this audience. That's where
(09:25):
Paul Hayman came up to me and he goes, you
know why this isn't working? And I was like, nah, yeah, yeah,
and he goes, You're not a good guy, and I
go what do you mean. He goes, you're a heel,
which is a bad guy as a term for bad
guy in our world, and I.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Was like, I don't know. He goes, watch.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
So Paul and I sat down and we came up
with a promo and I went out there and I
don't think I've been a good guy for the last
twenty years in WWE because of that moment, that one
moment where Paul was like, you're not.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
A good guy, You're a bad guy.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
And from there I went six months in Ohio Valley Wrestling.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
We were selling out every night and they brought.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Me up to smack down as like the host, and
I didn't want to be a host.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I want to be like you know, I want.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
To be a guy that puts asses in seats, you know,
I want to be the guy that people.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Paid tickets for. And a host.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Being the next Ryan Seacrests is not going to do
it in ww A credit Ryan Seacrests very talented person,
no doubt.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
In my mind.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
But I want to be like the biggest star in WWE,
not a host. But I figured if they can give
me a microphone, no problem. I can set myself up
and make sure that they want to punch me or
beat me up or do whatever to where they have
to get me in the ring. And that's exactly kind
of what happened. So you asked, like a long story short,
what's harder developmental or being in WWE. It's all tough
(10:45):
if you want to be a superstar in any sport,
in anything that you are doing. The developmental is very
difficult because you're trying to learn the process and your
brain is absorbing something brand new.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
But once you're there and you know what you're doing,
you're still learning. And I'm still even twenty years to
this day, I'm still a sponge. I'm still absorbing everything
I learned from so many people. When you introduced me
to Sean.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
McVay, and it was before he won the Super Bowl,
before when he first got a coach, you had him
working out with me and I was like, wow, this
guy is so young and he's the head coach of
the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
I mean, this is crazy.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
And then once I worked out with him, I was like, wow,
I will run through a wall with this guy like
this is this There's there's something special about him. And
so from that day I was learning. I took something
from that day and then sitting down with dinners that
you've that you've brought me to with him, talking to him,
having conversation with it, with him, his motivation, his dedication.
(11:42):
You could see the star power of why he is
a head coach and a successful head coach on who
he is because when you work at it, when you
work at your job, when you work at your profession,
and you keep working no matter what, and you're always learning,
always progressing and learning from everybody.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
It's a tough question. It's the hardest. There's no hardest.
It's all hard if you want to be successful.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I got two.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Questions off of that before we do that we gotta
talk about the just real sign on here, the coincidence
of coincidences. I hope these two guys up to go
work out on breakables great place because everybody trains together.
I had John Lynch training with Sliced alone. I have
the you know, Rock is coming in there, going with
this person.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
I meet you. You come to one of my parties,
right and I meet you for the first time.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
You're like, come to my gym. You're gonna love it.
I'm like, ah, yeah, whatever. So I call you. I go, hey,
do you mind if I stop by? Yeah, sure, no problem.
I walk in. Sofessor Solon is sitting there just doing shrugs,
and I'm like, what is this place?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
This is absolutely nuts.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Like every celebrity you could possibly think of is like there,
or athlete like Terrell Owens is there, like on the
running machine like slides over here doing shrugs.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
You know you have you have Levano's kicking.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I'm like, what is this place? Like all all different
walks of life. It's not just sports, it's not music,
it's not just it's everything. And I was like, this
is the greatest gym I've ever seen in my entire life.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Because everyone was by the way, no one was a
superstar there.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Everyone was like it's almost like a family, and everyone
like kind of gelled together. And what the thing I
loved most about Unbreakable that what you did was the
merging vets and players. You would have all these veterans
come in on like a certain day. I think it
was like a Wednesday, and I'll never forget I'll never
forget Wit coming in And it was the first time
(13:31):
I ever met Wit Whitworth and uh, he had always
like he was he was talking to these these these
kids and all these people that were there were vets,
like there were kids, there were older people, and everyone
was just talking about their story and what they're dealing with.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And Wit was so honest and so.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
So involved, and it was just it was a very cool,
just thing that that that I got to experience and
be there with and hear their stories and make me
appreciate our vets even more than I already did.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And I've been Diraq, I've been.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
I've done shows, I've done tours with us, so but
to be in there in that gym and work out
with the veterans and you give them a place to.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Kind of open up and and kind of.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Tell their story and look at the support system that
they had.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
I appreciate that, bro. Yeah, and it looks it's not
a gym, it's a mental health place.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
We're a community and we're.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
A family, and especially it's a scarier world. But the
thing that I set him up with Chris jul And
who's a linebacker coach with the Rounds right now and
Sean McVay. Right, you guys start talking and you're like, hey,
whre'd you go to school?
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I went to Miamia Maha, right, and then I went
to Miamibleau. Where'd you go? You guys know you lived
in the same building.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Right, I know we lived in We lived in Sim's dorm.
And then not only that, Like I was like, do
you ever go to attractions?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Did you ever go to First Run?
Speaker 5 (14:52):
And we were like stadium and we're like talking, Like
I was like, what is this?
Speaker 4 (14:56):
This is crazy?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
See if people I don't know that Missus Shavin went
to the same school, live in the same dorm.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
People have no idea my lie.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Of Ohio, baby, my Moe of Ohio.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
So how much were you getting paid? In the Developmental
League for a week.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Oh gosh. Ever then, yeah, back then, not much. I
mean you were getting paid. So I think, honestly, I
think from the real world.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
So when I was on the Real World, and obviously
before I was in WWE, I was on a show
called The Real World, very popular show on MTV. I
did all the challenges, So I was winning these challenges.
So I was making quite a bit of money back then,
like I would make if you'd win a challenge, you'd
make like fifty grand. And then I would go do
college tours where I would get paid like anywhere from
(15:37):
fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars to do motivational speeches.
Now I didn't graduate from mine in Ohio, but Real
World is so much like college that colleges would pay
me to come motivate their students.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
And I looked at it as a way to cut promos.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
You know, learn how to cut promos, how do you
you know, hone my craft in a different way to
get an audience. And thousands of people would come and
you know, watch these speeches that I would do from
the schools. I went to every college you can think of.
It was crazy. And then I'd also do like I
get paid to go do host parties.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
So I was getting paid a lot.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
But then also I created a merchandise line where I
had T shirts because I saw that WWE, you know,
their superstars had T shirts, and I figured, well, if
they have T shirts, I'm going to make my own
T shirts and show that I can sell T shirts.
So I would wear these T shirts on the challenges
and then I would sell them. So if anyone ever
got a b MIS T shirt that was off my website,
(16:33):
then they were getting it from me.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Like I was stuffing these T shirts in and posting.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Them and taking them all to the to the post
office every single week.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
It was. It was crazy. So I was making a
lot of money. I was making six figures.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
When I got in developmental, I was I took a
pay cut because I wanted to. I said, I can
take a pay cut in this because I am. I
believe that I can make more, and so I invested
in myself. I've always invested in myself. Some people were like,
you know, oh, when I want to challenge my first challenge,
I moved to LA I paid for acting classes inprov
(17:07):
classes and learning the art of profession wrestling u PW
wrestling classes.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
So and then I also was like, all.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Right, we're do all like the big world trainers Golds Gym.
So I was in Santa Monica at the time. This
was before Unbreakable, by the way, And so I was
in Santa Monica.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Where do you go the mecca?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
You go to golds Gym, right, and so worked out there,
got a nutritionist. So I invested all my money that
I would make into myself. I bought all these T
shirts ahead of time and got them like three dollars
a T shirt and sold them for like fifteen bucks
a T shirt, and so I would make money off
of them. But it wasn't necessarily to make money. It
was necessary to promote myself and get people talking about
(17:45):
me and get to people talking about that. So ww'd
see that WVI did see that. They gave me a contract.
I took a pay cut, went to mcdonne a Georgia.
Then I went to Louisville, and then from Louisville, I
got like into WWE and started making the money that
I thought I could possibly make.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And I want people to hear the aults because the
secret to success is outwork in the world and being
miserable and broke and getting turned down and rejected for
years and years.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
My first Super Bowl I covered nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
The New York Post said, if you can get yourself
down there, we'll pay you two hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
But I to write eight stories for two hundred fifty bucks.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And the New York One TV said, if you get
yourself down there, we'll give you one hundred and fifty
dollars for three hits from four hundred and fifty bucks total.
So I got myself down there, but I don't remember
how I get myself because I was making.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Nine grand a year during that time.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
I was.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
So I can tell you how you got down there,
and I don't even know the story.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
I know you, Jay, So I got down the Emperor.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
You're you're a people person, and you're just a likable
human being.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I appreciate, and I remember I got the plate.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
You have an amazing ability to bring people together and
to unite people, and I've never seen anyone do it
as well as you. So when you say I don't know,
oh I got down there, I knew he tech. Now
you got down there, you met one guy this guy
was like, oh, let me introduce you to my buddy here.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Oh okay, I jay, I am saying, And all of
a sudden, there you.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Are on the floor or on the field, and and
how did I get there?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Because you're just a people person and that's what.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
You got to do, right. But that's but my point
is it's the grind, Like you got to put that
grind in. I had to put that grind.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
People nowadays they're like, oh my gosh, they're so in
the time because it doesn't happen for them.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Overnight. Shit does not happen overnight.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Min was eleven years worth, making nine thousand, fours and
fifty bucks a fucking year until I finally got a
job for fifty grand for CBS.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
That was bleep.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
But this again, I invested in myself. You invested in
yourself by deciding to outwork the world. The other question
I have for you as you realize that you're laying
a success is to be the heel. Okay, that is
such a rare trait. So I'm a sensitive Now.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Do you have a face like this? I have a
very coachable face.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, that's what I'm saying. I'm sensitive. Shit like I broke,
you know, Look, I break the story. You know, I
remember that one year up broke. You know, Jive's gonna
trade O'Dell Beckham and I got murdered, and so did
every one of the followers. An unbreakable people just destroying,
like holy shit ball and I can't I've sent him.
I can't take you like that. How are you able
to like departmentalize and take the hate that you're making
(20:16):
sure you get.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
There's a lot of people in you know, even in
WW right now that do not like getting hated on,
do not like getting booed.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
They love the cheers. They live for the cheers. I
guess I'm different that way.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
I've always been a button pusher, and so if I
see a button, I'm gonna push it.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
And I enjoy the boot and I love the most
thank you, thank you. Yeah. Maybe I'm just I don't know.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Maybe I'm just confident with myself and my ability and
know that I am truly genuinely always doing right. I
feel like, but my character in WWE is a bad guy, egotistical, arrogant.
But there's a reason that he and I always think
about like mentally, all right, what's going on? In the
miss's brain, like the mis character in WW, why is
(21:01):
he acting the way he's acting? And the main reason
I always come up with is I never got the
respect I feel like I've ever deserved. And when I
walk out there and people are booing me, you shouldn't
be booing me, you should be booing the guy, like,
why are you booing me? When the guy across the
ring from me, my opponent, the person I'm going up against,
has done X, Y and Z, And whenever I do X,
(21:22):
Y and Z the same thing, you boo me, but
you cheer him. So this person can can do something
the same thing I do, and you cheer him, and
then I get booed. So that's all the mentality in there.
And I never take anything I guess too seriously and
it just doesn't bother me. I'll go on X and
I'll look at all the comments, just the hatred or
the misstucks. I can't stand him. He's nothing. It motivates me,
(21:46):
it feels my fire. Oh my god, you're there.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I heard somebody do my own social media. I can't
do it. I can't look at them nothing. I can't
do it. Really, yeah, Oh absolutely say.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
I love the blaw I love the blogs, I love
the tweets or the axes, whatever you want to call them. Now,
like I enjoy reading all about the hatred and disdain.
And then whenever I find something that has really poked
the bear, I'll poke it even more and I'll find
more ammo for it in order ammunition, so they'll boo
(22:17):
me even more.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
What about in public?
Speaker 4 (22:19):
In public?
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Honestly, people don't hate me in public. When I went
to say, when I went to the Browns game as
the dog Pound captain, everyone.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Was like, moos, moos, moos.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I love you, I love you on Dancing with the Stars,
I love you on miss and missus. Oh my god,
blah blah blah, like oh, you're the worst. You're the
worst in WWA. But it's so much fun to hate you,
you know, it's like, oh, thank you. It's more implements
than anything else.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Really, Yeah, I'm not Yeah, I remember an accent. I've
never said that publicly, but I've broken the story.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
When we're in Arizona, the Patriots are flying in to
play the Seahawks, and again they didn'thit the Baltimore Sea
on and I've reported that as Patriots trunk playing. I
reported that they found who they accused of Tampa with
the balls for the flay cake, and then they have
the video of it, and they got these guys and
you know all those videos and with the time they landed, well, man,
(23:08):
we're down there and all these Patriots fans are hating me,
and I'm.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Like, ah, no problem, just don't dude, don't touch me.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And twice someone grabby and I end up snatching two
Patriot fans in front of my bosses at Fox. I
was just like, hey, hey, hey, you can't touch me.
And then one celebrity came and jumped my shit over.
Now I'm not gonna say his fucking name, but I
was like, hey, you fucking play a tough guy on TV.
Let's not get a roles mixed up here. But that's
(23:36):
why I was like, And so these are football fans.
They go a little nuts. So you've never had a
wrestling fan take it too.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Far with you? Not yet. No, I've never had that
that happen. I've been very fortunate in that instance.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
And I think our fans, they're very dedicated and very loyal.
I don't think our fans maybe they would do that,
but so far, I haven't had the experience of doing that.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Now.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
Granted I have been in and you know overseas where
someone threw a drink that I don't believe was a
drink at me and so we got I've had things
thrown at me in the ring, but I always take
that as a compliment to be honest that I'm doing
my job, that you're hating me as much. So, but
I've never had anyone throw at me. But I also
don't like hang out at the bars at two and
(24:20):
two three o'clock in the morning waiting for someone to
like kind of eg get on. If someone is, you know,
all whoop, well whoop missus us blah blah blah blah blah,
like I'll just be like, you know what, yes, you can,
good job perfect.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Does that make you happy? If that makes you happy, then.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
I'll just walk away because I'd rather I'd rather walk
away than then get a lawsuit from millions of dollars
because I elbowed someone in a mash fit or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I don't know what motivates you to constantly throughout your
life reinvent yourself.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
What motivates me to keep reinventing myself. I guess the
love of what I'm doing. I enjoy my job. People
are always like, you know, you're you're forty three years old,
you know, how are you How are you still going?
Speaker 4 (25:00):
And how are you still doing this? How are you
still loving it? It's because when you love your job,
it's not a job.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
And so I am always trying to always evolve and
figure out new ways to entertain.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
And have fun.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
It's like with WWE, it has such you know, it's
not just WWE in the ring. I mean, we have
shows now where it's like miss and Missus.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Now.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
I have a production company that we're developing shows. So
my wife and I are developing shows for other people
as well as ourselves. We have a couple of things
on the horizon that I can't really discuss, but it's
been great.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
You know.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
We started Mad Road Productions a couple of years ago,
and people have been you know, lining up to like
work with us, and so that's kind of cool. Yeah,
that's it's one of those things like I guess it's
always been since I was a kid, you know, when
I was you know, working at Mister Hero flipping Burgers,
working for my dad Drop and fries. You know, you
wanted to do something better. So I went to college,
(25:54):
and once I got onto college, I saw that you
could try out for the real road. Once I tried
out for the real world, it changed my mindset that
I could act do what I wanted to do and
not do what go against the green. I guess you
could say because once you once you go to high school,
you get to college. After college, you go back to
where you're from. You do your job, which is, you know,
whatever it is that you set out to do in college.
But real world changed my whole perspective on that and said,
(26:15):
if you have dreams, you can pursue them. So once
I got the dreams, I found the tools that I
needed to pursue my dreams. There's different tools that you
need to gather all so you can build the right
career that you want.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
And so that's exactly what I did. I worked my
butt off.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
I progressed and progressed until I made it to the WWE,
utilizing real World to evolve into a WWE superstar. Then
going to WWE and evolving my character from you know
this reality star to the Hollywood A lister to oh
now he's got his own reality show. Now he's a
two time the only, like, the first ever two time
(26:53):
Grand Slam champion the history of WWE. It's not The Rock,
it's not Austin, it's not Hogan, it's not Sean Michaels,
it's not John Cena. I'm the first ever two time
Grand Slam champion in the history of WWE. And most
people wouldn't know that, but it's the truth, and it's
crazy to me. And so how do I keep evolving?
All Right, You've done everything there is to do in WWE, No,
(27:14):
I haven't. In my mind, I always want to be
number one. I always want to be the WWE Champion.
I always want to be the main event of Wrestlemanian.
If I'm not there, I'm working my butt off to
get there. And then how am I evolving from that?
I'm evolving outside of WWE, doing the reality shows, doing
the production company, doing the movies, doing the TV shows,
acting all these.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Other things like I have.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
I mean, honestly, I wrote I wrote a children's book
that I was like, oh, I have two kids, I'm
just going to write a book. And so every time
I was on the airplane flying to wherever, I would
just write this book, and so I wrote a book
and now we're doing the illustrations and trying to find
a publisher for it.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
So it's like my mind is always going.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
My mind is always trying to remain fresh and trying
to do exactly what I need to do to get
to where I want to be.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
And right now I'm very happy.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
That's incredible. So first of all, as far as you
publish here, we'll talk off line here. I got people
before it. And then when you're in the ring is
what I love about. Like I was looking at you're
in a ring, you go on these tangents. Right when
I'm on TV, I.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Do minute and a half minute hits, minute and a
half hits, right, I don't use teleprompter when I was
hosted for like UFC, I have to use teleprompter for
sponsors in but otherwise I'm Fox and novels that I
don't have teleprompter and we don't really rehearse. But again
we're just going in little sports, you're going for like
three minutes, like you're.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Going long, long, long. Even when I'm doing doing ballers,
I wasn't following my fucking scripts. I got the ADHD.
I can't follow my scripts. What do you do when
you go in? Are you have you scripted it out
or do you just have bullet points you kind of
know where you're going?
Speaker 4 (28:47):
How do you do it?
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Okay, so you say three minutes, I just had, like
I don't know how long ago, but I just did
a segment.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Where I interviewed John Cena.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
And you know how John Cena says, you can't see
you right, Well, John Cena wasn't there, but I interviewed
John Cena because you can't see him, but I can
because I've been able to see John Cena since I
beat him at WrestleMania. So I interviewed nothing and no
one for eight minutes and it was an It was an.
I even had a match with Air. I had a
match with Air with you can't see me John Cena,
(29:21):
I had a match with him put a skull crush
at finale. Like, how do I come up with these things?
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Is beyond me? Obviously, it's a team in WWE.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
You know, we have a lot of creative minds that
make sure that our show goes on without a hitch,
and to do something like that, to go out there
and literally have an interview with no one and make
it entertaining in front of and live. You only get
one take. And so do I memorize? I memorize a
certain portion of what I need to be memorized. But
(29:50):
a lot of times, and where you're out there, things change.
The audience isn't where they need to be. I need
the audience to be here to react a certain way.
If they're not reacting a certain way, I need to
figure out how to get them to react that way
to advance the story that I'm trying to portray and
to advance my character.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
So, yes, I have bullet points.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Yes, I have a script in my mind of where
I want to go and what I want to do
and what I want to say, and I'll go over
it and rehearse and rehearse, rehearse in my head, And
a lot of times when I go out there, it
changes because you don't know what the audience is going
to do.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
What do you rehearse it for half hour before? Do
you rehearse it for days? Do you rehearse it for no?
Speaker 4 (30:27):
No, no, half hour before? Right, it's not days?
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Do you want to past somebody else's w W? What
your script is going to be.
Speaker 5 (30:34):
Everything is run past like yeah, some of it, yes,
But whenever you go out there and it's live and
you have to change everything up, you can't go back
and say, hey, I'm going to try this.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
You just kind of do it out there.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
But you got to work beforehand and come in and say, okay, yeah,
here's where I want to go. It's not like you
just showing up like you know, no yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean me and Brad Yeah, no, you can.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
We have we have storylines in place, we have larger
than like characters. This is like you know, a soap
opera if you will, you know, and so we have
stories that we have to portray. So obviously, all right,
what's the story we're trying to tell? And how do
we get from A to B all the way to
where we need to go, which is usually our pinnacle
is a match?
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Did they tell you this is a story we need
you to go with or do you say do you
try and sell it to them?
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Hey, this is everything.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
There's a lot of creative minds in this business where
everyone is trying to put forth the best shows possible.
So I'll put forth creative. Sometimes it's taken other times
it's not. And then sometimes it's given to me and
I'm like, uh, this is great, or I need to
work on this to make it great.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
I'll tell you the most impressive people and pro wrestling are.
I don't know if you're allowed to say anything about this,
And obviously I have a love.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Friends for wrestling, but how how you Your referee is
like your director out there and you just can never
see it, like you never see that they're part of it.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Never you know.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
They couldn't even see John Cena a couple of weeks ago,
so they can't see anything. That's the idea. That's why
we're professionals and do what we do. Everyone always says,
you know, I could do this. Anyone could do this.
And it's funny whenever we get whenever we get like
a sports figure or a celebrity, everyone always says, wow,
this is a lot harder than I thought. Wait, you
don't have teleprompters. Wait, you don't have que cards. Wait,
(32:15):
this is live. Wait we don't get to tape. No,
it's live, it's in your face, it's ready to go.
We don't get que cards, we don't get teleprompters. You
get one take and you're out there in front of
ten to twenty thousand people. If you're at WrestleMania, you're
front of ninety thousand. Like literally, George Kittle that day
learned how to do everything he needed to do during
that match. I had with Pat McAfee, like, so, you know,
(32:37):
for him to come out there, and yes, that was
his dream, yes, yes, And honestly, after he's done, after
he's done with the forty nine ers, like, I think
the dude could have a career if he wanted to.
You know, he's such an athlete, great brain. But if
he ever does that again, I'll have to put a
skull question.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Cannatly on.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I think you'd be perfect right there.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I think you could be your next Buck somebody you
bon it, no doubt he's born for something like that.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
And it's natural too. Tittles hilarious, dude, if.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
You're around, he's hilarious and he's not trying to be hilarious.
There's a couple of guys like that, Like Jared Allen
was like that. Tittle's like that too. He's not trying
to be hilarious. He's fucking just hilarious, and it's just
he'd be great for that. All right, listen, before I
let you go, I asked, all my my guess is
give me your unbreakable moment in life, like the one
(33:26):
moment that should have or could have broken you and didn't,
and as a result, you came out of the other
side of that tuttle stronger.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
I think there's a couple of moments, you know. I
think the first moment is developmental. Developmental was very difficult
for me. And like I said before, when we were
talking every day and this isn't a lie, this is
absolute truth, I would get up my body was aching,
rump bumps and bruises inside outside, just absolutely aching. And
(33:53):
every day I'd wake up and say, one more day,
you could do this, one more day, you could do this.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
That broke a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
I watched a lot of people walk in developmental and
walk right back out because they couldn't handle what it
took to become a WWE superstar. And then there was
a moment when I main evented WrestleMania, I lost the
WWE Championship, and then literally that entire year, I couldn't
win a match and I couldn't figure I was at
(34:20):
the top like, you you don't get higher than main
eventing WrestleMania and retaining the WWE Championship against the poster
child w WW at the time, John Cena with the
rock in there.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
You don't get higher than that, right, So I lost
the title.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
Then I started losing every single match, and by the
time we got back to WrestleMania, I was almost not
even on it. So I went from being the main
event of WrestleMania to the very next year. I was
like I was in a not a mid cup, but
it was like a middle match Team Johnny versus Team Teddy,
(34:57):
which I felt I was just thrown in there. Now,
granted I got the win, I got the w but
I just came off of main eventing WrestleMania, and the
very next year I was almost not even on WrestleMania,
like I was I was.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
I was almost like poof gone, And it was very
embarrassing for me, and that.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Like what it happened, you know, I don't know what happened,
you know, it just kind of like steamrolled, like it
kept on tumbling. It was like a domino effect, like
there's one loss, there's two loss, there's three loss. And
I couldn't figure out how to maneuver myself to be
a top tier talent. And it took I would say,
six years of all of this, and your brain is
(35:39):
just doing numbers on you, and you're saying, am I
good enough?
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Can I get back to where I was? What am
I doing?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Like?
Speaker 4 (35:45):
What am I doing wrong? Like what am I figuring out?
Speaker 5 (35:47):
And then it wasn't until a guy named aj Styles
came back and I had he was brand new to
ww A. Now he was a huge star everywhere else,
but in WWE it's just different. And so when he
came in, we started having a program together and it
(36:08):
elevated him and that was obviously our job is to
elevate him because he was he is now a huge
star and he was back then, but in WWE is
brand new, and I think we just elevated each other.
And I think everyone in the back saw that and
was like, WHOA, we need to we need to start
stepping up on the mizz And my brain was like, yeah,
we need to start stepping up, and I need to
(36:29):
start stepping up and I need to start realizing how
good I am, because I think sometimes you go into
when you start losing and you start going down a
tunnel that it's like, oh man, maybe I'm not good enough,
Maybe this isn't for me, maybe I should try something else,
And then you go, wait a second, there's something that
clicks and goes, nah, I'm good enough.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
I'm better than good enough, I'm.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Number one, And then you start really figuring out what
you need to do to be a top tier talent.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
And from then on, I've been going up, up, up,
in a way.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
I could lose every match in WWA and it will
not matter because I am Teflon like you cannot. I'm
indestructible in WWE, And so now that's my mindset. Am
I am completely indestructible. I will make you believe whatever
I want you to believe when I want you to
believe it. And I'm good enough to have five star
matches each and every time, five star segments each and
(37:21):
every time. You can revolve an entire show around me,
or you can give me one minute. You better believe
you're gonna have moments that the fans will have for
the last rest of their life. And so that's where
I'm at today. Was I there when I got done
with WWE Championship in twenty eleven. Hell no, it took
a long time to develop that confident, to get that
confidence back when I was on the rise, getting and
(37:42):
I had the title in the WWE, I was I
was like, I'm the man, I'm great. But then once
you start going downhill and use that slippery slope, it's
like you always see those UFC fighters that lose.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
That one match. They're on that that trajectory and then
they went and then all of a sudden, what happens
to them? Like, Yeah, and I've had that glass break.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
And it took a long time to fit find all
the pieces to put it back together and make it.
Now it's a nice shiny glass you can see right
through and there's no cracks. And those cracks, by the way,
we're all learning moments, right And I want to keep
those scars. I want to keep those little pieces, if
you will, because they taught me what I need to
do and how I need to be and how need.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
To conduct to myself in order to be where I
am today, which is I'm a proud father, a proud.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
Husband, and I'm doing what I love in my job
and then even.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Outside I'm doing what I love.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
And so I'm I feel like I'm very very happy
and in a great spot and just enjoying life.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Proof right there. Also, adversity is a gift, right fuck
self doubt. Self belief is everything, but adversity really, you know,
builds that self belief.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
When you're in that downroof spiral and people are like
and and and people are are not necessarily ganging up
on you, but like telling you you suck and that
you have a choice whether you can believe what they
believe or you can believe what you believe what's deep
down in your heart. And so I always go, what
do I believe? What do I know in my heart?
I know I'm a good guy. I know I'm a
good person. I know I'm trying to do right by
(39:12):
everyone and by everything, and sometimes my ways are different
than everybody else's. But in the end, I'm trying to
do what's right and do what's best for what I
feel like everyone that's involved in the party.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
So thank you so much for joining me here.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Man, you know I haven't seen you in brou Yeah, buddy.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
He moved away. I moved away. We're back there. We're
coming to your house, Rosie and I are coming to
your house.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Celebrate, love it all right, I love you, dude, game On,
Thank you for joining us here on the Unbreakable Podcast.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
Thanks buddy, appreciate it.
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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