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June 28, 2022 53 mins

WWE superstar Angelo Dawkins is in the studio to dive into what earned him
the nickname “The Curse of Greatness.” Though his is a great story, Steve still can’t
decide if the most surprising part is that Dawkins is still a Bengals fan.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John and this
is cut to It. Good do it, Good do it.
Let's get down to do it. Good do it. We
asked the questions you always want to know, but no

(00:22):
one ever asked, let's cut to it. If you ain't
heard about it, then we're about to left you. Now.
It's all man, we want to welcome to the cut
to a podcast. We got. We have a w W

(00:46):
wrestler nickname. I'm not even gonna say the other part,
just greatness. When any time your nickname involves greatness, I
think it's pretty. I think it's really special. And then's
your signal, it's your move. You pop up spine buster.
Yeah I don't. I don't know how you do the

(01:08):
spine buster, but my spine is cringing thinking about it.
And also to not to not to hold it against him.
He's from Ohio where they still have not fixed football.
Thank you. Welcome to the Cut to It podcast. Angelo,
don they no problem. I'm my biggest shirt on for

(01:34):
you to Okay. He is a he's a proud Bakers fan,
Like that's all you say on your social media, Like
you you hold no punches when it comes to your
fandom for the Bengers, not at all. Man's I mean,
you shouldn't be Finally, you should be excited. You obviously
are living in a state with two teams. I haven't
really did much uh most of their u NFL experience,

(01:59):
but yet you have this one year of hope that
you believe it is gonna change, uh, decades and decades
of failure. So I'm happy that you're there. Look, Yo,
as much smack as I talked, I can't really lie.

(02:19):
So you talked when they went to the postseason, I
was like, hey, just give me one playoff win. Yeah,
I see playoff win in my life of being on
this earth. And they were one player with winning the
Super Like, hey, you know what, y'all gave me everything
I hoped for. So we had the miss on and
he's a Browns fan. So you said you talked smack

(02:40):
like you do you talk smack to the miss I
mean he's a Browns fan, you're a Bengals fan. Like,
what's that? What's that interact? Are you? Okay? Of course
I talked smack to him. You know what I mean. Look,
he was going through it this year. You know, he
thought that they were gonna you know what I'm saying,
make it to the super Bowl. Everything the Bengals did,
he did. He thought the Browns were gonna do everything.
Joe Burrow came out to be shot. He was. He

(03:04):
thought that the Beings, I mean, excuse me, the Browns
were gonna have that kind of success. Brother, do you
not watch do you not watch the Detroit Lions fan base.
They think they're gonna win every year. I just thought
there was a little bit of sensibility. But we did
have the same conversation with him, so it's not like
this is this is new he was so we couldn't.
It was all over the place. We couldn't. But what

(03:27):
what is it like for for you to argue with
the mens when pretty much both of the like, you're like,
you guys are arguing over the last Now later I
would say rose colored glasses, and they would be brown
like actually not a non like. It's like y'all are arguing, Well,

(03:51):
you have a bigger piece of moldy bread than I do. Look,
you know, we get it. Both of teams haven't been
particularly great in the in the last two decades. Yeah, true, true,
but really look at it. Cincinnati's had more listen, Cleveland

(04:13):
has ever had. We could say that, right, I would
agree with one little, one little spur two years ago.
But other than that, like at least Cincinnati has made
the playoffs. Like the point time, we're like, oh yo,
Cincinnati could be like do something, but they just kept losing. Yeah,
I would give you that. I would give you And

(04:34):
because of that, that's how you guys have put yourself
in a position now to to to really be in
a conversation of a young team. That's if they continue
to add the pieces that they could be very successful.
Oh yeah, so you're cheap man. I'm just happy they

(04:56):
invested in the old line this year. That's that's all
I'm apping for. You got is right now and y'all
went to the dance. So yeah, but let's get started.
Man um growing up? What was your favorite TV show
growing up? My favorite TV show? Man um or shows

(05:19):
sounds Yeah, you had to look like one's too hard
to pick. Yeah, so I mean we gotta go Steve
Harvey show, Bernie Max Show. I was a big mad
TV guy, when it was still on and it's prime.
Take it to a little cartoons. Um, I was a

(05:42):
big Recess guy. One Saturday morning, Guy Pepper ran on
Lloyden's Space, Street Sharks, Static Shock. Those are my favorite
shows right there. Those. But I was gonna double back
on Steve Harve because that's not when you're here all
the time. No, I like, what was Steve's name in

(06:02):
the Steve Harvey show, Steve Steve hot Tower. He wouldn't
even Steve Harvey. He was was he he went the
principle he was a teacher teacher because I think the
principle said that he was that he was the coach.
He was a gym coach. Uh the Regina Regina was
Regina was the principal. Yeah, yeah, I missed all those

(06:23):
cartoons though. Yeah, I do remember Recess, but I don't
remember some of the other ones. What was something that
that was like towards like the later pepperre came on
when Recess pep Pepper. See, my mom had us clean
and so I missed all that stuff. By that twn
the whole house and my life had below. So it
sounds like Saturday Saturday morning, it was time to clean

(06:47):
up right, Yeah, I was, you know, obviously Batman. Um,
but right after Batman though, Oh Batman the animated series, No, no, no,
bat Man. Adam West on Saturday mornings. Yeah, you ushould
be on at eleven o'clock. Don't try to say you
a little older than me that I thought. I thought

(07:10):
you saw about the animated one. We're like a little
shorter years. I watched that one, but I'm talking about
I'm talking about Adam West, chee Batman. That was. That
was Saturday morning and we can't mention it. But that's
when wrestling would follow after that. I will watch wrestling, right,

(07:33):
That's what my love for wrestling was. Their superstars. Yeah,
the beefcake, get your hair cut? Right. We gotta get
to the nostalgia. Yeah, I feel like Angela gonna rock
with us a little bit more nostalgia. Um. Let's see, man,
you're talking about snacks before you got on here. What's

(07:54):
what's one of your go to snacks? Gummy words? M hm?
Out of that, doun'my worms. That's been my my goal
to ever since I was a little kid. Really, so
when you go to movies, you get you get gummy worms.
Oh yeah, well not really get gummy worms, sneak them
into the movies. I mean this is this is a

(08:18):
recorded line. Man, I go a red vnes, I go
a red v red vines. Okay, yeah, Like I'm not
a twiztlers guy like red vines with the popcorn. I
sneak them into because they don't have they don't have
red vines. They got Twister. I don't know why you
want the twisters. Yeah, ain't ain't real liquor, pretty shaky.

(08:40):
I'll pay for the popcorn, but candy I gotta sneak
in on my own, like seventeen dollars. It's like, Tim,
you know it's it's funny. Just it's way off topic,
way off topic, right, is it, Tim Bucks Small? Here's
here's the craziest thing you want to talk about. My

(09:00):
dad used to we used to go before we went
to the movies, we will go to nine nine cent
store right and get candy at the nine story. Was
like five of them for nine nine sent And I
never understood, like, why are we going to nine nine
sisto with a good candy is at the register? We
was parsed, that's why you should have just told me,

(09:22):
But I didn't realize yet that and I still do
it now. I'm I'm leaning towards that way too. My
kids don't go to nine nine story dog like because
I had realized, like the economy, some of the candy
at the nine s story ain't up to date. Dog.

(09:49):
That's your responsibility as parents, check check the days. But
it built that a music. Right, there's COVID, which is contagious,
but then there's salmonella for black folks were good you
never heard of yeah, you know when you heard about it. Though,

(10:17):
when you eat the mother folks potato salad, that always
get you potato salad, it's true. Well, you you eat,
you get your old kid. That's a that's an inter
at your home. Somebody else potatoes. You eat some old candy.
So questions some questionable protein, right, you see. I wasn't

(10:39):
gonna say you eat some questionable protein and still make it.
But you eat some other folks potato salad, man, they'll
run through you about three am. I'm here, we're fresh
off the more your da up up? Oh man, all right,

(11:02):
let's get into it. A man. Well man, where are
you from in the place you call your hometown? I'm
from Cincinnati, Ohio. Grew up in Fairfield, which basically Cincinnati,
just like ten minutes away. Uh. Yeah, I grew up
there the same schools Jackson Carmen, one of the Bengals

(11:23):
old linemen. Yeah, I was gonna google It's like now
they go to school with Jordan, just some lineman we

(11:48):
don't know about. I like it. I love your pride, man,
I love your pride. I'm the same way with uh
l a bro So. I love the pride. Is where
you from, is where you're from. I can't deny it,
you know. Uh, if you're proud of you, always represented you,
always cheering for it. Um. So, man, that's that's remarkable.
That's awesome. Uh. You know, tell us growing up Fairfoot,

(12:11):
Ohio slash Cincinnati. Um, what are some of the things
that you experienced that that has impacted you when you
sit down and think about it. Uh. Some of the
things that impacted me, Um, just being able to uh
you know what I'm saying. Grow up. It was just
me and my mom, so Uh it was I just

(12:32):
pretty much had to grow up and be a man
pretty early. Uh, and just learn how to be the
man of the house and be able to take care
of things and being able to answer university and my
mom was pretty tough for me anyway, Like with school
just kept me out of trouble, put me in sports,
So I was pretty busy during the summer when school
wasn't happening. Um, yeah, like I just stayed busy, stayed

(12:57):
playing sports, and stayed out of trouble. You made the
statement of have being a man in the house. What
did what did that mean to be the man of house? What? What?
What were those responsibilities that you're referring to? So like
ere every times when my mom would get off late
from work, so like sometimes I had to cook dinner

(13:18):
and stuff like that, make sure my homework's done, uh,
sometimes clean the house up and make sure everything's good
so my mom ain't really gotta worry about it to
where like she just comes in. She can just you
know what I'm saying, get off her feet for a
little bit, watch a little TV, eat a little mill,
go to bed, make sure everything's good, and then do
whatever she needed to do. And I just basically just

(13:40):
took care of that as much as I could. Whenever
I saw that I had to pick up the slap
that she was not gonna be home late. I always
made sure when she said, hey, take the chicken out,
the freezer was out the freezer because you learned the
hard way. Yeah, I learned the hard way about what
is the alternative? Uh? You know, the plug out your mouth,

(14:05):
get your teeth straight, hongry dog. I don't know what
you're saying, so as as what were you when you
were when you were growing up? What were those initial dreams?
What do you want to be when you grew up
back then? What do you dream about? Honestly, wanted to
be in the NFL. Actually I wanted to play football

(14:25):
when I was younger, um, but that ended up not
working out necessarily. Like, I had no plans of ever wrestling.
I didn't even know wrestling really existed until I knew
w W existed, But I didn't know like amateur wrestling
existed until I was a junior in high school and
our security guard at the school he was one of

(14:47):
the wrestling coaches, and he was like, he should come
tryal for the wrestling team. Hold on what I'm saying, like, hey,
to help you out with football. My mom wasn't really
up for it. She wanted me to play basketball. So
I was like oh no, I go try wrestling. And
I tried it. I mean the practices were hard, but
the tournaments and the duel meets a lot of fun
and I just became like really good at it. Um.

(15:09):
But I still like focused on football. Ended up graduating
high school and going to Juco College and Harper College
Harper College in Illinois, and I played football there. I
had no intentions of wrestling after high school, Like I
had to cut weight to get the two fifteen. I
wanted to enjoy Thanksgiving, enjoy Christmas, be able to eat

(15:32):
a lot and uh get ahold of uh some potato
salad during those holidays. But uh but now um, but yeah,
like I had no plans of wrestling in college after
high school, and so a bunch of heavyweights got hurt
and the wrestling coach came and tried to recruit me

(15:53):
to come wrestle for him in college, and I was like, nah,
I'm I'm gonna go home and enjoy myself. And then
second some master started and our defensive coordinator tracked me
down on campus dragged me to the wrestling coach's office,
say hey, you got your heavyweight here, and I was like, oh,
I guess I'm wrestling, And so I ended up wrestling

(16:13):
in college. I was like one match away from all Americans,
with like half the season already done. And then I
ended up getting recruited to go to w W. So
I just I wanted to be a football player and
I ended up becoming a professional wrestling. Well, let's unpack
that one. Who's the security guard in high school? That? Uh,

(16:33):
that that introduce you to wrestling? Kenny Poe, defensive coordinator
at your college where there's four year community. I don't
care what it is. It's still at college and you're
pursuing that. How did that sit with you a little

(16:54):
bit at that point in time? I was like, all right,
I guess I ain't got no choices about it. Did
you play football after that? Or you just you Oh no,
I still played football. I did both. I did both
football and wrestling. So like we had just got done
with football season, um and we uh ended up winning

(17:15):
the national championship for Juico that year for non scholarship Juco,
and like guy, like it was like the season was done,
was getting ready for the off season, getting ready for
next season and all that stuff, and they just told
me to go, like, hey, I want you to go
join wrestling. I don't know if it was just to
keep me busy, just like make sure I don't like

(17:38):
like do anything crazy and like make sure I keep
my head like keep my head straight and focused all
year so I can like do be good and be
the best I could be. But it was just like
h and I also think it was like we a
bunch of the guys from the football team. We had
like a little deal or like some of us wrestled,
so like some of us will get together and wrestle,

(17:58):
and I ended up beating that everybody, so they're dogs
is pretty good. So they was like, hey, we got
this kid on the football team. He was like, he's
pretty good at football, but he can help you out
and wrestling. So that's how that came about. That he
just dragged me to the room, was like, hey, got
your heavyweight, got there, wrestled, and then uh, that's ended

(18:19):
up how I ended up here. I love cut to
It and I love it even more when you download
us and subscribe and you can follow us on social
media too, Smithie, where where at that's at? Cut to
It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook?

(18:41):
Cut to it featuring Steve Smith singr what about online?
And you can follow us at cut to It podcast
dot com, where you can buy merch and you can
subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got
all my answers questions. Uh yeah, I got all my
questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother, cut

(19:01):
to a podcast dot com. How did you get the
attention of w W when you were wrestling in college?
Talk a little bit about that. That um, that transition.
So uh that transition. We were at national dues, um
so like I'm getting ready for a match, and like

(19:22):
our coaches are wrestling coaches likes gonna play tricks on
us and stuff like that, play a little jokes. So
like they were like, hey, yo, Vince McMahon's right hand
managed here to see you. He wants to talk to you.
I'm like what And I'm like, nah, whatever, man like
leave me alone, let me focus on this real quick,

(19:42):
and so he is. They were like no, We're dead serious.
I'm like yeah whatever, bro, Like all right, I'll play
along with this guy. Let me want the smatch man.
So I'm like getting warmed up, getting warmed up, go
out there, ar wrestling matches over with I win, come
back well, bearing a chair, breathing hard like you get

(20:04):
trying to like barely could drink any water at that
point in time. Sure enough, Jerry Briscoe comes up, was like, Hey,
I'm Jay Briscoe for the w w E. Like to
talk to you about coming to trial for w w E.
It was like, oh, so it wasn't a joke. Yeah.
I was like, oh so you guys were telling the truth.
But did you have any idea how you got on that?

(20:26):
Do you have any idea how you got on their radar?
Like were you were you a ranked wrestler or do
they just are they sending scouts out to to look
like I guess you don't give us insight on it.
Um So at that point in time, I was ranked
nationally uh so. But Jerry Briscoe he used to wrestling
amateurly as well. He was an amateur wrestler as well
for Oklahoma State. He was All American back in the day.

(20:48):
So that's and he wrestled in w w E for
a very long time and he was in the front office.
He would be the one that go recruit like the
guys like Brock Lessner, Shelton, Benjamin and like all those
amateur wrestlers, Curt Angle. Um, he was the guy that
recruited those those guys and because he will go to
all the tournaments and whatever and like, hey, like I

(21:10):
think you would be really good. You should give it
a trial, whatever you want. And so it was just
like we talked from there and he ended up getting
me a try out later on that year and then
I've been here ever since. In wrestling, right, professional wrestling,
amateur wrestling, Why do they need to Why having the

(21:34):
history does it benefit you? Because obviously, like miss you know,
not everybody has the history of wrestling in college, arrestling
in high school something, you know something. Have learned the
professional aspect of it by trial and there. Right, learning

(21:55):
the moves are pretty like it got pretty easy. Um,
it took a little took a little wild, but like
learning the moves are pretty easy just because like athletes can,
like I can learn pretty fast. Now, the theatrical part
of it, the entertainment part, now, that was a part
that kind of like I struggled with when I first

(22:16):
got there because I'm always like serious and I'm like
ready to go, like I'm I'm in the zone. But
like I needed to be like show my face more,
make more facial expressions, be more entertaining after I do
a move instead of just like going right on them,
like I hit a drop kick, get the crowd wild
up and stuff like that, and like what I'm saying,

(22:37):
just celebrate. You get into wrestling by you know, being dynamic.
In college, you go through the process and you try out.
How was trying out for you in your particular journey
getting to the pinnacle you are today? It was actually

(22:58):
a crazy experience. I didn't know what I was getting
myself into necessarily. Uh, Like when I first got there,
like when I was in college, I didn't really have
money for a suit, so like I showed up in
like house shoes and sweatpants in the hoodie. Everybody else
is like decked out in suits and stuff. I'm like, oh, whoa, Yes,
I didn't get that memo. So like it was just

(23:22):
like oh snapping, Like people are just looking at me, like, yo,
who is this guy pole? Like what is he doing
to here? How did he even get like how did
he get in the door. I'm like trying to figure
it out. Yeah, I'm like, hey, I'm with I'm trying
to figure this out myself. Man. I was like, I
did not know you were supposed to come with me

(23:43):
because in my mind, I don't thinking try out, like
nothing about that and saying suit tie like a polo. Nothing.
I just showed up. How shoes you to wrestle? Yeah? Like, yeah,
I got my wrestling shoes, had my books back, and
that's it showed. But but seriously, though, in those moments, though,

(24:08):
did you ever find yourself like playing that comparison game?
Because I just know being being a wrestling fan and
coming up like you hear those stories of like Brett
Hart's dad that would train all those people like in
this basement. Did you ever play that comparison game? Because
there are so many people that come into the business
in various ways. Did you ever have that comparison game?
Because there were there were cats that were there that

(24:28):
had the boots and had the suits and had all
those different things. Did you ever fall into that comparison game? Uh?
Sometimes a little bit um but then like after a
couple of years, like once I got hired in like
a couple of years, that kind of like left and
it was just like, look, I'm gonna be I'm gonna
be me no matter what. And I've always been the

(24:49):
guy that's always been very relaxed, very laid back and
like never tried to worry about anybody else and try
to control everything that I can control for me. And
and so for a minute, I did play that little
bit like it was like, oh man, damn, this dude
miles ahead of me. Like but then again, like the
cool part about it was I had zero experience coming

(25:12):
in two that sad profession. Those guys have been doing
it for like Double Digy Gears like ten years. Like
I was in middle school with some of those dudes. Really,
some of the guys there were like wrestling already around
the world and stuff like that. The furthest I've ever
been was Illinois, pretty much outside of Ohio, so I

(25:34):
didn't really know what I was getting myself into. The
trial was in Florida. I've never been in Florida before,
so I've never been that far away from home. But
like I learned from him, But at the same time,
it was just like, all right, I can't really play
this comparison game. Because I played this comparison game with him,
I'm gonna find myself out of here really fast, and

(25:55):
so it's just more of a how can I find
a way to stand out? And I stood out definitely
with the sweatpants and our shoes. Everybody has suits. I
was the only one. They're just chilling like, oh all right.
A lot of athletes, some more than others, are able

(26:16):
to process or eliminate um the internal dialogue, right, the
mental aspect of it. But I do think there is
some people who I think, and it's just me, there
are some athletes who that's the only way they can

(26:36):
operate is by comparison, right, that that compare And I think, uh,
hear and hearing everything you're saying is you basically walked
in there knowing you were inexperience, and you were okay
with being inexperienced, right, And so you know, where where
did the comfortability come from for you with being okay

(27:00):
with being inexperience? Because not everybody, not everybody likes being
in experience, Not everybody is comfortable being a young bucker,
being a person who doesn't know everything. It had its
uh moments where just like it felt it felt pretty bad,
like I had no idea what I was getting myself into,

(27:22):
and I had no idea how to operate and stuff
like that. But once I started getting more comfortable, I
have to give credit to like my coaches that were there,
like coach Norman Smiley um at the time when he
was there building Uh, Billy Gunn sorry, um, Coach Billy
Gunn when he was there, he was the one that
that was like digging in trying to like bring me

(27:44):
out of my comfort zone and like just to express
myself and like, look, it's okay that you're inexperience, but
you like, there's a lot of people that come in
that are inexperienced. Heck, there's a lot of people that
come in here that are experienced and they're still inexperienced
because they don't know what they're doing in a way,
So it's like, okay, just to be inexperienced. As long

(28:06):
as you're learning and you're getting better and you're starting
to have fun, that's all that matters. And once him, Norman,
Robbie Brookside, and Terry Taylor all sat me down and
told me that that's when I was like, all right,
you never traveled outside of Ohio and then obviously going
to college, you travel to Illinois. Yeah, so other than that,

(28:33):
what places and where have you been? And you never
thought a million years that you would you would be
sleeping in the hotel. I'm I was, you know, I
and I and I asked that is there are sometimes
when I I can try I travel, I will sometimes

(28:54):
look out my hotel room and it's not always a
you know, if you're in a hotel enough, you know,
and not every hotel room has a great view summertimes,
like if you go to New York, you could be
in a five star hotel and in New York, we're
looking at a brick window right, looking outside your window
and a brick wall, right, it just happens to be.

(29:15):
That's just how that that concrete jungle. So you know,
when you sit back and look at atty one years old, Uh,
you know where you where you started, how you traveled,
very limited knowledge. But yet today you've been able to
travel beyond where even your imagination can take you. Right,

(29:39):
I mean yeah, I have to say the UK. Never
did I ever think I'll be in the U K?
And what you what'd you experience? What do you experience
in the UK? That was that that made you glow
and light up the way you just did? Um? It
was just like the whole atmosphere. So like that was

(30:00):
when I got introduced to soccer because I never really
watched soccer over here, so like going over there, we're
like when we first went over there, there was like
a huge soccer game happening, so like I was just
like it was just like how we are with football here,
just like everybody just gets together at a bar or whatever,
drinking it up or whatever, just having fun watching the game,

(30:23):
doing cheers and stuff like that, talking smack. But yeah,
it was like that I got to experience that, which
was nuts. Um being near Wimbley Stadium. We haven't gone
inside of it, but we're at the hotel right next
to it. I believe that's where it's like some of
the NFL games are played at Wimbley and like we've

(30:43):
had shows at like the Wimbley Hall, and like being there,
like that whole like little city right there is just insane,
just because like it's just nuts. The fish and chips
are good, um, and and not like the people are
just really nice. Took me a minute to get used
to the accent, but they're just really nice over there,

(31:06):
and it's just like I don't know, it was just
it's just cofferent over here. What about where are some
other places? Uh for starters, I gotta say in Miami, Well, yeah,
the first time I went there, that was an experience.

(31:26):
Uh never never be in Miami. You have some money.
Uh no, Miami bro game he had some money, like
me too, play together, you know what I'm saying. Making

(31:46):
a good time. But when we first when I first
moved to uh Florida, one of the weekends that we
actually got off and we didn't have any shows, we
uh into Miami for a weekend and just kicked it there.
One of our boys, like his cousin lived there, so
like we already had a place to stay and it

(32:07):
was just like that was like a whole different atmosphere,
going to the beach and stuff. I wasn't really used
to that. Um from there. Vegas that was another experience
on the company dime, the Company dime right there. Uh.
We also l A was another one, another place I

(32:32):
was like, oh wow, this is this is insane. And
then Dallas where we had WrestleMania this past year and
that was our first actual WrestleMania after COVID. So So
how did how did you come up with your nickname
uh beat. I was beating my roommates and a maddening

(32:54):
uh fight night and I was just running the sticks
for like two and a half. I was straight just
couldn't lose. And I was just like, bro, like I'm look, man,
I don't It's not like I'm trying to do this
dog just like I'm I'm cursed with it. Do gonna
cursed with greatness right now? It's just not letting me
let y'all win like I can't. So you're not being

(33:17):
uh unapologetic for you greatness. Yeah, I was just like
and I was just joking around and so like. And
that was also the cool part. Two. Like I had
roommates at the time they were like also wrestling with me,
and they had way way more experienced than I ever had.
So like that was still when I was still kind
of trying to like find myself on like the entertainment

(33:40):
aspect of things and stuff like that. So like the
way I am at home, it's complete completely different than
the way I was at when we were practicing or
like when we have matches and stuff like that. And
they were like, bro, you should you should try this,
and so I was like okay, cool, Like what like
very next day I went out there and started talking

(34:00):
about how great I was, and I just getting booed.
So you sw I'm getting cheered. So that's the cool part.
So you end up you end up finding yourself. You
make your TV debut inve and what was that like?
Like you you've gone through this, this this training program,
all these things you've talked about previously in this podcast.

(34:22):
But to walk out and what you're getting booed a jeered?
But to see all those people and you're now you're
in that squared circle and you see all these people
whether it's you're in up boring, Like, what was what
was that moment? Like I was it was a little
nerve racking. It was one of my first time being
on tv M. So that you got just go out
there and put on a good match. You got a
radio face or TV face? I got a radio face. Yeah,

(34:46):
I'm asking you got radio face for TV face for telephison.
I mean I got both the strengthening Honest, I like
asking that because sometimes people they freeze out there like
we'll do you know, they started second guessing TV fas bro.

(35:12):
You got radio face, you partner up with montes Ford.
Y'all are the Street Profits, w W Raw Tag Team Champions,
w W SmackDown Champions, next Tag Team Champions, evolved Tag
Team Championships. What is the what's the culmination or what
was what was the coming to age story of the
Street Profits? Uh? That was all Triple Age. Honestly, we're

(35:36):
me and Tess are already boys before um. I was
already there before him. He started in two thousand, fifteen sixteen.
I believe I started in two thousand twelve. Uh. At
that point in time, Like it was crazy because I
was really young. So I've been there longer than the
majority of every like pretty much everybody, but I was

(35:56):
still younger than everybody, so I it was it was weird.
It was like I was the vet, but not really
at that point in time when he got there. Uh.
But now, so one day we had a match like
right after each other, and Triple h was like, hey,
like let's see how those two work together. And sure enough,

(36:16):
it was like, oh it worked out because we were
already boys. Anyway, sometimes when you get put with somebody
in the tag team, I really ain't that cool or whatever.
It's just more of like an acquaintance thing. But we
were really cool. We're best friends, and uh then we
just took off running from then some triple edgers like, hey,
make him a tag took the ball rand with it,

(36:39):
and so who came up which one of you geniuses
came up with the name Street Profits? It was a
universal thing. Yeah, it was saying trips O, you lost
me on that. It was like the label, damn, right,

(37:04):
next thing, you're gonna be there. I got an album
dropping to about Drake and Harlow just had a collaboration.
But now we've got Street Profits drama, Like, right, do
me the kind of pro I got a deal? They

(37:25):
threw me off. I was streaming on all DSPs. I
was like, okay, right. I was like, all right, man,
I see you. I was. I was like, dang, I
mean these brothers got a whole bunch of tag teams championships,
but now they got a deal. And I was like,
I missed that one right that went in the research

(37:46):
y'all have y'all have had a lot of success. When
you think about tag teams, who are some of those
tag teams from back in the day. I know I've
got mine, but who are yours? Steve weigh in. But
who are some of those influential tag teams that you
draw inspiration from. We gotta go first and foremost Harlem Heat, Sir.
I don't know if it's a it's if it's a

(38:07):
coastal thing, but on the West coast, like for US
w W, we didn't see I didn't see the Harlem Heat.
Is I saw a book book or T was later
for me, right, Booker T was in that, you know,
and he was like I grew up by that time.
I was out of wrestling body. Yeah, see, I grew up,

(38:30):
um man. I grew up watching when uh when when
when Ricky the Dragon boats, Ricky Steamboat, when he got
when they took the bowl and like they cart him
off later. So I was watching back then, Bruce Barbarbiefcake,
Jake the Snake, Undertaker, the first Ultimate Warrior, right, you know,

(38:54):
So for me it was such a I was watching
when I was young, young, right that you know that
pay per view like pay per view for the main events,
you know, or the main events were like super late
at night. So uh, that's why I'm I'm a little

(39:15):
bit like when I got older, I kind of phased
out of it. My grandpa kind of hurt my feelings
on it. But anyway, so as as w D w
W E has risen and became more of the storylines,
I was watching it when it was less of storylines

(39:37):
more of wrestling, right you know, Hawl Coke And what
are you gonna do when you see these twenty two
inch pythons wrapped around you? Uh? Mr t You know
all these different characters and when wrestling had a cartoon
Junkyard Dog, right, Kamala, you know those are those are
the guys, uh hacks All, Jim dug In with a

(40:00):
two by four. Those are the guys that I grew
up watching that. Kurt Angle was on the back end
for me, Like I look at Kurt Angle and I
kind of scratched my head. Not anything against him, but
I just grew up where man Kurt Ay we wasn't
the last back in the day, right the demolition when
they was two and then they added the Big Dude

(40:22):
and it was the three you know, Bretta Hitman Hard
like all these guys that that that was the way
I watched wrestling. Um you know, just in ways that
was that was extremely different, Like the story lives were
just not as as pertinent or in front of you.
They were like the villain was Mr. Perfect right, he

(40:47):
was perfection Lex Luger like that stuff that those are
the that's the wrestling that I watched. That's a little
bit different. And I believe you guys are upgrade, right.
You have the you have the wrestling, but the storylines
or something to follow and watch. And I think that's
that is the that's the difference. That's the difference of

(41:09):
playing catch up that that I'm playing right now. Good,
do it good, it's getting down to do it good. Hey, Gerard,
why did you get that T shirt? You mean, oh yes,
I got it from cut to a podcast dot com
where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys
at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on,

(41:30):
buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
listen to podcasts like Wrestling Today Now is like how
you know, like school yard fights, right, there was always
a group of guys that would you know, they bumped
shoulders and they're going around in the circle, right. That
means they didn't want to fight, right, And then old
school wrestlers like as soon as they as soon as

(41:52):
they try to have a conversation. Man, they was getting yes,
like a maging right they do an interview in the
back they're chasing them in the back room, right, Um,
who was the cop? I remember to do the big
Big boss Man. Yes, like Big boss Man right, like

(42:13):
stuff like that, where like he gets that billy club
like get them right, I mean looking on But it's
just the craziness, right that that's a that's that's that's
the that's the nostalgic of wrestling that I grew up on,
right seeing Ultimate Warrior run full speed from when they

(42:37):
hit that, when the music dropped, that dude is running
a hunter. His story time was bananas. So you just
My other question was gonna be who had some of
the best wrestling entrance music that when they as they
hit the Ultimate war he was the tassels on this
taking the ropes that room or the or when you

(43:01):
used to hit Hawk Hogan, he he did hit you.
He gets more fired up. That's crazy. I think I'm
just thinking about it. When I played that's kind of
where I got some of else theatrics from. He was
saying he was Ultimate Warrior Hawk Hogan, Right, Hogan, Hey,
I've grown man. Yeah, I just I just be together.

(43:23):
It was like I remember, man, you just get hit,
I'll be like, oh yeah I did. He get up
boy started eating all the punches even affect. That's a pause.
But we we went way off an attention who we

(43:50):
went well with a tangent? Who were some of those
influences for you? Like you started right who you said
hold him heat? Who else was it for you? Harlem
heat Um, Hardy Boys, mud least m edging Christian man,
skinny dude, don't little skin do with that? Hey? Yeah?

(44:18):
They was flipping in with the X on the the
Hardies had something that's a yeah. Yeah, they had to
pass on their shins and all that stuff. Man. It
was it was coming out there knocking the snot out
of people. Who was that with d x um the
Badass Billy Gunn and Jesse James. They had they had

(44:38):
they had one Um got you are Staner Brothers. Yeah,
man Kind they did have a run and and uh
and and the rock Yeah man Kind Yeah, man kind
of give you some nightmares, bro. Yeah he was. That
was scary storyline right there. And they used to get
scared of man con lot of people Undertaker he eyes

(45:03):
rolled back his head right. Want to take it? Was
to take it. He was so agile, all right, last one,
last one, no stygia for all of us. Andrea Giant. Sorry,
what you're just thinking of Andrea Giant? Okay that little Yeah,
you just got excited talking about a giant though. Andrea

(45:25):
Giant like he was like sad squash. He could be
and big show, big show, big show, a big yeah.
Um best finishing moves toom Stone three d okay, uh

(45:48):
rock Bottom, I gotta put the people's elbow up there,
the people Stone coast. I was wondering where that was gonna. Yeah,
if we wouldn't went through that top five and Stone start,
it wasn't on there. Sharp shooter, that's not top five.
I like the sharp shooter. I don't like the sharp shoot.
He's a freak out with that sharp shoot. You know what,

(46:09):
let's take Let's take people's elbow out. Put the sharp
shooter in the Okay, okay, look around what the ultimate
Warriors over? He would lift them up. Yeah, he kind
of ducked a little power slam kind of thing to
give you that night night. Right after that, he come
off the top rop with the elbow. Yeah. Look macho man.

(46:34):
I like that. I like Brutus the barb beefcake. He's
remember what the sleeperhole and cut your hair? Ye remember
that now? Yeah? Out right now it's a vibe. You
said that you sat in the barber chair when you're
getting your haircut. Why you all right, man, say it's

(47:00):
too comfortable. Yeah, that's just growing up as a kid,
you know, doing that. And then you go out there,
and then you go out there now and those when
those videos go when they have backyard brawls, remember they
somebody trying to get slammed, you have, they would make
rings in the backyards. Man. People was getting wopped in

(47:23):
the backyards, getting hurt, breaking arms and stuff that, right,
dit on, I remember we had somebody who got an
old mattress, right, but the mattress already beat up, so
you'd like, I think we had to do Johnny. Johnny

(47:43):
was an idiot and he was it. He put it
on the side where the springs are already coming through
the mattress and y'all already had a hell and sale matchup.
Johnny wasn't the sharpest tool in the shade, But so
what do you think the next ten years looked like
for you next ten years, man, next ten years, I'll

(48:08):
be forty one. Uh. How you thinking? How you with
a lot more tag titles? Huh? I said you like
you kind of look he's like forty one. I mean i'
still be a pretty pretty ayegile forty one year old.
You know, I'll still be able to move, I think.

(48:30):
Uh no, I mean hopefully, uh ten years, more championships,
more money in the bank. I was just thinking about it, like,
you know, there's always you hear about basketball players. Uh,
you're about the beast situations and good situations, right football baseball?

(48:50):
You know, obviously baseball has no situation. Them dudes get paid.
They're still getting paid. What was that, Bobby Bobby Anila.
I think that's just about to run out next year. Um.
Ken Griffy still the six highest paid player on the
Reds and this dude they've spun up Bast's one of

(49:12):
my favorite players. It's gotta make you feel real good
about your Reds when you look at when you just
look at that queen. Look you your kids gonna be
graduated high school by the time they stopped paying Ken Griffy. Yeah,
my dang man, what do you imagine based off what

(49:33):
your experience you right now? What do you what do
you what do you imagine or thinking about your future
economical league based on some of the statistics of other
leagues of professional money. Yeah, yeah, I like my chances. Um,
like as long as like, as long as I'm good
with everything money wise and smart with it, I'm okay.

(49:58):
Like there's situations like I never thought I would be in.
This is definitely one of them where I'm like even
thinking about that in the long run. But what's that though?
What do what do you mean? That was like thinking
about like being that financially set in a way like
in my mind, Like it's something you're talking about the

(50:19):
things that like catch me off guards Sometimes I've like
sit back and be like, oh snap, I'm like really
in a I'm a pretty good position. Like I just
bought my house two years ago, so like it's just like,
oh wow, I just bought it. Aux, Like man, I
holy crap, Like, so do you have a you have
a financial guy that's helping you with it? Yeah, okay, Cool,

(50:43):
it's been really good. Um, it's been very good. He's
helped me out a lot. Uh. It's just like especially um,
he's also a family friend, so like that helps out.
He's already like we already knew him, so he's he's
helped me out a lot. I mean, I haven't really

(51:04):
spent anything spent on anything that was like crazy or
outrageous or nothing. So like the most I've ever spent
was for this house. That was it, and it's just
like alright cool, like obviously like I got a PlayStation
or all that, but other than that, it has just
been like being smart with my money, saving it and

(51:27):
just you know what I'm saying, just living a simple
life as simple as I can live it. That's good. Well, man,
We appreciate your time. Many looking forward to watching. Thank
you for having me man, this was awesome. Yeah, looking
forward to keep watching Cursed the Curse of Greatness. Appreciate it.

(51:53):
I'm not to tell everybody that I wrestled now to
ice up son, I like that. I like that. You
are a unique person, you are well worth it, you
are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve
Smith Singer. I'm Gerard little John and this is cut
to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That

(52:20):
is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect and I Heart Radio.
For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith,

(52:42):
SINGR co host Gerard Little John, talented booking manager Joe Fusci,
social media teamer Wesley Robinson, and John Show from Balto
Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch
and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lab Production
Coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and

(53:05):
vocals by Anthony Hamilton. If you ain't heard about it,
then we're about to let you know. It's all
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