September 15, 2020 • 55 mins
Steve and G catch up with WWE Superstar "The Miz," and the man behind the legend, Mike Mizanin. We learn about Mike’s rise from The Real World to being an executive producer on his own show, Miz & Mrs. Bonus: have you ever thought about what Steve would look like as a WWE superstar? Neither had we….
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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 and this is cut to it.
Good do it, Good do it. They's getting down to
do it. Good do it. We asked the questions you
(00:20):
always want to know, but no one ever asked, let's
cut to it. You ain't heard them about it, then
we're about to let you know. It's all you can't
(00:42):
give it to us and then take it back. Huh,
all right, let's go good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
When us what is that afternoon? That is good morning?
All right us, that's what you're rolling with. That's what
(01:03):
I said. So just I'm just trying to test your
gangster when it comes to your to your Espanol. Uh.
And then we're gonna have some fun with this one.
So we got our we talked about doing this segment,
but we've got our inaugural Big Dummy Award that back
(01:25):
that Fred Sanford right there, The Big Dummy Award dropped again.
So we wants a month. We're gonna try to collect
enough and pick and see which one gets this one
and and and listen, I hate to what they said,
kicking man while he's down. But I'm I'm jumping off
(01:46):
the top rope. Did the Eddie Garri ro leg drop,
Oh my gosh, So just to give some contact Seahawks. No, no, no, no,
former rookie there we go Farmer Seattle see Hawk Chima
Sivering and I hope I'm pronouncing that don't matter tried
to sneak in a female visitor into their team hotel
(02:10):
during this whole COVID pandemic where everything is locked down.
He had a visitor and decided to sir, they it
was had to be tag teams. But they decided somewhere
along this this route that they we're going to dress
her up as a Seahawks player to get her in
(02:31):
the building. So here's my question, give me, give me
your take on this NFL VET. I would love to
be in the room when these two dummies, you big dummy,
decided on how they were mastermind. Yeah, what was the
plane break in? Yeah? Right? Like did he meet her
(02:55):
like at the at the insurance Probably they're probably start
from the top of what you ain't happen. They're in
a relationship. Maybe No, I'm just gonna go I'm gonna
get him benefit out there in a relationship that's his
girl and training camp whatever maybe, and he's in there like, look,
I want to see my boot I miss her, and
(03:20):
they FaceTime and he says, I got it, I got
the idea. I got a great idea. And her reply
isn't no, babe, I don't think that's a good idea.
She tells him, Yeah, I like that one. So this
is where I can already poke holes in the stories
because I don't think a wife or girlfriend's gonna go
(03:41):
along with this one. You don't think so? Um have you?
Have you been in the same place as I bear this?
This quarantine has really shown there something. There's some folks
that when they get on the elevator and their body
in their minds our floors. It's a few are missing.
(04:06):
So some don't go all the way to the topics,
which just hell, some of my under construction indefinitely mean
they just boarded up. And and here's the here's the part.
You know you're in trouble when you got a floor thirteen.
You're already in trouble. The elevators go to Florida, so
they faced time. They faced time, and they say this
(04:28):
is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna dress you up
as a player. So when you come in there, don't
make eye contact and don't talk to nobody. Nobody. Throw
this a just throw this all. So I want to
know did she have ye what was the component like?
What did he give her hoodie? Or did he give
(04:48):
her like his work. I'm trying to sweatpants because if
she got on shorts, then they made that may tell
the whole possibly right, because we don't know. Now, I've
I've I've laid with some guys who do not look
like NFL football players. Hell I don't at times. I'm
five nine three, four hundred nineties something d ninety seven pounds.
(05:13):
Why receiver? You line me up next to Calvin Johnson,
you say, who's the wide receiver? That the short guy
is not that so I and that's why I say,
you know, it depends on what that individual looks like
when you put it in the category of examining that
individual as a superior athlete. Not all superior athletes look superior.
(05:38):
That's just the talent, that's the gift of God. That's
why you have God given abilities. But I just am
completely confused on why they thought that they were going
to be able to fool the team and just walk
up in there like she's a player, that we who's
(05:59):
the new person? Because you also got to think that
there could have been some other things. You could if
you was going to go to dress up, bro, that
could have been some others. They were in the hotel,
so she could have been she could be have been
room service, these security, no, these brain surgeons. You're gonna
be another player? Yeah, I got it, I got it.
(06:20):
Don't hunt your Dave and clowney stuff. Stuff. Nobody's gonna
notice that is gone, is gone. And you're like, yeah,
let me get up, let me get these sweats. Baby.
What sides that? Well, I'm a small your medium today.
I don't think David was no, but I'm just saying
(06:43):
he just grabbed some stuff, walked in there and then
they called it and not just you know, and then
I'm hurt. I'm I'm the individual. Let's be honest. Is
she a person who has maybe done some things that
they've done before, which and I mean just like you know,
like you know how you got some people where, let's
(07:05):
be honest, you wouldn't necessarily commit a crime with them, right,
because you know you've got some folks like they will
tell on themselves, right, They're getting nervous, get anty, and
I'm wondering, like hurt. I wish I could like be
in her mind, a psyche like her psyche. You don't
talk to anybody? Do they know? I'm running? I'm runn
through the progressions? And they noticed that I'm really not
(07:25):
a player? What do I work? Does this make me?
How about this? And I'm being a guy and being
a husband? Does this swett? Who make me look fat? Right?
It needs to make you like you're on the roster.
It's just a whole bunch of stuff. And of course
the end of the story is they got caught. And
(07:46):
I'm trying to figure out when she walked in, Like
was it a side door? Did she walk in the
front entrance of the lobby like here you know? Or
was it the sneak in like you know everyone everyone's
been a teenage? Do you know you're getting If I
just close my eyes, they won't notice me, right? Or
(08:06):
did she walk into like did they FaceTime and go
over the walk you know, walk like a dude, like no,
walk like a corner and put a little pull, a
little pip of your step, and you know it's like
we try to imitate guys, right or when you try
to imitate somebody, you're just kind of like who walks
like that? Right? Are you watching? Yeah? Yes, you try
(08:30):
to discus Oh yeah yeah yeah, uh huh. But regardless,
this did not work and his ass got fired. Chema
lost his job, so he didn't didn't even get started.
Good even. But I guess seriously though, as a vet,
(08:51):
something like this happens all the time. Dumb dumbs all
the time. Oh no, you it's just stuff. I don't
know what it is about us athletes, but we really
believe don't remember that the athletes, bro, no, no what
I'm saying this athletes, we really believe we could do anything.
(09:11):
Though I'm talked about that sometimes we people have done
things like this before. You everyone that started to sneak
someone in the house and sneak out of the house,
you snuck into like people have done that you know about.
Just so don't just don't just limit that the athletes. Brother,
yeah there's not but this athlete is one big you
(09:33):
big DUMBI first recipient of the first Recipient Congratulations Schema Hey,
that virtual unemployment line is long. Pick a number? You did? Alright, guys? Hey,
who's our guest for today? Coming up on the Cut
to It podcast, We've got The Miss, a former Real
(09:54):
World star who's turned w W superstar. He's a former
champ who now host USA's Cannonball and Miss and Mrs.
Alongside his wife. The Miss. Well, this segment we got
coming up, Miss is called get Iced Up. It's our
(10:15):
version of an icebreaker. The random questions that we formulated.
Smithy may and may not have a follow up. It
may be something to where we get down a rabbit hole.
Who knows, but this is our segment of called Getting
iced Up. So Smithy, go ahead and give him the
first one. Alright, what is your favorite scent? Favorite scent? Yeah,
(10:36):
like a car scent. My wife whenever she puts on
this perfume, I don't even know what the perfume is,
to be honest, but when she puts it on and
she walks by me, my my, literally, my nose just
follows the whole thing. It's like it's like literally, I'm
like floating in the air just right behind her. What
if that was old spice? What would you do? Right? Now.
(10:57):
I mean, if if Old Spice is paying me a
lot money, then I'll guess what it's Old Spice, bar
glow you know whatever that whatever that's soap is. If
you can learn a new skill, what would it be.
I've always wanted to play guitar, Like I'm even trying
right now. Like I have a buddy that plays guitar,
and he like teaches me like through like face time
(11:18):
all the time, and I just can't get it. I
can't pick it up. I can't pick up a musical instrument.
I hope I have too baby girls, and uh, once
they're old enough, I want to teach them how. It's
not me, but have someone teach them how to play instruments,
because it's something I've always wanted to do. I think
when you're an entertainer, like being a rock star is
like always on that list of things that you've always
(11:40):
wanted to do. But I don't have a good voice.
I can't play an instrument, but I can entertain you,
So probably why I'm a w W superstar. Yeah. Your
top three email subscriptions Email subscriptions. Honestly, I try not
to subscribe to anything because I don't want emails at all. Like,
(12:00):
I get so many emails a day that are just
garbage emails that honestly zero. I don't want any subscriptions whatsoever.
There's none you look forward to at all. No, No,
I honestly I get I get like when I wake
up in the morning, I have thirty emails and I'm
not one of those people that like the red dots
on my phone, like I have to get rid of
(12:21):
them so I can go through forty eraces, which takes
me about you know, five minutes of going through things.
And so no, I don't want an email from anyone
or anything. I don't even like emails. I'd really have
a text message. All right, Well you would hate my
email because I got emails over. I couldn't do it.
I could not do My wife has the same thing.
(12:43):
Every time I see your phone, it drives me nuts.
Well it works fun for me. So well I'll tell
you what emails subscription you need to get because I
do it one a hundred flowers. So when I saying,
you know, occasions, I'll get off. So it's pretty good.
I like those, like I'll leave on a Wednesday Thursday morning,
(13:06):
she gets up, there's a there's a bouquet of roses
for Debonair Smithie. Yes, I'm I might. I might do
that tonight. I think I might just have to do
that this week and get some get some brown dosing points,
you come back. I uh, last one. What do you
(13:30):
think your best quality is? Uh? Sometimes I think my
best qualities are my worst qualities. It depends on who
you're talking to. UM, I think I'm very outspoken, I'm loud,
I'm obnoxious, and for some that's fun, that's entertaining. Other
times it's a bit much, and I know him a
bit much and so uh. And sometimes I literally my
(13:55):
mouth just goes and I'm like, oh man, did I
really just say that. I can't believe I did it.
And some people are like, that's the most genius thing
you've ever said. Other people are like, that's the stupidest
thing you've ever said. So you never know what's gonna
happen with me, you know. Okay, Well, let's get down
to how about you. What's what's your best quality? My
best quad? Let's see, I have so many I don't
(14:16):
know where to go. Uh. My my gift and my
curse is um, I think about things so simple but
yet so complicated and I go down a rabbit hole
that where it's like my wife is like, Babe, it's
not that serious. Where are you from and what do
(14:37):
you call home. I'm originally from parm Ohio. It's a
suburb outside of Cleveland. Obviously. The reason I'm a Cleveland
Browns fan is because I've lived there in my entire life.
I moved to Los Angeles when I was about one,
and uh, I literally lived out here ever since. Um
(15:01):
So now I live in Los Angeles. I love the
seventy and sonny every day. Uh there's no humidity and
there's you know, sometimes a little hot from just a heat.
But I actually went to Austin for one year because
I was like, I don't want to pay state taxes anymore.
I'm gonna move to Texas where you don't have state
taxes that eleven percent will get you. So I moved
(15:22):
to uh, Texas for one year, and I literally said, Yep,
Texas is not for me. My wife said the same thing.
We both literally lived there. We moved like literally we
had a baby and then drove all the way in
a in like a like we kind of had like
this RV like this big bus that we just drove
in and thought it'd be fun little trip. We did it,
(15:44):
and a year later we were doing the same exact
thing back to l A. Because we were just like,
look we are l A people. Uh threw the eleven percent.
I'll pay the eleven percent state tax just to be there.
So yeah, family version of rule grooves, Yeah, a hundred percent,
like literally, And it was like that because I had me,
(16:05):
my wife, my two dogs, my two cats, my daughter
who was three weeks old, and then my my mother
in law. We're all in this bus and it was
my cat was NonStop me owing the entire time. Uh,
he wouldn't let you even come near him, so we
had to shove him like in a bathroom, so we
didn't uh you know, like sick everyone. My two dogs,
(16:29):
which I have a Doberman and a mint in. My
Doberman didn't even fit in the place. He She had
gas the entire time, which stunk up the entire bus.
We forgot my mother in law at one stop because
she said, um, she said she was the bathroom. Well
all right, all right, say you're at a truck stop,
right and you're you're getting gas. Your mother in law
(16:53):
my convenience. She goes, I'm going to the restroom. So
we go, okay, fine, worth thinking she went to the
restroom in the bus. She didn't. She went to the restroom,
And why would you go to the truck stop when
you have you have you have a good bathroom at
the bus. And so we started driving elson we get
a phone called you son of a mother, blah blah
(17:14):
blah with her French accent. So yeah, we forgot her. Yeah,
and we had to drive back. So it was it
was definitely a nice little road rules episode if you want. Okay, so,
how did your upbringing impact your view on the world today? Wow?
(17:34):
My upbringing? Well, where I'm from in Parme, Ohio, you
go to high school, After high school, go to college.
At college, go back to Parma, Ohio. You get a job,
you get a family, and that's exactly what you do
for the rest of your life. When I got onto
a show called The Real World, Back to New York, uh,
it basically put me in like the melting pot that is,
you know, New York. It opened my eyes up to
(17:55):
so many different things, and once I got there, I
kind of realized that I could do anything. I wanted
with my life. So what was my dream? What did
I always want to do? And I always want to
be a w superstar. The problem is where you know,
back then you'd have to be six seven three pounds
of pure solid muscle, and I was not that. But
(18:17):
when I was in the real world, like I was
like everyone said I couldn't make that show, and I did.
So when you when you finally see a goal, like
maybe maybe for you, and I don't know if this
is your story, but maybe for you it might have been.
You know, you want to play football in college, and
then you make it into college and you play football
and you're like, oh my god, I'm I'm playing football
in college. Maybe I can do this the NFL. And
(18:40):
then literally you hone in and you drive yourself to
make it to the NFL. Then when you make it
to the NFL, you go, all right, I don't just
want to be a wide receiver. I want to be
one of the the most premier wide receivers out there.
And then when you do that, you're like, all right,
I want a Hall of Fame career. All right, maybe
now I want a Super Bowl. So you keep your goals,
keep excelling. So one again. On the real world, my
(19:01):
goal excelled to be a W superstar. When I became
a W superstar, I wanted to be the biggest WW superstar.
I wanted to be, you know, main event WrestleMania, b
w W E Champion, win all the titles. And then
once I've done that, now I want to, you know,
make sure that I have a Hall of Fame career.
I want to get back to being a Universal Champion
(19:21):
or w W Champion. I want to get back to
being main event of WrestleMania, you know. And I also
want to do other things and not not only do
I have my own reality show. Now I started on
the real world, I was just a cast member. Now
I'm an executive producer. And I also start in my
own show that gets incredible ratings, Miss and Mrs on
the USA Network as well, and so and now also
(19:41):
I'm developing a couple other shows for other people. And so,
you know, I've kind of except exceeded my dreams and
expectations and my goals, and I keep on going and
doing it because that's just where my mindset is now.
It wasn't like that when I was in Parmer, Ohio.
Real world changed at all. If I wouldn't have gotten
the real world, I would have been at home flipping burgers.
(20:04):
I would have dropped out of college because I wasn't
very good at it. Um, you know, I was good
at school, but honestly, I just enjoyed like school, school,
college school more than anything else. And I probably have
dropped out and just went back and worked for my
dad at a local Mr Hero flipping burgers. Was that
correct in your assessment of like where you were, Like
would you say that's how kind of your goals kind
(20:25):
of happened or did you always have that goal like
I'm gonna be a NFL star, no doubt my mind.
That's a really good question for me was Um, my
dad plays semi pro football. I always wanted to play football.
That's all I knew. That's all I wanted. That was
on my old desire. College was not on that road
trip of success. But for me, I guess what is
(20:48):
a little bit different is once I got to the
league and I realized what it was, I started to
have to equip myself around how to were just to
becoming a football player. How do I master my craft?
How do I become one of the best. But then
I started to realize, well, what is one of the best,
(21:09):
And so I was on the team we were my
first year, we were won of fifteen, but I I
played with some I was on the team with some
guys that I I had admired, but I was also
on the team where I wanted to be better than them.
So it was it was very complex because I wasn't
necessarily looking down on them, but growing up as a
(21:30):
fan like you are of of Hawk Hogan, Rady, you know,
Macho Man, Randy Savage, the Honkey talk Man, Brutus de Barber, Beefcake,
all these guys. Those were the guys Jerry Rice right,
John Taylor, those guys I looked up to because I
grew up in Los Angeles and I was a huge
(21:50):
forty Niners fan, and Tim Brown where the team I
was on, I didn't believe any of those guys were
in that category. So if I didn't believe kne of
those guys in that category, I kind of saw them
I once. I didn't see him as equals or I
didn't look up to him. I just saw almost like, well,
my guys that I want to emulate aren't on this team, like,
(22:14):
I didn't want to be one of the one of
the teammates. Who's who who's like a brother of mine,
is a good friend? Was muss and Muhammed. I wanted
to be better than Moose And so did you have
did you have um a person that that you would
that would teach you or guide you or go, Okay,
you want to be Jerry Rice, you want to be
you know, like these talents, these are what these guys
(22:35):
did to do that. Did you have anyone like that? No?
So that another great question. I looked at the guys
as my teammates. I just looked at him as guys,
like like A great example of that is at the
time when I was drafting two thousand one, which was
(22:56):
around the same time that you were in a world
world mhm, I was looking at Moose and I'm like,
I want to be on the record books, and Moose
at that time was the record books. That my goal
was two be the best Carolina Panther wire receiver in
(23:16):
in their history. That was your goal, then that was
my goal in my mind. I said, I want to
erase moose in from the record books soutique. So to
have that mentality to erase somebody for the record books.
Technically you can't be friends with them. And I looked
(23:36):
at Moose, and I believe Moose looked at me. At
one point in our careers we were enemies on the
same team. So when he make a one hand to catch, well,
in my mind, I'm like, well, I'm gonna make four
one hand to catch us. If he's gonna make a
hunter yard game, man, I'm an average a hunter yards
and elevate your It was making me but but it
(24:00):
isn't elevating it in the way you think it was
an elevating it to where I mean, this is my podcast.
I man, I wanted to be I wanted to be
the standard like I didn't want but I wanted to
relate it back to even with with with miss and
you like, it's having a goal, then I achieve that goal.
Now is I have to recalibrate it's not, it's not.
(24:20):
I wanted to be the standard I wanted When you
talked about the Carolina Panthers, when you talked about w
w E, I didn't want them to talk about well,
this guy that guy, I'm the damn guy. Yeah, well,
I'm the same exact way like whenever I see a
poster that I am not front and center, whether I'm
(24:41):
on the poster or not, if I'm not front and center,
it infuriates me, and it makes me want to work
harder and figure out a way how I can be
the focal point of not only that poster, but the show,
the entire show SmackDown on every Friday. If I'm not
the focal point of that show, you better believe I'm
working towards to becoming that thing. But the thing I'm
(25:02):
different than you is I look at everyone as my friends,
like how come you can't uh, you couldn't look at
as moose as like Jarvis and O'Dell look at each other.
They elevate each other. They literally are saying, Hey, I
want to make you better. You want to make me better.
We're going to be better together. Well one they grew
up together. They want to Now you you're living in
(25:24):
l A. You know the listeners. We don't wanna We
don't want you to tell exactly your your address location.
Where are you in l A? Because I'm from I'm
in the suburbs. I used to live in the in Hollywood,
but now I live in the suburbs like I live
past Calabasas, like I'm in a thousand Oaks area. Okay,
So when you used to live in the Hollywood area,
(25:45):
I lived off A hundred and six and Avalon. Okay,
that's a mile from Welcome to Compton. Okay. You don't
have friends. You either with me? Are you against me?
Or you against me? But we can't be on the
in the same wagon like we we The truck does
(26:09):
not come with two staring wheels. It only comes to
a one stam wheel. And honestly, I've been driving, I've
got a family. I probably sat in my back seat twice.
I don't don't share, I don't I'm not sitting in
the back. I don't care what the back seat or
how much room you got back there, because I'm only
sitting in the front and I need to be comfortable.
(26:33):
And that's kind of how I looked at it. I mean,
that's that's just a mentality that I grew up with.
Did you go to school in the Content area as
well to school in l A. I mean, okay, a
few schools, uh, because I got in trouble a few times.
But I went to a few school all right, Um,
I was gonna ask you how you stayed out of
the trouble and how you how you geared yourself to
(26:54):
It was a football the reason that that that geared
you away from everything that that's out there or well, well,
if my mom was on here, she would say she's
still working through that in process. Uh, I mean sports
was that. Um, there was a lot of different things.
It was unique because back in the day, man, you
(27:15):
could get in trouble if you wanted to, no matter
what you're doing. Like I mean, dudes got beat up
and shot or it was faced at the escaping ring, right,
So there was always stuff right foolishly. I remember we
stole quarters out of the pact miss pac Man machine.
And I'm not the average five nine guy, so my
(27:38):
arms are pretty long, and so I was the short
guy that they I was standing up and it was
a little and my hands are so big that I
was actually able to grab a whole bunch of quarters.
And then the manager of the laundry, Matt Sauce, and
we all took off running and some kids got caught.
(27:59):
I didn't get caught, and I remember his kid named
Random Random. I ran everybody. I ran home. That's what
And I remember Junior got caught and he was like, hey, Steve,
are you good? And I looked at you know, we
had the screen porch, you know, the spray play in it,
so you can't know. You don't know if that's if
you're looking or anything. Ain't trying to get me come
(28:21):
out there. Oh boy was hiding in his truck waiting
for me to come out because Julia had negotiated with him.
I'll tell you the kid that stole who has and
I'll call him man, Julior. Junior got his asshole. I
was gonna put up he got, Okay, dooke on them.
We beat Junior down. So but the old old school,
(28:43):
you know, we have to take a break and the
morning anything, we gotta pay some bills. I I talked
to some folks and then some poland they that I
don't know if you're gonna like this question. And but man,
everybody freaking wants to know, like take us through this process.
(29:07):
Because I grew up watching a real world. I was
I was looking at that stuff and I remember you,
and I remember your great relationship with a friend and
we will talk about but I remember the miss and
that persona you were building even on that how instrumental
was going on a real world for you. I wouldn't
(29:31):
be where I am today if it wasn't for the
Real World. If John Murray and Mary Osbunim didn't pick
me to be on the show as a cast member,
I would not be where I am today. It changed
my mind frame. Like do you ever have moments in
your life that it just changes the way you think.
That's what Real World did for me. And some people
(29:51):
have that happened in middle school, high school. Some people
don't have it and happen until in mid middle life,
you know, but there's some there's some times in your
life there are moments where you can look at and
you can go this changed everything. And that's what Real
World did for me. And it not only changed that,
but it changed the way I thought about things, like,
(30:12):
you know, because I was I was in my own
little Bubbalos, in my own little Parma, Ohio, you know,
you know, a little spot and going onto the real world,
meeting the six people from all different walks of life,
getting educated about these different people and where they're from,
how they grew up. It made it gave me an
interest on everyone and everything and so that allowed me
(30:35):
to literally go, I don't want to live in Parma anymore.
I want something bigger. I want something And I love Parma,
I love the city. I love Cleveland, but I wanted
something bigger and better. And I that's why it was
either New York or l A is where I was
gonna move and uh l A has se and sunny
every day, So I'm gonna take the uh the better weather.
(30:58):
And so I moved out there and set out for
a dream. You want it better? It set you up?
What was other than the way you laid it out
so clearly for us talking about your hometown. You know,
you got you go to college, you get a degree,
you could come back, you come back to Ohio, right, Yeah,
(31:20):
you didn't a cookie cutter life, which I agree and
I and I and I understand. But what was what
why was getting on the real world? Like take us
through that, Like, why was that your only route to
get out of Ohio? Because you were you were in
college at the time. It wasn't the only route. It
(31:41):
was just the route that I like. So, for instance,
I'll give you an example. So I was at college,
I was Miamive, Ohio is a Theta Kai. There was
a fraternity and I'm watching the rail World New Orleans
and it's a commercial. Comes on, do you want to
try out for the railroad? In my head, I said yes,
Well here's how, and so I said in, I sent
in this this video I'll never forget. I took my
(32:04):
VHS cam quarter and here's how we edited it. By
the way I put it, I attached these uh, these
these wires to my my VHS uh tape. You play
and then you press record, and that's how you edit.
That's how editing was last time. There was no computers.
Oh my god, are you kidding me? Like now they
take a bunch of takes. I'm like putting this thing
(32:26):
out over my shoulder and then I put it on
a tripod and I talked to it. And then so
I sent this video and by the way I put
it in like this Manila envelope with all these pictures
of me, you know, on things I did, this will
stand out in the crowd, right, And it obviously did
because then like I got a fifty page application, Yeah,
(32:46):
fifty pages exactly right. So I I they asked everything, Well,
your parents are like where are you from? YadA, YadA, YadA,
all the right now, yeah, a little bit almost so.
Then so then after that you have this, uh you
have this like phone interview, but the phone interview, they said,
(33:10):
put your cam quarter up um to where we can
see you talking, and then we will ask you the questions.
What be on speaker phone with us, and then we
will and talk to the camera like you're talking on
the real world and when you're asking answering the questions.
So literally I did two of those interviews. Then I
did an in person interview in Detroit. Had to drive
(33:31):
up to Detroit on my own money, by the way,
and I'm a college kid. I don't have any money.
So literally I'm like struggling for gas money to get
up there, and drove up there, did it. And I
remember this this interview, and I was always trying to
figure out how people would cry on the real world,
like you know, like you ever see people like in
interviews crying, And I'm like, dude, you're on the real world,
(33:52):
You're in this multimillion dollar place you live in the life.
How can you cry? I don't get it. And once
I was done with this interview, like I remember the question,
the question like there was a question, and these are
the questions that they would ask. And I was like,
this is how they get people cry. Now I didn't cry,
but this is how they get people to cry. They're like,
all right, Sam an onion and you're an onion. And
(34:13):
we peel away the fract guy. We peel away all
your friends, peel away, all your your family, peel away
the divorce your parents had, peel away, this peel away
that what's at the core of Mike Nazanin. And I'll
never forget my answer because honestly I could. I couldn't
even tell you. I was like, I don't know. I
really don't know. I don't I wish I could tell
you like a cool answer like oh yeah, this, but
(34:35):
if you peel away everything about me, then there nothing's left.
And uh, I remember um going to that same casting
director once I was on the show and after we've
done filming, and I go, why did you choose me?
And she goes, it was that question, because I asked
that question to everyone, and yours was the most real
and it was the most heartfelt and you could tell
(34:57):
it hit a nerve, but you but you allowed me
to see that nerve and I like that. And then
I asked the guy, the executive producer, UM, why he
chose me? And he goes, I didn't. I thought you
were a buckethead. And I went, what and he goes, John,
John Murray and Mary Elie wanted you on the show.
But to be completely honest with you, I am so
glad that you were on the show because you were
(35:18):
so open, so honest, and you just wanted to learn.
And that's exactly what you did. And you you allowed
the process of the real world and you allowed us
into your life. And that's what I said. I said,
if I'm going on the real world, I'm giving you
all of me everything. I'm not gonna like some people
you'll hear go you know, aggravated about how they were
(35:40):
edited or how they were portrayed, and those people like
and I've been on shows where people I see that
they edit themselves. They they they are a completely different
person that they are camera, that they are that they
are off of the camera, and so when they look
at themselves on camera, they go, that's not me. And
in my mind, I'm going, yeah, that was I saw you.
(36:00):
That's exactly who you were. And so some people get
mad about editing, but I was like, I'm just gonna
be me and just gonna allow it to happen. And honestly,
I'm so glad I did because the process was a
learning experience all the way from doing the real world
to doing the challenges as well. It taught a lot
about myself, a lot about hard work, dedication, and you
(36:21):
know is people look at it and go, oh, it's
so easy to be on the challenge of the challenges.
I look at as a sport, you know. I mean,
you're going for a lot of money and you have
chances to get eliminated from these things, and you know,
some of them, some of the people, this is what
they do for a living, you know, so and it's
it's it's a lot of money, but it's not a
lot of money because if this is your life, that's
what it is. You said, they edit all of that,
(36:45):
you know, edit they're filming you, guys, twenty four hours
for five months, for five months. What was what was that?
Did that entail? Did you? You know? Like, because even I,
you know, I do TV and there are times when
(37:07):
we're in a studio they tell you, uh, in between breaks,
bro kill you Mike if you have to go use
a bathroom because the control room can hear everything can
be a hot Mike. Everything is on. They have everything.
They literally like there is a storage room in Bunimury
that has everything. And I'm talking like like they film
(37:29):
everything there with there's people with you seven so like
say we all go to bed, they still have cameras
on you while you're sleeping, and then when you wake
up in the morning, there's a camera in your face. Uh.
You know, if you're in a fight and you don't
want sometimes you don't want to, you know, do something
in front of a camera. You have to. It's that's
what you signed up for. That is the real world.
(37:51):
And the real world I always say, is the closest
thing to real life. Um. You know, everything else now
you can look at and you go, oh, that's scrap dad,
that's this, that's that. Um. I always looked at the
real world as just the closest you can get to
real life. And obviously editing music, um, you know, in
(38:11):
order to to be entertaining, Like think about your life
on a day to day basis. It's not all funny games.
Like you see highlights of a person's life. If you
if you saw in my life, like literally, it's like
it's not entertaining to wake up every morning at six
thirty and see me ahold of baby and then change
the baby every day the same thing. It's gonna be boring.
You want to be entertained, and that's exactly what the
(38:32):
real world does. It gives you that reality aspect of it.
But it's entertaining because you see the highlights of what
is going on in a person's life. I think it's
about that time. Just take a little breather. Good, good, good,
let's talk. So take us into the locker room of
(38:57):
being a w W E superstarre fact. When I was
first starting in w W I kicked out of the
locker room because, uh, there was huge amount of respect
when you So for instance, when you walk into the
locker room, you shake everyone's hand. That is a standard
thing that you know, was you know ingrained in you
as a ww superstar. You shake everyone's hand, and all
(39:20):
the veterans there, you thank them for you know, what
they've done for the business. And it's literally like every day,
like so every day you walk into the locker room
and you shake everyone's hand. This was fifteen years ago.
You know, it's kind of teetered off um now, and
I think the locker room is is better for it.
There are things that I miss about the old locker room, UM,
(39:41):
but I like the fact that everyone walks in with
a smile on their face and everyone is trying to
make everyone else better. Um. You know, back then, I
felt like it was more competitive, you know how you
were saying, like with Moose, like you were like, I
want to be better than this guy, and I'm gonna
be better than this guy. We weren't friends, you know.
I felt that that kind of competitiveness you know back then,
(40:03):
like where you know, people would maybe tell you the
wrong information so you wouldn't get better than them. And
then there were others that that took you under their
wing and literally guided you. Guys like you know, Shawn
Michaels took me under their wing and you know, literally
gave me advice that I still used to this day.
You know, John Cena literally like you know, being in
(40:25):
the ring with me with with John Cena taught me
how to be a main inventor in a w W
E ring. If I would have never gotten the ring
with John Cina I wouldn't have known that. And it's
just a matter of getting in the ring and being
and feeling and understanding what it is to be a
top level talent like John Cena is. M wow. So
those so those are rivalries and feuds you had mentioned before,
(40:49):
like you want to be friends with with guys, So
those rovalies in those feuds, they don't do they spill
over to the locker room or sometimes have you guys
have that kind of cohesion together it Yeah, I mean
sometimes it does spill over, but other times, like nowadays,
it kind of doesn't. Usually can squash your beef and
and figure it out, but honestly, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes
(41:11):
you just don't like a person, and you know everyone's
not gonna like everyone, and people are gonna say things
that that hurt. And it's on national television and if
someone says something that hurts, then you're like, all right,
this guy, you want to go, let's go and we'll see.
So you just you never know what people are gonna
say or do um, But nowadays usually you can you
(41:34):
can figure things out. What is a practice entail as
a w D W W E superstar And the reason
I asked that is because you know, obviously I haven't
seen you do it, but there's some guys and gals
who do some things off the ropes. You just don't
(41:56):
You just don't wait, You just don't wake up a triple. Yeah. So,
so being a w superstar is completely different than being
an NFL star, MLB or NBA. It's a different type
of training. For instance, my training, I make sure that
I work out, you know, three or four or five
(42:16):
times a week. I make sure I do as much
cardio as I can so I can stay in the ring.
And literally my cardio is usually like sprints, Like I
do sprints, slow sprint, slow sprint, slow sprint, because that's
what w W E is. When you're in that ring,
you're sprinting and then all of a sudden you take
a fall, and you you sell that fall for a
little bit and then you sprint again, then you sprint again.
(42:37):
Some matches are a complete sprint, so you gotta keep
your cardio up. A lot of my practice is talking,
so you know, I'll cut promos in a ring, in
in a mirror all the time, even at this level,
to keep my uh me feeling you know that I'm
on my toes at all times. Honestly, being host of
Cannonball kind of helps helps me practice for w w E.
(43:01):
I think being on this podcast is a is a
practice for w w E. When I first started in
w E, UM, I wanted uh to be the top guy.
I wanted to be at a level of of just amazing, no,
I guess you could say. And I'll never forget my
first time hosting a show. It was for w w A.
It was a called Diva Search, and I forgot a
(43:24):
phone number and I and it was in front of
a live audience, and I forgot the phone number that
that people would have to call in to vote. And
this is the most important thing that I forgot. And
there's no one in my ear, there's no one that
can tell me anything about that. And I went into
a cold sweat. I blanked out, And I'll never forget
(43:44):
having that feeling and walking back and hearing the crowd
just go complete silence, and I was like, I'm gonna
get fired. I'm gonna get fired. And I never wanted
to have that feeling ever again. So I asked, w
w E, can I do all the radio interviews that
people don't want to do. I will wake up at
six in the morning every single morning to do radio
interviews so I can practice, you know, just talking and
(44:07):
getting points to where I ever feel that cold sweat
happened again. I know what to do and how to
get out of it and how to get that feeling.
So you love it, I mean, like, honestly, I love
being a like I love I used to love having
a people booing me, but now you know, we don't
have that. Now we have a virtual fans in our thunderdome,
and uh and it's it's honestly, it's it's it's pretty great.
(44:30):
Like it's it's interesting. It's it's tested me like now,
the way we're shooting and the way we're filming, like
w w E, it's like, man, this is different, you know,
it's it's completely uh new kind of talent that you
have to develop. And it's you're always changing and evolving.
You are my tag team partner. You're getting me ready. Okay,
(44:53):
let's pick up my outfit. What am I wearing? I mean,
I wear trunks, but whatever you feel comfortable, and obviously
you feel comfortable in football jersey football tights there you
go like big show, like the one that strap, this
goes over and then you got the whole like a
little like a little leotard. All you do not want
to wear a leotard like the Big like the Big Show.
(45:14):
It depends on how you're feeling right now, are you
did you did do you have do you have a
dad bot? Or do you did you like a or
do you still have the ripped abs? Now I don't.
I never really had ripped apps. Then we want to
cover a little bit. We want to cover just a
little bit. I don't have ripped apps. I gotta, I gotta.
(45:39):
I got a can or two in the six packs
showing right to the stone call. You get your little
vest right, you can add vests, but the vest gotta
come off at some point. The two little like, Yeah,
I don't, I don't have I don't have ripped abs.
But I mean I don't have a dad bot. I
mean I ain't scared the show. I'm not scared to
(46:00):
take my shirt off at the pool. Now, I'm good
like that. But you know, you get the painting. Know
that that phone goes. That phone you can hold it
in for the first ten minutes. My boy on I'm
looking at his view from the side and WHOA what
(46:20):
trstor is he in? All right? So? Uh so okay,
what about what about shoes? What am I wearing Jay's?
You know, because I'm black man, I gotta have styled now,
I can't be If you want to wait, I would say,
where wouldever you feel most comfortable that you will be
able to perform your best in and feel like a
(46:42):
w W E superstar. I don't know if you want
to paint your face. You want to paint your face?
Paint your face, you know, because I don't want to
if I'm gonna be running around and wrestling, wrestling and
tumbling and jumping for an hour. Jay's ain't really the
shoes you want to wear. No, I mean obviously, if
you watched Jordan, he didn't even like him. Did you
(47:05):
see that documentary? He literally goes, I put these on
and I literally couldn't believe I was. I wore these
at one point. Yes, I love that documentary. Yeah. Uh so, okay, shoes, Okay,
comfortable shoes. Now what's my name? This is the most
important right here? This can get him. I think I
think your name is so is so big that you
can't really change it. So he Smitty, I'm Smitty s Smith.
(47:29):
Say you're Smitty Senior Steven what you could you could
definitely be Senor Estevan definitely. Yeah. Oh man, that'd be
a great matchup. That'd be a great matchup. I like that,
you know we would be based off that would It
(47:50):
would be the flon match, because well, what you could
do is you could have Raymisterio and Dominic his son
versus me and you, and whoever wins gets to wear
them ask. So the object is to take Gray Masterials
mask off and put it on you. But here's once
it's on you, then it's your mask for now on.
It would be a finisher move. I don't know, because
(48:12):
if I get hit below the belt, gonna somebody, I'm
whooping somebody's ass. I don't care, TV care. We take
this spilling over into the locker room. I mean that's
what it would be called the ass whooping. Just be
hold persona, just now. I love it. I like that.
I don't know about that. I agree. It's called the
(48:40):
DP three And basically the whole premise of this is
to go beyond who you are as a w W superstar.
It is to go to just a deeper level. So Smitthie,
go ahead and give him the first question. If I
could peel away all the onions and get down to
the of the mess, who are you? Who am I?
(49:01):
I am a dad of two little girls who honestly,
I didn't realize how much love I had in me
until like I always, I always loved my wife. My
wife is amazing, She's incredible. She's a hard working mother,
and she's a hard working woman in general. She does
(49:22):
so many things to make me better. But and the
love for her is amazing. But the love for my daughters,
it is something like when I when mom, when Monroe
was born, it opened up a whole new like portion
of my heart I didn't even know I had. And
then my then I had my other daughter, and then
that's another portion of my heart that I didn't know
I had, And it's incredible. Like the other day, I'm
(49:46):
trying to teach my daughters how to swim like she's two,
and she went underwater and kicked her feet and listened
to everything that I said and did it like she swim.
Now she's not a good swimmer, not a strong swimmer,
but she did it. And I've never had a proud
popa moment. Then I did that day. So you asked
(50:08):
me who am I? Who am I? I'm Mike Mzanin,
a father of two and a husband of it. But
as the Miss, like, I've done everything and anything I've
wanted to do, and I still want more. As the Miss,
I want it all, I Like my agent always asked me, Mike,
you know you're hosting your show, you have your own
(50:28):
reality show, your w superstar. What else do you want?
I want it all? What do what does that mean?
I want movies, I want animation. I want I want
to own my own production company. I want to be
able to executly produce. I want to be able to
to elevate other people and to get other people their dreams.
Those are the things that I want to do. And
so they're like, all right, let's get started. So that's
(50:48):
kind of where I'm at with my life. Now. How
do you think people see you? And how do you
want people to see you? If you watch Cannonball in
w W, you see it allowed obnoxious, um, sometimes funny, uh,
just egomaniac. And then if you see miss and Mrs
(51:10):
you see a dad, you see a guy that um
you know is just out there doing his best, um
to to make right for his family. So I think
my my best qualities are my worst qualities. You know.
It's just it's just one of those things that I've
lived with my entire life. What do you want those
beautiful little girls to say about their daddy, Michael. I
(51:38):
hope that they know. I hope that they say that,
you know, no matter what, I know, I'm gonna make
mistakes and sometimes I'm not going to be there. But
Dad tried his hardest. He did his best to be
the best dad possible. And I hope that I'm able to,
you know, you know, educate and grow two beautiful, independent,
(52:01):
strong minded women, and hopefully I do my best to
do that. Mike's whole life changed after the real world.
What was the moment Smithy that everything changed for you, man?
(52:23):
That's a loaded question. Uh, A lot changed. The moment
for me. The moment that changed for me is when
I jumped on that airplane a couple of days after
fourth of July two thousand, No I went off. I
got on the airplane one way ticket to you University
of Utah. That's when things changed for me. UM really
(52:48):
realized that this was something different. Never really experienced anything
outside of l A. Took the Greyhound when I was
a kid, Greyhound bus to Las Vegas and we stayed
at the Fremont Hotel, which is downtown Las Vegas, which
is now is regentified and it is considered the old
part of Las Vegas. When you go to new part
of Las Vegas, Um, it's a lot different. I just
(53:10):
remember when I have my brother's a fireman north Las Vegas.
But I remember a couple of years ago we went
to Vegas and we stayed that we stayed in a
new part, but we drove down to the old part
with my brother and we had lunch, and it just
brought me back to understanding, um, how far I've come
where I am today. Um. So I realized, just like
(53:32):
the myths, that there are significant, um small little things
that happened in your life to have such a huge result.
And I think really just listening to mis and what
it really put me back into is just kind of
really I don't know. I guess doing a doing a
(53:52):
grateful report, Um, what am I grateful for? And I'm
just grateful for the things that I've learned, um about
myself about my family and then also the things that
I at that times you take for granted. Um, you
take for granted the success, but you also, I think,
more anything, you take the failures for granted. Right in
(54:15):
hearing on the meds talking about how he grew up
and what he went through in Ohio and realizing just
going on the real world and understanding all the different people,
he really didn't know the world. And I don't think
any of us really know the world until we get
out there and are and we are exposed to it
(54:36):
and it is right dead sinner, right in front of
our face. We start to realize how big the world
is and really how small we are. Cut to It
with Steve Smith, Senior, That Is Me is a production
of Cut to It LLC, Baltold Creative Media, The Black Effect,
(55:00):
and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. From Cut to It.
Executive producers Steve Smith, Singor and Gerard little John talent
in booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media manager Peyton Smith
(55:21):
from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by
Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with the production assistance by
Alex Lebrek, production manager Sarah Pollock. Theme music by Alex Johnson,
Lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
then we're about to let you know. It's all
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 and this is cut to it.
Good do it, Good do it. They's getting down to
do it. Good do it. We asked the questions you
(00:20):
always want to know, but no one ever asked, let's
cut to it. You ain't heard them about it, then
we're about to let you know. It's all you can't
(00:42):
give it to us and then take it back. Huh,
all right, let's go good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
When us what is that afternoon? That is good morning?
All right us, that's what you're rolling with. That's what
(01:03):
I said. So just I'm just trying to test your
gangster when it comes to your to your Espanol. Uh.
And then we're gonna have some fun with this one.
So we got our we talked about doing this segment,
but we've got our inaugural Big Dummy Award that back
(01:25):
that Fred Sanford right there, The Big Dummy Award dropped again.
So we wants a month. We're gonna try to collect
enough and pick and see which one gets this one
and and and listen, I hate to what they said,
kicking man while he's down. But I'm I'm jumping off
(01:46):
the top rope. Did the Eddie Garri ro leg drop,
Oh my gosh, So just to give some contact Seahawks. No, no, no, no,
former rookie there we go Farmer Seattle see Hawk Chima
Sivering and I hope I'm pronouncing that don't matter tried
to sneak in a female visitor into their team hotel
(02:10):
during this whole COVID pandemic where everything is locked down.
He had a visitor and decided to sir, they it
was had to be tag teams. But they decided somewhere
along this this route that they we're going to dress
her up as a Seahawks player to get her in
(02:31):
the building. So here's my question, give me, give me
your take on this NFL VET. I would love to
be in the room when these two dummies, you big dummy,
decided on how they were mastermind. Yeah, what was the
plane break in? Yeah? Right? Like did he meet her
(02:55):
like at the at the insurance Probably they're probably start
from the top of what you ain't happen. They're in
a relationship. Maybe No, I'm just gonna go I'm gonna
get him benefit out there in a relationship that's his
girl and training camp whatever maybe, and he's in there like, look,
I want to see my boot I miss her, and
(03:20):
they FaceTime and he says, I got it, I got
the idea. I got a great idea. And her reply
isn't no, babe, I don't think that's a good idea.
She tells him, Yeah, I like that one. So this
is where I can already poke holes in the stories
because I don't think a wife or girlfriend's gonna go
(03:41):
along with this one. You don't think so? Um have you?
Have you been in the same place as I bear this?
This quarantine has really shown there something. There's some folks
that when they get on the elevator and their body
in their minds our floors. It's a few are missing.
(04:06):
So some don't go all the way to the topics,
which just hell, some of my under construction indefinitely mean
they just boarded up. And and here's the here's the part.
You know you're in trouble when you got a floor thirteen.
You're already in trouble. The elevators go to Florida, so
they faced time. They faced time, and they say this
(04:28):
is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna dress you up
as a player. So when you come in there, don't
make eye contact and don't talk to nobody. Nobody. Throw
this a just throw this all. So I want to
know did she have ye what was the component like?
What did he give her hoodie? Or did he give
(04:48):
her like his work. I'm trying to sweatpants because if
she got on shorts, then they made that may tell
the whole possibly right, because we don't know. Now, I've
I've I've laid with some guys who do not look
like NFL football players. Hell I don't at times. I'm
five nine three, four hundred nineties something d ninety seven pounds.
(05:13):
Why receiver? You line me up next to Calvin Johnson,
you say, who's the wide receiver? That the short guy
is not that so I and that's why I say,
you know, it depends on what that individual looks like
when you put it in the category of examining that
individual as a superior athlete. Not all superior athletes look superior.
(05:38):
That's just the talent, that's the gift of God. That's
why you have God given abilities. But I just am
completely confused on why they thought that they were going
to be able to fool the team and just walk
up in there like she's a player, that we who's
(05:59):
the new person? Because you also got to think that
there could have been some other things. You could if
you was going to go to dress up, bro, that
could have been some others. They were in the hotel,
so she could have been she could be have been
room service, these security, no, these brain surgeons. You're gonna
be another player? Yeah, I got it, I got it.
(06:20):
Don't hunt your Dave and clowney stuff. Stuff. Nobody's gonna
notice that is gone, is gone. And you're like, yeah,
let me get up, let me get these sweats. Baby.
What sides that? Well, I'm a small your medium today.
I don't think David was no, but I'm just saying
(06:43):
he just grabbed some stuff, walked in there and then
they called it and not just you know, and then
I'm hurt. I'm I'm the individual. Let's be honest. Is
she a person who has maybe done some things that
they've done before, which and I mean just like you know,
like you know how you got some people where, let's
(07:05):
be honest, you wouldn't necessarily commit a crime with them, right,
because you know you've got some folks like they will
tell on themselves, right, They're getting nervous, get anty, and
I'm wondering, like hurt. I wish I could like be
in her mind, a psyche like her psyche. You don't
talk to anybody? Do they know? I'm running? I'm runn
through the progressions? And they noticed that I'm really not
(07:25):
a player? What do I work? Does this make me?
How about this? And I'm being a guy and being
a husband? Does this swett? Who make me look fat? Right?
It needs to make you like you're on the roster.
It's just a whole bunch of stuff. And of course
the end of the story is they got caught. And
(07:46):
I'm trying to figure out when she walked in, Like
was it a side door? Did she walk in the
front entrance of the lobby like here you know? Or
was it the sneak in like you know everyone everyone's
been a teenage? Do you know you're getting If I
just close my eyes, they won't notice me, right? Or
(08:06):
did she walk into like did they FaceTime and go
over the walk you know, walk like a dude, like no,
walk like a corner and put a little pull, a
little pip of your step, and you know it's like
we try to imitate guys, right or when you try
to imitate somebody, you're just kind of like who walks
like that? Right? Are you watching? Yeah? Yes, you try
(08:30):
to discus Oh yeah yeah yeah, uh huh. But regardless,
this did not work and his ass got fired. Chema
lost his job, so he didn't didn't even get started.
Good even. But I guess seriously though, as a vet,
(08:51):
something like this happens all the time. Dumb dumbs all
the time. Oh no, you it's just stuff. I don't
know what it is about us athletes, but we really
believe don't remember that the athletes, bro, no, no what
I'm saying this athletes, we really believe we could do anything.
(09:11):
Though I'm talked about that sometimes we people have done
things like this before. You everyone that started to sneak
someone in the house and sneak out of the house,
you snuck into like people have done that you know about.
Just so don't just don't just limit that the athletes. Brother,
yeah there's not but this athlete is one big you
(09:33):
big DUMBI first recipient of the first Recipient Congratulations Schema Hey,
that virtual unemployment line is long. Pick a number? You did? Alright, guys? Hey,
who's our guest for today? Coming up on the Cut
to It podcast, We've got The Miss, a former Real
(09:54):
World star who's turned w W superstar. He's a former
champ who now host USA's Cannonball and Miss and Mrs.
Alongside his wife. The Miss. Well, this segment we got
coming up, Miss is called get Iced Up. It's our
(10:15):
version of an icebreaker. The random questions that we formulated.
Smithy may and may not have a follow up. It
may be something to where we get down a rabbit hole.
Who knows, but this is our segment of called Getting
iced Up. So Smithy, go ahead and give him the
first one. Alright, what is your favorite scent? Favorite scent? Yeah,
(10:36):
like a car scent. My wife whenever she puts on
this perfume, I don't even know what the perfume is,
to be honest, but when she puts it on and
she walks by me, my my, literally, my nose just
follows the whole thing. It's like it's like literally, I'm
like floating in the air just right behind her. What
if that was old spice? What would you do? Right? Now.
(10:57):
I mean, if if Old Spice is paying me a
lot money, then I'll guess what it's Old Spice, bar
glow you know whatever that whatever that's soap is. If
you can learn a new skill, what would it be.
I've always wanted to play guitar, Like I'm even trying
right now. Like I have a buddy that plays guitar,
and he like teaches me like through like face time
(11:18):
all the time, and I just can't get it. I
can't pick it up. I can't pick up a musical instrument.
I hope I have too baby girls, and uh, once
they're old enough, I want to teach them how. It's
not me, but have someone teach them how to play instruments,
because it's something I've always wanted to do. I think
when you're an entertainer, like being a rock star is
like always on that list of things that you've always
(11:40):
wanted to do. But I don't have a good voice.
I can't play an instrument, but I can entertain you,
So probably why I'm a w W superstar. Yeah. Your
top three email subscriptions Email subscriptions. Honestly, I try not
to subscribe to anything because I don't want emails at all. Like,
(12:00):
I get so many emails a day that are just
garbage emails that honestly zero. I don't want any subscriptions whatsoever.
There's none you look forward to at all. No, No,
I honestly I get I get like when I wake
up in the morning, I have thirty emails and I'm
not one of those people that like the red dots
on my phone, like I have to get rid of
(12:21):
them so I can go through forty eraces, which takes
me about you know, five minutes of going through things.
And so no, I don't want an email from anyone
or anything. I don't even like emails. I'd really have
a text message. All right, Well you would hate my
email because I got emails over. I couldn't do it.
I could not do My wife has the same thing.
(12:43):
Every time I see your phone, it drives me nuts.
Well it works fun for me. So well I'll tell
you what emails subscription you need to get because I
do it one a hundred flowers. So when I saying,
you know, occasions, I'll get off. So it's pretty good.
I like those, like I'll leave on a Wednesday Thursday morning,
(13:06):
she gets up, there's a there's a bouquet of roses
for Debonair Smithie. Yes, I'm I might. I might do
that tonight. I think I might just have to do
that this week and get some get some brown dosing points,
you come back. I uh, last one. What do you
(13:30):
think your best quality is? Uh? Sometimes I think my
best qualities are my worst qualities. It depends on who
you're talking to. UM, I think I'm very outspoken, I'm loud,
I'm obnoxious, and for some that's fun, that's entertaining. Other
times it's a bit much, and I know him a
bit much and so uh. And sometimes I literally my
(13:55):
mouth just goes and I'm like, oh man, did I
really just say that. I can't believe I did it.
And some people are like, that's the most genius thing
you've ever said. Other people are like, that's the stupidest
thing you've ever said. So you never know what's gonna
happen with me, you know. Okay, Well, let's get down
to how about you. What's what's your best quality? My
best quad? Let's see, I have so many I don't
(14:16):
know where to go. Uh. My my gift and my
curse is um, I think about things so simple but
yet so complicated and I go down a rabbit hole
that where it's like my wife is like, Babe, it's
not that serious. Where are you from and what do
(14:37):
you call home. I'm originally from parm Ohio. It's a
suburb outside of Cleveland. Obviously. The reason I'm a Cleveland
Browns fan is because I've lived there in my entire life.
I moved to Los Angeles when I was about one,
and uh, I literally lived out here ever since. Um
(15:01):
So now I live in Los Angeles. I love the
seventy and sonny every day. Uh there's no humidity and
there's you know, sometimes a little hot from just a heat.
But I actually went to Austin for one year because
I was like, I don't want to pay state taxes anymore.
I'm gonna move to Texas where you don't have state
taxes that eleven percent will get you. So I moved
(15:22):
to uh, Texas for one year, and I literally said, Yep,
Texas is not for me. My wife said the same thing.
We both literally lived there. We moved like literally we
had a baby and then drove all the way in
a in like a like we kind of had like
this RV like this big bus that we just drove
in and thought it'd be fun little trip. We did it,
(15:44):
and a year later we were doing the same exact
thing back to l A. Because we were just like,
look we are l A people. Uh threw the eleven percent.
I'll pay the eleven percent state tax just to be there.
So yeah, family version of rule grooves, Yeah, a hundred percent,
like literally, And it was like that because I had me,
(16:05):
my wife, my two dogs, my two cats, my daughter
who was three weeks old, and then my my mother
in law. We're all in this bus and it was
my cat was NonStop me owing the entire time. Uh,
he wouldn't let you even come near him, so we
had to shove him like in a bathroom, so we
didn't uh you know, like sick everyone. My two dogs,
(16:29):
which I have a Doberman and a mint in. My
Doberman didn't even fit in the place. He She had
gas the entire time, which stunk up the entire bus.
We forgot my mother in law at one stop because
she said, um, she said she was the bathroom. Well
all right, all right, say you're at a truck stop,
right and you're you're getting gas. Your mother in law
(16:53):
my convenience. She goes, I'm going to the restroom. So
we go, okay, fine, worth thinking she went to the
restroom in the bus. She didn't. She went to the restroom,
And why would you go to the truck stop when
you have you have you have a good bathroom at
the bus. And so we started driving elson we get
a phone called you son of a mother, blah blah
(17:14):
blah with her French accent. So yeah, we forgot her. Yeah,
and we had to drive back. So it was it
was definitely a nice little road rules episode if you want. Okay, so,
how did your upbringing impact your view on the world today? Wow?
(17:34):
My upbringing? Well, where I'm from in Parme, Ohio, you
go to high school, After high school, go to college.
At college, go back to Parma, Ohio. You get a job,
you get a family, and that's exactly what you do
for the rest of your life. When I got onto
a show called The Real World, Back to New York, uh,
it basically put me in like the melting pot that is,
you know, New York. It opened my eyes up to
(17:55):
so many different things, and once I got there, I
kind of realized that I could do anything. I wanted
with my life. So what was my dream? What did
I always want to do? And I always want to
be a w superstar. The problem is where you know,
back then you'd have to be six seven three pounds
of pure solid muscle, and I was not that. But
(18:17):
when I was in the real world, like I was
like everyone said I couldn't make that show, and I did.
So when you when you finally see a goal, like
maybe maybe for you, and I don't know if this
is your story, but maybe for you it might have been.
You know, you want to play football in college, and
then you make it into college and you play football
and you're like, oh my god, I'm I'm playing football
in college. Maybe I can do this the NFL. And
(18:40):
then literally you hone in and you drive yourself to
make it to the NFL. Then when you make it
to the NFL, you go, all right, I don't just
want to be a wide receiver. I want to be
one of the the most premier wide receivers out there.
And then when you do that, you're like, all right,
I want a Hall of Fame career. All right, maybe
now I want a Super Bowl. So you keep your goals,
keep excelling. So one again. On the real world, my
(19:01):
goal excelled to be a W superstar. When I became
a W superstar, I wanted to be the biggest WW superstar.
I wanted to be, you know, main event WrestleMania, b
w W E Champion, win all the titles. And then
once I've done that, now I want to, you know,
make sure that I have a Hall of Fame career.
I want to get back to being a Universal Champion
(19:21):
or w W Champion. I want to get back to
being main event of WrestleMania, you know. And I also
want to do other things and not not only do
I have my own reality show. Now I started on
the real world, I was just a cast member. Now
I'm an executive producer. And I also start in my
own show that gets incredible ratings, Miss and Mrs on
the USA Network as well, and so and now also
(19:41):
I'm developing a couple other shows for other people. And so,
you know, I've kind of except exceeded my dreams and
expectations and my goals, and I keep on going and
doing it because that's just where my mindset is now.
It wasn't like that when I was in Parmer, Ohio.
Real world changed at all. If I wouldn't have gotten
the real world, I would have been at home flipping burgers.
(20:04):
I would have dropped out of college because I wasn't
very good at it. Um, you know, I was good
at school, but honestly, I just enjoyed like school, school,
college school more than anything else. And I probably have
dropped out and just went back and worked for my
dad at a local Mr Hero flipping burgers. Was that
correct in your assessment of like where you were, Like
would you say that's how kind of your goals kind
(20:25):
of happened or did you always have that goal like
I'm gonna be a NFL star, no doubt my mind.
That's a really good question for me was Um, my
dad plays semi pro football. I always wanted to play football.
That's all I knew. That's all I wanted. That was
on my old desire. College was not on that road
trip of success. But for me, I guess what is
(20:48):
a little bit different is once I got to the
league and I realized what it was, I started to
have to equip myself around how to were just to
becoming a football player. How do I master my craft?
How do I become one of the best. But then
I started to realize, well, what is one of the best,
(21:09):
And so I was on the team we were my
first year, we were won of fifteen, but I I
played with some I was on the team with some
guys that I I had admired, but I was also
on the team where I wanted to be better than them.
So it was it was very complex because I wasn't
necessarily looking down on them, but growing up as a
(21:30):
fan like you are of of Hawk Hogan, Rady, you know,
Macho Man, Randy Savage, the Honkey talk Man, Brutus de Barber, Beefcake,
all these guys. Those were the guys Jerry Rice right,
John Taylor, those guys I looked up to because I
grew up in Los Angeles and I was a huge
(21:50):
forty Niners fan, and Tim Brown where the team I
was on, I didn't believe any of those guys were
in that category. So if I didn't believe kne of
those guys in that category, I kind of saw them
I once. I didn't see him as equals or I
didn't look up to him. I just saw almost like, well,
my guys that I want to emulate aren't on this team, like,
(22:14):
I didn't want to be one of the one of
the teammates. Who's who who's like a brother of mine,
is a good friend? Was muss and Muhammed. I wanted
to be better than Moose And so did you have
did you have um a person that that you would
that would teach you or guide you or go, Okay,
you want to be Jerry Rice, you want to be
you know, like these talents, these are what these guys
(22:35):
did to do that. Did you have anyone like that? No?
So that another great question. I looked at the guys
as my teammates. I just looked at him as guys,
like like A great example of that is at the
time when I was drafting two thousand one, which was
(22:56):
around the same time that you were in a world
world mhm, I was looking at Moose and I'm like,
I want to be on the record books, and Moose
at that time was the record books. That my goal
was two be the best Carolina Panther wire receiver in
(23:16):
in their history. That was your goal, then that was
my goal in my mind. I said, I want to
erase moose in from the record books soutique. So to
have that mentality to erase somebody for the record books.
Technically you can't be friends with them. And I looked
(23:36):
at Moose, and I believe Moose looked at me. At
one point in our careers we were enemies on the
same team. So when he make a one hand to catch, well,
in my mind, I'm like, well, I'm gonna make four
one hand to catch us. If he's gonna make a
hunter yard game, man, I'm an average a hunter yards
and elevate your It was making me but but it
(24:00):
isn't elevating it in the way you think it was
an elevating it to where I mean, this is my podcast.
I man, I wanted to be I wanted to be
the standard like I didn't want but I wanted to
relate it back to even with with with miss and
you like, it's having a goal, then I achieve that goal.
Now is I have to recalibrate it's not, it's not.
(24:20):
I wanted to be the standard I wanted When you
talked about the Carolina Panthers, when you talked about w
w E, I didn't want them to talk about well,
this guy that guy, I'm the damn guy. Yeah, well,
I'm the same exact way like whenever I see a
poster that I am not front and center, whether I'm
(24:41):
on the poster or not, if I'm not front and center,
it infuriates me, and it makes me want to work
harder and figure out a way how I can be
the focal point of not only that poster, but the show,
the entire show SmackDown on every Friday. If I'm not
the focal point of that show, you better believe I'm
working towards to becoming that thing. But the thing I'm
(25:02):
different than you is I look at everyone as my friends,
like how come you can't uh, you couldn't look at
as moose as like Jarvis and O'Dell look at each other.
They elevate each other. They literally are saying, Hey, I
want to make you better. You want to make me better.
We're going to be better together. Well one they grew
up together. They want to Now you you're living in
(25:24):
l A. You know the listeners. We don't wanna We
don't want you to tell exactly your your address location.
Where are you in l A? Because I'm from I'm
in the suburbs. I used to live in the in Hollywood,
but now I live in the suburbs like I live
past Calabasas, like I'm in a thousand Oaks area. Okay,
So when you used to live in the Hollywood area,
(25:45):
I lived off A hundred and six and Avalon. Okay,
that's a mile from Welcome to Compton. Okay. You don't
have friends. You either with me? Are you against me?
Or you against me? But we can't be on the
in the same wagon like we we The truck does
(26:09):
not come with two staring wheels. It only comes to
a one stam wheel. And honestly, I've been driving, I've
got a family. I probably sat in my back seat twice.
I don't don't share, I don't I'm not sitting in
the back. I don't care what the back seat or
how much room you got back there, because I'm only
sitting in the front and I need to be comfortable.
(26:33):
And that's kind of how I looked at it. I mean,
that's that's just a mentality that I grew up with.
Did you go to school in the Content area as
well to school in l A. I mean, okay, a
few schools, uh, because I got in trouble a few times.
But I went to a few school all right, Um,
I was gonna ask you how you stayed out of
the trouble and how you how you geared yourself to
(26:54):
It was a football the reason that that that geared
you away from everything that that's out there or well, well,
if my mom was on here, she would say she's
still working through that in process. Uh, I mean sports
was that. Um, there was a lot of different things.
It was unique because back in the day, man, you
(27:15):
could get in trouble if you wanted to, no matter
what you're doing. Like I mean, dudes got beat up
and shot or it was faced at the escaping ring, right,
So there was always stuff right foolishly. I remember we
stole quarters out of the pact miss pac Man machine.
And I'm not the average five nine guy, so my
(27:38):
arms are pretty long, and so I was the short
guy that they I was standing up and it was
a little and my hands are so big that I
was actually able to grab a whole bunch of quarters.
And then the manager of the laundry, Matt Sauce, and
we all took off running and some kids got caught.
(27:59):
I didn't get caught, and I remember his kid named
Random Random. I ran everybody. I ran home. That's what
And I remember Junior got caught and he was like, hey, Steve,
are you good? And I looked at you know, we
had the screen porch, you know, the spray play in it,
so you can't know. You don't know if that's if
you're looking or anything. Ain't trying to get me come
(28:21):
out there. Oh boy was hiding in his truck waiting
for me to come out because Julia had negotiated with him.
I'll tell you the kid that stole who has and
I'll call him man, Julior. Junior got his asshole. I
was gonna put up he got, Okay, dooke on them.
We beat Junior down. So but the old old school,
(28:43):
you know, we have to take a break and the
morning anything, we gotta pay some bills. I I talked
to some folks and then some poland they that I
don't know if you're gonna like this question. And but man,
everybody freaking wants to know, like take us through this process.
(29:07):
Because I grew up watching a real world. I was
I was looking at that stuff and I remember you,
and I remember your great relationship with a friend and
we will talk about but I remember the miss and
that persona you were building even on that how instrumental
was going on a real world for you. I wouldn't
(29:31):
be where I am today if it wasn't for the
Real World. If John Murray and Mary Osbunim didn't pick
me to be on the show as a cast member,
I would not be where I am today. It changed
my mind frame. Like do you ever have moments in
your life that it just changes the way you think.
That's what Real World did for me. And some people
(29:51):
have that happened in middle school, high school. Some people
don't have it and happen until in mid middle life,
you know, but there's some there's some times in your
life there are moments where you can look at and
you can go this changed everything. And that's what Real
World did for me. And it not only changed that,
but it changed the way I thought about things, like,
(30:12):
you know, because I was I was in my own
little Bubbalos, in my own little Parma, Ohio, you know,
you know, a little spot and going onto the real world,
meeting the six people from all different walks of life,
getting educated about these different people and where they're from,
how they grew up. It made it gave me an
interest on everyone and everything and so that allowed me
(30:35):
to literally go, I don't want to live in Parma anymore.
I want something bigger. I want something And I love Parma,
I love the city. I love Cleveland, but I wanted
something bigger and better. And I that's why it was
either New York or l A is where I was
gonna move and uh l A has se and sunny
every day, So I'm gonna take the uh the better weather.
(30:58):
And so I moved out there and set out for
a dream. You want it better? It set you up?
What was other than the way you laid it out
so clearly for us talking about your hometown. You know,
you got you go to college, you get a degree,
you could come back, you come back to Ohio, right, Yeah,
(31:20):
you didn't a cookie cutter life, which I agree and
I and I and I understand. But what was what
why was getting on the real world? Like take us
through that, Like, why was that your only route to
get out of Ohio? Because you were you were in
college at the time. It wasn't the only route. It
(31:41):
was just the route that I like. So, for instance,
I'll give you an example. So I was at college,
I was Miamive, Ohio is a Theta Kai. There was
a fraternity and I'm watching the rail World New Orleans
and it's a commercial. Comes on, do you want to
try out for the railroad? In my head, I said yes,
Well here's how, and so I said in, I sent
in this this video I'll never forget. I took my
(32:04):
VHS cam quarter and here's how we edited it. By
the way I put it, I attached these uh, these
these wires to my my VHS uh tape. You play
and then you press record, and that's how you edit.
That's how editing was last time. There was no computers.
Oh my god, are you kidding me? Like now they
take a bunch of takes. I'm like putting this thing
(32:26):
out over my shoulder and then I put it on
a tripod and I talked to it. And then so
I sent this video and by the way I put
it in like this Manila envelope with all these pictures
of me, you know, on things I did, this will
stand out in the crowd, right, And it obviously did
because then like I got a fifty page application, Yeah,
(32:46):
fifty pages exactly right. So I I they asked everything, Well,
your parents are like where are you from? YadA, YadA, YadA,
all the right now, yeah, a little bit almost so.
Then so then after that you have this, uh you
have this like phone interview, but the phone interview, they said,
(33:10):
put your cam quarter up um to where we can
see you talking, and then we will ask you the questions.
What be on speaker phone with us, and then we
will and talk to the camera like you're talking on
the real world and when you're asking answering the questions.
So literally I did two of those interviews. Then I
did an in person interview in Detroit. Had to drive
(33:31):
up to Detroit on my own money, by the way,
and I'm a college kid. I don't have any money.
So literally I'm like struggling for gas money to get
up there, and drove up there, did it. And I
remember this this interview, and I was always trying to
figure out how people would cry on the real world,
like you know, like you ever see people like in
interviews crying, And I'm like, dude, you're on the real world,
(33:52):
You're in this multimillion dollar place you live in the life.
How can you cry? I don't get it. And once
I was done with this interview, like I remember the question,
the question like there was a question, and these are
the questions that they would ask. And I was like,
this is how they get people cry. Now I didn't cry,
but this is how they get people to cry. They're like,
all right, Sam an onion and you're an onion. And
(34:13):
we peel away the fract guy. We peel away all
your friends, peel away, all your your family, peel away
the divorce your parents had, peel away, this peel away
that what's at the core of Mike Nazanin. And I'll
never forget my answer because honestly I could. I couldn't
even tell you. I was like, I don't know. I
really don't know. I don't I wish I could tell
you like a cool answer like oh yeah, this, but
(34:35):
if you peel away everything about me, then there nothing's left.
And uh, I remember um going to that same casting
director once I was on the show and after we've
done filming, and I go, why did you choose me?
And she goes, it was that question, because I asked
that question to everyone, and yours was the most real
and it was the most heartfelt and you could tell
(34:57):
it hit a nerve, but you but you allowed me
to see that nerve and I like that. And then
I asked the guy, the executive producer, UM, why he
chose me? And he goes, I didn't. I thought you
were a buckethead. And I went, what and he goes, John,
John Murray and Mary Elie wanted you on the show.
But to be completely honest with you, I am so
glad that you were on the show because you were
(35:18):
so open, so honest, and you just wanted to learn.
And that's exactly what you did. And you you allowed
the process of the real world and you allowed us
into your life. And that's what I said. I said,
if I'm going on the real world, I'm giving you
all of me everything. I'm not gonna like some people
you'll hear go you know, aggravated about how they were
(35:40):
edited or how they were portrayed, and those people like
and I've been on shows where people I see that
they edit themselves. They they they are a completely different
person that they are camera, that they are that they
are off of the camera, and so when they look
at themselves on camera, they go, that's not me. And
in my mind, I'm going, yeah, that was I saw you.
(36:00):
That's exactly who you were. And so some people get
mad about editing, but I was like, I'm just gonna
be me and just gonna allow it to happen. And honestly,
I'm so glad I did because the process was a
learning experience all the way from doing the real world
to doing the challenges as well. It taught a lot
about myself, a lot about hard work, dedication, and you
(36:21):
know is people look at it and go, oh, it's
so easy to be on the challenge of the challenges.
I look at as a sport, you know. I mean,
you're going for a lot of money and you have
chances to get eliminated from these things, and you know,
some of them, some of the people, this is what
they do for a living, you know, so and it's
it's it's a lot of money, but it's not a
lot of money because if this is your life, that's
what it is. You said, they edit all of that,
(36:45):
you know, edit they're filming you, guys, twenty four hours
for five months, for five months. What was what was that?
Did that entail? Did you? You know? Like, because even I,
you know, I do TV and there are times when
(37:07):
we're in a studio they tell you, uh, in between breaks,
bro kill you Mike if you have to go use
a bathroom because the control room can hear everything can
be a hot Mike. Everything is on. They have everything.
They literally like there is a storage room in Bunimury
that has everything. And I'm talking like like they film
(37:29):
everything there with there's people with you seven so like
say we all go to bed, they still have cameras
on you while you're sleeping, and then when you wake
up in the morning, there's a camera in your face. Uh.
You know, if you're in a fight and you don't
want sometimes you don't want to, you know, do something
in front of a camera. You have to. It's that's
what you signed up for. That is the real world.
(37:51):
And the real world I always say, is the closest
thing to real life. Um. You know, everything else now
you can look at and you go, oh, that's scrap dad,
that's this, that's that. Um. I always looked at the
real world as just the closest you can get to
real life. And obviously editing music, um, you know, in
(38:11):
order to to be entertaining, Like think about your life
on a day to day basis. It's not all funny games.
Like you see highlights of a person's life. If you
if you saw in my life, like literally, it's like
it's not entertaining to wake up every morning at six
thirty and see me ahold of baby and then change
the baby every day the same thing. It's gonna be boring.
You want to be entertained, and that's exactly what the
(38:32):
real world does. It gives you that reality aspect of it.
But it's entertaining because you see the highlights of what
is going on in a person's life. I think it's
about that time. Just take a little breather. Good, good, good,
let's talk. So take us into the locker room of
(38:57):
being a w W E superstarre fact. When I was
first starting in w W I kicked out of the
locker room because, uh, there was huge amount of respect
when you So for instance, when you walk into the
locker room, you shake everyone's hand. That is a standard
thing that you know, was you know ingrained in you
as a ww superstar. You shake everyone's hand, and all
(39:20):
the veterans there, you thank them for you know, what
they've done for the business. And it's literally like every day,
like so every day you walk into the locker room
and you shake everyone's hand. This was fifteen years ago.
You know, it's kind of teetered off um now, and
I think the locker room is is better for it.
There are things that I miss about the old locker room, UM,
(39:41):
but I like the fact that everyone walks in with
a smile on their face and everyone is trying to
make everyone else better. Um. You know, back then, I
felt like it was more competitive, you know how you
were saying, like with Moose, like you were like, I
want to be better than this guy, and I'm gonna
be better than this guy. We weren't friends, you know.
I felt that that kind of competitiveness you know back then,
(40:03):
like where you know, people would maybe tell you the
wrong information so you wouldn't get better than them. And
then there were others that that took you under their
wing and literally guided you. Guys like you know, Shawn
Michaels took me under their wing and you know, literally
gave me advice that I still used to this day.
You know, John Cena literally like you know, being in
(40:25):
the ring with me with with John Cena taught me
how to be a main inventor in a w W
E ring. If I would have never gotten the ring
with John Cina I wouldn't have known that. And it's
just a matter of getting in the ring and being
and feeling and understanding what it is to be a
top level talent like John Cena is. M wow. So
those so those are rivalries and feuds you had mentioned before,
(40:49):
like you want to be friends with with guys, So
those rovalies in those feuds, they don't do they spill
over to the locker room or sometimes have you guys
have that kind of cohesion together it Yeah, I mean
sometimes it does spill over, but other times, like nowadays,
it kind of doesn't. Usually can squash your beef and
and figure it out, but honestly, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes
(41:11):
you just don't like a person, and you know everyone's
not gonna like everyone, and people are gonna say things
that that hurt. And it's on national television and if
someone says something that hurts, then you're like, all right,
this guy, you want to go, let's go and we'll see.
So you just you never know what people are gonna
say or do um, But nowadays usually you can you
(41:34):
can figure things out. What is a practice entail as
a w D W W E superstar And the reason
I asked that is because you know, obviously I haven't
seen you do it, but there's some guys and gals
who do some things off the ropes. You just don't
(41:56):
You just don't wait, You just don't wake up a triple. Yeah. So,
so being a w superstar is completely different than being
an NFL star, MLB or NBA. It's a different type
of training. For instance, my training, I make sure that
I work out, you know, three or four or five
(42:16):
times a week. I make sure I do as much
cardio as I can so I can stay in the ring.
And literally my cardio is usually like sprints, Like I
do sprints, slow sprint, slow sprint, slow sprint, because that's
what w W E is. When you're in that ring,
you're sprinting and then all of a sudden you take
a fall, and you you sell that fall for a
little bit and then you sprint again, then you sprint again.
(42:37):
Some matches are a complete sprint, so you gotta keep
your cardio up. A lot of my practice is talking,
so you know, I'll cut promos in a ring, in
in a mirror all the time, even at this level,
to keep my uh me feeling you know that I'm
on my toes at all times. Honestly, being host of
Cannonball kind of helps helps me practice for w w E.
(43:01):
I think being on this podcast is a is a
practice for w w E. When I first started in
w E, UM, I wanted uh to be the top guy.
I wanted to be at a level of of just amazing, no,
I guess you could say. And I'll never forget my
first time hosting a show. It was for w w A.
It was a called Diva Search, and I forgot a
(43:24):
phone number and I and it was in front of
a live audience, and I forgot the phone number that
that people would have to call in to vote. And
this is the most important thing that I forgot. And
there's no one in my ear, there's no one that
can tell me anything about that. And I went into
a cold sweat. I blanked out, And I'll never forget
(43:44):
having that feeling and walking back and hearing the crowd
just go complete silence, and I was like, I'm gonna
get fired. I'm gonna get fired. And I never wanted
to have that feeling ever again. So I asked, w
w E, can I do all the radio interviews that
people don't want to do. I will wake up at
six in the morning every single morning to do radio
interviews so I can practice, you know, just talking and
(44:07):
getting points to where I ever feel that cold sweat
happened again. I know what to do and how to
get out of it and how to get that feeling.
So you love it, I mean, like, honestly, I love
being a like I love I used to love having
a people booing me, but now you know, we don't
have that. Now we have a virtual fans in our thunderdome,
and uh and it's it's honestly, it's it's it's pretty great.
(44:30):
Like it's it's interesting. It's it's tested me like now,
the way we're shooting and the way we're filming, like
w w E, it's like, man, this is different, you know,
it's it's completely uh new kind of talent that you
have to develop. And it's you're always changing and evolving.
You are my tag team partner. You're getting me ready. Okay,
(44:53):
let's pick up my outfit. What am I wearing? I mean,
I wear trunks, but whatever you feel comfortable, and obviously
you feel comfortable in football jersey football tights there you
go like big show, like the one that strap, this
goes over and then you got the whole like a
little like a little leotard. All you do not want
to wear a leotard like the Big like the Big Show.
(45:14):
It depends on how you're feeling right now, are you
did you did do you have do you have a
dad bot? Or do you did you like a or
do you still have the ripped abs? Now I don't.
I never really had ripped apps. Then we want to
cover a little bit. We want to cover just a
little bit. I don't have ripped apps. I gotta, I gotta.
(45:39):
I got a can or two in the six packs
showing right to the stone call. You get your little
vest right, you can add vests, but the vest gotta
come off at some point. The two little like, Yeah,
I don't, I don't have I don't have ripped abs.
But I mean I don't have a dad bot. I
mean I ain't scared the show. I'm not scared to
(46:00):
take my shirt off at the pool. Now, I'm good
like that. But you know, you get the painting. Know
that that phone goes. That phone you can hold it
in for the first ten minutes. My boy on I'm
looking at his view from the side and WHOA what
(46:20):
trstor is he in? All right? So? Uh so okay,
what about what about shoes? What am I wearing Jay's?
You know, because I'm black man, I gotta have styled now,
I can't be If you want to wait, I would say,
where wouldever you feel most comfortable that you will be
able to perform your best in and feel like a
(46:42):
w W E superstar. I don't know if you want
to paint your face. You want to paint your face?
Paint your face, you know, because I don't want to
if I'm gonna be running around and wrestling, wrestling and
tumbling and jumping for an hour. Jay's ain't really the
shoes you want to wear. No, I mean obviously, if
you watched Jordan, he didn't even like him. Did you
(47:05):
see that documentary? He literally goes, I put these on
and I literally couldn't believe I was. I wore these
at one point. Yes, I love that documentary. Yeah. Uh so, okay, shoes, Okay,
comfortable shoes. Now what's my name? This is the most
important right here? This can get him. I think I
think your name is so is so big that you
can't really change it. So he Smitty, I'm Smitty s Smith.
(47:29):
Say you're Smitty Senior Steven what you could you could
definitely be Senor Estevan definitely. Yeah. Oh man, that'd be
a great matchup. That'd be a great matchup. I like that,
you know we would be based off that would It
(47:50):
would be the flon match, because well, what you could
do is you could have Raymisterio and Dominic his son
versus me and you, and whoever wins gets to wear
them ask. So the object is to take Gray Masterials
mask off and put it on you. But here's once
it's on you, then it's your mask for now on.
It would be a finisher move. I don't know, because
(48:12):
if I get hit below the belt, gonna somebody, I'm
whooping somebody's ass. I don't care, TV care. We take
this spilling over into the locker room. I mean that's
what it would be called the ass whooping. Just be
hold persona, just now. I love it. I like that.
I don't know about that. I agree. It's called the
(48:40):
DP three And basically the whole premise of this is
to go beyond who you are as a w W superstar.
It is to go to just a deeper level. So Smitthie,
go ahead and give him the first question. If I
could peel away all the onions and get down to
the of the mess, who are you? Who am I?
(49:01):
I am a dad of two little girls who honestly,
I didn't realize how much love I had in me
until like I always, I always loved my wife. My
wife is amazing, She's incredible. She's a hard working mother,
and she's a hard working woman in general. She does
(49:22):
so many things to make me better. But and the
love for her is amazing. But the love for my daughters,
it is something like when I when mom, when Monroe
was born, it opened up a whole new like portion
of my heart I didn't even know I had. And
then my then I had my other daughter, and then
that's another portion of my heart that I didn't know
I had, And it's incredible. Like the other day, I'm
(49:46):
trying to teach my daughters how to swim like she's two,
and she went underwater and kicked her feet and listened
to everything that I said and did it like she swim.
Now she's not a good swimmer, not a strong swimmer,
but she did it. And I've never had a proud
popa moment. Then I did that day. So you asked
(50:08):
me who am I? Who am I? I'm Mike Mzanin,
a father of two and a husband of it. But
as the Miss, like, I've done everything and anything I've
wanted to do, and I still want more. As the Miss,
I want it all, I Like my agent always asked me, Mike,
you know you're hosting your show, you have your own
(50:28):
reality show, your w superstar. What else do you want?
I want it all? What do what does that mean?
I want movies, I want animation. I want I want
to own my own production company. I want to be
able to executly produce. I want to be able to
to elevate other people and to get other people their dreams.
Those are the things that I want to do. And
so they're like, all right, let's get started. So that's
(50:48):
kind of where I'm at with my life. Now. How
do you think people see you? And how do you
want people to see you? If you watch Cannonball in
w W, you see it allowed obnoxious, um, sometimes funny, uh,
just egomaniac. And then if you see miss and Mrs
(51:10):
you see a dad, you see a guy that um
you know is just out there doing his best, um
to to make right for his family. So I think
my my best qualities are my worst qualities. You know.
It's just it's just one of those things that I've
lived with my entire life. What do you want those
beautiful little girls to say about their daddy, Michael. I
(51:38):
hope that they know. I hope that they say that,
you know, no matter what, I know, I'm gonna make
mistakes and sometimes I'm not going to be there. But
Dad tried his hardest. He did his best to be
the best dad possible. And I hope that I'm able to,
you know, you know, educate and grow two beautiful, independent,
(52:01):
strong minded women, and hopefully I do my best to
do that. Mike's whole life changed after the real world.
What was the moment Smithy that everything changed for you, man?
(52:23):
That's a loaded question. Uh, A lot changed. The moment
for me. The moment that changed for me is when
I jumped on that airplane a couple of days after
fourth of July two thousand, No I went off. I
got on the airplane one way ticket to you University
of Utah. That's when things changed for me. UM really
(52:48):
realized that this was something different. Never really experienced anything
outside of l A. Took the Greyhound when I was
a kid, Greyhound bus to Las Vegas and we stayed
at the Fremont Hotel, which is downtown Las Vegas, which
is now is regentified and it is considered the old
part of Las Vegas. When you go to new part
of Las Vegas, Um, it's a lot different. I just
(53:10):
remember when I have my brother's a fireman north Las Vegas.
But I remember a couple of years ago we went
to Vegas and we stayed that we stayed in a
new part, but we drove down to the old part
with my brother and we had lunch, and it just
brought me back to understanding, um, how far I've come
where I am today. Um. So I realized, just like
(53:32):
the myths, that there are significant, um small little things
that happened in your life to have such a huge result.
And I think really just listening to mis and what
it really put me back into is just kind of
really I don't know. I guess doing a doing a
(53:52):
grateful report, Um, what am I grateful for? And I'm
just grateful for the things that I've learned, um about
myself about my family and then also the things that
I at that times you take for granted. Um, you
take for granted the success, but you also, I think,
more anything, you take the failures for granted. Right in
(54:15):
hearing on the meds talking about how he grew up
and what he went through in Ohio and realizing just
going on the real world and understanding all the different people,
he really didn't know the world. And I don't think
any of us really know the world until we get
out there and are and we are exposed to it
(54:36):
and it is right dead sinner, right in front of
our face. We start to realize how big the world
is and really how small we are. Cut to It
with Steve Smith, Senior, That Is Me is a production
of Cut to It LLC, Baltold Creative Media, The Black Effect,
(55:00):
and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. From Cut to It.
Executive producers Steve Smith, Singor and Gerard little John talent
in booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media manager Peyton Smith
(55:21):
from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by
Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with the production assistance by
Alex Lebrek, production manager Sarah Pollock. Theme music by Alex Johnson,
Lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
then we're about to let you know. It's all
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