💥 FLASHBACK EPISODE: Nic Nemeth on Eyes Up Here! 💥

We’re going back in time with The Queen of Extreme Francine as she sits down with Nic Nemeth (formerly known as Dolph Ziggler) in this unforgettable Eyes Up Here Flashback! Hear Nic open up about his incredible WWE career, life on the road, and what drives him outside the ring. From his evolution as a performer to his plans for the future, this candid and entertaining conversation is packed with insight, laughs, and inspiration from one of wrestling’s most dynamic personalities.

🎧 Catch this Eyes Up Here Flashback and relive one of our most talked-about interviews!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
M hm.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
H.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I have a wanted man on my show today. It
is the one and only Nick Nemeath. Nick, you were
very hard to get, but once I had my claws
in you, I wasn't giving up and I succeed it
and you're finally here. So thank you for coming on.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
I appreciate that. I appreciate you digging your claws in.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
It's nice some guys like that, so I tend to
try and if it works, I stick with it, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
If any broke, of course, you don't fix it.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
I I was thrilled to finally meet you. I'd been
talking about you no seriously, and I hate putting you
over because I've gotten to know you a little bit
in dealing with you with our text messages. But we've
we met Russell Con weekend for the first time because
you know, you're you're not an indie guy and.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
You haven't been around.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
You are now and we'll talk about that in a minute.
But I met you at the ECW Arena, the twenty
three hundred arena it's called, and I was thrilled to
meet you because one of the questions I always get,
and this was back when you were still in WWE.
If you can pick one WWE superstar to work with,
who would it be? And I always picked you because

(01:44):
for me, you you kind of remind me of Shane
Douglas in a way. And it's not just the good
blonde hair either, sure like you're the way you worked,
your promos, skills, like everything reminded me of a young
Shane Douglas. And I always said he doesn't need me

(02:05):
as a manager because you can get over on your own.
But I think it would have been fun to work
with you as a Heell team.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Oh yeah, that would have been an absolute blast, of course.
And first and foremost one, I'm a fan of your
just like you. Until we met, I was a big
fan of yours. Thank you. You know they say don't
meet your heroes, you know, or or Franccene, thank you. No,
a huge fan. I grew up watching ECW. I'll be

(02:32):
really quick about this. We didn't have cable for the
longest time, so I had like a black and white
UHF TV and Friday nights it was an hour of VCW,
and Saturday nights it was two hours of ECW, but
it was just the same show twice.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
But I didn't care. I watch it anyway, and that's
you know.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I've had a deep affection for ECW and that was
my first love.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Of watching wrestling every week.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
So and I was a big fan of yours, and
even after meeting, I still am. Since you're recording this,
thank so I would have loved to have you as
a manager. We can still make it happen down the line.
Who know which would be even better? If you like
that Britney spearsgy Azalea videos like just two gals on
the town, two girls.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Hanging out on the I love that. Well, if any
promoters are listening, were available as a duo, So get
in touch with either of us and we'll make it happen.
So I was going over your history a little bit.
I don't really trust wiki.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Too much because you shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
I don't because I realized now that.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
FATA don't trust nobody.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
No, but I never knew that fans could update the page.
That's how that works, I believe. So that's what I
was told.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Hear.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
So I'm like reading stuff and I'm like, well, I
don't know what's real and what's not real. And you
have done a ton of interviews since you walked away
from WWE. I don't want this interview view to be
redundant in any way, like the same kind of questions.
So we're going to talk about WWE just a little
bit because there's a couple of things that I was

(04:04):
curious about. You started in two thousand and four through
OVW and ended up there for about nineteen years. Is
that correct.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
That's my resume two thousand and four, WWE till present.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yes, it's very impressive. Not many people could last that long.
I lasted six months in that company, So you know,
I'm the.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Worst, Like that's it. Well, you know, at the time,
it's it's all. It's the craziest stuff. It's all getting
not getting injured at the wrong time, knowing somebody or
not knowing somebody. There was a chance I was going
to be in the heart Throbs. Do you remember that
tag team? Yes, okay, so, and they were great wrestling

(04:51):
dudes who I liked, and they're jacked and they had
a couple of months run.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Their debut was like losing and I go, I go.
That was almost me.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
So it's a weird and I was like mad that
I was in a cheerleading group. But then somehow it's
the craziest amount of things. It has nothing to do
with like being better than someone. Sometimes it does, but
it's just like the timing and weirdness of it. Nineteen
years is like we were told Lancestorm was the teacher
in OBW when I started, and he goes, mathematically, if

(05:19):
the average is two point seven years of television time,
and it goes from some people having a couple months
and an undertaker having seventy five years, and it's like,
somewhere in the middle is like two and a half years,
So make your money and get ready for the independent scene.
And I go, okay, if I can just get three
years here, I can make a living doing this for
the rest of my life.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
It'd be great. And somehow it just kept adapting in staying.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
But in a sense, that's a great way to look
at it, because your expectations are kind of low. LA's
exceeded them.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
So yeah, I mean, yeah, that's not in some ways, yes,
but also in your head, you know, you want to
be the world champion for twenty years and never lose
and have the company on your back, and but it's
also like, yeah, you could plan it that way. Or
you could be gone in a couple of months, no
matter how awesome you are. There's so many people that
I go, Wow, not only is this guy gonna take
my job, I would applaud him for it and go,

(06:11):
this is the guy to go with. And then six
months later they're gone or injured, and it just you
never know how.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
It's gonna work.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, it's a crazy thing that you never know which
way to go with it. I was very fortunate injury wise.
I think so many different times I was never hurt,
so I feel like that always came to help.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
So one of the questions I had was, what is
the worst injury you've ever suffered, because, like you said,
you seem to be very consistent in your role.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Seemed to me, I missed like three weeks of work
in nineteen and a half years.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's stitch.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
That seemed to be real quick.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
That's very amazing because like a lot of the guys
that I used to work with were injured constantly, and
we're working with a cast or with a splint or
you know, or we would have to go to the
merch table and we couldn't work, you know, for that
loop or something. You're you're not getting hurt. How does
one do that? Because how are you so safe in

(07:08):
the ring.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
It's, first of all, it's not me. I'm not fighting myself.
I mean, be a hell of a match.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
I'd be impressed, but it would be, but it was
it's I don't know.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
I can't explain it. I I I never let it happen.
In a couple of times, I have a couple concussions,
which is which totally happens.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
And also I was at you know.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Four o five, it was still not wild West Attitude era,
but it was.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
I was just telling the story to my brother the
other day. I pulled my groin in a match. It
was at the time where every year after WrestleMania, I was.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Nervous that I was getting fired. So's a couple of
years in and you just you go, I pulled my groin. Wow,
this one really hurts.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
What should I do?

Speaker 2 (07:50):
And they're like, well, do you want us to tell Vince?
Do you are you okay with losing your spot? And
You're like no, no, no, I'll work through it. Or
so it's like it's not attitude, like like I need this,
you know, you know, there's no salary coming in there's
no you lose your spot if you get hurt. So
I eventually making up for it, pulled two groins because

(08:11):
I was making up for the other one. And at
that point I'm getting wrapped around my waist and both groins.
Before each match, I was getting injections into my thighs
and I would put and it was usually myself and
a kofe and I had the US title, the Intercontinental title,
and I would put a bag of ice inside the
title in between my trucks where for like the fifteen
minutes going out there that I'd like pull up the

(08:33):
title like this and the bag of ice would fall out. Okay, match,
and I was like kind of fun funny. It was
also like, hey, are you cool with losing your spot?
And at the time You're like, oh my god, I
can't lose my spot. I'm five eleven, one hundred and
ninety pounds. I'm not a legacy. I don't have anyone
rooting for me in the meetings. No, I cannot lose
that spot. I'll fight through it. So so there is
that aspect of like I did get injuries all the time,

(08:56):
like we all do, but somehow never got that very
serious one where you leave. But also that affected me
a little bit negatively because if you have Triple Ah
tearing a squad and then he comes back nine months
later and the place erupts because we missed this guy
that we know. I never got to have that moment
once or twice, or some guys get fifteen times.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
I got it zero times. So I feel like that
also hurt a little bit. So it's like a positive
and a negative there, I guess.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, yeah, well here here's my theory. When you now again,
I didn't know you when you work there. I'm getting
to know you now watching you as a fan and
seeing the way you perform and the people you perform with,
and you know who you're putting over a week after week.

(09:43):
You're there for nineteen years. But as I'm watching you,
I'm saying to myself, they're not using him correctly. There's
so much more because I see a star compared to
other people.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
I'm not going to name others.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
I'm not, you know, I see star and the way
that sometimes yeah, they put it beout on you here
and there, but the way that they used you, in
my opinion, I feel like there was so much more
they always could have done, but you lasted nineteen years.
Do you feel like there was some heat that you

(10:18):
didn't know about that they had your their thumb on you.
There might have been somebody politicking against you, like did
you were you aware of anything going Yeah, yeah, of course.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
And it's a couple days that I said earlier.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
One it's like, either nobody's rooting for you in the
meeting because you're not six or five or three hundred pounds,
or you're not Vince or on his favorite guy, so
no one's.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Gonna be like, oh yeah, yeah, that's a good idea
of Boss. I like him too. There's not one of
those things.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
And then there's also the other extreme to where Pat
Patterson was a big fan of mine and he was more.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Of a consultant.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
So some months he's there every TV, sometimes he's talking
to events all the time, and then some months he's
just gone for a few because you know, he was
a little bit older and he's enjoying his life. He's
on vacation stuff, but also he come help out. So
sometimes there's nobody there, and if nobody's got your back,
it's kind of tricky. Already, I'm not a legacy you know,
I don't have any inside information or like nobody's looking

(11:15):
out for you.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
But also I got to a point where the.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Top of the top other than Vince, pulled me aside
and said, Pat pushes for you so much because he
says such great things and see such great things in
you that we're now actively ribbing him by having you
lose every week, and that's terrible.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
That's a funny.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
And he laughed when he said, I go, that's funny,
but like that's my career. That's already you know, I
lose eighty percent of the time, now losing ninety five
percent of the time, Like, come on, like, that's not
And they thought it was like a cool thing to
tell me. So again, this is anecdotal, secondhand information. It's
not something I witnessed personally. But people in the meetings
would tell you like, oh yeah, anytime this thing was

(11:57):
set up, these two guys would go like, no, we
don't like it, and they go, okay, out of the
next guy, and it just I mean, it's it's showbiz.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
That's how it works. But it's yeah, that's of course
part of the deal.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
And there's a million amazing, amazing moments that I got
to be a part of or that were based around me,
that the memories will never ever go away, and.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
The fans have them too.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
It's just that I think that there's that extra part
of there's no follow up because there's no one in
a meeting going okay, now we're going with this guy, right,
They're like, nah, we're good and so the next day,
so it's weird to complain and you're like, hey, you
won like twenty titles and you were the world champion.
It's like, yes, that's fantastic, and I cherished that. But

(12:40):
also the next day every time I won those house
I lost ninety two times in a row, including the
day out the week I became World heavyweight champion, I
lost the next match like so, and that's again it's showbiz.
That's part of the deal. But also it just goes
okay if the company's not behind him, Eventually the fans
will not because they understand like, oh, what's the point

(13:01):
of this. But they stuck around a lot longer than
they should have, I think because of the work ethic
and everything that was put forward.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Ran Yeah, when you say longer than they should have,
I don't agree with that statement.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
At all.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
I mean, you have a huge fan beast. They admire
your work and your work ethics, so their fans period,
they're not just gonna give up on you because you lose,
because right, but you know you losing. You know what.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
You get to a point where it was, you know,
I studied the metrics behind the scenes and the ratings
all that stuff and different things, and you go, it's
one thing when people my age go, oh, dog's gonna
put out a good match and he's gonna lose.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
And then it got to a point where ten year
old kids are going, we know you're losing. And you
get to a point wards six and eight year old
kids like, oh, I can't wait to see you. Like
so you get to.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
A point where the fans are still hanging around longer
than they should, but the office is telling them, don't
waste your time. You're gonna see a cool thing and
for a split second you're gonna forget that you know
this guy's losing. And that was my goal every time,
is to get one or two split second where it
goes oh, because that's what I was up against and
I thought I did that pretty damn well.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
But every once in a while it's just there's nothing, nothing, nothing,
and then somebody's.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Hurt and they go, you're fighting Shamous in the world
title match, and ninety nine percent of an entire crowd
is cheering for the bad guy as loud as they
possibly hit for the higher.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Match, and I go, damn it, hell yeah, we can.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Still get him because you're that guy that the office
counts on to make everyone look good because they can't
have a bad match. But I mean, that's going to
get the.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Push, right, and so that's you know, you pick one
or the other. Or I even tried it. Someone high
up was like, stop taking this finish so well, stop
being bumping, and I go.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
I tried it once.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
I tried it in a live event to like not
give everything, and the timing was off and it was weird,
and I felt, I go now for a split seg.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
I maybe I can. No, I can't. I can only
do it as best as I can because I.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Have to sleep at night, even for an hour or two,
and so it's either like I know I'm not gonna
be the franchise guy, but every couple of months, I go,
I can get you know, if I can just get
them to think this way, I can get a couple
of months out of it and make the most of it.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
So it's but it's also if you.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Can take that finish fantastic, you're gonna take it every week,
but also you're gonna take it every week for twenty
years and you're gonna build a legacy and get paid
and then on the weekends you can go do twenty
five minutes with cofee and tear it down and have
the best time in your life.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
So they want you to take it, but take it
like not to the potential that you can.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Is that just a couple of people were trying. We're
trying to almost like look out for me and say
you take this too well. Like the first time I
took shamus Is finish, they go, holy shit, that was
Are you okay? And I go, it's it work for
the boss. It's my job to make it look like
I got And they're like, all right, yeah, so if
you're working the boss, and then the next time he's

(16:01):
like so it's like, oh cool, I'm doing something great,
and then it gets into the ooh, I don't know
who's winning the world title that night, but let's make
sure we get that shamous kick on golf because it's
gonna look so good, You're like, So then it got
to a point where I think there was a couple
of months on SmackDown where I was just fighting Shamus
for no reason because they wanted to see me take
his finish. And I get it, because there's some pretty
great gifts out there just whatever. I'm like, it looks

(16:23):
awesome because.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
I had to do it great.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
And then but then also after thirty matches, when you're
one in twenty nine, you're like, how do you make
this guy in the world chaff? How do you make
him credible? How do we follow him around in a
long term storyline? So it's good with bad? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
So do you feel like, like, I know you weren't
thrilled about the cheerleading gimmick, which I find I kind
of liked it, to be honest with you.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, that's fine to like it, but imagine you were.
Let me set it up a little bit better. They go, Hey,
we really like what you're doing. You're a clean cut
kid that we can google, and you broke records college
and you can't say, okay.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
So you got the notes shut out and I was like, yeah,
I think Google, you go, we're really thinking about possibly
putting you as like like a young up and comer
with kurd Angle and like he's gonna be your hero
and he's and I'm like this, this is the greatest
thing I've ever heard of?

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 (17:21):
I gotta a tryout with WW because kurd Angle came
from amateur wrestling and was doing so well that they
gave a smaller guy like me a chance in a tryout.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
I go, this is a dream come true. It's like
the movie.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
It's like the Karate Kid movie where it's like uh,
sidekicks or something.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
It was like Chuck Norris and the other kid are fighting.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
Like he's with this hero. I go, this is the best.
And then I get a call to go to TV
and they're like you're gonna be a cheerleader with four
other guys and it's about one guy and you guys
are just gonna pump and feed and look like little sissies.
And then when we're done, who knows? And you go,
I'm heartbroken. This sucks. What can I do? And then
a couple of days goes by and you go, here,
here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do this the
best as.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
I damn well can.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
And if this run is three months, like I've seen
a couple of people coming go it's a couple of months,
and they're gone, I go, if that's it, I'm gonna
give it everything I can.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
And I go, I don't.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
I won't be afraid to like embrace it because some
people don't get this one chance, I'm gonna take it.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
And so you're still heartbroken and it sucks.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
But then six months later, you're working with ten of
the greatest of all time every weekend and you're learning
the most, and those live event matches with Shawn Michaels,
Triple Ah, Rick Flair, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, like it's crazy,
Like it's crazy, like all this stuff happened in a
joking sense mostly, but I got to absorb everything, and

(18:40):
I got to a point where I'm like, Hey, Sean,
are you cool with me calling this match in a
live event when I'm out there? And He's like, uh yeah,
I can't try whatever that I was like, I called
one thing to Shawn Michaels, I'm like, is this really happening.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
I'm a year and a half into wrestling. I don't
know what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Out of five guys, I was the fourth worst one
because I was eight months into training, Like I just
didn't know anything. I could like put a hold on
and break someone's back and take a pump. But theer's
one less experience was Mitch. She was like the fifth one,
but he was brand new and he was you know,
he was hired more on personality than wrestling, So it
was like I was like the worst one.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
But I was trying to catch up.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
So I was wrestling matches in the afternoon just to
try and catch up reps and get better with everybody,
and Mikey would train me on the weekends just to
get a bunch of reps in. I just wanted to
make sure that I go in this. I thought every
week that the cheerleading thing was just like we're just
gonna get murdered and it was gonna be over. So
you go, if I get to hang around, I want
to be really good at wrestling. So I was just
doing matches NonStop and got to hang around even though

(19:43):
they put us, box us up and send us back TO'BW.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
So Kenny was Kenny the supposed to be the breakout
star of the group.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, well, and it ended up being you well years later, Yeah,
yeah it was.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
It was more built for Kenny, and it's really fun
and Kenny's freaking awesome. And even though we were a
bunch of young guys, he was younger than all of
us by four or five years. He's like twenty years
old and looks the part, plays the part new back
backstage stuff. He was helping me out with stuff that
like an old timer would have to tell you for
behind the scenes stuff like how to like political stuff,

(20:17):
who to talk to it. And I was like it
was very helpful. He knew a lot at a young age,
and it was so one You're like, oh, you're a
cheerleader instead of you and tagging with Kernegle, I get
just so you know, you're the fourth worst one other group,
it's all about this.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
One guy one who can't get paid.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Well, you guys bump around and you're like, man, this
is this is my dream job.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
What the hell am I doing?

Speaker 1 (20:37):
You know, it would tell somebody you're the fourth worst guy.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
That's well that's what they didn't tell me that Okay,
the other three were good at wrestling, and I was
brand new and the other guy was the only one
who was newer than me.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
Like, oh my goodness. The KFC match that you had,
was that a rib or? I mean, I know you
were promoting like that was promote. I mean you were
doing the commercials like I watched because I was watching
a couple of things that you did and not popped up,
And I said to myself, I wonder if you'd liked
this or not, because I mean, I guess it would

(21:10):
be fun to dress up.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
And you know, it's a very serious business when it
comes to KFC and the Colonel just so you know, okay,
there was a special wig that I got fitted for
that got flown in with a person holding it like
it's a big deal. So whether whether some things at work,
which of course are ribs, to make funny. That was

(21:33):
a fun one where I got to beat the freaking colonel.
We got to do a real commercial with it. I
got to beat up my buddy Maz who was a
chicken in the video, right, And it was like a
bunch of money, so kind of a win win, like those.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Kind of ribs.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
I'm okay, okay, but it was we had a really
cool partnership with KFC and they ended up doing I
mean maybe Rick Flair or Shawn Michaels or something.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
But I go, I got to be the freaking curl.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
It was a thing ever and and in that and
people had no idea what was happening because we just
filmed this match after a raw and we just like
come out and it's just like I'm the colonel and
miss like they're like, what the hell is happening? And
we just got to have fun with it in film
for a couple of days. So no, that was an
absolute blast. Good DFC people were so great to me,
and yeah, so uh, there's a million other things in

(22:16):
a ribs.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
That's just like I'm saying, I'm not knocking it at all.
It's just one of That was one of the things
that popped up, and I was like, I wonder if
he considered this like a RIB or if it was
cool to you know, do something, because believe me, we
all did things that were either we cringe when we
look back, or you know, you do what the office
tells you to do.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
I get it, of course, and it's a lot of
people forget, like say like I don't know aw now
or TNA now and me ten years ago. Like they're like,
here's the idea, come up with a cool promo, and
we kind of throw.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Some ideas back board with me.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
A lot of times it's like Vince wants you to
say these three sentences and you look back and you're like,
I'm so embarrassed that I said those three sentences. It's like,
it's not like I was bad at a promo. It
was like I hate this cringey thing that I was
told to say, and there was no way around it.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
You know.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
A couple different times, you build up some equity and
you go, I'm gonna go out of my own and
then I got like a call from Jericho saying, hey,
that's the coolest promo we've ever done. I was like, well,
when I got back to Guerrill, they told me I'm
not talking.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
For six months because they it wasn't what they told
me to say.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, he's like what okay, great, and so you like
you take the good with the bad, and you go,
I have to listen and do exactly what the boss wants.
When you try and sneak something in that you think
it's not to pop yourself. It's to like help a
story or make it that much better. And even if
it is, they'd be like, we want you guys to
start stepping on some toes and you're like, all right,

(23:37):
you go out there like.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
This guy, this guy, this guy. Yeah, hell yeah, you
get to I go, well, not those toes, and like, well,
who's toes do you want me to step on?

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Jtg's get the hell out of You're like, I'm going
after the top guy.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
He's like, that's that's what stepping on toes is.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
And you're like, you gotta remember who the boss is
and who his friends are and take that into account.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
I guess I don't know.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah. I always found like, because in the beginning, promos
were not my strong point. I used to get really nervous,
especially if I had to do it verbatim. Well, when
I would get bullet points, I found that my mind
would start to wander and I would add all these
cool things, and I was so much more relaxed if
they just gave me a couple ideas instead of like

(24:18):
a page with blah blah blah blah blah. Because I'm
not good with memory.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, I'm not a crazy memorizer either. But then even
if you do memorize an entire sheet of of of words,
you're just saying you're.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Not going you're not feeling that, you're not Oh this
one really part here, and it's like into your paracter
into whatever you actually in the moment, and it really
is how you're feeling, work.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Whatever.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yeah you're like, Okay, I don't know, but uh well,
yeah that happens. That's part of the deal. And we
all are nervous as hell at first, especially.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
The worst I used to shake. I would be I.
I was the worst. That's that's all I had to say.
Now I'm good, but back then I was terrible. Oh
my god, but I I loved your w W career
even though you were kind of a suppressed. Did a
hell of a job. But we're going to transition now

(25:32):
because you know, right now you're you're all over the
place sharing with T and A, m jp W literally
right triple A. You're on the Englands. Even though when
I told you about Wressell Kate you didn't even know
what it was. You're gonna learn. It takes a while. Listen,
I went right into E c W. I never did
in d either. I wasn't that. Yeah, I didn't know any.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Try to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, but we went bankrupts in seven years. So then
I had to learn really quick because I didn't know
who call and just who to talk to you, you know,
so I get it, but you're you're all over the place.
And the one thing when they released that twenty two
people were released that one day, and your name was
on that list. I was shocked because I was just like, Wow,
I thought this was gonna be a guy like you said,

(26:18):
like an undertaker or like the stone called Seed Boston,
just there for the duration of your career.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
So I was kind of shocked. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
So and several years ago, Vince was like, you know,
when it's time to hang it up, I appreciate you
when you come in here, because I, uh, usually when
it was like a group of people or you know,
I had some so much seniority that I could just go, hey, boss,
we're gonna switch this other thing.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
You know, I had like a better chance of getting
something switched.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
So I would always be sent to talk to him
about whatever we were doing that week or whatever, excuse me.
And then we got to a point where, uh, he
said yeah, you know, when the time is right, you'll transition.
You in a couple of years down the road, you know,
you'd be like a player coach, like a Pete Rose,
and you'll be behind the scenes and in the meetings
with us, and then still wrestling.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Then eventually transitioned just full time.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
You're here forever. I went, oh, okay, that's the way
to go. And then a couple more years he was like,
you know, you'll be here and you'll do this. I go, so,
I just assume this is my life and eventually I'll
slowly go behind the scenes and help out, like this
is great. And then I got to a point where
I really told myself, I go, I only have a
certain window, no matter how I am with injuries, you

(27:24):
have a certain window to where you can still be
a top somewhat of a game changer at a different company,
at a different show, at an independent where you can
have this match, these matches that you wanted to have
for the last fifteen years that either Undertaker and Triple
H went nineteen minutes over at WrestleMania, so you have
thirty seconds for your tag match or like things like that,

(27:45):
to where you're like, well, now I get a chance
to do it where I'm calling the shots, or if
someone goes over by twenty minutes, I can still do
my match, or I still have this thing, or I
saw this guy in Japan ten years ago I wanted
to wrestle.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
I never thought it could happen. Now it's going to.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
Like can have a tonsh like I never thought no
world that would ever happen. But so I said, I
only have a few years where I have this window
to be healthy and where it matters extra to like
be in the ring with someone and have like a
special match or a special just like career after WWE.
So I said, I know I'm out of here unless
you guys got a bunch of money and they give

(28:20):
me a bunch of money. And I said, okay, when
I go half there's no way they're gonna let this
entire contract go through because they shouldn't.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
I am sitting at home like this is stupid.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
So halfway through a year in, I go, this is great.
So I'm gonna start planning on getting out of here
and going somewhere else. So a year in, I'm checking out.
I'm watching Japanese wrestling. I'm watching TNA I'm watching aw
and watching everything, and I get to a point where
I go, hey, now, I'm not even coming in like
getting an entrance. I'm not even tagging with Bob Rude.

(28:51):
I'm not even like making something. It's not even fun
when someone pins me. I go, Vince, thanks for everything.
A twenty page email. This is the greatest job in
the world. And then I aired out some dirty laundry
about how it was bad and just in the last
couple of paragraphs, but the rest was very, very positive,
and I said, please, you have me in a position
of what a local can do, pay him and don't

(29:12):
pay me millions of dollars to do it. Let me go. Please,
let me go do this while I still can't. And
he responded and said, wow, give me a week to
think about this. I go, Vince, I go if fly
into Stanford tomorrow if you want me too. He goes, Okay,
just let me think about this and we'll figure something out.
I appreciate you laying this email. Great, And then two

(29:32):
weeks later I was on the release list.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
So that's terrific though that it worked out the way
it did. Yeah, so they could have been bitter and
be like, no, we're not gonna let you.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Go, right, and it's and I was like, okay, but
I feel had they not been bought out, I would
have been stuck there. Okay, but they were like, let's
trim some pat millions of dollars sitting at home on
the bench. Yeah, good time.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
And he just asked to leave for the fifth time. Okay,
We're gona let him know, right, okay.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
So, uh, yeah, this is there's some stuff in the
past to where it was like handshake deal that uh,
the boss kind of backed out of.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
So I get you job.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
I was happy to get this one that was somewhat
of a handshake deal to let me out of a
contract a year early.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
So that's that's tremendous that it worked out the way
it did. So again, going back to when I heard
the releases, the first thing I thought of was ou
he's going to a w and then so And the
only reason why I said that is because of the money, right,
not thinking that you're you're a rich man because you've
worked there for so long. Probably smart with your money,

(30:35):
that's okay, but at the you know, the age and
this stage in the game, you want to make as
much as you can, So my thought was like, he's
going to pick aw And then I started thinking about
all of your other things that you're doing, because you know,
we follow each other, so I see your socials and
I see what you're doing, and I was like, they
might kind of say, well, you can't do this, you

(30:57):
can't do that, so maybe he won't be going there.
So you end up choosing TNA, which I was in.
I was shocked at first, and then I was thrilled
because I was like, this is awesome. They have a
great product. This is going to get more eyes on them.
Good for him, right am I right with thinking like
you chose TNA just because of a little more freedom

(31:18):
than maybe.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
The no no.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
So it's it's not even that. I talked with Tony
a long time ago and he was like, hey, just see,
you know, you could do anything you want while.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
You were okay, okay, you go.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
You could have this twitch stream YouTube, this comedy shows
wrestle independence.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
You get a lot of leeway here because I want, like,
in a very positive way, he wants everyone to have
a good time and be doing the best possible. I go,
that's awesome, And a lot of people did think I
was going to aw and I and I love a
bunch of people at AW I love aw Tony's freaking great.
I just was weighing my options and figuring out I
didn't have a plan. So Scott Demore the first day

(31:57):
that I was announced that I was out.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Of w B, was like, what can I do to
get you here?

Speaker 2 (32:01):
I want you to see the blueprint of how we
do work things behind the scenes. We have long term booking,
here's the planning, here's what we're doing. And I was like,
I don't want to sign with anybody. I want to
try out. I got this thing in my head, I
want to go make a name for myself on the
Independence for six months a year, just to see if
I can still go out, just to see if I
can go outside of this New York bubble because I've

(32:22):
only been here. I didn't do Independence, I didn't bounce around.
I was only here and I have a pretty good,
you know, backlog of accolades. I want to see if
I can hang or be better or the best everywhere
around the world. So I thank you so much, but
I just I just get out of a long term relationship.
I'm not really looking I'm not really looking to get engaged,

(32:44):
you know, for a few years here, or even engaged
to be engaged. And he kept talking to me techtos.
How about come we can do some dates. I was like,
all right, let's do like eight or ten dates. We'll
try it out. But I can still do everything on
my ownies. Yes, okay, great. So that's how it started.
And I just really loved everyone. I loved I love
everybody there.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Gail's the best. There's so many and like, I won't
say it's better than every other.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Locker room, because every other locker room when you were there, Like, man,
everybody wants this to succeed.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
This is fantastic. It's a team.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
But it's even more so the edge for me personally
with TNAS because we don't have a billion dollars.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
So no matter how much of a team you are,
what's happening. You're like, do we have catering today?

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Do we have security?

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Like? Is there tape? Like that kind of stuff really
really gets it.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
It's that it's no I'm getting flashbacks because we didn't
have anything right yeah, yeah, Like we didn't have many
of the artists. We did our own we did we
didn't have outlets nick in some of the buildings so
you couldn't do your hair no mirrors. I was in
a men's room with it in front of you know,
urine all.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
I mean, it was disgusting.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
That's how ECW was, So I get it.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
But there's something like beautiful about it, you know what
I mean. And I'm not even totally joking in a
way where it's it's like, you know, there isn't that
billion dollars or millions of dollars behind you, and you
go and already and all those rosters are so tight
and they are working to a goal as a team.
It's like extra special to me when you don't have that,

(34:15):
So now you're like, we are all a team, and
we're all doing I think, but we're all trying to
fight just to get a little bit like one percent
more respect in the business. So now it's that much
more of a special thing. So every roster like the business,
everyone works so much harder than other professional sports and
jobs that I love it and I will never ever
not say that that is the case. So I live

(34:36):
for that part amateur wrestling wise or pro wrestling like,
just it builds.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
So much character and makes you go.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
This is on me to make a change or make
something different about the business.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
And if I don't, there's no one to blame. Now,
if you're in New York.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
And you're told everywhere to say and everything to do,
it's a little out of your hands when you're when
you get a little leeway with t and a independence.
Aw now you either stand out or you can't, or
you can't go back. And like you know, I'm being
held back because I wasn't allowed to say.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
You get a lot of.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Leeway to do whatever you want and get yourself over.
And I'm trying to do it for a second time,
slowly but surely getting used to By the way, I'm
very used to New York one oh one Wrestling, and
I was trying to adjust to TNA and ADW and
New Japan. And in the first couple of months, I'm
just starting to get there. I'm just getting my teeth
into it. Let alone to figure out the difference of

(35:24):
what the crowd wants, of what the product is, and
the whole work has been done, and the first couple
of months of matches are getting done and I'm getting
better every day.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
I think I stole a graphic you're tagging with your brother.
Have you worked with him before?

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Hilariously, we've only done comedy shows and been on some
stuff together. One time in NXT, they sent I believe
I was like holding the money in the bank briefcase contract,
and they sent myself and AJ to NXT just to
like be a part of a six man match, just
to get some people in the door or something.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
I don't even remember why. Because of my in the match,
I was.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Like, oh, this is great. I'm like, I'll do something
with Ryan. We'll start off well, I'll talk a bunch
of trash and call you guys all idiots, you suck,
and then we'll get down to it and then we'll
have Trimperetta hit this finish and Ryan'll hit this day
of this and they we're not doing any of that.
This is and by the way, it was barely NXC.
It wasn't like big, you know, Olympic Training Center NXC.

(36:20):
It's very new NXT. And they're like, we're not doing
any of that. You're squashing these guys and like you're like, oh,
are you Like yes, you're not, like oh, So we
didn't really get to have like a fun match and
do things.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
So this will be the first time.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
We're actually doing something together, especially planned out. So yeah,
it's very exciting.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Fun. Well, that's fun. So I love the wrestling. Love
talking about wrestling. Co talk to for another five hours
about it. I want to transition over to your comedy
because I find it really interesting. I know you did
something called Flying Chuck. It was that you're like your
first attempt at like doing these live shows on your own.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
No, that's just that's a fun show that I did
and where you tell stories and you do a little
improv in between stories, and it's fun. And I did
a couple of those my brother. That was at the beginning.
But I was very lucky because of social media. I
was born with wrestling even fifteen years ago. So I'm
just putting like jokes on my Twitter, like just making

(37:21):
jokes of whatever happened to the news or something in
wrestling or something in TV.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
And Sean O'Connor, who's writing for James Corden and a
couple other things.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
At the time, he's like, hey, man, you want to
be on the show.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
And I'm like, oh, I don't really have any material written,
but yeah, I'll do it, and it was just like,
he goes.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
You have no right to be on this show, but
I'm a wrestling fans. I'm putting you on it.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
So it's a bunch of open micers and Andy Kindler
and Andy Kidler's gonna rush for thirty minutes and then
you go do your three minutes and I go, okay,
I'll do it. So I wrote out like a three
minute Chipotle bit that I didn't know was work or not.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
I didn't go to do open mics.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
I didn't. It was just like walking on stage and
by stage, it's the backroom of a coffee house. It's
a stage in Silver Lake, Yeah, which is technically a stage.
Most of the people are in the crowd. They're like
going over their jokes.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
And like rolling their eyes.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
And then Andy Kindler comes out and if you don't
know who he is, like he's had Bob's Burger's. But
I've known it from like the eighties as long term
stand up comedy, like I'm a huge fan.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
He goes out basically with no material.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
It just crushes for thirty minutes on everybody, just like
seemingly making it up off the top of his head.
Kills and walks out and then I go out there
and I'm like, don't drop the bike.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Remember you're the first.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Word, and I'm like, so scared, and I do that.
It's a four minute set.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
I think, I do it like two and a half
minutes because I'm so scared and just run through it.
But the very first.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Opening thing I said, I said this opening sentence, and
it felt like a minute went by, have just total silence,
and I'm like, I s feel my face getting hot,
and I'm like, this sucks.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
What did I do? And one person in the crowd like,
who's on the pointless?

Speaker 2 (38:56):
I went okay, and I looked, Andy Kin is still there.
He was supposed to leave break to other show, and
he's laughing at a thing I said off to the
side of go what okay.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
So then I extra run through like the next two
minutes of my my set. It sucks. Who cares? I
don't know what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
But I got up station. I go, oh my god,
I can't wait to switch this, this, and this. I
gotta do it again. And it was like I was
hooked then. And that was a long long time ago,
but every year I'd get one or two shots. But
back then that was the five six days a week
with WWE and myself, Shamus Kofe Miz were constantly just
staying on the road or doing pr in between, so
like there was no time off. So getting I started

(39:33):
ten years ago, but it was like the first six
years was like two shows a year and it was
like sometimes five minutes sometimes and it was but that
was I had no I'm trying to find my notebooks,
like uh, notebooks like this just stacked up around.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
My house, just stories written down.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
It's stories, but mostly like stand ups of like this
is very annoying waiting at this light. This person doing
this thing, this that Chipotle acts like they're getting paid
by the rice to put it on my breath. And
it's just like there's all these millions of little things
and I was trying to make them into jokes and
then knowing that several of my first shows will just
be wrestling fans, and it's like, Okay, I gotta put

(40:15):
some wrestling stuff in there. So I always tried to
have some little balance of like wrestling stuff, dating stuff,
and like some kind of fast food to where it
was like if you're a wrestling fan, you know if
you're a hardcore wrestling fan, you know forty percent of
the bits. If you don't watch anything and just know
the rocket whole COVID, you'll get twenty percent of it.

(40:37):
If you don't watch wrestling at all, know anything, twenty
percent of it will still be me on Tinder trying
to get a girlfriend or something. So I always wanted
I didn't want to I isolate or take away the audience.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
That I was begging to get. It was like I
knew wrestling fans were there and I had to give
them something.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
But also the occasional wrestling pan has a girlfriend, so
let's get some Tinder dog something.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yes, I interviewed Jim Florentine on this show before, and yeah,
I'm a big fan. And he's a wrestling fan as well.
So when he was going, you know, he knew he's
CW blah blah blah, and I had asked him. I said,
you know, sometimes you're pretty crude about like family members
or stuff. I said, do you make that up? And
do they get mad? And he goes, nine times out

(41:21):
of ten, I usually fabricate a lot of my stand up.
He goes, and if they get mad, and then don't
talk to me. It doesn't really matter. And I said,
I'm the type of person like you, even in like
when it comes back to wrestling promos, you can call
me any name in the book as long as it's
in front of the camera. Like if you did it
behind the scenes, it would break my heart. Oh, I

(41:42):
can definitely sit in the front row and take it
and laugh along, because that's what humor is, and you
have to laugh at yourself, you know. And I learned
so much from like guys like him, and I interviewed
a couple of other guys, but he was like the
biggest comedian And I asked him, like, do you get
heckled a lot? Like how do you handle a heckler?
Are telling me, yeah, you how how did you handler

(42:04):
handle a heckler?

Speaker 3 (42:05):
I like not having something prepared and just saying something.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
And I was very lucky to for a couple of
years to have Sarah Tiana, who's a genuine headliner. She
would middle for me because she knew how to do
stand up and she would deal with the clubs and
she could get the order and everything going behind the scenes.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
So she was really.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
Good about, uh pulling people out because a lot of
times people were there. I'm very lucky wrestling fans will
go out of their way to support you in some
other venue, so they go out of their way to
be there. But she said for a while she could
just see there, just see they're like, when's Nick coming out?
Like you're not him, You're not a wrestler.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
What are you doing? Are you banging him?

Speaker 1 (42:42):
We hate you?

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Like so she was like she was always ready to go, and.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Stupidly, almost no one heckles me and something to yell
out like Nikki or something, and you're like, okay, that's not.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Even that funny, like all right, got it?

Speaker 1 (42:55):
You why the stage?

Speaker 2 (42:57):
I was like yeah, and Sarah would She would always
be like, listen, there's a reason they don't pass out
these mf and MIC's at the door. There's one and
I'm holding it so like sit there, and I was like,
oh damn, all right. So and then she knew very
little about wrestling, so we would do a Q and
A and it would be extra funny because they're like,
when are you going to aw and she goes the
root beer and it was just like we're all set,
like it was just and then we would just bust

(43:18):
each other's balls, and yeah, actually did a Comedy Central
roast battle together. I saw it awesome. I so fun
to write jokes. It was naked to TV, like what
the hell? So she was a killer and she always
really helped out. And then eventually got to a part
where if you're there and you're a wrestling fan, if
I get all my stories and an I could do
like forty minutes. I wouldn't say that it was like

(43:40):
really good. It was just I could pull that kind
of time and tell some wrestling stories if I needed to.
But also I'm working on you know, my Chipotle and
tender stuff Chipotle.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Did you see the Tom Brady roost?

Speaker 2 (43:52):
I saw so many clips of it that I haven't
watched it all the way through yet, but it was
so everyone was like, did you see Glazer?

Speaker 3 (43:58):
She killed like she always did.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
You know, she was the best. I thought Nikki was
the best out of all of them, just her to
everything hit for her. So then I went back and
I found a reality show that she did, and I
was kind of disappointed with her.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
Oh really, yeah, is it hers?

Speaker 1 (44:20):
No, it's her, it's her her life. She had to
move back to the Midwest. When COVID hit and but
it was I know there are work, I mean we
you know, I know realities at work, but this one,
it just it was too too much, Like I I
just knew most of this stuff was just like that's
not happening. That's I don't know. I was just I

(44:43):
love her stand up, but I was disappointed in her
in her show. But I think she's great, Like she's
funny as hell, a killer.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
She looks great and then probably makes people more mad,
which is so great. Like I love that.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
She was awesome.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
She was like if you're a killer and smart and funny,
like that's the best cowboy you could like.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Yeah, Ben Affleck just he struck out.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
He wasn't really did he have a good joke.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
He it was it was kind of a bit about
like you know, guys tweeting at you, calling you a loser,
like you know, the keyboard warrior kind of thing, and
you could tell he was kind of reading off the teleprompter.
But his delay I thought as an actor it would
have been more precise. But then he got pissed off

(45:30):
and he left. He didn't even like go shake to
Tom Brady's hand. He left and I think he was pissed.
And then I watched THEO Vaughn is another kill. Now,
I I'm a big reality show nut, so I know
him from.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
Like road Rules and now.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yeah, like I'm back in the my age, but going
back in the in the days of yes and so anyway,
I was listening to his podcast. Nicky was on his
and she was saying Ben was supposed to stay. And
then when Tom did his bit, he was referring to
to him, but the camera would look around. He's like

(46:11):
he's not even here.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Oh that's really I feel like I would have heard
more stuff about that. Now I want to know what
the deal was.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
I don't know. I think I think because he kind
of like lost the audience and kind of bombed. He
got pissed off and he just walked off the stage
pistol off.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
Now I got to watch that.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
It was good.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
You would think, you know actors like they commit to
the bit, but also some people like we get it,
Like I don't know, we I wanna be stand up.
So like I get excited for the Roads because I
used to watch the old ones. I write down all
these jokes. I want to be a part of it.
I want to go watch them, so we get excited
about it. But I also try and like tell other people,
like when you're when you're doing media rounds and you
bounce up to like thirty radio stations and twenty TV

(46:49):
shows a lot of Or someone comes to be a
guest host on Raw and they're in the middle of
a thing for their movie. They're like, they're on no
sleep through on two days of shit. They don't know
what wrestling is. They don't give a damn about this,
and they're like yeah, yeah, and those read the cue cards.
So maybe the ben Affleck who's doing movies and directing
behind the seats, he was like, yeah, I'll come do
this this bullshit little thing for a million bucks, and
I'll read to tell them. I'm like, wait, why isn't
everyone laughing at me? Everyone usually word what the hell?

(47:11):
Like maybe that's the case, Like.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
I don't know either, because it like.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
It's the stuff that we would like, Oh, I would
be working on that night and day for six months
to get ready. He might have just been like, uh,
they paid me to be here, so I'm doing it.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
He definitely phoned it in. You could just tell. It
was kind of like hmm, I'm reading this prompter and
blah blah blah, but no one was really into the bit,
and I was like, I watch it. I said, oh,
I kind of feel bad for him. And then you
could just see it on his face and he just
walked off. He's so pissed off.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
And I was like, now I got it. Now I
got to make sure to watch that.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah, you have to because the whole the two or
three hours, it flew by. Because I like stands up.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
I'm a big fan, so I am. I'm a nerd
for it.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Yeah yeah, yeah, for real. You had mentioned Tinder with girlfriends,
So here here's something. And if you don't want to answer,
you don't have to answer. But as I go and
I find things. Amy Schumer, I had a quote about
you because you were in the mainstream media when you
were seeing her. I don't know how long your relationship

(48:12):
A little bit, a little bit, okay, attracted to her
because she's funny, comedian wise you meet.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Her, Yeah, it's also attractive, okay, okay, But also but
that is that that is something to me that's hugely important,
like being smart, whether you're funny or not funny, like
being smart is a is a huge that's number one
for me.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Like, yeah, I didn't. I didn't mean to say she's
not attractive. I'm saying because of your love for comedy,
Well that would also it.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Just we Uh she was someone who I thought was really.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Funny and quick cute and uh yeah she's uh and we.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Hung out for a little while.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
We had a absolutely fantastic time. Uh well it was
before she went into tons of becoming a huge star
of movies and everything. So yeah, I have nothing nothing
negative to say.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Great negative. Well here's what she said about you, and
I'm sure you heard this before she broke up with
you via text because you're too athletic. And she says
he was spinning me like a gloat trotter. Now you know,
did you like hit her with the zigzag or do
were he super kicking her in bed? Like what are
you doing to these women that they need to with

(49:22):
you because of your you know, your your sexual desires
in the bedroom.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
There's there's to know. I'm a I'm a useless vessel
of nonsense.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
That's not what I'm hearing. Nick. I need to tell
the people, lots of girls are wondering, and I said,
I get down to the bottom of it.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
I need to know you had me at bottom.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
I don't think that. You know, everybody's a little bit
different as I thought. We had a great time, yes, but.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Yeah, you know you're a little more physical than the
normal man, is what you're saying. You know what. I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
I really haven't asked around, but I would say that.
I just I don't know. I thought we had a
good time. I'm right.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
That's that's why you're most wanted in this world. Okay,
a couple more things. Favorite band.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
I always say Motley Crew, but Motley Crew, guns and Roses.
Hair metal mostly poison, hair metals up fun. Hair metal
stuff is one of my absolute favorite things to do,
especially gold my friends.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
And just like dress.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
I still basically dress like I'm in the eighties anyway,
but I'll jazz it up even more so at a little.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
Hairspray to the hair before were the concert. But yeah,
of course any eighties nineties hair metal stuff. Still love
those guys. I listened to tell you where do you go?

Speaker 2 (50:41):
Well?

Speaker 1 (50:41):
I when I work out, I listened to hair Metal
Nation Party because the party one there's no ballads. When
I'm working out in a ballot comes on. It brings
me down.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Gym in the gym, you can't have any ballads but
the party killer ballot when you're driving or something and
it's okay on the windows and cry a little.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
Bit, absolutely a tear single tear falls down my favorite band,
and don't make fun of me. I'm an eighties girl
through Duran. Duran is mine one hundred percent. I will
listen to them every day until I die. I love
me some John Taylor. I will marry him one day.
I don't care if he's on dreight, He's on my list.

(51:19):
I will be his ex wife some day, I guarantee it.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
Do you ever have that dream that if you're at one?

Speaker 1 (51:25):
I have lots of dreams, lots of reach for those dreams.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
I hope you.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Do you ever have the dream where you're like, this
is the concert where he's gonna notice me and call
me up? Yeah, like.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
I said, the spotlight, Oh sorry you mustn't I what's
the glitched out for a second? No, I don't have that.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
I don't have that dream.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
No.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
Never.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
Maybe if I was eighteen, I who would have had it?

Speaker 2 (51:55):
If you ever like like, oh, this is the show,
Like you know, I'm not my but like you guys
go to wrestling shows. They're in the rocks business casual
from the nineties. They got a title over their shoulder
and their sidelight side. Now I get dressed for eighties
rock shows. I got my stonewash jeans, my sleeveless shirt
and a headband. But I dress like that anyway. So
it's like not totally fair. You never went, and we're

(52:16):
like they're gonna notice me. This is it, Like here
we go.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
I'm gonna be honest with you. I've been to six
concerts my whole life.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Okay, just six. I don't blank if you are locked
in a closet somewhere.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
Twice for help. No, you know what my biggest fear
is about going to a concert, Like I'll have to
pee and I don't know where the bathroom is and
then I can't get back to my seat.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
Okay, I'm a weirdo. Two things.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
No, not. When I'm booking tickets, I look for an
aisle seat so I can go pee.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Okay, because smart.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
After one beer, I have to pee every quarter of
a beer.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Because you break the seal.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
So I got a hold of it. Yeah, but once,
once it's broken, I'm ruined. So I to find the
set list online, find some bullet points, like okay, okay,
after a wild side, they're gonna do a little medley,
so I can run in the bathroom there, okay. And
then after girls girls girls that I know they're going
into this uh cover that I don't like, so I
can run to the bathroom.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
I look for aisle seats, I time out bathroom breaks
because once it's broken, I can't stop it. And if
I'm going to one of those shows, I'm not not
having thirty beers.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
So I gotta sing. I gotta be able to sing,
so Vince Neil hears me on stage.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
So yeah, see that's what's the first concert you ever
went to?

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Uh, I'm glad you just asked. It just popped in
my head, Michael Jackson when I was four years old
old Jackson, here's all I remember. It's an outdoor venue.
We were a million miles away, and I all the
way off in the distance, it all the the stage
went dark and the place went insane, and there was
a spotlight and it was just him, like you know

(53:58):
those like spotlight wood carving that people have up against
trees or by their houses.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
It's like, oh yeah, like a silhouette.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
Yeah yeah, just hit him sitting there and I heard
shrieks like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, like we're seeing
my ears, like and I was so far away, so
I can only just see like the like some guy
with the hat tipped down and he threw a rose.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
And I'm a mile away.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
The first half mile of people all like you know
when someone throws the bouquet a wedding. Yeah, and now
well in twenty twenty four and kind of stepped back,
but they, like half of a concert arena jumped forward
for a rose. And I can't believe that there was
like Walmart Black Friday, like people being trampled to death.

(54:41):
That's all I remember from that, but we were so
far away. Anyway, I got the rose, there you go.
That's all I remember for my first concert. And I
was like, whoa, the people are crazy. And I think
you wanted like Billy Jean or one of the songs
that I knew even as a kid. I don't know
what year, it's like eighty five, eighty six, but yeah,
I was like, oh, I know this, but.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
Mine was, Yeah, mine was Rick Springfield and I was
like seven or eight, and I think I was I
might have been in the very back row and we
had horrible seats and the lady next to me, let
me use your binoculars. That's the only thing I remember.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
That's the only thing I remember.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
But I remember. I was very young and that was
my first concert. I did see Kiss and I wasn't
even a fan until that night because I went with
Shane Douglas. He's like, you're gonna come see Kiss. We went.
It was in Baltimore. We had a press box.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Oh nice, and uh.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
He brought a big cooler and him and the other
guys walked ahead and left me with the cooler and
the guy's like, ma'am can you open And I'm shitting
a brick because I'm like we had liquor and beers.
I said, they're gonna throw me out and these guys
have just left me here, and so I opened it.

(55:55):
But we lined up coke kenes like on the top
to cover everything, and they were like, yeah, you're good,
hon and I was.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Like, thank you.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
My heart was like because I never did that. I
was like, what am I doing, you know, but we
got in and that was That was a good one too,
because I didn't even like kiss and now I love them,
so that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
I like adding a little terror beforehand to make it
make you enjoy the concert that much more after it.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
I did enjoy it. It was a really good one.
What's your favorite movie?

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Fletch?

Speaker 2 (56:26):
But it's also my favorite book? Okay, all right, are
you old enough to remember Fletch?

Speaker 1 (56:32):
No, I'm not. My favorite movie is the nineteen sixty.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
Eight version of Romeo and Juliet.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
I can watch it a million times and cry every
single I'm very tender hearted. I am. I'm a softy
and I like romance. I love comedies, don't get me wrong.
When I hear the narrator the first sentence, I cry
because I know this, I know what the story is ill,
and I'll watch it. I'm myself every time with a
box of tissues.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
How often can you watch a movie that you've seen
a million times?

Speaker 3 (57:05):
If I like sixteen Year once a month?

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Yeah, like sixteen Candles, I can watch whenever I can
put it on that that move Jake Ryan, another guy
I was supposed to marry, and fell through the.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
Cracks a long line. It's starting to be a long line.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
And he lives somewhere in Pennsylvania. He's a wood carver now,
so I he was there, I just didn't find him
in time.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
I'm very upset the one that got away.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Yeah he is. But yeah, if I love the movie,
I can watch it and recite it lip it, so
I don't annoy anybody watching it with me. But the
good one I just saw for the first time Goonies,
Oh wow, okay, and I loved it.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Man, I'm trying to think, oh man, I don't.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
Even funny roads story, something that you think back everything.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
So the first couple of years was just four of
us or six of us sharing a hotel room in
a minivan or something. So it was like and then
you know, going out, but nothing crazy at anything crazy.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
I wouldn't be able to tell you right.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Now anyway, a partner, yeah, or you know, wrest you know.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
Okay, if you're walked.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
I'm trying to think of something funny. I tell the
story all the time, stand up wise. But it's just
spirit squad. We were a bunch of young guys.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
We didn't know.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
I'm sorry we didn't what I didn't know what I
was doing. But we're just trying to like bumping feed
and be there for everybody and ask for your help afterwards.
Or was everything okay, thank you, whatever's respectful guys. And
we were working with Big Show and Kane and uh,
we had just done something at wrestlemanis are doing the
two week overseas tour that we always did after WrestleMania.

(58:42):
It was and we're just kind of bumping around, just
five of us getting beat up by two giants. It's
Big Show and Kane and they're the tag champs and
every night, you know, three nights in. I was like,
we kind of got this down. Pat We're kind of
we're always it's just us getting beat It's a long
squash match, but we make it fun. We do some
couple of guys who do cart and stuff or whatever.
So we get to a point where I go, hey,

(59:03):
would it be funny if, like, uh, you know, we've
earned some respect for these guys. I'll do a little
like a joke, like I'll put a sandwich in the
middle of ring because we'll do our entrance first and
then back then. We used to grab the mic and
do like a dumb chair like I'm Jerry, I'm Larry
or whatever the hell the names were so well, I
wanted to do like a bugs bunny trap to where
you take like the microphone with the because it's the
long Court. This is twenty years ago sure, so you

(59:23):
know it's not all digital mics, So that we lay
like a big lasso in there.

Speaker 3 (59:27):
And I was like, that'll be funny, like maybe Big
Show goes to get it. We'll catch him like we caught,
We'll catch or something.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Yeah, yeah, and then I go and then we'll be
like the the Marx Brothers and like we'll all hold
the microphone and go to walk away, and we'll all
fall down because he's such a big giant and he's
so strong and we're idiot.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
The three stooges. So I put a sandwich in the
middle ring. I do the giant lasso around it in
the middle ring. We get out of there, Big Show
picks it up.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
Uh goes to bite the sandwich like like for a joke,
and like we catch him and he's like what, like
we caught him for really?

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
He's like what is this like? So he's you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Wouldn't tell him no, it was like a joke.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
So like when we caught him, we were all gonna fall
but we didn't. He was just he was kind of
mad about it already, so like we didn't get to it.
Then he we Then we had to wrestle him, and
it was.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
Oh, well, that would have been so fun if he
took like a face pump while in the sandwich.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
We were all gonna go like we caught him and
then we all fall down and it's like, yeah, us
around and beat us up.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
But he wasn't happy about it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
He got but yeah, but it was like it was
a funny thing and we love Show. And then then
we also got to a point where we were doing
like a fake, like a prank version on WW where
they would always prank people like Big Show or somebody else,
and they'd send.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Me out and be like, hey, Show, we're just messing
with you, and he's.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Like red and sweating and furious, and I'm like, sorry, buddy,
I know, but this wasn't my idea. I got to
a point where but you know, we Show and Kane,
I love those guys. It was that we tried to
do a rib one time and it didn't work out
In our favor, and that was I'll stay out of
all that stuff. Do you have any reasonable ones that

(01:01:11):
aren't someone being roofied or thrown off a building or
something like? Do you have any fun regular ones? Do
I I know where you worked?

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
Oh god, yeah, I mean you know they they didn't
really do at least not to me. There wasn't really
like hateful ribs like you hear a lot of like
the hateful hazing. Our locker room didn't do stuff like that,
Like I tell us one of the stories. It's been
told so many times, but apparently you haven't heard it. C. W. Anderson.

(01:01:43):
So he had a really bad like gag reflex, and
he would get sick if like he saw either somebody
you know, getting sick or defecating or something gross would
make him one of the moment as well, And so
we thought it would be We thought it would be
funny if Tommy Dreamer stuck a brownie up his ass

(01:02:10):
and uh pretended to like go to the bathroom in
the middle of the locker room. But first of all,
it was my brownie, and I was pissed because I
wanted to eat the brownie. But I said, I'm a
team player. You can have. I sacrificed my brownie for you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
Know, I appreciate you said your cheat meal for another day.

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
I did well. Oh back then, I ate like a
p I ate whatever my metabolism was, so I didn't
gain announce you know, I was super thin. But yeah,
I so I gave my brownie. And and I just
had learned recently in somebody reliving the story, they said
that Tommy wrestled with the brownie. I don't remember him

(01:02:49):
wrestling with that brownie. I thought he just stuck it up,
as you know, up his bumb when he came to
the back. But regardless, he had it up in his
pants because he wore the big black pants. And what
I think he was he was crouched over in the
position like grunting, and they made me run and get

(01:03:10):
c W and say, oh, you're needed in the room,
and I pull him in the room. And then as
soon as he comes in, the brown he literally plops
out and like his ass is just bare ass, and
he literally starts gagging and he threw up and it
was it was just the brownie, and so you know

(01:03:30):
it was just well, no, I really said I'll get
another one. That wasn't borrow it, that wasn't my cup
of tea. He probably he probably ate it afterwards because
that's why he is. But I did not eat that story,
thank you very much. But it was just stupid little
dumb ribs that we did. You know, you would have

(01:03:51):
loved our locker room.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
It was.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
It was a hoot. I know, and I appreciate that.
This was so fun. Give us your social for those
who live under a rock, where can people find you
on social media? It's at they're one point three million
followers or whatever you have.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
I please pay no attention to them.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
I know I have a bunch of because of where
I worked, so I appreciate that. But they don't like
to They don't you have one damn about my joke
telling or anything else.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
They just funny see wrestling pictures. No, it's fine. I'm okay.
So it's at nick nemmath and at Nick tmmoth am.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
I two, that's like, uh, it's Instagram is just for
you know, checking out.

Speaker 3 (01:04:29):
Babes and for jokes and reading all my political news
for the day. But yeah, I got nothing to promote.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
I we have some cool TNA pay per views and
live events coming up that I'm really excited about. Like
my brother and I we doing some stuff. Yeah, and
I look forward to that more than anything. I'm the
luckiest guy in the world. I've had a hell of
a run. I'm just starting, just getting into the second one,
and I love it. And uh, I'm glad I got
to meet you a couple of months ago because, as

(01:04:57):
I said, I was a fan.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
Let me read it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
I was f I know we lost that feeling. I'm
so You're.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
The best, You're the queen. We all love you, and
we love what you did with ECW. I love what
you're doing now.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
Thank you so much. Yeah. So yeah, I won't even
add a punchline waiting.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
For the I'm waiting for the bomb to drop.

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
No, no, no, I'll wait till you're not recording and then
I will.

Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
Okay, perfect, can't wait for that. I just want to
plug really quickly. The Bash at Beckley June first in Beckley,
West Virginia. For the first time ever, I'll be working
with Brian Myers and the franchise Shane Doug. I know
this has been I was supposed to work with them
last year on the same show, and my flaight got
canceled at the last minute. I couldn't make it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
Just say you had a hair appointment. Nobody cares.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
Right, we can track, I can miss listen. I don't
miss bookings.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
You book that people can't verify.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
I don't. I'm not a liar, Nick, I don't have that.
I'm one of the good ones. Let me just tell
normal and good you know, you know what?

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
You know? What always makes h someone one of the
good ones in a lifetime movie when they say they're
one of the good ones.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Yeah, I don't like Lifetime movies. They're not my does
somebody somebody does? But anyway, bash it, Beckley. Go to
my Twitter ecw D for freeze and all the details
will be on there. Nick, thank you so much. Looking
forward to seeing you again somewhere down the line for
every book together. We'll talk about that pairing up.

Speaker 3 (01:06:27):
Well, we'll get that team.

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
I think it's money for the future. I mean, if
you like money, I love money. I love money, and
we only love money and food. Remember we've discussed that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
That is very accurate and money on it. That's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
We were supposed to wear matching outfit, so you didn't
get the memo. You didn't wear your cut your cutout cleavage.

Speaker 3 (01:06:50):
Uh, but I have no pants on NEITHERM do I.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
So that's alright. So h everyone, I hope.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
You if you're saying safe, I hope you're saying healthy,
and most of all, I hope you're saying extreme.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
Oh oh.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
Francine Francis Francis, Queen Extreme Extreme.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Odds up here head head the Queen Extreme Podcast. Odds
up here.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Heah, heah, it's the Queen Extreme Podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
It's the Queen of Extreme. Ing in the legency is
the woman nifty

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
Dreams legend on the scene, franc Scene