#440 - Swerve Strickland

Interview with AEW Champion Swerve Strickland on The Bootleg Kev Podcast.

Full video version of the episode is available on YouTube!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's going on everybody? It's the ae W. That's all
Elite Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Swarve Strickland right here on
the Bootleg keV podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yo Man, Bootleg CAV Podcast Special guests in here. The
AW World Heavyweight Champion Swarve Strickland is here.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
You I got to talk to this guy at Rolling
Loud and since then he has picked up this amazing
piece of.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hardware, amazing hard work hardware.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, so I gotta ask you, man, Like it's kind
of crazy because I had seen you're kind of like
somebody on Twitter had posted I guess, like a Twitter
version of like your come up in the last like
three or four years, Like you had kind of went
from like being kind of like underutilized and underappreciated in

(00:52):
a different company to come into AW and you've been
making noise for you know, over a year now, And
like what's it feel like when you finally are able
to put this on and like hold that thing up?

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Like, man, it's literally like I'm probably the only one
from like that two or five Live era to go
into world heavyweight title status. So crazy, just like yeah,
so like and if you look at that roster that
that that crop and talent. I don't think people would
have like really saw me as that at the time
there was there has been like I probably would have

(01:25):
been the last choice or one of the last few
choices of like one of the guys that could have
been like the headliner made a Ventor World Champion type
material in that era, and like I never would say
like I was like underutilizer and I just didn't have
enough time there. Like you see a lot of guys
who are main eventing over there now they had a
lot of time. It's been a long time to marinate,

(01:45):
get the character, but also like build equity with the company,
build time with them, they build like they grow. Like
that's like Drew McIntyre is a prime example of that
guy who's like the primest example. Yeah it was there,
but then got let go up and came back and
then like Okay, now he has a lot more time
and tenure, so now he can like grow with the audience,

(02:06):
grow with the roster, with the staff, with the marketing
team departments also made me like him, and I was yeah, yeah,
shout out Drew. He's a good home as a home,
he's a homie. But yeah, like it's just like it's
just like with that place, it's just about time and
equity and putting in like just he's building chemistry and

(02:27):
trust within that organization. And I just didn't have a
lot of time there, and then they didn't allow me
a lot of time. If I would have, who knows
what I would have been doing over there. Still, I
don't know. Maybe maybe it wouldn't have gotten better. Maybe
it would have, but like that's just that's how the
business works with these things. And I just got I
took my opportunity and I built time in equity with Tony,

(02:49):
and Tony trusted me from day one. Tony like literally
was like day one, I like, I have plans for you,
and I want to put you on to do what
you do, be you be yourself and go out there
before him because that's what I'm getting. That's why I'm
like bringing you in here to do Yeah it's oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well so that's one thing like with Tony is it
feels like he's like as much as he's a very
successful guy, very wealthy guy, it feels like when he's running, aw,
he runs like he's like a fan first which I
think is a very cool approach to like wrestling, because
we've always seen like certain people were like, man, I

(03:28):
wish that guy would get over, that guy would get
an opportunity. And I feel like Tony is the guy
who's on Twitter like I wish that guy would get
an opportunity, was right, But he's running the company. What
is like the like what do you think are the
misconceptions about Tony Kahan? And like what are what are
some things that like you've already kind of learned just
being so close to somebody like that who's a powerful guy.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
You know, he's a guy that likes good wrestling. Yeah,
you know, he's like he's literally like as far as
like what he likes, he's one of the fans and
when it comes to that, he just likes to see
good wrestling. Uh, And that's what all EAT wrestling's mainly about,
Like how you went over the fan base is like
you gotta do it in the ring. Like there's certain

(04:12):
guys and certain people, certain acts and certain performers. They
get opportunities to do it another different ways and that's great,
but like, ultimately it's a wrestling company. It's literally like
primarily wed they had the best wrestling and to be like,
to be the top of that card, be the top
of the company, you gotta perform. And in the time

(04:35):
when all EAT Wrestlings started, that was kind of deprived
on national television.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oh for sure a while, you know, definitely a dark
air over at the other.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Like and but they've always had great talent though for sure.
You know, it was just like the product was primarily
something what they wanted. They wanted to present, something that
was sports entertainment. That's what they built the bread and
butter from right, you know, that's what they do and
like nobody does it better than them. We wanted to build,

(05:03):
build our narrative, our alternative to what's unique to us
and what we the fan base was missing at the
time and what the industry needed. And it was just like,
we need an alternative. We need someplace where even people
that are over there that really wanted to break out
and just deliver the type of wrestling they wanted to do,
not the type of wrestling that they want to show,

(05:25):
the type of wrestling they wanted to do, show their
art and all the wrestling gave them that. And seeing
Moxley come over, you know, like feeling showing his rejuvenation
in the wrestling, rejuvenated Adam Cole, rejuvenated myself, rejuvenated, and
letting the creators and the artists create in Christian the

(05:48):
art Christian like showing like another like, man, he can
run with this thing another five ten years if he
wanted to know just the hell of a heel. He
always was such a good heel too, right, But also
aw allowed him to like really push the boundaries on
the material as well, you know, like there's certain like yeah,

(06:08):
there's certain stuff that you guys, yeah, yeah, even the
source material, like you can't say certain things like talking
about dead fathers and stuff like, there's certain ways you
can't like really go in a WW with aw Tony.
Really he gets a kick out of like pushing the
boundaries a little bit more and on national television, and

(06:29):
you know that's where competition always really stem from and
pro wrestling.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
I was gonna ask you, like when you get over there, right,
because you know it's so hard.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
I you know, I'm I love watching wrestling.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
I'm not gonna I have a surface level understanding what's
going on aw at all times. But like I told
you before, the started like, it's it's harder for me
to watch it because I don't have cable and shit,
but I love wrestling. I watch I watch every pay
per view I watch. I go to fucking I try
to go to at least three or four a year.
It like, what for like, could you kind of like

(07:04):
give me an idea of what it's like like you
get to aw what are the things that you know,
you feel like, Okay, I have to do this, this
or this to start to make the fans give a
fuck about me? Because to me, that's the hardest thing
is like there's so many guys that are really good
at wrestling, and they can put on great matches, they

(07:26):
could take great bumps, they can make guys look good.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, but it's like the the.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
X factor is like how do you get the people
to give a fuck about you like that?

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Because that's where this comes into play. That's you know
what I mean.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
And to me, that like, like you said, you didn't
have time to even figure that out really with WWE,
So like what were the things that you were able
to kind of like conscientiously do to kind of like
make people really give a fuck?

Speaker 1 (07:51):
For me, it was always about like what lane isn't
being taken up for me? That's where I first think
in smart I look at I observe the landscape of
like everything. I start with my home base, which was
ALI Wrestling. I look at the roster, male female managers, groups, factions,

(08:15):
management managers. I look everywhere. Then I look at the archetypes.
What archetypes are being taken up. You know the jocks,
there's the right you know, the artists. Then there's the
dark characters of the House of Black. Okay, So you
look at all these types of things, I'm like, Okay.
Then it's like where do I fit in with these things? Where?

(08:36):
And then also like, what's what's something unique about myself
that I know that I truly know about myself that
I can really portray and display to the world in
my way? Where's my voice? So like, look at this
like it's als the music industry. Look at all these albums.
I'm like, all these albums that you see right here
tell different stories. They have different archetypes, they tell they

(08:58):
have different looks, right, just like how does a speaker
box like stand out to a Ready to Die from Biggie?
How does a college drop out with Kanye West stand
toe to toe with the Carter with Wayne, Right, how's
the chronic with the dog Pound and like all these things.
So you're just looking at like where can I get in,
where I fit in? Figure it out. Then of course

(09:21):
it's aw has to be proven in the ring. You
got to go out there and wrestle your ass. You
got to prove it in the ring. You got to
prove in the ring. Promos are amazing, and I would
say it's sixty.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Forty wrestling to promo or promo to wrestling.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Wrestling to promo sixty percent in the ring forty percent. Yeah,
another place is like more maybe flip the other way,
you know, yeah, you know for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
But now there's been guys that's been ninety ten promo
to wrestling.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
And they've had long, illustrious careers. Something of them happens. Yeah, yeah,
some people like and there's very few people like that
can do that. Like even a MJF. He's like heavy promo,
heavy heavy promo, but at the end of the day,
he goes out there, he proves it in the ring
and he wrestles his ass off and he shows out.
You know, so I got a hell of a tan
when he was away by the way, Oh yeah, brutal.

(10:12):
He came out said, he looks like he came straight
from King Cool. Yeah, oh yeah, probably was, you know,
like all that rest man. But but he was also working.
His body shows it, you know, he looks great. But
uh so then you also got to find out once again,
you start all over again in the ring, where do
I find? Where do I fit in? Where Lane is

(10:33):
being taken up the luchadors, they're killing it, like it's
very hard to compete with like a vikingo a Phoenix.
You're not gonna out to the lutators. Then, just like
the grappling and the Greco Roman style, like well, Brian
dance is the best in the world at that, you know,
so and you just kind of like narrow it down.
So it's just for me, It's just like something that's

(10:54):
really I like film. I'm a big fan of like
film and horror. So I was like, hmmm, horror mixed
with a hip hop mogul. That's two different genres. But
if I bleed these together, I can kind of create
something very unique in something that's never been done, like
maybe maybe like I don't remember that ever, but just

(11:15):
for that sake. It's just like it's so far fetched,
and like if you say it out there, it's like
you said a lot was like, that doesn't make sense.
How do you make that happen? It's like, okay, take
like a Snoop Dogg bones shouts of Bones man, how
great of an actor? Snoop wasn't true, but it fits.
Then I'll take like I'm a Wesley Snipe fan. Then
there's like a New Jack City, a blade, a demolition man.

(11:38):
So there's all these like little elements. I'm like, these
are images that I like that almost like you're putting
your mood board together kind of in a sense. But
it's just I never put anything on that, but like
you know, mentally, you're like, it's just like that's what's
going on in my head. I'm just throwing all these
things out there.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
And you're also like, you also do hip hop, like
in real.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Life, right right right? So I'm like, how do I be?
Like and I know, like the claim to had like
the hip hop the rapping thing going on. So I
was like, okay, how do I do? I'm still hip hop,
but I don't want to. I want to be something
business sense, So I was mogile kind of doing a
lot of things as it is, like acting and podcasting
and music and all the music videos. I direct them

(12:16):
all my music videos, producing and all that stuff, so
like it's kind of a mobile thing. So I just
came up with mogul to feel like just something bigger
than just rapping. So that's how that came about. And
then there was like elements like when after the all
In matches and going in the coffin and stuff, I
was like, I'm a big fan of Sweeney Todd, so

(12:38):
I was like, let me add a little like darkness
to the eyes, make me feel a little let me
go sink a little more deeper into the character and
darken it up a little bit more to feel like,
all right, something's different about Swerve than any other person
on this roster, and he's given me a different tone
and feel. But I never actually tell you what it is.
I want the fans to kind of like go through

(13:02):
go each week, but I want them to go back
and try to find and trace through where this really
crept in and really started. So now you're kind of
having fans doing their own like picking apart and find
it like kind of like like like once again, when
we used to buy albums, like in the day, we
used to go through the booklet for sure who yeah,
who produced, what the art, who's did the art direction,

(13:24):
who did this?

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Let me look at the thank yous, who got thanked,
who got who the credit is?

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, I kind of want that fans to do that
with me the character, rather than just like look at
me and see what you're getting, like, oh, we like them,
but what's more there? There's something more deeper. Let me
go out and find and search what's deeper with Swerve.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Do you remember like the first like real crowd pop
you got where you were like, oh.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
It's working. Oh. I would honestly say, like when I guarante,
like I was getting good reactions and and then like
we were getting like when when it was really a
pop was New York, it was a Grand Slam we

(14:09):
had I would I didn't wrestle on Grand Slam, but
we had the local Embassy Gates of Agony. They wrestled
the Young Bucks and Hangman Page and Rampage that night.
So Grand Slam is arthur as Stadium, big, big, big venue.
We were coming out pretty late on the show on
Rampage and so the gates and agony and nine, I'll

(14:32):
go out to do their match. I come out in
the middle, like right before commercial break. I come out
in the middle of it to interrupt and pause distraction
a little bit. I come out on this big fur
coat from Daniels leather, shout out Daniel's leather, and the
music hits because like they had different music than me,
so they came out their music, so they didn't get
ninas dance yet. Middle of the match, my music hits.

(14:53):
Now I stops, looks up the ramp and goes Boom
starts hitting the dance, and the whole crowd starts doing
it with like in unison like Boom. I was like,
we got it. Now, we got him, Now we got something.
Now we got him. That's when I knew that was
like it was unless necessarily the crowd pop, but it
was the crowd interaction and the wave of just all

(15:14):
like I said, big venue, you can see it from
like here all the way up to the top and
like different parts. Then from that city forward, it was
just happening in every city and it's like, now I
hit that thing, tonight, do it? Do it? And that's
the thing that's where like a w they kind of
like they reward that feeling. It's like, all right, no,
this is working. I'm not going to pull you back
like it's going go with it, flow, do your thing, yo.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
You Uh we talked a little bit about this when
I ran into a rolling cloud. But you had this
match where you were bleeding and the dude was tasting
your blood.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
Out of your face. Oh yeah yeah full gear.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Uh well, kind of like you kind of said it
a little bit like you guys knew that was gonna.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Happen, do you? Everyone got tested to make sure you know, well,
every we get and pretty much every pat for.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
People who don't know, there's like you guys are having
this match and then you're bleeding out of your face
and then the dude you're wrestling, who was it, Hayman
Hangman Page starts like pretty much like fountaining, founting, fountaining
out of your face and drinking your blood. Which it's
it's the most like hardcore ass shit I've seen. Sin's

(16:21):
like I was a little kid watching like backyard wrestling
at easy w but I remember how viral it went,
But like can you kind of like whose idea was that?
And like were you hesitant about doing it? Like kind
of walk me through like the build up to that
idea actually coming.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
To hesitant on a lot of things. As you can
go through my history once again, if you want to
look up my history, you see me do some wild
shit in the wrestling world. It was just like we're
so deep in the feud. Is like he was so
enraged that it was almost like a disrespectful thing, Like
it just be such a shock value. Like that's how

(17:00):
crazy I pulled him into my world. If you know
Hangman Page, he's always been like through the history of
ALI wrestling, he's been like one of the truest like
goodie two shoes type guys, Like he had like a
drinking problem as on camera and stuff. But through all
and all, he always came out doing the right thing.

(17:21):
He had morals, he there's lines he didn't cross. He
was like an upstanding citizen and the passion of he
was the passion in the heart of ALI wrestling. And
then you pulled him into the darkness. I pulled him
so far into being into my world because I wanted

(17:42):
to get into this spot. He was a former world
a former world champion. I wanted that spot so bad
that I was willing to do whatever I had to
do and manipulate whoever I had to manipulate, which just
happened to be Hangman, because he was kind of like coasting.
He was like just riding the way of his contract
and stuff and just yes, boss, I do whatever I

(18:04):
need to do. And he was complacent, and I was like, well,
if you're going to be complacent, I'm not. I'm still
I'm starving over here, and you're getting out of shape
eating like you know what. I mean, you've been eating
for a while. Now. I deserve that spot. And if
you're not going to, if you're just one to like coast,
I'm gonna move you out of the way and take it.
And it came true. It came true. And I crossed boundaries,

(18:30):
like going into his house, like talking to his infant
child in the crib. That's so fucking crazy, you know,
recording it?

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Can can Tony Khan work out the streaming deal so
I could catch up on all this shit?

Speaker 1 (18:41):
I mean, I mean those are on YouTube, you can
always you could check those out as much as you want.
But like, I crossed the boundaries and I pushed things
to level where he became sold. Yeah, what the fu? Yeah,
I threw my merch shirt in this crib, so like
just put wishing the boundaries so much where I violated

(19:02):
a man's home insecurity as a man. Oh no, that's crazy.
It's you will be pushed to you crazy, crazy lengths.
So that's where like I'm disrespecting you so much I
want to take something from you.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
So like you brought him to such a dark place.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, he was like so like it wasn't just like oh,
blood drinking.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
It was just like no, what I'm saying, like, yeah,
like when you guys, whose idea was that?

Speaker 1 (19:25):
I think I'm going to guess it was his.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
So like when you guys take that to Tony does
Tony like yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
No, it's just like what you see or you guys
just do it on the spot. So Tony con didn't
know that was gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
No, wow, imagine you're the owner and like, yo, these
fuckers are out here drinking blood.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
In the first five minutes of the match. It was
pretty It's like, what's our hook to keep them glued
to watch the rest of this match? I'm like, well,
there is not me just getting stapled in the face and.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Is that what would that be like a normal I
guess being in both companies, is it normal that in
rest sing where you guys will have a spot like
that that's so extreme or crazy that the higher ups
wouldn't know about it.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
There's some that can that can backfire sometimes and it
has in both companies, like you know, like uh like,
but once again, when you're with somebody that's kind of
like trusted with the ball like me I was with
the Hang Them Page helped create this damn company, you
could afford to take those little risks like over there,
if you're in the ring with Dwayne Johnson, don't take

(20:29):
the risk. I mean you can, Yeah, you can't. He
can afford to say this. He can do it. He
can do it. But when you're in there with them,
it's like, no, I got it. Like so you kind
of like you kind of ride the backs of like
the guys that got the pull. So for me, it
was just like I feel like we can push things
a little bit more, like like when I was in
the ring with Darby. Tarby has a lot more tenure

(20:51):
and a lot more trust than I did at the time.
So like with Darby was like I want to push
the push this a little bit, and like Darby Derby's
Darby want to push the boundaries no matter what you know,
and so you kind of want to like those are
opportunities to be like I mean, they just it's risky.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
He just set someone on fire with a flamethrower like
this weekend.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
I mean, like nobody else is going to get that
kind of what the fuck is going on? Yeah, it
was like not a lot of people get that kind
of thing. But it's like once again, like he has tenure,
he has trust, and he's always been a great performer,
like Hangman Page is always been a great performer. So
they kind of have that, like that trust with the UH,
with the Tony Khan and with the aw to do
that kind of stuff, and the fan base welcomes it

(21:32):
because they had that trust with the fan base as well. Yo,
what was it like? Uh?

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Give me like like when you were at the old place,
Like did you have any sort of interaction with Vince
when he was there?

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Like how was Vince? Because obviously the story comes out
it's fucking crazy, which we all knew, and then Vince
just got who just dropped named uh and JF just
said his name on a w during his promo.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Once again, I talked about that trust and have a tenure.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Well, I feel like if you get that guy hot Mike,
no one knows what the fuck is gonna have exactly.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
But like was like, what was.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
It because I always I feel like like everybody.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Kind of knew.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Like the way he ran the company was very like
if you're big, if you look a certain way, you're
going to get the benefit of the doubt, whether or
not you could wrestle good or not, et cetera. Like
it was more about image and selling T shirts and
ship Like, what was your experience around Vince?

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Not a lot? It wasn't a lot, right, No, Like
I've I've had like one or a couple of conversations
with them. I went to Titan Towers and spoke with
Lauren Ightis and stuff. But and like literally was a
wild alleged but yeah, like been in offices with them,
like as the hit Row crew, you know, all together, Vince.
I've only talked to Vince when I was like the

(22:49):
hit Row crew. Once again, this was like by the
time they already let go of BEFAB and it was
just me shanting dollar and we were just all like
just talking with them, told us how like things are ran.
It's like a little private conversation how things are ran.
This is where like we do what we don't do
things this like this boom boom boom. And like I was, like,

(23:12):
I have asked them a couple of questions. I talked
to them like a regular regular dude. Like like the
thing about like with me is just like I'm not
going to like I understand, I always respect authority. I've
came up in the military and I know like my
chain of command and I understand those type of things
and stuff. But like I'm when it comes to my

(23:34):
job and my passion and what my something I've been
doing for like fifteen years and like I'm I'm super
confident about that and I exude that and I stand
on my work and I'm always going to stand on
that no matter who I talk to, whether I'm talking
to Tony Connavincement, man a Triple H is Sean Michaels,
it doesn't matter to me. So I talked to him

(23:55):
straight equal and like if you don't like if I
was never disrespectful to him, but if I'm always gonna
ask questions to inquire, and I'm also going to if
i'm if I'm you know, I'm always going to like

(24:16):
necessarily speak what I feel is like right now, what
I feel is like, Okay, this is something I just
want to I just want to know I can always acquire.
I don't think anybody's ever going to question or like
punish someone for inquiring to how to make their job,
improve their job and do better. And if that's like
costly or anything, I'm like, Okay, cool, that's I'm always

(24:37):
going to find work. I'm always going to be like,
I feel like you can never be afraid to lose
your job. That's how good you have to be. That's
how I feel. That's how like you from real. If
you're if you're that good man, don't be afraid to
lose you You're going to always land on your phone,
all right? Cool? Like I'm a I'm like, I'm going
to make I'm going to make you feel like, damn,
I wish we had him here.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Has anybody in the brass, the management brass over there now,
because obviously you know Shawn Michaels, by the way, was
just on TV with Sexy Read last night.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Out sexy read in Sewan because that was Did you
see that she was in the VAM Why did you
not that she was amazing? Shout of them.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
But has anybody reached out and just congratulated you since
you got the title?

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Oh yeah, like the Triple H shoots you a text.
People reach it out nice, they show love like still like, I.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Never you have so many friends over there.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, I never left it with a bad rapport. Like
even like you know, like I'll still Sean Michaels and
me still say like Happy Father's Day, Happy Birthday and
stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
That's pretty cool to have that sewn. Michaels is a
He's probably my number two favorite wrestler of all time.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
He's definitely one of my favorites. Like I'll still like
send an emoji in an IG story to Paul Hayman
and it will respond back. He's like, you know, what'd
you think?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
I mean, listen, obviously you're an aw guy, but did
you did you? I was at I was at the
Hall of Fame when he did his speech.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I didn't get to see it all I saw like
once again, Twitter, nah Man.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
I watched the whole thing unedited live and I was
just like, well, me and my son were like in
Philly and I was like, man, it was like Friday
night and I was like, I'm fucking tired.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
We got into town in the morning.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
I was like, I was like, we got the Hall
of Fame, Like we can go do I was like,
you know what, fuck it, We'll go to Hall of
Fame because it was SmackDown and Hall of Fame. Yeah, yeah,
and uh And I remember like it ran late, you know,
it was like we left after I think the rock
ended up going on like at the end, but I
remember just seeing the Paul Hamish. I'm like, this was
worth it because.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
He was main. I feel like that man is always
worth the price of a mission anything he does.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
What is it like having a manager or having a
guy who like a confidant, who's who you know? I
would because to me, if I ever got into wrestling,
that's the gig you were able to you know, how
to take some bumps, you get to talk your ship,
but you don't get fucked up in the ring. But
now you have a man like what.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Is that like? Is that pretty not? Was my first
ever manager I've ever had in my career.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
That's what I'm saying, like, now you have a guy,
and like not anybody, not just anybody can get a guy.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
That's you know what I mean? Like for me, I
feel like it's like how like what is me? What
is me and Nana's relationship to one another? Is he
a businessman? Is he? Uh? Does he get contracts done?
Is he a sleazy little like just like a guy
that like you know, like that runs like what is he?
What is the relation to Swerve? And what does Swerve

(27:28):
need that? That's that was one of the questions that
I asked myself, And like why does Swerve need Nana?
What what does Nana do for Swerve that Swerve can't
do for himself. Well, like now we're just asking those questions.
Now there's a multitude of the things he does. He
kind of does my bidding for him. He's also my
moral compass, if you know, toe certain things He's like no, no, no,
not right now. Boss, Let's go. Let's get out of

(27:50):
this because like I'll pop off and start a fight
and some wild ship right then and there, but not
as like nope, we got bigger things to handle, or
like hey, there's some news I need to talk to
about that happen on collision by the way, you might
not know. Okay, so now he's my ear to the
streets too. Then he's like, oh, oh you're in trouble.
Here's my head, my crown, use it. Okay. So he's

(28:12):
also like this, you know, then like Trisian's trying to
drive off and leave him. Nope, He's also a guardian angel,
so like he I define him on many different things.
He's also a music person. He's been in my music
videos and stuff like that. So he's been on interviews
with me, you know. So he has a multitude of
different uses and stuff that bail me out when like

(28:35):
I'm being overwhelmed. What's that your idea or did Tony
Tony k I want to that's dope. That was all
Tony Khan. Tony Khan was like, I want to do
a merger with a Mogul embassy with mogl affiliates in
the embassy and bring you two together because I think
we want to get them on all the wrestling TV
because they were doing a lot of ring and honor

(28:56):
and I think you could use heaters to be around
found you and I think not on you compliment each
other very well, and I was like, Okay, that's what
the boss wants, That's what we're going to do. Now
It's like, now, how do I blow this up to
more than just like hey, hi, hi guys, we're I
guess we're working together. Yeah, the teacher is putting us

(29:17):
together to do this assignment. Like how do we like
so we want to get a A? Of course, and
I think we wanted. We wanted. Our achievement is always
to get a A. But we had C level expectations
and I think we passed and exceeded. I think we
exceeded that because when we first started, I heard some
comments and like this where doesn't need that? Like what

(29:39):
what did these guys? What do they do? And then
like it's started growing. Then we started doing more devious
stuff on television, and I think that's where it really
really began. It was like, how do these guys interact
outside of the ring, like, because that's where a lot
of fans like want to we really become in tune
with the characters on television. How do these peop react

(30:00):
in real life scenario? You know it's real? You know,
like how does Roman talk with Paul? Like how does
like you know, how does I think One thing with
a w was how does m JF and Adam Cole
interact outside of this all those like throwing, playing dodgeball,
they challenging each other to drinking like alcohol back and forth,
and then going on fishing trips. I was like, Oh,

(30:22):
I feel more close to these guys because they are
interacting outside of just the wrestling rings. So there's a
little bit more to them. So when they do wrestle,
you understand the dynamic and you have.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
More It's almost like it's almost like more than ever.
The fans are in on, like they're not just in
on whatever they see on TV right the.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Whole Like if I can put put it back to music.
We see artists perform on stage, but what we really
want to see is how they are in the studio
working in a song. We want to see that BTS.
We want to see like the Hard Knocked Life Tour.
It's like, oh, that's what they're doing back there. Oh
that's why I like, Yeah, that's what made those artists
movie that backstage. Yeah it was crazy, and it's like

(31:03):
I wouldn't be a rapper because this is the life
I want to see. This is what I want to experience,
and like, maybe some are doing stuff that you wouldn't do,
and maybe some are acting the way that you're like
you anticipated them to act, but you wasn't sure, and
now you're like, you know what, that's exactly what I
would do DMX with it. That's exactly how I would
be like acting backstage if I was in that position,

(31:24):
that lifestyle and that industry. And so now you're kind
of like connect with them a little more as people.
For you, what was first for you? Was it pursuing
wrestling or music. I didn't start pursuing music till like
four years ago. Okay, so the music thing is newer.
So you were never like writing back in the day. Oh,
I was gotten in the school notebook. I was like

(31:46):
listening to those albums up there, and like you were
just a fan. I was just I was just a
fan of it, and it was but I would like
rap along to them, and to the point where I did'
even I just knew the lyrics. I knew the cadences,
I knew the rhythm I knew I just knew it.
I had the muscle memory in the like of just
like following along to certain lyrics and then like then

(32:08):
as I got older and more mature with things, I
could really start like really deciphering like what they're saying,
why they were saying this, why the like lyrics were
like being used in a certain tone, what a double
entendre was. I'm like, oh, that's what I mean. It
started as also the matrix started being uncoded to me

(32:29):
a little bit more and more than when I actually
manteezy my codes to the source of podcast. He really
like opened my mind to like, this is why you
do it this way, This is why you do it
this way. But here try it, do it your way,
find your way. I'll guide you when you're like kind
of drifting off and everything. But just right now, just
it's like learning to paint. It's just like just paint something.

(32:53):
Just paint something. Just start with a blank canvas and paint.
And then as I've got more mature, I wouldn't say
I like became great at this, but like I'm still learning,
but like I'm being I'm still being guided, but it's
all starting to become a little bit closer, a little
bit more. And then like getting on songs with like
Mickey Fax and music Soul Child and Benny the Butcher

(33:15):
and tried to Mickey Fax he's an alien, Like I've
done three songs with them, and I'm.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Like, oh my god, he's like quite literally like a
rap like savant. Yeah, it's like I think he teaches it. Yeah,
I'm like, I think.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
He teaches it. Like it's so good, like it's crazy.
And he goes and he goes like like head ahead
with a Royce a loop, eg, Like he goes head
to head with these guys and then like him deciphering
why things are said in the cadence and the inflection
of boom hitting it right here in the right time.
Then getting with Flash Garments, who's like heavily in the industry,

(33:50):
and like like literally in studios with Kanye, in studios
with Ryan Leslie, traveling with these people Leslie yes, and
like he's like, all right, now we're going to show
you how to make records, which is important. Like but
now I was just like living from like okay, this
is the local hometown like teacher to like okay, this

(34:12):
is like the next teacher, and but we're all still
working at we all still like performed on the Jericho
Cruise together and it's like Okay, these are my two
like mentors that really brought me together to do.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Didn't I just saw, like, did you just do something
with Fozzy?

Speaker 1 (34:28):
It's coming up?

Speaker 2 (34:29):
I saw I saw for Jericho pust A Flyer and
like you were on it too.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
I was like, that's a random mixture of music that's
kind of a lot of wrestlings. But but it's like
that's how that's kind of how like my career has gone.
It's just like, how does serve get here, like roll
around a wrestler get on stage? Is it going to
wrestle and match? Like no, I'm doing music, Like so

(34:54):
it was like, how did this happen? How does that? Even?
Jericho was just like I'm shocked that you got that.
That's amazing. So but it's just like finding ways through
these canals that is this industry and just like you know,
but once again, it's still a learning process for me.
But I'm in the right places with the right people,
like I'm doing. I still come to LA and do

(35:14):
getting the studio with Chase the money right Chase Chase
man Like like getting it's a lot of like like
DJ Flip just throwing beats at me, throwing like it's
like come in, Well just welcomed me in with like
open arms. So it's really it's just really awesome. I'm blessed.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Talk to me about because like I feel like throughout
the history of like my you know, watching wrestling, like
wrestling has always been it has always felt in the
way that like black wrestlers are depicted on TV, it
has always felt a little racist, Like especially like when
we were growing up, Like there was always like I
felt like anybody who would come in would have to

(35:57):
have like a stick that was like super like stare typical,
and like.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
It felt like we had two archetypes.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
It was like you were either the blinged out dude
or like the militant dude. It was like, you know,
like and obviously, you know, shots of the Rock, who's
obviously a wrestler of color, kind of broke through a
lot of that, but you know, shots of Kofe Kingston
for winning the championship who you know.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
I know that was a big deal, A big deal
for me for sure, last decade, definitely for me, I
mean just that whole era of the new Man lastly.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah, for sure. But like for you, like do you
feel like the industry has finally moved past that weird
because it really was a thing. When I was growing up,
I was like dog like.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Like I felt like Mark Henry was like a mix
of that too, Like he kind of broke the mod
a little bit. Yeah, because he was just the world's
strongest man.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
He was just an athlete, yeah, he was. He was
a big I'm at Johnson too. When I was a kid.
I remember watching I'm at Johnson.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Yeah. I can't really speak on like what stoped from
being like the world champion and stuff, but like I
just remember liking him as a kid. He was just
a strong dude. He's a strong dude. But like just
Mark with uh Mark and Booker as the King Booker
my image, those two like and like the mid two

(37:14):
thousands early two thousands really broke the mold in a
sense for like that just at that window that time
period right there, it was just like they were just good. Yeah,
they were just good. They were just good. They were
just they were just good athletes. And Booker just was
just like so over the top outlandish, like like of

(37:37):
a character that he felt like larger than life. He
just went charger than life with sure. When Mark Henry
his in ring performance made him larger than life, you know,
So those guys just like kind of found another niche
into it outside of those stereotypical things. You know, He's
like he was black royalty king booker with Charmel his
black queen. Like you know, there were royal they felt,

(38:00):
and I always appreciated that for what they did, you know,
looking back on it and things like that. So for me,
it was just like once again, how do where do
I find my lane? And like so like my black
royalty is like with music in a sense, it's just like, no,
I'm not broke. No, I'm not like ashamed of who

(38:21):
I am. I'm not ashamed. I can go out and
speak about like, yeah, I'm a black World champion. I'm
proud of that. Like, well, what is things? It got
to be about color? Because it is about color. It is.
It's not even about me in color. It's about representation
and the color. It's about inspiring another young black kid
who's does who's watching right now doesn't think it's possible?

(38:41):
Yeah right, who doesn't think it's possible or he doesn't
see himself as that or I like this, I like this,
I feel like I feel like I'm somewhat like a swerve,
but I don't think I can. I don't think I
could ever get into wrestling and be a world champion
when now that inspires confidence and that kid, which is
worth confidence my social media tag for those kind of reasons.

(39:02):
It's not like, yes, I feel confident about myself, but
you can too. I want you to feel confident. I
want you to be inspired and like have your confidence
grow because a lot of like I was, uh shout
out Johnny Chris from Drinks with Johnny. I was with
him yesterday. We had a great conversation about the fact
that like, how did I grow to getting to where

(39:24):
I'm I'm at? I was like, well, I didn't set
like the goal was this or fail. And if you
look at things when you start, it's so broad, it's
so big. It's so hard to feel like, how do
I accomplish this? Because people want to like jump into
something and they compare themselves to like like a platinum

(39:46):
record on day two, and I'm like it always happens
with any industry and every like like universally, not even
just like and.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Then you can psych yourself out start feeling really about
your process and yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
Like even then like if you work like a regular job,
like you know, like you compare yourself, how do I
make like CEO on like your third week on the jobs? Like? No?
For me, how it started off with just like I
just want to wrestle on my show where I make
enough money to pay my phone bill for the month. Right,

(40:21):
that's it simple? And then like okay, cool, Now I
want to try to pay rent? Yeah, like what if
I could just what if I could don't have to
work anywhere else? Right? Right? Like what if I just
like do enough to Like I just want to get
on a flyer Now, I want to be the headline
of the flyer. Now I want to be like, you know,
I want to win a championship. Now, I want to

(40:42):
be in the championship of these indie shows. You know what,
I want to drive out of state to a wrestling
show and they pay gas money. That would be a
great accomplishment for me. You know. Now you're driving to
six different states and that radius. Now now it's like,
you know what, I want to get a flight now,

(41:03):
maybe someone, maybe I'll be good enough for someone to
book me and put me on a flight. Oh cool,
Now I can fly kind of like an hour away. Right,
I'm getting flights now I want to overseas tour. Now
your confidence is growing because now you know you can
make that money. You know you can pay off this,
you know you can pay rent, you know you can
now you probably can buy at least a car. So

(41:25):
now you don't have to bum rides anymore. Now you
know how Now you know you can afford better gear
to look better on those too main event to get championships.
And it's that's how your confidence grows. And that's for me,
is really where I felt like, I know I can
do this now when you don't think that you can

(41:45):
pull something off that you don't think so when I
get to like, aw, like, no, I know I can
do this.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Is it possible? Like I think about like the correlation
to the music industry where it's like, yeah, you could
be independent artists nowadays and like make a good living
if you kind of have a good fan base and
you get your merch Right, is it possible to be
an indie wrestler and kind of exist on the fringes
of the industry if you're not in one of the
two main companies.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
Yeah, the Young Bucks did it for years.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
Because you know, there's like the repro Wrestling Teas dot Com.
People sell merch on there.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
And the Young Bucks like blew that whole industry up
out of the water, like back in twenty fifteen, might
pop up in New Japan, might pop up and do
a sugar pop up and still sell like two thousand
shirts at PWG out of boxes, not by the ring, right,
and then like you know what, maybe we'll just go
to the UK because we've deprived them of our presence

(42:39):
and their matches for so long. Let's go over to
the UK and do a tour with Kenny. It's bring
Kenny and Elite over there. I was on those shows.
I wrestled them on those shows, and they sold out,
Like I remember, they sold merch from the start of
the show all the way up until past intermission. While
the matches were still going on. People were still on
lines buying shirts from them. And we had to face
them in the main event three matches. That's crazy, three matches.

(43:01):
They were still because they were selling merch the entire time,
like y'all, like people don't understand, like y'all talk, like y'all.
Take the Young Bucks and these guys for granted, like
these guys were already doing that in like twenty twelve thirteen.
I was like I was on shows with these guys,
Like that was a time y'all had to be there,
like you know, like there was like they were getting
like their shirts sold in Hot Topic. Yeah I remember, Yeah,

(43:24):
I remember, and things like that like the Bullet Club,
you know, AJ styles with them, Finn Balor, you know,
like candicel Ray got a shirt from them.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
It's so crazy if you think about the Bullet Club
and like how iconic that logo has become and how
it's changed and like people have used it for like
it's like it's and it all started as like the
wildest indie you know fact should probably ever.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, like man and all the people who came from it,
they were they weren't They were on the indies making
six figures bro crazy off of independent wrestling, like being
able to like wrestle when they felt like it, Russell
whoever they felt like it, when when wherever they felt
like it, and like could just like run the dollar

(44:08):
up like crazy. It was just like that was a phenomenon.
It was just like man, that there is a way
to make a living and like not have to be
in these places to really like buy a house. Buy
a house off of independent wrestling is insane in California. Crazy.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
Tell me about the grind of wrestling, because I feel
like it is the most uh. I mean, you guys
don't get a day off like in terms of like
now you know there's an off there's no off season
in wrestling, right, it's this is every week.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
Well, like people people want to be a wrestler until
they see how much they get paid in the entry
level of things.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
And then like the level of work where it's like, yo,
this is your like you're you know, you might have
a day a week where you can fly home and
see your family and hang out maybe two.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
Days like yeah, like I haven't been home in like
five six days just now, and that's not that crazy,
but like pay per view weeks to get does get
a little nuts. And then I'm home for like a
couple of days and I gotta go back on like
and I have other ventures too, So I got to
be in like New York for like the House of
Dragon's premiere with the championship.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
You know, I gotta be you got the belt, so
you also are like I got to face the company.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah, I gotta. I gotta get in like a day
or two early to like do these interviews, coming in
with speak with guys like yourself and like wave the
flag promote. You know. Then I got it. Then my
kids live out of state, so I got to stop
in see my kids, have time with my girls and
they're getting they're in high school, middle school right now,
so like get that time. Then back on the road

(45:37):
because like the turnover time is like oh so once
a week. I'm like yeah, but the time frame, you
still got to travel, so like it's yeah, like you
just snap your fingers and something. No, sometimes I gotta
be on Collision too, you know, like oh we couldn't
do that. We couldn't fit this on the show, throwing
on Collision on Sat Sauce, so you on Saturday. So
back out around, you know. So like it's a lot

(45:59):
of it's a lot and the higher you go, the
more responsibility.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
I feel like, the higher you go, the more I
mean outside of like the guys who are quote unquote
part timers, but like the guys are on TV every week,
You're like shit, man, Like then the house shows.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Yeah, because like I can't afford that, and I can't
afford to have a sick day, like, oh, I'm not
feeling good. I'm just gonna stay home, Like I can't
take those sick days. I gotta be out there. I
gotta like remedy and figure it out, you know. And
on the entry level of it, it's like you got
to do that and then train, and then do that,
and then train and then and then eat and then
remember you gotta eat, okay on the road, eat on
the eat like and then eating good on the road

(46:35):
is expensive, like cheap food is like.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Cheap food is the best because if it's late, oh,
we get back to the hotels.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
It's late. Try try to eat finding like salmon at
twelve one in the morning, good luck, Yeah, broccoli and rice?
Did you better pack it? You know? So like it's
it's like you got it. And then finding time to
work out, like because you've got to work about people
going to call you a slob if you look on
TV and then you're Alway's slacking off. He doesn't want
it as bad, you know, you don't want to show those.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
How many days a week you go to the gym.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
Four to five? Yeah, and they're not like small. They
like to two hours two and a half hour workouts
and stuff. So that's when I'm home, like on the road.
I shortened it because like time is limited. So it's
like hour at hotel gym. Yeah, hotel gym or do
you try to find a gym if you have the time?
If like, because finding a gym, wake up earlier to

(47:23):
travel to a good gym, right, you know, and and
also like unless you got hookups at those gyms and
stuff like that, you know, somebody get a discount of
not you're paying thirty bucks out of pocket to work
out at these gyms once again entry level, so thirty bucks,
then food and then buying your packet hotels sometimes rental,

(47:45):
then you know, checking bags. That was a lot. Like
it's small, but it adds up. You know, what do
your kids think?

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Obviously your daughters I'm sure have watched.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
You grind and grind and grind.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Yeah, from the time they're you know, babies to now
what did they think when you were able to be
you know, finally get this.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Yeah, my oldest is more emotional. She's in the fourteen okay,
so she's getting in that stage of like like she's
she's in basketball heavy into basketball AAU. We pay for
training or shooting training and like extra training off season training,
and she appreciates that, but she wants time with her
dad now. She's like, well I met, like, like, you

(48:25):
missed a lot of halloweens, you missed a lot of thanksgivings,
you a lot of things, like I kind of growing
up without you a little bit. And when I sat
down my promo a couple of weeks back on Collision,
that was really real. She does doesn't feel like she
knows me. It's because of like all the sacrifice. This
doesn't come without sacrifice nothing, honestly nothing in life. The
higher you go, you sacrifice way more. So I sacrificed

(48:47):
a lot of time. So I'm having those conversations with
my oldest. My youngest is like still like she's twelve,
so she's still like has that child like wonder tour
about things she do.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
You have to like tell them like, hey, if you're
gonna watch me on TV this week.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
So yeah, sometimes I'm just like, no, don't watch this week.
I'll send like part of the match, like you know,
certain things. So it's having those adult conversations with your
kids now, so that's for the stage I'm at. So
it's like she she likes it, but she's also torn
from it because because it took away, took time away.

(49:22):
So now it's like, all right, I gotta get I
gotta fly home see my kids. But even once again
flying home, senior kids, I'm not staying at my baby
mama's house. Like I gotta get to get a hotel, hotel, Airbnb,
rental for sure, you know, traveling around, so that takes
money away.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
Talk to me, obviously, you know, Mercedes just got she
just got the belt to shot to her. I think
she was the is it the biggest free agency contract
ever signed at aw and.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Definitely probably for in the women's like in the women's
in the women's category, probably both, Like what was it? Awww?

Speaker 2 (50:03):
What's it like having her in the locker room because
obviously she's had a crazy run doing New Japan and
like just kind of like I guess a mini version
of what Cody did when he left, Like just yeah,
you know.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
It feel for me, it feels good to have like
a woman's match so prominent on the show, like as
one of the trouble main events and stuff. For double
or nothing. I want. I would love to really see
them main event like just being a vent period on
one of the pay per views coming up, because I
think Mercedes has that muchre star power and we believe
in her to do that. It feels good to like

(50:35):
have like that level of like okay, boom the bar
set right. You always want to set the bar boom,
you know, And I feel like she's really she's really
doing that as far as like what's what's it going
to take to be this champion? Now? It's like you
can't just settle for just like being good enough. No,
you got to set the bar and you go like,

(50:56):
all right, this is where we got to meet it now,
you know, and you want to do it in unique ways.
I feel like our World champions are pass former World
champion set up bar high too. I can't even make
us at the bar really high for sure, Like you know,
Moxley three times AW World Champions set the bar in
that category, you know, being like passionate about our business,
passionate about our company. You know. Then MJF, like youngest

(51:20):
AW World champion, set another bar with that rain, you know,
and like the quality of what he was doing on
television every week. So I got to find my way
to set a new bar in my sense of like
media is one of my ways. I feel like if
doing that kind of thing in my unique way, and
then like, okay, there's a new era of aw how
do I set that bar for the rest of the guys.

(51:41):
And we have a stacked roster, super ready ready to
get super at the bit. So I think Mercedes is
doing the same sense of just like with star Power,
and then now that she won the championship, had the match,
now she's going to do it to get in the ring,
Like all right, do you ladies already super talented, already

(52:02):
like great names. Now we're going to raise it up
a little bit more, and not just to compete with her,
but like literally come up and try to just be
on that level. I saw, did you see them?

Speaker 2 (52:14):
There's like a meme I saw, And I don't know. Essentially,
I think Becky Lynch just deals about to be up
and she's about to be a free agent.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Maybe she just wants to be home with the kids. Man,
who knows, who knows who? Maybe she just wanted to
be home with the kids. Man, Because now, like Seth
has been hurt. He has surgery and stuff. So now
they're both they can be at home for like, let
some people just want to be home like for a
little bit. Yeah. Let let like like let's not see like, oh,
she's going to jump to here here here. I'm like,
let let her be home. Let it be a mom,

(52:42):
Let seth be a dad. Let them be a family
for like, give them that time because they fucking six
months or something. They worked hard for it and they
deserve that for sure, you know, And so I'm always like,
you let him be family first.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
I was going to ask you, now that there's like
this power shift over or uh what they're called the
Triple Ah era, right, could you see a world in
the future because I think at Mania a lot of
fans were hoping that John Moxley was gonna pop out.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
That was funny. I thought that was funny because.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
I was like, oh my god, when I heard the
Shield music, I stood on the fucking chair.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
I was like, knowing Johnny's probably like.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
But could you ever see a world in which there's
some sort of like like they're never gonna officially emerge talent,
but like where there's like some sort of bleeding of
like the DC and Marvel universe.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
In any way, if there's ever a time it could happen,
now is more likely than it's ever been. Right. I
don't think either person is opposed. But if there's ever
a time like a sor as Tony conn in place,
I don't think there's ever been a time that's more
likely than now. That's good to know. The percentages. The

(53:59):
percentage are higher than the percentage that went from zero
point zero four point four ticket, and that's more than
we've ever gotten.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
How much did you love the NFL Draft? When Tony
Kahan was selling his neck injury during the NFL Draft.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Troop pros so good? True, Bro, I was actually at
the building. I was doing media at Jacksonville Stadium, and
I saw the setting up everything, So it was really cool. Yeah,
Like Tony's funny, and Tony's great and his dad is
a big supporter too. I got to meet his dad
a couple of times. Yeah, I thought it was awesome.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
You guys just get Jackwires tickets anytime you want.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
I get the sweet now too. I mean, you're the champ.
I mean, listen, hopefully they're a little bit bit. He
introduced me to Roger Goodell too. Football. Yeah. I got
to meet Kurt Warner the whole month. I n Goodell
not so, I was there for Sunday and Monday nights.
Are you a football fan? Big? Yeah? So who's your team?
I'm a Rams fan?

Speaker 2 (54:56):
Really?

Speaker 1 (54:57):
Why great to show on turf? Oh okay, that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
I was about to say it had to have been
because of like Isaac Bruce and Marshall.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
I got to meet Kurt Water.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
And what was that Mark Boulger?

Speaker 1 (55:10):
After that? Mark was cool, he was all right, he
made it, he made a Pro Bowl two. But Kurt
was the guy like Stephen Jackson. Stephen Jackson like banger
running backs. Stephen Jackson was a mean ass man. We've
always had banger running backs. We've had like sure Marshall's
Stephen Jackson to Todd Gurley.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Gurley was cold, man. Fuck I forgot about Gurley even now.
What's it the new dude ship?

Speaker 1 (55:31):
I Williams is cool. Yeah, Williamson, he's a he's a
Kien Williams is cool. When we just drafted Blake Corham,
so I'm like looking forward to like one two punch,
Like they're both scatbacks too.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
So that's going to be really well because I'm a
Cardinals fan, which is we're in the NFC West with
you guys, and I mean I always tell people it's
it's nice being.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
The day after actually the full gear match of the
Bloody Match, I actually went to the Rams game versus Seattle,
m My first time is so fie. It was like
it's beautiful, amazing, so crazy. Actually put in a a
bid for like the Aaron Donald jersey, the signed Super
Bowl jersey, and like it was like nobody, nobody signed up.

(56:10):
So I just like won it just flat out. I
was like, oh cool, So like now I got the
that jersey and the I was.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
Gonna say, like, it felt like obviously the Rams won
Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
They won one super Bowl with Kurt Right. Yeah. Two
we went to tow and we gave Tom Brady his
first wreck.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
But I was gonna say, obviously you got to experience
that win. But I'm sure you were just getting into
the Rams back then.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, like the mad No. Three say like.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Fast forward, like because as a Cardinals fan, I would
not know what it's like to every I'm a Son's
fan too, I don't know what a championship.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Feels like in life, none at all. I was so
close with the Pittsburgh Steelers christ Antonio Holmes, one of
the greatest touchdown throws ever.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
But they always say like, well, like the Rams traded
all their all this equity to get to get the
ring and they got it.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Yeah, right, they cashed out, they cashed out.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Is it worth it?

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Yes? Yes, yes, in this decade, we got it. We
got one in this day. I tell everybody, I'm like,
I don't give a fuck what happens with the Suns.
I don't care if this owner trades every fucking draft pick,
if we.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Get one ring and suck for the next twenty years,
I don't give a fuck.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
Dude. Oh my god, it was tragic watching that this year.
This year, Yeah, it was tragic. I was like Bradley Bell, like,
I feel like this makes them worse.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
It feels fucking terrible. Not to be nice guy, Yo,
obviously your hip hop guy. What are your first of all,
what were your thoughts on the Drake Kendrick Beef.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
Like I said this before on something, I was like,
I feel like one of the things about like Drake
was already already fighting an uphill battle because we see
so much of them. He's overexposed. We see so much
of him for the last fifteen fifteen years. He's always outside,
so we always kind of know, like even if the
rumors are true or not.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
True, but there's always something in the air about there's.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
Always something in the air to kind of those have
those implementations, just play and you know people are going
to take things. This is running up anyway. We don't
know what implications are about Kendrick, so right then and there,
the wave is just like heavily on Kendrick's side, And
I think just playing into implications is what won Kendrick
from my and I just thought strategically he just like

(58:16):
timing was everything, Like bro when when he.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Dropped family matters and then like forty five minutes later
the meet the Grahams came out, was like he just
sucked the life out of the room.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
We were in the car driving around Miami is Me
Shirt King Fade and Flash and we were like all right,
we were just sitting there waiting for our food and
then like Drake just dropped in matters and we got
in the like, got the food, got in the car,
listened to it, and then he was like yo, did
Kendrick just is this fake his ai? No, Kendrick just

(58:45):
dropped play it and we sat in front of his house.
We were dropping him off. We sat in his front
of his house for like an hour and a half
just listening back from Phoenix during the whole thing, and
I was just like, this is fucking crazy.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
I was like, no, He's said earlier in the day,
Kendrick drop that freestyle where he like kind of warned
him like, hey, this is you got some leaks in
your camp.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
You take it. Whatever you're gonna do tonight, don't do it.
It's just a friendly fade. You're taking it here, I'm
taking it. There's something you don't want to do. So
crazy man. And I think another thing with Kendrick is
like there's so many quotables. Oh yeah, so many quotables
on just a Euphori alone.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
They're so Euphouri is my favorite record at all of them,
because I just thought I thought it was such a methodical.
It was a kill shot, but also like a literal
warning shot, like hey man, like there's a friendly fade.
Don't tell don't tell them lies about me, and I
won't tell the truth about you.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
Yeah, I like Drake with the melodies. I don't like
Drake when he acts us so good Man, what is it?
The braids? It's like there's so many quotables from Kendrick
because of the way he says it in his voice
and the inflections. It's like it's so it's comedic, but
it's also like it hits, it's sharp. Yeah, so good Man,
the different flows, the like the shots of Kendrick Man,

(59:58):
it's just it's still like syllable schemes. Who's your like
top three or four all time? I mean, is one
of them? For sure? Sure? Like just on like if
you want to look numbers and statistics stuff, Drake has
to be up there and influence alone in the past
like fifteen twenty years. It has to be Kanye for sure. Yeah. Yeah,
And like there's so many more artists that could have

(01:00:23):
had more influence and from the from like the impact
that they made. I think Kanye's most influential artist because
he kept going. Because he kept going, He's influenced the world. Yes,
more than any artist.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
I mean, I mean we're talking about like fashion, we're time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
Like like talking like just walking down the street.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Motherfucker's walking around with them fucking glasses you couldn't see
out of back in the fuck.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Like these, I'm like, I can't see I hate these?
What is going on? But people were wearing them, like
the haircuts, like the mohawks, mullet for sure, for all
things for sure, wearing suits and now like people don't
even that. People come on stage with full masks. I'm like,
I can't even see a face. Yeah, you know that's crazy,
all right. So you are facing Christian but tonight you're

(01:01:06):
facing kill Switch, yes, sir, and a bought HBO sponsored match, Yeah,
house a Dragon sponsored match. I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
I saw the flyer and I wasn't I didn't know
what the fuck was going on because I was like,
wait a minute, is aw on HBO Max now, because
that'd be nice, tony kah, but figure that out.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
But it caught your eye, it did. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
I feel like if you get through the Christian thing,
the thing that everybody's gonna want.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
To see is you VERSU m JF.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Possibly that feels like the impending collision that's going to have.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
To happen, possibly.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Assuming you get to hold on to this, you know,
long enough, which I'm assuming you will.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
But but that would be fun. There's a lot of
fun matchups going on right now. There's a lot of like,
you know what I think, Like, I think all these
all these matchups are all young, youthful too. True. True,
we're all with we all came up together and me myself,

(01:02:10):
mjf Osprey. We're all in the same like kind of
age group in the same era. Right. That's why I
feel like we moved to a different era, to a
new era. Stuff Like MGFF is a day one guy
out of three of us, but he's still with the
in the youthful spot. Yeah, we're still going to have him,
Jeff for like another decade.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
I thought for sure he was out of there. I
was at Rumble in Tampa and I was just waiting.

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
I was like, well, at least we got Jade. We
got Ja shout out, shout out, amazing, good big home
of mine. Like she's great, still doing her thing. Yeah
for sure. I'm always excited to see what she does next,
always no matter what. But yeah, like our era is
like so like these these three guys are like, all right,

(01:02:57):
we're going to eat good for another sure, the companies
in good. Yeah, and we all care. We all care
about one another. We all care about the product. We
all care about pushing boundaries in our own ways. You know,
mine is cinematic. Osprays is in the ring, MGF is
on the microphone.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
Right, you know, Yo, The last thing I wanted to
ask you. I feel like people don't understand. This is
more for people who don't understand how hard wrestling is.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
I always say it is like.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
The most physically difficult thing to put on a good
wrestling match because not only do you well, not only
do you have to be an athlete at the highest level,
you have to worry about so many different things happening
at the same time, you have to make sure you
protect the person you're wrestling with you it's it's the highest.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Dangerous skilled choreography.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Like when you have to hit like certain like spots
in a match, like it's it's just crazy some of
the spots that these guys hit on a consistent basis,
Like you know, for you, if you're wrestling somebody who
maybe isn't as gifted as you in the ring, is
it on you to make them look better and to

(01:04:12):
make sure because because at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
I think my objective is to hurt people. That's what
my ob objective is. Officially, that's my objective, and that's
like now my objective is to do it in a
sense that protects this got it. That's that's how I
am with it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
Like, but I was going to say, like for you,
like to its care it just has to be like
super fucking difficult man.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
To like like.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Just I mean for you, like like how long did
it take you to get to the point where you
felt very confident to say I could do thirty minutes?

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
And like when I honestly when I did thirty minutes,
it's like you have to do it, like you have
to get thrown out and thrown out there, and you
want to do it in spot. You want to do
it and get thrown out there in moments where they're
not detrimental with that. This is what the world sees first.
I kind of want to be doing thirty minutes behind

(01:05:07):
behind like maybe on a dark match or like even
dark matches. I would say, do it, like do it
on an independent shows match, like like put it, like
test yourself, push yourself to like go on, like maybe
it's in front of fifty people first, five hundred people first,
you know, like nothing crazy, And even if you crash

(01:05:27):
and burn, at least it's in front of five hundred
people instead of five thousand and then five million or
whatever watching at home or on YouTube, and that it's
just like no matter what you do after that, we
always have this match that's like you know, like that
was your that's we have this in the canal where
we can like always go back to remember he did
this in payperview, bombed on there, So like get those

(01:05:48):
thirty minute matches.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
Yeah, if you're going to miss as spot or just
so do it off TV.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
Yeah, Like like there's comedians that go into dive bars
and like, yeah they go work out their shors in
front of mics. Yeah, before they really take it to
Netflix and like do their comedies.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
And I think being a wrestler is the most highest
difficult thing in the entire world to do physically mentally.
You guys are fucking modern day gladiators. Thank you, appreciate,
thank you for being I think the artist of the
highest calid I know. Listen, I always put on Twitter
wrestling is art wrestling, his artstling art man the highest
difficulty in.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
The world period. It really, it really is. But when
it's done right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
It's like when it's done right, it's so beautiful because
you have storytelling and then you have the physical aspect
and there's just so much that goes into it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
I don't even think people understand. Like, and it's just
like man like like when all my podcast interview people
from other different forms of entertainment, we've all come across
the same struggle and the same like we all kind
of come together a little more because like we're not
too far apart and a lot of these ways right, Like,
like music is the same way. It's like when like

(01:06:55):
done poorly, it's like, uh, but when it's done beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
But you can be but you could be like a
terrible rapper and like still like you know, go platinum.
I don't know if you could be like a terrible
wrestler and like be the world champion, be the world champ.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
Well, I mean shot at Goldberg. Goldberg was terrible. That's
why I said this is not we're not too far apart, right, Yeah,
like shout out to right back. He held a belt
for a show mente Goldberg.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
Yeah you're right there, it is, oh man swear, but
we still had influence.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
He did have influence. I was influenced by Goldberg when.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
We were little kids.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
We were just like, you know, like I want to
see somebody spear Jack camp, that's all. I'm sure, Just like, well,
I want to see a minute and a half song,
shake my ass to it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
Yeah, give me a minute and a half SoundCloud rap song.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
That's what Goldburg was. Anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
I appreciate you, man. I look forward to seeing you
defend this title. I look forward to your reign as
the aw Heavyweight Champion, and uh yeah, Like, can we
just like Tony Kahan, please, for the love of God,
please just can we get the streaming together. I'll pay
thirty dollars a month, Like right now, what are we
doing here?

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Please make we got keV signed on already.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
All my aw watching is on Twitter, that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
I'm just like, oh shit, what happened? Oh shit, this
motherfucker got sat on put on YouTube at least at
the very minimum.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
My wrestling, my whole feed is like basketball, football and
wrestling on Twitter before you It's all just so. But yo, man,
I'm happy for you and I look forward to seeing
you do your thing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Bro. Thank you. Yeah, fire, I got motion sickness me
and flash garments coming soon. There, it is go go
run that up, run that up.