August 21, 2021 • 48 mins
In front of a packed house at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas ahead of WWE SummerSlam, Colin runs through a Vegas-centric Fake Questions, Real Answers. Then, he's joined by WWE COO and wrestling legend Triple H who reveals why he doesn't rule out coming back for one final match (9:00), why it took him a while to see "it" with John Cena (14:00), which celebrity could successfully make the jump to professional wrestling (22:00), which legendary match was the most physically punishing of his career (28:00), his prediction for the Cena vs. Roman Reigns SummerSlam main event (33:00), which wrestling legend could draw him out of retirement for a fight (38:00), and the moment in his career when he knew his wrestling dream had come true (43:00).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. The Colin Cowherd Podcast brought to you by
Fan Duel. It's never been easier to play fantasy on
Fan Duel. Will you love basketball, golf, soccer or any
fantasy sport. There is a contest for every fan Fan
Duel more ways to win. It is time welcome everybody
(00:30):
to our Saturday morning. That's when this will air triple
Ate shoining us in five minutes. It's time for fake questions,
real answers. We do it every Friday. I've got things
I want to talk about. I don't want to wait
for you to ask them. So it's fake questions with
real answers. Here we go. Dear Colins. Scale a one
(00:53):
to ten? How does the Raider's decision to bring back
John Gruden is a head coach? Look right now? It
actually one to ten. It's about a four or four
and a half. It actually looks a lot like I thought.
So when Gruden got hired, I know John very smart,
very funny, but he had become a television star. He
(01:14):
was the highest paid ESPN personality at the time. Television
and football are different. There's a lot of industries that
you can leave for ten years. Grocery stores the post office.
You can't leave tech in the NFL for ten years.
He did a quarterback show that's not really connected. In
the end, he's overly emotional. I would never give a
(01:35):
coach a ten year contract. They have too much power.
We've seen that Belichick, even with too much power, doesn't
relinquish power in the draft. In the Patriots are a
poor drafting team. So I think he's about a four
um and it's you know what. At this point, he's
a better SoundBite than an NFL coach. Dear Colin, we
(01:58):
all know you're an expert it comes to NFL quarterbacks,
of course, So tell me what's the right team for
Derek Carr. Well, the right team for Derek Carr's the Raiders.
Despite what people think, he is the life preserver on
an otherwise would be sinking ship. I will say this,
though he's cheaper than Aaron Rodgers, he's younger than Aaron Rodgers,
(02:19):
He's not gonna throw his team under the bus. And
Denver and Washington will both call Aaron Rodgers. If I
was Washington, I would call Derek Carr. I don't think
the Raiders would trade him in division, So Denver's out
I think the Raiders would trade him to Washington and
(02:42):
try to get one of Washington's defensive lineman. They've got
four great ones. I think Washington is the perfect fit.
Dear Colin, do you think pro sports leagues have waited
too long to put teams in Vegas? Uh? No, here's why.
So there were two concerns about Vegas. Number one gambling.
(03:02):
Supreme Court says you can do gambling. That stigma is gone.
The other issue in Vegas was always a weird issue.
So Vegas is very unique. It's probably the only city
in the country where a lot of the big money
works at night. Your pit boss is your executive, so
(03:22):
a lot of people with discretionary income work at seven
thirty at night. That's when basketball games start, That's when
hockey games start, that's when baseball games start. So to me,
football was always the easiest Sunday eight home games Vegas,
NFL was always gonna crush. Little surprised hockey did as
(03:43):
well as it did. The arena is great, then the
city's hungry for it. I think baseball has got too
many games, not enough fortune five companies here. I think
the NBA would work. Why un l V's basketball history.
Lakers are wildly popular here. It's only forty one games.
NBA guys would like living here in the off season.
(04:03):
The NBA Summer League does awesome in Vegas. I think
that would work. Dear Colin, you're also known worldwide really
as one of the great bettters of all time. Thank you.
What's the best betting experience you've ever had? True story?
It was in Lake Tahoe. And I don't know if
(04:24):
this happens in Vegas, but I was in Lake Tahoe
for a weekend and I went to the table in
the morning, and I had a flight in two hours
at Arena, and everybody knows here if you've ever been
to Tahoe. It's about an hour drive Tahoe to Areno.
So I had about twenty minutes to gamble. It was
five thirty in the morning. I went down to the table.
(04:47):
There was nobody except about four dealers there, and I
had doubled down in the first hand one and I
gave the dealer half of it. She was a lady
in her fifties. And what I discovered is if you
tip really, really well in Vegas, really really early in
the morning, when nobody's playing the dealer will be your
(05:08):
best friend. And for the next twenty minutes, she said, Darling,
I wouldn't hit that, Darling, I think you should hit that.
I won twelve out of thirteen hands, gave her half
paid my hotel bill. That's the best betting I've ever
done in my life. There you go, she called me,
(05:29):
darling for about twenty minutes, just tip really really well.
There was one pit boss on the whole floor and
he wasn't paying attention. Uh deare Colin you worked as
a sportscaster in Vegas. Yes, I did, many years ago.
What's the memory that's stuck with you most since that time?
I think I've told this on the air one time.
So um, Jerry Tarkanian was wildly popular you and LV
(05:53):
basketball was probably as good as anybody in the country.
I was always I want the teams I covered a
win because it's more fun to cover people that win, right,
you don't want to cover bad teams. But I was
very critical of tark because they'd had some missteps. So
tark like Frank Sinatra, always had a reputation that he
had mob ties. I never thought he did. I thought
Sinatra did. Just everybody liked Tark. They buy him dinner.
(06:16):
He had pictures where he was with, you know, unscrupulous people,
just like presidents. From time to time you take a
thousand pictures, there's a bad person in a picture. So
one time I've been very critical of Tark about something
and I was getting back then you didn't have the internet,
you know, it was letters, calls to the TV station.
(06:37):
So I've been really really critical of him. And one
morning I was doing a sports report and I was
really baking Tark. So I go down after the sports
report and the elevator and there was a guy I'm
not gonna say his name, I remember it well. He
was a big deal in Las Vegas in catering. His
initials were c K. He he's since passed. He was big.
He was the number one cater in town, and he
(06:58):
was tarks buddy. So I came down the elevator, I
got off to get in my little CenTra, and there
was a town car and the window rolled down and
it was him with dark glasses on in a parking garage,
and I thought, Uh, I'm in big trouble. And I
remember thinking in that moment. I can remember my mom
(07:21):
was British. I remember thinking, God, this is gonna be
a terrible headline. My mom's gonna read kid from the
Northwest shot in a parking garage by a mobster in Vegas.
And my mom, who was very protective, was gonna be like,
how did my son get killed by a monster? Uh?
He just rolled his window down, he made sure I
(07:42):
saw him, smiled, rolled it back up. True story. Now,
maybe he thought I was somebody else, but I thought, wow,
that's real intimidation. He wasn't catering though, It's not like
he whack guys all the time, but clearly he was listening.
Pulled into the garage and tried to intimidate me. All right,
it's fake questions, real answers, and here he comes, and
(08:08):
without further ado, let's welcome in triple h that you know,
(08:36):
it's funny, Paul. They gave me all these questions and
I thought, I gotta some of these I don't even
care about. Let's get to the real stuff. You look
like you're in fantastic shape. Well, fantastic might be a stretch.
Apparently I didn't look that good. I had to go
(08:56):
in there and get shiny stuff on my head. So
I didn't blind everybody. Um I for me, the gym
is sort of the anchor in my life, right, so, um,
I think everybody needs something that can level set them
on a daily basis. For me, it's training. And if
I don't you know, if I'm not in the gym
training on a regular basis. I started when I was fourteen,
(09:18):
So if I'm not doing that on a regular basis,
I feel like I'm spiraling out of control. Do you
have another match in you? Could you be talked into it?
(09:42):
So I'm glad you stopped that. You still got a
jam because you don't know quite honestly need to do I. Um, yeah, Look,
if if people want it, if it's the right thing,
it's got to be intriguing for me, you know. So
like just at this point with his busy as as
everybody is in the w w ree from a from
(10:03):
a business side. For me to get ready for WrestleMania,
it's not at at my age, it's not, uh um,
something that you enter into casually. I'd have to train
a lot, a couple of times a day for you know,
three months or show to get ready for that in
ring training everything. So I've already torn most everything off
(10:25):
my body, So uh, you want to make sure you're
not ready to do that again. So the training would
be the tough part with the schedule, But if it
was something that people wanted and it was intriguing to me,
I would love to do it. I would love to
to come back and hit a WrestleMania. But I've said
it before, I'd also love to, you know, much like
(10:45):
somebody like Seen is doing, which is you sort of
make the comeback and you do it, but going to
the to the town's I'd love to, you know, if
I was to do something like that before I called
it a day, go to the garden again, you know, Um,
go to Japan, go to go to different countries and
(11:06):
and have that one more match, you know, Um, step
into those cities that you went to where you have
plus years of memories of of all those things and
opponents and everything else, and be able to go out
there and do it again, um, in front of them
one more time. Now that doesn't have to be against
the same person you got against that WrestleMania. So you know,
(11:27):
for me, it's it's a matter of what we can
make happen. But um, but it's intriguing for sure. Very
few people have what I would call staying power. And
what I mean by that is Brett Farve was often
more popular when he when he lost, he was sympathetic.
Connor McGregor remains popular winner lose in some of your
(11:50):
biggest matches, your popularity, I would argue, increased win or lose.
That is very rare. Why what was it? So? It's
funny thing. Entertainment w W is an entertainment form. It's
not um and life is everything is right. It's entertainment.
(12:10):
People are jawn to other people emotionally. Um there their
their personality draws them in, It keeps them bind it
that they it makes them feel something inside himselves that
person does. It resonates with them somehow. It's not about
whether they win or lose. Mike Tyson lost a lot,
especially later in his career. No matter what, when Mike
(12:31):
Tyson came back for the next fight, people would go, yeah,
but he's really gonna come back, and this one knocked
this guy out and so like this is this is
the old Tyson again? It was every time McGregor is
the same thing. I I believe um that and people
would I'll say this and people are gonna gonna blow
up about it in some way. But if Ronda came
back to fight tomorrow in the UFC, I think everybody
(12:54):
would go, oh my god, and they'd be enamored with it. Right, Um,
you had that stay That's why you could fight again.
You have staying power. I think. Look, I had to
have because uh, I had like the worst record in
history of SummerSlam. I had the worst record, like second
worst record in history or maybe the worst of WrestleMania.
(13:15):
Like I could beat by everybody. But it was a
lot of really talented people. So I feel honored to
have been in the ring with him, you know. So
for you, Um, you're now in the talent I could
say almost talent acquisition business. As you are looking football players.
I mean you're looking all over the world now global talent.
(13:35):
Do you know it's very interesting you were rebranded multiple times. Um,
A lot of people did not start. I mean rock
Rock was not a star's first match, right, not when
they were chanting Die Rocky Dino. So when when you
are looking globally, Paul, for all this talent, what are
(13:57):
you seeking? What is the it? What is the Because
I remember talking one time to Dana White about this,
and he had he had dinner with Connor and he
go and he said, I don't know if he can
fight a lick, but he's got star appeal, similarly to you,
did you know immediately Sina was gonna be big? So
(14:20):
it's funny. The first couple of times I saw Sina,
I didn't see it. But but no, no, no, but
but I but I only saw him briefly, and I
only saw him in the ring. I didn't get to
see his personality. I didn't know him. So the very
first time I ever saw him, I was filling in.
I think it was for Taker. They asked me to
(14:40):
go make an appearance at an event for like a
smaller promotion, and John was on the card, and I
remember somebody saying to me right before I saw him, uh, hey,
this kid's gonna be something big. Now. They had seen
him a lot, they knew him. I just watched him
go out there for five minutes and have a match,
and I was like, yeah, no, I don't see that
(15:02):
at all. Once I got to meet John, and no, John,
no brainer, right, It's it's yeah, it's not about it
is about the in ring. And when people. When you
say it to people where you go, it's not about
the in ring they go. It has to be about that.
It is. But to your point Dana White saying, this
(15:22):
kid's a star. I don't know if you can fight,
but he's a star. Right, Um, it's not about that.
Hulk Hogan wasn't the greatest wrestler of the generation. The
Ultimate Warrior was not the greatest wrestler of that generation. Right.
There are a lot of people. I can make a
longer list of people that weren't the greatest in ring
performer of that generation, that were the biggest stars. Who
(15:43):
is the most underrated in your opinion? The fighter that
maybe didn't quite get to your level or stone cold
but you look back and you're like, hell of a wrestler, athletic,
just just a gayer in the ring. Well, um, you
(16:06):
guys help out with that. Feel free. Um, Well, it's
a hard thing to say because what you're saying to
me is who who's the best? You know, if you're
looking at technical in ring wrestling, right, Like, Okay, so
let's look at WrestleMania three. Huld Cogan, Andre the Giant,
Andre's older broken down at that point, can can't move
(16:30):
a lot. Hogan's Hogan, and people think that's a not
the not the most athletic performer of the generation, great crowd, psychology,
unbelievable charisma, all those things. Ninety people Pontiac Silver Dome,
right because of that match Savage Steamboat on the card.
(16:51):
Steamboat one of the greatest in ring performers at all time.
If that match wasn't on the car, they still would
have put ninety people in a hon the Act Silverdome
to watch Hogan and Andre. That's what they paid to see.
The match that stole the night. The fight was that
one was the Savage Steamboat, Right, that was by far
(17:13):
the greatest match in the card, but it didn't draw
the crowd. So you know, there are a lot of
fighters out there that, even even in the legit fight business,
great fighters, they don't capture the imagination of anybody, so
they're always under have the magnetism that you did. Stone
called Hulk the Rock. Look, Floyd Mayweather. You can make
(17:35):
an argument that Floyd is the greatest boxer of a generation.
You could make an argument that he's one of the
greatest of all time, right, technically, even even statistically beyond others. Right,
When did he really become a box office jaw? When
he creates a character called Money Mayweather and he pitches
(17:56):
a show to HBO called Right, and he goes on
HBO and he gives them a character every single week
against a bunch of fighters, didn't matter who they were,
And Floyd gives you a spectacle where everybody was caught
up in this guy. And he knew, if I can
make them hate me and want to see me get
(18:16):
knocked out and then no one touches me and I
win every time, I'm gonna make a boatload of money.
That was a success for him. The personality was a success.
The the image, the Money Mayweather image was the success
for him. He happens to be the greatest boxer of
a generation, But the character is when it took off.
Are you surprised at all by the growth of the
(18:40):
women's side. Charlotte Flair is a rock star. By the way,
Charlotte will be here with Renee who was a member
of the volume, Renee Pocat, that'll be after this. So,
I mean, Charlotte's got amazing like on Twitter, she owns
it every day. Um, are you surprised that there are
nights where that crowd is as big as the male headline.
(19:05):
Are you surprised at all? I'm not surprised one bit
by it. To me, it doesn't you know, maybe there
was a time in the world, generations in the world
where they looked at it differently. I do think there's
a generation, either one or two prior to this one,
where they would have been like women athletes, you know
what I mean. I don't think that exists today. I
(19:27):
don't think people care. I think they want to see
athletic performances, and they want to see personalities. Doesn't matter
if it's a male, doesn't matter if it's a female.
They're drawn by that um And I think that especially,
which is one of the things that I think is
really cool, is youth today are taught almost that there
is no sort of bias there. I I see as
(19:51):
many little boys walking around with Charlotte Flair's shirts on,
or Becky Lynch shirts on, or Sasha Bank shirts on
as I do little girls walking around, So not just
like well a little girls gravitate towards them, and little
boys gravitate towards the males. Now they do in some manner,
but I think it's talent. His talent. Charisma is charisma,
(20:11):
personality is personality, and I think you reward that in
the way that it is to me. When when when
the women have headlined and they've been in the main
event spots because they should have been, it's because they
were the attraction. That's to me, that's all that matters.
It's no different put in the performance, put in the work,
me the personality, or in the spot, it's yours. When
(20:32):
there's been some celebrities who have come into w W E,
some click, some don't. Is there a celebrity out there
that you look at and think he should give this
a try. There's just one guy making movies. I've always
wanted to whip his ask the rock. I think I
(20:55):
I feel like he might have potential to be pretty
good at this. Yeah, yeah, I hate He's got a
certain equality, doesn't he. You know, it's um when you
ask the question. There are are certain celebrities that they're
that their charisma and their personality is when they play
another character. Right, So you go in a movie, I
(21:16):
love that guy in movies. He's great in that movie,
he's great in this. But when you see him or
you see her in an interview, You're like, there's no personality,
right that You've got to give him a character, do
the thing. And there are other people, um, and it's
interesting to see to me in this day and age
that like YouTube influencers like the Paul Brothers and and
(21:37):
people like that that who love them or hate him, right,
like he's a character. And he said it resonates and
then people wonder why he goes in a boxing ring
and does bigger business than anybody in boxing or m
m A and some some capacity, and people are stunned
by that. And it's it's the it's him, you know,
Paul to what I just interviewed him two days ago.
(21:59):
You want the one thing he does as a consumer,
he really cares, he's all in. This is not a stick,
and it makes me want to buy him. So if
a celebrity decided I'm gonna do this and I'm all in,
like I I'm and I want to see you working out.
I think the audience consense phonies and people who are
totally committed, and I think I think that I'll find
(22:22):
that celebrity. It would work. Yeah. Also, if you're a fan,
look when when you know it's hard to put yourself
on the other side. But before I got into this,
I was on the same side as you, right, So
sometimes the celebrity would come in, I'm into it. Other
times the celebrity comes in, You're like, God, I don't
want to watch that crap. You know, it's just something
you don't want to see. To me when you go
(22:43):
When I go back and look at those it's really
their passion level for doing it. Are they here for
bullshit reasons? Are they here because it's a good pay
day or I need to increase my my viewership or
my fan base, or are they here because they love
the product? Are they here because they want to be
in the ring? Because uh, somebody like um bad Bunny
(23:06):
who who like you know, people talk about his appearance
with US. He was talking about w w E. And
he's another guy that that celebrity is just it's all
over him, right, talk about w w E. Massive fan
has been his whole life. Um gets the opportunity to
(23:28):
do this with us UM and live his dream a
w superstar. They make him the offer. He grabs a
house in Orlando. He moves his entire crew there. He's
at the performance center every day, every day I walk
in there, They're like, you know, and I, Hey, what's
going on? Bunnies in the other room chaining? Wow? Yeah,
(23:51):
I mean just getting battered. Like you know, he spent
three months every day just like anybody trying to be
a Bee superstar would. I was so glad that worked
out as well for him as it did, because he
put his heart and soul into it, and they loved
it because he put his heart and soul into it
(24:11):
and they could tell you yeah, So it wasn't just
about him increasing his fan base or right. He loved it,
and he put the effort in and he delivered and
you could see his passion. You're authentic. You're authentic. Um,
this is a weird question. You don't have to answer it,
but it's fascinating to me. So, um, you marry the
(24:33):
boss's daughter, Stephanie Shrewd, right shrewd because she's hot. Absolutely,
and I'll just tell you and getting hotter. I'm like
the luckiest guy in the world. So I don't see
you as you know, some guy with a smalty line.
(24:55):
But where that you decided, I'm a sing her out? Um? Yeah,
why is that a bad question? You guys all cared
about that. I hit her with a pickup line that
she couldn't resist and the rest was done. You know.
But I don't want to share that with you because
(25:17):
and it's you know, like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, at
some point I'll sell that information. No, it's a funny thing.
We didn't know each other at all. We when you
when we did the storyline on TV, um around the
wedding and you know, like all good marriages, I making
your drink, get her bachelorette party and took her passed
(25:38):
out through a Vegas wedding chapel here what do white chapel?
Total illegal and U but uh, we didn't really know
each other hardly at all at that point. I think
I bet her a couple of times at that point.
And um, but you know, you start working together on TV,
around each other every day, and and it just she's sharper,
(25:58):
she like you, she's quick. Yeah, and it but it
just happens over time, and she's like a sponge for
the business and was just coming in. So if we
were doing an angle, and you gotta understand at that
point in time, you know, we're doing the stuff with
her dad. But it's like rock and Austin and it's
the right, It's as high as it gets. She's like,
just wants to be there to hear every word we're saying,
(26:20):
and how we're putting it all together and every thought.
And you know, she'd hear us all put stuff together
and then walk away and she'd come to me and
be like, so, why are we? Why is that? And
why is this? And she just wanted to know everything.
We were together all the time, you know, and just
like any other relationship, over time. The funny thing is
a lot of people in our lives were calling it
(26:41):
out before we were. Her mom said something to her
about it. She's like, what's with the triple aged thing
with with you? She's like getting the talent in a way.
My mom said something to me, said said, um, what
what's with you and the Stephanie? I said, Mom, it's
Vince's daughter. Absolutely nothing. She goes, I saw you on TV.
(27:01):
You're not that good of an actor. I was like,
you know, but at that point in time, I honestly
was like, no, ridiculous. But then you start to realize, no,
there is more there. Before we talk, John Cen and
Rollman reigns tomorrow. By the way, in a football stadium.
So this is it's gonna be electric that the it's
(27:23):
just gonna be an incredible scene. I want you to
go back to your career. I wanted you to go
back to the match. Maybe it was the size of it,
it was the opponent that was the most exhausting that
when it was done, I mean, Paul, you really felt
like I left every out. You had the toughest physical
(27:50):
match you ever had in your life. So it's it's hard.
It's hard to say because there's moments in your career.
Adrenaline is a magical thing. So there's moments in your
career where you do get you know, you get beat up,
(28:11):
you get battered, um, and you get injured along the way.
You know. Um, it's not a secret. Everybody knows it.
I'm not bragging about it, but like you know, I
tore my quad twice on live TV. Finished the matches, Um,
I uh, the first elimination chamber we were in and
I hate even bringing it up because it wasn't Rob
(28:33):
van Dam's fault in any way, shape or form. None
of us had ever been in that thing before. And
part way through the match, which was you know, an
amazing amount of talent. But as Rob came off the
top of the cage, he went on top of a
pod which wasn't as didn't have as much space on
it as we envisioned it having. He couldn't stand up straight.
(28:54):
Whether I was in too far or too close or
not sure, but it just came off funny, and he
tried to pretend me but landed on my throat. Um.
You know, I could hardly breathe the whole match, and
they brought a doctor out under the ring. And you
know you have matches like that were you're just trying
to get through it, probably you and and those are
(29:14):
those are difficult things. And again, like you said, Adrenaline
that they were all chanting take her a minute ago?
And and uh I when when take her? And I
wrestled not Hell in the Cell, but the year before.
I'm terrible with numbers, those of WrestleMania something, thank you, um,
but but wrestled the year before. It was so physical
(29:39):
and I remember walking out of there thinking, like Jesus,
that was brutal, like on both of us. And and
for whatever reason, the people you're closest to you can
hit the hardest in our business, I don't know why
that is. It's just the thing. Um. We beat the
hell out of each other. When it was over, I
walked to his locker room to talk to him, and
he couldn't get up off the floor. I went back
(30:00):
to his locker room like two hours later, and he
was still sitting there. He had moved to a chair,
but he couldn't get out of the chair. Dammit, calling,
you're gonna make my makeup run? I didn't show it
(30:27):
earlier today. Yeah, yeah, uh, and I had more makeup
im than she did. Um. You know that's leaving it
all out there, but that's what we do. And and
then there's you know, are their matches where it's harder. Yeah,
there's matches where uh. But I've seen everybody do it.
I watched Austin in the heyday. One time. I wrestled
(30:47):
him for like forty minutes in a in a town
in the middle of nowhere, and I didn't know he
was sick walking in and uh, I thought he looked
a little funny when he We hadn't talked, you know,
I hadn't really seen him much during the day because
what I didn't know was he was sick in the
room Uh. We got to the ring and I remember
looking across the ring and I'm thinking it looks a
little green. Maybe it's the lighting in here or whatever.
(31:08):
But anyway, we went like forty minutes. And when we
got done, I walked in the back and he was
like laying down and he was just shaking, and he
was green, and he had an infection in his elbow,
you know, his staff. I didn't know it, you know.
And and but he was just the pride of the performer.
(31:28):
And what we go through for you, you don't. You know,
people respect it and they get it, but they have
no idea, no one. And and I'm glad it's changed
somewhat today we have the medical protocols that we have
and everything we we protect talent. There there's an old
saying that, you know, you have to put a rider
(31:48):
on a horse, on a on a on a racehorse,
because if you don't have a rider to stop it,
it'll just keep running until it dies. A lot of
ways performers in our industry used to be like that,
and we put those medical practices in place because you
have to pull those rains because they will just keep running.
(32:09):
And and we you have to protect we have to
protect ourselves from ourselves in some manner, and so I've
seen a lot of people do it. But on on
any given night, most everybody's leaving everything they got in
that ring. So tomorrow Sena and Roman reigns. Um, what
do you foresee in terms of the physicality they've been
(32:32):
chirping at each other. What kind of match do you foresee?
It's a funny thing that, Um. Sometimes when you're in
the midst of entertaining, it becomes real. Sometimes when you're
in the midst of now I'm just promoting, it becomes
(32:54):
the second thought from the other guy, Like I was
a little bit tight when that that shot was a
little bit So let me hit you with back one back.
If we're gonna go there, let's go there where it
goes from being clever and entertaining to okay, and now
you're in a different level, still entertaining, still performing, personal,
(33:20):
but personal. Um, And I think this one has crossed
into a different realm for me. Nobody likes that all
the time. So this one to me, like, you got
two total pros in the ring. Um, seeing you know,
(33:46):
you can make the argument that in in the generation,
the best of the best. Some people say greatest of
all time. Maybe right. You can make a lot of
arguments for that. Um. I I look at Roman to
me right now, Romans on a different level from anyone,
anyone in an in an era where there weren't people there,
(34:07):
he was on a different level from anyone. He has
taken it now to another level beyond that. Um He's
one of those guys I feel like is changing sort
of the business a little bit as he's moving forward
to where he is pulling people back into a different
(34:28):
realm of character work and what that means. And I
love it. Right So maybe I'm biased because it's more
in my wheelhouse of performance, but I do think he's
on a completely different level. When you get into the match.
What do I believe happens in that? And I'm not
talking about what we do or you know, finishes or
(34:52):
anything like that. What what do I believe happens? When
you walk for a while and you come back, it's
a big hill. I know, I've been there, and I've
been there multiple times. It's it's tough, and your mind's
in the same place. It's just not quite where it
was before. Even though you believe that it is when
you're doing this every day, you're you're in a zone.
(35:14):
You don't think about it, you don't have to question it,
you don't have to There nothing, there's no path from
here to here to there. It's just here to there.
It just happens like that. That's where Roman is and
there's something for that momentum, and there's something to be
in the guy that's here every single day, and I
think he goes through this. I think it's uh. I
(35:36):
think from a performance standpoint, when the day is done,
eyes are on Roman Reigns as what this business is
about today and not John Cena. That's my prediction. I
want to circle back to the beginning. You get to
pick the fight, You get to pick the match, you
(35:59):
get a call to all, you get to pick the
match that would pull you back. Who would it be?
I don't know. So there's so many talented guys out
(36:22):
there to perform against, but it's not about the individual.
To me, it wouldn't be about me as the individual.
Wouldn't be about that person as an individual. It's about
the yeah, yeah, what you know, if you look at
the build to a fight like a movie, what's the
movie we can tell to get to the climactic fight
(36:45):
at the end. What's that movie? So what is the
story that gets you through that movie? That would be
the thing I would need to think about. What I
what I wanted to be one of the great workers
of today. But make it easier for me, Uh, what
I wanted to be an incredible character person? Be nice
(37:05):
because then it's it's more character based and more storyline.
What I wanted to be someone brand new or or
coming in from the outside. Maybe it really depends. Um,
So I think for me, it's it's looking at if
I don't know, if there's anybody that they could say
this name and I go, oh done. If they even
(37:28):
if they said here's the name, I'd have to say, well,
what's the what's the lead up, what's the story? What's why?
Why why are we fighting? Well, unless unless it was
like and then this will open up a can of worms.
But like, unless it was something that was so far
back into me and and we talked about it before,
(37:50):
and this is not a suggestion and I'm not this
is not like one of those things where later there's
a meme where it's like confirmed, um, but like you know,
but like if Rock called me tomorrow and said, hey,
let's do one more. You know, we did that video
a few years ago because he came up to me
and he was like, hey, dude, I want to do
(38:10):
one more match on DOO with you. Let's do one more.
I was like, okay, sounds great to me, and so
we shot a video around it. And then of course,
you know, like he's the biggest actor in Hollywood. Uh
so his schedule changed and it didn't work out. Um
would have been amazing if it was something like that,
because just because like in so many ways, and I'm
(38:30):
just talking about our business in so many ways, like
he and I just kind of did this a lot.
You know, Hunter herst helmsay, Rocky my via right and
and uh and he comes in and we're going at
it over the intercontinental title, and the nation comes along,
and d X comes along and we're going at it
over that, and then we move up the line and
(38:51):
now we're w w E champions going at it. It's
there was we We we just kept mirroring each other
along the way in some manner, and I feel like
there's a connect action always with that for for he
and I and I'm just talking about within our business. Um,
so if it was something like that, Yeah, but any
anything else, I'd want to know what what the setup
(39:13):
was the match tomorrow we're not talking about that will
surprise everybody. What do you guys think? It's it's so
(39:40):
hard for me to say. Um I I feel like
when you try to predict, like what's what's the thing
you should be talking about? It depends on the It
depends on the delivery at every moment in time. Do
you believe, like if you want to talk about seven Edge,
I mean they're talking about it, like do I want
(40:00):
to see it? Hell? Yeah? Hell yes. Do you believe
the environment in an NFL stadium will change the night?
I believe that in in in today's day and age, Like,
look there there was a time just a few months
ago where we put like three people in a in
(40:20):
in a building and we're like, oh my god, it
was so loud. It was the greatest thing ever. Right,
And if you would have said that two years earlier,
we'd have been trying at three people in a building. Um,
you put fifty plus thousand or whatever, it's gonna be
uh in a in a stadium with the level of
(40:41):
talent that are going to be there, the best athletes
in the world, the best superstars in the world. It's
gonna be electric. And I think that that at this point,
people are so excited to get out of the house,
to be entertained, to go all there and see what
(41:02):
what their passion is. Again, I say this a lot
that like w W E, it's it's it's not something
you watch for most people. It's a lifestyle, right, it's
a it's a passion, it's a lifestyle. It's a it's
something that drives him in a twenty four and that
got taken away from them for a long period of time.
(41:24):
So they're back and they're in a stadium and it's
fifty people. I think it's gonna be incredible. I want
you to take everybody that's here to a place that
none of us would understand except you. So I want
you to go back. You're from New Hampshire. My wife
(41:44):
walked by and they're all getting distracted because hey, so
like earlier, earlier, I said, she's getting hotter the older
(42:04):
she gets. Right, you notice how much base tone there
was in that chance. I want yea So I want
you to take when Sina and Roman Rains walk out tomorrow.
I want you to go back, young kid, New Hampshire.
(42:28):
I know your story. You've been rebranded a couple of times.
Take me to the match, your first big match. You're
walking out and you knew in that moment, holy sh it,
this is it my dream I hit it. Take me
to that moment, Where, when and where were you? Because
(42:51):
tomorrow that's going to be the biggest moment, I mean
one of the biggest moments in ten years in w
W E Take me to your moment, What is it
like and where were you? Well, it's it's hard for
me to say because there's so many moments. I worked
with so many you know, I was fortunate to be
(43:12):
in a time frame where on any given day prior
to the attitude area I was working. You know, I'm
working with Bret Hart, Shawn Michael's Razor Ramone. Uh. Like right,
it's a who's who of the best? Uh? You flash
forward to then we start to come into our own.
I'm working with Austin rock Taker fully, uh, you know,
(43:33):
who's who of of the best historically best in the
business ever. Right, So there there, But there is a
moment for me, I think when sort of the pressure
of Okay, they've given you the ball, and you're in
a position where this, this match can probably change a
(43:57):
lot of opinions on you. And it's a royal rumble,
two thousand um street fight myself and Mick Foley. Because
if if you look at it this way and this
I please don't take this as a knock to anybody,
but if you look at it this way, Foley is
not a main event, main event guy at that point
(44:19):
in time. He's not a marquee guy. He's a guy
that is like me, maybe better, maybe more up the line,
but like he's kind of a guy that is against
a lot of really good people, and I'm a guy
that's coming up and against a lot of really good people.
It's the rumble. The rumble is the rumble, but we're
giving the shot to main event, the royal Rumble for
(44:40):
the w w E Championship. So it's too sort of
not solidified, proven box office commodities yet in that spot,
and we kill it right and and my hats off
to Mick for all of that and for everything that
that did for me and for him for whatever. But
(45:01):
like that's a moment I knew walking into the garden
Um this is like, uh, there there are certain you
know it's it's there's never one moment, but there are
certain places where you know you're taking another big step. Sure,
and this is one of those another big steps. But
I know this is a big step. Like we're put
(45:25):
into a position where if this pay per view sort
of feels lackluster other than the rumble itself, that's probably
on us. If it delivers big time, that's probably on us.
UM And it does so and it and it changes
the trajectory of both of us. I believe even though
Mick was about to retire in some manner and I
(45:46):
knew that sort of going into all of this UM
but it it really changed the trajectory for both of
us because it put us out there as marquee guys.
And to me, there's a difference. There's a lot of
top guys. There's a few guys that are marquee guys.
And what by that, what I mean is if if
(46:07):
if you put if you say right now, oh, w
w's in town tomorrow? Oh who's there? And and someone
goes Roman Range, you go, oh great, right, you don't go,
but who's your wrestling top guys? You get who's your wrestling.
They want to know what the match is, not the
the person John Cena wrestles in his heyday or any
(46:31):
even in at his peak, and you say, w w's
in town. Who's there John Cena? Oh, let's go right.
That's the difference. And I think that put both Foley
and Eye into that category. Stephanie's still here. Just wave
to the audience. Please, there's acknowledge your existence. Please. Um,
(46:56):
it's gonna be an amazing night, a great weekend. Renee
Pacat by the way for you. Here, there's Renee. Renee,
come up, come here for a second. She was our
biggest hire and has been. She's amazing great. Thank you,
Triple H. Ladies and gentlemen, you Paul, absolute pleasure. Thank
(47:25):
you so much. There we go. Thank you every zero
The volume. The Colin Cowherd Podcast brought to you by
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Duel more ways to win. It is time welcome everybody
(00:30):
to our Saturday morning. That's when this will air triple
Ate shoining us in five minutes. It's time for fake questions,
real answers. We do it every Friday. I've got things
I want to talk about. I don't want to wait
for you to ask them. So it's fake questions with
real answers. Here we go. Dear Colins. Scale a one
(00:53):
to ten? How does the Raider's decision to bring back
John Gruden is a head coach? Look right now? It
actually one to ten. It's about a four or four
and a half. It actually looks a lot like I thought.
So when Gruden got hired, I know John very smart,
very funny, but he had become a television star. He
(01:14):
was the highest paid ESPN personality at the time. Television
and football are different. There's a lot of industries that
you can leave for ten years. Grocery stores the post office.
You can't leave tech in the NFL for ten years.
He did a quarterback show that's not really connected. In
the end, he's overly emotional. I would never give a
(01:35):
coach a ten year contract. They have too much power.
We've seen that Belichick, even with too much power, doesn't
relinquish power in the draft. In the Patriots are a
poor drafting team. So I think he's about a four
um and it's you know what. At this point, he's
a better SoundBite than an NFL coach. Dear Colin, we
(01:58):
all know you're an expert it comes to NFL quarterbacks,
of course, So tell me what's the right team for
Derek Carr. Well, the right team for Derek Carr's the Raiders.
Despite what people think, he is the life preserver on
an otherwise would be sinking ship. I will say this,
though he's cheaper than Aaron Rodgers, he's younger than Aaron Rodgers,
(02:19):
He's not gonna throw his team under the bus. And
Denver and Washington will both call Aaron Rodgers. If I
was Washington, I would call Derek Carr. I don't think
the Raiders would trade him in division, So Denver's out
I think the Raiders would trade him to Washington and
(02:42):
try to get one of Washington's defensive lineman. They've got
four great ones. I think Washington is the perfect fit.
Dear Colin, do you think pro sports leagues have waited
too long to put teams in Vegas? Uh? No, here's why.
So there were two concerns about Vegas. Number one gambling.
(03:02):
Supreme Court says you can do gambling. That stigma is gone.
The other issue in Vegas was always a weird issue.
So Vegas is very unique. It's probably the only city
in the country where a lot of the big money
works at night. Your pit boss is your executive, so
(03:22):
a lot of people with discretionary income work at seven
thirty at night. That's when basketball games start, That's when
hockey games start, that's when baseball games start. So to me,
football was always the easiest Sunday eight home games Vegas,
NFL was always gonna crush. Little surprised hockey did as
(03:43):
well as it did. The arena is great, then the
city's hungry for it. I think baseball has got too
many games, not enough fortune five companies here. I think
the NBA would work. Why un l V's basketball history.
Lakers are wildly popular here. It's only forty one games.
NBA guys would like living here in the off season.
(04:03):
The NBA Summer League does awesome in Vegas. I think
that would work. Dear Colin, you're also known worldwide really
as one of the great bettters of all time. Thank you.
What's the best betting experience you've ever had? True story?
It was in Lake Tahoe. And I don't know if
(04:24):
this happens in Vegas, but I was in Lake Tahoe
for a weekend and I went to the table in
the morning, and I had a flight in two hours
at Arena, and everybody knows here if you've ever been
to Tahoe. It's about an hour drive Tahoe to Areno.
So I had about twenty minutes to gamble. It was
five thirty in the morning. I went down to the table.
(04:47):
There was nobody except about four dealers there, and I
had doubled down in the first hand one and I
gave the dealer half of it. She was a lady
in her fifties. And what I discovered is if you
tip really, really well in Vegas, really really early in
the morning, when nobody's playing the dealer will be your
(05:08):
best friend. And for the next twenty minutes, she said, Darling,
I wouldn't hit that, Darling, I think you should hit that.
I won twelve out of thirteen hands, gave her half
paid my hotel bill. That's the best betting I've ever
done in my life. There you go, she called me,
(05:29):
darling for about twenty minutes, just tip really really well.
There was one pit boss on the whole floor and
he wasn't paying attention. Uh deare Colin you worked as
a sportscaster in Vegas. Yes, I did, many years ago.
What's the memory that's stuck with you most since that time?
I think I've told this on the air one time.
So um, Jerry Tarkanian was wildly popular you and LV
(05:53):
basketball was probably as good as anybody in the country.
I was always I want the teams I covered a
win because it's more fun to cover people that win, right,
you don't want to cover bad teams. But I was
very critical of tark because they'd had some missteps. So
tark like Frank Sinatra, always had a reputation that he
had mob ties. I never thought he did. I thought
Sinatra did. Just everybody liked Tark. They buy him dinner.
(06:16):
He had pictures where he was with, you know, unscrupulous people,
just like presidents. From time to time you take a
thousand pictures, there's a bad person in a picture. So
one time I've been very critical of Tark about something
and I was getting back then you didn't have the internet,
you know, it was letters, calls to the TV station.
(06:37):
So I've been really really critical of him. And one
morning I was doing a sports report and I was
really baking Tark. So I go down after the sports
report and the elevator and there was a guy I'm
not gonna say his name, I remember it well. He
was a big deal in Las Vegas in catering. His
initials were c K. He he's since passed. He was big.
He was the number one cater in town, and he
(06:58):
was tarks buddy. So I came down the elevator, I
got off to get in my little CenTra, and there
was a town car and the window rolled down and
it was him with dark glasses on in a parking garage,
and I thought, Uh, I'm in big trouble. And I
remember thinking in that moment. I can remember my mom
(07:21):
was British. I remember thinking, God, this is gonna be
a terrible headline. My mom's gonna read kid from the
Northwest shot in a parking garage by a mobster in Vegas.
And my mom, who was very protective, was gonna be like,
how did my son get killed by a monster? Uh?
He just rolled his window down, he made sure I
(07:42):
saw him, smiled, rolled it back up. True story. Now,
maybe he thought I was somebody else, but I thought, wow,
that's real intimidation. He wasn't catering though, It's not like
he whack guys all the time, but clearly he was listening.
Pulled into the garage and tried to intimidate me. All right,
it's fake questions, real answers, and here he comes, and
(08:08):
without further ado, let's welcome in triple h that you know,
(08:36):
it's funny, Paul. They gave me all these questions and
I thought, I gotta some of these I don't even
care about. Let's get to the real stuff. You look
like you're in fantastic shape. Well, fantastic might be a stretch.
Apparently I didn't look that good. I had to go
(08:56):
in there and get shiny stuff on my head. So
I didn't blind everybody. Um I for me, the gym
is sort of the anchor in my life, right, so, um,
I think everybody needs something that can level set them
on a daily basis. For me, it's training. And if
I don't you know, if I'm not in the gym
training on a regular basis. I started when I was fourteen,
(09:18):
So if I'm not doing that on a regular basis,
I feel like I'm spiraling out of control. Do you
have another match in you? Could you be talked into it?
(09:42):
So I'm glad you stopped that. You still got a
jam because you don't know quite honestly need to do I. Um, yeah, Look,
if if people want it, if it's the right thing,
it's got to be intriguing for me, you know. So
like just at this point with his busy as as
everybody is in the w w ree from a from
(10:03):
a business side. For me to get ready for WrestleMania,
it's not at at my age, it's not, uh um,
something that you enter into casually. I'd have to train
a lot, a couple of times a day for you know,
three months or show to get ready for that in
ring training everything. So I've already torn most everything off
(10:25):
my body, So uh, you want to make sure you're
not ready to do that again. So the training would
be the tough part with the schedule, But if it
was something that people wanted and it was intriguing to me,
I would love to do it. I would love to
to come back and hit a WrestleMania. But I've said
it before, I'd also love to, you know, much like
(10:45):
somebody like Seen is doing, which is you sort of
make the comeback and you do it, but going to
the to the town's I'd love to, you know, if
I was to do something like that before I called
it a day, go to the garden again, you know, Um,
go to Japan, go to go to different countries and
(11:06):
and have that one more match, you know, Um, step
into those cities that you went to where you have
plus years of memories of of all those things and
opponents and everything else, and be able to go out
there and do it again, um, in front of them
one more time. Now that doesn't have to be against
the same person you got against that WrestleMania. So you know,
(11:27):
for me, it's it's a matter of what we can
make happen. But um, but it's intriguing for sure. Very
few people have what I would call staying power. And
what I mean by that is Brett Farve was often
more popular when he when he lost, he was sympathetic.
Connor McGregor remains popular winner lose in some of your
(11:50):
biggest matches, your popularity, I would argue, increased win or lose.
That is very rare. Why what was it? So? It's
funny thing. Entertainment w W is an entertainment form. It's
not um and life is everything is right. It's entertainment.
(12:10):
People are jawn to other people emotionally. Um there their
their personality draws them in, It keeps them bind it
that they it makes them feel something inside himselves that
person does. It resonates with them somehow. It's not about
whether they win or lose. Mike Tyson lost a lot,
especially later in his career. No matter what, when Mike
(12:31):
Tyson came back for the next fight, people would go, yeah,
but he's really gonna come back, and this one knocked
this guy out and so like this is this is
the old Tyson again? It was every time McGregor is
the same thing. I I believe um that and people
would I'll say this and people are gonna gonna blow
up about it in some way. But if Ronda came
back to fight tomorrow in the UFC, I think everybody
(12:54):
would go, oh my god, and they'd be enamored with it. Right, Um,
you had that stay That's why you could fight again.
You have staying power. I think. Look, I had to
have because uh, I had like the worst record in
history of SummerSlam. I had the worst record, like second
worst record in history or maybe the worst of WrestleMania.
(13:15):
Like I could beat by everybody. But it was a
lot of really talented people. So I feel honored to
have been in the ring with him, you know. So
for you, Um, you're now in the talent I could
say almost talent acquisition business. As you are looking football players.
I mean you're looking all over the world now global talent.
(13:35):
Do you know it's very interesting you were rebranded multiple times. Um,
A lot of people did not start. I mean rock
Rock was not a star's first match, right, not when
they were chanting Die Rocky Dino. So when when you
are looking globally, Paul, for all this talent, what are
(13:57):
you seeking? What is the it? What is the Because
I remember talking one time to Dana White about this,
and he had he had dinner with Connor and he
go and he said, I don't know if he can
fight a lick, but he's got star appeal, similarly to you,
did you know immediately Sina was gonna be big? So
(14:20):
it's funny. The first couple of times I saw Sina,
I didn't see it. But but no, no, no, but
but I but I only saw him briefly, and I
only saw him in the ring. I didn't get to
see his personality. I didn't know him. So the very
first time I ever saw him, I was filling in.
I think it was for Taker. They asked me to
(14:40):
go make an appearance at an event for like a
smaller promotion, and John was on the card, and I
remember somebody saying to me right before I saw him, uh, hey,
this kid's gonna be something big. Now. They had seen
him a lot, they knew him. I just watched him
go out there for five minutes and have a match,
and I was like, yeah, no, I don't see that
(15:02):
at all. Once I got to meet John, and no, John,
no brainer, right, It's it's yeah, it's not about it
is about the in ring. And when people. When you
say it to people where you go, it's not about
the in ring they go. It has to be about that.
It is. But to your point Dana White saying, this
(15:22):
kid's a star. I don't know if you can fight,
but he's a star. Right, Um, it's not about that.
Hulk Hogan wasn't the greatest wrestler of the generation. The
Ultimate Warrior was not the greatest wrestler of that generation. Right.
There are a lot of people. I can make a
longer list of people that weren't the greatest in ring
performer of that generation, that were the biggest stars. Who
(15:43):
is the most underrated in your opinion? The fighter that
maybe didn't quite get to your level or stone cold
but you look back and you're like, hell of a wrestler, athletic,
just just a gayer in the ring. Well, um, you
(16:06):
guys help out with that. Feel free. Um, Well, it's
a hard thing to say because what you're saying to
me is who who's the best? You know, if you're
looking at technical in ring wrestling, right, Like, Okay, so
let's look at WrestleMania three. Huld Cogan, Andre the Giant,
Andre's older broken down at that point, can can't move
(16:30):
a lot. Hogan's Hogan, and people think that's a not
the not the most athletic performer of the generation, great crowd, psychology,
unbelievable charisma, all those things. Ninety people Pontiac Silver Dome,
right because of that match Savage Steamboat on the card.
(16:51):
Steamboat one of the greatest in ring performers at all time.
If that match wasn't on the car, they still would
have put ninety people in a hon the Act Silverdome
to watch Hogan and Andre. That's what they paid to see.
The match that stole the night. The fight was that
one was the Savage Steamboat, Right, that was by far
(17:13):
the greatest match in the card, but it didn't draw
the crowd. So you know, there are a lot of
fighters out there that, even even in the legit fight business,
great fighters, they don't capture the imagination of anybody, so
they're always under have the magnetism that you did. Stone
called Hulk the Rock. Look, Floyd Mayweather. You can make
(17:35):
an argument that Floyd is the greatest boxer of a generation.
You could make an argument that he's one of the
greatest of all time, right, technically, even even statistically beyond others. Right,
When did he really become a box office jaw? When
he creates a character called Money Mayweather and he pitches
(17:56):
a show to HBO called Right, and he goes on
HBO and he gives them a character every single week
against a bunch of fighters, didn't matter who they were,
And Floyd gives you a spectacle where everybody was caught
up in this guy. And he knew, if I can
make them hate me and want to see me get
(18:16):
knocked out and then no one touches me and I
win every time, I'm gonna make a boatload of money.
That was a success for him. The personality was a success.
The the image, the Money Mayweather image was the success
for him. He happens to be the greatest boxer of
a generation, But the character is when it took off.
Are you surprised at all by the growth of the
(18:40):
women's side. Charlotte Flair is a rock star. By the way,
Charlotte will be here with Renee who was a member
of the volume, Renee Pocat, that'll be after this. So,
I mean, Charlotte's got amazing like on Twitter, she owns
it every day. Um, are you surprised that there are
nights where that crowd is as big as the male headline.
(19:05):
Are you surprised at all? I'm not surprised one bit
by it. To me, it doesn't you know, maybe there
was a time in the world, generations in the world
where they looked at it differently. I do think there's
a generation, either one or two prior to this one,
where they would have been like women athletes, you know
what I mean. I don't think that exists today. I
(19:27):
don't think people care. I think they want to see
athletic performances, and they want to see personalities. Doesn't matter
if it's a male, doesn't matter if it's a female.
They're drawn by that um And I think that especially,
which is one of the things that I think is
really cool, is youth today are taught almost that there
is no sort of bias there. I I see as
(19:51):
many little boys walking around with Charlotte Flair's shirts on,
or Becky Lynch shirts on, or Sasha Bank shirts on
as I do little girls walking around, So not just
like well a little girls gravitate towards them, and little
boys gravitate towards the males. Now they do in some manner,
but I think it's talent. His talent. Charisma is charisma,
(20:11):
personality is personality, and I think you reward that in
the way that it is to me. When when when
the women have headlined and they've been in the main
event spots because they should have been, it's because they
were the attraction. That's to me, that's all that matters.
It's no different put in the performance, put in the work,
me the personality, or in the spot, it's yours. When
(20:32):
there's been some celebrities who have come into w W E,
some click, some don't. Is there a celebrity out there
that you look at and think he should give this
a try. There's just one guy making movies. I've always
wanted to whip his ask the rock. I think I
(20:55):
I feel like he might have potential to be pretty
good at this. Yeah, yeah, I hate He's got a
certain equality, doesn't he. You know, it's um when you
ask the question. There are are certain celebrities that they're
that their charisma and their personality is when they play
another character. Right, So you go in a movie, I
(21:16):
love that guy in movies. He's great in that movie,
he's great in this. But when you see him or
you see her in an interview, You're like, there's no personality,
right that You've got to give him a character, do
the thing. And there are other people, um, and it's
interesting to see to me in this day and age
that like YouTube influencers like the Paul Brothers and and
(21:37):
people like that that who love them or hate him, right,
like he's a character. And he said it resonates and
then people wonder why he goes in a boxing ring
and does bigger business than anybody in boxing or m
m A and some some capacity, and people are stunned
by that. And it's it's the it's him, you know,
Paul to what I just interviewed him two days ago.
(21:59):
You want the one thing he does as a consumer,
he really cares, he's all in. This is not a stick,
and it makes me want to buy him. So if
a celebrity decided I'm gonna do this and I'm all in,
like I I'm and I want to see you working out.
I think the audience consense phonies and people who are
totally committed, and I think I think that I'll find
(22:22):
that celebrity. It would work. Yeah. Also, if you're a fan,
look when when you know it's hard to put yourself
on the other side. But before I got into this,
I was on the same side as you, right, So
sometimes the celebrity would come in, I'm into it. Other
times the celebrity comes in, You're like, God, I don't
want to watch that crap. You know, it's just something
you don't want to see. To me when you go
(22:43):
When I go back and look at those it's really
their passion level for doing it. Are they here for
bullshit reasons? Are they here because it's a good pay
day or I need to increase my my viewership or
my fan base, or are they here because they love
the product? Are they here because they want to be
in the ring? Because uh, somebody like um bad Bunny
(23:06):
who who like you know, people talk about his appearance
with US. He was talking about w w E. And
he's another guy that that celebrity is just it's all
over him, right, talk about w w E. Massive fan
has been his whole life. Um gets the opportunity to
(23:28):
do this with us UM and live his dream a
w superstar. They make him the offer. He grabs a
house in Orlando. He moves his entire crew there. He's
at the performance center every day, every day I walk
in there, They're like, you know, and I, Hey, what's
going on? Bunnies in the other room chaining? Wow? Yeah,
(23:51):
I mean just getting battered. Like you know, he spent
three months every day just like anybody trying to be
a Bee superstar would. I was so glad that worked
out as well for him as it did, because he
put his heart and soul into it, and they loved
it because he put his heart and soul into it
(24:11):
and they could tell you yeah, So it wasn't just
about him increasing his fan base or right. He loved it,
and he put the effort in and he delivered and
you could see his passion. You're authentic. You're authentic. Um,
this is a weird question. You don't have to answer it,
but it's fascinating to me. So, um, you marry the
(24:33):
boss's daughter, Stephanie Shrewd, right shrewd because she's hot. Absolutely,
and I'll just tell you and getting hotter. I'm like
the luckiest guy in the world. So I don't see
you as you know, some guy with a smalty line.
(24:55):
But where that you decided, I'm a sing her out? Um? Yeah,
why is that a bad question? You guys all cared
about that. I hit her with a pickup line that
she couldn't resist and the rest was done. You know.
But I don't want to share that with you because
(25:17):
and it's you know, like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, at
some point I'll sell that information. No, it's a funny thing.
We didn't know each other at all. We when you
when we did the storyline on TV, um around the
wedding and you know, like all good marriages, I making
your drink, get her bachelorette party and took her passed
(25:38):
out through a Vegas wedding chapel here what do white chapel?
Total illegal and U but uh, we didn't really know
each other hardly at all at that point. I think
I bet her a couple of times at that point.
And um, but you know, you start working together on TV,
around each other every day, and and it just she's sharper,
(25:58):
she like you, she's quick. Yeah, and it but it
just happens over time, and she's like a sponge for
the business and was just coming in. So if we
were doing an angle, and you gotta understand at that
point in time, you know, we're doing the stuff with
her dad. But it's like rock and Austin and it's
the right, It's as high as it gets. She's like,
just wants to be there to hear every word we're saying,
(26:20):
and how we're putting it all together and every thought.
And you know, she'd hear us all put stuff together
and then walk away and she'd come to me and
be like, so, why are we? Why is that? And
why is this? And she just wanted to know everything.
We were together all the time, you know, and just
like any other relationship, over time. The funny thing is
a lot of people in our lives were calling it
(26:41):
out before we were. Her mom said something to her
about it. She's like, what's with the triple aged thing
with with you? She's like getting the talent in a way.
My mom said something to me, said said, um, what
what's with you and the Stephanie? I said, Mom, it's
Vince's daughter. Absolutely nothing. She goes, I saw you on TV.
(27:01):
You're not that good of an actor. I was like,
you know, but at that point in time, I honestly
was like, no, ridiculous. But then you start to realize, no,
there is more there. Before we talk, John Cen and
Rollman reigns tomorrow. By the way, in a football stadium.
So this is it's gonna be electric that the it's
(27:23):
just gonna be an incredible scene. I want you to
go back to your career. I wanted you to go
back to the match. Maybe it was the size of it,
it was the opponent that was the most exhausting that
when it was done, I mean, Paul, you really felt
like I left every out. You had the toughest physical
(27:50):
match you ever had in your life. So it's it's hard.
It's hard to say because there's moments in your career.
Adrenaline is a magical thing. So there's moments in your
career where you do get you know, you get beat up,
(28:11):
you get battered, um, and you get injured along the way.
You know. Um, it's not a secret. Everybody knows it.
I'm not bragging about it, but like you know, I
tore my quad twice on live TV. Finished the matches, Um,
I uh, the first elimination chamber we were in and
I hate even bringing it up because it wasn't Rob
(28:33):
van Dam's fault in any way, shape or form. None
of us had ever been in that thing before. And
part way through the match, which was you know, an
amazing amount of talent. But as Rob came off the
top of the cage, he went on top of a
pod which wasn't as didn't have as much space on
it as we envisioned it having. He couldn't stand up straight.
(28:54):
Whether I was in too far or too close or
not sure, but it just came off funny, and he
tried to pretend me but landed on my throat. Um.
You know, I could hardly breathe the whole match, and
they brought a doctor out under the ring. And you
know you have matches like that were you're just trying
to get through it, probably you and and those are
(29:14):
those are difficult things. And again, like you said, Adrenaline
that they were all chanting take her a minute ago?
And and uh I when when take her? And I
wrestled not Hell in the Cell, but the year before.
I'm terrible with numbers, those of WrestleMania something, thank you, um,
but but wrestled the year before. It was so physical
(29:39):
and I remember walking out of there thinking, like Jesus,
that was brutal, like on both of us. And and
for whatever reason, the people you're closest to you can
hit the hardest in our business, I don't know why
that is. It's just the thing. Um. We beat the
hell out of each other. When it was over, I
walked to his locker room to talk to him, and
he couldn't get up off the floor. I went back
(30:00):
to his locker room like two hours later, and he
was still sitting there. He had moved to a chair,
but he couldn't get out of the chair. Dammit, calling,
you're gonna make my makeup run? I didn't show it
(30:27):
earlier today. Yeah, yeah, uh, and I had more makeup
im than she did. Um. You know that's leaving it
all out there, but that's what we do. And and
then there's you know, are their matches where it's harder. Yeah,
there's matches where uh. But I've seen everybody do it.
I watched Austin in the heyday. One time. I wrestled
(30:47):
him for like forty minutes in a in a town
in the middle of nowhere, and I didn't know he
was sick walking in and uh, I thought he looked
a little funny when he We hadn't talked, you know,
I hadn't really seen him much during the day because
what I didn't know was he was sick in the
room Uh. We got to the ring and I remember
looking across the ring and I'm thinking it looks a
little green. Maybe it's the lighting in here or whatever.
(31:08):
But anyway, we went like forty minutes. And when we
got done, I walked in the back and he was
like laying down and he was just shaking, and he
was green, and he had an infection in his elbow,
you know, his staff. I didn't know it, you know.
And and but he was just the pride of the performer.
(31:28):
And what we go through for you, you don't. You know,
people respect it and they get it, but they have
no idea, no one. And and I'm glad it's changed
somewhat today we have the medical protocols that we have
and everything we we protect talent. There there's an old
saying that, you know, you have to put a rider
(31:48):
on a horse, on a on a on a racehorse,
because if you don't have a rider to stop it,
it'll just keep running until it dies. A lot of
ways performers in our industry used to be like that,
and we put those medical practices in place because you
have to pull those rains because they will just keep running.
(32:09):
And and we you have to protect we have to
protect ourselves from ourselves in some manner, and so I've
seen a lot of people do it. But on on
any given night, most everybody's leaving everything they got in
that ring. So tomorrow Sena and Roman reigns. Um, what
do you foresee in terms of the physicality they've been
(32:32):
chirping at each other. What kind of match do you foresee?
It's a funny thing that, Um. Sometimes when you're in
the midst of entertaining, it becomes real. Sometimes when you're
in the midst of now I'm just promoting, it becomes
(32:54):
the second thought from the other guy, Like I was
a little bit tight when that that shot was a
little bit So let me hit you with back one back.
If we're gonna go there, let's go there where it
goes from being clever and entertaining to okay, and now
you're in a different level, still entertaining, still performing, personal,
(33:20):
but personal. Um, And I think this one has crossed
into a different realm for me. Nobody likes that all
the time. So this one to me, like, you got
two total pros in the ring. Um, seeing you know,
(33:46):
you can make the argument that in in the generation,
the best of the best. Some people say greatest of
all time. Maybe right. You can make a lot of
arguments for that. Um. I I look at Roman to
me right now, Romans on a different level from anyone,
anyone in an in an era where there weren't people there,
(34:07):
he was on a different level from anyone. He has
taken it now to another level beyond that. Um He's
one of those guys I feel like is changing sort
of the business a little bit as he's moving forward
to where he is pulling people back into a different
(34:28):
realm of character work and what that means. And I
love it. Right So maybe I'm biased because it's more
in my wheelhouse of performance, but I do think he's
on a completely different level. When you get into the match.
What do I believe happens in that? And I'm not
talking about what we do or you know, finishes or
(34:52):
anything like that. What what do I believe happens? When
you walk for a while and you come back, it's
a big hill. I know, I've been there, and I've
been there multiple times. It's it's tough, and your mind's
in the same place. It's just not quite where it
was before. Even though you believe that it is when
you're doing this every day, you're you're in a zone.
(35:14):
You don't think about it, you don't have to question it,
you don't have to There nothing, there's no path from
here to here to there. It's just here to there.
It just happens like that. That's where Roman is and
there's something for that momentum, and there's something to be
in the guy that's here every single day, and I
think he goes through this. I think it's uh. I
(35:36):
think from a performance standpoint, when the day is done,
eyes are on Roman Reigns as what this business is
about today and not John Cena. That's my prediction. I
want to circle back to the beginning. You get to
pick the fight, You get to pick the match, you
(35:59):
get a call to all, you get to pick the
match that would pull you back. Who would it be?
I don't know. So there's so many talented guys out
(36:22):
there to perform against, but it's not about the individual.
To me, it wouldn't be about me as the individual.
Wouldn't be about that person as an individual. It's about
the yeah, yeah, what you know, if you look at
the build to a fight like a movie, what's the
movie we can tell to get to the climactic fight
(36:45):
at the end. What's that movie? So what is the
story that gets you through that movie? That would be
the thing I would need to think about. What I
what I wanted to be one of the great workers
of today. But make it easier for me, Uh, what
I wanted to be an incredible character person? Be nice
(37:05):
because then it's it's more character based and more storyline.
What I wanted to be someone brand new or or
coming in from the outside. Maybe it really depends. Um,
So I think for me, it's it's looking at if
I don't know, if there's anybody that they could say
this name and I go, oh done. If they even
(37:28):
if they said here's the name, I'd have to say, well,
what's the what's the lead up, what's the story? What's why?
Why why are we fighting? Well, unless unless it was
like and then this will open up a can of worms.
But like, unless it was something that was so far
back into me and and we talked about it before,
(37:50):
and this is not a suggestion and I'm not this
is not like one of those things where later there's
a meme where it's like confirmed, um, but like you know,
but like if Rock called me tomorrow and said, hey,
let's do one more. You know, we did that video
a few years ago because he came up to me
and he was like, hey, dude, I want to do
(38:10):
one more match on DOO with you. Let's do one more.
I was like, okay, sounds great to me, and so
we shot a video around it. And then of course,
you know, like he's the biggest actor in Hollywood. Uh
so his schedule changed and it didn't work out. Um
would have been amazing if it was something like that,
because just because like in so many ways, and I'm
(38:30):
just talking about our business in so many ways, like
he and I just kind of did this a lot.
You know, Hunter herst helmsay, Rocky my via right and
and uh and he comes in and we're going at
it over the intercontinental title, and the nation comes along,
and d X comes along and we're going at it
over that, and then we move up the line and
(38:51):
now we're w w E champions going at it. It's
there was we We we just kept mirroring each other
along the way in some manner, and I feel like
there's a connect action always with that for for he
and I and I'm just talking about within our business. Um,
so if it was something like that, Yeah, but any
anything else, I'd want to know what what the setup
(39:13):
was the match tomorrow we're not talking about that will
surprise everybody. What do you guys think? It's it's so
(39:40):
hard for me to say. Um I I feel like
when you try to predict, like what's what's the thing
you should be talking about? It depends on the It
depends on the delivery at every moment in time. Do
you believe, like if you want to talk about seven Edge,
I mean they're talking about it, like do I want
(40:00):
to see it? Hell? Yeah? Hell yes. Do you believe
the environment in an NFL stadium will change the night?
I believe that in in in today's day and age, Like,
look there there was a time just a few months
ago where we put like three people in a in
(40:20):
in a building and we're like, oh my god, it
was so loud. It was the greatest thing ever. Right,
And if you would have said that two years earlier,
we'd have been trying at three people in a building. Um,
you put fifty plus thousand or whatever, it's gonna be
uh in a in a stadium with the level of
(40:41):
talent that are going to be there, the best athletes
in the world, the best superstars in the world. It's
gonna be electric. And I think that that at this point,
people are so excited to get out of the house,
to be entertained, to go all there and see what
(41:02):
what their passion is. Again, I say this a lot
that like w W E, it's it's it's not something
you watch for most people. It's a lifestyle, right, it's
a it's a passion, it's a lifestyle. It's a it's
something that drives him in a twenty four and that
got taken away from them for a long period of time.
(41:24):
So they're back and they're in a stadium and it's
fifty people. I think it's gonna be incredible. I want
you to take everybody that's here to a place that
none of us would understand except you. So I want
you to go back. You're from New Hampshire. My wife
(41:44):
walked by and they're all getting distracted because hey, so
like earlier, earlier, I said, she's getting hotter the older
(42:04):
she gets. Right, you notice how much base tone there
was in that chance. I want yea So I want
you to take when Sina and Roman Rains walk out tomorrow.
I want you to go back, young kid, New Hampshire.
(42:28):
I know your story. You've been rebranded a couple of times.
Take me to the match, your first big match. You're
walking out and you knew in that moment, holy sh it,
this is it my dream I hit it. Take me
to that moment, Where, when and where were you? Because
(42:51):
tomorrow that's going to be the biggest moment, I mean
one of the biggest moments in ten years in w
W E Take me to your moment, What is it
like and where were you? Well, it's it's hard for
me to say because there's so many moments. I worked
with so many you know, I was fortunate to be
(43:12):
in a time frame where on any given day prior
to the attitude area I was working. You know, I'm
working with Bret Hart, Shawn Michael's Razor Ramone. Uh. Like right,
it's a who's who of the best? Uh? You flash
forward to then we start to come into our own.
I'm working with Austin rock Taker fully, uh, you know,
(43:33):
who's who of of the best historically best in the
business ever. Right, So there there, But there is a
moment for me, I think when sort of the pressure
of Okay, they've given you the ball, and you're in
a position where this, this match can probably change a
(43:57):
lot of opinions on you. And it's a royal rumble,
two thousand um street fight myself and Mick Foley. Because
if if you look at it this way and this
I please don't take this as a knock to anybody,
but if you look at it this way, Foley is
not a main event, main event guy at that point
(44:19):
in time. He's not a marquee guy. He's a guy
that is like me, maybe better, maybe more up the line,
but like he's kind of a guy that is against
a lot of really good people, and I'm a guy
that's coming up and against a lot of really good people.
It's the rumble. The rumble is the rumble, but we're
giving the shot to main event, the royal Rumble for
(44:40):
the w w E Championship. So it's too sort of
not solidified, proven box office commodities yet in that spot,
and we kill it right and and my hats off
to Mick for all of that and for everything that
that did for me and for him for whatever. But
(45:01):
like that's a moment I knew walking into the garden
Um this is like, uh, there there are certain you
know it's it's there's never one moment, but there are
certain places where you know you're taking another big step. Sure,
and this is one of those another big steps. But
I know this is a big step. Like we're put
(45:25):
into a position where if this pay per view sort
of feels lackluster other than the rumble itself, that's probably
on us. If it delivers big time, that's probably on us.
UM And it does so and it and it changes
the trajectory of both of us. I believe even though
Mick was about to retire in some manner and I
(45:46):
knew that sort of going into all of this UM
but it it really changed the trajectory for both of
us because it put us out there as marquee guys.
And to me, there's a difference. There's a lot of
top guys. There's a few guys that are marquee guys.
And what by that, what I mean is if if
(46:07):
if you put if you say right now, oh, w
w's in town tomorrow? Oh who's there? And and someone
goes Roman Range, you go, oh great, right, you don't go,
but who's your wrestling top guys? You get who's your wrestling.
They want to know what the match is, not the
the person John Cena wrestles in his heyday or any
(46:31):
even in at his peak, and you say, w w's
in town. Who's there John Cena? Oh, let's go right.
That's the difference. And I think that put both Foley
and Eye into that category. Stephanie's still here. Just wave
to the audience. Please, there's acknowledge your existence. Please. Um,
(46:56):
it's gonna be an amazing night, a great weekend. Renee
Pacat by the way for you. Here, there's Renee. Renee,
come up, come here for a second. She was our
biggest hire and has been. She's amazing great. Thank you,
Triple H. Ladies and gentlemen, you Paul, absolute pleasure. Thank
(47:25):
you so much. There we go. Thank you every zero
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.