May 2, 2024 • 19 mins
In this week's episode of Unsanctioned Thursday, Jeff and I take a stroll down memory lane. I relive the saga of my romance with the wrestling world amidst the glitz of Hollywood and we peel back the curtain on Jeff's inaugural plunge into the pro wrestling universe. Plus, I'll spill the latest chapters of my odyssey in crafting and debuting my very own wrestling federation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
And she said you should talk with Stephanie McMahon and
I went what And she was like, yeah, you should.
You should talk to her and just talk about your
ideas and you know, who knows what could happen.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I was like, yeah, hang out with Stephanie McMahon. Party honest,
ladies and gentlemen, are you ready? Bouts that hit the fan?
Welcome to Unsanctioned Thursdays Interrestling with Friday.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What's up? Everybody? Welcome to the show that you all
asked for, that you demanded and you got. It's Unsanctioned
Thursdays where we give you a little bit extra because
Wednesdays are not long enough. You know it, we know it,
we agree. Don't yell at us on social media. It hurts. Jeff,
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Feeling good? How are you feeling, Bob?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I'm feeling pretty good. Man. We spoke last week. Here's
here's your weekly update on my federation. We spoke last week.
I got a text during the podcast with the bad news.
I'm comfortable saying who the past was this week? I
want to make sure I got it right. Yeah. It
was a Warner Discovery. They were the first people that
I went to and I mentioned that I should have
(01:15):
recognized by the types of questions that it was going
to be a no. But pitching a brainchild or a
baby or an idea, however you define it, is such
a It's like being underwater. Man. It's such a roller
coaster going up and down. But it's it's never fast
when you want it to be fast, and it's never
slow and you want it to be slow. So yeah,
(01:36):
So it was Warner Discovery that And I'm not saying
that to hate on them or anything like that. I
just want to give you guys all the information so
they they eventually passed on it. I'll mention the places
as we go through. I know that one of the
places I went to is going to be a no
because at one point in the conversation I wanted to say,
do you guys even like Presley, thank you just didn't
go well?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Like Freddie Jr. But I didn't know he was going
to get wrestling.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Maybe that's what it was. But I'll talk about them
when they officially say no. But it's gonna be a no.
And then there's two places where I think one is
a definite yes and it's and it's coming because They've
made multiple calls asking all kinds of questions from creative
to financial. When they start talking money, that's when it's
getting serious. And the other place is like a dark
horse kind of a not a long shot, like a
(02:24):
like a weird choice, but it could be really cool.
And if they say, I just want to yes. So
whicheverone says yes, I want to put wrestling on TV
and put more wrestlers on TV because that experience does
nothing but help everybody, including the fans. So yeah, so
that's where we stand with that. I'm sorry, I don't
have any like like Jawbreaker news, but this is the
(02:45):
update you get. Tell these studios to hurry up and
come here to that's all Iran set up a patch. Sorry, Okay,
I'm good now, Jeff, Where are you going to be
this weekend? Bro?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
This weekend, I am in Arizona at the Desert Ridge
Improv shows are almost sold out, so get tickets quick,
but it's gonna be awesome. I love every time I
get to go into Phoenix or Scottsdale area, Like it's
like my favorite I think it's my favorite state, Arizona.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
It's a good city too. Phoenix is a good city, Man,
good wrestling city too. Man. They love lucha libre down.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
There, just like a little lizard.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So I love the heat.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And there is like a big Mexican culture there, which
is my favorite culture. So I just I love like
place where you can it's right, be hot, watch wrestling,
tell jokes.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I love it, sir. Speaking of things you love. You
love professional wrestling. And when you started on this, I
don't know why we didn't start the way I started
on season one, which was giving people a reason why
why I love professional wrestling, what my history of it was,
(03:46):
how I came up on it, who introduced me to it,
who was my first favorite wrestler, all those types of things,
and you've never gotten the opportunity to share that, which
is bad co hosting on my part. But I'm a
rookie at this, all right. It's my first one. So
why don't you tell the people? Let's get personal. So sure,
let's get deep. Share the lead.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
These wrestling fans, according to our producer Alex and according
to you, they keep reaching WHOA justify your fandom? Justify
your existence? They say, is he even really a wrestling fan?
Let me tell you, kiddos. Fans of the Federation, the Fredsters.
I've been a huge wrestling fan for my no, I
(04:25):
won't say my entire life, but since first grade. You
guys think I'm just some creepy comedian who messes around
with WWE divas. But let me tell you, Jesus Christ,
let me tell you I'm a real fan. It started
with me being a pretty nerdy kid. I would well like, oh,
you know, in first grade, I don't know how to
make friends. I've only had girls in my life as
(04:47):
far as my sisters and my mom, and so I
didn't know how to like make friends necessarily. So I
got kind of set up with another kid who didn't
have many friends, and they're like they should play together.
So me and my parents and their parents. His parents
like set up like this kind of play date when
I was in first grade to socialize this a little bit.
His name was Eric Barons. Shout out to Eric Barns.
(05:09):
And when I went to his house, he had all
these like little wrestling toys. It was this exact series
the WWS has bros. And they were like, they're like
hard and they've got these big muscles. If you can't
see this, they're these awesome little plastic toys that were
wildly popular. They're still very popular, and I was like
captivated by the toy. I was like, what are these guys,
(05:29):
because like one of them was a sergeant and one
of them was a clown, and one of them was
a wizard, an undead wizard underdigger, and so I was
just like looking at them all and I was like,
these are cool. And so we sat there and played
with those for a little while and then he goes, yeah,
these are all real people. I was like what, and
then he goes yeah, And so he showed me and
the first thing I watched ever was in nineteen ninety three.
(05:50):
It was like on a battleship.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, Lex Experience and.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Lex Luger had like an American flag and that's like,
that's the that's the one I watched. That's the that's
the first one I can remember. I don't know which
one Eric showed me, but Eric showed me those. And
after watching that, even though that was my first thing
I ever saw was in nineteen ninety three, I took
I bought all the or I didn't buy. I probably
rented all the VHS tapes and I watched everything like
before that and then like would watch. I'd kept up
(06:15):
from that day. I've kept up on wrestling. There was
a one chapter of wrestling that I didn't watch because
I was too busy like surviving and chasing comedy and
living in a car, and that was the era with
like Bautista and like whatever. That era kind of was,
like I missed a lot of that. But besides, like evolution,
(06:36):
you missed a lot of that. And I would check
in because I really liked wrestling, but I was too
busy trying to like survive my twenties. But other than
that all I've been a huge wrestling fan my entire life.
There's a reason I like all these wrestling girls because
I just love wrestling.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
That's awesome, dude, his name is Eric. What was Eric Barns?
Don't know where he's at anymore, Eric, Eric Barns. I
hope you're still a wrestling fan. I hope somehow this
this audio package finds you and one of your friends
listens to our friends of a friend of a friend
listens and it somehow makes its way to you, and
it puts a smile on your face. That's awesome, good man,
that's awesome. Do you remember what your first live show
(07:13):
was that you ever went to.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I think my first live show. Gosh, that's interesting because
I've been to so many.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Because you were probably a grown up when it happened.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I was in high school or yeah, like tenth grade.
Jeremy Fisher got tickets and Jeremy Fisher invited me and
like the hottest girl in our school, Amber Shoemaker. So
it was kind of an odd pairing of us three.
It's very weird.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
I love that you give last names too. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I want them to hear this and know that I'm
talking about it. So it's me, Jeremy Fisher and Amber
Shoemaker and I can't and he might lose his mind
hearing this because I can't confirm that it's true or not.
But in my memory, at least as I remember it,
I think I was the only one that liked wrestling.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I was like, this is so cool.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I was like having a good time. Amber Shoemaker couldn't
be bothered. And I'm pretty sure that Jeremy Fisher, I don't.
I think maybe he thought it was like ironically funny
or something, but like I was like super into it.
I was like, this is awesome, and our seats were terrible,
and I was like a little in the back of
my mind like these seats are bad, but beggars can't
be choosers, you know, like, let's just enjoy it. And
(08:15):
then about halfway through the Monday Night Raw is what
it was, someone came and said, these are our seats,
and we're like what, And then we looked at our
tickets wrong. We were actually pretty close, so we could
have been the whole time pretty close, but we got
to see the second half super close, which made us
a pretty manse appreciate it more. It was really fun.
So another shout out to Amber Shoemaker and Jeremy Fisher.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
And for any of you, if you're questioning my love
for wrestling, first of all, the F you big time.
That's you get a big CAPITALF and big capital you.
I got love for your passion for wrestling. I'm not
questioning and I'm not judging. It's don't you dare, don't
you dare? But just so you guys know, I worked
at w W. That's how much I love the damn thing.
(08:57):
My grandma took me to a luta libre match in
Puerto Rican when I was a little kid visiting her
and they put a cage around the ring. I thought
it was a steel cage match and it was just
to protect the wrestlers from the fans if the wrong
dude won. They were so hardcore and they were throwing
pennies at people. They were throwing water balloons that had
peepee in it. It was no good say peepee. Because
I was like eight years old and I was there. Man,
(09:19):
my grandma brought an umbrellas she knew what time.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, they fire throwing pennies. That showed some hate. They
didn't have a lot of pennies despair, you know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
You know they were throwing them with passion. Brother, So yeah,
So I fell in love with it at a young
age and I always watched it. I actually fell off
of it during the Attitude era because I thought the
stories were getting kind of ridiculous. I was a little
bit older. I was in my twenties, not my teens,
So I dropped off then and had to catch up
on all that because my friends were like, dude, it's
all the best matches. Who cares? And I was started watching.
(09:49):
I was like, oh, these are all the best matches.
Who cares, So I'm with you on the matches. I
just thought the stories suck. And then I ended up
retiring from acting when I had kids and went to
WWE match. It was Rick Flair's retirement match. Supposedly, you'll never.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
These big quote end quote fucking retirements and nobody's retiring, frustrating.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
The Barber streisand of wrestling. It's the final concert ever
twenty seven times later. So yeah, So I went to
this match, and I spoke to a lady who worked
there named Kristin Proudy. I'm gonna hit last names like
Jeff did because it just sounds cool. She had worked
there for a long time and kind of built her
own division within the company. She was responsible for like
(10:32):
taking care of the celebs that were coming in, and
then built her spot from that to like a much
bigger position in the company. And she started talking to
me about wrestling what I liked and didn't like. And
so I was living in New York at the time.
I went to Stanford met with Stephanie, had a very
similar conversation and she goes, you should talk to my dad,
and I'm sitting there like, well, yeah, She's like, yeah,
you should talk. I was like, yeah, I'll talk to
(10:52):
your dad. And by the time I left, I had
a job. I've told this story before, so if you
want to hear it in detail, you can go to
episode one, Season one, Episode one and you can get
(11:16):
all the juicy deats bill. That's my resume. If it
pleases you, good and if it does not, you bastards,
You'll pay each and every one.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I got a question for you. Do you think once
your kids are grown up that they'll still watch wrestling?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Charlotte, Yes, Rocky, I don't know, because he wasn't that
into it, except Kevin Owens you really like, he'd say, Dad,
tell me if there was covid olans much all cot,
But otherwise he didn't really care where. Charlotte likes the
boys and the Girls matches, but his buddy Bo who's
on his football team. I gotta tell a story about
the football team too. By the way, loves wrestling like
(11:51):
he is eleven years old one hundred percent in that
first hour of raw demographic. The yeah, the first hour
demographic is eleven years old. You know still really wants
it to be real. I didn't like, he goes you
worked there how and I was like, oh, I just
like helped the wrestlers be comfortable with the stuff they
you know that they had to say. I didn't want
(12:12):
to wreck the dream from him because he could see
he's he was kind of searching, but he still believed
a little bit. So my son saw us talking and
he got like a little bit jealous and he was like, dah,
what wrestler are you talking?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I know him, I know that guy. And he did
not know that guy. And so when the dinner was over,
I just took him and he told me out after
football practice, dropped bow off, and then took Rocky home
and he goes, Dad, could I watch some wrestling? Nice?
And I was like, anytime you want to, dude. And
then of course the first thing was the draft, and
he was like this is boring. I'll think I'll tell
you when Kevin Owens is O, don't worry about it.
I love that. So yeah, man, yeah, oh football story.
(12:48):
So I've wanted my son to have a great sports
moment ever since he got into sports. But my boy
is very small. He was late to puberty, right, and
so all his friends kind of outgrew him three or
four years ago and he's always been the smallest one.
He's quick, but he's for sure the smallest one and
not very tall body or height, and so I always
(13:11):
wanted him to have it, and he hasn't had it yet.
Like he's had some games where he scored a couple
of baskets in basketball, he's had some soccer games where
he's made some good passes and had gotten a couple steals.
And then in football he's had like a couple runs
here and there and a couple of catches here and there,
but never like the game. And Saturday, while I was
in Chicago at C two e two, my wife starts
(13:33):
sending me video after video, and my daughter starts texting
me text after text, and each video is another touchdown
that my son has scoring. He scored eighteen points with
touchdowns and two point conversions that were going in. He
got an interception that he took back to the one
yard line, and he rushed for almost two hundred frigging
yards in a youth league. That's and I was like crying,
(13:56):
And there were pro wrestlers there, and one of them
was like, dude, what's going on. I was like, it's
my son. He just had like the game of his life.
And I showed him the video and he's like, dude,
you can cry it. So I love that. But yeah, man,
it was awesome. It was awesome. It was like my
highlight of the entire weekend and I didn't even get
to be there. Also, oh and I wrote there too,
for anyone who wants to know, I wrote the Jeff
(14:18):
Hardy storyline that took him to the Title Championship, to
the World Championship at Armageddon. But yeah, so hopefully that
answers some of your OLL's questions. I hope it satisfies
you guys. And when I talk tough to you guys,
I'm just kidding. I hope you guys know that. I
know it's you can't see my face, but I'm usually
like smiling right after.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So yeah, I do most people get into wrestling, you
think like their their brothers or their their their I was.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
An only child. My grandma got me into it. But yeah,
probably siblings. Yeah, probably siblings.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Because my sister's made it fun for you. It was
a whole My sister's made fun of wrestling the whole time.
Like my brother's so stupid, My brother's so stupid. Wrestling
so dumb. Wrestling's fake. Wrestling's fake. And then now like
someone will wear like an Austin three sixteen shirt and
my sister will be like, I love that, and I'm like,
you hated that, you made fun of me for that.
What are you talking about? You love that? And she's like,
I watched it with you. I was like, no, you didn't.
(15:07):
You're misremembering history, you loser. So I get a little
bit of the pride of you know, like, hey, we're
wrestling fans, we're you know, we're in this group together.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But whatever, Yeah, man, it's it. Sometimes it's tough being
a wrestling fan, especially in LA, because it's not looked at.
It's like, oh, rustling, although it's gotten cooler over the
last couple of years, like WWNAW are responsible for that.
But like, I remember one time being at this poker
game and I'm not a gambler, it's not. It was
(15:39):
like a small time, a small stakes game. It was
like a hundred bucks and everybody bought in and they
got like a thousand in chips and we're playing and
someone was like, I asked if they could put Monday
Night Raw on, and somebody was like dude, you watch wrestling.
I was like, yeah, man, I like it a lot,
and he kind of chilled out. And then this other
guy at another table it was a three three tables
in this big living room and goes, oh, hell yeah,
(16:01):
Monday night raw. And I looked over and I go, dude,
what's your name? It was like Gary. I was like,
what's up? Gary? Freddie Man, and like right away we
were bros. And we were the tag team champions of
that room, and nobody could have with it exactly. And
you take pride in those in those friendships, in those relationships,
because it is alternative entertainment. It's not mainstream. That's why
(16:21):
they bring mainstream people in to help make it more mainstream.
It's why they bring celebrities in too, be guest gms
to get rkao'ed by Randy Orton, or to have Butterbean
go in and knock out Bart Starr back in the
day at WrestleMania, like to bring more eyeballs to the product.
That's why they did Snookie when I worked there and
brought Snookie to WrestleMania, and she freaking beat Michelle McCool.
(16:44):
What the hell are they doing? But yeah, man, they're
just they're trying to make it more mainstream. So I
definitely feel the fans on that, and I feel you
on that as well. Dude.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
It's also like, it takes a special type of person
to like wrestling, So when you know someone else likes
wrestling and immediately makes you like like you've got kind
of this connection with him. I was explaining to my
barista this morning. I was like, he's like, what are
you doing today? And I was like, I'm doing my
wrestling podcast and he's like, he's like, you do have
a wrestling podcast. I was like, well, Freddie Prince Junior
as a wrestling podcast and I'm his co host. And he's like,
(17:14):
oh cool, and then he asked the normal questions about
you and I put you over. Then he's like, isn't
like Joe Rogan like obsessed with pro wrestling, And I
was like, no, no, Joe Rogan likes real like mixed
martial arts, like we like pro wrestling. We like that
stuff too, but we like pro it's a pro wrestling,
big difference. And he goes, oh, yeah, it's like fake right,
And I was like, oh, now I have to have
this conversation, you know. So I was like, yes, it's predetermined, Yes,
(17:36):
it's choreographed, Yes it's yeah, you know, it's a show.
But it's also it's not fake. That word isn't really
how we talk about it, because it's you know, it's
it's it's like sirt to Solat. You know, it says
real as cert to Solat. It's a show with athleticism,
and it's sure as helle realer than games.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
The Jackie Chan fight scene and like and it hurts
more because they don't have pads on shit. It's a
hell of all.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
It's a hell of a lot, a realer than Game
of Thrones. And you know, I don't hear you talking
trash about that. It's awesome, it's cool, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, Drew McIntyre has a real sword, not that fake problem.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Now he's got an even reeler sword from The Rock.
The Rock just gave him one. To see that video,
no Id Rock gifted him a sword and a card
for resigning. I guess that there was some sort of agreement.
I don't know what the agreement was because at the
end of the video Drew McIntyre goes, you kept your
word or something like that. But anyways, he bought them
Ah Bottom the sword.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Which is pretty cool. That's awesome, guys. Make sure you
tune in next week when our guest is none other
than the AEW World Champion Swerved Strickland. We love him.
He announced he was going to be a champion in
twenty twenty four on this very show, uh last year,
and we can't wait to have him on again, so
tune in for that. And as always on unsanctioned Thursdays,
I'll continue to give you guys updates regardless of the
(18:49):
success or the failure of my own dream of creating
my own promotion, so stay tuned for those as well.
Every Thursday, I'm half of Jeff Die. As always, I'm Friday's.
This has been a production of Iheart'smichaeltura podcast Network. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(19:10):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
And she said you should talk with Stephanie McMahon and
I went what And she was like, yeah, you should.
You should talk to her and just talk about your
ideas and you know, who knows what could happen.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I was like, yeah, hang out with Stephanie McMahon. Party honest,
ladies and gentlemen, are you ready? Bouts that hit the fan?
Welcome to Unsanctioned Thursdays Interrestling with Friday.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What's up? Everybody? Welcome to the show that you all
asked for, that you demanded and you got. It's Unsanctioned
Thursdays where we give you a little bit extra because
Wednesdays are not long enough. You know it, we know it,
we agree. Don't yell at us on social media. It hurts. Jeff,
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Feeling good? How are you feeling, Bob?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I'm feeling pretty good. Man. We spoke last week. Here's
here's your weekly update on my federation. We spoke last week.
I got a text during the podcast with the bad news.
I'm comfortable saying who the past was this week? I
want to make sure I got it right. Yeah. It
was a Warner Discovery. They were the first people that
I went to and I mentioned that I should have
(01:15):
recognized by the types of questions that it was going
to be a no. But pitching a brainchild or a
baby or an idea, however you define it, is such
a It's like being underwater. Man. It's such a roller
coaster going up and down. But it's it's never fast
when you want it to be fast, and it's never
slow and you want it to be slow. So yeah,
(01:36):
So it was Warner Discovery that And I'm not saying
that to hate on them or anything like that. I
just want to give you guys all the information so
they they eventually passed on it. I'll mention the places
as we go through. I know that one of the
places I went to is going to be a no
because at one point in the conversation I wanted to say,
do you guys even like Presley, thank you just didn't
go well?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Like Freddie Jr. But I didn't know he was going
to get wrestling.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Maybe that's what it was. But I'll talk about them
when they officially say no. But it's gonna be a no.
And then there's two places where I think one is
a definite yes and it's and it's coming because They've
made multiple calls asking all kinds of questions from creative
to financial. When they start talking money, that's when it's
getting serious. And the other place is like a dark
horse kind of a not a long shot, like a
(02:24):
like a weird choice, but it could be really cool.
And if they say, I just want to yes. So
whicheverone says yes, I want to put wrestling on TV
and put more wrestlers on TV because that experience does
nothing but help everybody, including the fans. So yeah, so
that's where we stand with that. I'm sorry, I don't
have any like like Jawbreaker news, but this is the
(02:45):
update you get. Tell these studios to hurry up and
come here to that's all Iran set up a patch. Sorry, Okay,
I'm good now, Jeff, Where are you going to be
this weekend? Bro?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
This weekend, I am in Arizona at the Desert Ridge
Improv shows are almost sold out, so get tickets quick,
but it's gonna be awesome. I love every time I
get to go into Phoenix or Scottsdale area, Like it's
like my favorite I think it's my favorite state, Arizona.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
It's a good city too. Phoenix is a good city, Man,
good wrestling city too. Man. They love lucha libre down.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
There, just like a little lizard.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So I love the heat.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And there is like a big Mexican culture there, which
is my favorite culture. So I just I love like
place where you can it's right, be hot, watch wrestling,
tell jokes.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I love it, sir. Speaking of things you love. You
love professional wrestling. And when you started on this, I
don't know why we didn't start the way I started
on season one, which was giving people a reason why
why I love professional wrestling, what my history of it was,
(03:46):
how I came up on it, who introduced me to it,
who was my first favorite wrestler, all those types of things,
and you've never gotten the opportunity to share that, which
is bad co hosting on my part. But I'm a
rookie at this, all right. It's my first one. So
why don't you tell the people? Let's get personal. So sure,
let's get deep. Share the lead.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
These wrestling fans, according to our producer Alex and according
to you, they keep reaching WHOA justify your fandom? Justify
your existence? They say, is he even really a wrestling fan?
Let me tell you, kiddos. Fans of the Federation, the Fredsters.
I've been a huge wrestling fan for my no, I
(04:25):
won't say my entire life, but since first grade. You
guys think I'm just some creepy comedian who messes around
with WWE divas. But let me tell you, Jesus Christ,
let me tell you I'm a real fan. It started
with me being a pretty nerdy kid. I would well like, oh,
you know, in first grade, I don't know how to
make friends. I've only had girls in my life as
(04:47):
far as my sisters and my mom, and so I
didn't know how to like make friends necessarily. So I
got kind of set up with another kid who didn't
have many friends, and they're like they should play together.
So me and my parents and their parents. His parents
like set up like this kind of play date when
I was in first grade to socialize this a little bit.
His name was Eric Barons. Shout out to Eric Barns.
(05:09):
And when I went to his house, he had all
these like little wrestling toys. It was this exact series
the WWS has bros. And they were like, they're like
hard and they've got these big muscles. If you can't
see this, they're these awesome little plastic toys that were
wildly popular. They're still very popular, and I was like
captivated by the toy. I was like, what are these guys,
(05:29):
because like one of them was a sergeant and one
of them was a clown, and one of them was
a wizard, an undead wizard underdigger, and so I was
just like looking at them all and I was like,
these are cool. And so we sat there and played
with those for a little while and then he goes, yeah,
these are all real people. I was like what, and
then he goes yeah, And so he showed me and
the first thing I watched ever was in nineteen ninety three.
(05:50):
It was like on a battleship.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, Lex Experience and.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Lex Luger had like an American flag and that's like,
that's the that's the one I watched. That's the that's
the first one I can remember. I don't know which
one Eric showed me, but Eric showed me those. And
after watching that, even though that was my first thing
I ever saw was in nineteen ninety three, I took
I bought all the or I didn't buy. I probably
rented all the VHS tapes and I watched everything like
before that and then like would watch. I'd kept up
(06:15):
from that day. I've kept up on wrestling. There was
a one chapter of wrestling that I didn't watch because
I was too busy like surviving and chasing comedy and
living in a car, and that was the era with
like Bautista and like whatever. That era kind of was,
like I missed a lot of that. But besides, like evolution,
(06:36):
you missed a lot of that. And I would check
in because I really liked wrestling, but I was too
busy trying to like survive my twenties. But other than
that all I've been a huge wrestling fan my entire life.
There's a reason I like all these wrestling girls because
I just love wrestling.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
That's awesome, dude, his name is Eric. What was Eric Barns?
Don't know where he's at anymore, Eric, Eric Barns. I
hope you're still a wrestling fan. I hope somehow this
this audio package finds you and one of your friends
listens to our friends of a friend of a friend
listens and it somehow makes its way to you, and
it puts a smile on your face. That's awesome, good man,
that's awesome. Do you remember what your first live show
(07:13):
was that you ever went to.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I think my first live show. Gosh, that's interesting because
I've been to so many.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Because you were probably a grown up when it happened.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I was in high school or yeah, like tenth grade.
Jeremy Fisher got tickets and Jeremy Fisher invited me and
like the hottest girl in our school, Amber Shoemaker. So
it was kind of an odd pairing of us three.
It's very weird.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
I love that you give last names too. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I want them to hear this and know that I'm
talking about it. So it's me, Jeremy Fisher and Amber
Shoemaker and I can't and he might lose his mind
hearing this because I can't confirm that it's true or not.
But in my memory, at least as I remember it,
I think I was the only one that liked wrestling.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I was like, this is so cool.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I was like having a good time. Amber Shoemaker couldn't
be bothered. And I'm pretty sure that Jeremy Fisher, I don't.
I think maybe he thought it was like ironically funny
or something, but like I was like super into it.
I was like, this is awesome, and our seats were terrible,
and I was like a little in the back of
my mind like these seats are bad, but beggars can't
be choosers, you know, like, let's just enjoy it. And
(08:15):
then about halfway through the Monday Night Raw is what
it was, someone came and said, these are our seats,
and we're like what, And then we looked at our
tickets wrong. We were actually pretty close, so we could
have been the whole time pretty close, but we got
to see the second half super close, which made us
a pretty manse appreciate it more. It was really fun.
So another shout out to Amber Shoemaker and Jeremy Fisher.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
And for any of you, if you're questioning my love
for wrestling, first of all, the F you big time.
That's you get a big CAPITALF and big capital you.
I got love for your passion for wrestling. I'm not
questioning and I'm not judging. It's don't you dare, don't
you dare? But just so you guys know, I worked
at w W. That's how much I love the damn thing.
(08:57):
My grandma took me to a luta libre match in
Puerto Rican when I was a little kid visiting her
and they put a cage around the ring. I thought
it was a steel cage match and it was just
to protect the wrestlers from the fans if the wrong
dude won. They were so hardcore and they were throwing
pennies at people. They were throwing water balloons that had
peepee in it. It was no good say peepee. Because
I was like eight years old and I was there. Man,
(09:19):
my grandma brought an umbrellas she knew what time.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, they fire throwing pennies. That showed some hate. They
didn't have a lot of pennies despair, you know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
You know they were throwing them with passion. Brother, So yeah,
So I fell in love with it at a young
age and I always watched it. I actually fell off
of it during the Attitude era because I thought the
stories were getting kind of ridiculous. I was a little
bit older. I was in my twenties, not my teens,
So I dropped off then and had to catch up
on all that because my friends were like, dude, it's
all the best matches. Who cares? And I was started watching.
(09:49):
I was like, oh, these are all the best matches.
Who cares, So I'm with you on the matches. I
just thought the stories suck. And then I ended up
retiring from acting when I had kids and went to
WWE match. It was Rick Flair's retirement match. Supposedly, you'll never.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
These big quote end quote fucking retirements and nobody's retiring, frustrating.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
The Barber streisand of wrestling. It's the final concert ever
twenty seven times later. So yeah, So I went to
this match, and I spoke to a lady who worked
there named Kristin Proudy. I'm gonna hit last names like
Jeff did because it just sounds cool. She had worked
there for a long time and kind of built her
own division within the company. She was responsible for like
(10:32):
taking care of the celebs that were coming in, and
then built her spot from that to like a much
bigger position in the company. And she started talking to
me about wrestling what I liked and didn't like. And
so I was living in New York at the time.
I went to Stanford met with Stephanie, had a very
similar conversation and she goes, you should talk to my dad,
and I'm sitting there like, well, yeah, She's like, yeah,
you should talk. I was like, yeah, I'll talk to
(10:52):
your dad. And by the time I left, I had
a job. I've told this story before, so if you
want to hear it in detail, you can go to
episode one, Season one, Episode one and you can get
(11:16):
all the juicy deats bill. That's my resume. If it
pleases you, good and if it does not, you bastards,
You'll pay each and every one.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I got a question for you. Do you think once
your kids are grown up that they'll still watch wrestling?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Charlotte, Yes, Rocky, I don't know, because he wasn't that
into it, except Kevin Owens you really like, he'd say, Dad,
tell me if there was covid olans much all cot,
But otherwise he didn't really care where. Charlotte likes the
boys and the Girls matches, but his buddy Bo who's
on his football team. I gotta tell a story about
the football team too. By the way, loves wrestling like
(11:51):
he is eleven years old one hundred percent in that
first hour of raw demographic. The yeah, the first hour
demographic is eleven years old. You know still really wants
it to be real. I didn't like, he goes you
worked there how and I was like, oh, I just
like helped the wrestlers be comfortable with the stuff they
you know that they had to say. I didn't want
(12:12):
to wreck the dream from him because he could see
he's he was kind of searching, but he still believed
a little bit. So my son saw us talking and
he got like a little bit jealous and he was like, dah,
what wrestler are you talking?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I know him, I know that guy. And he did
not know that guy. And so when the dinner was over,
I just took him and he told me out after
football practice, dropped bow off, and then took Rocky home
and he goes, Dad, could I watch some wrestling? Nice?
And I was like, anytime you want to, dude. And
then of course the first thing was the draft, and
he was like this is boring. I'll think I'll tell
you when Kevin Owens is O, don't worry about it.
I love that. So yeah, man, yeah, oh football story.
(12:48):
So I've wanted my son to have a great sports
moment ever since he got into sports. But my boy
is very small. He was late to puberty, right, and
so all his friends kind of outgrew him three or
four years ago and he's always been the smallest one.
He's quick, but he's for sure the smallest one and
not very tall body or height, and so I always
(13:11):
wanted him to have it, and he hasn't had it yet.
Like he's had some games where he scored a couple
of baskets in basketball, he's had some soccer games where
he's made some good passes and had gotten a couple steals.
And then in football he's had like a couple runs
here and there and a couple of catches here and there,
but never like the game. And Saturday, while I was
in Chicago at C two e two, my wife starts
(13:33):
sending me video after video, and my daughter starts texting
me text after text, and each video is another touchdown
that my son has scoring. He scored eighteen points with
touchdowns and two point conversions that were going in. He
got an interception that he took back to the one
yard line, and he rushed for almost two hundred frigging
yards in a youth league. That's and I was like crying,
(13:56):
And there were pro wrestlers there, and one of them
was like, dude, what's going on. I was like, it's
my son. He just had like the game of his life.
And I showed him the video and he's like, dude,
you can cry it. So I love that. But yeah, man,
it was awesome. It was awesome. It was like my
highlight of the entire weekend and I didn't even get
to be there. Also, oh and I wrote there too,
for anyone who wants to know, I wrote the Jeff
(14:18):
Hardy storyline that took him to the Title Championship, to
the World Championship at Armageddon. But yeah, so hopefully that
answers some of your OLL's questions. I hope it satisfies
you guys. And when I talk tough to you guys,
I'm just kidding. I hope you guys know that. I
know it's you can't see my face, but I'm usually
like smiling right after.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So yeah, I do most people get into wrestling, you
think like their their brothers or their their their I was.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
An only child. My grandma got me into it. But yeah,
probably siblings. Yeah, probably siblings.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Because my sister's made it fun for you. It was
a whole My sister's made fun of wrestling the whole time.
Like my brother's so stupid, My brother's so stupid. Wrestling
so dumb. Wrestling's fake. Wrestling's fake. And then now like
someone will wear like an Austin three sixteen shirt and
my sister will be like, I love that, and I'm like,
you hated that, you made fun of me for that.
What are you talking about? You love that? And she's like,
I watched it with you. I was like, no, you didn't.
(15:07):
You're misremembering history, you loser. So I get a little
bit of the pride of you know, like, hey, we're
wrestling fans, we're you know, we're in this group together.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But whatever, Yeah, man, it's it. Sometimes it's tough being
a wrestling fan, especially in LA, because it's not looked at.
It's like, oh, rustling, although it's gotten cooler over the
last couple of years, like WWNAW are responsible for that.
But like, I remember one time being at this poker
game and I'm not a gambler, it's not. It was
(15:39):
like a small time, a small stakes game. It was
like a hundred bucks and everybody bought in and they
got like a thousand in chips and we're playing and
someone was like, I asked if they could put Monday
Night Raw on, and somebody was like dude, you watch wrestling.
I was like, yeah, man, I like it a lot,
and he kind of chilled out. And then this other
guy at another table it was a three three tables
in this big living room and goes, oh, hell yeah,
(16:01):
Monday night raw. And I looked over and I go, dude,
what's your name? It was like Gary. I was like,
what's up? Gary? Freddie Man, and like right away we
were bros. And we were the tag team champions of
that room, and nobody could have with it exactly. And
you take pride in those in those friendships, in those relationships,
because it is alternative entertainment. It's not mainstream. That's why
(16:21):
they bring mainstream people in to help make it more mainstream.
It's why they bring celebrities in too, be guest gms
to get rkao'ed by Randy Orton, or to have Butterbean
go in and knock out Bart Starr back in the
day at WrestleMania, like to bring more eyeballs to the product.
That's why they did Snookie when I worked there and
brought Snookie to WrestleMania, and she freaking beat Michelle McCool.
(16:44):
What the hell are they doing? But yeah, man, they're
just they're trying to make it more mainstream. So I
definitely feel the fans on that, and I feel you
on that as well. Dude.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
It's also like, it takes a special type of person
to like wrestling, So when you know someone else likes
wrestling and immediately makes you like like you've got kind
of this connection with him. I was explaining to my
barista this morning. I was like, he's like, what are
you doing today? And I was like, I'm doing my
wrestling podcast and he's like, he's like, you do have
a wrestling podcast. I was like, well, Freddie Prince Junior
as a wrestling podcast and I'm his co host. And he's like,
(17:14):
oh cool, and then he asked the normal questions about
you and I put you over. Then he's like, isn't
like Joe Rogan like obsessed with pro wrestling, And I
was like, no, no, Joe Rogan likes real like mixed
martial arts, like we like pro wrestling. We like that
stuff too, but we like pro it's a pro wrestling,
big difference. And he goes, oh, yeah, it's like fake right,
And I was like, oh, now I have to have
this conversation, you know. So I was like, yes, it's predetermined, Yes,
(17:36):
it's choreographed, Yes it's yeah, you know, it's a show.
But it's also it's not fake. That word isn't really
how we talk about it, because it's you know, it's
it's it's like sirt to Solat. You know, it says
real as cert to Solat. It's a show with athleticism,
and it's sure as helle realer than games.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
The Jackie Chan fight scene and like and it hurts
more because they don't have pads on shit. It's a
hell of all.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
It's a hell of a lot, a realer than Game
of Thrones. And you know, I don't hear you talking
trash about that. It's awesome, it's cool, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, Drew McIntyre has a real sword, not that fake problem.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Now he's got an even reeler sword from The Rock.
The Rock just gave him one. To see that video,
no Id Rock gifted him a sword and a card
for resigning. I guess that there was some sort of agreement.
I don't know what the agreement was because at the
end of the video Drew McIntyre goes, you kept your
word or something like that. But anyways, he bought them
Ah Bottom the sword.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Which is pretty cool. That's awesome, guys. Make sure you
tune in next week when our guest is none other
than the AEW World Champion Swerved Strickland. We love him.
He announced he was going to be a champion in
twenty twenty four on this very show, uh last year,
and we can't wait to have him on again, so
tune in for that. And as always on unsanctioned Thursdays,
I'll continue to give you guys updates regardless of the
(18:49):
success or the failure of my own dream of creating
my own promotion, so stay tuned for those as well.
Every Thursday, I'm half of Jeff Die. As always, I'm Friday's.
This has been a production of Iheart'smichaeltura podcast Network. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(19:10):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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