January 13, 2026 • 18 mins
Few careers in professional wrestling are defined by constant reinvention quite like JDC’s. From the moment the world met Fandango on the grandest stage, to the unexpected chemistry of his tag team run with Tyler Breeze, and now to his grittier, more grounded chapter in TNA Wrestling, JDC joins us for a candid conversation about identity, longevity, and knowing when it’s time to walk away.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You'll play for all things for wrestling.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Found podcast stop seeing.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up you guys.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast, The Battleground Podcast.
And man, what an exciting time it is for TNA.
They've got the new TV deal, They've got everything going
for them, and there's also something really cool that's happening
with our.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Guest today going out on a high note.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Give it up for our guest today, JDC joining the show, JAYC.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Man, how are you doing, dude?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I just you know, I was just thinking about I'm
sitting here poolside my wife and I just came to floor.
This is probably the last wrestling interview I will do
as a wrestler, So thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Man, Man, the pleasure is all.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Our crazy to think that.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Well, I mean, now that you put kind of things
in perspective, it's like you don't have to worry about
sitting here in front of a computer or a phone anymore.
So I've got like some high things to like set
the bar high so you can go out on a
high note. So the pressure on me over here we're
gonna just have some fun. Of course, a lot of
people know you as many characters over the year as Fandango,
(01:23):
Dirty Dango, now JDC. Do you see those as evolutions
of the same person. Were completely different chapters in your
wrestling career.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I think it's all kind of the same person and
just me in different moods. The Fandango character was a
kind of a stoic, almost creepy. I remember Vince kind
of explaining the character to me, and I didn't quite
understand it such I kind of I just the only
thing I knew in my head was I can't let
(01:57):
anyone see me not stay in character with this character,
because it was so just off the wall. If they
if they caught me not staying completely in that dancing mode,
it would just completely ruin the characters. So, but I
think my favorite, the favorite would be the Breeze Ango,
Breeze and I doing all those skits together, man, that
(02:19):
was just it was fun and we really love working
with our writer John and it was just every every
week we got to go to work and it was
just exciting to kind of get our verbiage and just
kind of.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Riff off each other. Yeah, definitely. Comedy. Comedy is my favorite.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I'm a big comedy wrestling fans, so big fan of
like great old Cocobana guys like that.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
So yeah, and you mentioned you mentioned the Breeze Ango
and your tag team with Tyler Breeze obviously still talked
about today. Everybody talks about it, the connection there that
you two had. Did that connection surprise you? And maybe
do you think sometimes companies struggle when something gets over
too naturally?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Dude, we're so opposites for He's He's a grounded, level
headed kid, Matt, and I'm a little bit off the wall,
you know, a little rambunctious, a little bit of a
wild card. Uh So, just our natural personalities and our
on screen personalities works so good together, kind of almost
like Ying and Yang, you know what I'm saying. And
(03:23):
it's just, you know, we got put together. We're two
single guys kind of floundering on the road, and I'm like, dude,
because they're making cuts, We're like, we're probably going.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
To get released.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Let's just grab the dot com guy and just start
shooting these ridiculous promots.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And he's like, all right, let's just do it. I mean,
what do we got to lose.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We just started we just started doing these dot com
skits dressing up as as cops, and it started getting
he started getting a little momentum, Bro, and it started
getting some good views, and eventually they're just like, we're
gonna put this on SmackDown and then we got a
whole year run out of just being sexy cops. So yeah,
it was a great lesson for us. Is like you
(03:57):
can kind of sit back and complain about your position
on the show, where you can just you can just
get busy trying to make something happen.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So that was a lot of Matt to Breeze.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
He's very proactive in this business, so he actually helped
me get out of a funk around that time. So yeah,
those are some of the best times in my career, bro,
just just showing up to work and just didn't getting
to make people laugh.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
I gotta say when when y'all, when y'all did that
and the skits and everything else, Like as a as
a grown man watching those, it was just hilarious to see, Okay,
what's happening next, because that that was for me more
too inclined to see what was gonna happen next week
on the show of like where are they gonna go
with this?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Who are they gonna find?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
What?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
What's gonna happen?
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And I loved it and it was great, and obviously
the fans day because I mean we're still talking about it. Yeah,
and uh, you know something else, fans are still talking
about that WrestleMania entrance. Still a lot of fans think
about the WrestleMania interest for you, did you know in
that moment how big it was?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And did you ever worry that it might defy you
too much?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
When I know the pressures on, I try not to
think about it too much.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
And I knew.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I remember, I remember having rehearsals, Bro and just being
more than at that time, I'd been wrestling for fourteen
or fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I wasn't worried about the eight or ten minute match
with Chris. I was so nervous.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
About the dance routine with the girls, Bro, because dancing
is just like they sent ww sent me to dance
school for like two or three months, and they're like,
all right, now you're a dancer.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So you know, it takes twenty years to be a
good dancer.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So I'm like, I was more nervous about messing up
that dance routine than getting it. Once the dance was over,
I was like, because the wrestling was the easy part,
you know. But yeah, it's sometimes when you have such
a lightning rod character like that, people always kind of Kramer,
you know, like Cramer guys like that, Like, yeah, I
(05:57):
guess I wasn't worried about it, man. I just when
I was worried about was just not letting Chris down.
You know. I feel like a lot of people wanted
that character to fail because it was so off the wall.
So you know, I owe I owe so much to
Chris for making that work. You know, he put a
lot of thought into that, and I don't think he
necessarily wanted to do it, but he's like, if I'm
going to do it, let's let's.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Make this the best weekend.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And I think we I think we did pretty damn
good for what we had.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Of course, again, everybody still talks about it and what
we're here to talk about, of course, uh TNA wrestling.
You've got Genesis coming up that is going to be
your last matchup. We'll talk about that here in a second,
when you came in to TNAS JDC, you felt, you know,
grittier and more grounded. Was this more like an intentional
reset for you or was this just kind of who
(06:46):
you are at the stage of your career right now.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
No, it was completely one hundred percent uh methodical and thought.
I didn't want to end my like my career on
a comedy.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I didn't want to. I want to end it with
a comedy shtick.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
I wanted to, you know, when I went back to NXT,
I talked to Hunter, I'm like, I just want to
have good wrestling matches for the last couple of years
of my life. And Hunter put reeson and I and
you know, we wrestled a lot of really great guys
and then t and A. I'm like, I just want
to have good matches. I kind of checked the comedy
box off, and I didn't really want to. I didn't
(07:22):
really want to just have comedy matches, bro, And people
kind of think I was just kind of coasting into retirement.
I think I've worked harder in TNA the last two
or three years, and I did most of my career dude,
like really having long matches busting my ass because I
take a lot of pride in that locker room. Man,
I take a lot of pride the guys and girls.
(07:46):
We all we're all working so hard to get to
you know, get to that TV on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And I say this in all interviews.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's truly just a family atmosphere, dude backstage. And I
know it sounds super cliche, but everyone's working so hard
to get to that TV deal. Man, It's like ECW
back in the day. And I couldn't be more proud
for these kids. Man, It's really exciting for a lot
of these guys and girls. Yeah, emotional makes me emotional
to think about it.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And that's the cool thing is Like you know, as
a as a kid that grew up watching TNA, when
I was at the fairgrounds here in Nashville, everyone's the
night I was at the pay per views, I was
there and I watched all of it. And you can
see right now that TNA has real momentum again, especially
now with this TV deal with AMC.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And like you said, the locker room is vibing.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
You know, what is one thing that a stand that
has stood out to you about this locker room compared
to other locker rooms that you've been in.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I just said this on the last interview.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Dude, when you get to the back after a match,
the whole locker rooms in Gorilla watching the show and
they're like they'll clap and they're like good job, or
like if you mess something up, they'll be hey, Bromm
one of the you know, Eric young on, one of
the older guys, because Aaron will pull one of the
kids aside and be like, hey, dude, just do this,
do that, do this.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I feel like on a on a higher you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Know, like I think on this, on this team, everyone's
working together for the brand. It's not the brand, just
working for individual talent, you know what I'm saying. I
really feel like everyone wants the show to succeed, which
is really cool to see.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And then you know they did it, man that you know,
we did it. We we wanted to get TV and
we ended up you know, we got it. So it's
coming up and it's gonna be I.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Told Tommy, I'm the only one trying to retire when
we just got a TV deal.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So, I mean, and it's really cool to see just
how far TNA has come from, you know, wrestling at
the Asylum in Nashville at the Fairgrounds to now having
back another weekly TV deal and you see a lot
of people coming in there and you see the locker
room having fun and it's not one of those selfish
(09:59):
kind of things. Is when you see on the locker
room on TV on social media, it's like you said,
you guys are a family.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Mm hm. It really is, man.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And the exciting part now is showing how good the
show is to the large audience of a MC.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Because honestly, I said it for years, I'm like, this
is such a good show. We just need to get
more eyes on this product. And I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I'm really intrigued to see what type of ratings we're
going to get. The first the first couple of months,
there's you know, and I think it's just such a
good show. And now the world gets to see it, man,
and there's a lot of there's a lot of guys
and girls on the roster that haven't been exposed to
a large, large market.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So it's exciting.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
This this is gonna this is gonna catapult a lot
of young kids' careers.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, absolutely, for sure.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It's going to be very exciting to see TNA in
this new era on AMC and you know you you
recently announced your retirement. We've we're here to talk about that.
We're here to talk about jennas Uh. Eddie Edwards is
going to be your last match.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Ever?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
What made Eddie the right choice to be your last
opponent other than the fact that you guys know each
other very very well.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
We started together up in Boston probably twenty twenty two
years ago.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I ended up going to wwbe route. Eddie went to Japan.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Every year, you know, we do wrestle Mania, Eddie would
be in town for roh or some other comic con
gimmick or whatever. So we catch up every year and
it's just full circle, bro, And just just like I
want to end my career on a serious note, There's
there's Eddie's probably one of the if not the best
wrestler on the roster, And when you play a comedy
(11:45):
character for so long, sometimes you feel like you got
something to prove, Like I do you know, I take
I take wrestling very seriously, and I just don't want
people to remember me for Kramer jump you busting through
the door.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Do you know what I'm saying. I don't want to
be remembered for the dance.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I want to be remembered in respective for being a
good wrestler, because that's why I got into the business.
And I can't think of anybody better to work than
one of my best friends. I went to management, I
got I want to dye for the last match, like
you got it. And when you wrestle your friends, bro,
you tend to lay it in a little bit more
and they don't. They don't plain as much, so it
(12:23):
should be a real banger, dude.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
It's gonna be a real stiff match.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So I've been down here in Florida training last month
getting ready for it. So it's going to be an emotional,
emotional weekend man, for me and the guys in the system.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
But full circle, bro, It's just full circle.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We started together, we went in a different paths, and
we came back together and I'm gonna end it with them.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
So yeah, it's you can't write it. It's you can't
write this ship. So sorry for swearing.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Hey, no, you can swear this is well, we'll swear.
We could bleep it out later. This is our show.
We'll have it.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
But for sure, you talk about it being emotional, and
I want to kind of get into your head for
a quick second when you picture that final walk going
through the curtain of the ring bell rings.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You go back to that curtain once.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
It's all said and done, what matters the most to
you during that whole stretch.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
When I when I first started, all I cared about
was not messing up.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And all I think about now is just not getting hurt.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
That's all I care about now, is just not getting injured,
because it's not me just chasing something. Now.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I'm married, we're looking to have children soon.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
So as long as I'm healthy and Eddie doesn't get
hurt and the fans are happy, I'm happy and I'll
probably be. It's just weird when you get in the
ring and you get the adrenaline going, and you know,
you start hitting each other. It's hard to think about
anything else while you're kind of cooling down from that adrenaline.
But I think probably once we get back to the
(13:54):
hotel that night, things will start setting in.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Damn, I can't believe that was the last one.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
But Tiina is gunn so above and beyond road to
kind of give me this this farewell.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
They've they've been so just unbelievably great for you know,
me and my wife.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Anything I want that they just catered to me. So
I can't thank them enough. And just to show how
much respect they have for me, and I got nothing
but respect for them.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
So yeah, it's gonna be It's gonna be definitely an
emotional night for sure when we watch Genesis and we see, uh,
that's it the end, and you know, a lot of
people want to know what what happens after the end. Obviously,
you know the boots late, stay in the ring, you
walk back the curtain, You're done wrestling after Genesis, what's
(14:40):
the next game plan? Obviously you're gonna take some time
off and just kind of enjoy it. But then what's
next there? You want to, you know, help the younger generation,
open up a school. What what what's the plan after that?
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I'll probably you know, the wrestlers go, I'm accepting indie
bookings on their Instagram or I'll probably post that day after.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Oh my gosh, and your dms are gonna get blooded.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Somebody's got to replace Cardon and now I think JDC's
got it.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I gotta someone's gotta take care of all those outlaw
shows in the ball fields and stuff. So I'll probably
do some backstage stuff, bro, some producing.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You know, I've been.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
There's a there's a new wrestling school, Limitless and Pine
Trick at Pine State Wrestling up in Maine. It's where
I'm from. I'll probably get a little bit more involved
in the wrestling school back there. I mean, dude, I've
got twenty seven years in this game. It's like you
can't just completely walk away from it. And I say
this all the time, is like, I'll miss wrestling. I
(15:37):
won't miss wrestling. I'm sorry, but I won't miss the wrestlers,
you know what I'm saying. Like I got to be
around the boys in some capacity. So yeah, I'll be
involved in some in some capacity. But dude, I do
not care about ever hitting a leg drop or falling
down on my back ever again. Like if I hit
Eddie with one last leg, I'll just thank god I
(15:59):
would never have to do that again. Like I could
care less about ever bumping a game, bro, Like honestly.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
But and it's got to be a good feeling for
you to go out the way you want, because sometimes
when when guys want to go out, they don't get
to go out on their terms. You're getting to go
out on your terms the way you want it.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Dude.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I just said this in the last interviews, like I'm
still in pretty decent shape.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I just don't want to be one of those guys. Man,
they're like, oh man, I used.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
To be Fandango, Like damn, you know, like I don't
like when you start losing that fastball, bro, which I
can tell I'm not throwing ninety eighty more.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I'm throwing eighty nine ninety.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
It's like, I just don't want people to remember me
for forty eight year old dango. You know, you know,
I don't want to push this too far down the road.
And you know I'm still in decent shape, still go
a little bit. I just I feel like it's just
you don't want to get too greedy, you know what
(16:58):
I'm saying, And I got nothing left to prove, and
I just I don't want to get hurt.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
You know, I don't want to. I don't want to
get hurt. So it's a perfect time we're debuting on TV.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I get to work with one of my best friends,
so why not.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
You know, couldn't have asked for a better, perfect storybook
ending right there? With JDC man, we gotta tell you
it is definitely an honored and privilege to have you
here on the show, and hopefully after you know, the
final match, we can have you back on here for
some more things to talk about.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And I mean we could sit.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Here and talk for hours if possible, but I know
that you know TNA and and and then probably would
not want us to be talking for hours on pawn hours.
But uh, JDC man, it's again honored and privilege to
have you on the show. Before we let you go,
anything you want to say to the fans watching or
listen to this right now.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I'm very grateful for everybody, man.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You know I've been There's been times in my career
I haven't been grateful. Sometimes you can get in that
hamster wheel where you know you kind of you're not
appreciative to the business. But I truly, over the last
year it's been extremely grateful for the wrestling business. And
I've just I've fallen back in love with this business.
(18:07):
And I can't thank TNA and Tommy Dreamer and the
boys and girls in the locker room because some people
leave this business on a sour Now, bro, and I'm
just so thankful that I got the opportunity to come
and kind of finish it up with TNA because it's
just been such a great, great, great locker room.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Nothing but love.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And you'll have me back on when we do the comeback.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Tour, Bro, Yes, that's what I'm talking about. The comeback
tours happening man JDC again.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Honor and a privilege for having you on the show, brother,
and we're looking forward to seeing that final match at Genesis.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Thursday, Thursday coming up. Appreciate you, Bro,
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You'll play for all things for wrestling.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Found podcast stop seeing.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up you guys.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast, The Battleground Podcast.
And man, what an exciting time it is for TNA.
They've got the new TV deal, They've got everything going
for them, and there's also something really cool that's happening
with our.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Guest today going out on a high note.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Give it up for our guest today, JDC joining the show, JAYC.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Man, how are you doing, dude?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I just you know, I was just thinking about I'm
sitting here poolside my wife and I just came to floor.
This is probably the last wrestling interview I will do
as a wrestler, So thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Man, Man, the pleasure is all.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Our crazy to think that.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Well, I mean, now that you put kind of things
in perspective, it's like you don't have to worry about
sitting here in front of a computer or a phone anymore.
So I've got like some high things to like set
the bar high so you can go out on a
high note. So the pressure on me over here we're
gonna just have some fun. Of course, a lot of
people know you as many characters over the year as Fandango,
(01:23):
Dirty Dango, now JDC. Do you see those as evolutions
of the same person. Were completely different chapters in your
wrestling career.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I think it's all kind of the same person and
just me in different moods. The Fandango character was a
kind of a stoic, almost creepy. I remember Vince kind
of explaining the character to me, and I didn't quite
understand it such I kind of I just the only
thing I knew in my head was I can't let
(01:57):
anyone see me not stay in character with this character,
because it was so just off the wall. If they
if they caught me not staying completely in that dancing mode,
it would just completely ruin the characters. So, but I
think my favorite, the favorite would be the Breeze Ango,
Breeze and I doing all those skits together, man, that
(02:19):
was just it was fun and we really love working
with our writer John and it was just every every
week we got to go to work and it was
just exciting to kind of get our verbiage and just
kind of.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Riff off each other. Yeah, definitely. Comedy. Comedy is my favorite.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I'm a big comedy wrestling fans, so big fan of
like great old Cocobana guys like that.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
So yeah, and you mentioned you mentioned the Breeze Ango
and your tag team with Tyler Breeze obviously still talked
about today. Everybody talks about it, the connection there that
you two had. Did that connection surprise you? And maybe
do you think sometimes companies struggle when something gets over
too naturally?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Dude, we're so opposites for He's He's a grounded, level
headed kid, Matt, and I'm a little bit off the wall,
you know, a little rambunctious, a little bit of a
wild card. Uh So, just our natural personalities and our
on screen personalities works so good together, kind of almost
like Ying and Yang, you know what I'm saying. And
(03:23):
it's just, you know, we got put together. We're two
single guys kind of floundering on the road, and I'm like, dude,
because they're making cuts, We're like, we're probably going.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
To get released.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Let's just grab the dot com guy and just start
shooting these ridiculous promots.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And he's like, all right, let's just do it. I mean,
what do we got to lose.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We just started we just started doing these dot com
skits dressing up as as cops, and it started getting
he started getting a little momentum, Bro, and it started
getting some good views, and eventually they're just like, we're
gonna put this on SmackDown and then we got a
whole year run out of just being sexy cops. So yeah,
it was a great lesson for us. Is like you
(03:57):
can kind of sit back and complain about your position
on the show, where you can just you can just
get busy trying to make something happen.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So that was a lot of Matt to Breeze.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
He's very proactive in this business, so he actually helped
me get out of a funk around that time. So yeah,
those are some of the best times in my career, bro,
just just showing up to work and just didn't getting
to make people laugh.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
I gotta say when when y'all, when y'all did that
and the skits and everything else, Like as a as
a grown man watching those, it was just hilarious to see, Okay,
what's happening next, because that that was for me more
too inclined to see what was gonna happen next week
on the show of like where are they gonna go
with this?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Who are they gonna find?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
What?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
What's gonna happen?
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And I loved it and it was great, and obviously
the fans day because I mean we're still talking about it. Yeah,
and uh, you know something else, fans are still talking
about that WrestleMania entrance. Still a lot of fans think
about the WrestleMania interest for you, did you know in
that moment how big it was?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And did you ever worry that it might defy you
too much?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
When I know the pressures on, I try not to
think about it too much.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
And I knew.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I remember, I remember having rehearsals, Bro and just being
more than at that time, I'd been wrestling for fourteen
or fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I wasn't worried about the eight or ten minute match
with Chris. I was so nervous.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
About the dance routine with the girls, Bro, because dancing
is just like they sent ww sent me to dance
school for like two or three months, and they're like,
all right, now you're a dancer.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So you know, it takes twenty years to be a
good dancer.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So I'm like, I was more nervous about messing up
that dance routine than getting it. Once the dance was over,
I was like, because the wrestling was the easy part,
you know. But yeah, it's sometimes when you have such
a lightning rod character like that, people always kind of Kramer,
you know, like Cramer guys like that, Like, yeah, I
(05:57):
guess I wasn't worried about it, man. I just when
I was worried about was just not letting Chris down.
You know. I feel like a lot of people wanted
that character to fail because it was so off the wall.
So you know, I owe I owe so much to
Chris for making that work. You know, he put a
lot of thought into that, and I don't think he
necessarily wanted to do it, but he's like, if I'm
going to do it, let's let's.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Make this the best weekend.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And I think we I think we did pretty damn
good for what we had.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Of course, again, everybody still talks about it and what
we're here to talk about, of course, uh TNA wrestling.
You've got Genesis coming up that is going to be
your last matchup. We'll talk about that here in a second,
when you came in to TNAS JDC, you felt, you know,
grittier and more grounded. Was this more like an intentional
reset for you or was this just kind of who
(06:46):
you are at the stage of your career right now.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
No, it was completely one hundred percent uh methodical and thought.
I didn't want to end my like my career on
a comedy.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I didn't want to. I want to end it with
a comedy shtick.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
I wanted to, you know, when I went back to NXT,
I talked to Hunter, I'm like, I just want to
have good wrestling matches for the last couple of years
of my life. And Hunter put reeson and I and
you know, we wrestled a lot of really great guys
and then t and A. I'm like, I just want
to have good matches. I kind of checked the comedy
box off, and I didn't really want to. I didn't
(07:22):
really want to just have comedy matches, bro, And people
kind of think I was just kind of coasting into retirement.
I think I've worked harder in TNA the last two
or three years, and I did most of my career dude,
like really having long matches busting my ass because I
take a lot of pride in that locker room. Man,
I take a lot of pride the guys and girls.
(07:46):
We all we're all working so hard to get to
you know, get to that TV on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And I say this in all interviews.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's truly just a family atmosphere, dude backstage. And I
know it sounds super cliche, but everyone's working so hard
to get to that TV deal. Man, It's like ECW
back in the day. And I couldn't be more proud
for these kids. Man, It's really exciting for a lot
of these guys and girls. Yeah, emotional makes me emotional
to think about it.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And that's the cool thing is Like you know, as
a as a kid that grew up watching TNA, when
I was at the fairgrounds here in Nashville, everyone's the
night I was at the pay per views, I was
there and I watched all of it. And you can
see right now that TNA has real momentum again, especially
now with this TV deal with AMC.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And like you said, the locker room is vibing.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
You know, what is one thing that a stand that
has stood out to you about this locker room compared
to other locker rooms that you've been in.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I just said this on the last interview.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Dude, when you get to the back after a match,
the whole locker rooms in Gorilla watching the show and
they're like they'll clap and they're like good job, or
like if you mess something up, they'll be hey, Bromm
one of the you know, Eric young on, one of
the older guys, because Aaron will pull one of the
kids aside and be like, hey, dude, just do this,
do that, do this.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I feel like on a on a higher you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Know, like I think on this, on this team, everyone's
working together for the brand. It's not the brand, just
working for individual talent, you know what I'm saying. I
really feel like everyone wants the show to succeed, which
is really cool to see.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And then you know they did it, man that you know,
we did it. We we wanted to get TV and
we ended up you know, we got it. So it's
coming up and it's gonna be I.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Told Tommy, I'm the only one trying to retire when
we just got a TV deal.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So, I mean, and it's really cool to see just
how far TNA has come from, you know, wrestling at
the Asylum in Nashville at the Fairgrounds to now having
back another weekly TV deal and you see a lot
of people coming in there and you see the locker
room having fun and it's not one of those selfish
(09:59):
kind of things. Is when you see on the locker
room on TV on social media, it's like you said,
you guys are a family.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Mm hm. It really is, man.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And the exciting part now is showing how good the
show is to the large audience of a MC.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Because honestly, I said it for years, I'm like, this
is such a good show. We just need to get
more eyes on this product. And I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I'm really intrigued to see what type of ratings we're
going to get. The first the first couple of months,
there's you know, and I think it's just such a
good show. And now the world gets to see it, man,
and there's a lot of there's a lot of guys
and girls on the roster that haven't been exposed to
a large, large market.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So it's exciting.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
This this is gonna this is gonna catapult a lot
of young kids' careers.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, absolutely, for sure.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It's going to be very exciting to see TNA in
this new era on AMC and you know you you
recently announced your retirement. We've we're here to talk about that.
We're here to talk about jennas Uh. Eddie Edwards is
going to be your last match.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Ever?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
What made Eddie the right choice to be your last
opponent other than the fact that you guys know each
other very very well.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
We started together up in Boston probably twenty twenty two
years ago.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I ended up going to wwbe route. Eddie went to Japan.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Every year, you know, we do wrestle Mania, Eddie would
be in town for roh or some other comic con
gimmick or whatever. So we catch up every year and
it's just full circle, bro, And just just like I
want to end my career on a serious note, There's
there's Eddie's probably one of the if not the best
wrestler on the roster, And when you play a comedy
(11:45):
character for so long, sometimes you feel like you got
something to prove, Like I do you know, I take
I take wrestling very seriously, and I just don't want
people to remember me for Kramer jump you busting through
the door.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Do you know what I'm saying. I don't want to
be remembered for the dance.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I want to be remembered in respective for being a
good wrestler, because that's why I got into the business.
And I can't think of anybody better to work than
one of my best friends. I went to management, I
got I want to dye for the last match, like
you got it. And when you wrestle your friends, bro,
you tend to lay it in a little bit more
and they don't. They don't plain as much, so it
(12:23):
should be a real banger, dude.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
It's gonna be a real stiff match.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So I've been down here in Florida training last month
getting ready for it. So it's going to be an emotional,
emotional weekend man, for me and the guys in the system.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
But full circle, bro, It's just full circle.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We started together, we went in a different paths, and
we came back together and I'm gonna end it with them.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
So yeah, it's you can't write it. It's you can't
write this ship. So sorry for swearing.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Hey, no, you can swear this is well, we'll swear.
We could bleep it out later. This is our show.
We'll have it.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
But for sure, you talk about it being emotional, and
I want to kind of get into your head for
a quick second when you picture that final walk going
through the curtain of the ring bell rings.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You go back to that curtain once.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
It's all said and done, what matters the most to
you during that whole stretch.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
When I when I first started, all I cared about
was not messing up.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And all I think about now is just not getting hurt.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
That's all I care about now, is just not getting injured,
because it's not me just chasing something. Now.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I'm married, we're looking to have children soon.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
So as long as I'm healthy and Eddie doesn't get
hurt and the fans are happy, I'm happy and I'll
probably be. It's just weird when you get in the
ring and you get the adrenaline going, and you know,
you start hitting each other. It's hard to think about
anything else while you're kind of cooling down from that adrenaline.
But I think probably once we get back to the
(13:54):
hotel that night, things will start setting in.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Damn, I can't believe that was the last one.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
But Tiina is gunn so above and beyond road to
kind of give me this this farewell.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
They've they've been so just unbelievably great for you know,
me and my wife.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Anything I want that they just catered to me. So
I can't thank them enough. And just to show how
much respect they have for me, and I got nothing
but respect for them.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
So yeah, it's gonna be It's gonna be definitely an
emotional night for sure when we watch Genesis and we see, uh,
that's it the end, and you know, a lot of
people want to know what what happens after the end. Obviously,
you know the boots late, stay in the ring, you
walk back the curtain, You're done wrestling after Genesis, what's
(14:40):
the next game plan? Obviously you're gonna take some time
off and just kind of enjoy it. But then what's
next there? You want to, you know, help the younger generation,
open up a school. What what what's the plan after that?
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I'll probably you know, the wrestlers go, I'm accepting indie
bookings on their Instagram or I'll probably post that day after.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Oh my gosh, and your dms are gonna get blooded.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Somebody's got to replace Cardon and now I think JDC's
got it.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I gotta someone's gotta take care of all those outlaw
shows in the ball fields and stuff. So I'll probably
do some backstage stuff, bro, some producing.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You know, I've been.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
There's a there's a new wrestling school, Limitless and Pine
Trick at Pine State Wrestling up in Maine. It's where
I'm from. I'll probably get a little bit more involved
in the wrestling school back there. I mean, dude, I've
got twenty seven years in this game. It's like you
can't just completely walk away from it. And I say
this all the time, is like, I'll miss wrestling. I
(15:37):
won't miss wrestling. I'm sorry, but I won't miss the wrestlers,
you know what I'm saying. Like I got to be
around the boys in some capacity. So yeah, I'll be
involved in some in some capacity. But dude, I do
not care about ever hitting a leg drop or falling
down on my back ever again. Like if I hit
Eddie with one last leg, I'll just thank god I
(15:59):
would never have to do that again. Like I could
care less about ever bumping a game, bro, Like honestly.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
But and it's got to be a good feeling for
you to go out the way you want, because sometimes
when when guys want to go out, they don't get
to go out on their terms. You're getting to go
out on your terms the way you want it.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Dude.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I just said this in the last interviews, like I'm
still in pretty decent shape.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I just don't want to be one of those guys. Man,
they're like, oh man, I used.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
To be Fandango, Like damn, you know, like I don't
like when you start losing that fastball, bro, which I
can tell I'm not throwing ninety eighty more.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I'm throwing eighty nine ninety.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
It's like, I just don't want people to remember me
for forty eight year old dango. You know, you know,
I don't want to push this too far down the road.
And you know I'm still in decent shape, still go
a little bit. I just I feel like it's just
you don't want to get too greedy, you know what
(16:58):
I'm saying, And I got nothing left to prove, and
I just I don't want to get hurt.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
You know, I don't want to. I don't want to
get hurt. So it's a perfect time we're debuting on TV.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I get to work with one of my best friends,
so why not.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
You know, couldn't have asked for a better, perfect storybook
ending right there? With JDC man, we gotta tell you
it is definitely an honored and privilege to have you
here on the show, and hopefully after you know, the
final match, we can have you back on here for
some more things to talk about.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And I mean we could sit.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Here and talk for hours if possible, but I know
that you know TNA and and and then probably would
not want us to be talking for hours on pawn hours.
But uh, JDC man, it's again honored and privilege to
have you on the show. Before we let you go,
anything you want to say to the fans watching or
listen to this right now.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I'm very grateful for everybody, man.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You know I've been There's been times in my career
I haven't been grateful. Sometimes you can get in that
hamster wheel where you know you kind of you're not
appreciative to the business. But I truly, over the last
year it's been extremely grateful for the wrestling business. And
I've just I've fallen back in love with this business.
(18:07):
And I can't thank TNA and Tommy Dreamer and the
boys and girls in the locker room because some people
leave this business on a sour Now, bro, and I'm
just so thankful that I got the opportunity to come
and kind of finish it up with TNA because it's
just been such a great, great, great locker room.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Nothing but love.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And you'll have me back on when we do the comeback.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Tour, Bro, Yes, that's what I'm talking about. The comeback
tours happening man JDC again.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Honor and a privilege for having you on the show, brother,
and we're looking forward to seeing that final match at Genesis.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Thursday, Thursday coming up. Appreciate you, Bro,
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