May 7, 2025 • 35 mins
WWE superstar Seth Rollins joins Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer on Bears, etc. to discuss his experience at this year’s NFL Draft and his lifelong devotion to the Chicago Bears.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shut over that DJ More episode Touchdown, Touchdown Bears.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Jeff Jonia blitz Is on.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Donny go r What was like playing for Coach Good
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
coming is a big trouble.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Donnie Goos Montest Sweat.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Bears, et Cetera, brought to you by Miller Light with
the voices of the Bears Jeff Joniac and Tom Sayer.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, it's Rookie Minnicamp week here of the first week
of May at Halius All as the whirlwind continues for
the college stars now ready to embark in the next
phase of their football journey. Welcome to episode one of
the Bears et Cetera podcast, and we're brought to you
by Miller Light with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Sayer.
I'm Jeff Joniac, very special guest on this week's POB.
(00:53):
We're gonna talk to a rabbit Bears fan. I mean rabbit.
This is not your dime store, righty supporter of and
be blue and Orange. No, no, no, no no, this
is superstar level. And if we were scouting in the
NFL vernacular, he'd be a Blue Tom, He'd be a
blue talent WWE superstar, the one and only Seth Rollins.
(01:18):
Thank you for joining us, my friend. How you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Oh man, I'm doing great after that?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well deserved?
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I mean, look, you can't at this point, this stage,
if you're a Bears fan. I think we're all we're all,
we're all blue prospects, you know what. Everyone stuck around
at this point. So yeah, I appreciate that. Though. Man,
thank you guys for having me on. I'm excited to
talk football with you.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And before we go any further, you have so many
nicknames and whatnot, I prefer the Seth freaking Rollins.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay? We go with that today.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
That's a great That's a great one. It feels good.
It rolls off the tongue real nice.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, guys, Tommy, you can go ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Now, Seth.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
So walking onto that stage in Green Bay when you
went to annous the draft choice and in your business,
you have to appreciate the booze.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
As much as you do the cheers.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
So how did it feel when you walked out into
lambeau Field?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Because I've walked out.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
There plenty of times and got the acceptance of the
booze and the appreciation of the booze.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
But how was it for you getting ready to call
that draft choice?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It was a beautiful moment in time. Man, it was
a beautiful moment in time. I was.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
I was so excited to be able to do that
for the Bears.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It was truly an honor to be able to, you know,
read a pick off at any draft, let alone being
in Green Bay for the first time. So that was
a really special thing for me. And I mean I
loved it. I loved leaning into the booze. I wish
they were louder. I was hoping they were gonna, you know,
boom me off the stage. But it was a really
awesome experience. You know, look, the fans in Green Bay,
(02:52):
they get it, they understand, they know the assignment, and
so it was great and I got a little leeway
to cook them with a couple of whiles. Yeah, the
commissioner was, he was he was thrilled that I was there.
So it was nice to be able to get a
little permission to take some time and do what I
had to do to the fine folks in Greenville.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Time did that all come about?
Speaker 5 (03:14):
You know what, my manager just got it set up.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I mean, obviously we've been doing a lot of work
with the franchise and the NFL over the past year,
and I think we saw that the draft was in
Green Bay, and you know, he reached out and said
I'd be interested, and the team said, well, let's make
it happen. You know, let's see what we can do
for for Day two or Day three. So I was
I think just just suffering through many, many seasons of
(03:39):
Bears football got me to where I am today, you know,
So I think that's pretty much it. But yeah, it
was it was all him and in the NFL for
being so gracious and allowing me to take that spot.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You know, Seth, I was kind of thinking about you
have a one of the most unique jobs in all
the world. You're a multi time world champ, and you
kind of taunt crowds. Do you ever get do you
get taunted like when you're out in the general public
because you're an easy guy to recognize, dude, you're not.
You know, you know, people know who you are when
you walk down the street, whether they say, hey, throw
(04:11):
me off the turnbuckle, drop me off the top rope.
You know, whatever it is out in the general public.
Are you talk to and taunted a little bit?
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yeah, I mean taunting not so much.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
You know, I think when you see me in public,
I think it's more people just get excited. You know.
You get your requests for strange things like headlocks or
arm ringers or you know, my finisher is a stump
to the back of the head. People want to see
how that feels. I wouldn't advise it. But for the
most part, I think I think and wrestling fans are
a wild bunch, but I think everybody is mostly just
(04:45):
excited to catch a glimpse, you know what, I mean,
to see you on the street, and look, I'm not
going to pretend I'm John Cena or the Rock or
anything like that. Like, I can still go do regular
things for the most part. But if I'm in a
grocery store, like, you know, somebody he's going to ask
for a picture. So, but everybody's pretty cool. You don't
really get any too many crazies, at least not in
person anyway.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
You know, for those of us that are sports fans
that we're outside the ring, we kind of watch you
guys and try to anticipate what the next move could
possibly be.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
When you're on the sidelines of a football game.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Do you have that same anticipation though, we as fans
of wrestling have and you know in the football fan
in you.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Oh absolutely. I am an armchair quarterback through and through.
You know, I'm down in distance. I'm looking at where
we're at in the game, and I'm wondering what the
coach is going to dial up.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
You know, I'm curious to see what the play.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Call is going to be. You know, are they gonna
they're going to try to get a few yards on
the ground, They're going to drop a screen, and is
this time to take a deep shot? You know, second
and short, we're in midfield. Let's see what we can do.
You know, I'm all about that. So I think that's
part of the fun of being a sports fan is
playing arms chair quarterback.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
And you know, I would have done this if only
they had done that.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
You know, truth is, I know no better than anybody else, obviously,
but it is sure certainly a good way to watch
football game.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Could be a little frustrating at times, though.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Let's burn it down and bear down Chicago. His final
words in lambeau Field as he introduced the Bears a
draft pick the five time world champion on WWE. It
is Seth Rollins. This podcast is brought to you by
the official beer partner of your Chicago Bears tastes like
Midder Time Chicago. Go to Miller Lite dot com slash
Bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly
(06:32):
in Midder Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and
three point two carbs per twelve ounces. I noticed on
January twentieth of twenty twenty five, you posted on your
X account at WWE rollins for those interested in following,
and you've got a ton of followers. My man, I
love football, That's all you said in quotes. So I
(06:52):
asked you why.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I mean, if you look at the timeline, that was
one of my last I don't even know if you
call them tweets anymore, one of my last posts. As
I am, I'm gracefully exiting the X app for my
own personal reasons, but I will say, if you look
at the timeline, you know that one was pretty sweet.
(07:16):
I think the Ben Johnson hire is something that we
should all be excited about as Bears fans. For the
first time in as long as I can remember. You know,
we've got the bell of the ball. We've got the
coach who I think everyone was sought after and I
think is really going to be able to make a
difference in this franchise and hopefully turn into a winning
(07:39):
franchise again, which is great for Chicago, great for Bears fans,
but it's also great, in my opinion, for the NFL.
So I feel awesome about the Ben Johnson hire. I
made that very clear on x Twitter or whatever you
want to call it, and yeah, that is why Ben
Johnson got an I Love football tweet from me.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Well wait till you meet him, because Tom and I
are thoroughly impressed, not only with just his personality. He
comes with a bit of an edge, which you're gonna love.
He is all business, he's no nonsense. He's kind of
set that in stone already for this team moving forward
from the moment they had their first team meeting, but
also what he's put together on the coaching staff. I
think Tom will agree he's had a chance to meet
(08:20):
with these coaches as well. The vast range and experience
from an age sixty nine defensive coach to a sixty
five year old to a twenty eight year old offensive
coordinator in Declan Doyle, and not all his buddies. I mean,
these are people that have different experiences, so they're drawing
and all these experience to put together something uniquely bears,
which I'm grateful for because Tom and I've been doing
(08:43):
this together for twenty nine years in some form or fashion,
and so you know, we have a lot of experience
on change, and this particular change, as you eloquently pointed out,
feels different. It does test, it feels different.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, I mean I'm excited. I you know, the hires
as for offensive defensive coordinator were intriguing to me as well,
and I'm really excited about, like you said, the range
in the hiring and I think you know, just the
one that jumps off the page to me is Dennis
Allen because there's someone with tons of coaching experience head
coaching experience as well, and you have that in your
(09:19):
back pocket. I almost feel like you don't have to
worry about the defense. You know, Dennis Allen's got that covered.
And if you need anything on the back end, you
need a little advice, you need a little help, you
need somebody to chip in from a head coaching perspective,
assistant head coach, You've got someone with a wealth of
knowledge in Dennis Allen that's going to be able to
help you along that ride and kind of mentor you
in that way. Whereas I think, you know, on the
(09:42):
other end of the spectrum of dec la Doyle is
someone who's going to be able to learn. He's going
to be able to be eager to go above and
beyond because you know, this isn't going to He doesn't
want this to be his last stop. I assume he
wants to get to the next level as well, and
so he's going to do everything he can to soak
him whatever knowledge he can get from all these guy.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
So I think you've created a pretty cool recipe.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
You know, obviously you've got to see how all this
works out, see how these these pieces kind of vibe together.
But I really like it just from aesthetic point of view,
what I'm seeing and then what I'm hearing from guys
like you who have a little bit more inside information.
It feels good. You know, you still got to go
out there on Sunday and win games in the fall,
that's the bottom line. But I'm very excited about the future.
(10:25):
And I think, you know, we throw the term culture
around a lot, but anytime you're going to go out
there and call out Matt Laflora like on.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Your first day on the job, you got you got
me dog.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean, you know, Seth. You know when you talk
about some of your oldest.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Memories of the Chicago Bears, I was born in sixty
one and Joliet and been a Bears fan my whole life.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And then you were.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Born in eighty six, right, that's right? Yeah, So what like,
do you have some of the earliest memories of being
a Bears fan that you know come to you?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Because there's a lot of you know, memories of.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
The emerging so the Bears, you know, in the Walter
Payton era and even the eras that that came before him.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
So what about you, Oh.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
Man, all my Bears memories are horrible.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
My earliest memories are you know, I got into because
I live in Iowa. I was born and raised in Iowa,
and so you know, we do have a bit of
an option as far as football fandom is concerned, or
sports fandom is concerned.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
But my grandpa was a diehard Bears fan. So, you know,
I grew up.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
In small town, Iowa. Every Sunday we would go to church.
That's a church. We would go over to my grandparents'
house and we would watch football games. And I remember
distinctly my grandpa had this. It was it was like
a stuffed Bears player, but it came apart at the lens.
So every every definitely that happened.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
He could rip an arm off, he could rip a
leg off, he.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Could rip a head off and throw it a TV
without anything breaking. But yeah, I mean it was I
you know, I grew up watching football in.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
The early nineties.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Bears were okay. They they had some decent years there,
never made any strides really into the playoffs or anything
like that.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
You know, I remember the Kate McNown draft. I remember
the Rashaan Salam draft.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
You know. Luckily the team really turned around under love Smith,
you know, had the Super Bowl run. I got to
watch Devin Hester, you know, change the game for returners
and then the defense with Irlacker and Briggs and those guys.
So that was very exciting times. You know, when you
when you really got to I got to experience a
(12:31):
dominant special Chicago Bears defense, you know, Monsters of the
Midway type defense, Peanut Tillman, you know, causing havoc on
the edge. So that was really fun to see. That
was really fun to experience. But I would say the
majority of my Bears fandom has been suffering, has been paying,
has been I.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Was born, like I said, eighty six, So I.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Just missed the Super Bowl. I just missed sweetness. None
of that did I get to experience firsthand. I've had
to live like Carrious through you guys who came before
me and got to see all the good times. But
I'm hoping we're on the other side of that and
either the future can be bright in Chicago.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Is there any guys in your wrestling background that you
can say, Okay, this is the guy that captured my attention,
this is the guy that kind of transitioned me into
being the multi world champ that you are. And is
there anybody in your background that was a super influence
in those terms?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely. I mean, look, I've been a huge wrestling fan
for as long as I've been a Bears fan. You know,
the two things were, you know, number one and number
two in my life pretty much my entire as long
as I can remember, and when I grew up, my
first guy was Hault Kogan. He got me into it,
the guy that really kind of let me know that
this was something I could do or something that I
was interested in doing. And Shawn Michaels, you know, Sean
(13:49):
and Brett, you know, kind of came up. In the
mid nineties, wrestling was getting a little bit faster, the
guys with the stars were getting a little bit smaller,
and it was the first time that I saw someone
who could draw a house, who could fill a stadium
or an arena, who was a regular sized person, you know,
like in the eighties it was Atlanta Giants, was Andre
(14:11):
was Hogan, it was Savage, it was Warrior. These were
the guys that you know, brought the money in then
put people in the seats. And Sean and Brett were
the first guys who were around six foot and you know,
a moderate build that I was like, oh wait, I'm
not going to be hul Cogan size, but I certainly
could be Sean Michael size. I certainly could be Brett
Hart's size. I might be able to do this. And
(14:34):
I love Sean, So Sean's been my favorite wrestler probably
since I was about, you know, ten eleven years old,
and he's a guy who's inspired me and a lot
of my generation.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Where you look at the business now, the industry.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Now, it's so fast paced, it's unreal what the next
generation of people are doing. You know, I'm almost forty
years old, so I'm like an old hat and this
thing now, it's just crazy to say, because I feel
like I'm just hitting my prime. But uh yeah, I mean,
Sean's the guy. He's the guy that really inspired me
to want to do this thing.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Bears tickets go on sale Wednesday, May fourteenth, market calendars. Also,
that'll be the rollout of the NFL twenty twenty five schedule.
An he guesses fellas on whom the Bears will open
with where and what day are we going to do
a primetime opener?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
What are we doing? Oh man, I don't know. What's
the juice?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
What's the juicy? Matchup?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
What do you want? Or what are they gonna do?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, okay, both both, let's do both? What do you want?
What do you think they'll do?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
I'd like to have the difficult, the most difficult home
field opponent Game one, whoever that is on the Bear schedule.
Do you still consider Green Bay or I don't know
where the Philly game is gonna be, or you know,
just one of the try to get someone, try to
get someone that's unexpected early and you know, take advantage
(15:56):
of them.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
I mean, are they back in Washington this year?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
They are? Yes, Oh, believe me, I've read. You know,
people are trying to figure out the best top ten
matchups this season for five times, and that's on the list.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Okay, you know that's that's right up your alley.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
In the wrestling world. It's a revenge matchup.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
It's a revenge that I was there live, I was
in I was in that stadium for that Hail Mary. Need.
I need to come back from that as soon as possible.
That was the end of the season last year. I
need to come back from that as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Looking up your Wikipedia bios an effort in futility because
there's so many accomplishments. It's really impressive. And the way
you got started there was a man by the name
of Danny Daniels.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Danny. Danny's my trainer. Yeah, yeah, uh Brewer Danny. Danny's
from Downer's Grove. Okay, I still I think he's still
actually is from Downers Grove, a little Greek guy. It's
probably like five foot seven.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Uh, he's like as wide as he as tall. He's
a great dude, though, a journeyman.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
You know. He still promotes a small independent promotion in
Chicago called aa W, which is where I got my start.
He take took it over right when he was training
myself and my partner because I owned a wrestling school
in Downport, Iowa. My partner still runs the wrestling school
called black a Brave Wrestling Academy where we teach you know,
(17:20):
kind of up and coming professional wrestlers.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
In our craft. And yeah, Danny's great dude.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
He's just he's a Chicago guy, kind of threw and through.
He lived there his whole life. I used to go
to Chicago. We trained in like a shipping warehouse somewhere
on the outskirts of the city.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
It was cold as hell, there was no ac it
was the winter of four.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
It was brutal. And then, you know, as as wrestling goes,
because it's such a weird underground thing, we got kicked
out of our shipping warehouse, so we had to move
to like a somebody's garage, so that's where I trained.
We had a space heater in the garage, but we
couldn't trained for too long because the fumes of the
space here would make us get high and pass out.
(18:06):
Stay in there running the ropes and wrestling around too long,
so we would have to do like little spurts and
then open the garage door and let let it all
air out.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
But I mean it was, you know, December of Chicago.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It's brutal. So yeah, I mean I used to travel
every week to and from Chicago to train. I would
go on the weekends to carry Danny's bags.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
If he had shows.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I would help out on small shows like that, And
so I have a lot of close sides to the
city of Chicago. It's a place it's always I'd always
considered it kind of like my second home.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Hey, Seth, so you said you're thirty eight years old
right now, are you going to be the next Tom
Brady where you're gonna be a world champ?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
When you're getting into your.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Mid nihilate forties and then climbing that ladder? What what
do you what do you got going mentally?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And how's your body feel?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I feel really good. You know, our schedule has toned
down drastically since twenty twenty. Obviously, you know, COVID shut
everything down. We were still doing weekly television shows, but
we stopped doing our non televised events, and our non
televised events schedule was pretty nuts. And then we got
back to it in twenty twenty one. But wwe merged
(19:14):
with UFC. Over this past year, they started a new
company called TKO, and TKO is really focused on making
as much money as they can, which they're business I
get that. But one of the things that they've that
they've really cut back on our non televised events. Our
non televised events used to happen every weekend before our
standard Monday night Raw or after our Friday and SmackDown,
(19:38):
and that would happen every week every throughout the entire year.
So I would wrestle like two hundred matches a year sometimes,
which was bonkers. Wouldn't recommend, would not recommend. I look,
I loved it as a young man. You know, when
you're in your twenties, guys do whatever you want right,
You're invincible. You wake up the next day, nothing happened.
(19:58):
As the years start to go on the injuries start
to pile up. It's just you know, sleeping with the
wrong pillow could be a three day injury. So it's like.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
I'm I'm at my place now where I feel really good.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
The schedules tightened up, I'm not falling down nearly as
much as I used to. And look, the information is.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Better now, man.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Like you know, I firmly believe that, uh, players of
past generations, in whatever sport you're you were in, had
the information been as available as it is now, you
couldn't you guys could have played longer too, you know
what I mean? Like there could have been Tom Brady's
Damn Rado could have been Tom Brady. It could have
happened if if the information was available. Tom has just
(20:42):
taken advantage of every little bit of information that is
out there, every data point that he can find, and
figured he figured out a way to you know, beat
time back a little bit.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
And I feel that way as well as wrestlers.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
You look at what we're able to do, and we're
able to do it better longer and women, and so
I very much feel like I got about four or
five years left on this current contract. You know, I
feel like I could do it into my mid forties
and we'll see what happens. But I feel very good.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Hey Bears, van Steinhoffels, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears,
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shop in storing online at Steinhoffels dot com. So what's
more impressive? I'll have both of these professional athletes tell me,
because I've never dipped into that pond. Right, Tom played
(21:35):
forty four games in one calendar year playing USFL training
camp with Ditka double days, and it was brutal, full pads.
Then was his first year was the super Bowl team,
So he won the Super Bowl in his first year
with Bears. Or your two hundred nights of wrestling, I'll
let them go. The two pros. Tell me who wins
(21:57):
that matchup?
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Forty four games in a year, how about that?
Speaker 3 (22:02):
On top of like practice in minicamp, training camp, all
that stuff.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Yeap, whoa well, let me let me quote the great
seth freaking Rollins in your twenties.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
It's all easy. You get up the next day and
go to work.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So you heard it right of course.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Man, here I am going from playing in the usfl
Out in Arizona to coming back to my hometown and
having an opportunity to try out with the nineteen eighty
four NFC champion ship. They got beat by San Francisco
with their sit set on the super Bowl, so you
know that'd be you know, I don't know how to
(22:41):
analogize in wrestling, but taking you and your tenth match
and plugging you into you know, battle royal.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
That's amazing. I mean, look, I'm gonna, I'm gonna there's
not the unpredictability of that to me, and why you
stayed healthy that whole time, no, no, no injuries. That
to me, that is wildly impressive. I mean, look, we
take a beating, is, we fall down every night, but
there's control, right, So if I have a week, if
I have an injury, my opponent will work around it.
(23:12):
Whereas your opponent wants to go right for that injury.
You know, they want to hurt you, They want to
do everything they can to get you off the field.
So I will take back seat to that, no doubt.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
That is a hell of a feat you should be
proud of that. That is amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I do think there's a lot of similarities in our
job and the anticipation of how you're going to get hit,
how you're going to fall down, what your landing spot
is going to be, how you're going to make contact
with this person in front of me, and then how
you're gonna maneuver through. I do think there's a lot
of anticipation in both of our jobs that we kind
(23:50):
of have that feeling of how it's going to happen
and then what to do into how it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, I mean preparation and repetition are huge, right, you
know you do that a million million million times and
everything kind of starts to slow down for you, and you,
like you said, you can anticipate a little bit better,
and so you can take care of yourself a little
bit better. You can do your job a little bit better.
You know, when you watch somebody do something like play
(24:19):
different sport for the first time, the speed of it
blows your mind. Right, The speed of what happens when
the ball snaps is insane to me. But once you're
in it, it's you know, it slows down a little
bit and you start to be able to really focus,
like you said, on that anticipation in those reps and
that practice that really gets you in a position. So
(24:40):
I agree there is a lot of similarity there, but
there's just an element of unpredictability that you guys have
because it's a real competition that I think it gives you.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I'll give it to the edge man. That's I'm why
I just took my cap to that.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
The mental challenge each and every week because your body,
I don't care if you're in your twenties, you get
and beat up. Your body feels it, right, Tom always
says about fatigue, it makes cowards of us. All right,
we can put on the sideline in the film room.
So which leads us to this? Our aches, pains are
injuries keeping you on the sidelines. Well, athleticos movement experts
(25:14):
are here to help you turn your setbacks into comebacks
and create a personalized game plan for your recovery with
no prescription or referral needed. Athletical physical therapy is where
your comeback story begins. Athletico proud to be the official
physical therapy partner of the Chicago Bears. So you must
have a Matt Forte, the great Matt fourt later on
(25:35):
in his career. This is the definition of professionalism and
this applies to both of you. Really decided, you know what,
I got to figure out a better way to take
care of my body. So that was a full time
commitment on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday after games to
get ready again on Friday, Saturday and plan on Sunday.
How much time do you spent on body maintenance?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Seth? Oh wow, I mean everything's just changed. The paradigm
has just shifted. The way I train is just so
much different now than the way I did, you know,
five ten years ago. Taking time to get massage, get chiropractic,
get the body work done. I think it's more of
an as.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
Needed thing for me.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
So I don't have like I spend a million dollars
a year on this or you know this many hours
a week. I have people that I trust to take
care of the injuries or you know whatever, I need,
the soreness, the aches, and I have a system and
then you know, get my diet right. I think it's
pretty a big thing. Making sure that you know, the
(26:40):
inflation levels are low and so that I can continue
to kind of do what I need to do on
a daily basis. But I think it's just prioritizing that stuff.
You know we talked about when we were younger. I
just didn't I was like whatever, you know, I just
I just didn't care, you know, I just do it.
Was it was a little bit of a sickness, you know,
a little bit of masochism, a little bit of sadism.
(27:02):
I just like the pain. I like the suffering. I
couldn't wait to do more of it. And then I
think at.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Some point I just got sick of that.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
You know, maybe that fatigue didn't make a coward of me,
and I just got over it. And I'm not ashamed
to admit I became a bit of a coward in
that regard. So it's just it's how I manage my
time now. It's what I do to maintain as a
bit as opposed to you know, just going one hundred
percent put on the gas the whole time. And you know, look,
(27:30):
I got a family now, I got a daughter, and
so I got to got to manage my time a
little bit better. And I want to feel better at home,
Like there's a I can't just lay in bed all day.
I got to get up and be dad and and
enjoy that process and be that for her.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
So this is your and your wife's a wrestler, too,
famous wrestler.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
So he is the greatest of all time. Begu Lynce.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
You can't you can't. I can't be it, man. So yeah,
we both got to be up and at him for
a little four and a half year old because she
runs the house, that's for sure, Seth.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
I I one more question for me.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
So if I was sitting in front of a group
of high school football players and they said, what are
five things that you want to tell us that you
need to do if you really want, if you are.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Inspired to be a professional football player.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
If now Seth is sitting in front of high school
kids that want, they are inspired, or their aspiration is
to be a professional wrestler, what are the top three
things that you would tell them to get prepared for?
Be prepared for, you know, to get ready?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Oh man, So I think the first one is be
prepared to work harder than you've ever worked in your life.
Whatever idea you have of hard work, you're about to
change that exponentially, Because every time you think you're the
(28:51):
hardest worker in the room.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
You're going to step into another room and somebody is
going to be.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Working harder and you've got to be able to match
that and beat that. Secondly, I think sacrifice is one
of the things that I don't think people really understand
about what it takes to be great, and I mean
personal sacrifice. You will need to dedicate a lot of
time to being great, and you will sacrifice personal relationships.
(29:19):
You will sacrifice a lot of what you want to
do for what you have to do. And then you know,
it's the cliche. I'm gonna give you four things. The
third one to cliche is it's a marathon. It's not
a sprint. So understand the scope of time that it's
going to take for you to get from zero to mastery.
(29:42):
It takes many, many, many failures and screw ups and
you know, bad decisions to learn from all of that
to be better.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
And the last one is, you know, and I'm a
very goal oriented person, it took me a long time
to learn this.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
In some ways it was a double edged sword for me.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
But the big thing was the journey.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Is the ride, Like that's the accomplishment is the journey
and taking joy in that journey, because when you reach
the pinnacle, all you're gonna ask yourself, if you are
a truly great performer or a great athlete, is what's next.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
You'll take two seconds to revel.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
In that that achievement, and you will ask yourself what's next?
And to keep doing that is a fool's game. Once
you learn to enjoy the process and reap in the
rewards of what the journey is for you, you'll be
able to find a lot more happiness that they on
a day to day basis. And those are those would
(30:46):
be the thing that I will that I would tell
the kids. I will tell the kids after I'm doing
with you, guys, I'm going to school. Look, we have
our first day for the new incoming class, and I'm
going to go put them through the ringer and I'm
gonna I'm gonna channel my my best coach there. You
go make sure they're ready to go.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Pads will not be on today.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
But suffering Dicka had this saying, and they called it ace,
ace attitude, character, enthusiasm, And if you don't have that,
you cannot be successful and whatever your way of life
is going to be damn right.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, And I totally agree. You know, it's a selfish
pursuit to be great.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
And you know there's some some littered stories along the
side of the road in that regard. But yeah, you
have to, like, if you want to be whatever your
definition of great is, uh, and it to me is
an unattainable level you have to make. You have to
make those sacrifices and and and that's probably the best
(31:48):
advice that I'm taking from you right here and now,
is that enjoy the ride, enjoy the journey, because I
think sometimes, you know, you lose sight of that, like
you walk into a stadium. I don't make it for granted.
I haven't taken it for granted for any of the
games I've called. But and I'm sure Tom feels the
same way. But sometimes you got to stop and smell
(32:09):
the roses a little bit, you know, and you just
got to enjoy that ride. I think that's great advice.
We brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
All Right, we're gonna wrap you up a couple of
quick hitters. You're Seth Robins. It's not your given birth name.
You've had a lot of names. Who decides the names.
And today you're one name and now they're going to
give you another. Do you have to say?
Speaker 3 (32:30):
I had a little bit of say. My name, Seth
Rollins was given to me, bestowed upon me. I made
a list. I made it like two lists, first days
and last names. When I first got hired by WWE. Right,
they want to own your brand. They want to be
partners in owning your brand. So look when I was
on the independent wrestling before WW, I was Tyler Black.
I decided that all by myself. I got to WWE.
(32:51):
They wanted to own, you know, like I said, own
the brands. I made two lists, and the late great
American dream Dusty Rhodes was the one who gave me
my name, Seth Rollins. He had a lift, but you
don't know nothing. He had a lift. He's a Southern
boy with a lift. And I see that on the
market now I see it. It's Seth Rollins, baby manavan
(33:13):
ref of Mini. I love it. I love it. Baby.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Who would be the most uh notable maybe person on
your on your cell phone you could dial up right now?
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Oh, probably the rock Yeah, Dwayne Dwyne Johnson in Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
He'd be number one. I'd say, just just just send
him a birthday message the other day, and uh, yeah,
he's he's a good cat. He's been wonderful to myself
as a mentor, but also as a good friend to
my family.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
And I see you got a Pro Jam poster in
the background as we're looking at you. We're both huge
Pro Jam fans, big Eddie fans, one of Tom's good buddies.
Uh so, uh, could you dial up Eddie at anytime?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I couldn't. That's the one. My wife loves Pro Jam.
She's she's there, her favorite band. And uh, one of
these days I'm gonna get I'm gonna get Eddie on
the line for We'll see how it goes.
Speaker 5 (33:59):
But yeah, he's he's a sad man. He's tricky Chicago guy.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Though I love him.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
We love him, Seth. Can't tell you so much. Thanks
for doing this. Appreciate your time is valuable, and keep
rooting hard for those bears. And I think we're all
pretty optimistic. The forecast looks good. We won't get any
predictions right now, schedules not even out, but you'll be
rooting hard to appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Man. Hey, guys, thank you so much for taking the
time to chat with me today. I really look forward
to doing this more throughout the season. So thank you
guys again and go Bears.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Big big fans of yours, Seth, thank you and congratulations
and good luck and let's keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Thank you to Chicago.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all the
bells and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seating
room for everyone's ruler bag. United Proud to fly the
Chicago Bears and YouTube for Seth Robbins big time there.
I'm Jeff Jonahak. Thanks for listening. Everybody. Please subscribe now
the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever
you get your podcasts and send us out.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Thank you boys, Burn it Down, Bear Downs.
Shut over that DJ More episode Touchdown, Touchdown Bears.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Jeff Jonia blitz Is on.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Donny go r What was like playing for Coach Good
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
coming is a big trouble.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Donnie Goos Montest Sweat.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Bears, et Cetera, brought to you by Miller Light with
the voices of the Bears Jeff Joniac and Tom Sayer.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, it's Rookie Minnicamp week here of the first week
of May at Halius All as the whirlwind continues for
the college stars now ready to embark in the next
phase of their football journey. Welcome to episode one of
the Bears et Cetera podcast, and we're brought to you
by Miller Light with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Sayer.
I'm Jeff Joniac, very special guest on this week's POB.
(00:53):
We're gonna talk to a rabbit Bears fan. I mean rabbit.
This is not your dime store, righty supporter of and
be blue and Orange. No, no, no, no no, this
is superstar level. And if we were scouting in the
NFL vernacular, he'd be a Blue Tom, He'd be a
blue talent WWE superstar, the one and only Seth Rollins.
(01:18):
Thank you for joining us, my friend. How you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Oh man, I'm doing great after that?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well deserved?
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I mean, look, you can't at this point, this stage,
if you're a Bears fan. I think we're all we're all,
we're all blue prospects, you know what. Everyone stuck around
at this point. So yeah, I appreciate that. Though. Man,
thank you guys for having me on. I'm excited to
talk football with you.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And before we go any further, you have so many
nicknames and whatnot, I prefer the Seth freaking Rollins.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay? We go with that today.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
That's a great That's a great one. It feels good.
It rolls off the tongue real nice.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, guys, Tommy, you can go ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Now, Seth.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
So walking onto that stage in Green Bay when you
went to annous the draft choice and in your business,
you have to appreciate the booze.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
As much as you do the cheers.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
So how did it feel when you walked out into
lambeau Field?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Because I've walked out.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
There plenty of times and got the acceptance of the
booze and the appreciation of the booze.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
But how was it for you getting ready to call
that draft choice?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It was a beautiful moment in time. Man, it was
a beautiful moment in time. I was.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
I was so excited to be able to do that
for the Bears.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It was truly an honor to be able to, you know,
read a pick off at any draft, let alone being
in Green Bay for the first time. So that was
a really special thing for me. And I mean I
loved it. I loved leaning into the booze. I wish
they were louder. I was hoping they were gonna, you know,
boom me off the stage. But it was a really
awesome experience. You know, look, the fans in Green Bay,
(02:52):
they get it, they understand, they know the assignment, and
so it was great and I got a little leeway
to cook them with a couple of whiles. Yeah, the
commissioner was, he was he was thrilled that I was there.
So it was nice to be able to get a
little permission to take some time and do what I
had to do to the fine folks in Greenville.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Time did that all come about?
Speaker 5 (03:14):
You know what, my manager just got it set up.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I mean, obviously we've been doing a lot of work
with the franchise and the NFL over the past year,
and I think we saw that the draft was in
Green Bay, and you know, he reached out and said
I'd be interested, and the team said, well, let's make
it happen. You know, let's see what we can do
for for Day two or Day three. So I was
I think just just suffering through many, many seasons of
(03:39):
Bears football got me to where I am today, you know,
So I think that's pretty much it. But yeah, it
was it was all him and in the NFL for
being so gracious and allowing me to take that spot.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You know, Seth, I was kind of thinking about you
have a one of the most unique jobs in all
the world. You're a multi time world champ, and you
kind of taunt crowds. Do you ever get do you
get taunted like when you're out in the general public
because you're an easy guy to recognize, dude, you're not.
You know, you know, people know who you are when
you walk down the street, whether they say, hey, throw
(04:11):
me off the turnbuckle, drop me off the top rope.
You know, whatever it is out in the general public.
Are you talk to and taunted a little bit?
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yeah, I mean taunting not so much.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
You know, I think when you see me in public,
I think it's more people just get excited. You know.
You get your requests for strange things like headlocks or
arm ringers or you know, my finisher is a stump
to the back of the head. People want to see
how that feels. I wouldn't advise it. But for the
most part, I think I think and wrestling fans are
a wild bunch, but I think everybody is mostly just
(04:45):
excited to catch a glimpse, you know what, I mean,
to see you on the street, and look, I'm not
going to pretend I'm John Cena or the Rock or
anything like that. Like, I can still go do regular
things for the most part. But if I'm in a
grocery store, like, you know, somebody he's going to ask
for a picture. So, but everybody's pretty cool. You don't
really get any too many crazies, at least not in
person anyway.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
You know, for those of us that are sports fans
that we're outside the ring, we kind of watch you
guys and try to anticipate what the next move could
possibly be.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
When you're on the sidelines of a football game.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Do you have that same anticipation though, we as fans
of wrestling have and you know in the football fan
in you.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Oh absolutely. I am an armchair quarterback through and through.
You know, I'm down in distance. I'm looking at where
we're at in the game, and I'm wondering what the
coach is going to dial up.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
You know, I'm curious to see what the play.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Call is going to be. You know, are they gonna
they're going to try to get a few yards on
the ground, They're going to drop a screen, and is
this time to take a deep shot? You know, second
and short, we're in midfield. Let's see what we can do.
You know, I'm all about that. So I think that's
part of the fun of being a sports fan is
playing arms chair quarterback.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
And you know, I would have done this if only
they had done that.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
You know, truth is, I know no better than anybody else, obviously,
but it is sure certainly a good way to watch
football game.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Could be a little frustrating at times, though.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Let's burn it down and bear down Chicago. His final
words in lambeau Field as he introduced the Bears a
draft pick the five time world champion on WWE. It
is Seth Rollins. This podcast is brought to you by
the official beer partner of your Chicago Bears tastes like
Midder Time Chicago. Go to Miller Lite dot com slash
Bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly
(06:32):
in Midder Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and
three point two carbs per twelve ounces. I noticed on
January twentieth of twenty twenty five, you posted on your
X account at WWE rollins for those interested in following,
and you've got a ton of followers. My man, I
love football, That's all you said in quotes. So I
(06:52):
asked you why.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I mean, if you look at the timeline, that was
one of my last I don't even know if you
call them tweets anymore, one of my last posts. As
I am, I'm gracefully exiting the X app for my
own personal reasons, but I will say, if you look
at the timeline, you know that one was pretty sweet.
(07:16):
I think the Ben Johnson hire is something that we
should all be excited about as Bears fans. For the
first time in as long as I can remember. You know,
we've got the bell of the ball. We've got the
coach who I think everyone was sought after and I
think is really going to be able to make a
difference in this franchise and hopefully turn into a winning
(07:39):
franchise again, which is great for Chicago, great for Bears fans,
but it's also great, in my opinion, for the NFL.
So I feel awesome about the Ben Johnson hire. I
made that very clear on x Twitter or whatever you
want to call it, and yeah, that is why Ben
Johnson got an I Love football tweet from me.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Well wait till you meet him, because Tom and I
are thoroughly impressed, not only with just his personality. He
comes with a bit of an edge, which you're gonna love.
He is all business, he's no nonsense. He's kind of
set that in stone already for this team moving forward
from the moment they had their first team meeting, but
also what he's put together on the coaching staff. I
think Tom will agree he's had a chance to meet
(08:20):
with these coaches as well. The vast range and experience
from an age sixty nine defensive coach to a sixty
five year old to a twenty eight year old offensive
coordinator in Declan Doyle, and not all his buddies. I mean,
these are people that have different experiences, so they're drawing
and all these experience to put together something uniquely bears,
which I'm grateful for because Tom and I've been doing
(08:43):
this together for twenty nine years in some form or fashion,
and so you know, we have a lot of experience
on change, and this particular change, as you eloquently pointed out,
feels different. It does test, it feels different.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, I mean I'm excited. I you know, the hires
as for offensive defensive coordinator were intriguing to me as well,
and I'm really excited about, like you said, the range
in the hiring and I think you know, just the
one that jumps off the page to me is Dennis
Allen because there's someone with tons of coaching experience head
coaching experience as well, and you have that in your
(09:19):
back pocket. I almost feel like you don't have to
worry about the defense. You know, Dennis Allen's got that covered.
And if you need anything on the back end, you
need a little advice, you need a little help, you
need somebody to chip in from a head coaching perspective,
assistant head coach, You've got someone with a wealth of
knowledge in Dennis Allen that's going to be able to
help you along that ride and kind of mentor you
in that way. Whereas I think, you know, on the
(09:42):
other end of the spectrum of dec la Doyle is
someone who's going to be able to learn. He's going
to be able to be eager to go above and
beyond because you know, this isn't going to He doesn't
want this to be his last stop. I assume he
wants to get to the next level as well, and
so he's going to do everything he can to soak
him whatever knowledge he can get from all these guy.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
So I think you've created a pretty cool recipe.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
You know, obviously you've got to see how all this
works out, see how these these pieces kind of vibe together.
But I really like it just from aesthetic point of view,
what I'm seeing and then what I'm hearing from guys
like you who have a little bit more inside information.
It feels good. You know, you still got to go
out there on Sunday and win games in the fall,
that's the bottom line. But I'm very excited about the future.
(10:25):
And I think, you know, we throw the term culture
around a lot, but anytime you're going to go out
there and call out Matt Laflora like on.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Your first day on the job, you got you got
me dog.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean, you know, Seth. You know when you talk
about some of your oldest.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Memories of the Chicago Bears, I was born in sixty
one and Joliet and been a Bears fan my whole life.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And then you were.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Born in eighty six, right, that's right? Yeah, So what like,
do you have some of the earliest memories of being
a Bears fan that you know come to you?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Because there's a lot of you know, memories of.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
The emerging so the Bears, you know, in the Walter
Payton era and even the eras that that came before him.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
So what about you, Oh.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
Man, all my Bears memories are horrible.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
My earliest memories are you know, I got into because
I live in Iowa. I was born and raised in Iowa,
and so you know, we do have a bit of
an option as far as football fandom is concerned, or
sports fandom is concerned.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
But my grandpa was a diehard Bears fan. So, you know,
I grew up.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
In small town, Iowa. Every Sunday we would go to church.
That's a church. We would go over to my grandparents'
house and we would watch football games. And I remember
distinctly my grandpa had this. It was it was like
a stuffed Bears player, but it came apart at the lens.
So every every definitely that happened.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
He could rip an arm off, he could rip a
leg off, he.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Could rip a head off and throw it a TV
without anything breaking. But yeah, I mean it was I
you know, I grew up watching football in.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
The early nineties.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Bears were okay. They they had some decent years there,
never made any strides really into the playoffs or anything
like that.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
You know, I remember the Kate McNown draft. I remember
the Rashaan Salam draft.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
You know. Luckily the team really turned around under love Smith,
you know, had the Super Bowl run. I got to
watch Devin Hester, you know, change the game for returners
and then the defense with Irlacker and Briggs and those guys.
So that was very exciting times. You know, when you
when you really got to I got to experience a
(12:31):
dominant special Chicago Bears defense, you know, Monsters of the
Midway type defense, Peanut Tillman, you know, causing havoc on
the edge. So that was really fun to see. That
was really fun to experience. But I would say the
majority of my Bears fandom has been suffering, has been paying,
has been I.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Was born, like I said, eighty six, So I.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Just missed the Super Bowl. I just missed sweetness. None
of that did I get to experience firsthand. I've had
to live like Carrious through you guys who came before
me and got to see all the good times. But
I'm hoping we're on the other side of that and
either the future can be bright in Chicago.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Is there any guys in your wrestling background that you
can say, Okay, this is the guy that captured my attention,
this is the guy that kind of transitioned me into
being the multi world champ that you are. And is
there anybody in your background that was a super influence
in those terms?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely. I mean, look, I've been a huge wrestling fan
for as long as I've been a Bears fan. You know,
the two things were, you know, number one and number
two in my life pretty much my entire as long
as I can remember, and when I grew up, my
first guy was Hault Kogan. He got me into it,
the guy that really kind of let me know that
this was something I could do or something that I
was interested in doing. And Shawn Michaels, you know, Sean
(13:49):
and Brett, you know, kind of came up. In the
mid nineties, wrestling was getting a little bit faster, the
guys with the stars were getting a little bit smaller,
and it was the first time that I saw someone
who could draw a house, who could fill a stadium
or an arena, who was a regular sized person, you know,
like in the eighties it was Atlanta Giants, was Andre
(14:11):
was Hogan, it was Savage, it was Warrior. These were
the guys that you know, brought the money in then
put people in the seats. And Sean and Brett were
the first guys who were around six foot and you know,
a moderate build that I was like, oh wait, I'm
not going to be hul Cogan size, but I certainly
could be Sean Michael size. I certainly could be Brett
Hart's size. I might be able to do this. And
(14:34):
I love Sean, So Sean's been my favorite wrestler probably
since I was about, you know, ten eleven years old,
and he's a guy who's inspired me and a lot
of my generation.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Where you look at the business now, the industry.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Now, it's so fast paced, it's unreal what the next
generation of people are doing. You know, I'm almost forty
years old, so I'm like an old hat and this
thing now, it's just crazy to say, because I feel
like I'm just hitting my prime. But uh yeah, I mean,
Sean's the guy. He's the guy that really inspired me
to want to do this thing.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Bears tickets go on sale Wednesday, May fourteenth, market calendars. Also,
that'll be the rollout of the NFL twenty twenty five schedule.
An he guesses fellas on whom the Bears will open
with where and what day are we going to do
a primetime opener?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
What are we doing? Oh man, I don't know. What's
the juice?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
What's the juicy? Matchup?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
What do you want? Or what are they gonna do?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, okay, both both, let's do both? What do you want?
What do you think they'll do?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
I'd like to have the difficult, the most difficult home
field opponent Game one, whoever that is on the Bear schedule.
Do you still consider Green Bay or I don't know
where the Philly game is gonna be, or you know,
just one of the try to get someone, try to
get someone that's unexpected early and you know, take advantage
(15:56):
of them.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
I mean, are they back in Washington this year?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
They are? Yes, Oh, believe me, I've read. You know,
people are trying to figure out the best top ten
matchups this season for five times, and that's on the list.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Okay, you know that's that's right up your alley.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
In the wrestling world. It's a revenge matchup.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
It's a revenge that I was there live, I was
in I was in that stadium for that Hail Mary. Need.
I need to come back from that as soon as possible.
That was the end of the season last year. I
need to come back from that as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Looking up your Wikipedia bios an effort in futility because
there's so many accomplishments. It's really impressive. And the way
you got started there was a man by the name
of Danny Daniels.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Danny. Danny's my trainer. Yeah, yeah, uh Brewer Danny. Danny's
from Downer's Grove. Okay, I still I think he's still
actually is from Downers Grove, a little Greek guy. It's
probably like five foot seven.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Uh, he's like as wide as he as tall. He's
a great dude, though, a journeyman.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
You know. He still promotes a small independent promotion in
Chicago called aa W, which is where I got my start.
He take took it over right when he was training
myself and my partner because I owned a wrestling school
in Downport, Iowa. My partner still runs the wrestling school
called black a Brave Wrestling Academy where we teach you know,
(17:20):
kind of up and coming professional wrestlers.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
In our craft. And yeah, Danny's great dude.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
He's just he's a Chicago guy, kind of threw and through.
He lived there his whole life. I used to go
to Chicago. We trained in like a shipping warehouse somewhere
on the outskirts of the city.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
It was cold as hell, there was no ac it
was the winter of four.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
It was brutal. And then, you know, as as wrestling goes,
because it's such a weird underground thing, we got kicked
out of our shipping warehouse, so we had to move
to like a somebody's garage, so that's where I trained.
We had a space heater in the garage, but we
couldn't trained for too long because the fumes of the
space here would make us get high and pass out.
(18:06):
Stay in there running the ropes and wrestling around too long,
so we would have to do like little spurts and
then open the garage door and let let it all
air out.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
But I mean it was, you know, December of Chicago.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It's brutal. So yeah, I mean I used to travel
every week to and from Chicago to train. I would
go on the weekends to carry Danny's bags.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
If he had shows.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I would help out on small shows like that, And
so I have a lot of close sides to the
city of Chicago. It's a place it's always I'd always
considered it kind of like my second home.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Hey, Seth, so you said you're thirty eight years old
right now, are you going to be the next Tom
Brady where you're gonna be a world champ?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
When you're getting into your.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Mid nihilate forties and then climbing that ladder? What what
do you what do you got going mentally?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And how's your body feel?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I feel really good. You know, our schedule has toned
down drastically since twenty twenty. Obviously, you know, COVID shut
everything down. We were still doing weekly television shows, but
we stopped doing our non televised events, and our non
televised events schedule was pretty nuts. And then we got
back to it in twenty twenty one. But wwe merged
(19:14):
with UFC. Over this past year, they started a new
company called TKO, and TKO is really focused on making
as much money as they can, which they're business I
get that. But one of the things that they've that
they've really cut back on our non televised events. Our
non televised events used to happen every weekend before our
standard Monday night Raw or after our Friday and SmackDown,
(19:38):
and that would happen every week every throughout the entire year.
So I would wrestle like two hundred matches a year sometimes,
which was bonkers. Wouldn't recommend, would not recommend. I look,
I loved it as a young man. You know, when
you're in your twenties, guys do whatever you want right,
You're invincible. You wake up the next day, nothing happened.
(19:58):
As the years start to go on the injuries start
to pile up. It's just you know, sleeping with the
wrong pillow could be a three day injury. So it's like.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
I'm I'm at my place now where I feel really good.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
The schedules tightened up, I'm not falling down nearly as
much as I used to. And look, the information is.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Better now, man.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Like you know, I firmly believe that, uh, players of
past generations, in whatever sport you're you were in, had
the information been as available as it is now, you
couldn't you guys could have played longer too, you know
what I mean? Like there could have been Tom Brady's
Damn Rado could have been Tom Brady. It could have
happened if if the information was available. Tom has just
(20:42):
taken advantage of every little bit of information that is
out there, every data point that he can find, and
figured he figured out a way to you know, beat
time back a little bit.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
And I feel that way as well as wrestlers.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
You look at what we're able to do, and we're
able to do it better longer and women, and so
I very much feel like I got about four or
five years left on this current contract. You know, I
feel like I could do it into my mid forties
and we'll see what happens. But I feel very good.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Hey Bears, van Steinhoffels, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears,
are now opening Orland Park Steinhoffels, the Chicago Dan's furniture
at mattress leader with the largest selection to fit every
style in budget and as one hundred percent employee owned
shop in storing online at Steinhoffels dot com. So what's
more impressive? I'll have both of these professional athletes tell me,
because I've never dipped into that pond. Right, Tom played
(21:35):
forty four games in one calendar year playing USFL training
camp with Ditka double days, and it was brutal, full pads.
Then was his first year was the super Bowl team,
So he won the Super Bowl in his first year
with Bears. Or your two hundred nights of wrestling, I'll
let them go. The two pros. Tell me who wins
(21:57):
that matchup?
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Forty four games in a year, how about that?
Speaker 3 (22:02):
On top of like practice in minicamp, training camp, all
that stuff.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Yeap, whoa well, let me let me quote the great
seth freaking Rollins in your twenties.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
It's all easy. You get up the next day and
go to work.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So you heard it right of course.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Man, here I am going from playing in the usfl
Out in Arizona to coming back to my hometown and
having an opportunity to try out with the nineteen eighty
four NFC champion ship. They got beat by San Francisco
with their sit set on the super Bowl, so you
know that'd be you know, I don't know how to
(22:41):
analogize in wrestling, but taking you and your tenth match
and plugging you into you know, battle royal.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
That's amazing. I mean, look, I'm gonna, I'm gonna there's
not the unpredictability of that to me, and why you
stayed healthy that whole time, no, no, no injuries. That
to me, that is wildly impressive. I mean, look, we
take a beating, is, we fall down every night, but
there's control, right, So if I have a week, if
I have an injury, my opponent will work around it.
(23:12):
Whereas your opponent wants to go right for that injury.
You know, they want to hurt you, They want to
do everything they can to get you off the field.
So I will take back seat to that, no doubt.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
That is a hell of a feat you should be
proud of that. That is amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I do think there's a lot of similarities in our
job and the anticipation of how you're going to get hit,
how you're going to fall down, what your landing spot
is going to be, how you're going to make contact
with this person in front of me, and then how
you're gonna maneuver through. I do think there's a lot
of anticipation in both of our jobs that we kind
(23:50):
of have that feeling of how it's going to happen
and then what to do into how it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, I mean preparation and repetition are huge, right, you
know you do that a million million million times and
everything kind of starts to slow down for you, and you,
like you said, you can anticipate a little bit better,
and so you can take care of yourself a little
bit better. You can do your job a little bit better.
You know, when you watch somebody do something like play
(24:19):
different sport for the first time, the speed of it
blows your mind. Right, The speed of what happens when
the ball snaps is insane to me. But once you're
in it, it's you know, it slows down a little
bit and you start to be able to really focus,
like you said, on that anticipation in those reps and
that practice that really gets you in a position. So
(24:40):
I agree there is a lot of similarity there, but
there's just an element of unpredictability that you guys have
because it's a real competition that I think it gives you.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I'll give it to the edge man. That's I'm why
I just took my cap to that.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
The mental challenge each and every week because your body,
I don't care if you're in your twenties, you get
and beat up. Your body feels it, right, Tom always
says about fatigue, it makes cowards of us. All right,
we can put on the sideline in the film room.
So which leads us to this? Our aches, pains are
injuries keeping you on the sidelines. Well, athleticos movement experts
(25:14):
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your comeback story begins. Athletico proud to be the official
physical therapy partner of the Chicago Bears. So you must
have a Matt Forte, the great Matt fourt later on
(25:35):
in his career. This is the definition of professionalism and
this applies to both of you. Really decided, you know what,
I got to figure out a better way to take
care of my body. So that was a full time
commitment on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday after games to
get ready again on Friday, Saturday and plan on Sunday.
How much time do you spent on body maintenance?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Seth? Oh wow, I mean everything's just changed. The paradigm
has just shifted. The way I train is just so
much different now than the way I did, you know,
five ten years ago. Taking time to get massage, get chiropractic,
get the body work done. I think it's more of
an as.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
Needed thing for me.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
So I don't have like I spend a million dollars
a year on this or you know this many hours
a week. I have people that I trust to take
care of the injuries or you know whatever, I need,
the soreness, the aches, and I have a system and
then you know, get my diet right. I think it's
pretty a big thing. Making sure that you know, the
(26:40):
inflation levels are low and so that I can continue
to kind of do what I need to do on
a daily basis. But I think it's just prioritizing that stuff.
You know we talked about when we were younger. I
just didn't I was like whatever, you know, I just
I just didn't care, you know, I just do it.
Was it was a little bit of a sickness, you know,
a little bit of masochism, a little bit of sadism.
(27:02):
I just like the pain. I like the suffering. I
couldn't wait to do more of it. And then I
think at.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Some point I just got sick of that.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
You know, maybe that fatigue didn't make a coward of me,
and I just got over it. And I'm not ashamed
to admit I became a bit of a coward in
that regard. So it's just it's how I manage my
time now. It's what I do to maintain as a
bit as opposed to you know, just going one hundred
percent put on the gas the whole time. And you know, look,
(27:30):
I got a family now, I got a daughter, and
so I got to got to manage my time a
little bit better. And I want to feel better at home,
Like there's a I can't just lay in bed all day.
I got to get up and be dad and and
enjoy that process and be that for her.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
So this is your and your wife's a wrestler, too,
famous wrestler.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
So he is the greatest of all time. Begu Lynce.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
You can't you can't. I can't be it, man. So yeah,
we both got to be up and at him for
a little four and a half year old because she
runs the house, that's for sure, Seth.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
I I one more question for me.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
So if I was sitting in front of a group
of high school football players and they said, what are
five things that you want to tell us that you
need to do if you really want, if you are.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Inspired to be a professional football player.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
If now Seth is sitting in front of high school
kids that want, they are inspired, or their aspiration is
to be a professional wrestler, what are the top three
things that you would tell them to get prepared for?
Be prepared for, you know, to get ready?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Oh man, So I think the first one is be
prepared to work harder than you've ever worked in your life.
Whatever idea you have of hard work, you're about to
change that exponentially, Because every time you think you're the
(28:51):
hardest worker in the room.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
You're going to step into another room and somebody is
going to be.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Working harder and you've got to be able to match
that and beat that. Secondly, I think sacrifice is one
of the things that I don't think people really understand
about what it takes to be great, and I mean
personal sacrifice. You will need to dedicate a lot of
time to being great, and you will sacrifice personal relationships.
(29:19):
You will sacrifice a lot of what you want to
do for what you have to do. And then you know,
it's the cliche. I'm gonna give you four things. The
third one to cliche is it's a marathon. It's not
a sprint. So understand the scope of time that it's
going to take for you to get from zero to mastery.
(29:42):
It takes many, many, many failures and screw ups and
you know, bad decisions to learn from all of that
to be better.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
And the last one is, you know, and I'm a
very goal oriented person, it took me a long time
to learn this.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
In some ways it was a double edged sword for me.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
But the big thing was the journey.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Is the ride, Like that's the accomplishment is the journey
and taking joy in that journey, because when you reach
the pinnacle, all you're gonna ask yourself, if you are
a truly great performer or a great athlete, is what's next.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
You'll take two seconds to revel.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
In that that achievement, and you will ask yourself what's next?
And to keep doing that is a fool's game. Once
you learn to enjoy the process and reap in the
rewards of what the journey is for you, you'll be
able to find a lot more happiness that they on
a day to day basis. And those are those would
(30:46):
be the thing that I will that I would tell
the kids. I will tell the kids after I'm doing
with you, guys, I'm going to school. Look, we have
our first day for the new incoming class, and I'm
going to go put them through the ringer and I'm
gonna I'm gonna channel my my best coach there. You
go make sure they're ready to go.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Pads will not be on today.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
But suffering Dicka had this saying, and they called it ace,
ace attitude, character, enthusiasm, And if you don't have that,
you cannot be successful and whatever your way of life
is going to be damn right.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, And I totally agree. You know, it's a selfish
pursuit to be great.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
And you know there's some some littered stories along the
side of the road in that regard. But yeah, you
have to, like, if you want to be whatever your
definition of great is, uh, and it to me is
an unattainable level you have to make. You have to
make those sacrifices and and and that's probably the best
(31:48):
advice that I'm taking from you right here and now,
is that enjoy the ride, enjoy the journey, because I
think sometimes, you know, you lose sight of that, like
you walk into a stadium. I don't make it for granted.
I haven't taken it for granted for any of the
games I've called. But and I'm sure Tom feels the
same way. But sometimes you got to stop and smell
(32:09):
the roses a little bit, you know, and you just
got to enjoy that ride. I think that's great advice.
We brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
All Right, we're gonna wrap you up a couple of
quick hitters. You're Seth Robins. It's not your given birth name.
You've had a lot of names. Who decides the names.
And today you're one name and now they're going to
give you another. Do you have to say?
Speaker 3 (32:30):
I had a little bit of say. My name, Seth
Rollins was given to me, bestowed upon me. I made
a list. I made it like two lists, first days
and last names. When I first got hired by WWE. Right,
they want to own your brand. They want to be
partners in owning your brand. So look when I was
on the independent wrestling before WW, I was Tyler Black.
I decided that all by myself. I got to WWE.
(32:51):
They wanted to own, you know, like I said, own
the brands. I made two lists, and the late great
American dream Dusty Rhodes was the one who gave me
my name, Seth Rollins. He had a lift, but you
don't know nothing. He had a lift. He's a Southern
boy with a lift. And I see that on the
market now I see it. It's Seth Rollins, baby manavan
(33:13):
ref of Mini. I love it. I love it. Baby.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Who would be the most uh notable maybe person on
your on your cell phone you could dial up right now?
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Oh, probably the rock Yeah, Dwayne Dwyne Johnson in Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
He'd be number one. I'd say, just just just send
him a birthday message the other day, and uh, yeah,
he's he's a good cat. He's been wonderful to myself
as a mentor, but also as a good friend to
my family.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
And I see you got a Pro Jam poster in
the background as we're looking at you. We're both huge
Pro Jam fans, big Eddie fans, one of Tom's good buddies.
Uh so, uh, could you dial up Eddie at anytime?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I couldn't. That's the one. My wife loves Pro Jam.
She's she's there, her favorite band. And uh, one of
these days I'm gonna get I'm gonna get Eddie on
the line for We'll see how it goes.
Speaker 5 (33:59):
But yeah, he's he's a sad man. He's tricky Chicago guy.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Though I love him.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
We love him, Seth. Can't tell you so much. Thanks
for doing this. Appreciate your time is valuable, and keep
rooting hard for those bears. And I think we're all
pretty optimistic. The forecast looks good. We won't get any
predictions right now, schedules not even out, but you'll be
rooting hard to appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Man. Hey, guys, thank you so much for taking the
time to chat with me today. I really look forward
to doing this more throughout the season. So thank you
guys again and go Bears.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Big big fans of yours, Seth, thank you and congratulations
and good luck and let's keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Thank you to Chicago.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all the
bells and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seating
room for everyone's ruler bag. United Proud to fly the
Chicago Bears and YouTube for Seth Robbins big time there.
I'm Jeff Jonahak. Thanks for listening. Everybody. Please subscribe now
the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever
you get your podcasts and send us out.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Thank you boys, Burn it Down, Bear Downs.
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