Husky Talk- Afa Anoa'i

Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hello and welcome to Husky Talk.I am your host, the best podcast
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Firm is out of Bridgeport, CT. If you've suffered any type of
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(01:30):
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the Finch firm.com Dynamic HumanPerformance owned and operated

(01:51):
by UConn. Legendary running back on Dre
Dixon. Andre trains boys and girls of
all ages of all sports and he works with them.
Depending on their ability. He will get the most out of them
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(02:15):
foot facility in Hartford, CT. He just announced a new boot
camp program where if you want to get in shape you go to Andre.
He also has an athletic development program where he
takes boys and girls whenever sport is they pick one of them.

(02:38):
He trains and develops them fromthe ground up and helps them
reach their potential. Andre has sent boys and girls to
college on scholarship for all different types of sports.
To work with the best work with Andre, go to
www.dynamichumanperformance.com.Pete Julius Williams runs the

(03:04):
Trench Mob in Decatur, GA. He trains offensive and
defensive lineman. They compete in five versus 5
tournaments, offensive versus defense.
They're timed rounds and you have 4 seconds to get to the
quarterback and there's points awarded.
Julius and his Trench Mob is gone all over the country and

(03:28):
they were undefeated this past season.
They also go to college camps and do the college camp circuit.
Very proud to say every college camp they attended, a member of
the Trench Mob was awarded a college scholarship offer.
So if you want to work with the best, work with Julius and his

(03:50):
team, go to www.battleofthetrenches.com.
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It is not just a career, it is apassion.
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So to work with James, you can go to his website,
lutherjamesinsurance.com and he will talk with you and give you
a quote. So we're happy to have him
aboard. And now for the man of the hour,
very happy to have him on board.Been harassing him for probably

(04:56):
2 years and and they managed to get him Mr. Alfa Annoya Junior I
said it right. Yeah, we're close enough.
We're close enough. We're close enough.
I think it's been butchered overthe years.
I'm I'm. Terrible with pronunciation.
So thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us on

(05:19):
Husky Talk. And I'm just like, I, I'm a
super fan and you know, I, I've,I've, I've always said it, I
truly believe your family, your family lineage is by far the
greatest wrestling family in thehistory.

(05:39):
I mean, you guys have done it all.
So I truly believe that. And it goes from top to bottom.
But to start, I was kind of surprised to know you were
actually born in Hamden, CT. Well, I was born in New Haven at
Yale. Oh no.
OK, new. But I lived in Hamden, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. I was shocked to hear that.

(06:01):
You so you were in Hamden 'causeI, I spent some time down there.
How long were you guys in Hamdenfor?
So that was back when my dad wasstill with the WWF.
Back then, OK, you know, so it was like 80.
Four there, yeah. And exactly 84.
That's when I was born. So we were there, and that's the

(06:22):
infamous backyard that all the Samoans talk about.
My dad had the ring in, and that's where he trained yokozuna
and rikishi and samu and, you know, the whole bloodline from
there, you know? So we were there for a couple
years and then we moved down to Allentown, the area which
Bethlehem, PA, that's where my mom's originally from.

(06:45):
That's where WWF was doing a lotof TV tapings out of alcohol in
Allentown. So it was just, you know, 1015
minute drive from Bethlehem. So it made sense for them to
move, make the move. And we've pretty much been in
Pennsylvania. I mean, we've moved, you know,
back and forth throughout the years through college and stuff
like that. And I moved to Florida when I
was in WWE. But yeah, we've been in

(07:05):
Pennsylvania since, well, I'm the last one left.
Now everybody else here, all theother Samoans in the in
Pennsylvania have have moved on.But yeah, I'm the last one left
here. So yeah, we're we're still in
Pennsylvania. You know, I forgot my
condolences on your father passing.
He was a a legend and that was very again, my condolences on

(07:27):
that. They were Trail Blazers and
today I'm in I'm in mourning myself because I'm a die hard
Hulk Hogan fan. That was that was that was tough
that that was tough to see. But I mean, that's.
Too. And Hogan actually came to one
of my birthday parties when I when I was a kid.
Oh my God. Well, he was close with.

(07:50):
Yeah, he was one of my dad's guys, you know, And so it sucks,
you know? Rest in peace to the Hulkster.
Oh my God, he came to your birthday party.
Jesus. Well, I mean, it's the industry,
like they say, it's not ballet and it's going to damage your
body. And it's, you know, guys are
lucky, you know, to live into their 70s, to live into their

(08:13):
80s because of, of what you guysput your body through and not
having health insurance and all that.
So I, I completely understand the trials and tribulations of
being an independent pro wrestler because as Kevin Nash
always used to say, you're a 1099, that's your business,
that's your business. But did you grow up?

(08:37):
Because I, you know, I know your, your cousin obviously was
a, was a football star, ended upgoing to EU.
Did you grow up initially likingfootball?
Did you play early on like it inthe Pop Warner age, like 8910?
So my football story is kind of movie like.

(08:57):
So I, I, I played one year at like the Pop Warner level, only
one year. And there was a girl that
started over me and I couldn't, I couldn't figure out how to
beat this girl to so I could start.
So I would always ask my dad, hey, dad, how do I beat this
chick? There's a girl that's starting

(09:19):
over me and I, you know what I mean?
And he was like, well, you know,this is what you do.
It's football, right? So go in there and bury her,
everybody. What, son, did you do?
Yeah, so that's what I did, man.I put my head down and I ran
this chick over every single play.
And then she would cry and I'd have to run laps for it.
Of course, of course. Man, that sucked.
So I didn't play anymore after that one year because they had

(09:41):
girls start over me that I wouldrun over at practice.
Well, he has. Was this in Connecticut?
No, no, this was. In Pennsylvania, this was in.
Pennsylvania. Well, I didn't.
I literally didn't play footballuntil 10th grade.
Oh wow. Grade is when I started playing
football, The coach picked. It up that fast?
Oh, I, I after one season, I hada Division One offer to

(10:03):
Pittsburgh. I was committed to Pittsburgh
after one season. I read.
I read. I hit the road running because I
I turned pro wrestler at 13 so. I I read that too.
I read you. You were in a battle royal, 1314
years old. I can't even imagine that.
Nobody speak in English. They.

(10:23):
I mean, were you it obviously you're in a pro wrestling
family, Were you itching to get into that ring and learn early
on or? So it kind of just happened and
I've always been in the ring. Like my kids are always in the
ring because it's there, it's available.
It's like going in your backyardand not jumping on the
trampoline, right? You know what I mean?
So it's, it's always there. So I've always been in the ring

(10:45):
and I've always dabbled a littlebit.
Like I, I've learned, you know, my dad taught me how to take
bumps and stuff like that. Very.
They didn't push you. It was you who.
OK, my dad wanted I need to be akid 1st and he wanted, he always
wanted me to go pro and ball, you know what I mean?
So I always, I always promised him like, yeah, I'll give it my
aunt. Like so early on, I was, I was
really the best at baseball. That's where I excelled the most

(11:08):
at was baseball. Like I was, I was a pitcher who
battered clean up. You know what I mean?
I'm like, I was like Ohtani veryyoung.
But then I had an eye injury. So then I had I had a hole in my
macula which took away all depthperception.
So I could, I couldn't. Oh my God, as a baseball.
Player You can't hit the ball. You're done.
Yeah, you know what I mean? I couldn't hit a curveball.

(11:29):
That took baseball off the table.
So then I tried basketball. You know, I was kind of too big.
I would foul out of every game. You know, that's like me.
I did the same thing. And that kind of didn't work.
So then I just, I stuck with wrestling.
I was wrestling. So I turned.
My first match was the summer between 7th and 8th grade.
Right, the battle Royale was it.So my dad ran a tour over in

(11:52):
Europe and we were in Austria and we were there for like 3
weeks and we were just promoting.
Well, my dad was promoting with my brothers and stuff like that
as the Head Shrinkers and they were promoting, doing all the
talk shows, all the news and stuff like that.
And they were promoting this event and I got to know this kid
named Chris, who is still a wrestler named the Bambi Killer,

(12:14):
Chris Raber. That's a that That is a great
name, I. Think yeah, yeah.
So he spoke a little bit of English.
So it was like his first match too.
He was like 17, I was 13. And you know, we, I was pretty
much bigger than everybody. I was 6 foot, you know, 290 lbs
at 13. I had a little crustache going.
So I kind of passed for an olderguy and I begged my dad, like

(12:37):
dad, all right, I, I know enough.
I know enough to get through a match.
You know what I mean? Like I've been wrestling Sean
Malouda and Lance on a white, you know, my whole life, you
know, in the backyard and basement and stuff like that.
So I knew enough how to get through a match.
So my dad made me train. He was just like, son, if you
want to do this, you have to train.
You got to do it right, you. Can't just go in there.
I was just like, all right, bet I'll train as soon as we get

(12:58):
back. Just let me do this one match.
So I'm being a spoiled brat. And my my dad was like, no, you
have to train. So if you want to do it, go get
your brothers. So my brothers were downstairs
in this hotel that we were staying at and my dad made me
bring my brothers upstairs and then he moved all the furniture
out of the, the hotel suite and,you know, literally like just

(13:19):
floor. So then there's my brothers, the
headshrinker Samu and my brotherLloyd.
And they're hip tossing me and and backdropping.
And you're taking. Bumps and I'm learning how to
bump on the floor. Who knows what the people on a
couple? Floors we're hearing, yeah.
So I had a crash course in three.
I had like 3 days of real intensive training in a hotel

(13:41):
room where my brothers just beatthe crap out of me.
Of course they were. They're gonna take it easy on.
You. I didn't want to do it anymore
after that first day, I told Dad.
All right, never mind. I'm good.
I go back to play in Little League dad, and then he looked
me right on my right on my face and he goes, son, it's too late.
Yeah, you're right. Now, now we need you because I
already booked you on the show, you know my spots there and I
have to do it, you know what I mean?

(14:01):
So I kind of learned the business the hard way about like
commitments and, and honoring your commitments early on, you
know, so I learned it very, veryearly from that time.
And that makes all the difference in the world.
If you have that trust, you havethat loyalty with promoters,
they're obviously going to be more confident in booking you

(14:21):
because they they can rely on you.
You're not going to cancel at the last second.
You're always going to show up. So for football, you played in
10th grade and you know, I had read this.
I didn't even know you were you were on Tom Lemmings list is is

(14:42):
one of the best defensive players in in the country and he
is one of the he's probably the top evaluator of recruits.
That's that's no easy feat to achieve.
So would you attribute that? I mean, you're you're clearly a
natural athlete who who can do anything.

(15:03):
Did you think you got pretty good coaching at freedom?
Because it's funny you say I wasat a family reunion.
Most of my family is from Easton, PA.
And my cousin went to freedom. He was, he was two years ahead
of you, but he he knew of you obviously.

(15:24):
And I know that that you that isa top program.
So do you think you got good coaching there?
Oh absolutely. My coaching was outstanding.
So when I first started, it was Coach Malosky who ended up
leaving for Parkland and who ended up winning state
championship over us. So I hated that.
So our counter was we signed a state champion winning coach out

(15:50):
of Allentown Central Catholic, which was Jim Morgan's.
So it was just like, all right, we lost one top tier high school
coach and we got another one andthey were two completely
different, you know, coaching styles.
Coach Morgan's and his crew wereso old school and they did, you
know, mother F you all the way down, but they, you know, they

(16:11):
took a A2 win program and took us to districts in one year, you
know what I mean? So it was like they knew what
they were talking about. So it was it was a hard
transition because I had one year with Molasky and then he
left and we had the new coaches coming in.
So I had that one year of transition year, which was my
junior year and then senior year, it was just like we had
states on the mind and, and collectively as a unit.

(16:35):
And we had a bunch of studs, like our one DN went to Michigan
State, our other, our offensive tackle went to Syracuse.
We had a couple kids that went to like Delaware, you know what
I mean? Like we had players on one team,
which was pretty rare in high school, you know what I mean?
Usually one or two D1 guys throughout the years in
programs, let alone on one team.Yeah.

(16:57):
So, yeah, so I was recruited really heavily coming out of
10th grade. I was running ridiculous
numbers. I was running like A4440, you
know what I mean? At.
For your size, that's. And I and I was raw talent.
Then they saw it, the coaches, because I had no idea what I was
doing. Like the one I you're playing.

(17:18):
I blocked a a punt that went outof the back of the end zone and
we ended. It was like a walk off win and
we won the game by that safety and I had no idea.
I thought I did not know what happened.
I blocked it. I just, I thought it was like a,
you know, when you tip the pass on a quarterback.
It was done. Damn it, I thought it.
I didn't get it and I ran off and everybody else is going

(17:39):
crazy. But I was clueless to the game
that early. You know, my goal was just to
have sacks, you know what I mean?
I just wanted to have sacks and create chaos in the backfield.
And, and at that time I was stronger than everybody because
I was breaking all the records and powerlifting, you know, I
was, I was squatting, you know, over 650.
I was dead lifting over 750, youknow what I mean?

(17:59):
At ridiculous numbers. And, and I was fast.
And I credit that to me wrestling early because me
wrestling as a kid, it forced meto basically be a cruiserweight.
So I had to be that Rey Mysteriokind of style where I'm doing
moonsaults and I'm doing all this stuff.
Mind you, I'm six with three. I'm not a cruiserweight, but I'm

(18:19):
light like 1 compared to the rest of the wrestlers, you know?
So it was like that's what kept me light on my feet.
I feel like for the gridiron you.
Know and you're using muscles different muscle groups and that
muscle memory that absolutely helped you so after you ended up
going to the fork Union MilitaryAcademy you did what it what it

(18:41):
it's very smart to do now you did APG here right and I always.
Recommend I did the I I got selected to the US Army All
American game. Yes, so I played in that and I
had a solo tackle against ReggieBush.
So I tackled my Heisman Trophy winner.
I did all this before college, you know what I mean?
So I had I had offers rolling inleft and right and then I had to

(19:03):
go to Fork Union because my GPA was trash.
What was your GPA it? Was my GPA, like I was a decent
test taker, I could go in there,you know what I mean?
However, I was a senior in high school.
I was a pro wrestler. I'm the rocks cousin.
Like I was on top of the world, you know what I mean?
I'm an all American football player, you know what I mean?

(19:24):
Like I was, so I basically was just going to school to go to
play football to, to remain eligible, you know what I mean?
So I, I by like, I didn't think I was going to ever get a
scholarship. And then when they started
rolling in, it was a psycho ship.
Now I got some work to do, you know what I mean?
So rather. Than.
Rather than lose the the eligibility by going to JUCO, I

(19:45):
ended up doing the. Very smart.
And so I I wanted to keep all myyears of eligibility and see
what happens. Did you have to go?
Because I, I know it's differentat every prep school.
Did you have to go the whole year or did you go the fall
semester and then train? I went, so I was there for a
year and a half. Oh, OK.

(20:07):
I went a year and a half, so I basically did like a fifth year
senior deal. Right, right.
And all, all the academics were good.
And that's what the bull. And then everything came checked
up and I was right back in. And so I was I was offered to
UConn before I went to Fork Union.
Yes, So that happened was shouldhave never happened.

(20:32):
Should have never happened. I had some big offers, you know
what I mean? Being an all American and stuff
like that, like I almost committed to Michigan on on ESPN
at the game, like I we were we were ready to rock.
However, I didn't, I stuck at the time, I was stuck to
Pittsburgh. So siding day comes around and
it was Coach Hughes was the defensive coach.

(20:55):
Yeah, Coach Hank, he's. The man.
So he was recruiting me heavier than anybody else on earth, and
I got to liking this guy. You.
Know yeah, he's not a warm and fuzzy guy.
No, no, I I got to like this guys.
Now, mind you, I'm already committed to Pittsburgh and
they're not having it because they're going through the
coaching change. They went from what?

(21:16):
Coach Harris. And then they went.
Yeah, that must have been when they brought Lloyd Carr and.
Yeah, so they were going througha shift there.
So it was just like it was not agood time to be there.
Mind you, UConn just got Wrestler Field.
It was the first year in there and, you know, newest stadium,
blah, blah, blah. And I knew I had a shot at
playing immediately. Play early on, Yeah, it makes a

(21:37):
huge difference. So I took a visit.
Now, my mom went to UConn, right?
She did, yeah. My mom's a graduate from UConn.
Oh my God, I didn't know that. OK.
My mom went to UConn, and so I told her I was like, all right,
I'll take a visit there. She's like, just go see if you
like it. So I was already committed.
I had no interest in going to UConn at all.
And I get there and I'm, you know, I'm hanging out with

(21:59):
Alfred Fincher and Dan Arlovski and all these guys, and it's
like 2-3 in the morning and we're all having a good time.
And it was one of those shots where I was just like, hey,
Dano, make this, this cup right here.
And I'll call. I'll call Pittsburgh right now
and decommit. And it was just like he went
from drunk to sober and immediate and he.

(22:19):
Just drank the cup. Place went freaking nuts.
I was just like, oh man, now what?
You know what I mean? Like, so I honored my word and I
called Pittsburgh and I decommitted at like 3:00 in the
morning and I told him I'm on the UConn.
And then those coaches were likehaving a heart attack because
I'm a, you know, five star, fivestar recruit, whatever, all

(22:42):
American. And they're losing their mind
because they're like, we don't lose anybody to UConn.
You win 10th. Grade 10th grade, you know what
I mean? So they were pissed.
So now I have. Now I have Coach Hughes and the
offensive coordinator from Pittsburgh fighting over me in
my living room. It was a great time, but it was

(23:04):
all because Dan hit a damn shot in beer.
Bomb, of course. But yeah, that was that's how I
ended up at UConn. In the clutch.
Because. Because Dan clutched it.
But I mean, you did like UConn. I mean, we, we, we were getting
the indoor facility built. We had a lot of things going for
us. We had success in the Big East.

(23:28):
The nine and three season I think was before you got there.
And then you you guys were on the team that ended up taking us
to the bowl game, right? The Motor City Bowl, Yeah.
I played in the bowl game and that's when I blew my knee out.
So what was what was that experience like?
You know, you're obviously coming from a good program and

(23:49):
obviously Fork Union. You're you're a little bit older
and more mature, but you're, you're coming into college
football. Was it a difficult transition or
did you did you feel like you you fit in pretty easily?
I felt like I fit in pretty easily from the jump, so I came
in for summer school like, you know, summer classes right
before the season started. So I had a little bit of a head

(24:09):
start with the program. So I wanted every advantage that
I could get with the program, you know what I mean?
My focus was getting on that field.
It, it was all promised to me there in recruiting, etcetera,
etcetera, you know, but now I had to do my part, their part.
They gave me the deal. Now I had to live up to my end
and I worked my ass off to get on that field, you know what I

(24:30):
mean? And I, yeah, it wasn't stopping
for nobody. And it and it and it sucks
because my host at the time, Applebaum, I ended up taking his
spot and they moved him over to offensive line.
Yeah, you know what I mean? So it was just like, man, that
sucks. This guy was responsible for
helping get me to commit. And then now he's an offensive
lineman. But it all worked out, you know
what I mean? Like.
No, he was good. He was good.

(24:51):
And Tyler, Tyler King wanted me to make sure I said hello to
you. That's my guy.
That's my guy. I do a show with Tyler as well.
Oh yeah. We had.
That defensive line was it was, it was different.
It had me, Tyler King, Dion McPhee, you.
Know what I mean? Yep.
We had some studs on that line. Absolutely.

(25:13):
That whole that whole defense was good.
And I mean there were there werea lot of guys that ended up
playing at the next level from that defense.
And then you know, your experience throughout the
season, you, you were playing, you were contributing, you were
doing a lot. And you know, you won some big
games. And we end up at our first bowl

(25:34):
game, the Motor City Bowl. What was that experience like
going to a bowl game? Man, that was awesome,
especially being that it was historic for the university.
Yeah, you know, our first ever bowl game coming from, you know,
Memorial Stadium and you know what I mean?
And and having team meetings in the trailers and stuff like.
That yes, the modules, yeah, we.Were really grinding for that

(25:57):
spotlight, you know, because we at our mindset as the program
was, we didn't want to be a basketball school.
Exactly, we didn't. Want to be known, like, granted,
that's never going to happen. Like we're always going to be
known for basketball because they're great.
However, we wanted our own identity, you know, so we were
kind of forging that with, with the talent that UConn brought on
at the time. And yeah, man, we, we had a

(26:19):
blast, bro. But we were built different.
We were trying to take out everybody and it didn't matter
who we were playing, you know, and, and we were trying to win
them all. Yeah, and it was, it was fierce.
And I thought that was the biggest difference.
You know, we were, we were good.Coach Hetzel was good at really
developing talent. And I, you know, the run really

(26:41):
from when you got there to 2010,I mean, we had some more success
than the basketball program. You know, we were we were really
getting there. And then when when coach left,
that's when it kind of turned down.
And now you know it's picking upagain on the rise.
You win the ball game. So you, I didn't know this, you

(27:03):
blew out your knee. Was it a CLMCL?
Was it everyone? It was the cartilage.
I blew the cartilage out loadingkneecap.
So I was in like the fourth quarter like we were blowing
them out. Yeah, we were killing Toledo.
I shouldn't have been in the game, you know what I'm saying?
Like, but it was one of those, Iwas about to get interviewed on

(27:24):
the sideline and all right, let's go 4th down.
And I was just like, fuck it, I'm going, you know what I mean?
So I ran it on the field and then I got high load by the kids
who ended up going to the Patriots.
And yeah, no, I, I, I ran off the field.
I wouldn't get carted off. I ended up getting carted off
the sideline. So I missed the whole
celebration and everything. I'm getting.

(27:44):
MRID in the back. But yeah, so I, I after that, I
had to take the medical red shirt the next year.
Who did your surgery? It was oh, OK.
Yeah, it was the Patriots, Doctor.
I forget. His name, so they got there all
right, so they at least they gotto a good surgery surgeon and
then you you made the the decision.

(28:05):
Obviously, I want to start my pro wrestling career.
I'm ready. To go So I just, to me, my whole
goal always was the NFL. Yeah, with my knee cartilage.
I mean, the surgeon straight up told me he's like, I'd rather
see you tear every ligament in your knee than have no
cartilage. Yeah, it's, yeah, It's wear and
tear. I mean, bone on bone that kills

(28:25):
you, That's arthritis, absolutely.
Yeah, so I I really pushed myself to get ready for that
next season. And in my mind I was ready.
I was good enough to go, but forsome reason they still red
shirted me that year. And it like it like.
You're saying 2006 you were you could have played.
I could have played. They wanted to medically red

(28:48):
shirt. Wanted to red shirt me for the
year and that was like a huge kick in my nuts 'cause I had
this game from military school and like I had, yeah.
You've already spent time. Right.
You know what I mean. So I got kicked in the nuts
there and then it was just and even still, I was trying trying
to win scout team player of the week so that I could travel
every week. Like I was really grinding to
get on that field, but it just never seemed to work.

(29:11):
And then WWE calls. Right, right, right.
Because I think was it, did you go to deep S 1st or actually?
I went to deep S 1st. Yep.
And. Then I had to make a decision.
Yeah, I, I mean, I, I would havemade that decision too.

(29:31):
That's that's pretty. Easy.
So at the same time too, while Iwas there, I wasn't being the
best student, you know what I mean?
Suffering, like I was kind of getting depressed, like I was in
my mind a lot mentally, you knowwhat I mean?
I'm watching my NFL dreams, you know, slip away from me because
damn, my coaches won't even playme now, even though I'm still
kicking ass, like, you know whatI mean?

(29:53):
Like I'm dealing with a lot mentally.
He called and I, I felt it was just time to make that switch.
So I called up Etzel and I was just saying, hey, coach, you
always tell us, you know, the goal of college is to, you know,
get a degree, go out, make some good money, you know what I
mean? And able to to hold on to that.
And I was like, I have that opportunity right now.

(30:13):
So I appreciate everything that we're doing here, but it's time
for me to go to the WWE. Yeah, and, and you're older
anyway, I mean, cause 'cause theyear and a half you spent at
Fork Union and you know, it's two years later, I mean you're,
you're in your mid early 20s so.In my early 20s.
Exactly. It's time.

(30:33):
Yeah, I I completely agree with you and I, I have listened to
shoot interviews with with Curt Hawkins talking about Deep South
and FCW. And I know there was a period
where they closed Deep South andthen everyone went to FCW, but

(30:55):
how long were you at Deep? South, So I was at Deep South.
I signed in October of 2006, so I was there from that time until
it's closing. OK, until it's closed.
Yeah, I was the final main eventin Deep South.
It was me and Sonny Siaki versusHawkins and Ryder, the major

(31:17):
brother expect then. Yes, yes.
Yeah, me and Sonny finally won amatch because, you know,
babyface is always win in the South.
They always. Got to go over.
Always go over in the South. So it's fine.
We we finally beat the major brothers.
You know your white meat baby faces.
Yes, go figure. The company shuts down.
No, I I heard, I heard that theywere trying to move everything

(31:39):
the FCW it. Was just a weird time turning
into what? Yeah, The office came in, you
know, with their trucks. So they pulled up with the
trucks. We had a big meeting.
Hawkins said the story that, youknow, Lauren Itis was like, it's
time to go, yeah, basically wherever you want this.
Is your last time in this building?
We're going to take all our property now, and if you come
back, you're fired, right? All the stuff down, the banners,

(32:02):
the rings. We emptied the building, yes.
And then we just left. And then he was just like,
right, go home. We'll be in touch within two
weeks. I heard that.
So everybody was just like, oh shit, now what?
You know what I mean? So we all went home and then we
got the call. They split up the roster, so
they wanted to send half of us to OVW and then they sent the

(32:23):
other half to Tampa and Tampa atthe time, there was nothing.
They didn't have a building, they didn't have anything.
No lease with any kind of no building.
Like we had no building when we first went down.
I picked Tampa just because I didn't want to go to Louisville.
Nobody did. Like, you know what I mean?
Like I tried, we went there for two weeks.
I tagged with my cousin Rosie, you know, but that ended up

(32:46):
happening like wow as FCW was getting started.
So I picked FCW just because it was Florida and why not, you
know, did. You get to work with Danny Davis
at All at OVW? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Did you like Danny Davis? Danny was cool, yeah, but it was
Al Snow was more in charge when I when.
He was in. My loop there.

(33:06):
Yeah. But I know Danny, you know what
I mean? Like, I I know all those guys.
But yeah. So we ended up going down to
Florida and at first we were training in a batting cage.
It was like a softball like Little League batting cage where
the batting cage was on 1/2 of the building and then three
rings on the other side of the building where it's people like

(33:29):
me, you know, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, the Bella Twins, like
we're all training Kofi Kingston, we're all wrestling.
Oh my. God, in a batting cage, and this
is. Now, mind you, I'm used to this
because I just came from a Division One program that had
trailers. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. We had the mod.
Kind of used to this, you know, so, but you know, coming from

(33:51):
the independence, I was wrestling some really high
profile magic prior to me going to the WWE.
So it was a psych. It was we've had to start over.
Like I was bigger independence than what we were in FCW at the
time, which was crazy to me because it's this is WWE.
Were you, was that when Bill Demotte, Was he one of the

(34:14):
trainers at FCW then? So Bill, the Bill Demotte was
the Deep South guy and he ended up getting fired.
And then Doctor Tom came on. Doctor Tom was in, he was in
Deep South for a little bit before they ended up shutting
down and adopted Doctor Tom. Kept it all while I was there.
And then they ended up Bill ended up taking Doctor Tom's job

(34:35):
again. And then now it's Bloom, you
know? So Bloom, yes, OK, I got you.
So I I know you were a deep or down in FCW for a while.
Were they putting on shows in different parts of Florida?
Yeah, at that time they were building the territory, so we
didn't have the building. So we were, you know, we went

(34:56):
from. The batting.
Cages. Until we went from the batting
cages into Publix into the back of a Publix warehouse.
Where? So now instead of Little
Leaguers, now we have canned goods.
So we're wrestling for canned goods and no air conditioner or
anything. And this was a good thing that
they ended up buying and turninginto the FCW Arena.

(35:18):
That was, so I was there when that place was canned goods and
we had to share it with Publix, you know, the warehouse, we had
to share the bathroom with them and their, their bathroom.
You know, they, it wasn't very big and you had 50 wrestlers
going using the bathroom. So there was always fighting
over with the building about thebathroom.

(35:42):
But yeah, no man, we had, we hadit rough, you know what I mean?
No air condition. We had to.
And Doctor Tom was old school, so he made us wrestle our 60
minute Broadway before we ever hit TV.
So we had to wrestle our Broadway.
I thanks God I wrestled Tyson Kidd.
I just. Yeah, I heard he's amazing than.
Anybody. Great producer now.
Oh yeah, great job. And yeah, he's, he was probably

(36:06):
very easy to work with. And I mean you because I've,
I've heard two different things.They sometimes want guys who
have no experience so they can mold them the way they want to.
And other guys who have experience like you that already
kind of know what they're doing,pick it up a lot easier and they

(36:30):
can put in the ring faster. Did you feel that your
experience definitely helped youor did they try to change
things? So I, I feel like my in ring
experience helped me tremendously be on the show
level because it is like my in ring training wasn't as
seasoned. So it's like playing, you know,

(36:51):
football, you know, in high school and then getting D1
training. There's a completely different.
You. Know it's completely different.
So I wrestled 9 years before I ever even got to the WWE level,
you know? And when I got there in my
tryout and stuff like that, likethey're drilling you with so
much wrestling, they made me feel like I knew nothing about
wrestling and I'm bored. 'Cause you, you got to run the

(37:12):
ropes, you got to do all. That, yeah, But they really,
it's a system that you have to learn the way that they do
business and the way that they expect their matches to be.
You know. So it's like basically going
back to college, you know, and that that's why it was easy for
me to pick up is because I am sohungry for the spot, you know,

(37:32):
not necessarily the spotlight, but I want my spot, whether it
be on football or rather it be in wrestling.
Like I'm coming for the spot. Like I'm not going to come here
and train and watch the show. I'm going to be on the show.
I'm going to have the best matchon the show.
I want a main event to show, youknow what I mean?
More of AI mean would you consider yourself a ring general
like you, you can operate insidea ring, you can lead the matches

(37:56):
you you know exactly what's going on like you're not going
to make mistakes out there. We all do.
You do. But I I watch Mania, I I've seen
that, but I could control control everything.
Yeah, absolutely. So and that's what helped me
rise up quick there because. Yes, you did.
Usually you're in developmental and you're there for months

(38:17):
before they ever even give you adark match.
They give you anything and same thing.
I was there for only a couple weeks and now I'm already on the
show. You know what I mean?
And it was, I just kept flowing through everything like I went
from just the new kid on the block to being in storylines to
now I'm hitting Bill Dama in theback with a chair on the show.

(38:37):
The one thing that every single developmental guy wanted to do
was hit the chair and I was the one who was able to do it.
You know what I mean? Like, so I just, but I, but I
went after it. I, I made sure that I was the
best wrestler there. You know, I, I know I didn't
have the best body. I wasn't an Adonis like all
these other people. Wow, I, I, I think they had to

(38:58):
get away from that. The the the body thing was in
the 80s and all the muscle headsthat tried out but.
It was still their thing. They didn't succeed, still
their. Thing I know Vince loves it, but
yeah. So I just wanted to be the best
wrestler. I wanted to be undeniable
because of talent, you know, and, and.
And you had a great class you were with too.
Yeah, all Hall of Farmers, they're all going to be Hall of

(39:20):
Farmers. Yeah.
It's the whole current, you know, lifeline of the business,
basically. So we had a bunch of guys that
were no wrestling experience at all.
Those guys are easy, easy to leave in the dust.
You know what, in my mind, you know what I mean?
Like, I wasn't worried about this guy.
He doesn't even know how to takea prompt, you know?

(39:42):
But a couple of those guys endedup succeeding.
Like Jack Swagger was one of those guys.
He came with no experience, wentright in the WWE.
So it's like guys like me, I didn't necessarily have it
because I understand the game. I understand that wrestling
changes and and the wants and needs it changes throughout the
years and this is what they wantright now.
They want high profile athletes coming out of college.

(40:04):
They don't want grizzled vets who think they know it all.
No, I mean they definitely don't.
I mean, they're giving nil dealsnow.
Right, right. So that was the, that was the
weird balance that we were goingthrough at that time is that
they were still doing with the new guys and they were still
signing indie guys, you know what I mean?
Then they started signing less and less indie guys as as the

(40:26):
years went on. And now it's you're basically,
you have to be a gymnast in college to get looked at,
correct? You're coming from, you know, a
pedigree. No, I, I, I've read that.
I, I, I read that because I, I, I love listening to Jim
Cornette. He, he makes cracks me up.
He he was saying, like when Johnny Laurenitis was kind of in

(40:47):
charge of talent relations, he was trying to bring in, you
know, more models, more people who did not have experience.
He thought he could bring in, you know, the good looking
people and train them to wrestleand quickly found out that that
may not have been the best formula for doing so well.

(41:10):
It worked for some. It did work for some.
The others. So here's the problem is when
you have two guys that don't know how to wrestle and they
don't know what they're doing and they're just, you know,
they're, they're novice, they're, you know, Spanish one O
1 people. They're just learning how to
espanol and now you want them onshows speaking in front of
Spanish people. It's not going to work, you know
what I mean? So it's like you need us, you

(41:32):
know, indie guys to lead the blind.
And that's exactly. His old school training that
they don't teach nowadays like in in these new schools, they're
teaching you moonsaults on day three.
You know what I'm saying? They're not teaching you to the
the ring psychology and why we do this and why we do that.
And you know what I mean? Like it's, it's you got to
really look into your your training nowadays.

(41:53):
Who? Who are your favorite guys to
work with when you were in FCW? In FCW, man, I had my crew.
I loved, I loved wrestling. TG Tyson Kidd, he was my number
one. Me and him just had chemistry
from day one. Instant chemistry like we never
had call anything like we just knew each other and we could
work with each other and flow with each other.

(42:13):
So good. I loved wrestling.
He's Slater. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I loved wrestling with Primo Cologne.
I you know what I mean? Like, I love wrestling Kofi.
I would, even though Kofi was stiff.
And mind you, Kofi was really stiff.
Kofi was stiff. You know that little Paradise
New Englander? It's a New England thing.
But Kofi was stiff. That Trouble in Paradise Kick

(42:33):
was stiff. Always Tell him about it.
Oh, yeah, no, I loved working those guys.
But you know, at the time I was just trying to run circles
around everybody. Well, yeah, I obviously.
That's what I was trying to do so but those guys, they stood
out to me as far as their talents goes because Heath we
wanted, we loved Heath. So Heath was a non contract guy

(42:55):
through Deep South. Him and Fandango, excuse me,
they were non contract. So they were basically trading
with us as our bump guys. Right, right.
They're our bump guys, but we took a liking to them.
So we all as a group basically wanted to go out of our way and
get these guys jobs and. Then you gave them stuff, Yeah,

(43:15):
so you were there. And then it was, oh, wait, when
you got called up to the WWE, I mean, you got called up
relatively fast. And I mean, I don't think this,
from what I've read, your lineage and your name, I don't
think that had anything to do with you being pushed or called

(43:36):
up. I don't think so.
Neither. I think you earned it on your
own. Yeah, absolutely.
Because there's been others, youknow, since and and before me
that didn't quite make it. And I grind it, man.
I grind it. I want like I I was going so
hard in developmental because itto me it was just it was an
indie that they were growing andthat was something that I always
did with my dad. We owned the BXW.

(43:58):
So we were always trying to growit and and reach that next level
and get more fans in the door. So I understood that hustle very
well. And I think that's what made me
excel on footage on on camera when the office and stuff would
watch back the footage and be like, whoa, whoa, who the hell
is this kid? He's really going in because I
knew how to do it. You know what I mean?
Like I had that Philly, I was wrestling in ECW Arena before I

(44:19):
ever signed with WWE, you know, So it was just like I knew how
to get over and and I just took that mentality and took it into
the WWE, which was kind of crazybecause my dad always told me he
goes, son, don't ever stop. What got you there?
Remember what got you there? Yes, so because people, they get
to the dance and then they conform and then they become a

(44:40):
cookie cutter of something that.They're not.
You're absolutely right. You know what I mean?
I always stayed true to who I was and what what my goals were.
And you know, it worked out for the most part.
I ended up becoming FCW championfor a while.
We had the first ever ladder match in FCW, you know what I
mean? Like we had a lot of cool things
that we were doing before I I ended up getting the call up.

(45:01):
Did they give you any creative input in FCW to do certain
things you wanted to do? Obviously because you had the
experience for it. If you thought a certain spot
was going to work and in a certain area, you did have some
creative. I had a little bit of creative
input, Not much, because at the end of the day they're going to
do what they got they got to do.But part of our job in in FCW

(45:24):
was to send ideas to Creative. OK.
Like how to insert yourself on Monday Night Raw, Basically,
we're doing creative job for them, you know what I mean?
So like we have to make it easy for them, let them read
something, maybe they could workwith this, maybe they can't, you
know what I mean? So it was always a constant.
After practice, go home and think of an idea how to insert.

(45:45):
Your time to do the. Program right now so one of my
ideas that we came up with was afaction called we.
I called it the Uprising, which ultimately ended up becoming the
Legacy. It was a bunch of disgruntled
second generation guys who were tired of waiting and they wanted
to take their push now. So that was the whole general

(46:05):
back story of the Legacy or the Uprising as I wrote it and it
got all the way pushed to Vince and Vince loved the idea of this
thing. However the the players ended up
changing along the way. Vince loved the idea so much he
ended up recasting it with his picks.
You know what I mean? Like it was supposed to be like

(46:26):
me, Cody, Ted Dibiase, Junior, you know what I mean?
Carlito was supposed to be our leader because we wanted the mid
card guys, not necessarily worldchampions, right?
Vince wanted to give us instant credibility, so he put Orton in
the group. Yes.
You know what I'm saying? And but yeah, so we we ended up
coming up with that. So you came up with the legacy?

(46:46):
Yeah, originally. Wow.
And they dissected it. So the leg is the whole original
legacy plan was we were supposedto go in and Nexus the ring like
that was that was supposed. To tear down.
Yeah, we were gonna tear it downbecause it made sense, because
we're the ones who built it, ourfathers and everything.
Yeah, you know what I mean? Like the business was built on
the, on our family members backs, backs we're taking what's

(47:07):
ours. And that was the whole thing.
So they ended up dissecting one idea and making it into two or
three different future factions.Yeah, they, they watered it down
a little bit. They it eventually started out
and Randy Orton, I believe, was the leader, and then it was Cody

(47:29):
and Dibiase. And then you came in.
Yeah. So that was that's how.
It didn't officially become the legacy until I came in.
Until you came in. Bro, it was like it Dibiase and
and Rhodes, they, they just won the tag team titles or something
like that from crime time or something like that.
Around this time, Orton was justcoming off of his second

(47:51):
shoulder injury. I believe he just fell off a
motorcycle or something like that and was coming off of an
injury. So they wanted to get him back
on TV somehow, right? And then when I got on board, it
was like, that's when they put us all together at once, and
that was that. Unforgiven.
So I think he's Unforgiven was. That the CM Punk.
Yeah, that's when we. Jumped.
He knocked him out of the match,right?

(48:13):
And then he ended up. That was awesome.
Title that night. And then I ran in on crime time
that night and that was in not Chicago, Cleveland, that was in
Cleveland. So yeah, man, that was a great
time because your stories, because guys get the call up all
the time and then you're standing in Gorilla and then
they cancel your your you know what I mean?

(48:34):
So it was just like, I'm in gorilla, I'm waiting for my
moment, I'm waiting for the green light.
You know, we didn't do much walkthrough.
Like we did all these pre tapes and stuff like that before the
actual live moment. So I didn't know if they were
airing that or anything like that because you don't know in
the back. So now I see that they're
starting to air our stuff. And then now I'm in Gorilla,

(48:54):
it's time to go. And then they gave me the green
light, bro. And I hit it like a 40 yard
dash. I wish I would have slowed down.
If I could go back and run it again, I think I would have
stopped and Jeff Hardy's a little bit or something like the
moment a little bit. Yeah, I like, yeah, I remember
he did that in AW while his brother was getting beat up.
That was hilarious. So you got there.

(49:14):
I mean, once you got, you're running, I mean, and, and you're
part of the WWE, did you think at that time, you know, I've
made it, I, I've made it to the show, or did you still think
there's work to do? Oh, man, it was like half and
half. It was just like a little bit of
yes, all right, we're here now, you know what I mean?

(49:35):
But it was it it just happened so fast because I went from I
debuted on a pay-per-view. Usually they limp the new guys
in, you know what I mean? They're easy.
You guys in, they'll give you a house show here or there.
Like I literally only had two matches in the WWE sized crowd.
Like I I wrestled on Sunday night heat one time.
I wrestled Hacksaw once and I did one house show match against

(49:58):
super crazy before this. Like so I had no experience in
in big big 10,000 plus seed or even like that or very limited,
you know what I mean? But I was comfort.
My comfort zone was the rig, youknow what I mean?
I would be able to block all those people out and I was able
to execute and like my whole thing was being aggressive and
making it look real. I always wanted to just be the

(50:20):
real estate on. The.
Show I wanted everybody to question because it was at the
time where the magic the curtains are kind of get pulled
back a little bit and the magic is getting revealed and I didn't
want I wanted to preserve the magic my way by Oh yeah, you
know, wrestling's fake or whatever but office match he was
really getting them. Yeah, that was kind of just my
goal then. Yeah, keep keep kayfabe alive.

(50:42):
And I always say the same thing because I mean, it's is physical
and demanding is you can get, I mean, it's, it's, it's not easy
at all. It's, it's one of the most
difficult things to pull off with somebody else and, and have
a good match. And as I said, elicit the

(51:02):
emotion that you want from the crowd.
You know, you're taking them from a roller coaster up and
down, up and down. And you got to know what you're
doing to have that psychology and you had it ingrained in you.
I mean, since you were 14, 15 years old.
I mean, you were trained all theway through.
So you had all that experience. I had always felt the legacy

(51:26):
angle could have got. I mean, I, I felt they watered
it down. I felt it really had legs and
could have been stronger. And they, they kind of moved
away from it, I thought a littletoo soon where they, I mean,
they had guys, they had talent that could have been special.
But Vince, I know Vince was moreagainst factions, so maybe

(51:48):
that's why he did it. But I thought you guys operated
fantastic as a group and you hada ton of talent and different
types of talent. Yeah, well, that's the thing
that that was the beauty that made it.
It was a mix of people. It was, you know what I mean?
But then it became more of, I don't want to say the pretty

(52:10):
white boy group, but it became the pretty white boy group.
It did. Where then now I'm looking at it
like, oh, well, why is this guy in there?
You know what I mean? Like if you're a fan and you,
you know, you know your business, you know why I'm
there. But from the first time person
clicking through the channels like, oh, who's that big guy?
Why is he there? You know what I mean?
And it became more of that I I was basically brought in there

(52:31):
because Vince loved the idea of the legacy and I created.
That's amazing. And that's why it fell apart
too, is once they got rid of me out of the picture, they didn't
know what to do with it because it wasn't theirs.
Yeah, cuz you. Were the architect of it it?
Wasn't theirs. So I feel like my purpose at the
end of the day was to go in there and teach Cody how to be
aggressive because he lacked, helacked that severely when I was,

(52:55):
you know, prior to me being there.
Right, right. And you were there until was it
the fall of O8 when you ended upleaving?
It was right before the rumble. OK.
Were you were you surprised thatthey they ended up releasing
you? Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because there was, you know, creatively, we were supposed to

(53:17):
walk into WrestleMania that yearand take all the straps.
Right. Ted and Cody were supposed to
win the tag titles, I was supposed to be Intercontinental
champion and Randy was supposed to be world type, world
champion, WWE champion, whateverchampion it was at the.
Time you're saying for the for the O 8?
Yeah, for that. Oh my.
God, Houston, It was in Houston.We already had our tickets
booked and everything for Houston, you know, because you

(53:38):
have to get that stuff done pretty early in the year.
Correct. Yeah.
So, yeah, it just came out of nowhere.
You know, it was all right. You're not needed.
You're not needed. OK, now we're going to send you
back to FCW, repackage you, and then you're just sitting at
home, you know what I mean? And it was just all right.
Did they end up trying to send you back to FCW?
They said that that's what they were going to do it just.

(54:00):
Never happened, right? So the one thing that I mean,
you were able to do, you built just an incredible career
outside of the WWEI mean, you'vewrestled for so many different
promotions. You had your own promotion that

(54:21):
you you've learned. And I mean, how did you learn
how to kind of promote and book and, you know, put together
matches and put together guys, create angles because that's
art. Yeah, so I had the best teacher
man, my dad. So my dad, he was the whole
architect of this whole bloodline.

(54:42):
Oh. My God.
He's the one, he's the one. He's.
The the story with with Roman and who knows.
Oh my God. Without my father, there is no
bloodline. Like he's the one that held it
down. Like yes, you know, my Avia,
Peter, my Avia was the one who caught my dad, etcetera,

(55:03):
etcetera. But my dad is the one who passed
it down to the family. My dad is the one who, you know,
carried the whole torch. He was the first one, like one
of the first wrestling schools in all of the world.
And they trained some of the best wrestlers you know.
He was the one who had the vision for all of us, so and he

(55:25):
was my dad. So I was a little kid playing on
my Legos and and shit like that while my dad's booking shows,
you know, with TOP, you know what, Bruno Sammartino and stuff
like that. You know, this is what my dad at
before he began a head shrinker again, he was running a company
called Transworld Wrestling Federation TWWF and that was
tied into the wild Simone training Center.

(55:45):
And he would just run local shows like independent shows
back in the day. But like on those shows you
would see Owen Hart wrestle Yokozuna, you would see Gabriel
versus Savio Vega. Like you know what I mean?
Like these are WWE shows. You'd see Bruno Sammartino be
the guest commentator. You'd see all the all these
world class wrestlers you know on just so I watched my dad

(56:10):
build his indie from nothing, you know?
From the ground up from. The backyard to, you know, being
able to train guys like Billy Kidman and Canyon and seeing
guys like the Undertaker and Bigelow come in and work out,
you know, and next thing you know, the rocks here, you know
what I mean? And like everybody's just
running through the system. But it was my dad.
He was the one who put it all together.

(56:32):
He laid out the, you know, the puzzle pieces and figured out
how to draw the picture. And I was able to watch them
all. I was able to sit there and I
watched my dad. And I would always be interested
in the business. I'd ask my dad.
So why don't you, you know, I like this guy, Dad, why don't
you make her do this? And he'd explain it to me.
Well, son, you can't do that yetbecause, you know, if we do
that, he's not going to be able to handle this, which is going

(56:54):
to happen later, you know what Imean?
So I kind of understood how theytest people in the.
Rest of the day. To make sure that you could
handle the pressure in spotlight, you know, so and then
with the storylines and stuff like that, my dad would always
have his creative team much likethe WWE has.
So I just, I watched everything and I and I was.

(57:16):
Like, well, he always had the final decision of what was done.
My dad. Would basically be Vince of his,
you know what I'm saying? And then when I signed with WWE,
what's happening? We're in FCW and they're
building 1 all over again. And now that I'm FCW champion,
they're building it on my back the same way my dad did when he
rebranded the WXW. So it's very familiar to

(57:39):
territories. So like also the same time, mind
you, when I was in FCWI wasn't necessarily there to learn how
to wrestle, I was there to learnthe business.
Exactly. I was watching what the coaches
were doing, how they were maneuvering, who they're talking
to, how they're training people because they have to build the
territory, they have to get the school up and running, they have
to control 100 contracted wrestlers at the same time, you

(58:00):
know what I mean? There's a lot of moving parts to
it, so I was watching who they brought in from the outside.
Right. Not always just all in house you
you need your outside help. And I kind of learned from
watching my dad build his independent and then I learned
from watching the WWE build FCW from the ground up.

(58:21):
So then when I came out of the WWE and it was my turn to start
the Battlefield, man, I just took it all and and took it
everything that I could from my learning's from my dad watching
him and learning from WWE watching them and here we are.
Exactly. Exactly.
And are do you also train peopleas well?
Yeah, when you have time for it.Oh yeah.

(58:42):
So we train, I train people three days a week.
We have a full time facility down here in the Poconos.
You know what I mean? I've been training people since
COVID. I started I had a weird
premonition that the world was going to come back and while
everything else was shutting down in the world, I decided to
open up a gym. Well, now that I was smart,

(59:03):
people were looking for things to do.
They didn't want to sit inside anymore.
So we were the first ones to runin the state of Pennsylvania
shows and stuff like that duringthe COVID years.
But I was started training then I, I, so I had to proceed
cautiously because my brother Samu, hedge finger Samu, he had
a training center in Allentown. My dad had his training center
down in Florida. Oh, so you all had different my

(59:25):
cousin. Had the training center in
California, my other cousin has one in Hawaii.
So everybody had their training center.
But I lived in Pennsylvania too,so it was just like, damn it, my
older brother is here. I can't move yet.
I can't do anything yet. My brother's still here and he's
still running. So then my brother during COVID,
he decided that he was going to shut it down for COVID or

(59:45):
whatever. And then he there was talks of
him, you know, with his health and stuff like that, that of him
moving to Florida. And once I found out that he was
thinking about moving to Florida, I just made the move
and jumped and opened up shop and looked in the buying rings.
You know what I mean? Sure, get things going.
But I started as just like a daycamp where it was like an open

(01:00:06):
ring for. Wrestlers to come and train with
me all right, I I called it seasoning.
Let me let me season you to get you ready for TV with it.
Yeah. Absolutely.
So it wrestling what it was whenmy dad was training to what it's
become prior to the battlefield was crazy like it was I felt
like everybody and anybody wouldbe a wrestler.

(01:00:29):
They all had school. It was.
Everyone's got a school. Nobody had a good resume.
Like, you were just trained by, you know, Tommy Jones down the
street. You know what I mean?
Like, the biggest match he's ever wrestled was Tim the Shovel
man. And you know what I mean?
Like, like, come on, man. So it's like, the first thing I
asked all these wrestlers is like, yo, who trained you?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

(01:00:51):
And it's just like, because if we don't check them and check
their, their degrees and stuff like that, man.
No, we'll get someone. It's going to get out of
control, you know? And I know you also had a health
issue in 2023, something with your heart that must have been
difficult for you to go through.What was?
When did you start to notice that you were having issues?

(01:01:14):
So I was on tour in 2017. So the first issue was in 2017.
Kept it rap. We kept it quiet.
But yeah, 2017, I was on tour inSouth Africa and I came back
from South Africa and I was just, you know, really light,
light, short of breath. Gassed, yeah.
Be gassed, like just doing dumb,dumb shit, like walking up the

(01:01:34):
steps. I'm gassed.
Like, yeah, like I just got off tour.
This shouldn't be the case, you know?
But I was. So I went and got checked out
and sure enough, my heart was, was cooked.
It wasn't. It was.
Yeah, I had, I had a fib, you know what I mean?
And then I let into more complications and I had a blood
clot in my heart too. So it was like, And that was at

(01:01:57):
the same time Kimbo. Kimbo sliced that he died.
Yeah. We had the basically the same
stuff. We went in the hospitals at the
same time. Not the same hospital, but you
know what I mean? We went in with the same stuff.
And it was crazy because he ended up not coming out of it,
you know what I mean? And it was, that was a real eye
opener for me. But.
Were you? Were you conscious the whole

(01:02:18):
time? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I didn't. I didn't go down or anything
like that. I was just not feeling well.
You were just laboring, yeah. Because I had like you had a
heart attack or anything like that.
Bro if you read online it said that I died.
Well, no, I know there was. I did see a figure in obituary
but I know your heart was operating at like 35%.

(01:02:40):
Oh, less than that. I mean, it ended up dropping
lower than that. Like we were operating really
low at a real low percentage. So how are they able to get it
back up? I got shocked.
I call it shocked, like cardio verdict or whatever.
Oh, yes, yes, yes. So I've had that two or three
Times Now. I'm, you know, I'm not supposed
to wrestle, you know? Why no I I figured, but I mean

(01:03:03):
you've still competed and like 6man's and tags and different
things. I mean, you're still out there.
I. Still do it, You know what I
mean? It's it's hard for me because
literally it's all I know I've. Been in this business?
My entire life, my life and the doctors that are sitting there
arguing with me like you gotta find a new lifestyle or

(01:03:23):
whatever. Yeah, I'm.
Gonna go sell real estate? Sure.
Like, hey, Doc, how don't you goget a new job?
Yeah. Because I see how you do.
I was like, I have my doctorate in wrestling.
Like, yes, you know what I mean?Like I, I, I'm, I'm degreed up.
I have my resume. I I've spent my life doing this.
What? What am I?
Your life's work. What am I supposed to do?

(01:03:44):
So it's just one of those decisions where I had to make
and I decided that I have to continue the legacy.
You know what I mean? And you are and you are, and I
mean. I took myself off a full time
schedule. Now you know what I mean.
I'm 40 years old now I. Don't.
I saw that all. The time, but I'm I'm off the
full time schedule, but I still travel, you know, still.

(01:04:06):
Compete. You still travel.
I still do it, but my focus now is training.
Exactly. I want to train this younger
generation. I want the right.
Safe place to train, and that's the whole thing is, is safe
safety in wrestling because a lot of trainers, they take
advantage of people. It's a money grab.
It's a cash grab. It is.
You'll come in, you'll train forsix months, they'll send you out

(01:04:28):
on the road and you don't know what the hell you're doing.
Don't. The coaches don't help you.
I tried to do it more old school, my, the way my father
did it. I'll hold your hand and walk you
in the back door myself if I have to.
If it takes, if that's what it takes to get you a job, we'll do
that. You know what I mean?
And it's just I want to give thepeople a credible place to train

(01:04:49):
and, and when it comes to running shows is I want to be
able to give them TV quality product that they could be
inserted into FCW or NXT now or whatever the case may be,
whatever program that they have,you know that they could insert
them guys in right now. So like we had a lot of guys
signed like Casey Navarro, he's one of ours.

(01:05:10):
Lance Onawaii, he came from us, you know what I mean?
Well, obviously some more trained, his dad trained him,
but he had his last independent match with us.
Jacob Fatou had his last independent match with us.
You know what I mean? Like we're getting a lot of guys
rolling through our our place and we've only been huge.
Yeah. So how many students would you
say you have now? Now, currently training, we're

(01:05:32):
about 25 to 30 students currently training right now.
We've had it all the way up to 5060 students, you know, But
wrestling isn't for everybody, and a lot of those people end up
falling off or of. Course.
Crying their thing in other other camps and stuff like that.
The the easier camps. Do you have anyone else who
helps you with training? Oh yeah, yeah, we have.

(01:05:52):
Yeah, I built a system, you knowwhat I mean?
I have my guys with internally that that could take.
Bro we've run shows without me. No, I I read about them, yeah.
Yeah, we've run shows without methere like we're we're a machine
now. I'm capable of and shows in
multiple states at the same timeon the same day.
Like we'll get it done. It's wrestling.
We got this. I was always curious and you

(01:06:15):
don't have to answer, but when they did start the bloodline
storyline, were they ever did they ever talk with you about
possibly coming in? I mean, it makes too much sense
I. Thought that's what I thought I
was like, come. On so invested with Cody and
everybody and the Bloodline and everything like that.

(01:06:35):
However, 'cause you have historywith everyone, yeah.
I've been booked a couple times.So like WrestleMania 40, what
was in the one in Philly? So I I was hosting A
WrestleMania watch party for night one and then while I was
there we ended up I ended up getting a call that I got booked
for WrestleMania night 2. So I was just like, oh shit,
here we go. So they sent me all the

(01:06:56):
paperwork. I'm in the UCW.
Arena. Oh my God.
The contracts and stuff like that for my one night appearance
I get there and yeah nothing that ended up happening I ain't
plans changed plans changed so now I'm just sitting there
eating catering you're catering Oh my God, there's been talks a
couple times but you know nothing ever happened with me

(01:07:17):
because. I I figured that they would do
something, you know, with the Rock coming back in the Usos and
especially with Cody chasing andthat night how everyone attacked
them, I was thinking that they were going to have you show up
and obviously you were in the plans to well, that's crazy.
They had me. It was myself, Lance On a White

(01:07:37):
and Jacob Fatu all booked at WrestleMania 40.
We were all. Ready to go?
Oh my God. You know what I mean?
We're the whole Bloodline was there.
Back at WrestleMania 40, we werethere.
And they freaking changed it. That's that's that's just blows
my mind. No, I I yeah, they had to have
them there. You're right.
So really now your focus, you you train and you'll do promote

(01:08:02):
your shows. You're out of the Poconos.
Do you go to Hazleton at all anymore?
I I haven't been there in years,OK, But we're able to we're able
to go wherever we want in Pennsylvania and wrestling.
Do you? Have any of your shows?
Do they stream on? Yes.
OK, so we used to stream when wefirst started and we were

(01:08:24):
streaming on premier streaming network.
They ended up going down. So right now we're currently re
uploading everything onto our YouTube platform.
Your YouTube channel. Yeah, our YouTube channel.
So everything is coming back to the Battlefield YouTube channel
and we're in the process of now.So we just got, you know,
partner status or whatever we'reable to go live and stuff like

(01:08:46):
that on on YouTube. So, you know, we just bought
some new switchers and live switchers and stuff like that.
So everything we do is in house.I will teach.
You. That's the way to do Never.
Man, I will teach you literally everything you need to know
about wrestling. You've learned at my place.
I, I, I give it to you like the TV's format I give you.

(01:09:07):
I teach you how to ref ring, announce, like ring a bell,
dude. Like I could teach you how to.
Provide you do it all. We do it all here, you know
That's perfect. Then in the show notes I'll
definitely put your YouTube channel so people can watch and
if people wanted to contact you for training purposes, is it

(01:09:29):
best to e-mail you? Is there a website?
Yeah, no, we don't even have a website, man.
We've been e-mail. You.
Yeah, e-mail me, DM me, get on social medias, find me.
But yeah, we don't even have thewebsite, man.
We've been steadily growing. It was just like, man, I feel
like if I put. A website.
We'll have too many, yeah. Well, no, I mean, it's, it's,

(01:09:49):
it's expensive. And if you have the YouTube
channel, that's fine. The the YouTube channel is
perfect. That's that's what we use for
our podcasts and we we've grown it.
Now we have 1.4 million subscribers.
That is awesome. So it's something that you can
easily grow over time and that'swhy I'll make sure that this

(01:10:13):
gets out and you'll you'll get alot of viewership from this.
So we appreciate that we need it.
We're brand new. I feel like our product is so
different like we are. So.
I don't want to say some cliche and say that we're ECW, you
know, from back in the day. However, we're ECW from back in
the day, man, we're so like tapped into the roots of what

(01:10:37):
independent wrestling is and then it's supposed to be.
It's now like to me, you will ruin an independent card.
Like I don't care if you have Ric Flair on your show, you will
ruin it if the opening match is 2 backyarders.
You're right, you're 100%. Right.
I mean, like, you have to preserve these things and
preserve the show and. And you know how to build the
card properly to to get to that crescendo at the end.

(01:11:00):
Oh yeah, that so that we did a storyline with Casey Navarro and
Matt Cardona here. And I fully believe that that is
what put Casey on the national level like that.
Absolutely that. We gave him with Cardona, and
this was Cardona when he was white hot, like fresh, you know
what I mean? And he was.
On fire. And now Casey's getting the call
up to NXT and he's all over the place right now, you know, so

(01:11:23):
it's it's a beautiful thing to see these kids go out there.
Well, yeah, you made a difference just for my
edification between, you know, WWETNANXTAEW.
Who do you think is doing it thebest?

(01:11:45):
Well, obviously, if WWE is doingyour best, who do you prefer to
watch if you're going to? I I'm, I'm watching the
battlefield. I live in a bubble, bro.
I no, I, I keep up the break, you know what I'm saying?
But I'm in I'm in such a battlefield bubble where you
know, guys would be like, oh, did you see, you know, did you
see what your cousins are doing?I was just like, now smarten me

(01:12:07):
up because I have no clue what they're doing.
However, but when I do have timeto watch, it's WWE.
I've always been loyal to the WWE, their product more
enjoyable just because it's how I was raised.
You know, we're raised in the North.
It's not like my dad ever jumpedship and went to WCW or anything
like that. My brothers did a little bit,

(01:12:28):
but I was always focused on WWE and sports, you know what I
mean? So.
And can people get merchandise at the shows?
Too. Yeah, absolutely.
You can get merchandise. You can meet all the wrestlers
you know. It's a great time over here.
All right, so we'll definitely promote Battlefield.
We'll put the YouTube channel on, and I want to get a shirt

(01:12:48):
too. So that's great.
But wow, that is an incredible story, an incredible journey.
I'm so glad that, you know, yourhealth is improved and you're
able to do a little bit, but you're focused on training the
next generation the right way, which is sorely, sorely needed

(01:13:09):
because you know, super kick after super kick and moon salt
and kick out of this finisher. Kick out of that finisher.
I, I get it. It's it's too much and you guys.
And it's only getting faster nowit is.
So you got to be able to evolve.So now we're, you know, the days
of the 60 minute Broadways are gone.
They are, as much as I love those days, those days are gone.

(01:13:29):
Now 20 minute match will feel like 60.
Absolutely. And you have a really good 20
just to keep their, you know, sowe have to adjust and we have to
adapt. And I feel like we're able to do
that here because I understand that we're in a, a TikTok real
kind of setting now. So it's like we got to get in
and get out. And I'm and I'm able to teach

(01:13:51):
these kids how to really increase the speed without
losing the emotion. You know what I mean?
So. Which is huge.
They're able to get a lot in in their 5 minutes.
Yes, yes and keep the fans engaged.
Well, congratulations on everything you've accomplished.
We'll put the YouTube channel upfor sure and we'll have anyone

(01:14:15):
e-mail you who's interested and.Just we've got a show this
Sunday. We got a show this Monday.
It's called Summer Swivel and it's live in Brodheadsville, PA.
Beautiful, beautiful. We'll watch it.
We'll watch it on YouTube live. That'll be great.
That'll be great. Congratulations to you.
I'm sure your father would be soproud of everything you're doing

(01:14:37):
with the training and running your own promotion.
That is just the the greatest accomplishment.
It's turning me great, but we'rehere.
You know, you can't always colorit.
That's what I do. That's what I can do.
So for Alpha, thank you so much for being on Husky Talk and
sharing your experiences. I will I'll send you the link

(01:15:01):
and I will put the YouTube channel in the notes and make
sure people know about the show Sunday.
So I just have to mention Fresh Ned Von Young, Fresh Fold
Laundry Company, Chapel Hill, NC.
He has a pickup service with a 20 mile radius.
You bring your clothes out, theycome, they get them, they bring

(01:15:23):
them back, wash, dry and fold them.
Land speed records and you can have an online subscription
service weekly or biweekly. They'll do your laundry however
many times a week you want it done.
They have deals for college students as well.
Just go to www.freshfold-laundry.com.

(01:15:49):
So for Alpha, I'm Steve Cully, the best podcast host in the
universe. Remember, when life gives you
lemons, they'll make lemonade. Take two oranges.
Throw them right back at life there.
It is. Thank you.

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