No-Contest Wrestling: WrestleMania 41 Reactions From WWE World

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Hey, thanks y'all for coming out today. Boy, TJ, it's over. This is so bloodline. We got Paul completely destroying the bloodline. I wear all my Cody stuff.

You're a big Cody fan too, so it's... Yeah, if you've seen me on the internet, I'm a huge Cody fan. And bro, I don't know what to do. I'm distraught. I don't know how to feel, man. This man cried in the car on the way home last night, like real tears.

I walked. Listen to R&B. John Cena has given me a new moment when wrestling broke my heart. Poor Cody. Ladies and gentlemen, I am the heel that you love to hate, O'Shea Jackson, Jr. A.K.A. Petty Guerrero. To quote the great Scott Hall, hey, yo, it's me, it's me. It's that T-double-O, J-I-double-G-two, J-G, TJ Jefferson, A.K.A.

Rene Goulay. See, you didn't know I was gonna do that. I didn't. I don't like you doing new stuff for Mania. How'd you guys enjoy your Mania? You guys have fun? We got a sign?

Oh, okay. What was your favorite Mania moments from the last two nights? Anyone? Anybody got a favorite moment? 17?

17, yeah. Listen, Austin, Austin. Austin. Joe Henry. Joe Henry, what a surprise. Shout out to Joe Henry. Listen, they said his name and he appeared.

I mean, they're just quite that simple, right? You know, we all were waiting for, obviously, main event Jey Uso to do his thing. Yeah, that was awesome. You know, we got that in. Shout out Jacob Fatu, your United States champion. But my favorite Wrestle Mania moment was Dirty, Dirty Dog.

Dirty, Dirty Dog. Man, congratulations to Dominick Mysterio, friend of the show. Friend of the show.

Friend of the show. A lot of friends, a lot of No Contest friends got busy this weekend, and that was good to see. Absolutely, but I think we got some new friends to make today. Yes, we do. Yeah, man, so I feel like I gotta give them the intro right now.

I mean, why else are we here? Ladies and gentlemen, our first guest today on the very first ever live episode of No Contest Wrestling Podcast. Keep those claps going, make some noise for the NXT North American champion.

Ricky Stace is in the house, everybody. NXT North American champion. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's still new. It's still new. You know what's new, too? That belt you got right there, though, baby. Who are you telling? Listen, I understand it, you know.

I understand having old names and new names is all confusing, but still it remains. I'm the NXT North American champion, baby. Hell yeah, put your hands together. How you feeling right now, man? I feel great. Oh my God, I'm here. My first Mania weekend where I'm actually allowed to be here in public and not get in trouble. You know, it's perfect.

We talked about that last year. You're in Philly. You're in the suite watching Mania. What was going through your mind as you were watching this production go down? Well, that wasn't my first Mania.

I've been to a few of them, but that was great just because I saw a good friend of mine finally win the big one. It was a great weekend, but I do remember saying to myself that that would be the last time that I was on that side of the glass panel, so to speak. That'd be the last time that I was in a suite, and look at me now. Look at you, carrying gold.

It's not bad. No, you know, I've been in a few suites, and there's nothing like being in a crowd, number one, just from us mere mortals' perspective. Being in a crowd, especially at a big show like Mania, you know they're going to bring it, but before you were the star that we know you are today, you were just like us. So let us know, when did you get bit by that wrestling bug where you thought, this is what I'm going to do? I was seven. I was seven, and I saw Undertaker walk up the steps and throw his hands in the sky in a loud explosion. I was like, oh my God, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen, and then I didn't have my... I went to my first wrestling show live when I was 11, and I remember... It was SmackDown, and I remember walking in there and seeing the big fist and being so blown away by what I was witnessing, and I'll never forget Kane's pyro just burning my face off because I was right on the side of the stage. I was like, oh my God, this is so cool.

This is the best thing I've ever found in my life. And so, you know, I told my mom I was going to be a wrestler when I was seven, and I'm a man of my word, and look at it. Look at you. Let's give it up for that.

A boyhood dream, right? Yeah. You ain't kidding. You're known... You're real nice on the mic. You talk a lot of trash, right? So my question is, that didn't just start.

That's a skill that's been developed over years and years. So I want to know, what was Little Ricky like growing up, man? Oh, God. Little Ricky was talking trash to people who were way older than me, getting in the fights that I shouldn't have been getting into, starting mess with people because I thought it was fun. I grew up a lot around... I hung out with a lot of older people. My mom would take me to house parties that she would go to, and they're playing cards and dominoes, and I would sit there and I would talk... I would have conversations with them. And so I just learned to talk trash with them, basically.

And then as I got older, especially different schools that I went to, I had to figure out a way to protect myself, but also to... Listen, I just... I love pissing people off. I find it to be... I find it... I find it to be so fun. I'm really a troll in real life, and it's fun to do. I love it. And that's where that all comes from. It's just the practice of it.

It's the practice of making somebody so mad that they start stuttering and going crazy. Okay. All right. Now, we know about your mic skills, obviously your skills in the ring, but we know that it wasn't always as crisp as it is now. Can you tell us when was your welcome to wrestling moment, a bump that either you took too hard or just a moment in general where it was like, okay, this is the work part.

I don't know if you guys remember, but I had a tag match on NXT a very long time ago against Big Cass and Enzo Amore. And Big Cass grabbed me underneath my armpit and threw me over the top rope. And when I went over the top rope, when I landed, I almost bit my tongue in half. And so it was such a nasty injury, basically, that I had to get stitches a bit and whatnot, but I'll never forget laying there after falling and be like, oh my God, maybe I should have been a doctor.

Maybe I should have found another profession. But honestly, after that, honestly, after that, everything has been great. Even the worst, the worst bumps that I've taken, I'm like, okay, all right, maybe I can, I'll live another day, thankfully.

Right. You didn't bite your tongue in half. I didn't bite my tongue. Dude, I'm telling you, biting your tongue in half and having to eat, it is one of the most painful, annoying injuries that you ever have because you don't realize how hard it is to do things with a split in half tongue. Hard to talk, it's hard to chew, eat. All the food hurts. For a good three weeks, I was messed up just from that.

Yeah. I once was having a conversation with Tony Hawk and I asked him what was the worst injury he ever had because you just got to know stuff like that. And he said broken pelvis. He said laughing, coughing, sneezing, hurts every time.

Yeah, you don't realize it. It's painful, but then there's more of an injury where it's extremely annoying to do anything. Like yesterday, I've almost bit through my lip. I can't tell you how many times laughing, it just keeps reopening, drinking. I'm just over it. I'm just over it. So Ricky, what I just thought of from these last two instances is maybe you should go the Kurt Angle route, put a mouthpiece in, that way you won't start- No, I'm not doing that. I'm a G. I ain't doing that.

Biting his tongue in half, baby. Come on. What else we got? So you made your way here to NXT and I was asking you in the back just about your feelings and I said to you, are you happy? Yeah. So you want to let them know? Are you happy? Absolutely, I'm happy. I don't think as people we take the time out to really say it out loud like, oh, I am happy for once in my life. We have people ask us like, hey, are you okay?

Are you good? You kind of do the little BS like, yeah, I'm fine. But there's never a moment where someone asks you legitimately, hey, are you currently happy in this phase of your life? And for me, that is a big thing right now. Like, wow, I am genuinely happy. And it is a very, it's a great thing to, it's a great place to be at obviously, but it feels so good because I have an abundance of happiness to share with other people. Right. So that's awesome.

Yeah. I think I think it's worth it to anyone really to find what makes you happy. And sometimes I don't know what it is. It just finds me. But yeah, definitely that conversation really was like, yeah, I am happy.

Actually, at this weekend, I was incredibly happy. I'd like to ask some of the questions that you don't always get. Right.

Because this is the stuff that they want to know. Yeah. Y'all all hear the same thing. Who's your favorite wrestler?

Who do you, what's your favorite dream opponent? Blah, blah, blah. But yeah, they want to know what's a good match, but they never ask you, how good are you? You know, don't get it twisted.

We are going to ask you those for sure. I get that for sure. You know, now. Something that, you know, it's, it just seems like a good segue because, you know, we're talking, he said favorites and things like that. Here at NCW, we like to get the perspective from these superstars from their, you know, their days as a fan. And for a lot of kids out there, Paul Heyman turning on Roman and punk, that's going to break their heart.

Yes. Cody losing last night. I'm heartbroken. You could tell. You could tell, but Cody losing to John Cena is going to be a moment. What was a moment as a fan?

Well, you're repairing it. The John Cena hill turn is, I mean, that's another one too. What was a moment as a fan where wrestling broke your heart?

When Triple H beat Cactus Jack at No Way Out in 2000. Okay. No one ever says that one. That one.

They don't. Because the next night on Raw, they, they show this video package of, of Mick Foley's career to the song of Sarah McLachlan's, I Will Remember You. And I will remember you. Yeah. Now they use it for like dog commercials. Uh, I remember, I remember running my bath water and crying and being like, Hey, we went and took a bath and then gotten your feelings.

Yes. Oh man. McLachlan will do that to you.

I'm a miss Cactus Jack. The worst part was I watched this all on scrambled pay-per-view. We had an, uh, we just lost the illegal black box that we had. So I was watching pay-per-views for pretty much free all the time. And then this one pay-per-view, they caught us. And so I had to watch it scrambled. And then the next day my friends gave me a VHS to watch it fully.

But by then I already knew what was up and yeah, it was, it was, it was heartbreaking on a lot of levels. You know, it's funny you bring up Cactus Jack, Mankind, Mick Foley in a black box, because back in 96, I lived in Pittsburgh. We, uh, I was going to go to hell in a cell at the civic arena and watch Mankind take on the undertaker. And instead one of my buddies brought his brother's cheater box over to my apartment. Do you know anything about Pittsburgh?

I lived on Mount Washington next to the incline. And instead of going to the civic arena to watch it, I was like, all right, Ben, I'll have a couple of the fellows come over. We'll watch this. And then the moment happened of him getting tossed off the cage, getting thrown through it. And I couldn't decide if I was like, I wanted to be there, right? I can't believe I missed it, but also watching it at home, you got the angles, you got the replays, you kind of fully understood what was going on.

So kind of to this day, I don't know, man. It's like I could have been there, but I watched it at home and I don't know which one was better right now. I think being there live would have been way crazier and way more of an experience.

Don't get me wrong. I love watching from my home, but feeling the energy at a lot of these, uh, events is way, way better. Last night, I was watching from the side at mania and I was just like, this is insane. It was, I want to feel it.

I want to feel the energy that is going across everybody when they're losing their mind over something. That makes sense. Whenever I'm trying to get people into watching wrestling, I always say, you gotta go. Yes. Once. You gotta go.

It's happened to me with a few things. I wasn't necessarily the biggest hockey guy. Imagine that. What does that mean? Just a statement. Just a statement.

Well, that's crazy. Anyway, I wasn't the biggest hockey guy, but going to Kings games when I was younger, like into the adulthood, it was, it's amazing. Baseball is still terrible and I just won the world series, but going to a wrestling event is like when you, when you hear a song for the first time and you're out with some people, every single time you see it, you think about that first time.

And so I suggest to anybody, if you could get to, uh, just any sort of live event, any sort of live event, it is the best way to take in the experience. And you're going to have the time of your life, unless it's WrestleMania and Philadelphia, because boy, it's so cold. Yeah. Oh, it was rough. The first night was rough.

The second night was bad. Oh man. Like it hurts to clap. I wonder how you would feel if you went to a golf tournament in person.

Is it the same thing? You know, because you know, we just had to get lit at that golf tournament. We just had the masters of course, and people talking about they're watching golf for six hours and I'm like, I don't think I could sit and do that. It's for some, it's not for me. Not for me.

All right, let's get into it a little bit more. Shout out to Shawn Michaels. Just because. Shout out to my boss.

Just because. Interest music just playing. I think everybody's coming. Now that this song's on, let me, let me jump in and ask you this. We hear Shawn Michaels theme playing right now. What's it like for you to be able to work with Shawn Michaels and kind of be able to pick his brain?

Honestly, it's wild to me. It is, it's, it's insane sometimes because Shawn is very, he's very thorough in his advice. And he's very thorough in his perspective on life, especially he's lived the life 10 times over. So that's a guy that talks to me in a way that as he says, he goes, I get you, you know, I actually understand you. You're a very passionate person. Sometimes that passion is misconstrued for, for other things.

So having Shawn as a boss is awesome because he wants me to go out there and be the best. But he also knows that some of us are just a little bit too crazy. And you got to let the, the reins loose, so to speak on some of these wild stallions. You know, we see this a lot in the NBA, right? When you have like a great player, it's hard for them to coach because they can't get out of someone what they put into it. You know what I mean?

Because of their talent level, their work ethic, their drive, their, their hustle. Well, also too, sometimes they don't know why they do certain things. I'm asked, why did I do that? I can't, I can't tell you. I just did it. I don't know why I did it. Shawn is saying, wait, he doesn't know why he did certain things when you watch his match and ask him, what was the thought process on it? He just, I don't know.

I just did it. So that right there is hard to teach that to somebody. They say Michael Jordan was a terrible coach, you know, but he was a great player. So I just think it's not for everyone when it comes to coaching and doing that, but you can mentor and give advice in different ways that hopefully they pick up on it in these small ways, basically. Yeah. There's so many small, there's so many small nuances and, and, and, you know, just the things that start to become like breathing for you, where you don't even realize that you do that.

And that'll be the missing piece to giving somebody on the right path to do something. So I completely understand that when you, when you see, obviously you, you being here in the WWE, you're running into legends. You know, we're talking about the great Shawn Michaels, Booker T on commentary. I mean, with the whole, with the hall of fame being just recently, did you run into somebody that you never met before that you were excited to talk to?

I know I would have flipped out seeing Brett in Stone Cold just kicking it. Oh, I got the worst answer because I've, I've met almost everyone that was there in some type of way. I met them whether on the Indies at a signing or whatnot. So I met a lot of them and they, they've all maintained the same type of, you know, very warmness meeting them. And even if I had any questions at the time, they were always open to giving me some type of advice. I remember asking Rob Van Dam once like, Hey, like just a random question about how to do splits.

And he was just so, he was so cool about it. You know? Yeah. That's it. Is there with, with you being an NXT and we're seeing, you know, what is going to be the future of the WWE there? Is there anybody's path you want to cross that you know, you're going to put on a banger for us over there at NXT? Obafemi. Okay. The ruler. Here we go.

You tried to become two belt saints. Is that what you're trying for? Absolutely. Of course.

Why wouldn't I? I love it. The thing about being a wrestler, man, it's all about presentation, right?

Like a lot of it, obviously you gotta have the skills, but the presentation of a wrestler is something that really draws people in, right? You do the pose. Yeah. It's part of your signature. Where did that come from? What just made you all of a sudden go, you know? The pose came about because when I was younger, I used to, whenever I was eating something that I really enjoyed, I would, I would dance.

I would like do these random things. And I saw a picture of me, actually, my mom caught me in like mid motion of doing this thing with my hands. And I remember I went to Japan and I was walking around and there was, there was like a, I don't know how to explain it. I was in the video game district and there was a commercial of this dude, like statue of David or whatever you want to call it, like doing this pose.

And I went to the show and I did it in front of the crowd. And I was like, oh wow, that's so interesting. Once I saw the picture of it, I was like, that's what I am. I'm just a live statue. I'm just a live statue.

And I just want to stay still for one moment to bask in it. I do something cool. I like it. At home now, I'm just like, I do something just randomly. I go, you know what?

That was, and now it's so funny. People meet me and they do it and they want to take pictures like that. So I like it. I think it's a good boost of confidence for somebody because you know, why not hit the pose on them?

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What would you like the power to do? Bank of America. Restrictions apply. Speaking of hitting, I got to get to our most famous question here at NCW. And it's a situational-based question, Ricky. You're out at a bar. Chilling. There's 50 dudes in there that don't want you in that bar. They're hating. Ricky, I need you to pick a team of you and four other superstars to make sure you're making it to the car.

And it could be of any era of any time. Okay, Haku. Makes sense. He's every time. He's like the leading. Godfather.

Nice. Steve Blackman. Yo, Lethal Weapon. And I'm trying to think on this one. I need a good last one, right?

Yeah, I would say The Undertaker. That's a solid one. BSK Crew, baby. Makes sense. You know, we had X-Pac on the pod a few weeks ago. We asked him the question. O'Shea set it up. He goes, well, it happened. We're like, what do you mean it happened? He goes, The Click. We were in a bar somewhere in Canada. And dudes, it was about to go down, followed them outside. And he said, all of a sudden, a big limo pulls up and the BSK Crew all gets out.

There's Yoko. It's cute. And like, there was no fight after that, obviously.

Takers told me some stories that I'm like, yeah, I would have fit right in. I wouldn't have had the tattoo, but I would have been right behind him. Okay.

Tattoo is crazy. I can't wait to interview Rikishi and just like, pick his brain or just everything that went down. Right. Oh, yeah. He won't tell us on camera, though.

No, of course not. Some of those stories to yourself. But I would love to get in a fight now. Yeah, I would love that. I may do it in Vegas.

Fighting y'all is not fair. It's not worth it because you fall out like that lady tried to do yesterday. You fall out and you... Yeah, can we talk about that?

You would immediately try to get me. Take a dive. Man. I mean, she's trying to become a green shirt lady now, instead of the green shirt guy.

She wants tickets to WrestleMania up to 96. My neck, my back, my neck and my back. Oh, I'm shot. I'm hurt. I'm hurt.

Like, what? Rich Eisen is going to kill us. All right, so we're running a little bit out of time. I feel like we got to get him in on that rematch. So I got one more for you then.

You're going to give a chance. We're going to give you a chance, Ricky, to pick five dream WrestleMania opponents. Any era, any athlete that you would have a banger of a main event at WrestleMania with. Oh, OK. Me versus Undertaker. OK. Me versus Shawn Michaels. Me versus Rey Mysterio. Oh, yeah.

Me versus Cody and me versus Seth freaking Rollins. OK. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Yes. On that one.

Oh, those buying five tickets right there. Oh, well, this has been amazing. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, brother, for taking the time to sit with us. Absolutely. And you know, earlier in the interview.

Oh, God. Earlier in the interview, I remember I asked him who he would want to go against, you know, cross paths with. Well, here at NCW, we like to make dreams come true.

Yes, we do. So please, ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for our next guest. He is your in X team champion. The ruler, the ruler over. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Because we get pictures, it's our first time just it's our first time here, yo.

Make some noise for Ricky Saints, y'all. Thank you, brother. Hey, I didn't see you rolling the first time. Well, you know what? Because I had it written down. I'm very oriented. I'm reading off the cards. Why are you doing this, bro? All right?

You're going to get them going. You're going to cut a promo, but right now we got the champ. Yes.

The ruler. The very first ever two-time guest on NC, though. That's right. How about that? First time ever, bro.

Put them in the history books, folks. How are you, man? How are you feeling? I feel great coming off of that excellent triple threat main event.

It's good to see you guys again. Man. I feel great, man. It's Mania weekend, and I'm enjoying this. Mania week was awesome.

Let's do it, man. Yeah, bro. I got to say, though, because when we do these Mania trips, and I made a promise to my siblings that any time Mania is not super far, we're going to go, but we were at Stand and Deliver. 930 in the morning is crazy. Wild.

Bro. And y'all had to be there at five? Call time was 515. It was insane. It was, and it came and went so quick. Last year, it was 1 p.m., so people had woken up a little bit, but the people showed up.

We sold out the building, and I can't ask for anything more. Exactly. That's what's up.

Those are the struggles we don't see, y'all. Right? Yeah.

They got to get there 515 in the morning and attack each other. That's insane. It's the American dream. So, Oba, you were with us, I believe, in January. You're still relatively new to this, as you were telling us. Why do you think you've had so much success? I feel like my success has a lot to do with how authentic I've been. I'm not playing wrestler.

I'm playing Oba. I'm playing myself. If you just be yourself, people can bite off of that way more than they will bite off of you pretending to be something you're not. Exactly. So be authentically you, and even if you don't have so many people gravitating towards you, you're going to have that niche fan base that you know that they're here because of you and because you are who you are. So be yourself. That's the long story cut short. Exactly. Exactly. Absolutely, man. Like I said, we were at Stand and Deliver, the triple threat that you guys put on, it really had the feeling of a big time fight.

Just the presentation, everybody bringing it. We know you've had your battles with Trick Williams. Talk to us a little bit about what it's like being in-ring with Javon Evans. I can't lie. I doubted that boy. A lot of people have said, because I called him a child, a lot of people were like, well, you're just five, six years older than him. But you have to understand that in wrestling years, that's a lot. There's a huge difference between a 26, 27-year-old to a 19, 20-year-old.

You're just in two very different phases of life. When I was his age, I was in college, I was probably a sophomore or a freshman, and for him to be where he's at at his age, I have to say now I'm impressed. He made me a believer. I do believe that he is the future. We're stuck in the present, the present of the Obafemi, but he is the future, and I'll give him his flowers.

I tip my heart to Javon Evans. Okay. I like that.

I like that. Yeah, man. The dude's going places. I had a chance to talk to him last night, and Humble Dude doesn't know how good he is, and that's a beautiful thing when you can still have your head on your shoulders and everybody telling you you're the man.

For sure. But right now, we are in the present, and we are in the presence of the ruler. The ruler.

So, Oba, as you look over the NXT landscape, you just had your triple threat match, kind of disposed of those two opponents. Who are you looking at now as someone who could be ready to step up to you and challenge you for that title? I'm the champion. It's not my job to look for who is stepping up. It's their job to look to me and step up. Okay. Okay. It's that whoever comes and steps up to the plate is whoever I'll face. As long as you can earn your way to the title opportunity, I'm good. Any man living, breathing, as long as you breathe air, Oba Femi will face you as long as you earn it. That's what's up.

Damn, I'll breathe air. So you want some? Is that what you said? Chill out. Something that I don't think the last time we spoke, I don't think I asked you this question because I can't even remember a major, major moment.

I don't think you did though. A major move being done on Oba, but is there any moves out there that you're not really a fan of taking that they're just like, all right, here come these kicks or like anything where you know you got to brace yourself a little bit? I think in general, apron bumps, I have a specific problem with apron bumps because the way it registers in the mind of some professional wrestlers, I don't think it quite resonates with the people at home.

The risk to reward ratio is not very optimal. I don't think so. Some people don't even know it's a harder part of the ring. So when you take those bumps in your mind, you're like, oh wow, they understand that I'm injuring myself, but some of the fans don't quite understand that.

So it sucks for me when I take it knowing that. And you did, like I said, you were on the pod earlier a few months ago and you did answer this question, but now we have a whole new, you know, people out here who may not have heard this. Who were some of the big men? You told us that some guys go down the NXT, some of the big fellas and kind of teach you guys how to wrestle big men style.

Who were some of the guys that you were saying kind of help you out? For me, it was Coach Bloom is the biggest one. He's our head coach at the Performance Center. You guys know him as A-Train, Prince Albert.

A-Train, Tensai, Big One, Albert, whichever. He's done a lot for me. He took me under his wing.

He saw potential where it was and he met me where I was and helped me get to where I needed to be. Of course, Ivar has been running a big man class at the Performance Center for the past like two years now. So every Wednesday, me and Ivar, we sit down, we watch film, we talk about what to do, what not to do.

I had the privilege of wrestling him at Spring Break-In last year. So props up to Ivar. Dijak and Josh Briggs were also another group of people that really helped me, especially when I worked with them at Stand and Deliver last year. So I would say those four are the biggest influences when it comes to working the big man style. Obviously, it's helped me get to where I need to be. No doubt.

Absolutely. Now, speak a little bit on, you just spoke about the big man that you get your experience and you get most of your gems from. Who are some people in your life that without them, you wouldn't be the Oba that we know today? Some personal people that helped you on this journey to get you where you are.

Are you talking about people from past life, even before wrestling or like- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Parents, mother, father, especially mother, she was always that dad who will always go out and work. So mom is the one I got the most face time with. My mother has been so helpful. She gave me the childhood that even when I didn't deserve it, she made me feel like things were better than they actually were, even when they were hard. So shout out to my mother, my best friend, David, he was the one who kind of kept my head in check because the ruler does some ruler things and there are certain settings where you're not meant to be the ruler.

So shout out to David for putting me on track. He was always the voice of reason in my life. My coach at Alabama, man, I don't know what to do without him because he was the one who made me a great shot putter. That's a life before wrestling, but at some point that was my life.

Shot put and the Olympics, that was what I wanted to do. So shout out to Derek Yosh, Coach Yosh, he's been a huge influence. That's what's up. Listen, when y'all boo, this is the man y'all booing. Remember that. All right.

It was a great answer. Never boo, never boo the ruler, bro. You mentioned going to Alabama, you played track and field and my thought was, I can't believe Nick Saban didn't come to your dorm room and say, come follow me and you said no one ever approached you about football. I mean, it was always going to be tricky because like I had never, because I grew up in Nigeria, we don't play football, soccer, football, different football we play, but I'd never played football.

I had zero experience. So it was going to be, it was always going to be hard to justify giving, you know, someone who had zero experience playing football a full ride and I feel like that was always the problem because I had rapport with the strength coaches, the football strength coaches and even, you know, Saban himself, I've met him, I've said words to him. So like it was always going to be a tricky bit and that's why it never quite panned out that way. You know, it's funny you say it was tricky, but you didn't have wrestling experience, right? And now you got gold on your shoulder. So I think football, something tells me you could have adapted had you wanted to, but I think you did the right thing. I think you did the right thing. But like you get paid to be a wrestler, get paid well if you're in my position, if you are the ruler, you know.

You get very well as a ruler. That was different, you know, he couldn't give me how much I deserved. He couldn't give me that full ride and that's why I couldn't do it. That's what's up. Well, little did he know he probably saved somebody's life by him going into wrestling.

Just to break someone's back though, you know what I mean? So obviously major news, I'm not sure if you're aware, but John Cena won his 17th world title title. Talk to us a little bit about what that kind of looks like. Your eyes, you know, a dude coming up in NXT, not quite on the main stage, but we know, like, I mean, you know, Oba's going to the main stage. So talk to us a little bit about John Cena, you know, just what he means to the business.

If there's anything, if you've ever met him and yeah, speak on the man with the 17 belts. So hustle, loyalty and respect. He's very synonymous with those three words, but I think, I think one big word is missing. Consistency.

Boo him, chair him, rain, sun, hell freezing over. John was always there. John always did his thing.

So big respect to John. Funny you bring him up, bring him up because I just had a very incredible full circle moment with John back there because two years ago, before the North American championship reign, before the NXT championship reign, before I was even on television, he came to the PC and he watched me wrestle one of the dark state boys, the Dion Lennox. So we had a PC live match.

These matches we organized at the PC to, you know, just for the coaches to see where everybody is at. John happened to be there and he watched, he watched my match. He called me and Dion to the back. He talked to us for about, you know, 40 minutes. He gave us all his insights and, you know, everything he knew and he could possibly remember to tell us.

He told us and I just saw John back there two years later, longest-winning North American champion, NXT championship, you know, all that and it was, he saw me and he said congratulations and we shared a moment there and that was, that was awesome. Can you share, do you remember any like the little things, nuances he did share with you back then? He taught me to always, you know, fight for what I believe in. He also said pick your battles wisely because, you know, some people here fight for what you believe in and they feel like they can fight everybody for what they believe in. He kind of guided me to understand what battles are worth fighting for. He understands, you know, there's always going to be a gap between talent and office and he's a genius because he knows how to navigate those waters and those terrains perfectly to strike that balance between being one of the boys and doing what the office wants you to do. So he shared that knowledge with me and it's been very helpful.

That's what's up. Okay, now with, obviously with it being mainly a weekend, the Hall of Fame is there, is there anybody that you ran into that you didn't meet before that you were excited to be able to cross paths with any of the legends? Ran into Ray Phoenix.

Okay. Congratulations to him for signing with the WWE. He's awesome.

Exciting to see what he's going to do. Beautiful, beautiful moment for Ray Phoenix and Pinta. What was that? I said it was a beautiful moment for Ray and Pinta to both have a Mania match. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. That was incredible. And they did, they did awesome, man. That Pinta four-way match was incredible, Ray versus Chad Gable was incredible.

I enjoyed it. Congratulations to them. It just hit me as you were mentioning John Cena, your conversation, what he meant.

Is there any way, any chance that maybe for December we get John Cena and Obafemi in a squared circle somewhere? Wow. TJ. I love it. Well, I think someone out there wants to know the answer to that question, right? Yeah. Yeah. He wants to know. I wish.

I wish. But he's in the twilight of his career. He's winding down.

I'm just getting started. I don't know if our paths are going to cross in that fashion. I hope it does, but I don't think so. So you know what, on the Rich Eisen show, we do this segment where a coach during a press conference will say something, he'll give you an answer. But we know maybe he was just saying what he was saying. So we'll play a drop that says, what were they really thinking?

And then we'll say what they were really thinking. To me, what you were really thinking is he's at the end, he's old, I'll break him, he doesn't want any. That's kind of what it seemed like to me. Bro, did you hear him? He said slowing down.

That was crazy. You said he's slowing down. Whoa. I mean, I saw the shot. Yes, there's definitely that in my mind.

That's definitely a factor. I'm in my prime. I'm young, I'm spry, John is not the same.

Respect to him, he's a champion right now, but I think I'm still above Fermi. I'm still the ruler. Don't forget that. That's what we want to hear. That's what we want to hear.

I just don't think our paths are going to cross in that fashion. Well, we can only hope, right? We can always hope.

Especially us as fans, we can only hope. Someone's fantasy booking that right now, as a matter of fact. This episode is brought to you by Chevy Silverado. When it's time for you to ditch the blacktop and head off road, do it in a truck that says no to nothing. The Chevy Silverado Trail Boss. Get the rugged capability of its Z71 suspension and two-inch factory lift, plus impressive torque and towing capacity, thanks to an available Duramax 3.0L turbo diesel engine. Where other trucks call it quits, you'll just be getting started.

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See you first on Food Network, stream next day on Max. All right, now we've spoken to you before, we've gotten this bar fight question, we've gotten the welcome to wrestling moment, something that they started to add into the hall of fame, they're adding matches, all right, they're adding WrestleMania matches. Is there a WrestleMania match that sticks out to you as one of your favorites that you could share with us that you would put in the hall of fame?

WrestleMania 31, Roman Reigns versus Brock Lesnar, with Rollins cashing in at the end. I think at some point, that goes in the hall of fame for sure. I see that, and it's funny, you said his name, so I'll now ask the question I wasn't going to, but now I will.

You mentioned you were a shot putter. There's a daughter of a famous wrestler who's also a pretty good shot putter, and her name is Lesnar. So I'm thinking two thoughts came to mind, one, she's going to have to join the family business at some point, and two, what would a matchup between Brock Lesnar and Obafemi look like? It's going to be carnage, it's going to be carnage, it's one of those things you have to see, because you can't explain what it's going to be.

I think Obafemi versus Brock Lesnar sells tickets, I think it's the main event of whatever show it's going to be on, and I think it's going to be incredible. Congratulations to his daughter, she's killing it. She was able to accomplish something I was never able to accomplish, she became a NCAA champion, she's a national champion right now. I don't know if she's going to join the family business, because we always assume that just because the predecessor did something, the offspring will do the same. We always assume, but it's not always the case, there's so many celebrities with children and you're like, what the hell do they do?

They just chose not to do the family business, so whatever she chooses to do, I think she's going to be successful at it regardless. Some start wrestling podcasts, some children and celebrities do. I started this because they put the actors on strike, and for seven months I couldn't work, so it was about finding a job that I knew would never leave me, and that's wrestling. So we're like, this is 52 weeks a year, there's no off season. No off season. Every week, baby.

Every week. And you're killing it, man. Thank you. All right, listen. Here at No Contest, you're like the local gardener, bro.

You planted seeds for Oba versus John, you're planting the seeds for Oba versus Brock. I just want to get ahead of the internet people. Just give me the pencil, Oba.

Just give me the pencil. I'll book. I'll book.

That's amazing, man. So if you had a... Is there any type of match, I should say, that we've obviously seen through these PLEs, whether that be the big moments that Hell in a Cell's given us, the added drama that a Money in the Bank is always going to give you. Is there any of those matches that have PLEs named after them that you're excited to be a part of or that you want to sink your teeth into? Royal Rumble would be a good one. Yeah.

As we already know. That's a pretty solid one. The ruler is very good at multi-man matches. So the Royal Rumble is the perfect scenario for the ruler to come in, throw in 29 other bombs out of the ring and win the damn thing. Here's the problem though, ruler. When you get to the Rumble, they expect you to like to go on a full sprint.

I don't see... The ruler walks at his own pace, so I mean, is that what you... Would you keep the pace? Would you run?

I can't see it. There's no point keeping the pace. If the other 29 guys are not keeping the pace, there's no reason for me to sprint, but here's the thing. My sprint and their sprint is different. My pace and their pace is also different.

So their five and my five, my five is better than their five. So I'm still throwing out... I'm still throwing out all 29 men and winning the damn thing.

There you go. We got to figure out... I mean, for him to be our first two-time guest, bro. We might name an award after you, bro. We didn't think this was going to happen, man.

The Oba Family Award. Yeah. We got to figure out something nice for you. Now, just because we have a live audience, I'm going to go back to our most famous question, because you guys got to react. If you're not already subscribed to the No Contest Wrestling Podcast, which I don't know why you would be, and you're sitting here. I know you are. Come on, man.

But you know the situation, 50 dudes in a bar, they don't want you in there, and I need you and a team of four other superstars to make sure the ruler makes it to the car. Who's on your team? So is this NXT or overall?

What y'all want? Overall or just NXT? Across the board. The people have spoken. You said all time? Okay. All time.

So let's get the obvious one out of the way. The one who shall not be named, The Lesnar, is definitely my number one pick. Fit Finlay in his prime.

Yeah. I've heard stories about Fit Finlay back. He's old now, and even in his old age, he's still the man. Randy in his prime would be a good one. Brock? Randy.

Randy Orton in his prime. How many guys? Five guys? Yeah. You need one more. One more. One more.

One more. There's so many to pick from. Let's say Trick Williams. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. Let's say Trick Williams.

Yeah. I'm not the biggest Williams fan. I'm not a fan of the whole sports entertainer, flashy, sunglasses inside type of... No shade. No shade.

No shade. That's crazy. But I'm not a Trick Williams fan, but he has definitely earned my respect. I've done so many dances with that man on the big stage, even in classes with Terry Taylor.

Me and Trick have gone the whole way, so Trick Williams is another one I would want behind my back. Builds up a respect when you go to battle with a man like- Okay. Just by you answering that way, there's something I need to know, and I might start asking people this question, okay? Obviously, at the Performance Center, it's a lot of learning, a lot of teachers. Who is the principal at the Performance Center? Who is the person you don't want to hear from as soon as they call you in there because you know they're about to put you through the ringer? You're talking about coaches? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know when that name pops up, you're in for it.

Cool. So different coaches have different icks, so depending on what you've done, that's what's going to determine what coach you would want to see versus what coach you wouldn't want to see. After a bad match, you wouldn't want to see Sean or Matt Bloom because they'll tell you how it is. It's shocked, kid.

They will let you know what you've done. Terry Taylor is another one you wouldn't want to hear from. He's very passionate about this business. He's very passionate about wrestling, so he will nitpick you until you become the perfect wrestler.

And until you get there, as we all know, perfection is impossible. So until you get there, you will hear it all from Terry Taylor. So overall, my pick would still be Terry Taylor because of how passionate he is about it and how much he has to say. All right, well, Terry Taylor, because we, I don't know if you guys know this, but NCW, we've kind of become the go-to spot for NXT. Yeah, we're getting a lot of NXT love on the plot, which is amazing. Yeah, so now I'm going to need to get a vote.

So right now, Terry is in the lead. Seems like it. He's in the lead for the principal of the PC, man. Beautiful.

He might be the guidance counselor, really, then, you know, because when you got that guidance counselor called, you were like- That was perfection? Yo. That's crazy, dude.

Anybody out there got any questions for him? Man, this is a flag. The only time we get to do this. Hold up, man. You got engaged?

Is that what you're saying? Oh, well, congratulations. Congratulations, my man.

Congratulations, man. Is she with you? Wait, so how'd you pull this off? Yeah. Oh, she flew back? Bro, I'm thinking you got engaged. Yeah, I thought... What, you did this on FaceTime?

Like if you're here and she's there. I got to tell you, brother, you're raising a lot of questions. Yo, that's hard, bro. Make some noise for my man.

He got engaged. I'm lonely watching wrestling. It's perfect time for the bell. Hey, man. You got your hand up. I see you.

Sorry, what's that? I think he said, who do you want to match against next? Who do you want to match against next?

Who do I want? Y'all see my hearing? My hearing good.

I mean, I already said it's left to them to step up, but I can't think... I can tell you what we have in store. I know Hekileo is in the Woodworks right now. He can come out whenever he's ready. Lance Anawai is also in the Woodworks right now.

Whenever they're ready, they can come back. I think you're dropping some news right now. I'm not dropping anything.

I'm just telling you the potential. I've cleared everybody. Who's the biggest star in NXT? Some people will say Trick... I think it's me, but some people will say Trick Williams.

I cleared him twice. There's nobody left, so I'm just telling you what we have in the Woodworks, in the closet. If it comes out, it comes out.

If it doesn't, it doesn't. I'm just telling you what's in the Woodworks. Now, listen, bro. We had Ricky Saints up here, and we did not know... There it is.

We did not know he was going to call you out so aggressively, and you'd be the next guest. Right. Kind of really worked out that way. Can we see that in the future? I think so.

I think so. I mean, once he might want to unify the championships, he might want to become double champ, champ, champ. But whenever he's ready for it, I'll be here. I'll be here, Ricky.

I'm not running. I do like Ricky Saints. I like it. I love his stuff. Congratulations to him. He jumped the ship, and he bet on himself, and he's the man.

But whenever he's ready, the ruler will be here. Who? Who? Chemistry, Oba, as you know, plays such a big part in wrestling. What wrestlers would you say you have the best in-wing chemistry with? Someone when you get the match card, you look, you're like, yeah, this is going to be a banger tonight.

Well, I'll answer the question, but then I'll say something after. As far as the question goes, Josh Briggs, Dijak, Brooks Jensen, Axiom. Big man, little man. Feel wise, Wesley, just feel wise from what I felt wrestling them, those were the names that came to mind. But I'll say this, when you're aiming for perfection, when you want to become the best superstar that you can possibly be, you have to transcend chemistry. You can't be like, oh, tonight it's this person, and I'm not going to, I don't normally have chemistry with this. If you are that good, chemistry doesn't matter. If you're Seth Rollins, chemistry doesn't matter. If you're AJ Styles, chemistry doesn't matter. There are some people who can, you know, wrestle a broomstick and it'll be an awesome match. If you're Shawn Michaels, it never mattered with Shawn. He could have a good match with anybody, and that's where I want to be.

I want to transcend chemistry. That's what's up. That's what's up. Well said. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been our very first live episode of the No Contest Wrestling Podcast. Yeah, man. This is our two-time, first two-time, y'all are our first crowd, so please make some noise for yourselves. Don't be humble. You deserve it.

Right. Truly, like I said earlier, it's humbling. We appreciate this. He and I have only been doing this since October, so for us to be here to talk to you twice, I mean, I'm a kid from Altoona who like, start going to wrestling when I was in fourth grade and I was like, this is the most magical thing I've ever seen, to be able to like come to WrestleMania weekend and do this with you and you and all you, man, this is the greatest, maybe the greatest weekend of my life, you know? Hell yeah.

That's solid. All of that is not done without you guys' support, so thank you so much. Please make some noise for our guest, Obafemi, the NXT champion and the ruler. Obafemi, Obafemi, y'all, now, it would not be an episode of the No Contest Wrestling podcast if TJ, you didn't tell these lovely people where they could find us. I didn't tell you what?

I was looking out, I didn't hear what you said. Tell them where to find us. Oh, where to find us?

You look like you were pointing at somebody, I'm like, did I miss somebody? Well, you know, you can always find us, you know, you can look on Twitter, there's No Contest, our Instagram, No Contest Wrestling podcast and all of our videos, including this one, you'll find us on the Rich Eisen Show YouTube page, that's where we put everything. So between YouTube and the Instagram and the Twitter, it's everything we got. Yeah, bro, that's everything we have. Thank you guys so much for being here.

Really meant a lot. Did we say thank you to Jada Parker? We didn't, but let's do it right now. Are we gonna say bye? We'll just say, yeah, bye. All right, one, two, three. Bye, Ms. Parker.

Thank you guys, appreciate you so much. We're gonna get into so much trouble. Bravo TV star Lala Kent holds nothing back.

There's been so many times where I'm like, I apologize that I said that, but that wasn't meant for you to hear. I feel you there. How fun would it be to bring in some Bravo celebrities and make our own bracket icon? All right, I'll take Dorinda, you take Sonia.

Sonia is who I wish I could be. You and me both. I cannot be someone in the program. What's PTO? Pay time off, see? Oh.

You never had a real job. Give them Lala. It is nothing but honesty. You guys know. Just follow and listen on your favorite platform.