No-Contest Wrestling with O'Shea Jackson Jr. and TJ Jefferson: CM Punk Part 2, and Swerve Strickland

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Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply. Learn more at AmericanExpress.com/slash Amex Business. Yeah Welcome back. To the no contest wrestling podcast, episode two, TJ.

Hey, yo, look at look at this go about that, man. I am the heel that you love to hate, O'Shea Jackson Jr. I am the T-double-J-I-G-G, the 2G holler if you hear me. But listen, man, we had a pretty impactful weekend for wrestling. Man, well, first and foremost, a pretty impactful weekend for No Contest Wrestling podcast.

We kind of hit the ground running. You know, a little bit. You know, we got a little bit of success. You know, I might eventually change my number again. But, yeah, dude, we want to thank everybody for how much you guys got involved with the success of the show for our first episode, our premiere episode.

Special thanks to CM Punk. We will be getting into part two a little bit after we talk about things like Bad Blood. My goodness, man. And I quote, I have to deliver a classic. Isn't that what he said?

Yeah. In episode one and He and Drew McIntyre did just that on Saturday. And you can tell it had. Such a big fight feel. From the slow walks to the sale, feeling on the steel, just those things that you.

You kind of expect from a hell in a cell match. And you know, we've had a few, it had its own PLE, but this. This felt like the Hell in a Cell matches of old. And it's exactly what he told us. He was going to do.

I mean, I remember asking him off camera, you know, what do you got planned? And he said, well, I plan on not doing a thing the next day. I mean, he knew he was gonna be messed up. Yeah. And that's gotta be a weird feeling to like.

Like We know like, okay, Saturday, we got to mess each other up. And it's going to be, it's going to be bloody. It's going to be ugly. And yeah, you might fall on the way to the back. I mean, and you check these pictures out, you know, and it's the famous the recreation.

Yeah. Bret Hart putting Stone Cold in the sharpshooter at WrestleMania. They kind of recreated that moment with Punk having Drew in the sharpshooter, the crimson mask just covering Drew's face. And then you can see the picture on the right: 15 staples to the head after that toolbox shot. You know, at one point, Drew was just leaking, leaking blood.

Leaking. It delivered on every aspect. You know, a lot of people were kind of upset that it kicked the show off because, really, how do you follow?

something like that you know and yeah And they did. They made it hard for the rest of the card. I'm sure they got to the back and were like, yeah, good luck. Yeah, exactly. Because it gave us everything.

And the thing is, you know, we obviously, you know, for. Those in the know, you know, why the main event had to be the main event. You know, but I love the fact that. They went out there and were like, all right, top that. They knew that they were going to be the ones being talked about all over the internet.

And, You know, they, I got so much respect for my man Drew McIntyre. My man, Drew McIntyre is such a good bad guy. I love Drew McIntyre, man. No question. And.

What punk has done and I guess really it started with Seth as well, but I think it really elevated he took Drew McIntyre's game to another level Especially in terms of the trolling McIntyre the Drew on Social media just his entire mic game just stepped up recently. And I don't want to say it's all because of Punk, but it really at the end, he. I think you gotta give a lot of credit. To see him punk for help. For sure, my favorite feud I've seen Drew in.

Because you figure Drew McIntyre's already at a point. Can it get much higher? And then he showed, yeah, character-wise and everything else, he can take it another knot. And if we're being honest, I mean, okay. After he Injured Paul during the rumble.

It is Drew's fault.

So, like, Drew getting on social media, I mean, and just completely trolling Punk the entire time. Bro, but in a lot of those situations, I'm like, oh, Drew has a reason to be mad.

Well, we want to keep it G-Real, right? Drew McIntyre had the most understandable reason for going illegally. Anyone, like, you go back to class at the castle, the man had to tell her run, boom, solo Sakoa steps up. Yeah. Debuts cost Drew.

Drew just kept getting screwed over and over and over again.

So all the reasons he had for being upset were valid. And yet, in the world, weird world of pro wrestling and fandom, we got a guy who's, yeah, we can tell, we see he's been screwed over by the system, and yet we're still going to choose to boo that man. I don't get it. It's. only happens in wrestling if this is real life.

He has every reason to be upset. He has every reason to kind of snap the way that he did. But he brought it upon himself as well. Exactly. Don't start none, won't be none.

Man's wins the world title at WrestleMania. Great moment. I was right there. He could have kissed his wife, walked back. The dressing room and stuff.

But you saw Charles Montgomery sitting there and you went to play. And let me tell you something: Charles Montgomery Punk ain't here for play. He's not for games. Charles Montgomery is crazy. And as I said on the Rich Eyes and on the main show, when the Dallas Cowboys did not get Derrick Henry and then he just ran up our chest and down our back, the Cowboys effed around that chart.

They found out that's what Drew McIntyre did at WrestleMania. You had the 15, 20 pounds of gold. That's a heavy belt, by the way. You had it. You saw CM Punk, you effed around, you found out next you know, Damian Priest is the world heavyweight champion.

Now we'll get you. But man, it was one of those things like we talked about back in the day of wrestling, that third match, that blow-off match. You know, two men, they can't get along, so they got to get it on. And they had to put them in the hell in the cell. And they delivered and they beat the crap out of each other.

And just the throwbacks, you know, the, the, The beads. Yeah. At first, I was like, oh man, Drew having a bag of beads where normally back in the day, a mankind would have thumbtacks. I was like, it's going to be beads, isn't it? As soon as he started getting close, I was like, it's beads.

But it played perfectly into the story that they had woven with one another. And then, you know, the. The chain around the knee, you knew where he was going. Hold on, but right before the chain around the knee. Mm-hmm.

Drew McIntyre. Almost Threw out his back, yo, on the corner of the steps. To like, I've watched Bad Blood. Three times now. And that is still like the, oh man, that's that's he's feeling it the night after.

Yeah, he's feeling it today. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not gonna go away, man. And he went for it, and we appreciate you. Oh, thank you so much.

Thank you so much. You know, the quote, the quote Wu-Tang, they had a line: I slayed MCs back in the rec room era. My styles broke backs like Ken Patero. That's what I thought at that point when he went to go for the Claymore. And just landed on the steel steps right at the small of his back.

That's where Shawn Michaels landed on the coffin against The Undertaker when he basically destroyed his back. And my first thought was: man, I hope that. Fingers crossed. Get the F some salt.

So, you know, all this went on. You know, Bad Blood was great. The Hell in the Cell paid off. Yeah. You know, we had a women's championship match.

Triple H unveiled a new. Crown jewel championship belt, which will be decided by the two heavyweight champions of each brand. That's interesting. That's going to be interesting. But, Paul, can we relax on the new belts, bro?

I like, I have a daughter.

Okay. I can't just keep adding to cart whenever you just want to make a new belt.

So let's chill. You already got the Lakers, Dodgers, USC, and the Kings belt in my cart right now on the way to the house. Come on, man. No, I mean, Den of Thieves 2 is dropping soon.

So that's going to change a lot for you.

So that's January. Please, Paul. Paul relax, bro. Thank you, though. I appreciate it.

And one of my favorite things, you know, I I will not, and now that we have this forum, I will never let people rewrite history. Bill Goldberg back in the day was him. Point blank period, you know, a lot of people now, a lot of fans will try to discredit Bill Goldberg and what he did. No, no, no. Back in those days in those late 90s, Goldberg was the man.

I was watching wrestling that night that he came down and wrestled with Hugh Morris as Bill Goldberg and he beat him. And I was like, who is this guy? You know, he turned friends of mine who weren't into wrestling into wrestling fans. Because of his physical dominance, his look. There's just no.

The man had mountains for traps. Yeah, come on, man. He was doing shrugs for years and years, you know.

So, yeah, I'm never gonna let anybody try to rewrite the fact that Bill Goldberg wasn't the man, but here. Gunther comes out and You know, he had a run-in with Bret Hart a few weeks ago, and he dropped the line about Bill Goldberg being his favorite wrestler. And if you know anything about wrestling, Bret Hart does not like Bill Goldberg for reasons that have been documented millions of times.

So then Gunther comes out to Atlanta. Goldberg's still a hero there. He goes, hey, did you hear when I said that like you were my hero?

Well, that was a lie because you're a one-trick pony. And then he talked about Goldberg's son Gage, who's a member of the Colorado football team. And that's all shout out to Colorado. By the way, Gage will be in that ring at some point. Look at him.

He's looking like a just. They said Crown Jewels during the bye week. Oh, baby. Come on now.

So, of course, Goldberg gets out of his chair. The crowd's going nuts. They're cheering his name. They want something to happen. And I got to be honest with Shay.

When Raw happened and Sami Zayn faced Gunter for the World Heavyweight Championship, I 1000% expected Goldberg to do what he did to Brock Lesnar against Eddie Guerrero, roll in the ring, spear him, spear Gunter, and have Sammy win the title. I was expecting that to happen. I was prepared mentally to the moment. We've already got the blessing of Maine Vinjay Uso getting the Intercontinental title. If that would have happened, the internet probably would have imploded on itself.

But, you know, Gunter's a force to be recognized. He really is, man. He really is a problem. But yeah, just to go back, Goldberg, you know, was a huge fan of Goldberg. That was.

That was one of the times. One of the Many times where wrestling broke my heart is that I've always seen Goldberg and been a fan of Goldberg. Didn't get him into a game until I think it was like WCW versus NWO Revenge or something on it in Nintendo 64. But I've always watched Goldberg, was a fan of Goldberg. Then the alliance angle in WWE happened.

And, you know, of course, no Goldberg. And the time Goldberg comes to the WWE. He goes against my guy, the Rob. And I was just like, why is this happening? Like, if God got jokes, it's got jokes.

He, you know, of course. Having to be Goldberg completely destroyed the rock. And yeah, I still haven't gotten over it, dude. I understand that. Haven't gotten over it.

Look, man, I'm always down for one more Goldberg run, especially if you get a big physical bat. You're such a world heavyweight champion. You know, then we had the women's world championship match. Saw Liv Morgan. Hold on to her belt with the returning Raquel Rodriguez.

Yeah, and it's one of the few. I look, they kind of messed up the return a little bit. The timing was off, but Raquel is one of the few women who physically can stand up to a Bianca, to a Jade, to a Rhea Ripley.

So it's good to see. It's great to see Raquel back. If you've been. Following her on social media, you know what she has been going through.

So, we as fans are happy to see her back. Obviously, hindsight is 2020.

So, I wish she could have got the music hit in that type of situation just to help everybody in the arena. But, you know, I'm not going to act like it was the best crowd. You know, the crowd did seem a little good. Come on, y'all. But, like, still, still, Raquel, we're happy to see her back.

Yes, it was a little wonky, but now Liv got a big bad bodyguard. Six foot a six-foot woman backing her up, man. Yeah, you know, so she doesn't need to be driving. January Schofield. That kind of threw me off.

Chanel Schofield. Come on, put her in shotgun. And then, you know, let's end this with the main event. Yeah. Solo Sokoa.

Yeah, yeah, dude. The Simone Werewolf, Jacob 52, going up against. The world heavyweight champion Cody Rhodes. In my your hour. Tribal chief then.

Come on, come on, acknowledge him. You see who came out last. Yeah, right. And, you know, that match was pretty much what we expected. Yeah.

you expected some outside interference, which happened. Uh, we weren't sure if Cody and Roman were going to honor the pact that they had to have each other's backs. It seems as though they did, and then you know, we got the surprise return, my man Jimmy, my man coming back out. And when they showed uh, Jay in the suite, I was like, Oh my god, are we about to get it all? Are we about to get it all?

Yeah, we're not that first, but you know, obviously, they need to reconcile some things before you know Jay trades in his blue for black and red, or he might keep it. You know, but we all know what we want to see, we all know where this is headed. It was so good to see Jimmy, uh, he looked good, look healthy. That harpy guy was great, yeah, it was amazing. He was the bandana off, and yeah, that was after Rikishi scared me on Twitter like something was wrong with him was wrong.

That was weird this time, dude, chill, and then uh, yeah, it was just great to see him. Um, you know, you got the vibes and kind of like that CM Punk Survivor series, they lulled us to sleep of like, yeah, this is it.

Okay, so and then now you have the bloodline beating up Cody in the ring, yeah, Jimmy. Jimmy and Roman are heading back and Jimmy's like, look, dog, you said you were going to have his back. Like, it's your call. Jimmy was ready. Yeah, he's a bad one.

And then when she was like, let's go do this, they went, they cleaned up. Cleaned out the ring. Cody Spelt's laying there, Roman picks him up. He hands it to Cody. What are we going to do?

He's Roman's belt, but that's fine. And then the music hit. Yeah, man. There is nothing like. That dead silence before you hear.

If you're sure. And he just, he didn't have to do anything. It was an aura off. Right. You know, stood there.

Look at that man. Lifted the eyebrow. Come on, bro. That's box office right now. Final boss came out.

Box office. And we don't know what's going to happen. He gave Roman and Cody and Jimmy a look. kind of gave them a two, three. Y'all friends now.

Kind of went. We're gonna cut that and then he walked. Off and just left the arena going crazy. Cut a live promo on Instagram back to the bus, which was amazing. And he talked to all the legends that are on the production trucks.

Saw Dusty Rhodes. I love you. I hate your kid. I hate your son, John Cena, have another bowl of fruity pebbles. Like, you know, like final boss mode.

It was final boss to rock doing rock things. And look, man, I got to be honest, I got to give Bad Broad a thumbs up on my part. Yeah, absolutely. I was completely entertaining, and that's what we want at the end of the day. What I see as.

That segment with The Rock is: do you know you're friends with this dude now? Do you not remember what he took from us? Do you not remember? WrestleMania 40. And if you don't remember WrestleMania 40.

Cody, let me remind you who got the one. To Three on you last.

So, you know, it's uh uh It was a great, great pay-per-view for the people. Yeah, P-L E. P-L-E. P-L-E. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply. Learn more at AmericanExpress.com/slash Amex Business. I know you guys are waiting.

I know you guys are watching us yap, but we got a recap. We have a show to do.

So. Here is the part two of the CM Punk interview. It took two hours, so we had to break it up into two. This is before Bad Blood and before the Chaos. He's got some great stories for us.

Please check it out. Was there a particular moment when you were like, yeah. I'm doing this forever. I mean, there's probably more than one. You know?

Seeing wrestling live for the first time probably put something in my heart. Realizing that there was more. than just WWF at the time. Um Because it's it's like a it's like a cauldron. You know, when you're a kid and your ideas and your personality is being formed.

And I was always Misfit kid because I liked stuff that everyone else made fun of me for.

So it was like, you know, pro wrestling, comic books, punk rock. I had blue hair and green, you know, like all that stuff.

So I was always made fun of. But I was just like, I don't know. It never made sense to me, and it never made me feel good to try to like stuff that other people liked just because other people liked it. Yeah. So I was just like, well, I like this stuff and this brings me joy.

So why wouldn't I continue to like it and do it? Um And I think that pushback where people were just like, oh, this is, because I remember talking to kids in school. You know, like one day they're coming to me being like, Oh, did you see The Ultimate Warrior versus Hulk Hogan? And I'm like, No, like that's pay-per-view. Like, we're broke.

We can't, you know, tell me about it. And they're like, all stoked, and they're like, tell me about it. And I'm like, man, that's crazy. Those two guys going head to head. Wow.

And then, like, you know, maybe next year's WrestleMania, like, I go to them and I'm like, hey, did you guys, you know, see the? And they're like, Yeah. Like, we're watching football. Like, what are you? What are you a little kid?

Are you a little baby? And I'm just like, oh. Yeah. Well, yeah, I like what I like. Piper, it just seemed it just seemed like I always go back to Piper.

Piper's like my totem, right? I'll always go back to him and say, like, I, I. watched him do stuff. And elicit these reactions in people. And busting the coconut over Jimmy Snooka's head.

That was terrifying for me. God, so good, right? And to me, He was surrounded by all these big giant dudes, and I was just like, oh, this is me. This is like me in school right now. Like, I'm surrounded by all these dudes like football, and they're all big jocks, and I'm like this smaller kid with a mouth on him.

Like, and I just assumed that everybody on television was a like a billionaire.

So I was just like, Oh, Piper's rich, and this is what he does. He talks trash. That's That's what I'm gonna do. I saw like a pathway to you know out of poverty. I was like, oh, that's it.

That's what I'm gonna do. Talk smack beef. And if you remember when Roddy first got to WWF, He didn't wrestle. At first he Strictly was in a mouthpiece role.

So I think if you weren't aware of what he did in Portland, and if you never saw the, the, the, Quite possibly one of the greatest matches ever, the dog collar match. You wouldn't have known that. No, no, no. This guy is more than just talking. I mean, they brought him into like Georgia and mid-Atlantic, and he was a commentator.

Yeah. You know what I mean? But with the, with the, with the. The idea that it's going to blossom into a program with somebody. you know, but yeah, he he could he could talk.

Great. And very well. Yeah. And yeah, so Roddy Piper was. Because there really was nothing.

Like this guy, and he was like, maybe the. I can't remember if it was him or Flair. I'm a little older than. You too, but That first hill, what's that? Take it easy.

That first hill that made you go, wait a minute. kind of dig this cat like piper there was even though He was talking trash and he was the ultimate villain. There was this cool factor about Rodney Piper because he would say he had these little words, you know, like, you know, you do not throw, you don't throw rocks at someone holding a machine gun. He's Han Solo. Yeah.

Okay, yeah. You know, you know, and he just, he was just like that cool. This dude is cool. Yeah, he's wearing a kilt.

So what? He's going to wear a kilt and he's going to go kick your ass, you know, and he's cool. And that was kind of the changing of like what a hill was for me. It was hot ride, you know. The guy was amazing.

Well, culture was changing too at that time. Yeah. You know, the rock and wrestling era was at that point. That's when MTV rolled out. And so, like, different cities would embrace different stuff.

You know, like 88, 89, when Flair and Steamboat are wrestling, and you think the formulas. Going to be on track. You know, he was rookie steamboat. He's got Bonnie, his wife. He's got his little kid, Richie.

The all-American story, right? You go to Philadelphia, they start booing him. That was because Flair's talking about going out and getting up with broads in a limo, and he's partying with his boys. And Steamboat is talking about the family unit. And as his grandmother, the culture starts, the culture starts changing.

I was shocked. Like, people were booing him. And I'm like, wait a minute, this dude's. That's his wife. That's his kid.

He's feeling. He's like, America, this is the family unit. And yet, here you got this guy with 12 women in a limo waiting to go all night long. And, like, that's who we want to be. Like, I was like, okay.

Well, I mean, in the mid-80s, if you got kids who were like 14, 15. Watching rock and wrestling, being like, yay, Hulk Hogan, now five years.

Now they're like 20. Yeah, now they're almost drinking age, and they're going to look at other stuff and they're going to be like, oh, no, no, I like that guy. I'm tired of prayers. I'm tired of vitamins. See what this guy is.

This guy's talking about, you know, champagne and broads. I'm going to, I'm rolling. I'm rolling with him. That's a t-shirt. Yeah.

Champagne and broads. Champagne and broads, man. The anti-hero, you know, just the guy who's just right on that border. You can't knock it. You're just dope.

You know, you're just cool. It's why, I mean, Austin, you know, that's that was my guy where it was just like. I should not like you. Like, there's so much. I should, I should not be this down for you, uh, the way that I am, and I think that that just comes with maturing.

I mean, the older I get, the more I love. Heels. I like it, it is the best. Even as an actor, you want to play a villain. You gotta get that off.

Yeah, it's not that there's no guardrails. I could kind of say whatever I want about you people, and you gotta eat it up. And in wrestling, Sometimes the bad guy wins. How much fun is that? You know, it just seems like.

A great time. Do you do you feel that Cause you you're definitely one of those borderline. acts do where it's just like, yeah, like Punk might be coming out here and doing the, you know, the society angle, but you're just too dope to just like completely boo, man. Yeah, so it's, it's like a really thin line, and you gotta, you gotta play with it because I do think it's dangerous. Like, if your role is to be the bad guy, right?

So you have to be this dragon for the good guy to slay. And I think where you can maybe falter is thinking, like, oh, there's pockets of people that are cheering me. Oh, I want them to cheer me. When I'm a bad guy, I do not want people to cheer me. And that's obvious.

The way you, the, the heel punk, that's very obvious. Yeah. Uh, you know, and but I do think some people kind of get intoxicated with that. Yeah, man. And then, you know, like, and then I'm like, well, no, you're not a heel.

Now you're just, you're, you want to, you're a guy who wants to be a babyface. Like, you want to be cool. And maybe there's a role for that. There's something to be said about that. Like everybody wants to be that.

The Jack Burton, you know. Uh, Han Solo, Indiana Jones, like this badass. Like, cause you see, he gets the girl, he beats the bad guy, you know, but he's got an attitude and he's mad cool. Yeah, he's not like complete white hat. But If you know what you're doing, and to me, that's like the art behind it, is doing that, but still maintaining.

you know, that that bad guy slant. When I was doing the straight-edge society stuff. Uh is very easy for me to get sheared. But it was even easier for me to go, that's not what I want, so I can lean on this. Persona of, you know, like, cause I got, I can, I can walk into a high school and talk to kids about not doing drugs, and I'm a good guy.

Or I can walk into an arena sold out and talk to people about not doing drugs. And I'm a bad guy. How terrible you would be. Think about that, though. Not to interrupt you.

The fact that that was your mission there was to say you should do life. And then you're a bad guy because it doesn't wrap your head around that. Preachy, right? Nobody likes a finger wagged in their face. Nobody likes being told.

What to do, and the more you do it, the more they're going to run in the opposite direction. I mean, You know, iced tea is the reason we have. parental advisory stickers on albums. And those parental advisory stickers on albums are exactly why I probably bought. Predator in 1991.

Yeah, I was like, oh, they don't want me to listen to this. I'm going to listen to this. I remember putting it on and being like, this is the angriest man I've ever heard. This is amazing. By the way, Punk, Predator, the second CD I ever bought.

Yeah. Second CD. Like that was right when CDs first, the first was the Boomerang soundtrack. The second on the back of the Predator album. Oh, yeah?

Yeah. I'm pretty sure. Is that you? Yeah, I'm pretty sure me and my brother Daryl are on the back of that. I don't know.

I was young. I'd have to go back and check that out. No big deal. Greatest rap album of all. Let's take you back to something real quick that you mentioned.

You were talking about Stone Cold. You were talking about. Having colored hair as a kid. There's a famous picture going around that you as a kid leading Steve. Can you tell us about that moment and what happened then?

Yeah. And when was this?

So. Again, I'm a smart wrestling fan. I'm probably wrestling at this point in backyards and gaining a a reputation in the Chicagoland area. And uh All the wrestlers would stay at the Clarion Hotel next to the Rosemont Horizon, which is still there. They just call it the All-State Arena now.

Some classic matches at that range. Yeah. And I think we dipped in there, and Steve saw me, and he was like, Hey, kid, can I get a picture with you? No, I'm just kidding. I was like, damn, okay.

And, like, you know, it was just, we were just, me and my friends are a bunch of dumb kids who. We're like, oh, the wrestlers go hang out here.

Well, let's go hang out with wrestlers, you know?

So, like, I'm underage. I think the statute of limitations is gone. He's gone. You know, I'm underage sitting in the bar of a hotel and just like wrestlers are coming in and like we're ordering pizzas and you know, like, yeah, come get pizza. And, you know, the wrestlers are just like, fuck, free pizza.

Free pizza. You know what I mean? And like, we're, we're delighted just to be like rubbing elbows with these guys. Like, yeah, I got, I got. picture with uh with hand yeah There's probably like a million other pictures from like that same day that I could show people and like just blow their minds.

Like, oh, wow, that's pretty wild. But yeah, that me and Steve Austin one is. become pretty famous. Yeah. After you kind of made it and you You got to, like, I guess, talk to him.

Did you bring that moment up? Did he have any? I'm sure he didn't have any recollection of it, but oh no. Did you bring it up? No, I don't think I don't think I brought it up.

I don't think I would have brought it up.

So I think that's just like one of those things that, like. I'm assuming that that picture probably got out after we did. The WWE like documentary on me around like 2011.

Okay, yeah. So I think that's because I'm trying to think like how that would even wind up. I re-watched that again last night. Oh, wow. Yeah.

We got to do another one of those. But I'm sure that's how that picture got out because I can't think of how else it would have. You're saying you didn't put it on Twitter or anything? No, no, I wouldn't have done that.

So there's probably, it sounds like something that they would do. Like, oh, you got any pictures that we can put up there? And I'm sure that's how that got out there. No, we've seen you. interact with the you know the The newer generation, you know, the uppercomers with NXT and things like that.

Has anybody presented you a A photo of like every single one of them. I was about to say, you must have so many people giving that to you. Every single one of them. And I go home to my wife. Like, just completely humbled and like emotional about it.

Yeah. You know, because, like, again, going back to earlier in the conversation where I say, like, I woke up one day and I was this dude. Yeah. You know? And When Kids come up to me and they're comfortable enough to be like, hey, look at this.

And it's a picture of them when they're little at an autograph signing, you know. And they tell me. Hey, you inspired me to do this. It's just like me getting to tell Rowdy Piper: hey, you're the reason I did this. you know, and I don't know if it meant anything to him.

But it meant something to me to be able to tell him that.

So legitimately on a daily basis. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like. You know. Yeah, my my follow-up was gonna be, you know, what What has that done for you just like mentally and spiritually to be able to Kind of like how every athlete kind of has that love for the game to kind of give back the way that you have.

Have people willing to listen. Bro, I just want Them to not deal with any bullshit that I dealt with. Yeah. That's my thing. Uh You know, when I the the indies I feel are They'll always be there a little bit, but it's kind of evaporating.

Even when I started wrestling, I could wrestle every weekend. Yeah. Maybe twice sometimes. You know, like there were places to work. Uh I really feel like There's not anymore.

There's a handful of indies, you know, in different places, but if they run once a month, You know, like how much experience are you getting? And It's To me, when I signed and I got shuffled down to Kentucky. To go to OVW, I was like, I don't want to be here. Because she was already. Successful career at Ring of Honor, right?

Right. So, but but almost, almost, you know, like brazenly. Too young to understand the opportunity and a little bit foolish. But the conditions were drastically different than they are now. Like NXT, the way it's set up, is just like a college.

sports program. They have everything in-house and they have air conditioning. Which I always, you know, I always walk in there, and like, you know, everybody's happy to see me, and I'm happy to be there and see them. And I'm always just like, they got six rings in this room over here. They got.

PT, massage, like everything you could possibly have. It's just like a college program. There'll be kids laid up, laying on the floor. They got the Normatech boots on, you know, somebody's getting, you know, worked on. There are people getting dry needled, you know, STEM, somebody's rehabbing an ACL over here.

They have everything at their disposal. To be the best that they can possibly be. Weight room, multiple weight rooms, like everything you, it's like promo classes, right? Yeah, to me, it's Disney World for an athlete, and that's why I love going down there. I, it, to me, it's the fountain of youth because I walk down there and I'm just like, this is great.

Yeah, I'm like, you know, I'm Wilford Brimley in cocoon. You know what I mean? I want to get in the pool. You know, like, I feel young again. I'm around all these people.

And I just, I'm inspired by their passion to get better. Whereas when I started and I was in developmental, it was like, A little bit more cutthroat back then? I mean, a lot more, but we had one ring. Oh yeah. And it was in a building that had no heat, no air conditioning.

So, you know, you know, and I say that, and I always love Emily say this too. There probably was one of the two. There probably was either heat or air conditioning, but if you turned it on, Danny Davis would kill you. Right? He would, he would kill you.

Saving power over there. Yeah. So, you know, I love the fact that there's kids that come up to me and they show me pictures like, hey, this is me and you in an autograph signing or at a show, or them wearing, you know, CM Pump gear, you know, all that stuff because it humbles me. It makes me know that. I did okay.

And it just makes me want to, like I said, not have to put up with.

Some of the negative aspects of the business and the bullshit that I had to coming up. I don't want to be one of those old guys, you know, like shaking a stick at them. Yeah. I want to be like, No, this is great. I don't want to be like, ah, turn the AC off and make them suffer.

No, no, like, good, good. This is, this is what it's supposed to be. Right. This is what I wanted. This is what we should have had.

And now that it's here, I ain't penalizing anybody for it. Yeah. I'm stoked. Yeah. And there's so many.

You know, purists out there who are, you know, they talk about the things, and there are some good things that are lost nowadays. K-Fabe is almost completely gone. Like, the curtain is lifted so high. Is there anything that you're just Happy, it's gone. Like, besides the you know, the non-air conditioned buildings.

Drugs, I think. Huge. Yeah, like super huge. Huge. Right?

Like, you know, and I do think we're still. Seeing adverse effects of guys from the seventies and the eighties. Um you know 2024, what we know about concussions and like CTE and stuff like that. It's just like you, you, that's why we're losing guys so early. Yeah.

You know? So again, you know, my full-time schedule when I, and when I, when I signed in 2005. From the day I left I was on the road for ten years straight. Straight. Wow.

Like I'm talking. Aside from my stay in developmental, but that was still pretty brutal, the schedule. Uh What changed when I got to the main roster was now I was flying to different towns. It was, I wasn't just driving to different towns in Kentucky. Yeah.

Different towns. Yeah. And again, like, you know, and then days when we weren't wrestling, we were in the ring at 10 a.m. taking bumps.

So. Um My schedule was like Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, fly home Wednesday. I have a day off Thursday. Probably doing some sort of media phone interview, something, maybe laundry. And then Friday morning and then Friday morning, like I come back out.

So now, you know, again, I don't want to be the guy that's just like, you know, I'm sure some of them would love that. And honestly, that's how you learn. That's what we've taken away with the tools we've taken out of their toolbox. Are those shows where they're getting the experience wrestling in front of human beings?

So that's a little bit limited now, and I don't want to punish them for that. I want to help them figure it out. Because this is the system. This is it. This is what we're working with.

So how do we uh help you get to that level. I I remember the first time I was down in NXT. Since I came back, and it all happened so fast. I show up, it's a Survivor Series. And then literally, this all happened so fast.

The next day, because that was a Saturday, the next day, Sunday, I get a phone call, and it's, you know, LOL, I guess we got to get you to Raw. Yeah, I should probably be there.

Okay, so Raw is in. um Nashville, right?

So boom, I'm on a flight. I'm in Nashville, and we're just, we're, you know, they got 20 t-shirt designs in front of me. We're doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff. Like, I'm getting new gear designed, like, we're making, you know, wheels are in motion. Yeah.

And then they're like, hey, we're going to put you on SmackDown too.

Okay, cool. Yeah, where's that? I think it was at Hartford. And then in Hartford, as the show's ending, they come up to me and they go, You know, there's uh an NXT show here. you know, something.

Do you want to do that too? And I was like, Yep. Let's do it. And then we're just doing all this by the seat of our pants. And when I flew down to Orlando and NXT, there was a young lady.

I literally, she comes up to me. And she says, Can I ask you a question? I said, Yes, absolutely. She says, How do I get on your level? Whoa.

Can I ask you how long you've been doing this? And she told me that I I think she was a track and field star. And she's like, I just got here in September.

So, September, October, this is November. She's been here three months.

Well, she had big plans for herself on it.

Well, no, I love it. And I said, I'm going to tell you an answer that you're absolutely going to hate. She's like, okay. And I said, get 20 years of experience. Yeah, I mean, and I'm not saying my job, I'm not a coach, I don't run developmental, you know, but I do think I have a unique perspective because I was a guy who made a name for himself on the Indies.

And then I came up through a system that no longer exists. And I thrived 10 years in a company and in a system that no longer exists. And I come back to this new thing where there's all these new ideas. And a lot of them are like, yeah, man, this is stuff I was wishing was here. 10, 12 years ago.

And I looked at her and I said, But we're going to get you there. We're going to figure out how to do that. in a much shorter amount of time. Whereas I think maybe 10 years ago I would have been maybe mad that there was a track and field star or there is a hammer thrower because I oh, you didn't love the business. And I look at it now like, no, this is the business.

This is what we have to work with.

So it is up to us to give them the tools to figure it out. And it's not going to be easy. My schedule when I was on the road full time was half of what Piper and you know, like Flair and Brett, what those guys were doing in the 80s. You know, and that again, that's how you learn. You're in the car with a vet.

Talking about what you did right, what you did wrong, don't do that. Watch this, do this, don't do that. And like I said, we've taken that out of their toolbox.

So I like to try to go down there as much as I can to Try to help them work stuff out. That's dope. You know, we're speaking of traveling, so I do have a two-part travel question with you. Tell us some of those road trips. Who were some of the guys you enjoyed traveling with?

Okay. So my first Rode family. And then I'll give you part two. I'll give you part two right away. You were one of the first guy wrestlers I ever saw had a tour bus.

So when did that come into play?

So that was that that was later on, obviously. That was me just kind of whipping my dick out when Vince was still there. But that that. My my first Well, I say my first road family, but this is when I was in WWE already, right? And I get called up to the main roster.

And so my first road found me is Doug Basham and Kevin Fertate. they're both Kevin Fertig was Mordecai. Yeah. Okay. And so they're Asham Brothers.

Asham Brothers, yeah. And they're both. You know, Louisville, Kentucky guys, we all live down in Louisville, so it was literally just like, hey, you want to ride with us? And I was like, yeah, great. Because they were.

vets in a way that I wasn't. You could argue, oh, well, I have the same amount of shower time as you, but they were already in this system. Basham did his stuff on SmackDown, so he's been up and down. You know, Fertig has done his stuff on SmackDown, so like they obviously have perspective. And I was just like, Yeah, I love it, let's go.

So, one of us would print up map quest directions. This is pre-GS, this is pre-GPS. These kids today don't even understand a Thomas guide or anything like that. They would never have a giant road atlas. That's how me and my boy Ace used to do it.

He was just a big-ass road atlas. That's how we had to. I still have one in my car right now, just an old school map. You know, you on expedition, bro. You just never know what the grid goes down.

You know, I got to find my way to Receda. You know, dude, it's going to be a wild show with you. But it was. It was all about saving money.

So it was like the three of us in a car driving. Um Three of us in a hotel, you know, somebody's either sleeping on the floor or you flip one of the mattresses over, somebody's on a box spring, or you get a cot, you know. Uh and you just You know, you split everything three ways. And you made it work. Yeah.

Yeah. And you, you 100% made it work. Um, And then I think both of them wind up either getting sent back down or released. And then I'm like, I'm kind of on my own. And then I immediately am like.

you know, the den mother, where like now I got a couple years under my belt, and I'm seeing kids getting called up from developmental. I'm immediately going to them and rounding them up, like, hey, you want to ride with me? You know what I mean? And so, like, we'd get a minivan, and it would be like me. Deuce, Domino, Cherry, both major brothers, and Hornswaggle.

So, so, like, what a band! Six and a half, six and a half, six and a half people. For those that don't know, Hornswoggle was a um, he was a smaller, like you, and you, and you get a minivan. Like, nobody wants to rent a minivan, but they're the cheapest thing.

So, you, you know, you, you do what you can. And we try to jam like all of us in a hotel room. Which is for that money, yeah, and and it's just and then and then there's a draft, and I get drafted to a different show, and it's just like you know, and then Kofi gets called up, and I immediately first day go to Kofi and be like, You got any buds here? Is there anybody you're gonna you're gonna ride with? And he's like, No, man, I don't know anybody.

And I was like, All right. Yeah, I could tell you guys all riding. You're riding with me. And then you're me and Kofi, you know. Who everyone seems to love, by the way.

Oh, great guy, right? He's a gigantic piece of shit. The breaking news that the real the real undercover stuff is just a real bastard. He's a great actor. That's our headline.

Don't believe the hype, everybody. coming up at that time. Paul Heyman. apparently took a shine to you. The role Paul Heyman has had in your career from that time you got called up?

Or even before you got called up, right? Because you guys met at OVW. Yeah, we met in OVW. When I got signed, I was, you know. The system is completely different.

It doesn't it's two completely different planets now.

So I got signed. And, you know, my main point of contact is John Laurinitis. And he tells me that, you know, we don't think we're going to send you to OVW, we're going to put you right on the main roster. Oh, cool. Great.

But that didn't work out, and then they don't know what to do with me, so then they send me to OVW. And when I got signed, Uh Is he I I I'm of the age where things get a little cloudy, and I don't want to be Hogan putting myself in somebody else's story. Oh, they will meme the hell out of you. You know what I mean? They're waiting.

But it was either a phone call or an email from Jim Cornette. Hey, kid, super excited. You know, you're coming down here now. Like, this is going to be great. Can't wait to work with you.

You know, like, I already got ideas. And I'm just like, wow, Jim Cornette. You know what I mean? going back to Talking about people in the business that were, you know, like we're losing. And we just lost The devil, Kevin Sullivan.

Yeah. So, this is somebody who has worn every single hat there possibly is to wear. Yeah. You know, he was a He he was a fan. He was a wrestler.

He was a booker. He did everything. Yeah. Based on. Yeah.

And Cornette's the same way.

So I'm just like, oh man, this is going to be great. I get to work under Jim Cornette. And then uh I don't know, like a week later, he calls me. He's like, God damn it, kid, I got fired. I was like, oh, no.

So I'm immediately back to, oh, well, there goes my life. My career is over, you know, and the way. the culture was back then I was Just like in high school, I was looked at as everything that was I liked was a negative. Oh, he's too indie. He's too this.

2000. It was not 6'8, 300. Not big. Yeah. And at that time, that main roster, when I got called up on TV in 2006, was a murderer's row.

That's top, top guys. Yeah. Nothing but Hall of Famers. Taker's still on the road full-time. Kane's on the road full-time.

Triple H is a full-time wrestler. HBK is just starting. To not do as many house shows. Still did them. I tagged with them.

But Flair's a main, main, main roster, full-time talent, Edge, Rey Mysterio. Um Batiste the nasty. Batista. Randy, like Cena.

So there's 11 guys right there. And it's just like, how are you going to fight for TV time? Against all these Hall of Famers, right?

So Cornette gets fired, and I'm just like, ah, great. What am I going to do? I always kind of operated under. the idea that this is fleeting.

Okay. I'm going to get released. Right? Oh, no. Because I don't got any allies.

I don't have any friends. No one's got your back. No. No. Uh and then I go down to OVW and boom, it They put Paul Heyman there.

Right. So I was just like, okay.

So, disappointed I can't learn from Jim Cornette. Excited I get to learn from Paul Heyman. Yeah. Make friends with Danny Davis, who's equally a legend. done everything.

And I dedicated myself to learning as much as I can in that window that I thought I had until I got fired.

So that meant Um Heyman. Would fly into Louisville at you know, 9, 10 p.m. on a Tuesday. I would pick him up at the airport. We'd go right to the Davis Arena, and I would either watch him, just write TV and format it, and he did it like it was.

You know, it was like me making a cup of coffee. It was just like second nature. Yeah, he's doing all this stuff, and then he slides it over to me. He's like, What do you think? What don't you understand?

What is this? And I learned how to format a show, I learned how to time out a show, half second in, half second out for commercials. I think that's a good idea. Like all this stuff. And then, you know, he's just like, What do you think of this idea?

What would you do? He starts asking me questions.

Next thing I know, like, that's on the television show.

Okay. So I'm like, am I writing the television show with, you know, and The business being the way it was, I did not want anybody to find that out because that would just have been more. Heat on me. You know, royal credit. Yeah.

And the thing was, I would, and then we'd do TV Wednesday night, and then I would spend all Wednesday night in this little closet of a room with Danny Davis and Paul Heyman editing the show.

Okay. So I learned how to edit it. And I would just sit there and they're screaming at each other, these two old school dudes, just yelling at each other. I just tried to learn as much as I could.

So that was my first experience with Paul Heyman. But I learned very fast that I was like, oh, well, he's down here because other people don't like him either. And so me becoming a Paul Heyman guy was more of a scarlet letter on me than anything else. It was just like, yeah, we don't like punk. Oh, Heyman likes him.

Now we hate him. We really don't know. Yeah. And so I was just, again, it was one of those things where I was just like kind of confused, but my attitude was like, oh, f me. Oh, no, no, no.

You. You know what I mean? Exactly. And I was very much. Under the impression, and there's an alternate universe out there somewhere where this did happen, where I just took all the knowledge I learned in that short amount of time and I got fired and I just went back to Ring of Honor.

You know what I mean? Because prior to me signing my developmental contract, man, I was stoked. I was training kids at the Ring of Honor School Monday and Tuesday. Wednesdays, I would drive from Philly to Baltimore. And fly to Nashville to do Wednesday night TNA pay-per-views because they were too cheap to fly me out of Philly.

Wow. Thursday, I would land in Baltimore, drive back to Philly, train kids Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I was wrestling somewhere. Brother, I was rich. I bought a laptop and I bought an iPod and I bought an iPhone.

I can't tell you nothing. I was sleeping on a futon, and I had two roommates, and I was just like, this is it. Ding of the castle. Life is it for me. Yeah.

This is it for me. This is it. The summer, the summer of George became really the other. 100%. And I thought I was going right back to that, just armed with more information to continue.

Uh, doing what I love to do. You know, let me ask you guys something. Like, your relationship, the first time I really knew you guys knew each other, was you posted the picture at the Cocaine Bear premiere. Yeah, that was like an award-winning relationship. How did this relationship kind of take Twitter?

Yeah, yeah, before I got rid of Twitter. Yeah, that's right. You aren't on Twitter. You're an Instagram man. Yeah.

Look at you go. Yeah. It's got a laptop. But anyway, so then I quite, you know. But yeah, we are on Twitter.

Um, yeah, you said something about being, you had mentioned my dad in a tweet, and then it was kind of like a hey, you know, I'm a fan of your work, yada, yada. We exchanged. He was, uh, uh, we were talking about acting, which I want to get into as well. And then, yeah, from there, you had hit me when you saw the cocaine bear trailer, like, yo, this is this looks crazy. Wanna go?

It's really that simple. And then yeah, we every now and then just gotta talk shit. Let you know, let off. Was that the first time you guys had met in person? Yeah, wow.

Yeah, dude, I couldn't believe you came. I was like, dude, I'm not missing that. Right, I still. I can't believe that movie is on my IMDB. Cocaine Bears.

It's just like it's so great. One and a got nominated for anything, and it's just like the winner is cocaine bear. I remember calling my mom right after that came over. I call home. I'm like, what are you up to?

She goes, I'm watching this. Bear cocaine movies are I'm like you're watching cocaine how many how many spin-offs are there We are there's like cocaine shark I just saw one coming down the pipe. It's like cocaine raccoon Wow now that yeah I wouldn't mess with raccoons anyways That's a good that's a good film They're running packs. I'm a little afraid of raccoons. You know what I mean?

I got that role off of Twitter, too. Yeah. So you told tell that story. It was an article that said Elizabeth Banks gets the rights to cocaine bear. And I'm thinking it's just some drug-run movie.

Let me click it. I love Elizabeth Banks. And then it was like, oh. This is about a A black bear eating 88 pounds of cocaine and murdering people. Oh, and it's a true story.

So I retweeted it and I was like, just take my money now. And then she got in contact with my people and was like, Do you want to be in it?

So they sent me the script. And then in the original script, I die. And I was like, Elizabeth, like, no, you're not one of them. I don't know. I can't.

It's not going to work for me, brother. On page, Terry. I had to pull a Terry. And yeah. Good for you.

Yeah, page 96. I couldn't help but notice though. Daveen's name stops coming up in the screen. Wow. She was like, You don't want to die?

I was like, I mean, I've done a pretty good job of not dying. I was in Godzilla, I didn't die. Like, getting shot out of the storm. Horror movies, we don't last long in the horror movie. You know, let's break this statistic.

She was like, All right, you don't die. Dispel some myths. Thanks, Elizabeth. Yeah. Wow, man.

Got a nice streak going. Maybe I need to get Twitter back. You should do and get in an Elizabeth Banks feature. Here's what she'd love to have you. Here's what's going to happen about.

Four days after we air this, you're going to be in an elevator. I don't know. Knock on wood, man. Putting you in a situation.

Okay. You're in a bar. Yeah, I'm going every day so you can talk about this on the bar. 50 dudes who don't want you in there. It's you.

and four wrestlers that you know your guys. And you guys need to get out of that bar. Who are those four other wrestlers?

So the five of you are getting out of there.

Now is this is this Not all time. I need people that you're people. Oh, you're like, we're talking like if. Monday night, I go out.

So I can't say, like, you know, 1984 Haku. Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no. That's my favorite. 1976, you know, Harley Race.

I can't do that. I'm taking Braun Breaker. Hell yeah. It's 15 gone. I am taking.

So we're down to 35 now. I'm taking Shayna Baszler.

Okay. She's with me. She's my homie. This is sick. Yeah.

Shayna's taking about seven, eight. Yeah, bro. That's sick, dude. Have Ron Shana. I I I feel like Braun Strowman is a good pick for this type of a situation.

Yes, yeah. Nicest guy in the world, too. But I think if, you know, like, hey, we got to get out of here and make a hole. He's making a hole. He's making a hole.

One more? Yeah, you got one more.

So we got three and then me, that's two. Two or three bronze and a Shana. Mm-hmm. Mm.

Now, does it have to be somebody in WWE? No, no, no, no. All right. Samo Joe. I knew it.

When I wrote this down, I was like, bro, Joe's on here, man. I'm waiting for Joe. There has been, I don't know about statue limitations again, but there have been some situations in the early 2000s where maybe, maybe somebody who looked a lot like me and somebody who looked a lot like Samo Joe were in similar situations that you described. I saw in a video. of of you one day you said you're Your thing to do whenever you land or travel at all, you find coffee.

Find you somewhere to eat. Find a gym. Yeah. You've traveled. Places I've never been in this country.

I saw you notoriously. Shout out Mindy's Bakery. Are there any spots? You know, across the US, where you're like, that's good coffee, that's good food, that's good. I always try to go somewhere different.

You know, and sometimes it's hard. But, like, recently when I went to Portland, I. Purposely flew there a little bit earlier because I was like, I'm going to land and I want to go eat somewhere. And in Portland, they got food trucks that are amazing.

So it's like you can walk and find any kind of cuisine you want. And Stumptown Coffee in Portland is really, really good. But I've also now adopted this thing where I try to go get a new pair of shoes, too. And again, it's kind of like just to. Experience the culture of whatever city I'm in, walk around.

I love, I try to walk everywhere I possibly can. Love walking, love looking at new places and experiencing new things. Um I'm trying to think. Unfortunately, like I don't Eat. What I wish I could eat when I go to a lot of these cities, you know?

Um I haven't had a complex carb since April, I think. We know what that is. Yeah, yeah. Well, it sucks, is what it does.

So, what I've been doing, I think I did three months with like no complex carbs. Basically, it means I eat fruit.

So if I feel sluggish or if I, you know, like whatever, I can, I'll I just eat a load of fruit. Um And then after like all of my big milestones, you know, like I have one. Cheat meal. Normally, I wait to come home and have it with my wife because, to me, I could eat junk. And then I would just feel guilty about it.

When I'm with my wife, it's an experience. Yeah, like we're whiling out, like, you know, I'm going to order this, but I'm only going to have one bite of it. You know, like, and I love experiencing those things with her. Um The next one's going to be after Hell in the Cell.

So, yeah, I'm going to, you know, I try to eat like 20 pounds of junk. Right after I do whatever it is I got to do. Yeah. Good for you. Hard work, man.

Good job. Sucks. Yeah. We'll see. CM Punk.

I just want to let you know something. You are the very first inductee into the know Contest Wrestling Podcast Hall of Fame. Oh, wow. Absolutely. Guys, keep it down.

So I got to ask you this. As our first inductee into the Hall of Fame, congratulations, by the way. Appreciate you, guys. Appreciate you. Thank you very much.

There are going to be three CM Punk matches. They're going to play in a loop next to the bust. Yep. It's one of these in the hall of the no contest. Wrestling Podcast three.

Three, I will make it easy for you. What three matches? In your career, do you put on that loop?

So they're my matches. They're your matches. Yes.

Next to your bust. This is the CM Punk Wing. I think it's easy to pick number one. Um and it's me and John Cena uh from Houston. leading up to WrestleMania.

It was on a Monday Night Raw. Um like easily I think our best televised match. We might have had better matches like on house shows. I don't know. But that is also that's my flu match.

That's like Jordan's flu game. I was sick, and boy, was I sick and tired at that point.

So that is like the essence. Of CM Punk at that moment. Like hurt, tired, pissed off. You know, chip on a shoulder. And me and John went out there and it was just planets aligned and it was magic.

Right. talk about going out there and If I could ever say that I had a perfect match. That would probably be it, and I'm talking like you know, like lead-up story, character stuff for both guys, action. Crowd. Being able to manipulate the crowd how you wanted, listening to them, like everything.

And I got to give a shout out to Michael Cole on Commentary too, because he's been the voice of so many epic moments in my career. And this is the match where I hit the pile driver on John. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, okay, so we hadn't seen that in decades on WWE.

Right. So, again, like. That that's the first match. Uh Gosh. Thanks, TJ.

Yeah. I've gotten upset. I told him I was going to ask him the hard-hitting questions. I've gotten not upset actually. I told him I was going to ask him the hard-hitting questions.

It's a ridiculous thing to say after sitting here with you two gentlemen to. And talking for so long to say, I don't like talking about myself. But yeah, trying to Pick. from my catalogue. I would put And again, all these different factors.

I've had good matches in front of bad crowds. I've had bad matches in front of good crowds.

So I would disqualify certain matches based on like those criteria. But like as close to perfect. as you can possibly get. I would put CM Punk versus The Undertaker at WrestleMania. I think that's a good one.

It's a great one. And See, and these are all around the same time, too.

Okay. You know? So, could possibly be like the zenith of my in-ring career. I don't know. I still like to think I'm operating at a pretty high level.

Indeed. Um Meavers Brock, staple center, summer slide.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Was there. That's what's up.

Staples. Those are three. I think those three. are are pretty Pretty, this is a pretty good list. All right, we'll start with those three, and if you change your mind, we'll have somebody just switch them out.

You know, like, how fortunate I am, though. Like, you know, like there's matches I've had with Rey Mysterio that I could, you know, put in there. You and Joe had. Yeah, geez. Like, I'm just talking about like WWE stuff, but yeah, me and Joe, too.

That could that's easily like number four. We'll make it five. We'll make it five. It's five. Yeah, I want to get a joke.

Hard to do. Hard to do. And again, it's a humbling question because it makes me go, oh man, yeah. I did some stuff. I did good.

That's it, man. That's it. Yeah, I do. This has been so enjoyable. This has been fun.

And I don't like talking about myself, but I enjoy talking about the business.

So this has been a lot of fun. I'm glad, man. I hope you really did enjoy it yourself. And I know we talked for a long time. And to be quite frankly, I mean, quite frank, we could go for another bringing in another time, hopefully, because there's obviously so much.

We're both huge fans of you. No, this is great. This is a great platform. I I just like talking about the business. Like you know, if you guys are obviously gonna get other wrestlers in here, absolutely.

Put another chair up here. And you know, like I would like to Come join us sometime. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you're in town, literally. You're in town whenever.

Come around. Can I be honest and say, whenever you want your board on a Wednesday? You hit him up. Win everybody. You know, man.

I'll give up my chair for you, Steve. Oh, wow. No, you don't got to do that. It is. I'm sure.

It's Rich Eisen's house. He's got another chair. We'll get another one for you. Emphasis on the rich. Thank you guys.

You know, this has been the premiere episode of No Contest Wrestling. Phil? They'll never make me hate you. I don't care what Seth Rollins says. I'll try my best if I ever get the opportunity.

And, like I said, I have way too many of your t-shirts to ever hate you. I'm special. I appreciate it. But monetarily, I'm way too invested.

So you'll be like one of those people that burn them. Never that. Never that. I don't like the problem. I left Cleveland.

Like, the industry's burning his jersey. I saw some people on the internet burning some CM Punk shirts. Oh, they're dummies. Oh, they're great. They're not fans of no content.

I got them because they got to buy a new one. Right. I appreciate you guys. This is CM Punk best in the world. Let's talk about Game Time tickets, people.

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So stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us at O'ReillyAuto.com/slash Eisen. That's O'ReillyAuto.com/slash E-I-S-E-N. O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Man, that was it, bro. See you on punk, bro.

What an interview. Thank you so much. It was amazing. Yeah, like we said, we didn't expect. The first interview to go two hours.

So we appreciate y'all coming back and seeing part two, but. That means that we gotta we gotta We got to think about the next episode. We got to keep the momentum. That's the thing. You don't.

You don't come with someone who's number one or two on the call sheet and then Fell to an extra, yeah. We gotta keep that motion, like you said, in these streets. Exactly. I mean, I personally would like to keep our numbers up so. I mean, there's no one better.

That I could think of to follow up that interview, then my man Swerve Strictly. Oh, welcome to the pod. Absolutely, man.

So, this Saturday. I mean, number two on PWI, number two, as far as the guests. I like water. That's all right. Welcome to the show.

That's all good. I cause a lot of chaos. That's all right. Make it happy, baby. 100%, you do, dude.

So, Saturday. Saturday, we get your return, man. Wrestle Dream. You got a lot on your plate. I mean, I see MVP coming at my man.

Nana. What's up? Showing Benjamin popping up. There's a lot in the past I could address because the last time y'all saw me, I was knocked completely out by Hangman Page in the cage match. Oh, yeah.

Got a lot of people talking for a whole month, and I wasn't even on camera.

So there's a lot I could address there. There's a lot I could address with the current. There's a lot I can address with the future. That's the beauty about my presence on this show coming up, especially in my hometown, the city I was born. Oh, like there's a lot I can go into.

The pop, man. Maybe, maybe, like, the people are just so like. Enthralled and emotionally connected to me that I don't even have to say much. I let the people just say it. Maybe there's that.

Maybe there's some things I gotta say to Nana because there's a lot of uh business things that went like kind of Awry when my presence being gone. Number no championship. Um True. Lost my lost lost the main event of All Out too.

So back to back. But um There's a lot of positives out there, the contract. I'm going to be signed for like another very long time.

So there's things to address there. Uh my health condition 'cause I haven't been cleared for like a month now.

So there's a lot of things to address there. There's just a lot of different things I have on my mind that I can express and go a bunch of different ways, which is very more like, this isn't just like a talking segment. No, this is me like really conveying like new news. Like me personally, my business is outside of this. The mogul's not just a name I gave myself, this is truly what I am and who I am.

And now, like, we get to see where we go forward and what we address in the now. Yeah, it it's definitely uh exciting when You know, we know when you're coming back, what you bring as far as. To the business with not only your work in the ring, but your work on the mic is. that feel it. You're you easily make people feel again, and I think that's what makes you stand out as we are.

You know, we're older wrestling fans, you know, smarter wrestling fans. That is the it factor: who can make you feel something again? And you do that, you know, effortlessly. You know, your storytelling with Hangman, which we'll get into, but you got to be here for next week. But yeah, your storytelling with Hangman.

Obviously, we. We know you got to get your get back. And the fans of you want your get back always. Yeah, that's the key. The people want to see what I'm after, and they know what I'm after now.

Yeah. And like, without me even being there, now you're seeing how Nana navigates the backstage without me. You get to see his character arc.

Now he's kind of brought in like his last interaction with MVP. He's just like, I wrestled. I like, I'll strap my boots back on and I'll take you on. I'm like, oh, now, like, whoever fans that didn't know that he had a wrestling background, now you know.

So, you're yeah, let us see. Yeah, let us see. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. But, you know, like, you peel back another layer right there.

So you're seeing nana's little like excursions going on while I'm away. Like, how does it affect him? How does it affect the show? Like, what things, like, does he not have control of? What things does he do have control of?

when things that do I need to come in and step in and be like All right. I need to step in. I need to change some things. What's my impact to these? things and stories that we have going on, just like when Nana was gone.

I lost my Mughal embassy. Christian and them ran amok on me. Like, those things happen. Without Nada's presence there.

So now you get to see. what happens without my presence there with Nana being on the show. One thing I love about the relationship with you and Nana is, you know, Prince Nana, he was a guy who was in ROH. Yes.

So he had his, you know, his presence there. But when he started to work with you and AEW, it's when The name Prince Nana, like his whole persona, kind of got elevated along with your elevation. Like, you, you put more eyes on this guy, and now people were able to see what Prince Nana brought to the table. And, You know, notwithstanding what he brings to you in a personal business side of what you got going on. But the fact is, and we know one of the things that gets people most hype about a wrestler.

is that theme song. That's the first thing that kind of gets you connected. You know, with your song, it's already banging as it is. But then Nana comes out with that dance. And that seemed to have changed everything.

That seemed to have fans who were like, I don't know if I like Swerve, he's a hill or whatever. You get s The crowd sing song. You get the crowd involved, and you got everybody, you know, doing the dance and. To me, that just helped elevate you, and you and you elevated Prince Nana to the point where now more people know who Prince Nana is and know what he's all about. The funny thing, there was criticisms early on.

It was like, Well, we didn't care about Swerve until Nana came along, we didn't care about the song until Nana added something to it. I'm like, That's the point. That's why we added to another, like, you know, Jordan didn't win anything until Phil Jackson came along. You know, that's the point. Like, you need that extra oomph.

You know, you need that extra push. And I'm. Have no problem in saying, like, yeah, and now it's adding a dance and a visual to a song. Is what took it over the top and you know, had it travel the way that it did. Like I said, the song was already banging, though.

So, right, like, I appreciate it, but like, getting the fans to really, all right, come on. Come on, week in and week out. You know, that was Nana's job just on the entrance alone. You know, it's a team effort, and I have no problem sharing that. If I got to drop 12 assists or him to get 30, I'll do that.

I don't have to drop 50 every night. That's the point of the team, and that's my mindset, and all things that I do. You know, everybody has to do their part. And if you got the hot hand, push it. You get the hot hand now.

You run it and I'll support you. Just like in music, like if you freaking your solo is just so fire, I'll do, I'll lay the background tracks. You're killing it right now. Yeah. You know, I'll see you on the next track.

You know, and that's what we have. And then, and that's another way we connected in that sense was the fact that like we both know music. You know, we both gell in music. Uh, Nana DJ'd, he made songs, he's recorded, he's worked at Def Jam and stuff like that.

So I'm like, okay, cool.

So we like a lot of those things were very parallel. With the teamwork aspect of Mianana. He's also, if you think about it, he's a guardian angel to me as well. And Like, you always want to know, like, who was somebody's purpose for being there? Why are they there?

What, like. If he wasn't there, what would have happened? Like, if Dona wasn't there, I would have lost Texas deathmatch. Yeah. If you think about it, if Nana wasn't there, Luchasaurus would have killed me.

with the chair on the House of the Dragons match.

So like there's a lot of times he's bailed me out or ran interception. on my demise and that's what kept me alive and going or as bill bilichek said he did his job He did his job protecting his asset, which is swerve. Swerve is the asset. And especially as the champion, I was like the ultimate asset for our team.

So and for all elite wrestling.

So he looks into like the bigger picture of things.

Sometimes, like, sometimes I'm a hothead and I'm ready to go back in the ring and fight. And Nana's holding me back. No, not right now. The bigger picture is this.

So he's also that conch. That consciousness on my shoulder telling me, like, tap into it, or like, no, no, not right now. That's not the time.

So, there's a lot of different meanings and like purposes that maybe a lot of people don't see or overlook because everything has to be big for wrestling fans. If it's not big, then it's not meaningful. I'm like, no, the subtleties is what makes it meaningful, and that's what carries the story and it carries the dynamic between us as people. As humans, you got to understand me as a person and understand him as a person before you understand us as performers. Right.

And those are you know, it's the little things, it's the details that. People don't see that make some of the greatest things that we all know and love. If there's one thing you cannot fight, it's chemistry. You guys got chemistry, whether that be with your opponent or with your manager. And so I think that's why a lot of fans are on pins and needles.

Trying to see what you're going through on Saturday because you guys are definitely a dynamic duo. You guys got to make sure that you check out Wrestle Dream this Saturday, but also make sure you come back to the No Contest Wrestling Podcast because we're going to ask Swerve a whole lot. We got a lot to talk about, man. We're going to get into just what's wrong with you, man. All right.

You, you, you doing things that you don't need to do. Yeah, man. You're aggressive, man.

So we're going to get into that. We're going to get into some stories. Talk about his love of the business.

So, you know, what got him there. Shoes, son. We got a kid. Come on, we're always going to be shooting. You know, we're down with the shoe game.

Yeah, when I found out that the wide show shoes. That's the big pressures right here. These are my shoes. These are the ones I won the championship in.

Okay, I'm a 13. All right, if you want to donate to the No Contest Hall of Fame, you could do that too. I just had a sneaker con. We had 70 bucks, 70 pairs. Oh, man, that sounds like I didn't get a gift.

So this one's like 13, so.

So let me ask, what can we expect? We don't know much about what you're going to do this weekend at Wrestle Dream. What can we expect on.

Something like you can always expect my next Evolution of me in any sense and the subtleties. Like, maybe like my hair is different. Maybe my look is different. Maybe you'll just.

Something's different. You'll feel something different in the air. And that's something I always love bringing to the table. Like, you don't know what to expect. And that's the beauty of it.

That's the beauty of. who I am and what I do and what I offer. Like even Tony Khan doesn't know what to expect. And like he just says, show up to work and here's what you got. And I'm like, Okay, cool.

I'm there and make it happen. Yeah, but he trusts I know he knows I can make it happen. Right. You know, and um. That's kind of the imprint I have on the show right now.

And I love it. I love it. I worked really hard to gain that. You know, like, and I was patient too. I took a long time.

I was patient. I didn't rush into it. I just like. Let's see how the landscape takes course and I will find my way and adapt into that. And then now People are anticipating a return of who I am and what I have to bring and what's different, what's new and You know what old things I'm going to address.

We're going to get into a lot of that. We're excited to see what you got on Saturday, but you're not going nowhere because we got a whole episode to film. That's film. Make sure y'all stay tuned. You know, we'll see y'all.

Next Wednesday, right here at the No Contest Wrestling Podcast. Do you Bingo. All right, Bill, we're recording now. And please put your phone on silent. Oh, where is my phone?

Let's go, man. Get it together over there, player. Go ahead, pick on me the way that you want to. I would say that to my son. Just go.

All right, why would people want to listen to the Sims Complete podcast? A father-son dynamic duo talking about the game of football. We do a lot of quarterback and coach talks. It's fun. I love doing this.

It's been awesome. Sims Complete, check us out on the Believe Network. Appreciate it. Just search Believe, B-L-E-A-V, wherever you listen.