WEBVTT - Stories That Will Suplex You From The Top Rope (With Myke Johns!) 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.280 What is up? And welcome back to hashtag story Time, 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.360 the podcast where I bring you everyday stories from everyday people, 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.960 brought to you by I Heart Radio and Curativity. I'm 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:38.160 your host, Will Multi Level Marketing McFadden. Exciting announcement, Hashtag 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:42.040 Storytime was selected as a Webby Awards honoree in the 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:47.800 category of Best Podcast Host. I you're not this is 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.159 not a joke or a prank. At least I hope 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:51.919 it's not. I mean, it's on the website, So if 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.160 this is a prank, they went to some pretty great 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:59.120 lengths to funk with me, and I respect that funny thing. Though. 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.200 Get who else is nominated? Um, that's right, my arch 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.400 podcast nemesis, Seth Rogan for his work on the other 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:13.479 story Time podcast. So maybe maybe they've sucked up, and 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.480 maybe they I was actually supposed to be nominated and 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:18.640 he was supposed to be the honoree. That's probably what 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.880 happened regardless, Hopefully this gets the word out about hashtag Storytime, 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.440 you know, and get some more fable babies to join 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:29.760 the stable baby. But it's you know, it's really hard 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.959 to get more people to listen to your podcast. Um, 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.039 there's just so many podcasts out there, and they all 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.040 think they're the best, even though we know that we 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.280 are the best. So I'm you know, I've been trying 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:41.840 to think of some different ways to grab people's attention, 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.080 you know, guerrilla marketing, do some Maybe I r L 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.880 events more n f T s. Maybe I need to 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.040 move the podcast to the metaverse. That's probably what I 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.240 should do. Maybe we should make a new coin, fable coin, right, 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:57.760 some sort of new crypto podcast currency. Oh what if 0:01:57.920 --> 0:01:59.760 we do some stunt e things, you know, like what 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.800 if did like a live slam poetry storytelling jam at 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.360 a library, you know that will get people talking quietly. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.320 Maybe we'll set the world record for most times getting shushed. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.880 Or we could do maybe like a intimate storytelling open 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.280 mic at Niagara Falls or something. I don't know, that's 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.280 a dumb idea, but I'm just spitballing here. Okay, what 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.480 do people like? People like beef? You know that gets 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.160 people fired up. Maybe I need to actually wrestle Seth 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:33.040 Rogan for the ultimate right to the storytime name and trademark. Yeah, 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.800 now we're talking. I mean YouTubers are getting paid millions 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.160 to box each other. I'm sure at least a handful 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:42.680 of people would watch some podcasters wrastle funk it. Let's 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.160 do this, Rogan, Seth, not Joe, Joe, you freak me out. 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.240 The mustachioed Marauder is coming for you. Seth. That's my 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.920 wrestling name. And when I hit you with my signature 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:56.160 move the lip tickler. That's where I gently rubbed my 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.799 mustache on your upper lip. You will tap faster than 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.920 attis Stare on cocaine. And then the rights and the 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:09.320 trademarks to the Storytime podcast will be mine baby. Oh yeah, 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.880 And now I'm calling on all you fable babies out 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.480 there to tweet at Mr Rogan and tell him that 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.040 I'm coming for him, so he better watch his harry back, 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:25.760 who went full macho man there. Sorry about that. All 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.280 of this leads me to today's story told by our 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:30.920 guest Mike John's. Now, you may know Mike from the 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.000 Tender Blood Sport and Popcorn book Club podcasts on the 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.560 I Heart Network, and he's also the co host of 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:41.040 the absurdly beloved literary event in Atlanta, Right Club. Mike 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.240 told me a story that involves a bunch of bookworms, 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:51.040 a novelist, and a Butcher. Imagine this scenario, you see 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:54.680 a fight, like are you are you running towards it? 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.720 Or are you running away? Is the question? So I 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.680 want you to imagine me. I'm in my mid twenties, 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:08.400 i am brand new, still to my first career type job. 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:13.600 I'm a new reporter uh an arts and culture reporter 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:22.080 at Atlanta's public radio affiliate station. And I'm not expecting 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.360 to be running towards or away from anything that even 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.479 resembles a fight. I'm covering theater. It's not part of 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.960 the job description generally, No, it's not in there at all. 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:40.280 But then the Decatur Book Festival comes along. They've been 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.359 going for over a decade now. Tens of thousands of 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:48.440 people show up every Labor Day, weekend. Famous authors show up, 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.120 and they do readings and they give panel discussions. It's 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.680 a whole thing. But back then it was still very 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.200 much in its infancy, and the directors were looking for 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.120 ways to sort of shake things up, make it not 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:06.279 your grandfather's book festival. So they staged a wrestling match. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.719 What are the what are the youths into these days? Fighting? 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.440 It's like we want to do hunger games, but for real, 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:21.640 um so I show up with a microphone. It's a bright, sunny, 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:26.640 hot Labor Day weekend, and I'm wandering my way through 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.040 this book festival. You know, it's it's it's nerds. It's 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.160 nerd Fest. It's people carrying around stacks of books that 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.480 they've gotten signed by their favorite authors. It's people carrying 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:39.760 tote bags around. It's a very NPR crowd. It's comic 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:44.120 Con but no causeplay Renaissance fair but in modern day. 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.320 And it's funny because here in Atlanta on Labor Day weekend, 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.600 there is there is dragon Con going on like right 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:55.560 across town. So like it is a nerd weekend. It's 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.200 a it's pretty, it's pretty incredible. It's a perfect storm 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.359 of nerd. So everything looks normal until I get to 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:06.880 the Decatur Square and there is an actual wrestling rings 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:11.880 set up. I'm talking you know, stretch canvas, turned buckles, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.320 the you know, the brightly colored ropes, the whole nine. 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.400 And there's a there's a crowd gathered around it, and 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.120 I spot one of the directors of the book festival 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.640 and I asked him the question. I stick the microphone 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:26.720 in his face. I asked him the question that is 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:34.120 on everybody's mind. What And he laughs and he says, well, 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.560 here at the book festival, we tried to do things 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.240 a little bit differently. And so I approached this writer 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.520 and I asked him what he wanted to do. If 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.240 you could do anything at the book festival. You know, 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.800 that's not a reading, that's not a panel discussion, that's 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.200 not just a book signing, what would you want to do? Now? 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.760 The guy he's talking about is this author named Michael 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:01.920 Mohammed Knight. Michael Mohammed Knight is he's a young man American. 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.719 He converted to Islam at a young age and he 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.640 started writing about it. Most notably, he wrote this novel 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:14.040 called The Takua coors Um, which drew upon his experience 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.800 with the youth culture in Islam. And U it's about 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.760 this underground, this fictionalized underground punk rock movement. Um. It's 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.560 it's pretty good, it's it's pretty exciting. So he's bold, 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:33.000 he's brash, he's young. And they ask Michael Mohammed Knight, 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.080 if you could do anything at a book festival, what 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:39.600 would you want to do? And he tells them there 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:43.920 is a wrestler in Atlanta named a Duelah the butcher. 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.920 I want to wrestle him. And then the director of 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:53.200 the festival gestures at the at the turn buckles and 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.840 the stretched canvas and the brightly colored ropes, and he's like, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.960 and here we are. I gotta say to Michael Maha, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.360 I'm a Night. Is an awesome name for a wrestler. 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:06.640 It is a superhero name. Man, It's great, It's it's 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.160 perfect for what if you know, he's a punk rocker, 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.720 he's ar wrestling. He's like, he's an amateur wrestler when 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:18.040 he's not writing novels. Yeah. Perfect. So that's the how. 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.200 The why is a lot more complicated. Wandering through the crowd, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.000 I find Michael Mohammed Knight and we exchange pleasantries. Hey, 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.360 I'm Mike from the radio station. We've been emailing back 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:34.720 and forth. Um, could I talk to you after the match. 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.640 And he's like yeah, yeah, yeah, And he's all jazzed up. 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.560 He's jumping up and down and I want to I 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:41.160 want to plant this. I want to give you this 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.000 picture he because he looks amazing, as amazing, and as 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.040 his name is, he looks incredible. He's got these gold 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:51.200 wraparound sunglasses. Look they look like they look like Elvis 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.440 impersonator glasses. He's wearing this white satin cape that's like 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.840 billowing in the wind. He's got these gold boots on 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.680 it that are like laced up to his calves. He 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.920 looks amazing. And I'm like, all right, I'm gonna leave 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.560 you to it, because obviously your head is somewhere else. 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.000 You're about to step into the ring. In the shadows 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:17.720 next to the ring, there's a little booth, a little tent, 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:25.319 and in that tent is Abdullah, the butcher. Abdullah. He's 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.560 not a tall man, but in every other way he 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:33.960 is enormous. He is wide, he is round, he's he's 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.720 got these this deep brown skin and these like dark eyes, 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:43.600 and his bald shaved head is deeply rutted from years 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:48.160 and years of scar tissue getting hit with chairs exactly. 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:56.120 And he's selling barbecue sauce because he's retired and he 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.360 owns a barbecue restaurant here in Atlanta. He's doing fine. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.959 He's what a nice guy. And I asked him, hey, 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.680 do you have a comment today about the fight that's 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.800 about to take place, And he says, yeah, I'll talk 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.520 to you. I have to go kick this guy's ass. First, 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:16.040 Oh my god, what do you say to that? Fair enough, 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.800 I'm not going to argue with the most terrifying motherfucker 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:24.160 I've ever seen in my life selling barbecue sauce to 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.679 I pictured him over there with a cleaver, and he 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.560 was just like hacking away at you know, like a 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:35.120 lamb's leg or something. So I've still got my microphone, 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.120 got my big old headphones on. I'm gathering crowd sounds. 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.920 I'm talking to people. Can you believe there's a wrestling 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:43.880 match at a book festival? Yeah? What? What do you 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:49.640 believe it? Yeah? And there's a pretty sizable crowd gathering around. 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:51.320 I would not have expected that out of a bunch 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.680 of nerds at a book festival, you know, with you know, 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.160 carrying armloads books around. But there's you know, there's there's folks, 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:01.080 there's passed by, there's there's obviously readers. There's maybe even 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:02.840 a couple of folks who have read some of Michael 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:07.440 Mohammed Knight's books. Um, there's people with families, little kids 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.240 running around. It's like a festival day. It's wonderful. And 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:15.120 then a barker climbs up into the ring and he 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.240 starts shouting at the crowd. We're here today to see 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:24.679 the battle between the literary giant Michael Mohammed Knight and 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:29.240 the literal giant, Abdullah the Butcher. I see what he 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:34.000 did there, very nice. And then Abdullah's manager gets up 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.199 into the ring. Now his manager is dressed in a 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.760 linen see, he looks like Colonel Tom Parker. He's dressed 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.360 in a linen suit. He's wearing like a cowboy hat, 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.640 old Southern guy. And he gets up into the ring 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.960 and he says, now, we have this challenger here set 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.800 to fight Abdullah the Butcher, but we've got this place 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:57.720 here in Atlanta called Grady Hospital. Now you can bow 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.680 out of the fight now, or we can go ahead 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.440 and call to cab County. The choice is yours. Ring 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.720 the bell please, and they ring the bell. Do they 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:12.320 have an ambulance standing by? I did not see one, 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.240 and they probably should have had one, just out of it, 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:19.360 just out of an abundance of caution. They were it's 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.520 a book festival. Why do we need an ambulance. Nobody's 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.160 ever gotten hurt at a book festival. There may have 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.440 been some stubbed toes here. There's some paper cuts outside 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.640 for some paper cuts. I got hooked in the eye, 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.439 you know, kind of with a pen when I was 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.000 getting my book signed. I don't know. Did Neil de 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.400 grass Tyson ever start a fistfight with anybody that's yet 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:41.320 to be seen? I don't think so. He would use 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.520 some you know, he would use physics or something to 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:56.280 spaghettify somebody. Michael Mohommed Knight jumps into the ring and 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:58.400 again he looks great. He's all psyched up. He's jumping 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.280 up and down. His satin cape is flowing in the wind, 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.480 and he's taunting Abdullah from inside the ring. Now, just 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.679 to back up a little bit, Abdullah the Butcher was 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:14.079 a pro wrestler, to be sure, here in Atlanta and 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:18.360 around the country in the eighties and nineties. He's been 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.840 retired for a long time now. He's probably about sixty 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.959 years old at this point. And I imagine after a 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:32.000 career of being beat to a pulp and flying through 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:34.840 the air and getting hit with folding chairs and stuff, 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:40.240 his knees are not what they used to be. Him 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:44.680 getting up into the ring nonstarter. So he's standing outside 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.320 the ring, Mike, He's got this young buck just shouting 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.440 at him from inside the ring. So he does what 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.960 anybody would do in that position. He waits for Michael 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.360 Mohammed Knight to get close enough to the ropes. He 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:01.880 grabs him by his golden ankles and he yanks. Michael 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.839 hits the He hits the canvas hard and nobody has 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.360 time to breathe before Abdullah just yanks him out of 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.520 the ring and into the grass. And then it's a fight. 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:18.840 Then it's a wrestling fight. Michael Mohammad, he know, he's 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.680 trying to recover. He gets up and it's just a 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:26.240 moment later that Abdullah swings a folding chair bam, hits 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.400 him right in the head. Where did the folding chair? 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.080 This is a standing room only crowd, mind you, where 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:33.920 did the chair come from? Well, if there wasn't a 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.800 folding chair around, there wouldn't be a folding chair there 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.840 to hit another wrestler with. So it's wrestling. This is 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.080 the butcher brings his own folding chairs wherever he goes. 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.760 He gotta have him on stand by. You know, he's 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:51.000 got his his like Swiss army knife of like wrestler 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:57.240 tricks right here right right, hits him with a chair night, 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.560 hits the ground and he's you know, he's on the recovery. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:02.480 He gets back up to his feet, he's just on 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.760 his feet, and Abdullah the Butcher grabs him and throws 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.280 him into a folding table. Again, where'd the table come from? 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.160 If there wasn't a table there, there wouldn't be a 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.480 table there for a wrestler to get thrown through. It's 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:20.560 it's not rocket science. Is there a ref at this No, 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.160 So there's no clear way for somebody to get pinned. 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.040 And this thing not not that I remember I do. 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:35.040 This is is very very grassroots. So Michael is he's 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.560 getting back up to his feet and Abdullah is standing 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:42.000 over him. Now, let's zoom out for a second. Abdullah 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:46.240 the Butcher had his wrestling career in the eighties and nineties. 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.120 He was what was known in wrestling parlance as a heel, 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.480 a bad a bad guy wrestler, the guy that the 0:15:55.520 --> 0:16:01.239 audience loves to hate. And he got his nickname Abdullah 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:06.840 the Butcher because this guy likes to bring knives into 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:14.920 the ring with him. Oh great. Michael is getting back 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.680 up to his feet and Abdullah is standing over him, 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.360 and I see from the other side of the ring. 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:25.200 Abdullah raising his fist in the air and I see 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.800 something glint in the labor day sunlight, and he brings 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:35.800 that fist down onto Michael's head. Bam. Michael hits the 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:40.840 ground hard and he does not move. The crowd fucking 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:46.400 loves this. The crowd goes ape shit. People are screened, 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:49.400 People are dropping their books and like hollering and yelling 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:53.160 get them, kill them, finish them off. I've never seen 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.000 anything like that. The crowd tasted a little bit of 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.920 blood and they were swarming and it was it was crazy, 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.800 was incredible. And then the blood starts to pool on 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.520 the pavement outside of the ring. I'm still recording sound. 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.639 I've got my microphone out. It takes people a couple 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:16.359 of minutes to realize this is real. That's not a 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.919 blood packet. He that man is hurt and he's not 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.640 getting up. A couple of minutes goes by and somebody shouts, 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:28.120 can somebody get an ambulance. Paramedics are called. A couple 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.200 of minutes later, they arrive. Police start pushing people back 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.359 and I'm scanning the crowd and I see the directors 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:39.160 of the festival and they are looking from the paramedics 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:47.000 to Michael, to the ambulance and at me, and they 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:53.879 are no longer my friend. They are very worried because 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:58.280 an author who they invited is about to get put 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:03.520 into an ambulance and they are responsible. And I'm a 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:10.000 reporter doing my job. So the paramedics bandage his head, 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.880 they put him on a stretcher, they load him into 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.240 the back of an ambulance. And that's when I realized, 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.720 damn it, I was supposed to interview him after the match. 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:28.560 My editor is going to be pissed. Also, where where 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:32.359 did Abdullah go after that brutal blow? Did he just 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.320 vanish into the crowd? It was it was as if 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:36.919 it was as if he was a ninja and he 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.400 threw a smoke bomb down and just just disappeared him. 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:46.119 His manager, Bartles of Barbecue Sauce gone nowhere to be seen. 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:50.919 He he ski daddled. It was. It was amazing. So 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.199 they zoom away in a in an ambulance and I 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:59.840 head back to the air conditioned hospitality uh tent, and 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.720 I begin to drink because I know two things. One 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.760 that man is seriously injured, and two I'm about to 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:09.040 blow past my deadline. And that's just gonna have to 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:15.399 be okay. I get back home and I start madly 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.240 trying to get in touch with Michael Mohammed Knight, if 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:25.119 only to make sure he's alive, but also I have 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:29.359 a story to finish. I eventually get a hold of 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:34.800 him on Facebook and I message him, Hey, I'm probably 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:36.919 the last guy you want to talk to right now. Okay, 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:38.760 the second the last guy you want to talk to 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.199 you right now? But would you mind going on the 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.320 record to talk about the wrestling match that took place. 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:48.560 I hear from him two days later. I'm sweating bullets 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.679 and he goes, yeah, let's talk. We get on the phone. 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:57.359 Thank god, I can breathe this huge side relief. Okay, 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.520 he's alive. He's okay, so is my story. Okay, let's 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:02.200 get him on the phone. Let's get you one tape. 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.520 He answers the phone. He's back at his He's back 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.840 at his place in in New York. And I get 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:11.399 a chance to ask him what everybody else in the 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:18.359 crowd was wondering, What the hell were you thinking? What? 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.840 He tells me he had to get seventeen stitches in 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.879 his head. Oh my god, but he's back home and 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.880 he's resting. He's gonna be okay. He says that when 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.440 he was a kid, he used to watch Abdullah the 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:37.080 Butcher on TV and he was one of his idols, 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.640 and he was also terrified of him. Who wouldn't be 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:49.400 giant guy with knives who stabs people. He was the boogeyman. 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:53.000 He was the monster. Onto the bed to Michael and 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:55.960 he tells me a little bit about his writing process. 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.960 He says, when you're a writer, you need to approach 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:06.120 it like a pro wrestler. You need two leap off 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:09.600 the top rope. You need to take the chair shot 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:14.800 flush in the dome. You need to bleed to tell 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:19.040 your story. He tells me that when he stepped into 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:23.879 the ring that day, he pretty much knew that it 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:25.600 was going to go down the way that it went down, 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:28.560 But he had to do it because the only way 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:32.479 that you can approach a story and really bleed for 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:36.800 it is without fear. And if you step into a 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:41.359 ring and you're still afraid to get hurt, you're gonna 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:45.080 be dead meat. He said that he confronted his boogeyman. 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.080 He stepped into the ring and he looked Abdullah right 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.080 in the eye, and he didn't see a monster anymore. 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.680 He saw a man, even if he was the one 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:59.199 who got beat to hell for it. So, if I 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:03.320 can answer my own question, if you see a fight, 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:06.639 do you run towards it or do you run away? 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:11.800 If you run away, you're never going to confront that fear, 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:16.000 and your stories just aren't going to be as good. Amen, brother, 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:21.600 and whoever said like, anybody who thinks wrestling is not real, 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.280 they should, you know, they should go ahead and give 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:30.399 uh Michael Mahaman night a call. Yeah, ask him about it. 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:45.120 He's got the he's got the scar tissue to prove it. Hey, 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.440 welcome back. How were those ads? Did you listen to 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:49.399 him or did you skip them? I hope you listened 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:54.120 because that's how we get paid. Now it's time for 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:57.840 another story from our story Okay, event that we did 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:00.679 in New York last year, TikTok Legend brand In Alexander 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:04.040 told a story that involved Taco bell, skateboarding and a 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:09.720 traumatic brain injury. On October eleventh, actually two years ago, 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:13.840 I was in a really bad skateboarding accident on a 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:16.960 boosted board. I left my house from Lower Manhattan going 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:19.440 to talk about on Fulton Street, and um, I just 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:22.520 wanted to talk about and my mom was like, hey, 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:23.879 can you go to Mad dogg and Beans in your 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.160 way there? I was like sure, And so I left 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:29.840 my house at nine fifty or eight fifty pm, and 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:34.359 by PM I was in the hospital and we're like 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:39.040 how how did you get there? And so I was 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:41.119 being treated my mom like my mom got this really 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:43.880 weird feeling that I was. Um, She's like, what's taking 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:45.280 so long? Even though I'd only been gone for like 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:48.560 ten minutes. And I was like okay. So she calls 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:50.840 the hustle and she first she texted my location. It 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:54.240 was like, hey, where's Brandon? And she looks at Taco 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:56.120 Bell and she looks at the hospital right near Taco 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:58.880 Bell and she's like, he's at the wrong place. Why 0:23:58.960 --> 0:24:01.040 is he not? Why is not to talk about? He's 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:02.960 at the hospital. So she tells my brother and my 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:05.440 brother was like called the hospital, and so she called 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:08.840 calls the hospital, was like hey is my son there? 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:11.840 And they're like, uh, yeah, we have someone who matches 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:15.879 his description. Um, will you be visiting? And Moms like visiting? 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:18.439 Is he is he alive? And she was like and 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:20.560 they're like well, he's in critical condition and we don't 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:23.879 really know what's going on. So, um, we're gonna but 0:24:23.960 --> 0:24:26.040 we can't tell you anything more because of Hippa. And 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:28.520 and she was like, okay, I'm on my way. So 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:32.080 she gets there and she can see me from like 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:34.520 the check in. She sees me like where as you 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:36.280 I can see it. You walk in, it's like right there, 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:40.480 and she sees me like she described it as flopping 0:24:40.480 --> 0:24:44.240 around the bed like a flounder, which is her terminology 0:24:44.280 --> 0:24:49.639 for saying having extreme seizures. And um, So she walks 0:24:49.640 --> 0:24:52.920 in and the nurses were just like, oh, yeah, drug overdose. 0:24:53.560 --> 0:24:57.040 And my mom was like, no, he's not a drug overdose. 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:01.400 He was going to talk about and and then they're 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:04.440 like what and so she was like, no, he his 0:25:04.520 --> 0:25:06.280 skateboards were right next to me. How do you not 0:25:06.320 --> 0:25:10.000 make this connection? And she was like They were like, well, 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:13.560 I don't know. And so as my mom walks in 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:16.960 the room. I don't remember this obviously I was incapacitated, 0:25:17.000 --> 0:25:19.399 but my mother told me that as she walked in 0:25:19.400 --> 0:25:22.119 the room, she's like Brandon and I and I stopped seizing, 0:25:22.119 --> 0:25:24.440 and I sat up and I looked at her and 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:27.639 as soon as I looked at her, she was like, okay, 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:31.080 lights around, he hit his head, something's okay. And as 0:25:31.280 --> 0:25:33.199 I went she went to reach for my hand, and 0:25:33.240 --> 0:25:34.760 as I went to reach for her hand, it's some 0:25:34.800 --> 0:25:38.840 ship of a movie. And I like, my eyes well 0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:40.679 back in my head and blood started pouring out of 0:25:40.680 --> 0:25:43.080 my ear and I fell back and started seizing again. 0:25:43.240 --> 0:25:46.520