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Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on. It's battle It's been a minute

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Speaker 1: since we've actually released an actual episode on the podcast feed.

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Speaker 1: Uh yeah, and I will tell you that I've I've

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Speaker 1: been a very bad podcaster, host, whatever you want to

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Speaker 1: call me, uh, because we kind of started to focus

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Speaker 1: on our YouTube channel because we film these interviews every

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Speaker 1: time we do them, and so we've started to try

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Speaker 1: to build up our YouTube channel, which, by the way,

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Speaker 1: YouTube dot com Slash Battleground Podcast. I know the last

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Speaker 1: episode that you heard in this feed was with Nick Altis,

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Speaker 1: and since then we've had interviews posted up on our

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Speaker 1: YouTube channel with Speedball, Mike Bailey, Ria Ripley, Kofi Kingston,

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Speaker 1: and uh. Well, today's episode which if you could watch

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Speaker 1: it in ten eightyp yes high definition. Aw referee Aubrey

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Speaker 1: Edwards is on the show today and if you'd like

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Speaker 1: to watch that interview, you can just go to YouTube

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Speaker 1: dot com Slash Battleground Podcast, subscribe to the YouTube channel,

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Speaker 1: and uh you can watch the interviews as well as

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Speaker 1: listen to them. Here enough of me rambling, and uh

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Speaker 1: here's the theme song that you've missed hearing?

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Speaker 2: Why from the Parts Unknown Studios.

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Speaker 1: To the Battle Crowd bat the Battle found the Battle Crowd.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to the Battleground Podcast, your place for all things

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Speaker 3: pro wrestling. The Battle.

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Speaker 2: The Battle Crowd now making their way to the microphones.

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Speaker 2: Give it up for your hosts.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Battle Crown. What's up you guys? Welcome

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Speaker 1: back into the Battleground Podcast. iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast. It

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Speaker 1: is an exciting week here on the show. Normally Eli

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Speaker 1: will have a certain shirt on for who we have

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Speaker 1: on the show today, but today he's got Grateful Dead.

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Speaker 1: So I enlisted the help of my six year old

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Speaker 1: to tell you who's on our show today, because as

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Speaker 1: you can see, she is hanging up here on the

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Speaker 1: shelf next to the titled Let's go ahead and bring Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we have the action figure Aubrey Drew Edwards and the

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Speaker 1: real Aubrey Edwards joins us on this show today.

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 3: I am good? I like the Action figure. That's a

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Speaker 3: that's a commitment man, because that thing comes with a

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Speaker 3: full ring. That's all space.

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Speaker 1: My six year old was very mad when I told

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Speaker 1: him that I needed to borrow his referee for this interview,

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Speaker 1: and I had to sneak it out of his room

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Speaker 1: because yes, he does have the ring and currently right

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Speaker 1: now you are calling a match and I'm looking over

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Speaker 1: I believe it's Adam Cole and somebody else and there's

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Speaker 1: somebody hanging in a cage on his makeshift thing over there.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of I don't know what

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Speaker 1: kind of match.

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Speaker 2: It is at the moment, but I think it's a

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Speaker 2: Judy bagwell on a poll match. Is that what it is?

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Speaker 1: That's probably what it is. That's probably what it is.

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Speaker 2: Let's skip to that question. How awesome is it to

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Speaker 2: have your own Action figure?

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Speaker 3: Yes, it's it's wild. It's like it's it's kind of

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Speaker 3: one of those like it's been a while since it's

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Speaker 3: been out. I think it was like the first time,

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Speaker 3: like last year, but I distinctly remember the first time

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Speaker 3: someone like bringing it to a signing like the whole

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Speaker 3: box even, and they like drove four hours with this

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Speaker 3: box and they're like, I want you to sign it.

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Speaker 3: So I literally signed it. This is the first one

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Speaker 3: of these I've ever signed. And then like Cardona and

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Speaker 3: all them that do their Action Figure podcast, so like,

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Speaker 3: do you realize how much money you just made? That guy,

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Speaker 3: I'm like, oh my god.

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Speaker 1: Hopefully that guy is not going to be that guy

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Speaker 1: and turn around and sell right exactly.

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Speaker 3: I was like, man, I no, no, I hope he

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Speaker 3: keeps it. But it's it's been wild, right, Like it's

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Speaker 3: even just to think, like how crazy it is to

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Speaker 3: have an action figure as a referee, but knowing that

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Speaker 3: there are like three to four women in the referee

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Speaker 3: role at the highest level for how long wrestling has

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Speaker 3: been around, it's that itself is kind of insane, and

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Speaker 3: it's a nice little like way for me to check

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Speaker 3: in and realize, like, man, this this is crazy. Like

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Speaker 3: I was in a completely different field five years ago

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Speaker 3: and now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Toronto

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Speaker 3: talking to you guys about.

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Speaker 4: My action figure, right, I mean it was a video

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Speaker 4: game too, right, right, yeah, And I mean there was

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Speaker 4: a time where you know, the females didn't have I mean,

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Speaker 4: that wasn't even an option.

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Speaker 2: But I mean wrestler is anything. I mean I think

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Speaker 2: they kind of like you'd see like dolls or something occasionally,

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Speaker 2: but like, I mean, it wasn't too long ago where

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Speaker 2: a female action figure wasn't even on the table exactly.

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Speaker 2: So anyways, I got sidetracked. That was a good segue

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Speaker 2: that was perfect, And that's and that's the thing.

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Speaker 1: It's like, it's it's a cool moment to go and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: I have my own action figure. Not many people can

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Speaker 1: say that.

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Speaker 3: My mom bought three of them. One of them exclusively

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Speaker 3: hangs in the Christmas tree at Christmas time.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of like Elf on the shelf, but now

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Speaker 1: it's something different. Does she moving around Aubrey in the.

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Speaker 3: Tree thanks to a strawberry because she literally has like

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Speaker 3: a strawberry ornament. That's pretty great.

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Speaker 2: That is you seeing out from the shelf get ready

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Speaker 2: for Aubrey and the tree.

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Speaker 3: Right doesn't have the same ring to it, but it's

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Speaker 3: like way more sassy and just as authoritative.

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Speaker 2: I think Tony Kahan could probably sell it them.

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Speaker 1: He could a lot of people buy it. Something really

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Speaker 1: cool recently happened and we were very excited about this.

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Speaker 2: But a lot of people are excited.

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Speaker 1: You made your AEW wrestling debut last Friday night on

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Speaker 1: ram Page getting Karen Jarrett to tap out in the

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Speaker 1: figure four. I mean in a mixed tag. That's that's

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Speaker 1: an amazing thing right there.

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Speaker 2: There are a lot of people jealous of that position

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Speaker 2: you were in by the way.

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Speaker 1: A lot, because a lot of people would would want

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Speaker 1: to just inflict damage on her, according to what we've

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Speaker 1: seen on the internet. But how long had that been

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Speaker 1: in the planning stages and what was it like getting

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Speaker 1: Karen to tap out, I mean just.

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Speaker 3: To peel back the curtel a little bit like the

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Speaker 3: story itself between like me and Jeff Jarrett and his

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Speaker 3: posse had kind of like started sort of at our

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Speaker 3: Seattle show back on January fourth, where there was sort

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Speaker 3: of some hallabaloo the ref didn't see the finish. We

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Speaker 3: thought Jay Leethull and Jeff Jared had won the tag titles,

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Speaker 3: and then I run in because hey, I'm local and

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Speaker 3: this is going to get a big reaction from the crowd.

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Speaker 3: I overturned the match, we restarted, and the Heels end

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Speaker 3: up losing. So it's kind of this thing and just

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Speaker 3: it it kind of kept finding ways to sort of

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Speaker 3: weave itself together with everything we were doing, whether I

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Speaker 3: was refing their matches or we'd have a ref bump,

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Speaker 3: someone would run in, whatever it might be, and that

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Speaker 3: sort of culminated at double or nothing where I end

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Speaker 3: up getting hit in the head with the guitar and

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Speaker 3: out of context. This is really fun to explain. So

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Speaker 3: I'm glad people know this is a wrestling podcast, like yeah,

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Speaker 3: and it's one of those things like with wrestling, it's

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Speaker 3: really important to have storytelling and long term pays of

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Speaker 3: payoffs for our fans. Right. So it's one thing to say, yeah,

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Speaker 3: sure we're going to hit a referee with a guitar

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Speaker 3: and she's gonna go down. But that's cool in the moment,

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Speaker 3: but where does that go? And when you have the

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Speaker 3: traditional heels and babyfaces, if the heels don't get their

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Speaker 3: comeupance and the baby faces don't end up on top

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Speaker 3: at the end, then you've just really you know, upset

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Speaker 3: your fans, like why are they getting invested? Then this

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Speaker 3: is traditional storytelling and we have three x we follow.

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Speaker 3: It's as old as Shakespeare even older. Right, So from that,

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Speaker 3: like the moment of double or Nothing, where the guitar

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Speaker 3: shot happened, that's where we sort of started talking like, okay,

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Speaker 3: well what is the next logical step for this? And

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Speaker 3: they asked if I was willing to wrestle, and I said, dude,

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Speaker 3: I can't even lock up correctly, like I'm a dancer.

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Speaker 3: And then twenty two years of Baallet didn't teach me

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Speaker 3: how to do like like a headlocked takeover, Like these

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Speaker 3: heels don't translate man.

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Speaker 1: Right right right right right right. This is a different

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Speaker 1: form of entertainment.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, very different, but it's still physical, but very different

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Speaker 3: form of entertainment. And it just came down to like, well,

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Speaker 3: how can we really play this up and how can

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Speaker 3: we have fun with this? And it was really cool

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Speaker 3: to get like opportunities like I got to choke chair

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Speaker 3: caring out in a promo. I had a live promo

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Speaker 3: on Rampage, which was insane, and then you know, it

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Speaker 3: ended up coming down to the match, which was great,

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Speaker 3: and it just felt really cool, Like it felt really cool,

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Speaker 3: like the way we kind of structure everything, like I

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Speaker 3: went over with the figure four, but that's also Jay

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Speaker 3: Lethal's move. So there's like that little bit of like

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Speaker 3: meta neists that the long term fans really appreciate because

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Speaker 3: they get it in the moment, like, oh this is

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Speaker 3: this is that deeper story and that part of wrestling

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Speaker 3: that's really nice. It's not just on the surface who

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Speaker 3: wins and loses, but what are those little details that

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Speaker 3: reward us as viewers watching this product for so long

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Speaker 3: it was. It was cool. I'm glad it's over. I'm

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Speaker 3: retiring undefeated to go.

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Speaker 2: I think you're the only undefeated wrestler on the roster

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Speaker 2: right now. I believe I think so Ja up there,

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Speaker 2: but those are tech not splitting hairs. But Jay's no

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Speaker 2: longer undefeated, so I think.

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Speaker 3: It was a trios match. But for the record, like

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Speaker 3: it does count as So yeah, it's I'm retiring from

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Speaker 3: entering competition. Not being able to walk for like two

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Speaker 3: days about pain the Yeah, it's like I never want

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Speaker 3: to do that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, you brought up a good point too, because

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Speaker 2: I mean part of the whole reason AW was even

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Speaker 2: developed and founded and everything was kind of what you

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Speaker 2: mentioned about storytelling, kind of like leaving the dangling fruit,

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Speaker 2: like not finishing the three acts and just start stop

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Speaker 2: start stop, start stop. So I mean this is technically,

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Speaker 2: like you said, going back to jail, this is a

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Speaker 2: six month story that a lot of companies still aren't

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Speaker 2: I won't say who, but a lot of companies don't

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Speaker 2: do that. And so and then it bled into this

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Speaker 2: week's Dynamite that had the concession stand, which coming from

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Speaker 2: West Tennessee, that's like my bread but that's what I

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Speaker 2: grew up on, so I go, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.

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Speaker 2: So and it's still going. I mean, there's still there's

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Speaker 2: still layers to it that are going to develop. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's very awesome. So being with aw as long as

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Speaker 2: you have, what do you think has been if there

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Speaker 2: is one single thing, what do you think has been

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Speaker 2: the biggest change since you're day one to now? Has

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Speaker 2: it been the production value, has it been the I

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Speaker 2: don't know, I'm just spitballing. What do you think has

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Speaker 2: been the biggest change since day one?

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Speaker 3: I think, honestly, like the biggest change has I think

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Speaker 3: it's it's twofold. It's both internally how we feel the company,

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Speaker 3: but I think also externally how the company is viewed.

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Speaker 3: Like when we started, we were small, we were scrappy,

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Speaker 3: we were the alternative, we were different, and I come

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Speaker 3: from the corporate world, so I liken it a lot too.

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Speaker 3: We're a startup. There's a couple of people with an

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Speaker 3: idea and a lot of passion and we're just going

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Speaker 3: to put it out there and see how it works.

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Speaker 3: We're going to put in the time and hopefully eventually

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Speaker 3: like it it breaks through, and then we get all

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Speaker 3: of this acclaim for it, right, and then fast forward

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Speaker 3: and now we've got all these people who are legends

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Speaker 3: in wrestling joining our company. Like we've just been talking

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Speaker 3: about Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal, who are synonymous with

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Speaker 3: TNA and our Oh, so it's like we've got j White,

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Speaker 3: We've got who just came over, We've got Staying, We've

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Speaker 3: got Billy Gunn, We've got our nameunderstand, we have like

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Speaker 3: all these people. We have Tony Shiavanni, who's the guest

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Speaker 3: on my cost of my podcast. So it's like this

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Speaker 3: is insane, right, Yeah, we have this sort of like

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Speaker 3: we started as this like young, scrappy thing and now

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Speaker 3: it's like, no, we're a main player because we haven't

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Speaker 3: announced a single match for Wembley and we're at sixty

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Speaker 3: five thousand tickets. Yeah, it's it's wild. So I think

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Speaker 3: internally it feels like there's been a ton of growth,

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Speaker 3: like so fast that you're just like I'm totally like

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Speaker 3: lost and nauseous now. But externally, as a fan, it's

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Speaker 3: been really awesome to see this thing that we've been investing,

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Speaker 3: because at the end of the day, we're all fans,

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Speaker 3: right to see this thing that we've all been investedd

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Speaker 3: grow to be the juggernaut that it is. It's insane.

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Speaker 3: I love it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's great to see because you have a

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Speaker 1: little bit when you watch ADEW, you have a little

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Speaker 1: bit of every fan base that can tune in and

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Speaker 1: watch something like you know, there's some places that you

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Speaker 1: watch and it's kind of cookie cutter and you know it.

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Speaker 1: But when you watch aw with my six year old,

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Speaker 1: he is like in tuned with wrestling, like he knows

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Speaker 1: which night is, which would shows on, and he will

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Speaker 1: sit there and watch every single thing that goes down.

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Speaker 1: And the thing is is like he's extremely smart when

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Speaker 1: it comes to wrest of Me because he's like he

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Speaker 1: knows who the bad guys are, he knows who the

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Speaker 1: good guys are, and then he's like asking the questions,

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Speaker 1: why did this happen? Why did that happen? And the

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Speaker 1: great thing was watching on Wednesday nights and of course

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Speaker 1: now on Friday and Saturdays as well, like you extend

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Speaker 1: that storyline even further, and he's always got to make

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Speaker 1: sure that if he misses Wednesday night being six, he's like,

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Speaker 1: what happened? What's going on? And that's the great thing

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Speaker 1: about it is you got normally you could just miss

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Speaker 1: a week and still be caught up the next week,

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Speaker 1: right you guys like, if you miss something, you're gonna

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Speaker 1: have to either try to figure out some bootleg way

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Speaker 1: to watch it on Twitter.

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Speaker 2: Or yeah, I mean if you like, if you miss

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Speaker 2: this the Go Home Dynamite, I mean it was stacked.

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Speaker 2: I mean there was tons of stuff happening, and I

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Speaker 2: think kind of bounced off what you're saying. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this is unprecedented territory. I mean, most wrestling companies within

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Speaker 2: less than five years are getting TV deals. I don't

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Speaker 2: know the actual pres you know, I mean Whimbley, I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know, even going back to the name we won't

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Speaker 2: say up North, I mean they weren't doing this five

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Speaker 2: years into their you know what I mean I mean

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Speaker 2: is this really is uncharted territory. So for the fans

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Speaker 2: that have been unfulfilled for all those years to see

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Speaker 2: it get to where it's at this quickly, it's yeah,

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Speaker 2: very awesome to see.

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Speaker 1: It's it's super awesome to see. And speaking of awesome,

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Speaker 1: I mean, what has been in your mind the loudest

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Speaker 1: aw show or atmosphere that you've been a part of

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Speaker 1: so far.

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Speaker 3: Oh that's a tricky one. I think like there's a

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Speaker 3: handful that stick out, and part of it is like

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Speaker 3: I'm sitting in Toronto right now, and when we did

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Speaker 3: our Toronto debut back in October, like that crowd was insane.

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Speaker 3: There's something fun about Canadian fans and they just get

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Speaker 3: it and they're on board of it. They one d

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Speaker 3: percent invest everything in it. So I'm really excited for

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Speaker 3: Forbidden Door this weekend because knowing how the fans responded

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Speaker 3: to us when we were first here, and like everything

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Speaker 3: feels a little bit bigger with a pay per view right,

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Speaker 3: Like you've got a ton of dream matches happening this

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Speaker 3: weekend that as fans were like, wait, we're getting what,

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Speaker 3: like yeah away, In any lifetime, anyone would have thought

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Speaker 3: we would have seen Brian Danielson in Okada, Like what

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Speaker 3: is that?

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Speaker 2: How?

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Speaker 3: What? We didn't deserve this? Who are we?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 3: So, so, I like Toronto is always a really great city.

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Speaker 3: I think, like really it stands out like Punk's debut

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Speaker 3: at United Center when he came back to wrestling for

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Speaker 3: after seven years, Like that was insane because United Center

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Speaker 3: had sold out so quickly on the like rumor that

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Speaker 3: he had, and then as soon as that like riff

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Speaker 3: hits in his song, the crowd just erupts.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to tell you how many times I've

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Speaker 2: watched that debut in the last few years. If I

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Speaker 2: just made a little boost, I'll kind of and my

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Speaker 2: wife will be like, I get like yeah and yeah,

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Speaker 2: so anyways, sorry, yeah.

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Speaker 3: I mean there's I mean another one. It's just so

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Speaker 3: many like moments. Like my one of my favorite matches

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Speaker 3: I've done was Eddie Kingston versus Chris Jericho Revolution and

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Speaker 3: it was the first match to start the show, hot crowd.

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Speaker 3: Jericho is in the ring, Eddie Kingston comes in ring

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Speaker 3: the bell, Jericho gets dumped on his head and it's

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Speaker 3: just immediately the crowd's like, oh my god, like this

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Speaker 3: is insane because we cut right to the action. So

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Speaker 3: there's just so many little things, like every crowd is great,

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Speaker 3: every every show is great. There's just all these memorable

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Speaker 3: moments that are happening constantly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I was at the first double or nothing when

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Speaker 2: Moxley debuted, and that was that was that was loud.

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Speaker 3: That was a loud Oh my god, and you're just

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Speaker 3: sitting there why is everyone looking oh okay, okay, cool?

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Speaker 2: What Yeah? That one was yeah, very loud? Worry. Oh

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Speaker 2: So let's let's talk about your podcast with Sony Shavanni.

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Speaker 2: Are there unrestricted? What is do you?

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Speaker 3: Do?

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Speaker 2: You have a a dream guest that you have not

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Speaker 2: talked to yet? Is there anybody floating around like why

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Speaker 2: have we not got this person yet?

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: It's tricky because it's the advantage we have is it's

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Speaker 3: the official AW podcast right like new episode every Thursday.

341
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Speaker 3: We're talking to people that like you. Anyone you see

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Speaker 3: on TV is fair game for us, and it's great.

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Speaker 3: I feel like Jamie Hater has been a little elusive.

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Speaker 3: I would really love to have her on. The timing's

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Speaker 3: just never really worked out. And I know that she's

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Speaker 3: she's out for a bit and she just dropped the title,

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Speaker 3: but she was just a phenomenal women's champion, So I'd

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Speaker 3: love to have her on. And then there's so many

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Speaker 3: people that we interviewed super early, like John Moxley was

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Speaker 3: our first ever guest. We had JR. We had the

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Speaker 3: Bucks and that was all pre pandemic, so we've all

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Speaker 3: changed as people. Itself has changed. I think it'd be

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Speaker 3: great to honestly have them back on.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that would be awesome because I sit here

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Speaker 1: and think about, like what you what you were saying,

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Speaker 1: like when we first started this podcast and when you

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Speaker 1: guys first launched, like going back to the original time

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Speaker 1: when we had Cody on, Like Cody made the announcement

359
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Speaker 1: on this podcast, is like what do you think about

360
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Speaker 1: aw Dynamite? And it's like and then you progress over

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Speaker 1: the years and think about how many people have come

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Speaker 1: on this podcast, like we're the same boat, and uh,

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Speaker 1: I think maybe the internet would probably go out on

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Speaker 1: the the IWC with a lot of chatter right now.

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Speaker 1: Maybe Goldberg could be a guest on Unrestricted.

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Speaker 2: Oh who knows?

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Speaker 3: Who knows?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, who knows? We have the Fight Forever game coming

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Speaker 2: out next week. What are you most excited about that?

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Speaker 2: What can you tell us from what you've seen and

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Speaker 2: all that?

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Speaker 3: So, so this is this is funny because I feel

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Speaker 3: like a lot of people just assume that I've been

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Speaker 3: like super focused on the game. Because that's why. So

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Speaker 3: whenever someone's like, wait, you don't work on the game,

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Speaker 3: I'm like, no, I'm working on other cool stuff I

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Speaker 3: can't talk about right now. But Yeah, it's like I

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Speaker 3: have not played Fight forever at all. Obviously, Yes, I

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Speaker 3: have seen a couple of clips, all the ones that

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Speaker 3: people tag me. I'm like, hey, you know you're in

381
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Speaker 3: this game as someone's like chopping the crap out of me,

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Speaker 3: which has been super fun to see. So I'm just

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Speaker 3: excited to play it. And it seems sounds like a

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Speaker 3: really basic question, But like as a game developer, when

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Speaker 3: you talk to people who work on games, if they're

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Speaker 3: at this point in development and they're still excited about

387
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Speaker 3: it and talking to Kenny Omega and talking to like,

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Speaker 3: no one knows who Nick Sobek has. He's this high

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Speaker 3: level executive who's been on this project since literally day one,

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Speaker 3: and he's my boss, and he's just so giddy about

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Speaker 3: this game. And to not be completely jaded and so

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Speaker 3: done with it and knowing it's going to be out

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Speaker 3: means that it has stood the test of time that

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Speaker 3: despite through all of the troubles, they're excited for the game.

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Speaker 3: So I'm excited to play it because I know that

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Speaker 3: if people involved with it are still happy with it

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Speaker 3: three four years later, it's going to be good and

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Speaker 3: all in everything I've heard is indicated that it is

399
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Speaker 3: the game that they set out to make. It is

400
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Speaker 3: the old school and sixty four era wrestling game. It's Arcadie.

401
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,199
Speaker 3: They didn't do mocap, they did like individual animation, so

402
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,520
Speaker 3: everything kind of feels more gamy like that's it sounds

403
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Speaker 3: very generic. But I'm excited to play the game.

404
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Speaker 2: That is probably.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely Yeah, And I'm also excited that the fact that

406
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Speaker 1: it's going to be available on all platforms because I

407
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Speaker 1: went out and I will tell you I've pre ordered

408
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Speaker 1: it for the PS five and my six year old

409
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Speaker 1: got mad because he can't really figure out how to

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Speaker 1: play a PS five yet, so I had to order

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Speaker 1: it on the switch as well. So they're getting double

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Speaker 1: money for me when the game comes out.

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Speaker 3: Not going to complain.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, some people were kind of up

415
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Speaker 2: in arms when they kind of started some of the

416
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,720
Speaker 2: mini games started getting at I'm just as excited for

417
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Speaker 2: those as I am. I mean, you have people over

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Speaker 2: they're not wrestling fans, Hey we got these little mini

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Speaker 2: I mean there's so many ways that you can spin that,

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Speaker 2: you know. I think it's going to be a really

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Speaker 2: good addition to the game.

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Speaker 3: So one of the things I really like about the

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Speaker 3: mini games is kind of how how more wrestling I

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Speaker 3: think they are than people realize.

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Speaker 2: Exactly.

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Speaker 3: You kinda said with wrestling, there's a little bit of

427
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Speaker 3: something for everybody. Like Orange Cassie is my favorite example.

428
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Speaker 3: People may have never watched wrestling, but then as soon

429
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Speaker 3: as they see a guy who's fighting with his hands

430
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Speaker 3: in his pockets, they're immediately on board. Yep, right, it's like, okay, cool,

431
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Speaker 3: My suspension of disbelief is intact. We can do this.

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Speaker 3: It's it's fine. So kind of like you said, it's

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Speaker 3: the whole couch multiplayer aspect of if someone sits down

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Speaker 3: and goes, well, I don't really know wrestling, but like

435
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:26,200
Speaker 3: sheet is, swinging a kendo stick in a baseball game

436
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,960
Speaker 3: sounds cool exactly. Yeah, And that's the thing that gets

437
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,000
Speaker 3: people hooked. You're not quite sure what it is, but

438
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:34,879
Speaker 3: if you if you let people into the buffet, they

439
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:37,120
Speaker 3: will find something that they like and maybe they'll stay

440
00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:37,520
Speaker 3: a while.

441
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:40,200
Speaker 2: Right. I can't wait for Wardlow to hit a home

442
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:41,840
Speaker 2: run and that thing just wow.

443
00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:46,040
Speaker 1: That's gonna be some fun stuff. So of course Sunday,

444
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:51,160
Speaker 1: big big things happening. It's forbidden door happening live in Toronto.

445
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:52,959
Speaker 1: It's gonna be available on pay per view as well

446
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,480
Speaker 1: select movie theaters, which is pretty awesome around the country.

447
00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,680
Speaker 1: How important is this event to both companies AW and

448
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,679
Speaker 1: New and how important is it to the wrestling fans

449
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:04,240
Speaker 1: in general?

450
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 3: I think Forbidden Door is an extremely important event, and

451
00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:11,440
Speaker 3: all of our pay per views are important just from

452
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,280
Speaker 3: like fan perspective, from how we measure success as a business.

453
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,000
Speaker 3: But Forbidden Door itself is just so unique because it's

454
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,439
Speaker 3: both aw and New Japan Pro Wrestling, and back in

455
00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,879
Speaker 3: the day before aaw you could never even imagine major

456
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,560
Speaker 3: companies coming together to work together like this. So the

457
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,520
Speaker 3: fact that it's happened once, it was so successful and

458
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,920
Speaker 3: we're doing it again, it's great for the fans because

459
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 3: last year, we know Forbidden Door, we had this great

460
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,760
Speaker 3: idea and then all of these injuries started happening, and

461
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,640
Speaker 3: the card that we got, while still excellent and still

462
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 3: an award winning show, was not the card we expected.

463
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,960
Speaker 3: So it kind of itself left so much more on

464
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,159
Speaker 3: the table of like, well, we could get this, and

465
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,840
Speaker 3: we could get this, and oh my god, what if

466
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,400
Speaker 3: we did this? And now, like Brian Danielson, who wasn't

467
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,600
Speaker 3: even on the show last year. Now has this crazy

468
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 3: on match with Okada, who somehow he's never wrestled before.

469
00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,960
Speaker 3: See will Ospray and Kenny Omega tear it up again.

470
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:10,639
Speaker 3: I think the last one they did it was like

471
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,160
Speaker 3: six and three quarters stars, So it's like, how many

472
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,120
Speaker 3: more stars can we give them? It's going to be excellent.

473
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 3: So I think from a wrestling fan perspective, it's great

474
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,560
Speaker 3: because you know that there's so many more options for

475
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 3: how amazing matches are going to be served to you.

476
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 3: I think from the business perspective, it it can't be

477
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,280
Speaker 3: seen as anything less than great because it just opens

478
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,520
Speaker 3: the doors for all these new opportunities, no pun intended.

479
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,399
Speaker 3: I think for AW it's great because it introduces a

480
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:38,640
Speaker 3: lot of our people to the Japanese market, and then

481
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,000
Speaker 3: for New Japan it introduces a lot of their fans

482
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,920
Speaker 3: to the AEW market. So it's just overall fantastic concept

483
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:47,280
Speaker 3: that I'm so happy we're doing it again.

484
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:49,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, And to go to your point too, I mean,

485
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 2: if you go back to the eighties kind of when

486
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 2: you had a bunch of these promoters get together to

487
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:59,679
Speaker 2: kind of go against any ca you know, it generally

488
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,399
Speaker 2: ended up being kind of a disaster. You know, they

489
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 2: they were cannibalizing each other and couldn't agree on things,

490
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,080
Speaker 2: and then they were drawing like five thousand people, and

491
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,400
Speaker 2: it's just you know, even though last year had its

492
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 2: difficulties and then you know, Adam Cole got injured out

493
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:13,720
Speaker 2: of it, so there, it was a trying time, but

494
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,000
Speaker 2: it's still I mean, I loved it. I enjoyed it

495
00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 2: from top to bottom, and this year definitely feels a

496
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:22,359
Speaker 2: little bigger. But I think being in Toronto is going

497
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 2: to make it real special because, like you said, those

498
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:26,680
Speaker 2: fans are just incredible up there and start on the

499
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 2: whole new level. And the Owen Cup starts up this

500
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:32,399
Speaker 2: weekend too, heading into that, so seeing that startup or

501
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,000
Speaker 2: be associated with Canada that would be very good too.

502
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:36,919
Speaker 3: So yeah, we've got a couple of weeks in Canada,

503
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 3: so doing the Owen hartst run, yeah, and then having

504
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,920
Speaker 3: it culminate in Calgary, like, it's just the timing could

505
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:44,919
Speaker 3: not be better. It's so great. This is like the

506
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:45,679
Speaker 3: best summer to be a.

507
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,720
Speaker 2: Wrestling I can't wait to see Owen in the video

508
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:49,879
Speaker 2: game too, because I mean just see like doing a

509
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,320
Speaker 2: match like with him and Orange or him and Ricky

510
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 2: Ricky Starks. I mean, it's just like the physically would

511
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 2: have never been possible, you know, It's just it's crazy. Well,

512
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,359
Speaker 2: you mentioned earlier that you're working on something that you

513
00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:02,880
Speaker 2: can't mention. Is there anything on your plate right now

514
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,400
Speaker 2: you can disclose? Yeah?

515
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, here, let me take off one of the like

516
00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 3: twelve hats. Yeah. So I do a lot of different

517
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,160
Speaker 3: stuff at AW. Like obviously you see me on TV

518
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:15,880
Speaker 3: yelling at you know, people rolling around in a ring,

519
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,680
Speaker 3: yelling rules, and sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. When

520
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 3: I'm not in a wrestling ring, I have a number

521
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:24,200
Speaker 3: of different projects I'm involved in. I'm working with AW

522
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:28,600
Speaker 3: Games on a few unannounced projects, and I host the

523
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,119
Speaker 3: podcast AW and Restricted, new episodes every Thursday. One of

524
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 3: the other things I'm doing is I'm one of the

525
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 3: leads on this thing called aw Heels, which is a

526
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,680
Speaker 3: female focused fan club, which is not something that's ever

527
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 3: really existed before in wrestling. And that's something that's very

528
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 3: near and dear to my heart because I think, even

529
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,360
Speaker 3: as as unbiased as I could be, because obviously I'm

530
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,840
Speaker 3: very biased, but as a woman in wrestling, it's something

531
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:54,920
Speaker 3: that I see there being a need for because it's

532
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:59,359
Speaker 3: a very very male dominated space, and being a female

533
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,800
Speaker 3: and a male domin I feel it even that much

534
00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 3: more that I want wrestling to feel like it can

535
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 3: be something for everyone. So this is a really fun

536
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 3: thing to work on and see people come together make

537
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 3: friendships that wouldn't exist otherwise, and they're all basically bring

538
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 3: brought together because of wrestling.

539
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:20,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, now, this is a fun thing. And I before

540
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 1: we let you go, dream match that you get to call,

541
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 1: what would that be?

542
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:27,680
Speaker 3: Oh good?

543
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 2: I do?

544
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,439
Speaker 3: I mean, I have no idea, Like, I have no idea,

545
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 3: and it's not a cop out, but like literally we're

546
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 3: talking about Okada and Brian this weekend, right, and no

547
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 3: one thought it was possible. We thought, like seven years ago,

548
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:46,080
Speaker 3: Brian was never going to wrestle again. So I can't

549
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 3: even fathom what my dream matches because it might even happen,

550
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 3: because that's what wrestling is nowadays. And honestly, like, I'm

551
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 3: just happy to work with all different kinds of people,

552
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 3: Like I've had the opportunity to work with Jericho constantly,

553
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 3: I have with Sting, I have Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal,

554
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 3: all of these guys that have been all through everywhere forever,

555
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 3: So I mean it's really hard to answer that question

556
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:12,480
Speaker 3: because it's like, just give me everything.

557
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 1: Kind of piggybacking off of that when it comes time

558
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: for I guess the match selection of the night, Like

559
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:21,399
Speaker 1: do you all get to like get around and be

560
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:22,840
Speaker 1: like I wish I could, I would like to call

561
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:24,159
Speaker 1: this one or this one or is it kind of

562
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: already like assigned when you get there and this is

563
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:28,120
Speaker 1: the matches that you go with, So.

564
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,440
Speaker 3: This is a fun one. Our senior official is actually

565
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 3: Paul Turner. He's known everyone kind of at the highest level,

566
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,920
Speaker 3: like the Bucks and Kenny and hang in the longest

567
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 3: because they all came from ROH together, so when he

568
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:41,479
Speaker 3: came in, he had the most television experience of all

569
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,119
Speaker 3: of us. And Paul is an absolutely incredible senior official

570
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,840
Speaker 3: because he makes sure that we all get something cool

571
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 3: at the end of the day. So if you have

572
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,399
Speaker 3: a match that's say two three minutes cool, the next

573
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:54,199
Speaker 3: one are going to get as a title match. So

574
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 3: it's like there's always something fun and he's always thinking

575
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 3: about like, oh, this person likes to work with this person,

576
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,639
Speaker 3: so he'll pair us up together, like Bryce Ramsburg and

577
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 3: Orange Cassidy have a ton of history together, which is

578
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 3: why you end up seeing them in the Ring a

579
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 3: lot because they're friends, like behind the scenes, so it's great.

580
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:11,520
Speaker 3: I obviously work with Jericho a lot. Knox works with

581
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 3: the Bucks like there's just history and whatnot, and Paul's

582
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,880
Speaker 3: really respectful of maintaining that, but he's also very respectful

583
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 3: of just making sure we all get cool stuff. So

584
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 3: I will find out on Sunday what I'm doing, and

585
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 3: based on the card we have, I will be happy

586
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 3: with whatever I am said.

587
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's a snack card for sure. You're

588
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 1: gonna be able to watch Forbidden Door on pay per

589
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,920
Speaker 1: views select movie theaters across the country real quick, before

590
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,040
Speaker 1: we let you go? Is there anything else that you'd

591
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: like to tell the listeners? Where can they keep up

592
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 1: with you online? Before we let You goes promote whatever

593
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 1: you'd like to promote right now? This is your floor.

594
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 2: Sure.

595
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 3: You can follow me on Twitter ref Aubrey. You can

596
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 3: follow me on Instagram ref Aubrey. You should definitely listen

597
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 3: to the awun Restricted podcast, new episodes every Thursday. You

598
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 3: should watch a Dynamite Wednesdays Rampage Friday's Collision on Saturdays.

599
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,120
Speaker 3: And if you're not tuning into this pay per view

600
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,200
Speaker 3: and you're a wrestling fan, you're lying to yourself because

601
00:27:58,200 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 3: you are only a wrestling fan if you watch the show,

602
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,639
Speaker 3: because it is just a tribute to wrestling fans.

603
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 2: Boom William, that's not an endorsement. I don't know it is.

604
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, well just send it like that one.

605
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 2: Aubrey.

606
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:10,679
Speaker 1: It's an honor to have you on the show. Thank

607
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,399
Speaker 1: you for taking the time out and hanging out with us,

608
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:14,400
Speaker 1: and we look forward to seeing you when you guys

609
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 1: come to Nashville in August.

610
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 3: Thank you for retreating my action figure with respect and

611
00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 3: make sure that you please return that to your son.

612
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:21,639
Speaker 3: And thank you Roll.

613
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,560
Speaker 1: He will hit me with a guitar like Karen did you,

614
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 1: and I'm sorry about that. That was the only thing

615
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 1: that popped in my head. But you got paid back

616
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 1: and made her tap out.

617
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 2: Fine.

618
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 3: On't take on all the splinters out of my hair.

619
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:33,360
Speaker 2: It was fine.

620
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,679
Speaker 5: We hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Battleground Podcast.

621
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 5: Make sure you give it five stars and a nice review.

622
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 5: To stay up to date with the show, follow them

623
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 5: at Battleground Podcast on Instagram,