WEBVTT - A Sit Down with a King, My Chat with Xavier Woods 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:08.760 What's up, everybody. Welcome back to WWF Wrestling with Freddy. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.760 Thank you guys so much for listening so far. And uh, 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.040 I'm really excited to introduce this guest because I never 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.159 had the pleasure of working with him. I left the 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:22.360 company before he came in. And uh, now it's time 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.200 to start the show. Now, stuffing up for the mic. 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:31.560 The host of Wrestling with Freddie Freddie Prince June. Yeah, 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:39.640 so everyone, please welcome the awesome, the fantastic, by my command, 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.640 the next King of the Ring, Mr Xavier Woods. How 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.560 are you, sir, I'm fantastic. Thank you for that incredible introduction. 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.200 Oh that's too kind, You're too kind. No, I'll telling 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:56.400 you the only other American besides Harley Race and Jerry 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.920 Lawler that I think would look good in a crown. Otherwise, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.160 as we all looked like John Goodman and King Ralph, 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.679 and it looked great. And then he even rejected it 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:08.240 at the end, you know what I mean, he knew 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.640 it didn't look good. You know, it didn't look good. 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.160 It looks great now though. Um, thanks for coming out 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.720 to Los Angeles, man, dude. Of course, we haven't had 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.080 a chance to actually sit and hang out and chatting 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:21.520 such a long time. I haven't gotten to see you 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:26.240 in the flesh since I was your dungeon master. I 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.200 think that was the last time, um. And we had 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:31.200 a ton of fun and we can even talk nerdy 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.760 stuff if if you want. But before we get into that, UM, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.080 we kind of met. Like I said, you, you didn't. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.200 You weren't at the company when I worked there, and 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.120 so we kind of met because I became a fan 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.640 of yours and I still watched wrestling to this day, 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.520 and I still watched when I left, and I watched 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.000 this dude and I wasn't educated on t n A. 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:57.880 I watched this dude come in that was you, and 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.640 you had a backstage segment and I think the first 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.040 one was with Kofi, and then after that it was 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:09.600 Big Ee and it was this young, brash, good look 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.840 and wrestler. I'm blowing smoke, but this is what this 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:17.280 is what came through. And I remember sitting there going 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.480 who is this and what are they trying to do? 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:25.560 And you, Kofe and Biggie formed a faction, which is 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.880 very difficult to get over with fans, let alone within 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.640 the company. It's differ It's difficult um, And when you 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:37.639 guys came out, I heard some of the strongest booze 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.040 that I had ever heard a tag team received, and 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.400 they started screaming to the changed from booze to full 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:49.000 curt angle hate where it was New Day Sucks was 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.880 a part of it, and I remember going, man, but 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:56.440 you're committed though, and you guys did something crazy and 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.400 it doesn't happen often. Man. In fact, it's hard for 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.320 me to find another time that it has worked in 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:08.680 the last twenty five years. You guys went from Bood 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:13.040 two over in a way that I haven't seen and 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.240 I don't know how long, and it went from New 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:20.360 Day Sucks to New Day Rocks, and you guys are 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:25.000 using trombones and now then I watched it years later 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.000 and you're in these like bamboo beat down matches with 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.959 the USO's and stealing the show and the crowd goes 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:36.960 crazy for you guys everywhere you go. How the hell 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:43.800 did you do this? Uh? I don't know. You see 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:48.040 what I'm saying. It's you're first off, you're you're beyond kind, 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:54.400 You're this I don't know, it's it's it's a weird process. 0:03:54.440 --> 0:04:00.400 It's a weird journey because I'm trying to figure out 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.160 how to say this. It's like, I don't know a 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:07.160 stand up comic who's been hated and then love And 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.600 that's the closest thing to wrestling that I can put 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.200 in show business. I feel like the reason that happened 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:14.440 is because regardless of like what the three of us 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:19.000 are doing, we have, uh, this this this unreal chemistry 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.800 together where like it's like that we can finish each 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.800 other's sometimes. It's like that type of stuff, but it's 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.559 on a different it's like a different comedic timing level. 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:30.880 It's not just like we're friends. It's almost like we 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:36.479 have the same style of of dropping jokes, of timing 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.839 on those jokes, of the weird pop culture references of 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:44.000 those jokes. UM for instance, So, uh, we're at waffle house. 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:49.120 Its Kofe myself. It's always of course it's a waffle Yeah, 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.880 because it's the only thing that's opened after a show. Okay, 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.480 so we gotta got the late night breakfast places. Uh, 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.600 and someone came up and they said they said someone's 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.320 name was the last name was Houser, and Kofe and 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.080 I immediately both went doogie. I went to high school 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:10.960 with him. I'm not joking, Doogie Houser I got. I 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.840 got suspended my senior year for sticking up for Neil 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:17.160 against Rob Bone. He was he was this guy in 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.960 my school. He talked smack about about Neil and said 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:21.760 stuff that I didn't like. And Neil was the reason 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.799 I started drama because I saw him do a deadly 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.400 more impression like the day you choose electives, and I 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.800 was like, I'm gonna do that, and I still can't 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.240 do a good one. Um. But he spoke out the 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.000 side of his face and he got hit and he 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.680 played football. I didn't, So I got suspended. But yeah, 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:40.000 so shout out Dougie Houser, shout out the goat man. 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:42.240 So this guy's name is Houser. You guys both just 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.960 constantly say and people are like, how did how did 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.280 you both come to do? That's how you guys interact 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:52.360 in the ring though, Yeah, that's how you guys would 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.880 do whatever, like whatever group or person you guys were 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:56.960 going against, when you guys would talk trash on him, 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.680 it was always. But that's why that's again, that's why 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.320 it works. There's that chemistry of like anything that I 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.480 say they will laugh anything that they say. I will laugh. Like, 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.760 so no matter what we say, whether they're bad jokes 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.000 or things that are just ridiculous, Like, as long as 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:16.360 we're laughing and having a good time, someone's like these guys, 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.040 it's not you can't. It's hard to hate when people 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.240 are just like having a good So this is a 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:25.000 high level thing. So Larry David has a similar philosophy. 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.640 He says, when you have confidence in yourself and in 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:33.920 your jokes, there are no bad jokes. There's only bad audiences. 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.800 And so he'll turn it on even more if he 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.760 knows it's bothering you, just to drive that point home, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.119 to the point where he got his own TV show 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.680 and everyone fell in love with what is in essence 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.520 a horrible person. Yes, and when you guys were heels, 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.360 you were pulling this off, and it was I don't 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:52.719 want to call you guys unicorns because you guys actually 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.640 came out with unicorn horns. Very good reason for that. 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.440 But it's you know, it's probably dirty, is it not? Okay, 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.280 I was in rat I'm just kidding, you know. Uh 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.560 So my girlfriend in high school, she would always talk 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.239 about this movie, The Last Unicorn watching this whatever. Finally 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:10.800 we sit down and I watched and I'm like, this 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:15.240 is the most amazing animated film I've ever seen. So 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:17.920 the whole, the whole, I know, I know, the whole 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.080 idea of the movie is that this is the last 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.520 Unicorn and magic is almost gone because there's only one 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.880 Unicorn left. Unicorns are the ones who bring magic, and 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.680 so in my head, we came up with this thing 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.120 that we brought magic back to wrestling, and we're like, 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.840 so we're unicorns. That that's what my brain did. And 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:37.440 so we set in a promo once and it was 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:39.360 hilarious to us, and so then we started coming out 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:43.160 with our fingers on our heads to us people listening, like, 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.080 if you're insecure about your art, what he just said, 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.680 it was funny to us. It was funny to us. 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.880 That's we'll talk about that later. I'm sorry we're interrupting that. 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.360 That's like hugely important points. So there's a clip that 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.840 just recently saw. Older clip. It's Kevin Nash and he's 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.560 talking to somebody and he's explaining. He says, like, screw 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.840 those twenty people in the arena. Anything that I'm saying 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.840 on a microphone is for me and maybe seven people 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.480 in the back and that's about it. And I was like, 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:12.760 I sent it to the guys. I was like, this 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:17.040 is us, Like we're legitimately just trying to make each 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.960 other laugh. But that that type of fun, it's something 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:22.320 that you want to be a part of. Like if 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:24.840 I see a group of people and they're laughing at something, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:26.480 even if I didn't think it was funny at first, 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.080 I'm like, but they're having a really good time, you 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.199 know what. And the point, the point of our existence again, 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:34.680 I'm gonna get a little existential because I'm in that 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:38.080 zone um is to have fun. I don't know what 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:39.439 this life is. I don't know if there's a point. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.000 I don't know if there's a meaning. So what should 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.280 I do in order to to to to get the 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.839 most out of this, Well, I should enjoy it as 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.640 much as possible. And if I can do something that 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.280 then translates into other people enjoying their experience here as well. 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.319 Because we could all this could all blow up tomorrow, 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.600 comment might hit like dinosaurs. We might be better not. 0:08:57.640 --> 0:08:59.440 I got big plans, I know, right, I know, but 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.080 that's that's the thing that makes me believe do what 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.160 is going to make you smile, do what's going to 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.840 make you happy, and that in turn is going to 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.160 hopefully extend to other people and make them happy. And 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.840 so you're talking about people hating us, it's because we 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:19.280 fully committed to that. Just said like it's the power positivity. 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:21.360 And at first you hear it, and it's like even 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.360 us when we heard it, we're like, we're gonna be like, 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.760 it's like a choir thing gospel. This is not what 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.679 we we're thinking about when we brought all this to you. 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.640 But fine, and so we thought we got the ball. 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.760 So we have to fully commit. And there's there's been 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.160 situations where people think like a man, I got this 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.559 thing thrown at me. You know whatever, this this sucks, 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:43.480 So I'm just gonna try to get a change. It's like, well, 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.360 this is our shot. In my head, there's like this 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:48.440 is my last shot. I wasn't in a good place 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.200 like before this. This is the best that I felt 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.720 in wrestling is with these two guys, and I really 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.200 believe that we have something. And so it's like we 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.880 have to fully commit to this because this is what 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.560 we wanted. So when we did that, everybody got so 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.960 upset because it is so corny at this point in 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.559 time to try to be positive, which is such a 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.280 weird thing to say, right of course, but it makes 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.240 people because they were still coming off like the John 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:18.560 Cena days where it felt forced upon them. But you 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.720 guys were almost a heel doing it as opposed to 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:24.840 the baby face doing it, so they were allowed to 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.439 be It was a different kind of hate and I'm 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.719 still trying to figure out how it changed to love it. 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.920 It's because we we gave them exactly what we were 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:38.040 so it became we don't like this because this is ridiculous. 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.280 And then when we fully committed, it became, you know what, 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.280 if they're going to play the game, we'll play the 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.120 game with him. We'll see, we'll see where this goes. 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:52.720 Because people understand cheering is good, booing is good, Silence 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.360 is bad. And I think that people understood that and 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.800 they saw these are three guys who are trying to 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.240 make the best out of what they're handed. And I 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.440 think that's even if it's not in the foreground, like 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.079 it's in your in the stunches back of your mind, 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:07.960 you understand what you're doing, you understand what you're watching. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.839 Your understanding what your interactions mean to someone, and when 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.520 you see someone committed to the work, it makes it 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.720 very easy to watch. I remember when I would teach 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.800 their promo class um, I showed them the scene from 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.080 Liar Liar where Jim Carrey is trying to write the 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:29.920 word read and because his son made a wish for 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.200 his dad not to be able to tell alive for 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.920 a whole day, he can't do it, and he writes 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.520 the word blue and he's like, nor write it, and 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.679 all of a sudden, his hand gets angry at him 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.000 and it attacks him, and he's like, no, you're gonna 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.640 write it or I'll break it off. And it's so 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.480 over the top and ridiculous that if he didn't commit 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:51.920 a cent to that, that's the worst scene in the 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.920 history of film. Instead, you can't take your eyes off it. 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.880 And as ridiculous as it is, when his arm starts 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:03.720 the wing chicken wing things, he has everybody captured in this. 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:05.160 And then at the end of the scene he comes 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:06.920 up and his face is covered with the word blue 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.720 and it's like the goddamn and I'm looking at everybody 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:12.520 and I'm trying to tell them. I would also play 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.920 them stand up because I compare the two art forms 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.280 that it's as close as I can make a comparison 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.240 to because it's not like the movie business at all. 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.559 And I learned that very quick when all my promos 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.280 would get rejected because they were like eight minutes long. 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:33.160 But when I watched you guys turned face, so to speak. 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.560 And for people that aren't wrestling fans who are just 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.120 like listening for the stories, when you go from a 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.520 good guy or a bad guy to a good guy, 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.400 they say, you're turning face because your baby face now 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.640 and everybody's gonna love you. Um, you guys made this turn, 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:54.920 and you have this life outside of wrestling, as does KOFE, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.720 as does E that you guys are very very public about, 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.839 and you bring a lot of yourselves into these w 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.760 w E characters in a time where that was done 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.280 because if we back up, when I was a kid, 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:17.160 everything was real. These were sporting contests, they were fights. 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:22.000 It was like I'll leave versus Holmes. And then after Montreal, 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:25.280 everything kind of got flipped on its head and all 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.600 of a sudden there was this argument of well, it's 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.320 this much real and this much but back in the 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.760 old days, you weren't necessarily doctor death, you know what 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.800 I mean, Like, but you had to live that gimmick 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.960 because if you were a bad guy signing autographs in 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.120 the back, how bad a guy are you? Right? And 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.160 then after the screw job happened, all that went away 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:49.200 and people were like, yeah, man, it's just to show. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:54.319 It's just characters. You especially, but KOFE and and E 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.199 as well have found what I find to be this 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.960 sort of beautiful hybrid where you've literally really brought back 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.880 living the gimmick, which should make the old heads happy. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.040 And if you're not, just listen and think about that 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:11.920 for a second. You're living the gimmick. You got yourself 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:16.520 over first, then got the gimmick over and it's almost 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.040 like old school wrestling all over again, but the real 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.080 mtvs Real World Season one version of it. It's so 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.360 crazy to me and you're literally it's almost like watching 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.160 old school wrestling again but through a contemporary lens. Because 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:36.520 young people freaking love you, guys. They love you guys. 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.600 They may be watching the Internet all the time and 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.920 don't know about cable TV, but they love you guys, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.680 and they watch you and they follow y'all on social media. 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.360 And you're so interactive with them, whereas a lot of 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:50.960 the older heads just aren't, or if they are, they're 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.200 just complaining, you know what I mean, Like you don't 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:54.880 get it, you don't get it, and it's like, well, 0:14:55.000 --> 0:15:06.080 you both don't get it, but you guys have this 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.760 crazy attitude of like, hey, if I don't get that, 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.160 get me hip to it. And and it's I've seen 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:17.080 it since the first segment I watched you do is 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:21.800 the same way you've been in gaming, in cosplay conventions, 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.720 in playing the bass in which I'm sure you'll be 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.080 doing in WrestleMania one day, doing to your own theme music. 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.280 I mean, my my friend is gonna jump pretty quick. 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:35.080 So man, pretty nasty on it what you guys have done. 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.040 I mean, am I crazy? Is this just me overthinking it? 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.080 Or do you see yourself as like, yo, it's not 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.160 even a gimmick. It's I'm living this and this is 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.120 me and I just found a way to make it work. 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.120 I think, I think the biggest part of it. So uh, 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.040 I guess it to go back to let's say developmental. 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.720 So like STW we have promo days and you can 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.880 come as whatever character or whatever thing kind of whatever 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:03.800 promo you want for me. It became the thing of 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.760 all right, I'm not you know six. This is like 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.560 my with my script since I was little, has has 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.160 been like I'm not gonna be six to I'm not 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.400 gonna be like two or fifty pounds, Like I gotta 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:15.960 figure out, like what can I do to to the 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:21.200 rise to? You know? Yeah, but like that's why I 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:22.720 learned how to play trump bon because I was like, okay, 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.320 maybe if I have an instrument, you know something, they're 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:27.840 wrestling made you want to learn it. Wrestling made me 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.520 literally do everything that I've done in my life. I 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:36.360 played sports for every semester and every term whatever because 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.520 in my head I had to be an athlete all 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:42.200 year long because I had to get ready bigger. You 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:44.440 were a band nerd who got buff and wanted to wrestle, 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.760 I'm not even playing. No. Started in seventh grade, So 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.800 I started wrestling because I wanted to wrestle. Obviously I 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.160 tried football prior, like when I was in elementary school, 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.000 but it was we played poundball in Georgia, so you're 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.080 you're on a team based how much you weigh, and 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.240 me and my best friend were real fat kids. So 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:02.720 we were playing like thirteen year old and we were 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:04.919 like nine and it just did not work. So I 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:06.920 they hit me so hard my helmet broke. I cried. 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.479 I quit. And so when I go out for wrestling, 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.000 my dad is like, you know, it's not like that wrestling, right, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:14.760 And I'm like, yeah, yeah, it's cool. I go, but 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.600 I would need to learn something because I can't defend myself. 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.240 I'm just like I was a little pudgy fat nerd, 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.080 you know, and I was nervous because wrestling is the truth, man, 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.240 it is. It changes you. Man. It makes you so accountable, 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.160 not just like in a sport but in life because 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.440 football you could be killing it, but ten people don't 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.880 want to back you up. Now you lost as well. 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:38.560 Wrestling it taught me how to be so accountable because 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.280 if I lost, it's because I messed up. I heard 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.920 word for words, so many wrestlers, like amateur wrestlers, say 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.399 that yep, the interperson, and it made me translate that 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.440 to life. So if we fast forward some so there's like, okay, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:51.800 I need to learn a language and a little bit 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:54.280 of Spanish because you know, I kinda want to wrestle 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.399 in Mexico. It's the closest country to me that speaks 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.000 a different language where I could possibly wrestle later in life. 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.720 So I started learning Spanish. Um I had incredible stage fright. 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:05.840 So my friend convinced me they were looking for guys 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:07.560 to be in show choir. And I was like, I'm 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.840 not saying I'm doing that. She goes, you have to age, right, 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:11.280 don't you? Guy said yeah, she goes, how are you 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:13.600 going to be a pro wrestler if you can't sing? 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.800 A dancer from the people, I said, So I joined 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.280 to get over that. In college, I was a cheerleader 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:21.680 because I knew I wasn't gonna be tall, So I 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:23.760 tried to get more agile so I could learn how 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.520 to do stuff. So, like literally every decision that I've 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:28.159 made in my life was to try to gain a 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:32.119 skill that might possibly help me in wrestling. And so 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:33.359 when I got to the point where I was in 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.000 developmental I was like, cool, now I need some sort 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:37.679 of gimmick. I need something. So I tried to be 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:43.919 the son of Papashongo. Um. So I was a motivational speaker. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.000 I was that nineties guy. So I had like a 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.679 yack back turtles backpack. You know, I tried to be 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.840 like me essentially. Um, I tried to be like a 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:57.080 real American with Jack swagger. I had so many different 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.960 things to the point, remember the Jack swagger, Right, So 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.320 I tried so many different things to the point where 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.840 one one time I got a review that said, like, 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.720 I have too many ideas. So in my head, in 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:12.880 my in my how is that a bad thing? I've 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:16.119 never heard that as a criticism, right, And so in 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:17.639 my head, I was like, I don't even understand what 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.280 that means. Um, So I just I would like get 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.440 get upset and like I'm not I'm gonna make more ideas. 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.000 I'm gonna try to be more creative. And I had 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.639 so many people telling me like this will never I 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.119 have a list, a legitimate list. Breeze will tell you this, 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.119 he's seen this. I have a list of things in 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.080 developmental that I wanted to do, and I it's a 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:35.840 list of things that people told me I will never 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.600 be able to do. And I'm almost done with it. 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:43.000 I'm almost done checking things off. It's disgusting how good 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.000 it feels. And so all of that is why, like, 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:47.520 once it got to the point where we could try 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.840 to create a new day. I had this this idea 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:52.119 in my head and I didn't I don't know if 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:53.840 I ever voiced this to to the guys or if 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.679 it was something that I was consciously doing, but I 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.400 quickly realized in trying to figure out how to get 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.800 our chemistry and ring stuff all together, and to the 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:05.720 point of the chemis the chemistry that we have now, 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:07.840 which we were able to get from how shows. We 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:09.359 were on house shows for like four or five months 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:11.720 before we run and for those who don't know, that's 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.880 when they're on the road all the time, working matches, 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:17.720 doing promos, doing this. But there's no TV cameras. There 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:20.479 is just for the people that come to the house. 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:23.720 So so having having that set up helped us a lot. 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.040 But in trying to get our chemistry down, we kind 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.320 of shed the gimmick because that wasn't that the gimmick 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:33.679 became secondary to our chemistry. And then once we realize 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.040 that we've leaned fully into our chemistry, and then it 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.159 could be literally whatever it wanted to be. You know, 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.800 you guys, you said shed right, because it's an evolution 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:47.679 and the cocoon to the butterfly, it's so funny. Like 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.600 one of the ways I as a as a young 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:53.480 buck that I always kind of I would see if 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:55.399 like wrestling was over, is like did they get a 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.040 word over? Did they get a phrase over? Things like 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:02.520 that like Steve Austin out the what over? But one 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:04.240 of the best, if not the best. But to me, 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.240 I hate it because it kills promos right, like if 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.480 somebody doesn't even know the stuff, then that that that's 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.399