Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. It's Freddie Brents Jr. I haven't done
Speaker 1: this before, but I'm gonna answer a question that I
Speaker 1: got on Twitter that at first I just kind of
Speaker 1: was like it was too hard to answer because it
Speaker 1: was an artistic one. You got to kind of take
Speaker 1: time with those I've had like a week with it
Speaker 1: now and I think it was a good enough question
Speaker 1: that we should talk about. And it was wrestlers that
Speaker 1: became actors, um and why does it seem so hard
Speaker 1: to make the transition? But yes, we're going to dive
Speaker 1: into that a little bit. And this week we're going
Speaker 1: to dive into the KOFEE Gauntlet match, and in two
Speaker 1: different directions. One the one you saw on TV that
Speaker 1: got him the opportunity for the World Championship, which he won,
Speaker 1: and the origin of it, which was when I was
Speaker 1: working there and it was the whole writing team, but
Speaker 1: I remember I was the one who pitched it as
Speaker 1: long as as well as the producers behind it, UH
Speaker 1: Freebird and that lot. So we're gonna jump into that
Speaker 1: because it was crazy watching it happen live. So without
Speaker 1: further ado, here we go, now stuffing up to the mic,
Speaker 1: the host of Wrestling with Freddie Freddie Prince June. All right,
Speaker 1: I was up in my attic and a lot of
Speaker 1: you if you listen to my old podcast with Josh Wolfe,
Speaker 1: he calls it my gym Attic. And I was watching
Speaker 1: an episode of I think it was Friday Night SmackDown
Speaker 1: and the Kofi Kingston. This is years after, ten years
Speaker 1: after I left the company, easily ten years. So not
Speaker 1: only does he have to win all his matches in
Speaker 1: a row, he can't lose any to earn his prize,
Speaker 1: his title opportunity, and this is the w w E
Speaker 1: World Championship, but he also has to win them all
Speaker 1: in a row with no rest in between. And it's
Speaker 1: the impossible challenge for the impossible prize, right, And anyone
Speaker 1: who knew the business, there's no way they they thought
Speaker 1: they were going to put the title on Kofi Kingston.
Speaker 1: And then the New day comes around and it's sort
Speaker 1: of re shapes and remolds him, and the hype and
Speaker 1: the and the passion became very very real, and you
Speaker 1: started to see, almost like in a Jeff Hardy way,
Speaker 1: people believing in Kofe and and the crowds were hot,
Speaker 1: and I'm watching this, and all of a sudden, I go,
Speaker 1: holy crap, I think we wrote this. And I texted
Speaker 1: my buddy who no longer worked at the company, or
Speaker 1: maybe he did, but he was there when I was there,
Speaker 1: and I said, oh my gosh, are you watching this
Speaker 1: KOFE Gauntlet match? And he texted me back he goes, Dude,
Speaker 1: we wrote this gauntlet match, and I've freaked out. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, I wonder if they're gonna
Speaker 1: They're not gonna let him win. And all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: he just wins match after match after match, and he
Speaker 1: wins the whole thing, and he gets his title opportunity,
Speaker 1: and then of I'm not connected to the to the
Speaker 1: rest of the story and I have no knowledge of it.
Speaker 1: But then he goes on to win the w w
Speaker 1: E Championship, only to then lose it to the to
Speaker 1: the treaded brock lessner Um a few months later. So
Speaker 1: I'm watching this and I'm I just I have a
Speaker 1: grin from ear to ear on my face. You would
Speaker 1: have thought I was I was going back to Disneyland
Speaker 1: for the first time since I was a little boy.
Speaker 1: Like it was crazy watching the journey, the story that
Speaker 1: they were telling in the ring that night with the
Speaker 1: history involved. So now let's let's go back in time,
Speaker 1: right like Wayne's World, and I'm at the company. I
Speaker 1: barely have any gray hair at all. I was looking smooth,
Speaker 1: and we come up with this idea for Kofe to
Speaker 1: become Intercontinental Champion. I believe I think it was Intercontinental night.
Speaker 1: It could have been the US title again, someone w
Speaker 1: someone will correct me. You is no better than I do.
Speaker 1: And everybody is like writing out their ideas and how
Speaker 1: they would book it this wrestler and how he's gonna
Speaker 1: beat him in that wrestler and how he's gonna beat him,
Speaker 1: And that wasn't my that wasn't my strong suit. I
Speaker 1: was probably the weakest one in the room when it
Speaker 1: came to to who should win and who should lose.
Speaker 1: So I'm sitting in there and I'm trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: write out the story behind it and the and the
Speaker 1: promo that's gonna get us into the story, and thinking
Speaker 1: about after how this is gonna, you know, get over.
Speaker 1: And all this happened because Kofi had this crazy scene
Speaker 1: on live television. Man, maybe it was Monday Night Raw
Speaker 1: and it was the US title but one of the
Speaker 1: NASCAR guys, and I don't follow NASCAR, so I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know their their names the way some of
Speaker 1: you would, so forgive me for not knowing. I think
Speaker 1: the only one I can think of. I was gonna
Speaker 1: say Jeff Jarrett, but that's that's not a professional race
Speaker 1: car driver, so I clearly I don't know the sport.
Speaker 1: But there's a Jeff there that drives fast. One of
Speaker 1: these guys gave Randy Orton a NASCAR, like an actual
Speaker 1: race car NASCAR, and it's shiny and it's got all
Speaker 1: the logos. It looks like, you know, straight out of
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise's Days of Thunder, and maybe not with as
Speaker 1: good of hair as he had, but still the same vibe,
Speaker 1: and it's it's glistening the way they have the lights
Speaker 1: on it, and Kofe's going just ballistic for something that happened.
Speaker 1: Forgive me again. This is a long time ago. I
Speaker 1: can't I can't remember, but he takes an axe of
Speaker 1: fire axe to this NASCAR while he's cutting the promo,
Speaker 1: so there's a ton of effort and breath behind it,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't sound like the standard baby face promo
Speaker 1: or baby face, trying to be a tough guy. Help trying.
Speaker 1: The man's holding an axe and he's cutting holes into
Speaker 1: the hood of what looks like it's clearly not, but
Speaker 1: of what looks like, you know, a two million dollar car,
Speaker 1: however much in the ASCAR costs. I have no idea,
Speaker 1: And he's like, is this what you wanted? Is that
Speaker 1: what you And it's like he's yelling every time the
Speaker 1: axe hits, and we're watching I'm watching Vince's reactions to this,
Speaker 1: and he's just lighting up like a teenager watching it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you just see when he sees something and
Speaker 1: somebody's like, that's that. Damn it? Yes, and you can
Speaker 1: he's just behind him all the way. And then Kofe
Speaker 1: finally like puts the axe through the windshield or if
Speaker 1: you're in England, the windscreen I respect all cultures, and
Speaker 1: he jumps off the car and he storms off, and
Speaker 1: Vince is like, damn it, yes, and he's this kid's
Speaker 1: going to be a star. So that was the impetus
Speaker 1: to write, is that the right word to to write
Speaker 1: the story? The seed that that sort of sprouted when
Speaker 1: when Vince fertilized it, so to speak, and we started
Speaker 1: riding crazy as fast as we could because we knew
Speaker 1: we had a green light. And when you work at
Speaker 1: that company, there's so much certainty, and so much of
Speaker 1: your hard work feels like it goes to waste sometimes
Speaker 1: because you get assignments that aren't even approved by the boss,
Speaker 1: or maybe they were just approved but in passing. So
Speaker 1: he wasn't really listening, you know, like when you tell
Speaker 1: your your better half man or woman yes, just to
Speaker 1: get them to stop asking you questions and talking because
Speaker 1: you're watching something that you really like, or you're trying
Speaker 1: to play a video game, you're like, yeah, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 1: Have you heard nothing of it? So you know it
Speaker 1: could have been that, or it could just be random politics,
Speaker 1: which is where this story goes. We have this story,
Speaker 1: the whole team is motivated, and again I don't remember
Speaker 1: everyone who worked on it, so I'm just including everyone,
Speaker 1: but I know I wasn't alone on this. We finished
Speaker 1: the whole thing up, and everybody thinks we have this
Speaker 1: great run to the title. We bring it and it
Speaker 1: gets a proved by Steph. She's she's way behind it.
Speaker 1: I don't think Shane was back in the company at
Speaker 1: that point. I think he was over in China at
Speaker 1: that point in time. In the meantime, Randy Orton and
Speaker 1: Kofi have a match. This is a week later. In
Speaker 1: the match, a spot gets blown. And for those who
Speaker 1: don't understand, who aren't wrestling fans, that's like if if
Speaker 1: a scene on Saturday Night Live a live show, or
Speaker 1: if you're watching a sitcom that happened to be taped live,
Speaker 1: like Rock back in the Day, or or I think
Speaker 1: Will and Grace eventually went live. Things like that. You
Speaker 1: can't have people making what you would deem a foolish
Speaker 1: mistake because it could kill the whole show. Now, in
Speaker 1: a sitcom, it's sort of funny, so the audience is
Speaker 1: laughing and you kind of roll with it. But imagine
Speaker 1: if it was Law and Order Live and someone just
Speaker 1: blew their line and started laughing when they're trying to
Speaker 1: you know, arrest or break up some like pornography ring right,
Speaker 1: It's it would just kill the show. So a spot
Speaker 1: gets blown and Randy gets piste on live TV and
Speaker 1: you see him and you can check this on YouTube.
Speaker 1: You know, stupid with that deep orton booming voice and
Speaker 1: that that that Vince wanted him to be Johnny Cash
Speaker 1: and and present himself even though everyone already knew he
Speaker 1: was Randy Orton as Hello, I'm Randy Orton. Like, Yo,
Speaker 1: that's exactly like it is from the trailer that you
Speaker 1: saw in that movie. Goes Yeah, that's great. We already
Speaker 1: know he's the best wrestler in the world. Everybody knows
Speaker 1: who he is anyway. So this spot gets blown, meaning
Speaker 1: a technique, a stunt in the in the match gets blown.
Speaker 1: You can tell something doesn't look good. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it is because I don't see the spot when
Speaker 1: it when it happens, so I don't know what happened.
Speaker 1: I just know something is not good. Right. We get
Speaker 1: to TV the next week with our story and it's
Speaker 1: written in the script and again I can't remember if
Speaker 1: it's a SmackDown or a row and we're in there
Speaker 1: pitching it. I'm pitching it, the producers are pitching it.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to help shape and tell the story and
Speaker 1: bring a lot of passion and energy to it. They're
Speaker 1: talking about, Yeah, the guys have worked this out. They've
Speaker 1: worked that out. You know, he's gonna save face here's
Speaker 1: meaning he's not gonna look bad when he loses. We've
Speaker 1: got some real creative ways and they're spelling it all out,
Speaker 1: and Vince just kind of looks at Kevin, and Kevin
Speaker 1: has this sort of knowing smile, right like he just
Speaker 1: let us do this whole pitch for no reason other
Speaker 1: than to watch it get shot down with joy and pleasure,
Speaker 1: which is so weird and counterproductive to me, but to
Speaker 1: each their own. And it's because I'm sending to the
Speaker 1: dryboard on that and like the everyone's hearts, like you
Speaker 1: just heard like multiple thumps on the floor, like blah
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah boa And they weren't toes tapping.
Speaker 1: It was just everyone was crushed and no one would
Speaker 1: would tell me why at first. And so I'm sitting
Speaker 1: through this two and a half three hour production meeting
Speaker 1: and my story is dead. I've tried to save it
Speaker 1: for about ten fifteen minutes. And when I say my story,
Speaker 1: my team's story, it's my job to sell their crap.
Speaker 1: It's my job to put it over. That's that's my job.
Speaker 1: Is your salesman in there on on production day. And
Speaker 1: when I say crap, I don't mean bad stuff. I
Speaker 1: was behind this. I believed in this story. I say
Speaker 1: that about my crap two, don't worry, But ten fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: I'm fighting for it, and it's just there's no there's
Speaker 1: no winning this battle. So now I'm trying to fix it.
Speaker 1: I'm offering, you know, alternative solutions. Other people are offering
Speaker 1: alternative solutions. The whole thing's just gone at debt. So
Speaker 1: finally I just shut up and we move on. And
Speaker 1: I don't think CoFe even worked that night. And I
Speaker 1: get out and they tell me what happened. They tell
Speaker 1: me about this blown spot and and he's piste at him,
Speaker 1: and it's got it got shut down, and they ended up.
Speaker 1: For those who aren't in the know, they ended up
Speaker 1: using that real moment of why Randy sort of held
Speaker 1: KOFE down in the actual story of KOFE winning the
Speaker 1: title after winning the Gauntlet match that I saw ten
Speaker 1: years later off of Randy Orton. They literally put that
Speaker 1: into the story, like, you know, because of the person
Speaker 1: you were, that opportunity was taken away from me. Those
Speaker 1: aren't the exact words, but I'm just trying to communicate
Speaker 1: the gist of it as quickly as possible. Um, But
Speaker 1: I remember watching that and it all came from this
Speaker 1: sort of this moment of of acting, which was him
Speaker 1: on the hood of the car, which kind of inspired
Speaker 1: the thought on the question that I got from Twitter,
Speaker 1: which was who are the best wrestlers turned actor? Who
Speaker 1: are those wrestlers that have turned actor? And why do
Speaker 1: I think that it's such a hard transition from one
Speaker 1: part of showbizzs to the next. So we'll get into
Speaker 1: to all these. The obvious ones are the Rock Hulk,
Speaker 1: Hogan did a did a few, John Cena. Some of
Speaker 1: the movies that they did. I think you can kind
Speaker 1: of see the the talented actors almost always leave, you know.
Speaker 1: Halt did did a few. You know. The only good
Speaker 1: one I think was No Holds Barred where he played
Speaker 1: rip that had it was Zeus Verus his rip. That
Speaker 1: was tiny Zeus Lister, Rest in Peace teny uh tiny
Speaker 1: Zeus Lister Jr. I believe, And I think that was
Speaker 1: nine uh Rowdy Roddy Piper rest in Peace. Uh. He
Speaker 1: was a solid actor. You guys could see this cult
Speaker 1: movie that John Carpenter directed and I think wrote from
Speaker 1: eighty eight the year The Doctors in the World series.
Speaker 1: That's how I remember that it's called They Live and
Speaker 1: Piper is just great in it. One of my dad's
Speaker 1: best childhood friends, Keith David is in that movie. He's
Speaker 1: the black dude, the voice spawn from the animated series
Speaker 1: and he's the other lead in in that movie. And
Speaker 1: they have this great, like seven minute fight in an
Speaker 1: alleyway over a pair of sunglasses. And that's all I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say. And it's ridiculously eighties awesome in every possible
Speaker 1: eighties way. Uh, that was a great one. People. I
Speaker 1: think sleep on Jesse Jesse Ventura, uh from The Running
Speaker 1: Man and from Predator, which was Predator. I don't know. Man,
Speaker 1: maybe he was better than Running Man because he actually
Speaker 1: got to be kind of funny in that one. But
Speaker 1: Predator he was such a badass. He played Blaine. That
Speaker 1: was eighties seven or eighty eight. That's John mctiernen. He
Speaker 1: also did movies like die Hard and uh, random one
Speaker 1: that I don't know why. I know, The Thirteenth Warrior
Speaker 1: with Antonio banderis underrated, flick kind of Viking Norseman bology
Speaker 1: which was kind of cool. Um, and those were sort
Speaker 1: of like, you know, oh, he did uh Hunt for
Speaker 1: Red October. Everybody saw that movie, so cool director there.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, the modern wrestler Dwayne is another
Speaker 1: one who's work you saw grow right, he made it through.
Speaker 1: But it's hard. You can We're not at ten, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like, you can count Andre if
Speaker 1: you want, you could count. You can count Big Show
Speaker 1: for sure, you could count Edge for sure. They've done
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of work. Jericho has done
Speaker 1: a lot of work. But as far as like what
Speaker 1: this question was in reference to, like the ones that
Speaker 1: make it, as far as the Rock, it's really the
Speaker 1: Rock and John Cena is on his way. He's on
Speaker 1: a skyrocket there. So let's discuss some of the wrestlers
Speaker 1: that are working today in the that aren't out there
Speaker 1: making movies that I think could transition. Um, I think
Speaker 1: a very easy one that everyone would agree with would
Speaker 1: be Bray Wyatt. I think he has the kind range
Speaker 1: and the level of commitment necessary to play multiple types
Speaker 1: of rules, not just the scary guy, but he could
Speaker 1: do I know he can do comedy because I saw
Speaker 1: him do scenes back in promo class where we would
Speaker 1: pull scenes from like Beverly Hills, Cop and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and he would just knock him out of the park.
Speaker 1: But his chops are no joke. His commitment is next level.
Speaker 1: He's the kind of guy that I could see make
Speaker 1: that transition. It would be a much stranger role, you know,
Speaker 1: because he's not that he doesn't have the look of
Speaker 1: a typical leading man, right, He's never going to have
Speaker 1: the body of the rock. So you have to kind
Speaker 1: of carve out what kind of not necessarily a character actor,
Speaker 1: but what character would become his sort of signature character.
Speaker 1: But I think he could do it. I think Miss
Speaker 1: could be the lead on any sitcom on any channel,
Speaker 1: and he could find a way for that thing to
Speaker 1: be on for ten years. I've loved Miss for a
Speaker 1: long time. He's been asked on here. If you haven't
Speaker 1: listened to that episode, you really should. All my guests
Speaker 1: kind of the main thing that I try to focus
Speaker 1: on is is how they accomplished their dream. And I
Speaker 1: tried not all my guests are going to be people
Speaker 1: I know. Some it's just people I respect, But the
Speaker 1: ones I know are always people who who are problem solvers,
Speaker 1: not problem identify irs. They're constantly looking for solutions, and
Speaker 1: MS is the kind of guy that can do that.
Speaker 1: UM one of the best actors on the entire roster,
Speaker 1: or in all of wrestling, I think is Alexa Bliss.
Speaker 1: I think she's shown that over the last two three
Speaker 1: years easily even when they mess up segments that should
Speaker 1: be so simple, and she would be so easily written
Speaker 1: if they didn't have twelve people writing it. She's able
Speaker 1: to pull off even some moments that I would not
Speaker 1: want to sell as an actor if I read it
Speaker 1: in the script as hey man, we've got to change
Speaker 1: this line. The same the same work, and oh I
Speaker 1: really like it, and then you hit him with the Well,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm just not good enough to do that, so
Speaker 1: if you could help me out. That's Meryl Street said
Speaker 1: that in an interview once, was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'm stealing that because they hired you. The first thing
Speaker 1: they're gonna say, Oh no, no, of course you couldn't.
Speaker 1: We'll change the line. It works, But in wrestling you
Speaker 1: don't get to do that unless you're you know, top
Speaker 1: top dog with a with a belt around your waist.
Speaker 1: But I think her skills are our next level. Um.
Speaker 1: I love Kevin Owens, but I'm trying to think, like,
Speaker 1: what would he be if he became an actor? Would
Speaker 1: he be? Would he be like like the tough guy
Speaker 1: version of Monk, Like would he be a detective solving
Speaker 1: crimes on like the USA Network. Would he be a
Speaker 1: bad guy in movies, like the scumbag that you always
Speaker 1: want to take out? Would he be the Mr Mom
Speaker 1: kind of dad, like the eighties Mr Mom with Michael Keaton.
Speaker 1: But I know he can act, like I've seen him
Speaker 1: commit to everything from the absolute most absurd ridiculous comedy
Speaker 1: takes that you could possibly even have the guts to
Speaker 1: put out there, to improv type stuff two serious series
Speaker 1: of stuff, to evil son of a bitch kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And then I already mentioned Edge, but I think you know,
Speaker 1: out of the shield. I really wanted to be able
Speaker 1: to say all three of them, but I think the
Speaker 1: one who would have the biggest shot. And if you
Speaker 1: disagree with me, I'd be interested because I think I
Speaker 1: know which way you'll go. But I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go with Seth Rollins and here's why. And in second,
Speaker 1: I would put Moxley, and I think that's where a
Speaker 1: lot of you are going to go. Moxley definitely has
Speaker 1: his thing right. He has the uh it's the Jack
Speaker 1: Bower quality right, and he's had that for a long time,
Speaker 1: whether he's a baby face or a heel, so he
Speaker 1: could definitely pull that off. But Seth lately has been
Speaker 1: able to do something where he showed arrange that I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't know he had right. So and so check
Speaker 1: this out. He becomes the Monday Night Messiah and now
Speaker 1: he's the Friday Night Messiah or whatever night he is.
Speaker 1: He's the Messiah and uh the w w E version,
Speaker 1: And I hated it. I hated that laugh, that forced laugh.
Speaker 1: I hated all of that. And then I realized, because
Speaker 1: I'm an idiot, I'm supposed to it's not making me
Speaker 1: change the channel. It's making me want to shut him
Speaker 1: up and punch him in the face for laughing at
Speaker 1: something that he and I both no, it's not funny
Speaker 1: in any way, shape or form. So I actually think
Speaker 1: he's doing a great job with this character. And for
Speaker 1: the first few weeks I did not, And I love
Speaker 1: getting proved wrong. I loved watching The New Day explode. Um.
Speaker 1: I didn't like Elias when he first Kate was in
Speaker 1: n x D, and then he hit on w w
Speaker 1: E Monday Night Run. I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I love this guy. Adam Cole finished a promo with
Speaker 1: Babe after executing this beautiful promo, and I was literally like, wait, what, dude?
Speaker 1: But I had never seen Adam call and I watched
Speaker 1: him week after week after week, and by the time
Speaker 1: is the fifth week, he's finishing his promo and I'm
Speaker 1: right there with him at I'm called baby, and I'm
Speaker 1: all on that train. And so I get proven wrong
Speaker 1: a lot. And that's kind of the great thing about
Speaker 1: art is we have these these preconceived notions based on
Speaker 1: how we were I used the term programmed, but based
Speaker 1: on how we were raised culturally, what our parents tastes were,
Speaker 1: what our friends tastes were, what the kids who were
Speaker 1: cool but we weren't allowed to hang out with because
Speaker 1: they were older than us, what they thought was cool.
Speaker 1: All those things shape how we interpret art, whether it
Speaker 1: be wrestling or or literature or or anything. Right, So,
Speaker 1: if if a man is writing a script or a book,
Speaker 1: the woman is usually underwritten, but the men reading it
Speaker 1: don't notice that as much as the woman does. If
Speaker 1: a man ever read like one of those female mystery
Speaker 1: books where you know, they get framed for murder and
Speaker 1: things like this, the husband almost always does it. An
Speaker 1: insecure guy would be like, you know, yo, this men
Speaker 1: are underwritten. We're not all horrible people, right like, We're
Speaker 1: all programmed to interpret this in different ways. And and
Speaker 1: there is no wrong when it comes to art. Is
Speaker 1: if you like something and I go, oh that sucks
Speaker 1: because of ABC and D, none of those effects the
Speaker 1: reasons A, B, C and D Y you like it,
Speaker 1: and vice versa. So there are Picasso paintings out there
Speaker 1: that I I don't like at all. I would literally
Speaker 1: walk right by. They would have zero impact on my life.
Speaker 1: There are the ones paintings that I've seen that it
Speaker 1: made me cry. That's oil on canvas, man, that's not
Speaker 1: even a photograph, it's not even real, but it made
Speaker 1: me cry. So you know, taste is it is it?
Speaker 1: As I always been a tricky thing now as far
Speaker 1: as the business side of it, Hollywood has been weird
Speaker 1: with wrestling for as long as I've been in the business,
Speaker 1: all right. I moved to Los Angeles from New Mexico
Speaker 1: or back to Los Angeles to begin my acting career,
Speaker 1: and things happened quickly for me. Um, for those who
Speaker 1: haven't listened in, my father was in this business. It
Speaker 1: provided me some opportunities that I had to be ready
Speaker 1: for it. I was a very disciplined young man and
Speaker 1: I was ready for most of the opportunities that came
Speaker 1: my way, and I moved up the line quick. And
Speaker 1: I'm telling you this because wrestling has always been a
Speaker 1: passion of mine and I have always tried to find
Speaker 1: opportunities throughout my career to try and bring wrestling to
Speaker 1: mainstream Hollywood. And it has always been like running into
Speaker 1: a brick wall. It is the disdain that this business
Speaker 1: has for it. I just I get it, but I
Speaker 1: don't understand it. I get everyone has their taste, but
Speaker 1: we can talk about documented things like before the c
Speaker 1: W was the c W, it was known as the WB,
Speaker 1: and they had an executive there named Jamie Kelder, who
Speaker 1: I knew because he was the main executive on a
Speaker 1: little show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also happens
Speaker 1: to be the executive that hated professional wrestling when he
Speaker 1: went to T n T and basically got rid of it.
Speaker 1: And his perspective on the business was very is the
Speaker 1: word pervasive was very just sort of universally accepted is
Speaker 1: probably a better term then than anyone else's that I've seen,
Speaker 1: at least in a position of power. So a lot
Speaker 1: of times when I've even mentioned wrestlers for hey, you
Speaker 1: need to meet wrestler X, Y or Z just on
Speaker 1: a general casting meeting, they can really act. Here's some clips.
Speaker 1: And I've done this for wrestlers in the past. I've
Speaker 1: literally gotten hit back with yeah, but they worked for
Speaker 1: w W and I'm like, so what they would They'll quit.
Speaker 1: A TV contracts better than a w W E contract,
Speaker 1: I assure you, and SAG is better insurance than having
Speaker 1: to go in there with your own so it's always
Speaker 1: there's always a speed bump. I'll give you some more examples.
Speaker 1: I tried to pitch two wrestling shows last year and
Speaker 1: two friendly or two friendly faces only no strangers, and
Speaker 1: one of them I pitched to three networks and the
Speaker 1: other one I pitched a four that I had again
Speaker 1: friendly faces and people that I've known over a decade,
Speaker 1: who I said, listen, I know, you know you guys
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily looking for this, but here's something different. One
Speaker 1: was sort of around the world of women's wrestling, and
Speaker 1: one was in the world of sort of comedy wrestling
Speaker 1: or yeah. More theatrical wrestling. So both times in all
Speaker 1: seven rooms, four for one, three or the other, it
Speaker 1: was every single question, how do we sell this? And
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there, I'm like, like any other show, what
Speaker 1: are you? What are you talking about? You? People know
Speaker 1: it's fake? Well yeah, but people know that the green
Speaker 1: arrows fake, that no one could shoot an arrow it
Speaker 1: at nice in real life except catnets like what are
Speaker 1: we talking about here? And everything was always about that.
Speaker 1: And then a lot of times they talked about the
Speaker 1: level of acting, the quality of acting, or the lack
Speaker 1: thereof that they found, and that was an argument that
Speaker 1: I wasn't always able to match because not every great
Speaker 1: wrestler is great on the mic because they don't have
Speaker 1: to be. You're not there to watch at acting and
Speaker 1: to match. You're there to watch wrestling. And if someone
Speaker 1: can talk, you want to get them either fired up
Speaker 1: with you or fired up against you. That's a wrestling show.
Speaker 1: So and I know it's evolved and changed over the years,
Speaker 1: but in the heart of a wrestling show, that's what
Speaker 1: it is. So not everyone has to talk. And by
Speaker 1: the way, not every actor on every network is a
Speaker 1: great actor. Okay, I look at the movies I did
Speaker 1: when I first started, compared to when I stopped, my
Speaker 1: work got a lot better near the end than it
Speaker 1: was at the beginning. So maybe that's where their argument
Speaker 1: falls flat. But it's their perspective, so it's not gonna
Speaker 1: it's not gonna change with me just saying no, you're wrong,
Speaker 1: and here's why nobody's trying to hear that. So I've
Speaker 1: always run into massive brick walls and I and again,
Speaker 1: these are people that like me. These are people that
Speaker 1: I've sold things to in the past. These are people
Speaker 1: that I've taken no money at all and just said, hey,
Speaker 1: you need to meet my friend. They have a great
Speaker 1: idea and everything worked. Like they trust my opinion on
Speaker 1: these things. So to go in there and get just
Speaker 1: shot down universally time and time again, it's very, very frustrating,
Speaker 1: to the point where, like, my dream is to have
Speaker 1: my own wrestling federation one day, right, that's my like
Speaker 1: final retirement project. And I had to change my whole
Speaker 1: perspective on it, which was I have to have enough
Speaker 1: money for two years of failure. I'm gonna let it
Speaker 1: fail for two years while constantly working to build bridges,
Speaker 1: open up connections, find homes for it to the point
Speaker 1: where it can finally start financing itself, paying the wrestlers themselves,
Speaker 1: providing insurance for the wrestlers, things like that, things that
Speaker 1: I feel are important. And if if it can't, then
Speaker 1: I'll fail and in that venture and I'll move on
Speaker 1: to something else. But that's what's necessary in order for
Speaker 1: me to try and jump into this train. And I
Speaker 1: don't want to compete with w W E or a
Speaker 1: e W. I just want to kind of have my
Speaker 1: own thing and have it on smaller channels, smaller networks.
Speaker 1: Have it be a SAG show so that they're all
Speaker 1: Screen Actors Guild, that's what SAG stands for, and then
Speaker 1: they can have some insurance for as long as that
Speaker 1: union lasts. I'm sure there's some scheme to bust that
Speaker 1: one up too, But if it's still there, than uh
Speaker 1: than Yeah, But I've been uh I went back to work.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for it. I'm putting together my little my
Speaker 1: little wrestling well what do they call that, my little
Speaker 1: piggy bank, But there's a cooler word I can't think of. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I'm putting some money in there for the next year
Speaker 1: and a half, a little over a year and a
Speaker 1: half and then I'm going in on my indie wrestling brand.
Speaker 1: And that's about setting small goals and then finishing with
Speaker 1: something great, which is the moral of each podcast for you,
Speaker 1: my friends. Thank you guys for listening. I'll see all
Speaker 1: of you next week and make sure you check out
Speaker 1: everything here on the Michael Jorter Network. They're doing cool
Speaker 1: things and I'm very happy to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: So thanks guys, to see you next week. This has
Speaker 1: been a production of I Hearts Michael podcast Network. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts for My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.