Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Sean Merriman a one hand effect.
Speaker 1: Boom boom, boom, out go the light. This is Lights
Speaker 1: Out with Sean Merriman. What's up, guys, We're back again
Speaker 1: with another Lights out podcast with me Sawan Merriman and
Speaker 1: uh we're going w W style today man, and one
Speaker 1: of my favorite guys, longtime friend, Titus O'Neil um, will
Speaker 1: be hosting WrestleMania this year in his hometown in Tampa.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, I'm gonna ask him about the pandemic
Speaker 1: and how these guys found a way to keep going,
Speaker 1: keep figuring it out and uh having these great shows
Speaker 1: and what he has going on, because one thing I
Speaker 1: know about Titus, man, he does so much in the community.
Speaker 1: He does so much for people, and even once in
Speaker 1: a bluem on our Texas st Damn, dude, I just
Speaker 1: seen you and this in this state or this city
Speaker 1: and he's somewhere else. But he does a hell of
Speaker 1: a lot for the community. And uh So, anyway, guys,
Speaker 1: Titus or Neil w w Yo, what's up? Man, What's
Speaker 1: what's going on? How much here? Funishing up some I
Speaker 1: was just finishing us on Wrestlemanian stuff we'll see. Um sorry,
Speaker 1: what you had? Uh? Did you had your cutting promos
Speaker 1: this week? Or? How involved do you what? Everything coming up?
Speaker 1: I'm very involved mostly in the community community stuff and
Speaker 1: um right, and trying to make sure that we we
Speaker 1: we put on a we let people know just as
Speaker 1: great as we can put on the show, you know,
Speaker 1: we can put on for a community and leave the
Speaker 1: lasting legacy. So you know, that's what I was gonna
Speaker 1: ask you do because you know, we we talked here
Speaker 1: and there, but every time I see you, like got
Speaker 1: so many different causes and that you lend your time
Speaker 1: and money too? Does how much? Did that just kind
Speaker 1: of pull you on different angles and still have to
Speaker 1: do stuff internally with the WW because I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: how does how does height as do all that? Man?
Speaker 1: Because you be sometimes you're everywhere. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: my charity itself inflicted, you know, um my punished and
Speaker 1: up should I say? I guess when you when when
Speaker 1: people see you uh doing you know, great things at
Speaker 1: a high level on a consistent basis, you know, they
Speaker 1: either want to be a part of it or they
Speaker 1: want to be a recipient of it. And the one
Speaker 1: thing I've been very fortunate of is that w W
Speaker 1: has a huge platform and we have great partners you
Speaker 1: know that also believe in you know, making lives and
Speaker 1: putting smiles on people's faces is our model. But making
Speaker 1: people's lives better in the end and being you know,
Speaker 1: most of our partners I have a direct connection with
Speaker 1: anyway personally. Uh, you know, with Susan G. Coleman. You know,
Speaker 1: my grandmother passed away from breast cancer. In the Boys
Speaker 1: and Girls Club. I'm actually Boys and Girl's Clubs alumni
Speaker 1: and uh Hall of Fame inductee. This year with Nestlee Waters,
Speaker 1: we were able to do a beautiful campaign over the
Speaker 1: during the pandemic to raise and generate a lot of
Speaker 1: funds for No Kid hu Um. So it's it's it's
Speaker 1: a It's been a great relationship and a great opportunity
Speaker 1: for me and and for w w A to expand
Speaker 1: and show people that we were superstars. We do more
Speaker 1: than just wrestling. We do more than just talk trash.
Speaker 1: You know, we we talked to talking about the water too.
Speaker 1: Has your role like what the w W transition into
Speaker 1: that more because I remember when you were more in
Speaker 1: ring and you doing more stuff and that kind of
Speaker 1: seem like a transition a little bit where you coming
Speaker 1: out and you're still part of the show, but it's
Speaker 1: been transition more. You've been in more in the community.
Speaker 1: Like when when did that start happening? To whose decision
Speaker 1: was that? Was that yours or was at WWS. I
Speaker 1: don't think it was ever anything talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just naturally has happened that way. And you know,
Speaker 1: the thing I tell every superstar you know, and I've
Speaker 1: learned this over my time there, is that you know,
Speaker 1: this business really is about longevity. Uh. You know, you
Speaker 1: can win a thousand championships in the first three years
Speaker 1: and be gone. Uh. I've seen a lot of people
Speaker 1: coming in and out of the doors of w W
Speaker 1: because they were great performers, but you know, not not
Speaker 1: not as great people, and then sometimes from a business perspective,
Speaker 1: it just didn't work out. Uh, you know. And I
Speaker 1: you know, I love competing, I love being in ring,
Speaker 1: I love uh you know, everything that goes along with
Speaker 1: you know, the show. But I've always been one at
Speaker 1: whatever capacity that the company has needed me in, I'll
Speaker 1: be more than happy and honored to do so because
Speaker 1: they have provided me an awesome living awesome, an awesome platform,
Speaker 1: and uh, and my relationships within this company and within
Speaker 1: this business are very strong and they're all built on respect.
Speaker 1: And uh, I respect this business. I respect everybody that
Speaker 1: came you know before me, those that are in it now.
Speaker 1: How well, how crazy was it over the pandemic, right,
Speaker 1: because I was like, it's one of these things where
Speaker 1: it's one thing to go out and play a football
Speaker 1: game or basket a game. Right, it was like no
Speaker 1: crowd and everything else. But you got me, and I've
Speaker 1: been to probably shows before in my life between Monday
Speaker 1: Night raws McDonald's WrestleManias, I mean, you know, over the
Speaker 1: last fifteen years or so, and so the crowd was
Speaker 1: so important, right, and then how was that transition? Like this,
Speaker 1: y'all have to kind of hype yourself up to to
Speaker 1: come out the same energy with nobody there. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So we obviously for the first few months we worked
Speaker 1: several months we worked without a crowd at all, and
Speaker 1: then we brought in some plexiglass and made a makeshift crowd. Uh,
Speaker 1: still not the same thing. And then the company made
Speaker 1: a huge investment and once we have as a thunderdome
Speaker 1: and that literally changed the whole feel of what we do.
Speaker 1: It's still not a live crowd because we love that
Speaker 1: live interaction, but at least gave us live crowd components
Speaker 1: from charing and booing and uh being able to tell
Speaker 1: a story. Obviously, we knew we were performing for a
Speaker 1: TV audience, so that was four millions around the world
Speaker 1: and uh and uh. But there's nothing like having inside
Speaker 1: of an arena where you can you can. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, like like you said, football, it's football no
Speaker 1: matter where you play. You know, if you if you're
Speaker 1: doing a scrimmage in in the preseason, or and you're
Speaker 1: playing in front of nobody you know, at practice, or
Speaker 1: you're playing in front of a football stadium, you still
Speaker 1: got a sack in quarterback. You still got through a touchdown,
Speaker 1: still got a flock, still gotta run with us. Everything
Speaker 1: being you know, uh, based on crowd participation in crowd interaction. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was. It was a huge transition for our talent
Speaker 1: to make our huge a huge transition for everybody, our
Speaker 1: production team and everybody uh as a as a unit.
Speaker 1: But hats off to us all. We never missed a show.
Speaker 1: You know, we didn't take any time off. We performed
Speaker 1: fifty two weeks out of the year during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: which is unheard of. And h and we provided quality
Speaker 1: hours of quality programming throughout the year. No, that was
Speaker 1: that was super dope, man. And you guys are still
Speaker 1: able to do that. And I'm gonna stick with this
Speaker 1: from the football tip because obviously you played ball. But
Speaker 1: one thing I always said, especially when guys transition from
Speaker 1: you know, and mainly football, because he's talking to M
Speaker 1: M A and wrestling and all this, it makes it
Speaker 1: easier transition. What have you seen from some of these guys,
Speaker 1: man that came with it, because I can tell you
Speaker 1: this when they told me to travel schedule when I
Speaker 1: was you know, I was working with the network and
Speaker 1: I was on it and I had you know, one
Speaker 1: of the one of the greatest times, but that travel schedule. Like,
Speaker 1: have you seen guys a transition from you know, planning
Speaker 1: college ball, playing in the NFL and then now and
Speaker 1: see what goes on. Are they shocked at the amount
Speaker 1: of work that it really happens behind the scenes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there have been several guys that are coming in,
Speaker 1: you know, thinking that I played football or I played basketball,
Speaker 1: and I did this. Prior to that, you know, they
Speaker 1: thought it was just something you know, that that was
Speaker 1: going to be easy transition. The physical aspect of it,
Speaker 1: the midmal aspect of it alone is very grinding. But
Speaker 1: then when you throw in the travel, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's I mean, it's not for everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: three or four days a week, you know, all around
Speaker 1: in the world. You know, we can have a show
Speaker 1: in Saudi Arabia on a Sunday or Saturday, and uh
Speaker 1: and and being Green Bay, Wisconsin on the Monday for
Speaker 1: live TV, you know, so or be in Australia or
Speaker 1: China or Japan, you know, and they have to be
Speaker 1: in New in New York, you know, on Monday or
Speaker 1: Friday for live TV. So people don't understand that aspect
Speaker 1: because they only see what's on TV. They don't see
Speaker 1: the non televised events. They don't see the appearances, they
Speaker 1: don't see the pay per views, they don't see all
Speaker 1: the things that we have to do to prepare for
Speaker 1: a show. Get in a car, drive to the next
Speaker 1: town four three or four hours, sometimes five hours, get
Speaker 1: in three or four in the morning after a show,
Speaker 1: get up the next morning, do it all again. You know,
Speaker 1: um uh. They say that the things that or uh
Speaker 1: that we value the most, um especially during this pandemic,
Speaker 1: We've gotten a chance, you know, like it's the most
Speaker 1: I've ever been home, you know, in the last eleven years.
Speaker 1: And to be able to to be able to spend
Speaker 1: more time with my family and actually do things um
Speaker 1: uh with my family and with my friends, and commit
Speaker 1: more time to doing things in my hometown of Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1: It has allowed me to you know, my foundation, especially
Speaker 1: to help a lot of people to raise a lot
Speaker 1: more money where raise a lot more awareness simply because
Speaker 1: I've been home, um And I don't know that I
Speaker 1: would have had that success that I've had with being
Speaker 1: able to have rental assistance and several million dollars and
Speaker 1: uh in food aid and and and in school aid
Speaker 1: and partner with the Hillsborough County School District to make
Speaker 1: sure the kids can eat during the pandemic, like they're
Speaker 1: There's a lot of things that had I not been home,
Speaker 1: I would not have been able to do. Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
Speaker 1: S r to listen live No, and I said the
Speaker 1: same thing. And speaking of being home, and I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask you about your boys because I got you know,
Speaker 1: I got a ten year old son, and your boys
Speaker 1: are playing ball now right, and so you got a chance.
Speaker 1: So what what's that like? Man? Because you spent majority
Speaker 1: of your time on the road, and you know, doing
Speaker 1: it was an opposite for me because my son is
Speaker 1: across the country, so I I gotta go to spent
Speaker 1: time with him. But I didn't the opposite. I couldn't
Speaker 1: go see him as much. So I felt it was
Speaker 1: it was weird. It was different. Yeah for me though.
Speaker 1: I mean my kids were two and four when I
Speaker 1: started wrestling, and uh so they've kind of grew grown
Speaker 1: up in this. They knew what it was. But at
Speaker 1: the same token, it's never been like they've been a
Speaker 1: secondary UM priority for me. Have always been number one. UM.
Speaker 1: There will be my prime pary priority. I would fly home,
Speaker 1: I would go to a show, fly home, uh to
Speaker 1: do to watch one of their championship games and they
Speaker 1: fly back out in the West Coast. You know, Like
Speaker 1: I've always been a committed father to my kids. So
Speaker 1: and I know that you are too. And it does
Speaker 1: get difficult sometimes when you got work and you're trying
Speaker 1: to provide and you're trying to balance this thing we
Speaker 1: call life and and you've got a lot of different
Speaker 1: people pulling at you. But for me, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I always tell people as long as as long as
Speaker 1: your kids know that you care and that you're there
Speaker 1: when you need them to be there, they'll be fine.
Speaker 1: You know. They're kids are the most resilient individuals in
Speaker 1: the world. You know, they can bounce back from anything.
Speaker 1: It's just a matter of us being able to reassure
Speaker 1: them that, hey, you know, Dad is always here for you. Hey,
Speaker 1: if you need something, and and don't make it just
Speaker 1: about you know, don't make yourself into a t M
Speaker 1: and just think that you can throw money at them
Speaker 1: and everything will be fine on trips and gifts. They
Speaker 1: is really the quality time. And I spend quality time
Speaker 1: with my boys collectively, their fourteen and sixteen. Now there
Speaker 1: two different boys, but one and the same. Uh. My
Speaker 1: oldest son is being heavily recruited right now. He's got
Speaker 1: like twenty one uh college scholarship offers as a junior.
Speaker 1: And then my youngest is gonna be an animal too.
Speaker 1: He's almost as big as me, and so he's bigger
Speaker 1: than his big brother. Uh and that he reminds them
Speaker 1: of that on a regular basis. Uh So yeah, we
Speaker 1: we uh we as fathers. I mean, that's the number,
Speaker 1: our number one I think title, our greatest title that
Speaker 1: we're ever possessing on life. It is not a super
Speaker 1: Bowl ring. It's not w W champion, it's it's being
Speaker 1: a dad. And speaking of the champion in w W,
Speaker 1: you guys got WrestleMania coming up. And I was just
Speaker 1: telling Vito, my producer before we came on. I think
Speaker 1: it was in two thousand and fourteen when they first
Speaker 1: launched the w W network and so I was hosting
Speaker 1: uh there in New it was. It was at the
Speaker 1: Silver Dome, and so mind you, I've been around the
Speaker 1: Super super Dome. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. He
Speaker 1: said the same thing. He actually called it the Silver
Speaker 1: Jon that the super Dome too. Yeah, I know. I
Speaker 1: remember I'm sitting up there, and you know, I met
Speaker 1: a bunch of the guys right for for years, I've
Speaker 1: known a lot of behind the scenes and had conversations
Speaker 1: with him, but it was my first time working in
Speaker 1: that environment. So I grew up a rest of the fan.
Speaker 1: I grew up w fans as I was a kid,
Speaker 1: and so being around guys and uh, you know, DJ
Speaker 1: and I met all these guys or more than a
Speaker 1: few occasions. But this is the first time I'm sitting
Speaker 1: up there in the booth with everybody, and I got
Speaker 1: mad kind here, and I got Shawn Michaels and I
Speaker 1: got Book of T So I'm I'm happy as hell, right,
Speaker 1: I'm like a ten year old kid again. And I
Speaker 1: remember Coking came out and they played this so he
Speaker 1: came out. They played this song, right, so I'm getting
Speaker 1: on kind of giddy again. I got the headsets on,
Speaker 1: like I'm I got the headsets on, and then uh,
Speaker 1: stone Cold and then Stone Cold came out, So this
Speaker 1: inner kid, right, I'm sitting there and I'm working and
Speaker 1: every I'm having a good time because I'm talking, you know,
Speaker 1: for the first time. And they just launched network and
Speaker 1: then finally they said if you a smell, And then
Speaker 1: that's when I was like, okay, I hold on now,
Speaker 1: you know, so I just for me and watched as
Speaker 1: a kid. It was it was funny. The rest of
Speaker 1: Restu Matia. Now this year. I think it was in
Speaker 1: It's in Tampa, right, coming up. Yeah, I we played
Speaker 1: the Red Skins back home my rookie in two thousand five.
Speaker 1: I bought ninety two tickets for all for all my family, friends,
Speaker 1: high school coaches. How many tickets you gotta get people
Speaker 1: this year for restume mating. How many people? How many people?
Speaker 1: How many tickets you get? I'm we don't have any comps. No, wait,
Speaker 1: we didn't have to. Yeah, and uh and uh, capacity
Speaker 1: is limited, and so I'm purchased the tickets for my
Speaker 1: immediate family and everyone else can go to ticket Master.
Speaker 1: I will be uh, you know, getting some kids and teachers.
Speaker 1: I do want to support some kids and teachers from
Speaker 1: underserved area schools here in Tampa. So I will purchase
Speaker 1: a black pot and allotment of tickets to take some
Speaker 1: kids both nights. Uh. Have a group of kids that
Speaker 1: will and teachers that will go one night, and a
Speaker 1: group of kids and teachers that will go night too. Uh.
Speaker 1: Just so that we can spread the wealth and give
Speaker 1: people an opportunity to experience WrestleMania, which is not as
Speaker 1: much like Super Bowl. You know, we don't get them
Speaker 1: that often in the city and a lot of times
Speaker 1: people in underserved communities definitely aren't able to party part
Speaker 1: taking any of the festivities when it comes to big,
Speaker 1: big events. Uh. But as far as like friends and
Speaker 1: cousins out of the blue and all this and that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just send them a ticket Master and they like,
Speaker 1: and a few of them text me back, Hey man,
Speaker 1: they only got two pods, four pods, Like, hey, bro,
Speaker 1: you gotta work that out with ticket matter, right know,
Speaker 1: I'm just the hope. I'm just the host with with
Speaker 1: Hulk Hogan and and uh, we're going and trying to
Speaker 1: make make uh make our Tampa Bay Area proud being
Speaker 1: able to put on one hell of a show. Uh,
Speaker 1: and and as well as our our community is looking
Speaker 1: to put on the hell of a show too, because
Speaker 1: we want to see, uh, if it's not another WrestleMania,
Speaker 1: maybe a Rural Rumble or Survivor series or a Summer
Speaker 1: Slam come back here to our city. And so we
Speaker 1: want to put on, you know, the best show that
Speaker 1: we possibly can. Obviously, in the midst of a pandemic,
Speaker 1: we can't really go all out like we would normally
Speaker 1: traditionally do as a w W style, but it still
Speaker 1: would be a hell of a show. We got to
Speaker 1: awesome Action Pact nights. We got a historic night UM,
Speaker 1: and the historic moments all throughout you know. UM. The
Speaker 1: one thing I will say that I'm extremely proud of, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, our company and our talent, UH is the
Speaker 1: representation and the diversity of representation on both cards and
Speaker 1: prominent positions, UM, which is probably the most prominent and
Speaker 1: diverse group of individuals. And they all deserve, every last
Speaker 1: one of them deserve this opportunity that they have right now.
Speaker 1: And you know, it just shows that you know, time
Speaker 1: and talent and character mean a lot, you know, and UH,
Speaker 1: and that our company and our business has grown so
Speaker 1: much because there were times that there were not there
Speaker 1: were very few people African Americans or my minorities on
Speaker 1: the car. And now you know, UM, now we have
Speaker 1: you know, African American Champions, the first ever women's World
Speaker 1: ONEMA run Roar ONEMA win winner African American. UM. We
Speaker 1: uh the New Day obviously you know now eleven or
Speaker 1: twelve time tag team champions. Uh. We have Bad Bunny
Speaker 1: you know who brings a whole demographic new fans and
Speaker 1: old fans together obviously with a large Hispanic community. That
Speaker 1: that that prod you know, very proud w W E fans.
Speaker 1: We get a chance to open our our our audience
Speaker 1: up even more in our fan base stuff even more.
Speaker 1: Um and again I get a chance to host, you know,
Speaker 1: with with the guy that put WrestleMania on the map
Speaker 1: and Hulk Hogan and uh and uh. I think that
Speaker 1: is going to be a very special moment for both
Speaker 1: of us, obviously being you know, from Temple, living here
Speaker 1: and working here and doing things in the community here.
Speaker 1: You know, Vince told you know, Vince just told me,
Speaker 1: you know you're gonna be host in WrestleMania. Um. It's
Speaker 1: only right, you know, this is your city and that
Speaker 1: is were his words. You know. Um and uh you
Speaker 1: do a lot in this community and people love you
Speaker 1: and we appreciate you here with w W and all
Speaker 1: that you've done and continue to do to represent our
Speaker 1: company well. And we think this would be a great
Speaker 1: spot for you. So it wasn't something that I, you know,
Speaker 1: say hey, I need to be the host. It was
Speaker 1: here you go, you know, and you and Hulk Hogan
Speaker 1: go out and make that no doubt my doing. Hey,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, and I know you're flying around and
Speaker 1: got a bunch of stuff going on. So I'll go
Speaker 1: looking at him coming through, and then I'm gonna definitely
Speaker 1: get down there. I was. I was just down I
Speaker 1: had a signing for uh should be the wind to
Speaker 1: two weeks ago. I was down there for about three
Speaker 1: or four hours. But I gotta get back down there
Speaker 1: again soon. And you didn't call how you do call?
Speaker 1: Called me at all? When he came, I could, Man,
Speaker 1: I hain't been listening. Ain't nobody come? You got thirty
Speaker 1: two events today? Man? Anybody messing with you? Yeah? Come
Speaker 1: on now, y'all can record an episode of the lights
Speaker 1: Out down here? Yeah, all right, I appreciate you. All right, man,
Speaker 1: thank you, Thanks guys for listening to another lights Out
Speaker 1: podcast for me. Sean Merriman, uh and man, that was awesome.
Speaker 1: You know I've always asked, uh Titus every time? Did
Speaker 1: he flying this place? For flying that place? And how
Speaker 1: does he make time? And you know, great person, great
Speaker 1: at so much for the community, and WrestleMania is in
Speaker 1: his hometown of Tampa. I can't wait to see it. Um.
Speaker 1: I posted restlemning before and that was my first time. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of fan boying out, you know, watching
Speaker 1: South of the Kid, and I'm up there and I'm
Speaker 1: hosting with Booker t and Shawn Michaels and Mankind, all
Speaker 1: these guys and one of the greatest time, funnest times
Speaker 1: I have on the w W network launched and it's
Speaker 1: been awesome. Man. So I appreciate Titus for coming on
Speaker 1: the day. I know you got a lot going on,
Speaker 1: but I appreciate you guys for um just tuning in
Speaker 1: and leaving these great reviews and subscribe and I see you,
Speaker 1: I see the comments. I'm glad you're enjoying, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna keep going. You got another one next week.