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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Metal Ground Podcast. You'll pay for all

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Speaker 1: these for a wrestling and.

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Speaker 2: Exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers.

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Speaker 3: Stop seeing what's up you guys.

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Speaker 4: Welcome back into Iheartradya's official wrestling podcast, the Battleground Podcast.

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Speaker 4: And man, what an exciting time it is for TNA.

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Speaker 4: They've got the new TV deal, They've got everything going

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Speaker 4: for them, and there's also something really cool that's happening

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Speaker 4: with our guest today going out on a high note.

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Speaker 4: Give it up for our guest today, j DC joining

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Speaker 4: the show, JAYC.

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Speaker 3: Man, how are you.

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Speaker 1: Doing, dude?

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Speaker 2: I just you know, I was just thinking about I'm

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Speaker 2: sitting here poolside my wife and I just came to floor.

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Speaker 2: This is probably the last wrestling interview I will do

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Speaker 2: as a wrestler, So thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Man, Man, the pleasure is all are crazy to think that.

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Speaker 4: Well, I mean, now that you put kind of things

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Speaker 4: in perspective, it's like you don't have to worry about

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Speaker 4: sitting here.

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Speaker 3: In front of a computer or a phone anymore.

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Speaker 4: So I've got like some high things to like set

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Speaker 4: the bar high so you can go out on a

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Speaker 4: high note. So the pressure on me over here we're

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Speaker 4: gonna just have some fun. Of course, a lot of

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Speaker 4: people know you as many characters over the year as Fandango,

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Speaker 4: Dirty Dango, now JDC. Do you see those as evolutions

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Speaker 4: of the same person or completely different chapters in your

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Speaker 4: wrestling career.

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Speaker 2: I think it's all kind of the same person and

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Speaker 2: just me in different moods. The Fandango character was a

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Speaker 2: kind of a stoic, almost creepy. I remember Vince kind

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Speaker 2: of explaining the character to me, and I didn't quite

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Speaker 2: understand it such I kind of I just the only

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Speaker 2: thing I knew in.

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Speaker 1: My head was I can't let anyone see.

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Speaker 2: Me not stay in character with this character because it

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Speaker 2: was so just off the wall. If they caught me

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Speaker 2: not staying completely in that dancing mode, it would just

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Speaker 2: completely ruin the characters. So, but I think my favorite,

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Speaker 2: the favorite would be the Breeze Ango Breeze and I

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Speaker 2: doing all those skits together, man, that was just it

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Speaker 2: was fun, and we really love working with our writer

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Speaker 2: John and it was just every every week we got

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Speaker 2: to go to work and it was just exciting to

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Speaker 2: kind of get our verbiage and just kind of riff

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Speaker 2: off each other. Yeah, definitely, comedy. Comedy is my favorite.

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Speaker 2: I'm a big comedy wrestling fan, so big fan of

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Speaker 2: like great o' Cocobana guys like that.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, and you mentioned you mentioned the Breeze Ango

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Speaker 4: and your tag team with Tyler Breeze obviously still talked

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Speaker 4: about today. Everybody talks about it, the connection there that

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Speaker 4: you two had.

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Speaker 3: Did that connection surprise you?

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Speaker 4: And maybe do you think sometimes companies struggle when something

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Speaker 4: gets over to naturally?

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Speaker 2: Dude, we're so opposites for He's He's a grounded, level

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Speaker 2: headed kid, Matt, and I'm a little bit off the wall,

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Speaker 2: you know, a little rambunctious, a little bit of a

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Speaker 2: wild card. Uh So, just our natural personalities and our

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Speaker 2: on screen personalities works so good together, kind of almost

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Speaker 2: like Ying and Yang, you know what I'm saying. And

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Speaker 2: it's just, you know, we got put together. We're two

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Speaker 2: single guys kind of floundering on the road, and I'm like, dude,

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Speaker 2: because they're making cuts, We're like, we're probably going to

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Speaker 2: get released. Let's just grab the dot com guy and

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Speaker 2: just start shooting these ridiculous promos.

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Speaker 1: And he's like, all right, let's just do it. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what do we got to lose.

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Speaker 2: We just started we just started doing these dot com

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Speaker 2: skits dressing up as as cops, and it started getting

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Speaker 2: he started getting a little momentum, Bro, and it started

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Speaker 2: getting some good views, and eventually they're just like, we're

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Speaker 2: gonna put this on SmackDown and then we got a

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Speaker 2: whole year run out of just being sexy cops. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was a great lesson for us. Is like you

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Speaker 2: can kind of sit back and complain about your position

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Speaker 2: on the show, where you can just you can just

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Speaker 2: get busy trying to make something happen.

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Speaker 1: So that was a lot of Matt to Breeze.

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Speaker 2: He's very proactive in this business, so he actually helped

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Speaker 2: me get out of a funk around that time.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, those are some of the best times in my.

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Speaker 2: Career, bro, just just showing up to work and just

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Speaker 2: getting getting to make people laugh.

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Speaker 4: I gotta say, when when y'all, when y'all did that

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Speaker 4: and the skits and everything else, Like as a as

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Speaker 4: a grown man watching those, it was just hilarious to see, Okay,

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Speaker 4: what's happening next because that that was for me more

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Speaker 4: too inclined to see what was going to happen next week.

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Speaker 4: On the show of like where are they gonna go

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Speaker 4: with this? Who are they gonna find? What's gonna happen?

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Speaker 4: And I loved it and it was great, and obviously

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Speaker 4: the fans day because I mean we're still talking about it. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: and uh, you know something else, fans are still talking

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Speaker 4: about that WrestleMania entrance. Still a lot of fans think

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Speaker 4: about the WrestleMania interest for you, did you know in

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Speaker 4: that moment how big it was and did you ever

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Speaker 4: worry that it might defy you too much?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just.

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Speaker 2: When I know the pressures on, I try not to

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Speaker 2: think about it too much.

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Speaker 1: And I knew. I remember, I remember having rehearsals, Bro.

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Speaker 2: And just being more than at that time, I'd been

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Speaker 2: wrestling for fourteen or fifteen years.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't worried about the eight or ten minute match

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Speaker 1: with Chris.

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Speaker 2: I was so nervous about the dance routine with the girls, Bro,

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Speaker 2: because dancing is just like they sent ww sent me

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Speaker 2: to dance school for like two or three months, and

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Speaker 2: they're like, all right, now you're a dancer. So you

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Speaker 2: know it takes twenty years to be a good dancer.

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Speaker 2: So I'm like, I was more nervous about messing up

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Speaker 2: that dance routine than getting it.

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Speaker 1: Once the dance was over, I was like, because the

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Speaker 1: wrestling was the easy part, you know.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, it's sometimes when you have such a lightning

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Speaker 2: rod character like that, people always kind of Kramer, you know,

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Speaker 2: like Cramer guys like that, Like, yeah, I guess.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't worried about it, man. I just when I

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Speaker 1: was worried about was just not letting Chris down.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of people wanted that character

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Speaker 2: to fail because it was so off the wall. So

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Speaker 2: you know, I owe I owe so much to Chris

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Speaker 2: for making that work. You know, he put a lot

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Speaker 2: of thought into that, and I don't think he necessarily

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Speaker 2: wanted to do it, but he's like, if I'm going

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Speaker 2: to do it, let's do Let's make this the best weekend.

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Speaker 2: And I think we I think we did pretty damn

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Speaker 2: good for what we had.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.

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Speaker 4: Of course, again, everybody still talks about it and what

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Speaker 4: we're here to talk about.

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Speaker 3: Of course, uh TNA wrestling.

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Speaker 4: You've got Genesis coming up that is going to be

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Speaker 4: your last matchup.

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Speaker 3: We'll talk about that here in a second.

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Speaker 4: When you came in to TNAS JDC, he felt, you know,

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Speaker 4: grittier and more grounded. Was this more like an intentional

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Speaker 4: reset for you or was this just kind of who

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Speaker 4: you are at the stage of your career right now.

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Speaker 2: No, it was completely one hundred percent uh methodical and thought.

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Speaker 2: I didn't want to end my like my career on

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Speaker 2: a comedy.

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to. I want to end it with

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Speaker 1: a comedy shtick.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to, you know, when I went back to NXT,

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Speaker 2: I talked to Hunter, I'm like, I just want to

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Speaker 2: have good wrestling matches for the last couple of years

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Speaker 2: of my life. And Hunter put Reese and I and

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Speaker 2: you know, we wrestled a lot of really great guys

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Speaker 2: and then t and A. I'm like, I just want

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Speaker 2: to have good matches. I kind of checked the comedy

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Speaker 2: box off, and I didn't really want to.

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Speaker 1: I didn't really want to just.

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Speaker 2: Have comedy matches, bro, And people kind of think I

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Speaker 2: was just kind of coasting into retirement. I think I've

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Speaker 2: worked harder in TNA the last two or three years,

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Speaker 2: and I did most of my career, dude, like really

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Speaker 2: having long matches, busting my ass because I take a

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Speaker 2: lot of pride in that locker room. Man, I take

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Speaker 2: a lot of pride the guys and girls. We all

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Speaker 2: we're all working so hard to get to you know,

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Speaker 2: get to that TV on Thursday. And I say this

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Speaker 2: in all interviews. It's truly just a family atmosphere, dude backstage.

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Speaker 2: And I know it sounds super cliche, but everyone's working

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Speaker 2: so hard to get to that TV deal. Man, It's

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Speaker 2: like ECW back in the day. And I couldn't be

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Speaker 2: more proud for these kids. Man, it's really exciting for

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Speaker 2: a lot of these guys and girls. Yeah, emotionally, it

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Speaker 2: makes me emotional. Lets think about it.

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Speaker 4: And that's the cool thing is like you know, as

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Speaker 4: a as a kid that grew up watching TNA, when

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Speaker 4: I was at the fairgrounds here in Nashville, Everyone's then

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Speaker 4: I was at the pay per views, I was there

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Speaker 4: and I watched all of it and you could see

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Speaker 4: right now that TNA has real momentum again, especially now

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Speaker 4: with this TV deal with AMC.

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Speaker 3: And like you said, the locker room is vibing.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 4: You know, what is one thing that a stand that

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Speaker 4: has stood out to you about this locker room compared

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Speaker 4: to other locker rooms that you've been in.

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Speaker 1: I just said this on the last interview.

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Speaker 2: Dude, when you get to the back after a match,

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Speaker 2: the whole locker rooms in Gorilla watching the show, and

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Speaker 2: they're like they'll clap and they're like good job, or

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Speaker 2: like if you mess something up, they'll be hey, brom

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Speaker 2: one of the you know, Eric Young, one of the

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Speaker 2: older guys, because arm will pull one of the kids

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Speaker 2: aside and be like, hey, dude, just do this, do that,

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Speaker 2: do this.

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Speaker 1: I feel like on a on a higher you know, like.

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Speaker 2: I think on this, on this team, everyone's working together

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Speaker 2: for the brand. It's not the brand, just working for

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Speaker 2: individual talent, you know what I'm saying. I really feel

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Speaker 2: like everyone wants the show to succeed, which is really

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Speaker 2: cool to see. And then you know they did it, man,

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Speaker 2: that you know, we did it. We we wanted to

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Speaker 2: get TV and we ended up.

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Speaker 1: You know, we got it.

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Speaker 2: So it's coming up and it's gonna be I told Tommy,

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Speaker 2: I'm the only one trying to retire when we just

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Speaker 2: got a TV deal.

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Speaker 4: So, I mean, and it's really cool to see just

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Speaker 4: how far TNA has come from, you know, wrestling at

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Speaker 4: the Asylum in Nashville, at the fairgrounds to now having

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Speaker 4: back another weekly TV deal and you see a lot

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Speaker 4: of people coming in there and you see the locker

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Speaker 4: room having fun and it's not one of those selfish

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Speaker 4: kind of things when you see on the locker room

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Speaker 4: on TV on social media.

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Speaker 3: It's like you said, you guys are a family.

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Speaker 1: Mm hm, it really is, man.

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Speaker 2: And the exciting part now is is showing how good

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Speaker 2: the show is to the large audience of a MC

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Speaker 2: because honestly, I said it for years, I'm like, this

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Speaker 2: is such a good show.

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Speaker 1: We just need to get more eyes on this product.

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Speaker 1: And I'm excited.

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Speaker 2: I'm really intrigued to see what type of ratings we're

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Speaker 2: going to get. The first the first couple of months,

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Speaker 2: there's you know, and I think it's just such a

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Speaker 2: good show. And now the world gets to see it, man,

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Speaker 2: and there's a lot of there's a lot of guys

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Speaker 2: and girls on the roster that haven't been exposed to

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Speaker 2: a large, large market.

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Speaker 1: So it's exciting.

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Speaker 2: This This is gonna this is gonna catapult a lot

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Speaker 2: of young kids careers.

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Speaker 1: For sure.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, for sure.

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Speaker 4: It's going to be very exciting to see TNA in

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Speaker 4: this new era on AMC and you know you you

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Speaker 4: recently announced your retirement. We've we're here to talk about that.

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Speaker 4: We're here to talk about Jennis Uh. Eddie Edwards is

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Speaker 4: going to be your last match ever. What made Eddie

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Speaker 4: the right choice to be your last opponent other than

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Speaker 4: the fact that you guys know each other very very well.

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Speaker 2: We started together up in Boston probably twenty twenty two

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Speaker 2: years ago.

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Speaker 1: I ended up going to WWE route. Eddie went to Japan.

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Speaker 2: Every year, you know, we do wrestle Mania, Eddie would

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Speaker 2: be in town for ro Oh or some other comic

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Speaker 2: con gimmick or whatever.

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Speaker 1: So we catch up every year, and.

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Speaker 2: It's just full circle, bro, And just just like I

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Speaker 2: want to end my career on a serious note. There's

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Speaker 2: there's Eddie's probably one of the, if not the best

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Speaker 2: wrestler on the roster, And when you play a comedy

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Speaker 2: character for so long, sometimes you feel like you got

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Speaker 2: something to prove, Like I do you know, I take

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Speaker 2: I take wrestling very seriously, and I just don't want

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Speaker 2: people to remember me for Kramer jump you busting through

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Speaker 2: the door.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to be room remembered for the dance

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Speaker 2: I want to be remembered and respective for being a

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Speaker 2: good wrestler because that's why I got into the business.

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Speaker 2: And I can't think of anybody better to work than

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Speaker 2: one of my best friends. I went to management, I

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Speaker 2: got I want dye for the last match, like you

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Speaker 2: got it. And when you wrestle your friends, bro, you

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Speaker 2: tend to lay it in a little bit more and

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Speaker 2: they don't. They don't complain as much, So it should.

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Speaker 1: Be a real banger, dude. It's gonna be a real

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Speaker 1: stiff match.

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Speaker 2: So I've been down here in Florida training last month

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Speaker 2: getting ready for it. So it's going to be an emotional,

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Speaker 2: emotional weekend man, for me and the guys in the system.

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Speaker 1: But full circle, bro, It's just full circle.

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Speaker 2: We started together, we went our different paths, and we

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Speaker 2: came back together and I'm gonna end it with them.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, it's gonna be you can't write it. It's

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Speaker 1: you can't write this ship. So sorry for swearing.

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Speaker 4: Hey, no, you can swear this. Well, we'll swear. We

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Speaker 4: can bleep it out later.

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Speaker 3: This is our show. We'll have it.

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Speaker 4: But for sure, you talk about it being emotional, and

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Speaker 4: I want to kind of get into your head for

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Speaker 4: a quick second when you picture that final walk going

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Speaker 4: through the curtain to the ring bell rings, you go

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Speaker 4: back to that curtain once it's all said and done.

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Speaker 4: What matters the most to you during that whole stretch.

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Speaker 2: When I when I first started, all I cared about

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Speaker 2: was not messing up.

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Speaker 1: And all I think about now is just not getting hurt.

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Speaker 2: That's all I care about now, is just not getting injured,

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Speaker 2: because it's not me just chasing something.

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Speaker 4: Now.

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Speaker 1: I'm married, we're looking to have children soon.

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Speaker 2: So as long as I'm healthy and Eddie doesn't get

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Speaker 2: hurt and the fans are happy, I'm happy, and I'll

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Speaker 2: probably be. It's just weird when you get in the

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Speaker 2: ring and you get the adrenaline going, and you know,

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Speaker 2: you start hitting each other. It's hard to think about

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Speaker 2: anything else while you're kind of cooling down from that adrenaline.

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Speaker 2: But I think probably once we get back to the

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Speaker 2: hotel that night, things will start setting in.

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Speaker 1: Damn, I can't believe that was the last one.

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Speaker 2: But Tiana is gunn so above and beyond road to

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Speaker 2: kind of give me this this farewell.

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Speaker 1: They've they've been so just.

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Speaker 2: Unbelievably great for you know, me and my wife anything

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Speaker 2: I want that they just catered to me, so I

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Speaker 2: can't thank them enough and just to show how.

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Speaker 1: Much respect they have for me, and I got nothing

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Speaker 1: but respect for them.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, it's gonna be It's gonna be definitely an

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Speaker 4: emotional night for sure when we watch Genesis and we see, uh,

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Speaker 4: that's it the end, and you know a lot of

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Speaker 4: people want to know what what happens after the end. Obviously,

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Speaker 4: you know the boots late stay in the ring, you

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Speaker 4: walk back the curtain, You're done wrestling after Genesis.

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Speaker 3: What's the next game plan?

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Speaker 4: Obviously you're gonna take some time off and just kind

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Speaker 4: of enjoy it. But then what's next there? You want

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Speaker 4: to you know, help the younger generation, open up a school.

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Speaker 4: What what what's the plan after that?

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Speaker 2: I'll probably you know, the wrestlers go, I'm accepting indie

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Speaker 2: bookings on their Instagram or I'll probably post that day after.

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Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, and your dms are gonna get blooded.

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Speaker 4: Somebody's got to replace Cardon and now I think JDC's

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Speaker 4: got it.

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Speaker 2: I gotta someone's gonna take care of all those outlaw

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Speaker 2: shows in the ball fields and stuff. So I'll probably

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Speaker 2: do some backstage stuff, bro, some producing. You know, I've

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Speaker 2: been there's a there's a new wrestling school, Limitless and

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Speaker 2: Pine Trick at Pine State Wrestling up in Maine. That's

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Speaker 2: where I'm from. I'll probably get a little bit more

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Speaker 2: involved in the wrestling school back there. I mean, dude,

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Speaker 2: I've been got twenty seven years in this game. It's

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Speaker 2: like you can't just completely walk away from it. And

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Speaker 2: I say this all the time, is like I'll miss wrestling.

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Speaker 1: I won't miss wrestling. I'm sorry, but I won't miss

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Speaker 1: the wrestlers.

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Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. Like I got to be

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Speaker 2: around the boys in some capacity. So yeah, I'll be

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Speaker 2: involved in some in some capacity. But dude, I do

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Speaker 2: not care about ever hitting a leg drop or falling

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Speaker 2: down on my back ever again. Like if I hit

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Speaker 2: Eddie with one last leg, I'll just thank god I

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Speaker 2: might never have that again. Like I could care less

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Speaker 2: about ever bumping a game, bro.

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Speaker 4: Like honestly, But and it's got to be a good

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Speaker 4: feeling for you to go out the way you want,

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Speaker 4: because sometimes when when guys want to go out, they

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Speaker 4: don't get to go out on their terms. You're getting

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Speaker 4: to go out on your terms the way you want.

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Speaker 1: It, dude.

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Speaker 2: I'm I just said this in the last interview, is like,

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Speaker 2: I'm still in pretty decent shape. I just don't want

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Speaker 2: to be one of those guys man, they're like, oh man,

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Speaker 2: I used to be Fandango, Like damn, you know, like

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Speaker 2: I don't like when you start losing that fastball, bro,

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Speaker 2: which I can tell I'm not throwing ninety eighty more.

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Speaker 1: I'm throwing eighty nine ninety.

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Speaker 2: It's like, I just don't want people to remember me

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Speaker 2: for forty eight year old dango. You know, you know,

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Speaker 2: I don't want to push this too far down the road,

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Speaker 2: and you know I'm still in decent shape, still go

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Speaker 2: a little bit.

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Speaker 1: I just I feel like it's just you don't want to.

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Speaker 2: Get too greedy, you know what I'm saying, And I

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Speaker 2: got nothing left to prove, and I just I don't

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Speaker 2: want to get hurt.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't want to.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to get hurt. So it's a perfect

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Speaker 2: time we're debuting on TV.

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Speaker 1: I get to work with one of my best friends,

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Speaker 1: so why not.

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Speaker 4: You know, couldn't have asked for a better perfect storybook

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Speaker 4: ending right there with JDC Man, we gotta tell you

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Speaker 4: it is definitely an honored and privilege to have you

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Speaker 4: here on the show, and hopefully after you know, the

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Speaker 4: final match, we can have you back on here for

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Speaker 4: some more things to talk about. And I mean we

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Speaker 4: could sit here and talk for hours if possible, but

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Speaker 4: I know that you.

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Speaker 3: Know TNA and and and.

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Speaker 4: Then probably would not want us to be talking for

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Speaker 4: hours on pawn hours. But uh, JDC man, it's again

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Speaker 4: honored and privilege to have you on the show. Before

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Speaker 4: we let you go, anything you want to say to

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Speaker 4: the fans watching or listen to this right now.

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Speaker 2: I'm very grateful for everybody, man. You know I've been

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Speaker 2: There's been times in my career where I haven't been grateful.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes you can get in that hamster wheel where you

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Speaker 2: know you kind of you're not appreciative to the business,

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Speaker 2: but I try, truly, over the last year's been extremely.

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Speaker 1: Grateful for the wrestling business. And I've just I've fallen

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Speaker 1: back in love with this business.

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Speaker 2: And I can't thank TNA and Tommy Dreamer and the

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Speaker 2: boys and girls in the locker room because some people

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Speaker 2: leave this business on a sour Now, bro, and I'm

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Speaker 2: just so thankful that I got the opportunity to come

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Speaker 2: and kind of finish it up with TNA because it's

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Speaker 2: just been such a great, great, great locker room.

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Speaker 1: Nothing but love. And you'll have me back on when

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Speaker 1: we do the comeback.

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Speaker 3: Tour, Bro, Yes, that's what I'm talking about.

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Speaker 4: The comeback tours happening man JBC again, honor and a

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Speaker 4: privilege for having you on the show, brother, and we're

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Speaker 4: looking forward to seeing that final match at Genesis.

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Speaker 1: Thursday, Thursday coming up. Appreciate you, Bro,