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Speaker 1: Btw why from the Parts Unknown Studios into.

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Speaker 2: The Double Battle Crown, Battle, the Battle Bound, the Battle Round.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Battleground Podcast, your place for all things

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Speaker 1: pro wrestling.

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Speaker 2: The Battle Road, the Battle Round now making their way

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Speaker 2: to the microphones. Give it up for your hosts.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Battle Crown.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, what's up you guys?

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

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Speaker 4: And may I what a time it is for aew

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Speaker 4: big show coming up here tomorrow night ae W Dynamite

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Speaker 4: Live from Orlando.

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Speaker 3: And uh, I think that this this.

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Speaker 4: Match that we're gonna be talking about with our guest today,

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Speaker 4: obviously should not be on free TV for people.

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Speaker 3: This should be on a pay per view somewhere.

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Speaker 4: But give it up for our friend Josh Alexander George, Josh,

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Speaker 4: how you doing, man?

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Speaker 1: What's up? The all? It's going to be back. As

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Speaker 1: for what you just said, I mean, I appreciate it,

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Speaker 1: but I think there's there's a ton of matches that

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Speaker 1: are given away on free TV by aw week after week.

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Speaker 1: I mean Darby versus Pack last week. You know, the

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Speaker 1: list can go on. It just it's a spot where

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Speaker 1: good wrestling matches happen, and sometimes you can't put them

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Speaker 1: all on.

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Speaker 3: A pay per view exactly.

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Speaker 4: And let's just kind of dive right into this because

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Speaker 4: you've said in past interviews that you didn't dream of,

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Speaker 4: you know, having that you know, WrestleMania match, but instead

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Speaker 4: of wrestling big names, and you're getting to cross one

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Speaker 4: of those names off your bucket list in Kenny Omega.

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Speaker 4: What's it like now actually getting to face him? After

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Speaker 4: years of saying I want him, I want him, I

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Speaker 4: want him, now you're getting it.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, like the first thing, like we've been in

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Speaker 1: the ring, we've had several multiman matches at this point,

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Speaker 1: you know, like over five probably I can't even count

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Speaker 1: right now, but uh, just from like the first you

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Speaker 1: get in, it's just like I want to see what

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Speaker 1: this guy's all about. I want to see how he moves,

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Speaker 1: because like I've watched the matches for the past like

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Speaker 1: fifteen years from you know him and Kodobushi and DDT

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Speaker 1: all the way up through his new Japan run with

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Speaker 1: the matches Litkata and stuff like that and everything he's

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Speaker 1: done in aew with like Brian Danielson and everybody else,

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Speaker 1: Like his resume speaks for itself. So it's just when

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Speaker 1: you're watching that and you're seeing the response he's getting

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Speaker 1: from fans and everything, and the second we locked up,

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Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, it's all justified. This guy's this

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Speaker 1: guy's on a completely different level. It's exactly as advertised.

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Speaker 1: And I was just like, I guess, you know, I

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Speaker 1: got to up my game a little bit. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've done a lot of hard work in the first

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Speaker 1: ten months since I've been in aew and now you know,

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Speaker 1: culminating finally in this singles match, me one on one

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Speaker 1: with Kenny Omega, the match that I've demanded and wanted

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Speaker 1: for so long. You know, I had to go as

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Speaker 1: far as breaking his best friend's leg and to do

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Speaker 1: all these things to get his attention. But here I

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Speaker 1: am walking into Orlando for Diamond on Wednesday and night

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Speaker 1: finally with a singles match Keny Omega.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm so excited to see that. You know, the

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Speaker 5: don Kallis family gets a lot of heat, but you know,

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Speaker 5: twenty twenty five was a huge year, so the results

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Speaker 5: speak for themselves. You know, what are the main goals

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Speaker 5: for the don Kallis family? Uh? In twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 5: And what do you say to the critics and the

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Speaker 5: you know, oh another members in the you know, what

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Speaker 5: do you say to all the naysayers?

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Speaker 1: I would just say that the goal is the exact

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Speaker 1: same thing it's been, you know, the past, probably all

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Speaker 1: last year. You know. It started off as just a

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Speaker 1: way to you know, defeat Kenny Omega and put Kenny

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Speaker 1: Omega down. That that was like the reason why don

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Speaker 1: Kallis kind of birthed the don Kallis family. But now

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Speaker 1: it's kind of morphed into this thing where we just

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Speaker 1: want to establish that we're the greatest stable or collection

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Speaker 1: of talent in this company. I mean there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of stables around there, you know what I mean from

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Speaker 1: there seems to be groups all over the place. But

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Speaker 1: we want to be the top dogs. And the way

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Speaker 1: you do that is to collect all the gold and

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Speaker 1: get all the power, and with power comes money and money,

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Speaker 1: and you know that's everything done. So we're we're well

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Speaker 1: on our way, I think. So we have a I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you if you hold up let's be honest here, guys,

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Speaker 1: if we hold this up side by side with the

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Speaker 1: other groups in the company, I think the pure collection

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Speaker 1: of talent in the John Collis family is you know.

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Speaker 5: Bar none staggering would probably be accurate.

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Speaker 4: And it doesn't seem like you're slowing down adding new

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Speaker 4: members every week. It seems like there's somebody new getting

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Speaker 4: added to the Don Collis family and it's been fun

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Speaker 4: to watch for short of course AW Dynamite Tomorrow Nights

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Speaker 4: Orlando eight seven Central, TBS, HBO Max. You look at

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Speaker 4: the other stacked lineup on this card. You've got Swear

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Speaker 4: strick Lem and Kevin Knights, Samoa Joe and Speedball Bailey.

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Speaker 3: I want to know from the you because as of lately, we've.

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Speaker 4: Seen aew bring in a lot of new talent, some

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Speaker 4: that you know very very well from your TNA days.

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Speaker 4: What's it like sharing a locker room with some of

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Speaker 4: your old colleagues in a whole new setting.

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Speaker 1: Well, but the second I heard about Jake Something joining

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Speaker 1: the donk House family and AW altogether, now you know

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Speaker 1: Jake Doyle, uh, it put this immense smile on my face.

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Speaker 1: That guy has been one of my best friends for

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Speaker 1: the past you know, six seven years, one of the

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Speaker 1: my favorite people in any wrestling locker room I've ever

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Speaker 1: been in. We just we enjoy the same things. We

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Speaker 1: like to work out, we like to eat steak, you know,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, We've always got on really well, so

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Speaker 1: I think it was a matchmate and having especially with

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Speaker 1: him tagging up with Mark Davis. I think you're looking

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Speaker 1: at like a new age version of you know, Hansen

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Speaker 1: and Gordy when they get just smashing people around. So

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Speaker 1: I'm elated to see it. But like even Wednesday, when

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Speaker 1: I walked down, you know, to get on the bus

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Speaker 1: to go to the show, and I saw the Rascals

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Speaker 1: sitting there, I was just like, man, you know, this

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Speaker 1: is this is great, this is like you know, it's

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Speaker 1: just sleeve ship. Yeah, Steve Macklin was trying to phone

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Speaker 1: phone call me so well, speaking of old friends.

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Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, I'll just blame all this on him then,

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Speaker 5: so well, you know. Another thing we're very excited about

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Speaker 5: was the recent announcement for Global Wars Canada, which you

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Speaker 5: will be a part of. It is a landmark joint

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Speaker 5: event between AW and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, along with

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Speaker 5: several other promotions around the world. With you being the

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Speaker 5: Maple Leaf Champion at the moment, what can fans expect

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Speaker 5: from this international showcase coming down from Windsor, Ontario.

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Speaker 1: So I always like fantasy booked a show that I

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Speaker 1: was going to run one day. I was going to

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Speaker 1: run like a weekend long tournament and I was going

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Speaker 1: to book the very best talent in Canada against the

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Speaker 1: very best talent from around the world. And that was

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Speaker 1: just my like brainchild of how I'm going to highlight

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Speaker 1: Canadian wrestling. And you know, soon after that, MLP started

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Speaker 1: and we started doing this stuff, and I guess great

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Speaker 1: minds think alike because Scott kind of had the same

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Speaker 1: thing in mind. You know, it's not just a way

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Speaker 1: to showcase MLP or you know the specific talent on

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Speaker 1: the show, you know, coming from all over the world,

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Speaker 1: you know like New Japan, cmll aw, Ring of Honor,

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Speaker 1: all these different places. I think it's much like my

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Speaker 1: little brainschild that I had that I never had the

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Speaker 1: balls to actually do. This is a way to highlight

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Speaker 1: Canadian wrestling, and that's something that you know, I have

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Speaker 1: to be a part of that. So the reason the

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Speaker 1: reason I'm an MLP, the reason you know I thought

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Speaker 1: so hard to win that championship is because I've kind

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Speaker 1: of been the flag bearer for Canadian wrestling for the

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Speaker 1: past you know, five ten years, whatever it might say,

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Speaker 1: because I've been the one, you know, hit the pavement

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Speaker 1: on the independence and stuff like that, trying to see

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Speaker 1: which talent's out there around Canada that needs to get noticed.

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Speaker 1: And you know, that's how I discovered guys like Judas

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Speaker 1: Icarus and Travis Williams and so on and so forth,

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Speaker 1: who are now you know, in CNA. But I just

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Speaker 1: think it's a it's a great opportunity for Canadian wrestling

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Speaker 1: fans and wrestling fans around the world to be able

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Speaker 1: to see Canadian wrestlers and what they're capable of, because

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Speaker 1: there's a ton of talent up here and we don't

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Speaker 1: get seen for a lot of reasons.

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Speaker 4: Right Yeah, And you're definitely gonna be seen now with

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Speaker 4: all eyes on it, with with you know, the partnership

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Speaker 4: with R O.

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Speaker 3: H and AW and everything else.

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Speaker 4: One thing that a lot of people have been asking

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Speaker 4: and they've talked about because you've worked with Scott Demore

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Speaker 4: and of course Jade and if there's a chance that

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Speaker 4: that it came up, would you want to see them

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Speaker 4: in that AE W R O H fould And if so,

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Speaker 4: what would they add?

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Speaker 1: I would absolutely hop to see it. I mean Scott's

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Speaker 1: one thing. I mean, he might take offense more if

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Speaker 1: I said no to that than my wife.

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Speaker 3: But I'm down on traveling for you guys too.

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Speaker 1: You know, absolutely no, Uh I would. I mean I

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Speaker 1: think my wife for first and foremost. You know, she trance.

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Speaker 1: Uh sorry, she like, uh sorry, I'm missing the word

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Speaker 1: right now for some reason. But uh. She she like

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Speaker 1: changed her whole career from a wrestling manager into being

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Speaker 1: a ring announcer just because they asked her to try it.

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Speaker 1: And you know, she was worried about it. She's like, oh,

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Speaker 1: I'll give it a try. I've never done it. We'll see.

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Speaker 1: And like she went to voice voice lessons for a

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Speaker 1: year and she's still going to this day, even though

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Speaker 1: she's not doing it anymore. But like, she did all

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Speaker 1: this hard work, and I think, you know, the hard

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Speaker 1: work showed and what she was able to do as

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Speaker 1: a ring announcer, Like she was getting praised from a

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Speaker 1: lot of people from around the industry that have been

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Speaker 1: in the industry for a very long time. So I

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Speaker 1: think it'd be a terrible waste of her talents to

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Speaker 1: not see her do what she you know, now, loves

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Speaker 1: to do and is now confident in doing at a

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Speaker 1: bigger company, and AW would be a very good place

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Speaker 1: for that. And Scott Timore, like, I mean, the man

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Speaker 1: has helped me more than anybody else in the wrestling history.

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Speaker 1: You know. He saw something in me when a lot

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Speaker 1: of people didn't gave me an opportunity and when a

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Speaker 1: lot of people didn't And the only reason I'm sitting

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Speaker 1: here in this you know house that I'm able to

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Speaker 1: put over my children's heads is because of Scott to

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Speaker 1: morgan me those opportunities and me making the best of them.

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Speaker 1: So I owe that guy so much and I would

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Speaker 1: love to see him anywhere.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I think one of the biggest things with Jade's

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Speaker 5: Ruyn announced it being the official announcer with Impact Slash

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Speaker 5: TNA was just, you know how limited amount of experience

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Speaker 5: she had, you know, kind of like taking it, you know,

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Speaker 5: taking the fish water. I don't know if that's the

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Speaker 5: same anyways, you know, like she just it just seemed

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Speaker 5: natural to her. So yeah, I think it'd be very well,

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Speaker 5: it'd be very good to see her on a very

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Speaker 5: larger platform at some point. So uh, speaking of don

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Speaker 5: Kallis family again, You're close to both Fletcher and to Catch,

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Speaker 5: but lately things of being little tints, to say the least.

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Speaker 5: What's your read on what's really happening there between them

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Speaker 5: two together, and then as it relates to the family, I.

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Speaker 1: Mean, I don't quite know. I mean, everything that you

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Speaker 1: saw transpire on collision kind of just happened right in

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Speaker 1: front of my eyes, and I didn't really ask any

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Speaker 1: questions afterwards. But if you want my opinion, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to say that. You know, I've been known as an

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Speaker 1: alpha in the wrestling community from time to time. I

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Speaker 1: think the alpha Canosi Tiqush has also been known as one.

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Speaker 1: Kyle is knocking at the door to be one of

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Speaker 1: those top dogs too, And I think when you get

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Speaker 1: a bunch of top dogs in the same faction, everybody's

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Speaker 1: kind of we're all competitives at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: so you know, we all want one thing. We all

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Speaker 1: want those championships. We all want to, you know, stake

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Speaker 1: our claim as being the best, and it's kind of

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Speaker 1: tough to do that when two, three, four, five of

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Speaker 1: the very best are in the same groups. So I mean,

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Speaker 1: tensions will rise. But I think that's what Don's very

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Speaker 1: good at I think Don can cool the waters and

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Speaker 1: steady the ship, you know, and keep us all on track.

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Speaker 1: So I have faith in done.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.

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Speaker 4: And of course, uh, tomorrow night man, Big night for

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Speaker 4: you you Kenny omego one on one aew Dynamite live

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Speaker 4: from Orlando. Of course you're gonna be able to watch

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Speaker 4: that on TBS at HBO Max eight seven Central. Now,

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Speaker 4: you know, you've been very open about this. Your neck

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Speaker 4: injury in twenty fifteen could have ended, you know, your career,

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Speaker 4: but you turn that into a turning point. What did

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Speaker 4: that moment teach you about wrestling and life?

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Speaker 1: It might be the exact same thing for both, but

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Speaker 1: you know, it's just that persistence pays off. You know.

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Speaker 1: I've always said when people ask me this question that

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Speaker 1: I just followed my heart. Wrestling made me happy, and

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Speaker 1: without it, I was not happy. So everything I possibly

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Speaker 1: could to make sure that I could keep doing it,

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Speaker 1: and I still do to this day. But you know,

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Speaker 1: over the course of my twenty plus years in the

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Speaker 1: wrestling business, I have seen some immensely talented wrestlers. I'm

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Speaker 1: talking people that you know, I would think, if they

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Speaker 1: kept wrestling, would be on the level of the will

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Speaker 1: Osprays and all these people that are heralded around the world,

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Speaker 1: but they quit for whatever reason. Because any industry you

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Speaker 1: get in it's tough. But wrestling, this is a subjective business.

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Speaker 1: You could be the very best at what you do

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Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, you're not getting opportunities when you

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Speaker 1: think other people might be along the way, and that

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Speaker 1: can break your heart time and time again. And it's

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Speaker 1: just persistence pays off and that that's something like I

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Speaker 1: tell my sons that to this day, anytime they get

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Speaker 1: let down, it's like, get back up, keep moving forward.

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Speaker 1: If you want if you really want this, you have

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Speaker 1: to be persistent, you have to keep pushing because nobody's

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Speaker 1: going to give it to you. You got to take it.

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Speaker 5: So I got chillups.

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Speaker 3: That was good.

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Speaker 1: That's a good one. Yeah, awesome.

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Speaker 5: So not to put you on the spot, but we

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Speaker 5: kind of had a little a little fun quiz for

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Speaker 5: you see what you can do. We were gonna see

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Speaker 5: how many Don Kallis family members you can name in

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Speaker 5: sixty seconds.

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Speaker 1: You up for it, I'll give it a try.

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Speaker 2: Are you ready?

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Speaker 1: Oh?

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Speaker 3: Three?

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Speaker 1: Two women go, Kyle Ocatta ta Qushta, Rocky Trent Brian Cage,

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Speaker 1: Lance Archer, hitch A Sero, myself, El Klan. Oh there's more,

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Speaker 1: there's more. Who haven't I said? I mean, this is

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Speaker 1: gonna be like a dead air thirty seconds.

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Speaker 3: Don Kallas, there's ten?

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Speaker 1: Don I thought I had said already, I swear yeah.

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Speaker 1: Oh Doyle Davis, Oh I missing offend so many people?

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Speaker 3: Did we say andrada yet? I know we're passing.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Andrade? Sorry, yeah, no, my bad. This is

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Speaker 1: all very fresh guys.

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Speaker 5: Okay, I'm going to stop it there. I think you

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Speaker 5: named them all. Well, okay, so the one I don't

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Speaker 5: think you named which will give you a pass is Wardlow,

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Speaker 5: which we have not seen in a while. Yeah, honestly,

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Speaker 5: he might have got injured before you join. I don't

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Speaker 5: remember when he got injured. It may have been you

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Speaker 5: guys hadn't passed each other in the hallways.

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Speaker 1: He was back for forbidden door, and then we haven't

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Speaker 1: seen him again since. So I think he's doing some

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Speaker 1: Hollywood stuff or something.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, but that was very impressive. That was you knocked

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Speaker 5: off like eight in like four seconds.

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Speaker 1: He knocked about real quick. So well, this is a

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Speaker 1: common conversation every few weeks and be like how many

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Speaker 1: members are there? And I'll be like and then you know,

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Speaker 1: I have to fight for the last three like I did.

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Speaker 5: But it's almost like a conglomerate. You gotta have a

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Speaker 5: weekly sales meeting and like, Okay, here's the roster this week,

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Speaker 5: and here's the goals this week.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Well, as we're kind of coming up towards the end

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Speaker 4: of the interview, I know you got to get ready

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Speaker 4: for the big match against Omega. I know one thing

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Speaker 4: that that has always been talked about, and you've mentioned

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Speaker 4: this as well, that you did turn down a deal

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Speaker 4: with another company. What made you stick to the path

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Speaker 4: that you're on now compared to going to that that

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Speaker 4: NXT deal that you are offered that you've talked about

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Speaker 4: in past interviews.

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Speaker 1: At the time, TNA was under a different management than

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Speaker 1: it is now, and it was a different management than

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Speaker 1: it was for the majority of the time I was there, obviously,

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Speaker 1: and the guy in charge that was dealing with you know,

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Speaker 1: the back and forth of all that, I did not

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Speaker 1: agree with any of his business practices whatsoever, So that

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Speaker 1: kind of soured me on it, and it kind of

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Speaker 1: there was things done to to make me look bad

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Speaker 1: that you know, I've cleared up obviously since, but I

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Speaker 1: just didn't appreciate it. So that was like one thing

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Speaker 1: that just kind of soured me on the whole process.

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Speaker 1: And then in talking to them and stuff like that,

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Speaker 1: I just I just always thought I'm a guy that

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Speaker 1: follows my gut, you know what I mean, Like I'll

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Speaker 1: have a bad gut feeling. I'd be like something bad's

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Speaker 1: gonna happen today, and all of a sudden, you know,

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Speaker 1: my son, you know, falls at school and I have

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Speaker 1: to go pick them up or something. You know, I

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Speaker 1: just I trust my gut and I just had a

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Speaker 1: really good gut feeling about aw from the second they

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Speaker 1: came to the table and started talking to me, they

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Speaker 1: were very interested and you know, they just like laid

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Speaker 1: out the welcome that for me, and it was just like,

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Speaker 1: if they want me this bad, then they're going to

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Speaker 1: appreciate the things that I can do for them. And

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Speaker 1: I can, you know, do things to make the money,

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Speaker 1: be it you know, promos, pre tapes, matches, anything like that,

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Speaker 1: if they can appreciate the work ethic that I put

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Speaker 1: into this to try to pay them pay them back

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Speaker 1: for you know, taking a chance on me. And signing me.

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Speaker 1: Then hell, yeah, that's a good relationship for me, and

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Speaker 1: a ton of my friends are here already, and it

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Speaker 1: just it seemed like a fit right away.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, perfect fit for you.

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Speaker 4: Last question that we have, and here's here's a fun

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Speaker 4: one to end it.

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Speaker 3: You go to Tony Kahan.

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Speaker 4: And you say, hey, man, I really want to come

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Speaker 4: out to this song that's not my theme song and

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Speaker 4: it's a band or whatever. Who are you picking to

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Speaker 4: do your theme song for one night only?

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Speaker 1: You know? Okay, So the twelve year old of me

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Speaker 1: would Picklympiscuit right away, of course, just because wrestling it

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Speaker 1: was like olymp Biscuit, corn disturbed, all these things. But

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Speaker 1: if I was gonna pick like the one for me

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Speaker 1: as you know, the guy that is representing Canadian wrestling

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Speaker 1: and always has, I'm gonna say Nickelback all day long

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Speaker 1: because they got a bad un man.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I love Nickelback and I'm not ashamed.

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Speaker 3: To say it's same.

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Speaker 5: I try to find an old R Lady Peace song.

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Speaker 5: They didn't really get the I don't think they got

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Speaker 5: the acclaim they should have over here in the States.

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Speaker 5: They were really big for about three.

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Speaker 1: Years and then they just they were huge up here.

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Speaker 3: But oh yeah, yeah, I know, man, they were massive.

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Speaker 4: Josh Alexander coming out to nickelback. What if he comes

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Speaker 4: out to like photograph just throws everybody.

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Speaker 3: Off of his demeanor like what what is this?

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Speaker 4: Or oh man, well, Josh Alexander, it's always an honor

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Speaker 4: and or privileged to have you here on the show

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Speaker 4: with us. And before we let you go, anything you

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Speaker 4: want to say to the fans watching or listening to

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Speaker 4: this right now, just keep.

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Speaker 1: Tuning in the dynamite and collision and all aw content

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Speaker 1: and I'll keep you know, either talking into a camera

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Speaker 1: not blinking. Ll you see, you know, random people getting

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Speaker 1: thrown behind me? Or I'll be up in the ring

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Speaker 1: with Kenny Omega on Wednesday night