WEBVTT - Story Time with Ariel Helwani 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:08.440 M M. What's up everybody? Welcome back to Wrestling with Freddie. Today, 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.680 we have a special guest because he's a fan of 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:16.400 wrestling just like me. He may have zero zero in 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:21.040 ring experience, however, he's known across the world. In Mexico 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:25.439 they call him Elnarie, In Colombia they call him what 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.520 they also call him Elnars and everywhere else he's known 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.680 as the Great Hill. Wanni. Now stopping up to the mic, 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:40.560 the host of Wrestling with Freddie, Freddie Prince, Junior, Ladies 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.720 and gentlemen, A good friend of the show, Mr Ariel 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.600 Hall Wanni. How are you, sir? Oh? I'm doing so well. 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.000 It is such an honor to be here. I would 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.360 argue that I'm the biggest fan of this program. My 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.480 routine is every Wednesday morning as I drive to do 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.160 my show the May Hour, I listened to you and 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:00.360 I love story Time with Freddy. I mean, you are 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.920 one of the all time great storytellers. The ends are great, 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.440 A J. Lee's great, all the stuff, But to hear 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.319 you tell these stories with the passion and the detail 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.759 and the exuberance of something that happened eleven years ago. 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.520 You're telling it to us like it happened yesterday. It's amazing. 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:17.720 I love everything about it. I can't get enough. I'm 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:19.720 sad when it and so it's a huge honor for 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.800 me to be here. You, uh, you've encouraged me a 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.000 lot through this process. I told you about this project 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.959 before I told anyone outside my wife. UM, and you've 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.640 been so good to me throughout this and I appreciate 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:36.600 your advice and and just and just you saying yes 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:38.400 and come in to talk today. I always have fun 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.840 when I go and do your show. Um. I wish 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:42.920 I was like a regular guest that came in and 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:44.920 did like your bets or something, but I don't know 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:48.920 anything about gambling, so that wouldn't work out well. But 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.520 I'm glad to have you on because you love professional wrestling. 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.440 And I learned this by watching your show and seeing 0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:00.240 you and the great Daniel Cormier go in on one 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.240 of the one of the great ones. Oh no the 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.080 rocks the great one, but one of the one of 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.560 the also great ones book or t and you guys 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.280 didn't back down at all. You were good on the mike. 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.040 You were like they had these old school manager eighties 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.360 vibes where I was just like, oh my, this is 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:20.040 like he's in the Crockett territory right now. Um, when 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:22.600 did you fall in love with wrestling? Well, first of all, 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.880 what a great compliment. Um, before it's all said and done, 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.280 before this journey called life is done, I would I 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:30.560 would love just just one time, just let me be 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.480 that old school he'll manager. I would love to do it. 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:36.880 And I think Daniel Cormier would be a perfect guy 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.079 because of his you know, his chops as the All American, 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.720 the Olympia and all that stuff. Um. So I've grown 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.720 up admiring those guys, in particular Bobby the Brain, the Slickster, 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.880 Mr Fuji, Paul Hayman, m v P. Now I love 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.560 those guys, uh. I remember, I mean my earliest days 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.600 just as a human being involved wrestling, Like I remember 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:01.400 vividly being at Avenue Video in Montreal in TMR shopping center. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.160 None of your listeners except for the ones I grew 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:05.000 up in Montreal will know what I'm talking about. And 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.720 there was the WrestleMania one box with Mr ten Hull 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.400 Hogan and I remember renting it, um, and I was 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.600 four years old. It was probably eighties six that I 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.520 rented it. It It happened in eighty five, of course, but 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:17.800 I was four and eighties six, and I remember telling 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:19.440 my parents I wanted to rent this. And then I 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.760 had a massive box of lj N toys, the old 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.560 school ones, right, you know, like the rubber ones, massive box, 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.680 and I would record cards, like I would put the 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.760 cam quarter next to the ring, and I would like 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:33.400 lay out all the guys and I would do a 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.600 whole card. I would let it run for like two hours, 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:37.040 and I would do all the matches, would sit there 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.600 with my legs cross and do all the matches, and so, 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.760 you know, like my my first memories of being a 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.119 fan of anything is me being a pro wresting fan. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.520 I'll never forget first grade, my birthday. They're having a 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.040 house show at the Montreal Forum on a Friday night, 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.839 and everyone in school was talking about it. Everyone was saying, 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:56.800 they're going, They're going, and I wasn't going, and I 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.680 was so bummed. I remember my friend wore a Hercules 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.000 t shirt to school and I remember being so jealous 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.440 that I wasn't going. And I remember that Friday night 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.240 playing soccer with my brothers in the basement, and I 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.280 remember seeing it was a basement. We had like some 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.680 windows at the top and I remember seeing some some 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.360 like legs walking by and I was like, wait a second, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:16.880 I think that's my and I'm in the first grade. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.400 I think that's my friends shoes up there. So I 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.800 run upstairs and all my friends are waiting for me 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.080 in our kitchen. My parents got us all tickets to 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:27.880 the Muntreal for him to go to the house show, 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.279 my first event live and I'll never forget my favorite 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:32.440 guy with Brett to him and Heart. And he went 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.640 up against Mr Perfect and they went the distance and 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.159 Brett was dead tired. He rolled over Mr Perfect and 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:43.200 it went one too and the bell went off and 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:45.400 they went to the time limit, and so it ended 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.159 up being a draw. Like I remember this in my 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.320 brain when I was a kid, and I would get shot. 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.159 Sorry for going along, but I get passionate when I 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:53.520 talk about this. My mom said to me, think of 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.400 something you love to make you not think of the shot. 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.200 And I my choice was Bret Heart went in the 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.760 World Championship before he ever wanted for the first time. 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:04.839 That's what I would pick to make me feel happy 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.080 and forget about the shot. So these are my early 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.480 memories of being a wrestling fan and wife, so finally 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.679 of it. So what you said in the very beginning 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.000 of the podcast where you said you just like to 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.080 sit back and listen because it feels like yesterday, that's 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.320 literally what you just did. And it always brings me 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.880 back to the magic of professional wrestling. And we're of 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:30.719 an age pre Montreal screw job, which I wanna get 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.720 into with you, because you had the pleasure or the 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.080 displeasure depending on how you look at it, of actually 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:41.240 being there. But when I was a kid, it was magical, 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.800 it was real. I've never had a bad memory from 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:50.320 a professional wrestling show ever, and so when I even 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:52.440 when I worked there, and even on days that we're 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.479 awful days like I still remember sneaking away, like into 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.360 the side holes where like guys would do run ins 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.719 and stuff, and I just watched the matches for free, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.920 basically because as a kid we couldn't really even though 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.800 the most affordable ticket my dad earned money for a 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:09.919 year and I promised we didn't get any of it, 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.320 so we grew up with nothing. Man, my mom worked 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:16.000 two jobs, so wrestling was sort of where I found 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:20.040 my father. Figures, right, the guys I I've always wanted 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:21.839 to be big, and I just want to be giant 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.280 and buff just once. It just wasn't in the genetic 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.880 pool for me. But I worshiped those guys, and then 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.760 when I got to meet some of them and see 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:36.440 their humanity and relate to him, it made it. This 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.080 will sound weird to everyone but you or other wrestling fans, 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.440 it made the investment that I put in emotionally all 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:47.040 worthwhile because the Undertaker was awesome, because the Big Show 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:51.040 was awesome, because Sergeant Slaughter was awesome, even though he 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.200 turned us back on America. Um. But it was a 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:56.800 magical moment for me, and I didn't get to go 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:01.719 see a show until post Montreal Screwjob. I'm wondering, I 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.720 want now if you could. This is the only thing 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.560 you have that I'm jealous of. Okay, yeah, I'm not 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.160 jealous of your martial arts connections. I got martial arts 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.240 connections to baby, I'm not. I'm not jealous of your 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.400 Canadian connections. I got Canadian homies to shout out Keith 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:20.560 calub Um. But you got to go to the match 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:24.720 of all matches, the most discussed match in the history 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.880 of wrestling, all around the world, regardless of what country 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:32.000 you're from. Um, you were at the Montreal screw job. 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.400 Can you do you remember what the day was? Like? 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:36.560 Do you remember? Tell me? Ever, what did you eat 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:41.600 for breakfast? Like? What what happened? Makes crazy about that story? Um? 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:48.200 So eighties hardcore wrestling fan, hardcore hardcore hardcore around ninety four. Now, 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.920 I actually fall out of love with wrestling, and I 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.679 fall in love with the NBA. I was a huge 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:57.600 NBA fan. That was my big thing. So like I 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.160 started to love like n B A and F. I 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.240 was a big Knicks fan. They were having a great year. 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.560 The Bills were my favorite football team. I was a 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.400 huge Montreal expost baseball fan. So like I really started 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.760 to get involved in um, like the regular sports, right, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.240 So like that era of and it was kind of 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.600 like an up and down era for you know, w 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.280 WF at the time they're they're they're trying to figure 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.320 themselves out. Here comes you know, WCW all that stuff. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:28.239 And so I'm actually um at my driving lessons course, 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.600 right and side note about me? As you like to say, 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:32.960 what do you like to say? What's the what do 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.480 you say when side quest? Uh? So I don't know 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:39.720 how it is where you grew up in Quebec. You 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.640 have to pass your permit and then pass your actual 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.200 test as a driver. Failed the permit twice, got it 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.040 on the third time, failed the test four times, got 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:50.800 it on the fifth time. I had to go back 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.160 eight times total to get this damn license. Um. Anyway, 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:56.840 one of the times, I'm sitting with my good friend 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.280 Jason Tacofman and we're in the cafeteria after I failed 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:04.439 another test of my permit, and he's telling me that 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.400 the Survivor series is coming to Montreal in November. Now, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.520 no pay per view had ever come to Montreal, and 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.679 I'm pretty sure at that point, I mean, there was 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.400 maybe one or two in Canada, but never came to Montreal. 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:19.640 And I grew up. The pay per views are never 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.079 available live, like I remember vividly trying to find WrestleMania 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.760 six somewhere and not being able to find it live 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:27.439 like I would always have to wait till the following 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.160 Saturday afternoon Maple Leaf Wrestling, you know, me and Jean 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.040 would go through the results and then I would have 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.439 to wait a month till it came out Coliseum Home video. 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:37.240 So like the fact that a pay per view was 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.640 coming to Matreal, even though I wasn't really following the 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.240 product with mind blowing, and we said we had to go, 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.800 so we bought tickets and we went. So he brings 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.560 me up to speed. Now we're at this ninety seven 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.920 and fifteen. The internet is just starting right, and so 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.360 we're somewhat aware of what's going on, but we're not 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.959 so aware. And I'll never forget. I remember where I 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.120 went to dinner the night before, actually a restaurant called 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.760 Weinstein and Gavino was in downtown Montreal, Like I remember 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.360 everything about that weekend, and I remember going and the 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:07.080 first thing I hit me were all the signs in 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.959 the crowd, because again I hadn't really been watching the product, 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.120 so it was the air of like all the Neon signs, 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:13.600 and I'm like, what the hell is this? Like this 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.559 wasn't a thing five years ago. And I remember like 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.760 a few things hit me, the oddities. I was like, whoa, 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.600 these dudes came out with like a cartman doll and 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.600 stuff that's freaking weird. I remember Sable. I'll be honest, 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.000 I'm fifteen years old, and like this woman comes out 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:28.880 in the leather outfit and you're like, holy sh it, 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:30.600 this is not the wrestling that I grew up in 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:32.400 in the eighties, Like it was like mind blowing for 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.240 a teenager. Um And so I remember Sonny, I remember 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.880 all these things. I remember Kane, and then I remember 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.280 the main event, and now, so Bret Hart was my favorite, 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:42.640 like my first favorite athlete, right, I love this guy, 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.720 I leave was everything that I wanted to be Canadian superherot, 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.080 the coolest glasses, the pink I love pink till this day, 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.440 the hair, everything, and so I and I know Sean Michaels. 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.440 Of course I hated Sean Michael's and so the people 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.960 around us were telling us what was going on, and 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:58.959 there were rumors that this was gonna be the last match, 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:00.920 and then of course it ends. Now when you're high 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.000 up like I was, you're not really quite sure, like 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.520 did he tap? Did he not tap? Like I can't 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.600 pretend like I knew exactly what Earl Hevner did, But 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.880 I sure as hell stayed till the very end, and 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:15.760 I remember vividly him trashing everything, trashing the monitors, trashing 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.120 the announced table, and then I remember him doing w 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.520 c W with his hands, you know, with his finger, 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:22.280 and I was like, what the hell this is nuts? 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.600 And so like this is like a Sunday night, and 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.480 you know, I'm in high school and stuff. I go 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.600 home and I'll never forget going into my basement and 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.160 being like open. The world of internet wrestling just hit 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.679 me scoops Wrestling dot Com and rajah w W and 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.760 reading everything, and that ignited and then I became a 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.080 bigger fan than I ever was. And I remember Brett 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.520 screwed bread and all this stuff, and so it was funny, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.680 like it was my reintroduction and it was also what 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.000 got me to fall in love once again with progressing 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.760 and get so far into it more so than I 0:11:54.800 --> 0:12:07.760 was as a kid. Okay, so that's gonna lead me 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:09.840 to my next thing, because it's a it's a section 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.360 of wrestling that you and I disagree on. But for 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.040 those who are listening that that and I hear this 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:17.520 a lot on social media, They're like, I don't know 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.839 anything about wrestling. I just like hearing these stories. What 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:25.560 Ariel just shared with you is so significant in the 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:30.040 wrestling business because every single thing about it changed until 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:34.960 this moment. People within the industry did not comment on 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.679 the fact that it was choreographed and the results were predetermined. 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:43.640 It just wasn't discussed. People outside the business did. And 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:48.360 all of a sudden on a promoter is gonna lose 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.080 his top wrestler to his competitors. So it's like the 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:56.080 Lakers losing Shack to the Celtics. Brett hated this man 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.120 so much that he refused to do it. So the 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.720 owner of the company, Vince McMahon, makes a choice that 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.640 in a submission hold, he's just gonna tell the ref 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.160 say that Bret Hart tapped and get me my title back. 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:13.040 And they actually freaking did this. And every wrestling fan 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.400 on earth has obsessed over this. Every person in the 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.640 business have done like four hour like deep dives on this. 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.679 And you're getting to hear it from someone who is 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:28.200 actually there, and you said, this moment is what brought 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.720 you back and you fell in love with what was 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.520 known and still is known as the Attitude era of wrestling. 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:38.520 Am I right? That is? I mean like at that 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.800 point now was all in. By the way, I don't 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.200 know if you've ever seen the documentary Wrestling with Shadows Um, 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.760 but it's about that story and and on the building 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.760 I mean the access that those guys got. I've seen 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:53.680 that documentary maybe fifteen times. I love Maybe my Dad 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.400 and Beyond the Mat probably my two favorite wrestling documentaries. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.440 So if there's any non wrestling fans listening to this, 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.839 I high the suggest those and yes. So at that point, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.520 like I'm all in in Canada at the time, in Montreal, 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.320 we didn't even get Raw live. Raw would come on 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:10.679 sometimes at eleven, sometimes at twelve, sometimes at one am. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.200 So it was like it was really tough in those 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.880 days to be a fan, and you guys were really 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:16.640 lucky that you would get things live. You would get 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:18.880 Nitro live, Like we didn't get that stuff live. Only 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.640 like late nineties didn't start to become, you know, a 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:23.880 thing where it would actually be live for us as well. 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.200 My family got a satellite dish, so it became easier. 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.120 When I was in college, I was so lonely and 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.360 I was so homesick, and I had horrendous social anxiety 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.440 to the point where like when I was living in 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.480 a dorm my my first year, I would wait till 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.400 like two three am until I heard no one in 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.760 the hallways just to go brush my teeth. So I 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.440 wouldn't have to interact with anyone. I would eat almonds 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:47.840 for dinner because I didn't want to go to the 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.560 cafeteria and have dinner around any kids. My only friend 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.440 with pro wrestling. I watched everything. I would even order 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.520 Wednesday night ten A pay per views if you remember 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:01.320 that every Wednesday they would do the team I would 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:07.920 watch that Ciena SmackDown Raw. I was watching old w CW. 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.040 I was going back into the archives finding it like 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:12.840 that was my only friend. In fact, I had speech um, 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:17.000 a persuasive speech. Final. My persuasive speech was, I am 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:22.080 going to persuade you to order WWF Judgment Day this 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.360 Sunday because it was the first time that both belts 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.080 were gonna be on the line. Chris Jericho ends up 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.440 becoming the you know, the undisputed champion. That was my 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:32.920 project and I got an a for it. That was like, 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.800 that's how hardcore I was about wrestling at that time. 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:38.320 So uh yeah, it was great, Like that era was 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.360 amazing and it's it's it's a it's a thing that 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.600 I hold near and dear to my heart. I want 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:45.360 to back up for a second. Why do you think 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.720 you got so this was college Why do you think 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.320 you got so lonely? Was it? Did loneliness lead you 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.840 to wrestling? Or were there not wrestling fans They're wrestling 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.880 Midge led to the loneliness? What. I'm sure there were 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:58.800 fans that I could have bonded with, that I could 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.080 have watched things with. I was. I am very very 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.720 close to my parents, and I'm very close to my mom, 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:09.080 and uh, I wanted to go live this dream of 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.640 going to see I'm very goal oriented and and I believe, like, 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:14.760 you know, you only get one life, and I don't 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:17.240 want to be eighty five and regret that, you know, 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.240 I didn't go for it, and I was. I was 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:23.000 taken by the magic of TV and like getting beamed 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.440 into someone's home and people sitting around and watching you 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:27.560 and your you know Howard Cosell right, Like I grew 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:32.360 up idolizing these people. So, um, I wanted to go, 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.600 and I knew I had to go, but it would 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.920 break my heart seeing her cry when I would leave. 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.560 It would break my heart. Um missing like my friends 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.600 in the community that I grew up in Montreal, no 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.440 one goes away to college, Like it's not a part 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.920 of the culture. All my friends, stayed home, lived at home, 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.800 went in party together, like I missed everything, and so 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.960 I just felt really really um out of place, and 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.080 I felt like I was like sacrificing the person to 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:03.680 life for the professional dream. And I just it was crippling. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:05.960 I mean, I went to see a therapist that didn't 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.199 work out. It was it was really really it was 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.280 the worst three years of my life. If I didn't 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:11.800 do it, I don't know if I end up where 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:13.560 I am now. So I'm glad that I did it. 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.520 But I mean that this was like, you know, get 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.440 the f out time, you know, this was like Wrestleman twenty, 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.200 Like wrestling was the one friend. I mean, I had 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.439 stacks of tapes. It was all I did, all I watched, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.040 all I thought about. It was the only thing that 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.440 got my mind off of how depressed I was. It's 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:37.399 it's crazy the emotional sacrifice that has to be made 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.960 on a daily basis to pursue what people call a 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:45.480 crazy dream, right like, to to to accomplish something that 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:49.680 big requires an amount of selfishness. And I don't mean 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:51.520 that in a bad way. I just mean you have 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:55.760 to focus on self. The goal oriented people. I think 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.439 understand this, and it's usually the people I click with 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:00.720 the most. And oddly enough, every one of our guests 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.679 have kind of broken this down similarly to to the 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.679 way you have. Um, but this I remember when I 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.480 was a young actor and booking movies and they didn't 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.399 shoot anything in Hollywood anymore because of tax breaks and 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.199 other states and countries and things like that, and I 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:19.239 had to leave everything that made me comfortable. I my 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:21.960 godfather was Bob Wall who we just lost last week. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.520 He passed away. Um oh no, you know. He was 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.920 a wonderful man and and introduced me to so many, 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.840 so many other father figures that I had in my life, 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.919 but he was the most predominant one for certain. But 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.520 I remember having to leave him and his wife and 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.879 my two god sisters for my first movie. And it 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.359 was a small nothing bar Bro. I had like three 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.080 little scenes, but it was a Michelle fight for movies. 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.640 So I was excited and I only I was there 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:54.120 like six weeks. I only worked like four days, and 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.280 every other day was just loneliness. There was no cell phone, 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.280 there was no anything back then. It was just loneliness, 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.400 and I remember just wanting to come home. I wasn't 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.160 getting to train martial arts. There were no martial arts 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:12.440 academies on Nantucket. They dyed my hair this crazy blonde color, 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:14.920 so none of like the local hoity toity shops would 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:16.879 like serve me food. They were like, get out of here. 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.960 I'm like, what are you talking about. I don't want 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.399 to look like this. I'm an actor. Get out of 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:23.960 here and punk. I'm like, oh my god, like it was, 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.280 I hated it. I bought a kite. I think I 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.440 was like nineteen. I bought a kite and just went 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.200 to the beach and the guy dude, I was like, yo, 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.760 what is my life right now? But that's that's sadness. 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.600 I think is necessary to accomplish big dreams. You know, 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:43.520 it's not there's nothing scary about not leaving, and there's 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:47.639 nothing wrong with that. But if you have a dream 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:50.960 and it's a big one, it's gonna be scary. You're 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.960 gonna be afraid, and putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.679 is the best way for you to grow and developed 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.760 the the emotional skills and the skills necessary for the 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.000 dream itself and then have them come true. And I 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.560 look at and I've watched your career forever. Man. Like 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:11.280 Bob wall was the first investor in UFC one, he 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.119 didn't make any of the billions, right, it was just 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.639 a one time little deal and they all took a 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.639 bath on it. But like I've watched you from the 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.080 beginning of your career, from the first time I saw 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.160