Speaker 1: Welcome to the Sports Bubble, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio Entree Fork Media. My name is Jensen Carp and
Speaker 1: I'm a sports fan and I'm just as into jersey swaps.
Speaker 1: If you don't know what I'm talking about, well then
Speaker 1: you don't watch games long enough because at the way
Speaker 1: way end, two players from opposing teams seen mostly in
Speaker 1: the NBA and NFL will exchange jerseys, probably to hang
Speaker 1: in their game room and show off. During an episode
Speaker 1: of MTV Cribs in two thousand two, I mean, Dwyane
Speaker 1: Wade exchange jerseys with someone after every game during his
Speaker 1: final season, and Brandon Marshall claims we have traded like
Speaker 1: two hundred for his collection. But new COVID rules in
Speaker 1: the NFL say that this is one of the many
Speaker 1: things that has to go in the upcoming year. So
Speaker 1: let's get this straight. Dudes could run at each other
Speaker 1: at full speed, slam into one another with spit flying everywhere,
Speaker 1: but as far as passing each other a piece of clothing, no,
Speaker 1: that's where we draw the line. Dude. None of this
Speaker 1: makes sense, which is why I'm still interviewing athlete to
Speaker 1: sports ind suprofessionals today for my fiftieth episode finding out
Speaker 1: how they're doing during this very weird time because someone
Speaker 1: has to. This is the Sports Bubble with Jensen Cart.
Speaker 1: The MLS is back, and if you didn't know that, well,
Speaker 1: the league named their return games in Orlando, Florida. The
Speaker 1: MLS is Back Tournament. And if you heard our recent
Speaker 1: episode with Bradley Wright Phillips, you know that most players
Speaker 1: aren't exactly excited with this attempt at normalcy. So with
Speaker 1: the tournament starting this week and now with two teams
Speaker 1: removed for positive tests, I want to check in with
Speaker 1: another player, this time Sebastian Lagette from the rival l
Speaker 1: A Galaxy, currently hunkered down in a hotel room, only
Speaker 1: leaving the confines of his bed and scratch pad when
Speaker 1: it's time to practice or play. He started his career
Speaker 1: at seventeen after being scouted by west Ham United, then
Speaker 1: playing a few years with them in the Premier League
Speaker 1: and experience that involved him getting mono and seeing a
Speaker 1: whole lot of intensity as a team. He then signed
Speaker 1: to the Galaxy and joined Major League Soccer in two
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen and has become one of the most reliable
Speaker 1: and marketable elements of the squad. He's also a U
Speaker 1: S national team midfielder who's played all over the globe.
Speaker 1: But inside a Disney World bubble, well that's a new one.
Speaker 1: In this episode, I speak to Sebastian about the latest
Speaker 1: at the Happiest Place on Earth, the racism he saw
Speaker 1: on the sport Overseas, and we play a game where
Speaker 1: we see if he actually knows the song titles from
Speaker 1: his girlfriend, singer and actress Becky g It's a contest
Speaker 1: that can either make or break the bond of love.
Speaker 1: And in another installment of Pandemic, I talked to my friend,
Speaker 1: a e W announcer ex Caliber, a man already in
Speaker 1: a mask every day, to see how the virus and
Speaker 1: wrestling industries outing of sexual abusers has affected his experience
Speaker 1: at work. Games are in full effect now, so it's
Speaker 1: time we go into the sports bubble from sebast leg
Speaker 1: to accept press one. Hello Sebastian, Hi, how's it going man?
Speaker 1: I know you're busy, so I appreciate you getting on
Speaker 1: the phone with me today. No no, no, no, say no.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me man, It's good to speak to you. Good. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm very excited. I know you were currently in Orlando
Speaker 1: getting ready for the MLS is Back tournament that kicks
Speaker 1: off technically tonight. Fingers crossed. How how long have you
Speaker 1: been in Florida now? So yeah, well we got in
Speaker 1: on Monday. I've I've lost track of days so far, Harry,
Speaker 1: I mean even in the short time that I've been here.
Speaker 1: But I believe it's Wednesday, uh time, I'm not mistaking
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, and I mean it's yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: it's been. It's been very very interesting. I mean, unfortunately
Speaker 1: our training kidding got called off because of thunder and
Speaker 1: lightning and the strong rain, so that was kind of
Speaker 1: a weird. Obviously has nothing to do with COVID, but
Speaker 1: you know, I guess just where we are that as
Speaker 1: far as locations, but it's you know, the rooms have
Speaker 1: been okay. That the hotel obviously, I mean the fact
Speaker 1: that they got this all together in the short amount
Speaker 1: of time is obviously pretty impressive. But yeah, it's uh,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll find out more as the days come.
Speaker 1: I will tell you to Like, it's so crazy that
Speaker 1: you now have to put up with thunder and lightning
Speaker 1: after COVID. I mean it's like when will when will
Speaker 1: any of these sports catch a break. Yeahible, So tell
Speaker 1: me about traveling to Orlando. What was that like on Monday?
Speaker 1: How did you get there? How did they make sure
Speaker 1: that you got from the airport to the hotel safely?
Speaker 1: If you can explain that process. Yeah, I mean as
Speaker 1: far as our administrators back uh, you know, him organizing
Speaker 1: and being kind of our our go to leader, as
Speaker 1: far as like you know, organizing everything, telling us you know,
Speaker 1: where to go, all following on the protocols. You know,
Speaker 1: it was fairly simple. And especially for us, you know,
Speaker 1: as athletes, we we don't do well with all the
Speaker 1: complicated processes, so it was very simplified for us. And
Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't it wasn't too bad. The flight
Speaker 1: was was okay, you know, movie feel private and and
Speaker 1: and it was nice. Everything else up to that point, obviously,
Speaker 1: I think the most unsettling part was just knowing that
Speaker 1: they're unfortunite. There is cases that have been coming up
Speaker 1: positive in the bubble, you know. I think that was
Speaker 1: the most you know, coming into the hotel and it's
Speaker 1: just very like like what are we walking into? You know,
Speaker 1: and you know, as of now on and the nobody's
Speaker 1: tested positive, and so I guess that that's a that
Speaker 1: is a positive in a way. Um, but just getting yeah,
Speaker 1: from from there, playing onto the bus and just getting
Speaker 1: us here, I mean it was kind of like you ordinary,
Speaker 1: ordinary way of just you know, when we play as
Speaker 1: a visiting team to another uh in another city. You know,
Speaker 1: they're kind of like a regular protocol in that sense.
Speaker 1: But again, I guess just the most unsiddening part was
Speaker 1: just knowing that you're kind of walking into some uncertain territory. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and they appear to be doing a lot right,
Speaker 1: But like you said, the FC Dallas had to pull
Speaker 1: out of the tournament for eleven positive tests. You know,
Speaker 1: that's supposedly before the bubble. And then we heard now
Speaker 1: Nashville and the Chicago game for opening night was postponed.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not saying that you have to walk
Speaker 1: around in like a hazmat suit, but you guys are
Speaker 1: definitely are there things you're doing to be careful. I
Speaker 1: think personally a lot of us, you know, I know
Speaker 1: a lot of guys are on the league, you know,
Speaker 1: through national team, through you know, guys I've played with
Speaker 1: and and we were all I think in the very
Speaker 1: very beginning when it was greenlit you know that this
Speaker 1: was happening. We're very excited and working like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: at least we're gonna have each other and we can't
Speaker 1: hang around, and I think now we're moving forward. We're like, dude,
Speaker 1: like stayed, You're sitting in your room, don't you know?
Speaker 1: I like, I love you, but like it's just you
Speaker 1: just don't know. I guess the problem is the incubation
Speaker 1: period that even if you haven't you don't even really know,
Speaker 1: you know, before you even have any symptoms. So that
Speaker 1: I think that's the main problem, you know, is that
Speaker 1: we we we all could or someone could have it,
Speaker 1: but they're not showing absolutely anything and and they're probably
Speaker 1: coming up negative because it's just the way the virus works.
Speaker 1: So it's like that, you know, that's the part that
Speaker 1: really sucks. You know, it's not even what we thought
Speaker 1: it was. It could be off the field. So that's um,
Speaker 1: you know that that's definitely a downer. How often are
Speaker 1: you guys being tested now? So when we got here immediately, uh,
Speaker 1: and then we were quarantined until the next day and
Speaker 1: then had like a mid day testing again. So then
Speaker 1: after that, you after you come up negative twice. You'll
Speaker 1: then be able to kind of walk around the hotel
Speaker 1: and and sort of just kind of do your own
Speaker 1: thing and be a little bit more free, even though
Speaker 1: I don't think I think anybody ever even did that,
Speaker 1: but you have the access to and I believe we're
Speaker 1: getting tested tomorrow, So I think it's every other day.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of learning as I go, to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, because I think it's yeah, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of that. There's nothing really set in stone. Well,
Speaker 1: you kind of mentioned that you guys are in the
Speaker 1: Swan and Dolphin Hotel a Disney World. Uh is it
Speaker 1: just all players? Are you just walking around and when
Speaker 1: you get back you just it's pretty much all you guys. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess, I mean, yeah, I guess that's nice. It
Speaker 1: seems that, you know, there is a lot of space,
Speaker 1: because yeah, it is us, and I think for the
Speaker 1: most part, everybody is kind of in the room anyways.
Speaker 1: There's not even a lot of people in sight. To
Speaker 1: be honest with you, it's not it's not like what
Speaker 1: you'd think, you know everybody because I think keeping their
Speaker 1: distance for now, Yeah, what are you doing when you're
Speaker 1: not playing or practicing, Like are you just in your
Speaker 1: room on your phone and well, I mean yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean today with the thunder and then the light being
Speaker 1: you know, kind of cancer kind of through our our
Speaker 1: schedule a little bit off. We just had lunch. There's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a like a coffee bar here
Speaker 1: that a couple of my teammates just went to. So
Speaker 1: we had you know, we had a coffee there, you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit of normality. I guess doing our best.
Speaker 1: But I mean, for the most part, you don't like,
Speaker 1: you don't much. I mean we have a little lounges,
Speaker 1: you know, but you can only get so much a thing.
Speaker 1: Pong Sebastian. I'm gonna be honest, this sounds terrible. It on.
Speaker 1: I can't, I can't get this. Yeah, it's tough, man.
Speaker 1: I mean I think we've all gone to the point
Speaker 1: or we've gone over the point of like, okay, you
Speaker 1: know we're gonna be away from our families. I think
Speaker 1: at this point. Yeah, it's it's it's just we know
Speaker 1: we're gonna be here for a while. If if you know,
Speaker 1: even if you do, uh, you know, go on to
Speaker 1: the next round and things like that. At the tournament,
Speaker 1: so we're prepared to like be here for a while.
Speaker 1: But it's you're right, it's it's I don't think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be easy at all. I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: far from easy. I think it's gonna maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: even just me the first day year, being in the
Speaker 1: in the room just kind of like for for hours.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not not like, you know, taking a break,
Speaker 1: going to hang out with some of the guys. It
Speaker 1: was like hours just in the room. You're just like,
Speaker 1: oh man, this is there's gonna be a mental grind.
Speaker 1: You know, this is gonna be uh, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a grind nun not only physically on the field, but
Speaker 1: definitely a mental one. Yeah. I guarantee you every player
Speaker 1: is gonna at some point ask each other. You catch
Speaker 1: anything new on Netflix. I mean you're gonna start hitting
Speaker 1: that cycle, right, Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: resort the Yeah. I mean, I luckily, luckily, luckily have
Speaker 1: a hobby of doing arts, so I like kind of
Speaker 1: do my own thing in that sense, and I love
Speaker 1: doing that, so I kind of have that, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't I guess don't look just the technology in
Speaker 1: a way thankfully. I mean I've kind of had to
Speaker 1: force myself because it's really easy obviously to all of us,
Speaker 1: as we all know, so, but yeah, no, no, it is.
Speaker 1: I mean again, there's only so much you can do.
Speaker 1: It's it's crazy. You're gonna have a whole solo show
Speaker 1: done by the end of this thing. Oh man, It's yeah,
Speaker 1: well we'll see, we'll see what comes out of this.
Speaker 1: Are you drawing or you bring paints and everything? What
Speaker 1: are you doing now? And now I want to know? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love Yeah, I love to draw, man. I love joint.
Speaker 1: I've always loved it. But I've also I got back
Speaker 1: into it during the quarantine, you know, staying at I'm
Speaker 1: I was like, I mean it's kind of like here
Speaker 1: where you're just like, oh, you know, you kind of
Speaker 1: have to think about some things to keep your mind
Speaker 1: busy and and to stimulate, you know, but not only
Speaker 1: with technology. I'm like, there's obviously that's an easy go
Speaker 1: to for anybody, but I just you know, take a
Speaker 1: break from it. It's always nice, you know. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I you know, first couple of days it went viral
Speaker 1: with the food with MLS and a couple of people rebelling.
Speaker 1: I just want you to let me know, has the
Speaker 1: has the food gotten better? You don't wait, it has
Speaker 1: I know, Yeah, I'm not sure it's people one of
Speaker 1: the later teams to come in. So, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: I didn't see that part of things personally, so I
Speaker 1: can't say to that. But it hasn't been that bad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that part has been okay. Yeah, so yeah, we we
Speaker 1: We haven't had too too bead of an experience. A
Speaker 1: step above airplane, step above everybody. I think, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of salmon, and the same has
Speaker 1: been and the same has been pretty good. But I
Speaker 1: can't hate too much. I can't too much. That's why
Speaker 1: I like to hear. Okay, So with all this in mind,
Speaker 1: and with you know, a couple of players, teammates such
Speaker 1: not showing up, did you ever contemplate not not going? Ah? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean if you spoke to my girlfriend answer that,
Speaker 1: oh my god, she's my She was serious that we
Speaker 1: were so people were doing this. But I mean me again,
Speaker 1: I I do miss the game. Do I think that
Speaker 1: this is right? It's tough, you know, it's I'm in
Speaker 1: the middle. I think where most players are, you know,
Speaker 1: it's is it the safest, Probably not. But do I
Speaker 1: love the sport and do I want to get back
Speaker 1: to playing, of course, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it's you're kind of I'm in the middle, you know.
Speaker 1: It's and and again, I think everybody is in a
Speaker 1: different situation. You know, someone like like Bella, you know,
Speaker 1: who has you know, his wife is pregnant. And we
Speaker 1: have a couple of guys on our team that's that
Speaker 1: have had a similar situation. So it is tough. People
Speaker 1: who have families are leaving, you know. I'm I'm technically
Speaker 1: just with my girlfriend and things like that. So it's
Speaker 1: I guess it's a little bit easier for me to
Speaker 1: just you know, go all right, I'm just gonna go
Speaker 1: to Lando, do my job, and then I'll see you
Speaker 1: in a month, you know. But for other guys, it's
Speaker 1: it's a little bit different. I don't I don't think
Speaker 1: you have it much easier that you have to decide between. No,
Speaker 1: it's still it's hard in a different way. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: deciding between a quarantine with singer actress Becky g or
Speaker 1: hanging out at a coffee bar with one of your teammates.
Speaker 1: I don't think you have a much all right, Uh yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I know it's so tough to well. The MLS has
Speaker 1: tried to sort of involve steaks with money prizes and
Speaker 1: later tournament births and such. But now that you're there
Speaker 1: and you've talked to your teammates, were winning this tournament
Speaker 1: actually means something to you guys? Is winning it as
Speaker 1: much as just getting back out there. I mean again,
Speaker 1: I think we're all we were all, especially in the beginning,
Speaker 1: very excited that this was another opportunity to you know,
Speaker 1: to win something, to compete again, to come together and
Speaker 1: and just play and you know, maybe hope that we
Speaker 1: can continue some sort of league after after this tournament,
Speaker 1: even though chances are it's not looking you know, it
Speaker 1: doesn't look bright. But I think it's an opportunity for
Speaker 1: us to win. And I think that, you know, we're
Speaker 1: definitely excited about that part, you know what I mean. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, for me on an individual standpoint, it's I
Speaker 1: think it'll be good. You know. Again, it's just like
Speaker 1: as it's the safest, you know, I don't know, you
Speaker 1: know that. I think that's just kind of that's the
Speaker 1: little cloud that's kind of hanging over us. You know
Speaker 1: pun intended. Well today you have it no matter who wins,
Speaker 1: though you did get to do this awesome Back to
Speaker 1: the Future promo video in a DeLorean is Marty McFly
Speaker 1: So I consider you to be the real winner. Whose
Speaker 1: idea was making that video? Oh man our um Brendan Hannon, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he is awesome with those ideas. He is, he's been,
Speaker 1: he's been great. Yeah, he called me out. It's funny
Speaker 1: because I watched We're in Quarantine stage and I was
Speaker 1: watching it. Just so happens that two days before he
Speaker 1: text me, I watched all three as like a marathon,
Speaker 1: all three of the movies, and I remember that game
Speaker 1: during the movie, you know, just like like like a kid,
Speaker 1: like I wonder what it's like actually like being in
Speaker 1: the car. Yeah, I'm I'm sure as we all did
Speaker 1: and do what. He texts you that I was over
Speaker 1: the moon, dude. It was Yeah, it was crazy. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, this is pretty cool. I was excited
Speaker 1: for that. Yeah, well worth it just for that. For
Speaker 1: I did want to know with players on the bench
Speaker 1: having to wear masks. I played soccer as a kid
Speaker 1: and it was like such an intense sport, you know, Uh,
Speaker 1: as far as running, and I mean, can you catch
Speaker 1: your breath if you have to put on a mask
Speaker 1: immediately when you get on the sideline? Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: it's tough. I mean even just walking around with it.
Speaker 1: I think you do get used to it, like I
Speaker 1: I you know, I compared to when I first started
Speaker 1: wearing the mask. Uh, you know, even just whenever you
Speaker 1: go out to the grocery store or whatever. It's it's
Speaker 1: just taking getting used to. I can only imagine. I
Speaker 1: mean at first I thought we were gonna have to
Speaker 1: play in them, and I was like, this is I mean,
Speaker 1: this is too much. I mean, there there's probably no chance,
Speaker 1: especially in this in this Orlando weather, and there's absolutely zero,
Speaker 1: you know, unless you just want us all walking around
Speaker 1: on the field just no hunched over her, hands on knees.
Speaker 1: But I mean, as far as the bench, I think
Speaker 1: if you're set, if you sat down, I don't think
Speaker 1: it will be too much of an issue. But if
Speaker 1: you have to start jogging and you know, or or
Speaker 1: when you immediately get off the field and you're out
Speaker 1: of breath, I mean, I'm I'm sure it'll be tough.
Speaker 1: So again, yeah, we're definitely not going to play under
Speaker 1: the most ideal scenario. Yeah, and you mentioned Carlos Villa
Speaker 1: out for for l A f C. Will the rivalry
Speaker 1: game against the Galaxy, Well, that's still you know, is
Speaker 1: that still going to be what it usually is? Is Is
Speaker 1: it's still going to have that intensity. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think when it comes down to it, I think when
Speaker 1: we're when we when kickoff happens and we all look
Speaker 1: at each other, and you know, on the other side
Speaker 1: of that that line is is that badge? And and
Speaker 1: of course it'll most least for me because I've taken
Speaker 1: part in so many of the rivalry games. I think
Speaker 1: it will will surface, you know, that tension and and
Speaker 1: you know, any chance to be the L A C
Speaker 1: will will always be a chance I want to take,
Speaker 1: you know. But but again, yeah, even I mean whoever plays,
Speaker 1: you know, it shouldn't matter that Carlos plays or not.
Speaker 1: You I mean, it's it's about a team thing and
Speaker 1: and this is an opportunity for us, but you know,
Speaker 1: so we have to take it, you know, especially for
Speaker 1: our fans, for people watching back com. It's only right
Speaker 1: that we that we give it all. You know. I
Speaker 1: did talk to someone playing in the women's tournament now,
Speaker 1: and she said that there was some sound for televised.
Speaker 1: I mean, do you know if they're going to be
Speaker 1: piping in anything audience wise? That's a good question. I
Speaker 1: I don't nobody said anything to me personally, but I'm
Speaker 1: assuming just I know, the games in in the in
Speaker 1: the Premier League, you know, I think you have the option.
Speaker 1: I think for us maybe just considering how or where
Speaker 1: the games are going to be played. You know, it's
Speaker 1: just I mean, it's obviously gonna be an at stadium,
Speaker 1: not you know, not not much around us. You know,
Speaker 1: we're the people know we're in Orlando. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I would assume that that. I think they would put
Speaker 1: on put on some noise, just because I think unless
Speaker 1: people want to hear, you know, maybe the screaming it's
Speaker 1: more intimate. It depends on the viewer, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, what type of experience if you want. It's
Speaker 1: funny you brought up the Premier League. You you played
Speaker 1: there at such a young age, and some of your
Speaker 1: progress was actually kind of hurt because of Mono, because
Speaker 1: of a virus. Yeah, no, I know, I tesn't forget
Speaker 1: about that. It's crazy. Did you feel those effects later
Speaker 1: in your life. Like I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: are nervous about that with with coronavirus, that it's not
Speaker 1: just the few months that you have it that you're
Speaker 1: gonna do you steal, Do you like feel any of
Speaker 1: the effects. Yeah, I mean that's the problem, right, I
Speaker 1: mean I already I haven't really even thought of that,
Speaker 1: Like you're actually, yeah, you've actually reminded me. I didn't
Speaker 1: even know that could even be like a you know,
Speaker 1: something that that carries on with you, you know, But
Speaker 1: with COVID, I mean, we don't know like that, we
Speaker 1: don't have those answers. So that's like it's kind of
Speaker 1: like the most unsettling poor two where it's like I
Speaker 1: don't know if there's the stats because okay, I I know,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe guys that get it aren't going to die,
Speaker 1: but it's like what happened later, Like will their lung
Speaker 1: capacity be affected? Will you know, well they have sences
Speaker 1: later that I think people that have you know, obviously
Speaker 1: I checked the news and stuff that you know, guys
Speaker 1: have been our people have been interviewed and they have
Speaker 1: under a hundred days plus of symptoms and you're just like,
Speaker 1: but I'd be one of those people, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't you don't know, Yeah, okay, there could be a
Speaker 1: hundred people that you know asymptomatic. But then there's that
Speaker 1: one where it's like it's really really bad. So it's
Speaker 1: so much up in the air. That's why you know
Speaker 1: it's a tough one now, it really is. Uh. Well,
Speaker 1: the big signing uh during the off season for the
Speaker 1: Galaxy and MLS in general was Javier Hernandez, who was
Speaker 1: only able to play two games of MLS before the
Speaker 1: work stopped. Is it difficult for him to get situated
Speaker 1: with his new teammates because of all this? Like, do
Speaker 1: you think it's it's much more difficult? Well, I think
Speaker 1: it's not ideal, But I think he's done all that
Speaker 1: he can and that you know, he's done everything that's
Speaker 1: been asked of him, and you know, he's I think
Speaker 1: he's been a good addition, you know, on and off
Speaker 1: the field. And again he hasn't really had any real
Speaker 1: chance to kind of deal with everybody. I mean, the
Speaker 1: game on Tuesday will be our first game you know
Speaker 1: since we played Vancouver at home back in back in March.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like like and then we haven't even
Speaker 1: played a friendly against anybody. We only played against ourselves
Speaker 1: in you know, we haven't even really got to ninety
Speaker 1: minutes yet. So it's like, you know, in that sense
Speaker 1: of course, we we absolutely want to do our best
Speaker 1: in this and there's no excuses. But again, the preparation,
Speaker 1: it's not your ordinary preseason. How did you stay? Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Yeah, it was very limited resources, especially
Speaker 1: in the beginning because obviously you're very scared at that point,
Speaker 1: because you know, when when the day at a home
Speaker 1: order kind of came in California, you're just like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, like what is going to happen. So even
Speaker 1: even just kind of doing things in the street was
Speaker 1: like a stretch, you know. But as time went on
Speaker 1: and people started to kind of, you know, really follow
Speaker 1: the protocols and it felt a little bit safer just
Speaker 1: lea people outside, I resorted to just running on the street.
Speaker 1: It was it was crazy, man, I mean it kind
Speaker 1: of went back to the basics. You didn't really have
Speaker 1: a choice, you know. So yeah, you know, one thing
Speaker 1: for sure, we'll never forget this time. You know, know
Speaker 1: what we brought up the happy signing of Javier Hernandez.
Speaker 1: I have to ask because people want to know, has
Speaker 1: anyone heard from Latan since since he left, you know what,
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, no, no, not at all.
Speaker 1: I mean that once he that good one. I didn't
Speaker 1: even say goodbye to us, but he, uh once he
Speaker 1: whatever posted something on Instagram. I think that was it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that. Yeah, that was well. I mean that's
Speaker 1: just you know, that's just him. Yeah, he's not a
Speaker 1: chill dude. This is an interesting character for sure. Not chill.
Speaker 1: On your social media, you've been very vocal with your
Speaker 1: support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the horrific
Speaker 1: after the horrific killing of George Floyd, and MLS has
Speaker 1: been encouraging any players to make a statement. But I
Speaker 1: was I was super disappointed to see the league call
Speaker 1: off the national anthem, citing it's because fans aren't going
Speaker 1: to be there and it wasn't needed. Do you think
Speaker 1: it's it's that or do you think it's them avoiding
Speaker 1: the kneeling dilemma? I mean, yeah, this is the first
Speaker 1: that I hear of this. I didn't even know. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I think we're gonna have a meeting about this,
Speaker 1: you know, just to be ready for anything that, so
Speaker 1: I guess we're not doing the national anthem. I definitely
Speaker 1: believe strongly, you know, in what's happening in the movement
Speaker 1: of Black Lives Matter. So it's in any way that
Speaker 1: I can support my you know, my brothers and sisters
Speaker 1: that are black. I mean, I'm gonna do it. You know.
Speaker 1: If kneeling is the way to do that, then that's
Speaker 1: something that's that I will exercise, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But again, I'm not sure where their head was with
Speaker 1: all this, but yeah, you know, I'm definitely in support
Speaker 1: of anything that would definitely, you know, make their voices louder. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: you're from San Francisco. You're the heart of protesting diverse man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, the heart of her. I know. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's definitely a shame of what's happening.
Speaker 1: But if you know, we definitely all have to just
Speaker 1: we have to be change, man. You know, if we
Speaker 1: want to see it, we have to be it, and
Speaker 1: in any way we can, you know, even even just
Speaker 1: seeing a couple of the guys put out MLS as
Speaker 1: black I think yesterday they released it. I think it's
Speaker 1: a foundation or an organization that a lot of the
Speaker 1: black players in this league have put together, and I
Speaker 1: think it's awesome. You know, one of my good friends,
Speaker 1: Sean Johnson, I think it is one of the one
Speaker 1: of the leaders in it, and you know, I commend
Speaker 1: him for doing that. You know, it's it's I think
Speaker 1: it's inspired a lot of people just to really, you know,
Speaker 1: realize that they have a voice. I think it's great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and at a very young age, like we said, you
Speaker 1: you had some stops at the Premier League, moving to
Speaker 1: Europe and your teens. We know, racial issues have played
Speaker 1: the sport. There was that something you noticed. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's such a I guess an integral time of your life. Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: I I I've heard coaches say some some brutal things,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not going to say who or what
Speaker 1: they said, but it's it's been there. And again it's
Speaker 1: because I'm I'm wide and or my skin color is
Speaker 1: not it's not black. I've been able to you know whatever,
Speaker 1: Like you hear it, but you don't have to really
Speaker 1: deal with it, you know. I think that's important part
Speaker 1: of the conversation is that we all have to deal
Speaker 1: with it. You know, at this point, We're an important
Speaker 1: part of the conversation now, you know, we've always have been,
Speaker 1: but I think now it's like you have to wake up, Well,
Speaker 1: what can soccer do in general to be better when
Speaker 1: it comes to diversity or a racial divide. Is there
Speaker 1: something that you see in the sport as far as outreach?
Speaker 1: Obviously you said the MLS is black movement. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I I think I think just keep you know, building
Speaker 1: a platform and just getting everybody involved, you know, especially
Speaker 1: I think a big one is fans really supporting black
Speaker 1: players and they shouldn't walked into a field or go
Speaker 1: on social media and ever be scared of, you know,
Speaker 1: getting racially abused. And there's so many ways of doing
Speaker 1: that and I and I think for fans, I think
Speaker 1: that's a huge part of it, especially in Europe. You know,
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of players getting you know, racially slurred,
Speaker 1: and I mean it's it's incredible, you know, it's like
Speaker 1: that that should never ever happen. So I think if
Speaker 1: we just keep pushing the message you know, black, white, Hispanic,
Speaker 1: I think that's the most important thing that we can do,
Speaker 1: you know, just keep the message alive. Just because because
Speaker 1: un Floyd it's very unfortunate we happened at George Floyd,
Speaker 1: but of course life goes on, but we have to
Speaker 1: keep them that message alive. You know, when he changed
Speaker 1: and and it's unfortunate what happened, but we yeah, and
Speaker 1: and and it shows up everywhere where, this police brutality,
Speaker 1: racially slurred and you know, from from your own friends
Speaker 1: or from visiting fans. You know, it's like it's everywhere.
Speaker 1: It's a government, it's we just had to we gotta
Speaker 1: speak clud man, we gotta speak cloud well, well said h.
Speaker 1: So let's end with something stupid. I uh, we brought
Speaker 1: up your girlfriend earlier. You've been with Becky G, singer
Speaker 1: for four years. I want to see how well you
Speaker 1: know her. I'm going to mention a song title, and
Speaker 1: you tell me if it's an actual Becky G song
Speaker 1: or if it's something I just made up. Alright, Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. The first one, Loving So Hard? Is
Speaker 1: that a real Becky G title or something I just
Speaker 1: made up? I think that's made up? Oh, Sebastian, Sebastian,
Speaker 1: I am sorry, that is a true Becky G title.
Speaker 1: Oh God, she's gonna kill me. All right, We're oh
Speaker 1: for one, how old. Listen. I'm not here to tell
Speaker 1: you the age. I'm here to tell if it's a
Speaker 1: real song or not. All right, here we go. Number
Speaker 1: two is hold Me Tight, hold Me tonight? Is that
Speaker 1: a real Becky g song or something I just made up? Okay?
Speaker 1: That that can be? Okay, that is? You got that one.
Speaker 1: You're one for one? That is? That is something I
Speaker 1: made up? And listen, if any pop stars are listening,
Speaker 1: they could definitely steal the title. Thank you, hold Me tonight.
Speaker 1: That's not bad, Okay. The next one is CC yes, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: that is definitely her song. That was good. You threw
Speaker 1: me off there? Alright? Good to to one? Uh, total cambio.
Speaker 1: Is that a real title? Yes? I love that song. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was like when she first started thinking. Then, yes,
Speaker 1: very very first. So good. We're on a roll. Here
Speaker 1: we we started slow. Here's the here's the next one,
Speaker 1: Plata plata plata. I wish it was though. It was great.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna thank you. Alright, Alright, here's another one,
Speaker 1: break a Sweat, Oh, absolutely, okay, Break a Sweat is
Speaker 1: a hit. Yeah, I remember I remember that one. That
Speaker 1: was Yeah, that was been one of Younger did for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah that was a hit. All right, LaVita Loca are
Speaker 1: getting great. That is absolutely great song, though I think
Speaker 1: it is differentist Ricky Martin, well, congratulations, you did very well.
Speaker 1: You got you got six right. I thought we were
Speaker 1: in yeah, oh you big time. I thought we were
Speaker 1: in trouble when you missed the first one. My god.
Speaker 1: All right, well, very good job. Please as a favor,
Speaker 1: stay safe, be healthy. There we are all rooting you on,
Speaker 1: not only for the win. I think that most of
Speaker 1: the sports world is rooting you on to show either
Speaker 1: we can do this or we can't. But the truth
Speaker 1: is we just want you guys to be safe. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. After this,
Speaker 1: I check in with former wrestler and a e W commentator, Excalibur.
Speaker 1: Right now, Feeding America is working tirelessly to ensure our
Speaker 1: most vulnerable populations, like students who were out of school,
Speaker 1: the elderly individuals whose jobs are impacted, and low income
Speaker 1: families continue to have access to food and other needed
Speaker 1: resources during the COVID nineteen pandemic. The Feeding America Food
Speaker 1: Bank Network is committed to serving communities and people facing
Speaker 1: hunger in America and their greatest need is donations and
Speaker 1: support of local food banks. This podcast is committed to
Speaker 1: donating a portion of the proceeds from the show to
Speaker 1: Feeding America, and we hope that you can join us
Speaker 1: in this effort to find out how you can help
Speaker 1: Feeding America dot org backslash covid nineteen. Now here's my
Speaker 1: conversation with a e WS Excalibur. Well, Excalibur, thank you
Speaker 1: for talking to me normally. We've been friends for a
Speaker 1: bunch of years and we are NBA text friends. So
Speaker 1: I first want to check in with you and see
Speaker 1: if you're at all excited for what is shaping up
Speaker 1: to be a very weird NBA tournament. Does this even
Speaker 1: get you the same feeling as when we text during
Speaker 1: normal playoffs? Not really. It's it's exciting to have basketball back,
Speaker 1: but you know, to have six games a day played
Speaker 1: in succession to kind of keep track of as a
Speaker 1: little a little weird. But you know, I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess we'll see how it is once we actually get
Speaker 1: into it, and considering we're still like a decent amount
Speaker 1: away from it, and guys are dropping excuse the expression,
Speaker 1: but dropping like flies either out of the league purely
Speaker 1: out of an opt out or because they're getting sick.
Speaker 1: None of this stuff, to me feels like an actual
Speaker 1: trophy at the end. Oh yeah, this is I mean
Speaker 1: it's everybody's well not everybody, but there's been a lot
Speaker 1: of talk about like this is this will be the
Speaker 1: asterisk season of all asterisk seasons, and I think that's
Speaker 1: completely true, you know, I mean, the same things happened
Speaker 1: with baseball, Like guys are guys are saying like, no way,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play this year, and so it's gonna be
Speaker 1: it's gonna be really interesting to see what sports look
Speaker 1: like for the next six six eight months. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: the last six eight months we have been inundated with
Speaker 1: pro wrestling. We I guess we never would have predicted
Speaker 1: that at the end of the world it would be
Speaker 1: just cockroaches and pro wrestling. You have had sort of
Speaker 1: a I guess you have to fill me in because
Speaker 1: we we texted a bit, but it's hard to keep
Speaker 1: track of when you're on, when you're off. You you
Speaker 1: took some time off and then now you're back. Correct. Yes,
Speaker 1: for basically the month of March, I didn't travel prior,
Speaker 1: you know, prior to that. For those I don't know,
Speaker 1: UM part of a e W Dynamite, all Elite Wrestling Dynamite,
Speaker 1: which is every Wednesday, eight seven Central on TNT, and
Speaker 1: it was a weekly touring show. And for the month
Speaker 1: of March, right before the State of Georgia shut everything down,
Speaker 1: our crew taped five weeks of television in a eighteen
Speaker 1: hour period. Is going on. I can't I mean, as
Speaker 1: someone who has made an hour of television over a
Speaker 1: few days, I can't fathom what that was like. So
Speaker 1: I was not there for that, but that was the
Speaker 1: first show that I didn't travel for, and it turned
Speaker 1: out I missed five shows by not traveling for one show.
Speaker 1: But by by all accounts, it was it was very hectic.
Speaker 1: It was very you know, it's very tough because you know, wrestling,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's performance. But there's
Speaker 1: still injuries, there's still things that you know, variables that happened,
Speaker 1: and you know, somebody got their their nose broken, and
Speaker 1: then episode three had to be completely rewritten and you know,
Speaker 1: you know, and but we had to just keep going.
Speaker 1: And so by all accounts was a very surreal experience.
Speaker 1: But then to just be sitting there and have nothing
Speaker 1: to do for the next month. Um was also surreal
Speaker 1: in and of itself and watching watching the show that
Speaker 1: I had been a part of since we started last
Speaker 1: October from you know, from the sidelines kind of gone
Speaker 1: without me. Was you know that there was a lot
Speaker 1: of mixed feelings there. Yeah, I'm sure all that stuff
Speaker 1: was happening so fast. I mean there were there was
Speaker 1: there testing with those wrestlers or was it just like,
Speaker 1: let's get this done. So that was March, I guess
Speaker 1: March April, and so that was kind of right right
Speaker 1: when people were starting to figure out like what, you know,
Speaker 1: what was going on and and so like there was
Speaker 1: no tests available to our crew at that point, and
Speaker 1: so it was more just like if you you know,
Speaker 1: if you have a cough, if you have the sniffles
Speaker 1: or whatever, just just stay home. And you know, there
Speaker 1: was no Thus far, we have not had anybody gets
Speaker 1: sick by by being at any of our shows, and
Speaker 1: so that is yeah, that's you know, nobody has always
Speaker 1: transmitted anything. And our medical crew, you know, personally speaking,
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anything I could feel safe about
Speaker 1: without vaccine out there. But the way our medical crew handles.
Speaker 1: Everything makes me and I think everybody we all feel
Speaker 1: pretty comfortable what we do go. And so since you
Speaker 1: weren't there that tape day where you guys did five
Speaker 1: weeks or whatever it is, now you're back with no
Speaker 1: true audience. Is that what it is? Who who's in
Speaker 1: the audience now? So basically we have the wrestlers that
Speaker 1: are not wrestling on the episode are sitting at ringside
Speaker 1: and a e W is owned by the Khan family.
Speaker 1: The Kan family also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, and so
Speaker 1: we are we are recording our shows in the Daily's
Speaker 1: place Amphitheater, which is adjacent to the football stadium in Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: And so the Jags kind of employ these friends and family, Uh,
Speaker 1: they fill out the rest of the crowd. There's basically
Speaker 1: about fifty people that are that are kind of in
Speaker 1: the audience and they're they're all they're all spaced out.
Speaker 1: And so the way it works is that if you
Speaker 1: are coming backstage, if you are coming into contact with
Speaker 1: an employee, whether you are a wrestler, lighting guy, a
Speaker 1: pyro guy, a rigor or catering or security guard or whatever,
Speaker 1: you get tested. Um, you get a blood test and
Speaker 1: then temperature check every day that that you're coming into
Speaker 1: the building, if you are sitting in the crowd, they
Speaker 1: are kept apart from everybody else there in kind of
Speaker 1: like the upper bowl area and those people they do
Speaker 1: health surveys and temperature checks. So great, What a weird world.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's funny, Like the irony of you performing
Speaker 1: now in front of fifty people is how I met
Speaker 1: you at the w G in Resita. You're now on
Speaker 1: television with the same thing. But it has been a
Speaker 1: long time since, say a christ Erico has wrestled in
Speaker 1: front of fifty people. Uh, what is what is his
Speaker 1: reaction to this? Does? Everyone does? Everyone like it? Nobody's
Speaker 1: happy about it. But I think this is just this
Speaker 1: is the reality, and there's there's absolutely nothing to be done.
Speaker 1: It's so much better to be wrestling in front of
Speaker 1: fifty people than it is no people. The first week
Speaker 1: that massive taping in Georgia, we were in Jacksonville and
Speaker 1: we did it with absolutely no crowd. And it is
Speaker 1: bizarre that, you know, as as an announcer, I could
Speaker 1: hear my voice echoing around the building. It's brutal. You
Speaker 1: hear every thought in the audience, like, it's just a
Speaker 1: terrible feeling. I I know this as someone who did
Speaker 1: stand up for many years where there was pretty much
Speaker 1: three or four people there, So I I feel your pain.
Speaker 1: I do also want to ask, like with a e W.
Speaker 1: It's funny because you guys had started the television show,
Speaker 1: not that I mean, what was it five six months
Speaker 1: before the coronavirus? Maybe it was October two was the
Speaker 1: first episode. Yeah, So what's it been like building an audience?
Speaker 1: You guys have still been able to keep good numbers,
Speaker 1: but now amongst coronavirus and COVID and audibles you never
Speaker 1: would have predicted you still have to go out there
Speaker 1: every week and make a TV show. What has it
Speaker 1: been like sort of working through it? That's been I
Speaker 1: think the toughest aspect from a growth standpoint. You know,
Speaker 1: we've been able to hold steady, but a big part
Speaker 1: of the growth is the touring business and turning on
Speaker 1: new fans, getting people, you know, to come down that
Speaker 1: they might not know who we are, but they know
Speaker 1: wrestling is coming and so they're gonna come check us out.
Speaker 1: And right before the quarantine and everything happened, that was
Speaker 1: going to be our new York, New Jersey debut. We
Speaker 1: had sold out the Prudential Center where the Jersey Devil
Speaker 1: New Jersey Devil's play. That was going to be a
Speaker 1: very big, very meaningful swing for us, and you know,
Speaker 1: the summer had a lot of very big plans and
Speaker 1: so this was going to be our big growth push.
Speaker 1: And so now instead of growing, we've actually we've been
Speaker 1: kind of fighting to maint pine the level that we
Speaker 1: were at, which UM, I think the conventional wisdom before
Speaker 1: the quarantine happened was that there will be no other sports,
Speaker 1: people will flock to wrestling. UM, as it turns out
Speaker 1: there were no sports, and people were flocking to news
Speaker 1: shows because they didn't know what was happening, and we're
Speaker 1: scared and wanted to know what was going on. And
Speaker 1: so we we've kind of have this this core audience
Speaker 1: that you know, can fluctuate by a hundred thousand, hundred
Speaker 1: fifty thousand viewers in either direction on a given week.
Speaker 1: But we've found that, you know, like there was a
Speaker 1: NASCAR event and that drew off some people, but the protests,
Speaker 1: you know, when the coronavirus briefings would happen, you know,
Speaker 1: those kind of days were actually more consequential in terms
Speaker 1: of people people tuning out. And so I think there's
Speaker 1: you know, and people are starved for entertainment and they
Speaker 1: are starved for live events, live sports. But I think
Speaker 1: there's more fear and uncertainty that over elms that need
Speaker 1: for for something new. Yeah, it's weird, and this is
Speaker 1: I guess maybe a Tony con question, but maybe you know,
Speaker 1: it's like Vince McMahon and his w W E business
Speaker 1: for so long has been a live event company. You know,
Speaker 1: like they obviously make a ton of money going around
Speaker 1: the world. They tour more dates than most casual fans
Speaker 1: would ever even imagine. Was Tony and a e W
Speaker 1: was the idea always to be on the road that much?
Speaker 1: Or was this a TV show? No? I mean there
Speaker 1: there have been talk about doing live events, untelevised live
Speaker 1: events here and there, but primarily this this is a
Speaker 1: TV show. If we're if we're having matches in the ring,
Speaker 1: they are they are recorded for a purpose. We're not
Speaker 1: just going to some random town to to just do
Speaker 1: a match that's never going to see the light of day, right,
Speaker 1: And so much of a e W is about getting
Speaker 1: the best wrestlers from around the world. So I was
Speaker 1: wondering if you could tell us about what has been
Speaker 1: going on about travel. You have wrestlers in Mexico, you
Speaker 1: have wrestlers from Japan that all show up on the
Speaker 1: television show Weekly. How did that play out with with
Speaker 1: travel bands? It's been tough. People from Europe or Japan
Speaker 1: are just kind of stuck in place. And we'll jump
Speaker 1: on a zoom call and the first thing everybody in
Speaker 1: Europe asks is, hey, have you heard anything when when
Speaker 1: we'll be able to travel back and to Tony and
Speaker 1: the company's credit. Uh, you know, there's not been a
Speaker 1: single person that has has lost their job. Everybody has
Speaker 1: continued to get paid, whether you've been wrestling every week
Speaker 1: or you've been at home, and so the company has
Speaker 1: been very good about that. But the thing is everybody
Speaker 1: that is involved in wrestling, maybe not everybody, but especially
Speaker 1: on our roster, is there because they love it and
Speaker 1: they want to be there, and they want to be
Speaker 1: you know, performing, they want to be doing these things.
Speaker 1: And so to just be stuck at home and have
Speaker 1: no no idea of when you'll be able to come
Speaker 1: back to work, that has been I know, deeply frustrating
Speaker 1: for them, I'm sure. So with these guys missing, I've
Speaker 1: been able to catch some of the shows, and I've
Speaker 1: seen some people truly step up in the absence of
Speaker 1: some of your international superstars. So people like best Friends
Speaker 1: and Orange, Cassidy and Samy can Vera, like those guys
Speaker 1: were really coming through during that time. Did they know
Speaker 1: that was that sort of like a locker room discussion? Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we need a couple of wrestlers to pop
Speaker 1: up here and really take the spots. Yes, And I
Speaker 1: don't think at the time anyone realized how important stepping
Speaker 1: up in that moment would be. I think everybody that
Speaker 1: was there for that that five week taping and one day,
Speaker 1: I don't think it registered to anybody that you are
Speaker 1: going to be the only people that we see on
Speaker 1: our programming for the next month. And so there were
Speaker 1: people that stepped up and stepped into a much more
Speaker 1: prominent role than they would have been had we had
Speaker 1: our our full complement of our locker room and you
Speaker 1: know that those people might have been in much smaller
Speaker 1: roles at the virus and the quarantine ever happened. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I didn't know who Big Swell was before you
Speaker 1: guys did that taping for five weeks and now Big
Speaker 1: Swells a major female star of the of the show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and the best friends I think benefit from it keepsadian.
Speaker 1: Also not to say that it wouldn't have happened eventually,
Speaker 1: but just you know, through circumstances, it happened now, you know.
Speaker 1: And we mentioned Sammy who has had a bit of
Speaker 1: controversy come up from an old tape that resurfaced from
Speaker 1: a podcast where he said something offensive regarding a female
Speaker 1: wrestler in the w w E and and and you
Speaker 1: know that that's on the lower scale of what's been
Speaker 1: going on in independent wrestling, to be honest. And I
Speaker 1: spoke of it to Big E about it a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago. And you have been on the independent circuit
Speaker 1: for quite some time. You've seen each of these wrestlers
Speaker 1: come through with p w G one of the most
Speaker 1: storied independent wrestling federations of all time. It was it
Speaker 1: shocking to you to see just how many cases, how
Speaker 1: many women were stepping up to talk about these things. Um,
Speaker 1: it was to me absolutely shocking and heartbreaking because PWG,
Speaker 1: you know, part of the deal is we have the
Speaker 1: best wrestling, but then also the best locker room. A
Speaker 1: big part of it is is chemistry. And if there
Speaker 1: are guys that are absolutely amazing wrestlers but are just
Speaker 1: assholes in their day to day life, those guys don't
Speaker 1: get booked on p w g um And so to
Speaker 1: know that these guys were good locker room guys but
Speaker 1: maybe not the best human being that was very difficult
Speaker 1: to kind of come to grips with. And you know,
Speaker 1: from my role in pw G I just go to
Speaker 1: the show, I do the commentary, and then I head home.
Speaker 1: I'm not really hanging out socially with a lot of guys,
Speaker 1: and so I didn't necessarily have that window into it.
Speaker 1: And so I just kind of knew people from my
Speaker 1: interactions with them. And who's going to tell you like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, I'm I'm I'm a serial killer, you know,
Speaker 1: or whatever. I have a total garbage cain. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so having all of that and one by one
Speaker 1: by one just be revealed to me was it was
Speaker 1: really distressing. And obviously I'm not the victim here, and
Speaker 1: there are there are people that are that were so
Speaker 1: brave in in coming forward and enduring the slings and
Speaker 1: arrows of the you know, the Twitter and wrestling community
Speaker 1: and all that, I can't even imagine that. But just
Speaker 1: for me personally, I mean, there's you know, people I've
Speaker 1: known for almost twenty years that you know, of course
Speaker 1: like oh, yeah, he sleeps around or whatever. But I
Speaker 1: never thought, you know, I never never thought the worst
Speaker 1: beyond that. Yeah, And it's true. You you at PWG
Speaker 1: had like a similar schedule to a fan. You would
Speaker 1: drive up early, you'd help out with stuff, and then
Speaker 1: announced and you drive home to San Diego pretty much
Speaker 1: right after the show. So I guess, you know, knowing
Speaker 1: the personal lives of these guys was impossible. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: there were people that had wrestled for us in the
Speaker 1: past and the people that I thought I knew very well,
Speaker 1: and so there was a lot of reflection on my
Speaker 1: part of of what did I know? When did I
Speaker 1: know it? Did it was? There's something that I was
Speaker 1: that I was seeing but being willfully ignorant of, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of a lot of people
Speaker 1: that are in the wrestling business went through very similar things.
Speaker 1: And the more we talked about it, the more we
Speaker 1: all kind of just realized, like, yeah, these guys were
Speaker 1: hiding something Yeah, And you know, so it's like, it's
Speaker 1: really frustrating for me because these people have no place
Speaker 1: in our business. I know, things have been cleaned up
Speaker 1: in wrestling from where they were, you know, even ten
Speaker 1: years ago, but definitely over twenty years ago and thirty
Speaker 1: years ago, and you know this, this feels like a setback.
Speaker 1: But hopefully we can use this as a way to
Speaker 1: to weed these people out and and keep the positive
Speaker 1: people in wrestling. Yeah. On this topic, the other side
Speaker 1: of things, a much more inclusive area of work has
Speaker 1: been a e w. You guys have went out of
Speaker 1: your way to sort of show that the kind of
Speaker 1: good old Boys Wrestling Federation isn't necessarily going to happen
Speaker 1: under under your watching Tony CON's watch wrestlers like Nila Rose,
Speaker 1: who is transgender and a champion for the female division
Speaker 1: of your TV show, as well as really I think
Speaker 1: some of the first openly gay wrestlers. Is it something
Speaker 1: that is very much in everyone's mind to to push
Speaker 1: that envelope and to make sure that maybe an audience
Speaker 1: that has been closed off to those things is finally
Speaker 1: exposed in a positive light in the in wrestling um
Speaker 1: to some degree, but the way that we do it
Speaker 1: is just I think we try to be more of
Speaker 1: a reflection of kind of an inclusive society. So it's
Speaker 1: never been acknowledged that Nyla is a is a transgender
Speaker 1: woman on our television, in our marketing, you know, in
Speaker 1: our promotion, like she has done interviews where she speaks
Speaker 1: to that personally, but it's never you know, we've never
Speaker 1: said that it's our place that we have to push
Speaker 1: this and we have to use this in order to
Speaker 1: gain some sort of recognition or notoriety that somebody's gender
Speaker 1: or sexual orientation is none of our business. And from
Speaker 1: Tony to us as announcers, if you are there wrestling
Speaker 1: in our ring, you're there because you deserve to be,
Speaker 1: not because it's a quota or anything like that. And
Speaker 1: from day one, a big push of a w was inclusivity.
Speaker 1: And so it's not just gender orientation issues. It's also
Speaker 1: when we were doing live events, we would have sensory
Speaker 1: rooms for autistic fans to come and they could still
Speaker 1: come to the building, get the live event experience, but
Speaker 1: then be in a in a place that they felt
Speaker 1: safe and felt comfortable, which I mean not not just
Speaker 1: other wrestling companies, but just other sports they don't necessarily
Speaker 1: have that. And so the marketing line at the very
Speaker 1: beginning was a W is for everyone. Yeah, as someone
Speaker 1: who watches them week after week, who who are you
Speaker 1: excited to see back now that you're back on television? What? What?
Speaker 1: What wrestlers do you think have stepped up? Who's who's
Speaker 1: next in line for a W I think kept Sabian.
Speaker 1: He was one of the names that I mentioned that
Speaker 1: that really kind of stepped up, and he proved that
Speaker 1: he's he's somebody that can be counted on not just
Speaker 1: as you know, being there, but also rising to the occasion.
Speaker 1: And I think he's got a very very bright future
Speaker 1: in this business, as well as his fiance Penelope Ford,
Speaker 1: who you know. I think she would admit that when
Speaker 1: a EW started she was not among one of the
Speaker 1: best women on our roster in terms of in ring performance,
Speaker 1: But over this last few months she's grown as a performer,
Speaker 1: not not just in her ability, but also in her
Speaker 1: confidence in herself. And she had an absolutely fantastic match
Speaker 1: on our July one episode if she challenged for the
Speaker 1: Women's World title. I think it was a match that
Speaker 1: people were you know, the fans were excited for it,
Speaker 1: but you know, they had their reservations and she and
Speaker 1: Penelope Ford and Hakarashida absolutely outkicked their coverage in that regard.
Speaker 1: And so I think those two are are fantastic. I
Speaker 1: think the Lucher brothers, Ray Phoenix and Pentagon Jr. Who
Speaker 1: are two real life brothers. They were born in Mexico City.
Speaker 1: Phoenix lives in the States and Pentagon Junior lives in Mexico,
Speaker 1: and they have been traveling for prayer perhaps the last
Speaker 1: six seven years with each other every single week. They
Speaker 1: were constantly in each other's presence, and then three months
Speaker 1: where they couldn't see each other. And so I know
Speaker 1: when they came back to TV and they're able to
Speaker 1: travel together and things, you know, started feeling kind of
Speaker 1: like normal again for them, that was that was really huge.
Speaker 1: And so it's like they're there's some of the best
Speaker 1: in ring performers that we have. But also just you know,
Speaker 1: on a personal level, it makes me feel good that
Speaker 1: they get to see each other again. Yeah. Well, and
Speaker 1: not to bring it down to end it, but lastly,
Speaker 1: with all these COVID cases popping up and obviously the
Speaker 1: numbers going on, an incline again, are there zoom calls
Speaker 1: now trying to figure out if if you guys can
Speaker 1: keep doing this week after week? Um I'm not involved
Speaker 1: in those conversations, but I know they're definitely happening. I
Speaker 1: think we had Boston in Philadelphia dates rescheduled for later
Speaker 1: this summer, and we pushed those out until one. And
Speaker 1: you know, now the show in Jacksonville, especially with you
Speaker 1: know the cases in Florida skyrocketing, I think everyone is
Speaker 1: very concerned about that. And I know when the quarantine
Speaker 1: first started, there was so many conversations about well, what
Speaker 1: if we can't do a live show, what are we
Speaker 1: going to do? And you know, how how do we
Speaker 1: handle this? And if we don't have new content to
Speaker 1: put up, what is the thing. And I think those
Speaker 1: conversations are most likely being revisited, not even right now,
Speaker 1: probably probably starting weeks ago. And I think there's got
Speaker 1: to be plans A, B, C, D, E and F there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there's wrestlers. I mean, you know people on staff
Speaker 1: on screen that are not the age of keep Sabian
Speaker 1: and Penelop before. There is Jake the Snake, Roberts and
Speaker 1: Jim Ross and people who are in the demographic of
Speaker 1: those who have to be very careful about what they're
Speaker 1: getting in front of Yes, and you know, and I
Speaker 1: think part of you know, what a W did in
Speaker 1: terms of testing and you know, ensuring everyone's safety really
Speaker 1: makes the older members of our of our staff feel
Speaker 1: comfortable coming to work. When we arrive in Jacksonville, basically
Speaker 1: we're blood tested at the hotel, we get our temperature check,
Speaker 1: we do all that. But then after after the show
Speaker 1: is over, we all go back to the hotel. There's
Speaker 1: food they're waiting for us. You know, it's not a
Speaker 1: completely closed bubble, but when we're in Jacksonville, we're in
Speaker 1: as much of a bubble as we possibly can, and
Speaker 1: that I think goes a long way to providing reassurance
Speaker 1: to the people that and you know, I mean there
Speaker 1: are people that are younger people but you know, through
Speaker 1: medical conditions or whatever. You know, Like for myself, there's
Speaker 1: a there's a big history of heart disease in my
Speaker 1: family and so even though I'm you know, relatively young
Speaker 1: and healthy, it's still something that's in the back of
Speaker 1: my mind. So so knowing how the company has has
Speaker 1: done as much as we can to to make sure
Speaker 1: everybody is safe that goes you know, goes along way
Speaker 1: and making me and I think everybody else feel comfortable
Speaker 1: coming to work right. Well, congrats on being able to
Speaker 1: go back to television. We're excited to have your voice
Speaker 1: back on TV and a w still rolling along and
Speaker 1: stay safe man, and hopefully we'll get an NBA something
Speaker 1: some sort of playoff in this tournament or I don't know,
Speaker 1: as long as Jonas and Lebron are playing, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I can't even I can't be optimistic about it anymore.
Speaker 1: It's it's so it's so weird, and especially with guys
Speaker 1: guys dropping out like you mentioned, I mean almost on
Speaker 1: a daily basis, It's like, what is this going to
Speaker 1: look like? Are we even gonna have enough guys to
Speaker 1: to feel the twenty team tournament or whatever. I know,
Speaker 1: the ESPN ticker today was just people testing positive for COVID.
Speaker 1: I was like, this is not this is not it's
Speaker 1: not a health channel. Guys. We gotta we gotta work,
Speaker 1: we gotta figure this out. Well, thank you, brother, and
Speaker 1: we will talk soon, all right, Thank you many, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: The Sports Bubble is produced and distributed by Tree Fort Media.
Speaker 1: The show was executive produced by Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman,
Speaker 1: Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan is our
Speaker 1: senior audio engineer and sound supervisor, with production and editing
Speaker 1: by Jasper Leak additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen,
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