Speaker 1: Well, we are back for some more wrestling extravaganzas is extravaganzas.
Speaker 1: That is that appropriate to extrava extravaganzas extravaganzi.
Speaker 2: Extra.
Speaker 3: That's perfect.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: We are here at the Intuit Dome for WWE RAW
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. Very exciting. I am thrilled about the
Speaker 1: interviews that we are doing today. We're going to do
Speaker 1: two episodes with two interviews each.
Speaker 4: So are so four episode? I'm doing the math four episodes,
Speaker 4: two interviews each.
Speaker 1: That's good. Okay, Wow you when did you learn too?
Speaker 1: Plus two? Uh?
Speaker 3: When I was this many? Okay, so I was pretty happy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty good. What are are you? Are you?
Speaker 1: Are you going to the show tonight? Are going to row?
Speaker 3: I am not going tonight. I know you're going this evening.
Speaker 1: Are you bringing the childre? You're bringing the.
Speaker 3: Children to go this evening.
Speaker 4: I was not able to join you this evening, but
Speaker 4: we are here, bright and early to interview the wrestlers,
Speaker 4: which I'm very exciting.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like a six am interview.
Speaker 4: It's a six am in it when they're like all
Speaker 4: on too, they're like ready to go.
Speaker 1: All beautiful and in full wardrobe and.
Speaker 3: They've got to do this all day and then they're
Speaker 3: going to wrestle tonight.
Speaker 1: I know, honestly, it's crazy. I'm lazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I napped halfway through one of the interviews and it
Speaker 4: was a great interview, but it was a very, very
Speaker 4: a little catnap.
Speaker 3: I found my new wrestling crush.
Speaker 1: Oh today, I know you did mention. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to tell her that.
Speaker 3: Are you going to tell her that?
Speaker 1: I just can't tell her.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just whatever I will do.
Speaker 1: You want to tell the people who you love.
Speaker 3: No, I love my wife, but I have a bit
Speaker 3: of a wrestling crush.
Speaker 1: Okay, who's your wrestling Okay, you're not going to say,
Speaker 1: We're just gonna have to We're just gonna have to.
Speaker 3: You have to guess. You're gonna have to guess who
Speaker 3: it is.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, welcome everybody to Pod Meets World. I'm Daniel Fischel.
Speaker 3: And I'm Wilford Ell.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: That's that's right. Rider bailed yet again yet again.
Speaker 1: He's on the road. Look at that, as you can.
Speaker 4: Always he's always good, conveniently on the road whenever we
Speaker 4: do anything with wrestling.
Speaker 1: Isn't that the true.
Speaker 3: I'm starting to think that maybe this isn't his jam.
Speaker 1: I know, I did. I did think, like I need
Speaker 1: to start thinking, like, yeah, I'd go out of town
Speaker 1: for three months every summer and just drive around. Yeah.
Speaker 3: They just drive around in a van.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they get out of the van and they walk
Speaker 1: very far distances.
Speaker 3: Yeah, to to to like do nothing.
Speaker 1: No, no, there's water there sometimes sometimes.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it's very it's very strange, and they eat at
Speaker 4: place it's I don't understand.
Speaker 1: It doesn't like tacos. I don't get it. It is
Speaker 1: like tacos either. I know. Oh boy, well we miss him?
Speaker 1: Sound we do?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I guess you're right.
Speaker 1: Well, we hope you enjoy this first episodisode. Our first
Speaker 1: interview is with the one and only Ethan Paige. Yeah,
Speaker 1: did you love him?
Speaker 2: He was so cool.
Speaker 3: He was so funny, really funny too.
Speaker 1: He like he like insulted me but also revered me.
Speaker 1: You know, he was like a little afraid of me.
Speaker 1: It was I kind of felt like the perfect amount
Speaker 1: of fear. I want you.
Speaker 7: It was.
Speaker 4: It was great and he was he was just super
Speaker 4: funny and kind of took over the interview, which I
Speaker 4: love when that happens, so I do too.
Speaker 1: Well, after Ethan, you will also get to hear from
Speaker 1: Soul Ruka. Very excited for that, so enjoy this episode
Speaker 1: special side quest on Podmets World. Not since Nickelback has
Speaker 1: something from Canada been so divisive. Since his start in
Speaker 1: the business exactly twenty years ago, he has collected championships
Speaker 1: like we have a Masked podcast. Some highlights on the
Speaker 1: tag team side include titles at Impact, Triple A, Evolve,
Speaker 1: and my personal favorite p WG. More on that later.
Speaker 1: And now somehow he is just hitting his prime in
Speaker 1: the WWE, where he's held the NXT title and was
Speaker 1: the longest reigning North American champion of all time. He's
Speaker 1: made quite a name in this business, even if my
Speaker 1: four year old only calls him the guy who points
Speaker 1: to his brain. We're so happy to welcome to pod
Speaker 1: Meats World, all Ego, Ethan Page, Hello there, you seem
Speaker 1: really bummed about this reference.
Speaker 3: It was a Nickelback that three.
Speaker 6: I think, Well, it only threw me because I was
Speaker 6: offended that there's it's divisive.
Speaker 1: Divisive?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Nickleback is divisive.
Speaker 6: Oh of course are you kidding? Really unanimously loved I believe. Okay,
Speaker 6: so I.
Speaker 3: Now you remind me that you don't know about Nickelback.
Speaker 6: No, I know, I know all about Nickleback. That was
Speaker 6: a journey that you just took me on, and this
Speaker 6: just started. I sent the longest email just trying to
Speaker 6: find out why I was even booked for this podcast.
Speaker 3: And do most of our guests.
Speaker 6: I was like, I instantly regretted sending that email because
Speaker 6: I was like, Wow, the amount of detail put into
Speaker 6: this introduction. I felt very good about myself, and you
Speaker 6: wrapped it up with a terrible beau at the end
Speaker 6: and just threw it back in my face.
Speaker 2: I'm like, what the hell like that?
Speaker 6: That was a very journalistic approach with comedic timing. I'm confused.
Speaker 3: I'm welcome to Podgy.
Speaker 2: That's a perfect way to describe it.
Speaker 3: I wanted you to.
Speaker 1: Feel like we were playing pin the tail, you know,
Speaker 1: I spinning you around, spinning you around, and then now
Speaker 1: you're dizzy.
Speaker 2: I'm dizzy, Okay, Yeah, I'm busy.
Speaker 6: I'm confused. Yeah, I'm happy.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think again.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Thanks for.
Speaker 1: Having me, thank you for doing here. It is. It
Speaker 1: has been a big twenty twenty six for Ethan Page
Speaker 1: your big Raw debut, the post WrestleMania episode. You have
Speaker 1: been doing this for quite a long time. Do you
Speaker 1: still get nervous for the big moments?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Yeah, I think so. I think so, well, not
Speaker 6: the performance, okay, for like what it means to me
Speaker 6: as the performer, Okay, if that makes sense?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean you mentioned that I'm in my prime, but
Speaker 6: I'm like not physically in my prime. So I'm very
Speaker 6: happy to get these kind of opportunities at this age
Speaker 6: in my life.
Speaker 3: Okay, So you weren't the way you said it.
Speaker 4: You set it up as maybe you had not yet
Speaker 4: hit your physical prime. What you're actually saying is your
Speaker 4: physical prime was was was behind you?
Speaker 6: I will say, if I'm going up against father time, Yeah,
Speaker 6: my physical prime was a little while ago, but my
Speaker 6: prime as a performer is probably about to come.
Speaker 2: Oh if that makes.
Speaker 1: Sense, Yeah, totally I get that. Okay, yeah, yeah, why
Speaker 1: does Canada still have don't.
Speaker 6: Ask questions like they're going to be nice? But for
Speaker 6: some reason, I feel like.
Speaker 3: Have you not met Danielle?
Speaker 2: Just the way you sound, I'm like, is this coming
Speaker 2: out good or bad?
Speaker 6: Anyway? Sorry?
Speaker 2: Go ahead, but we don't known till the end either, clearly.
Speaker 1: All right, why does Canada still have such a pro
Speaker 1: wrestling pipeline? What is it? Is it the cold weather
Speaker 1: since like gyms are always hot to work?
Speaker 6: No, you know what it is, And I think that
Speaker 6: I'm gonna ignore that. I think that it's all kind
Speaker 6: of I guess performance or arts. As far as Canada goes,
Speaker 6: we're like the black smudge on a map of entertainment.
Speaker 6: Like people don't pay attention to what's happening there. They
Speaker 6: don't take it serious. Any of our shows, our movies,
Speaker 6: our athletes, our entertainers, they're all looked at as like Canada.
Speaker 6: Oh that's how I'm perceiving That's how I perceive it.
Speaker 3: As you don't watch de Grasse and then go to
Speaker 3: a Nickelback concert.
Speaker 6: Listen, don't ever talk trash about Nicol.
Speaker 2: They broke out. Okay, That's why I'm not letting you guys.
Speaker 3: Is it Nickelback the band that married Avril Levine? I
Speaker 3: have no, I'm pretty sure. Yeah she's Canadian, That's what
Speaker 3: I'm saying. Yes, some forty one married Averl Levine's.
Speaker 6: You know more Canadian history than me. I love Canada
Speaker 6: you know more than that. So but as far as
Speaker 6: entertainment wise, to actually get out of Canada is very hard.
Speaker 6: So you say pipeline, I say, you only get our
Speaker 6: best because of how hard it is to actually get
Speaker 6: the paperwork that documents the visas, the permit, whatever you
Speaker 6: have to cross the border to become a legal entertainer here.
Speaker 6: It's very, very hard. So it's not so much a
Speaker 6: pipeline as much as like we're the ones that scratched
Speaker 6: and clawed hard enough to make it. So, yeah, of
Speaker 6: course you're only going to get our best, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, when you were a kid growing up, is this
Speaker 4: all like? Were you just watching wrestling the whole time
Speaker 4: and this is kind of all you wanted to do?
Speaker 6: Yeah, So I didn't really culturally to become a wrestler.
Speaker 6: For me with my family was like you want to
Speaker 6: do what? Absolutely not. Our family didn't move from Yugoslavia
Speaker 6: to Canada for this for you to go do that.
Speaker 6: But everyone's very supportive and happy now. But yeah, all
Speaker 6: my life I wanted to at least entertain people or
Speaker 6: be in front of a camera.
Speaker 1: Well, you're definitely entertaining. You have your all ego personality,
Speaker 1: a heel in every sense of the word. Do you
Speaker 1: ever see Cody Rhodes kissing a baby and feel a
Speaker 1: little left out.
Speaker 3: Like I want to be the Like No, great question,
Speaker 3: great question.
Speaker 2: Now I know where you were going, like that.
Speaker 1: Left out from what looked out from being beloved, like
Speaker 1: people love me? Okay, people love Nickelback. It's true, it's
Speaker 1: true your understanding, we're finally on the same Yes.
Speaker 6: Yes, if you choose to focus on the negative, huh,
Speaker 6: it'll always be there, right, Yeah, whatever you're looking for,
Speaker 6: you'll find.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Is it fun to play that kind of character?
Speaker 6: Well, I just live my life.
Speaker 1: No character, really you or are there some influences?
Speaker 6: I don't even think I'm like really that bad of
Speaker 6: a person. Oh listen, Obviously violence is violence, and you
Speaker 6: know things are perceived a certain way, like it's very bad.
Speaker 6: I'm a father. I don't raise my kids like that.
Speaker 6: But I think that people don't like me because I
Speaker 6: tell the truth and I kind of shine a light
Speaker 6: on things that people would choose to ignore. If that
Speaker 6: makes me a bad person, then.
Speaker 4: So really you're just showing the mirror up to them
Speaker 4: to where they just don't like themselves.
Speaker 6: Yeah, a lot of like who I am is just
Speaker 6: pointing out who you are.
Speaker 1: You're a mirror.
Speaker 6: Yeah, except I'd rather look at myself.
Speaker 3: Like it. I like it nice.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that you have kids. I also have children.
Speaker 1: Will hear it?
Speaker 6: I know you already threw me under the bus with
Speaker 6: your kids. Yeah, well points out his brain. Actually, can
Speaker 6: we address this?
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it, because I didn't want It's actually
Speaker 1: not an insult. We do. He loves to do intros
Speaker 1: and promos.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm not going to talk to trash about your kid.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna talk to you. He can do adults.
Speaker 1: Okay, great, love it.
Speaker 6: Children, Fine, children. You're allowed to make mistakes. You're in
Speaker 6: a growing phase of your life, and mistakes are gonna come,
Speaker 6: and they're gonna go, and they're gonna come back again,
Speaker 6: and it's gonna suck. And it's okay to make mistakes.
Speaker 6: But if you're forty two years old and paid hundreds
Speaker 6: of dollars to sit in the front row, and you
Speaker 6: don't know that, I'm pointing at my smile.
Speaker 2: The song sings kill him with uh not brain?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Not brain?
Speaker 1: Not brain?
Speaker 6: What's your kid's name?
Speaker 1: Keaton?
Speaker 6: Keaton? This is not for you. You have been fully forgiven.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut that part. I'm gonna just send this
Speaker 1: to him and be like.
Speaker 6: Mess crap.
Speaker 2: Filming. You're going home and making Keaton some mac and cheese.
Speaker 1: Okay, look, Keaton, this is directly for you.
Speaker 2: Keaton. You're fine.
Speaker 6: Is fine. You can keep having your ray mysterial doll,
Speaker 6: beat up your Ethan page doll, live your life. It's
Speaker 6: the forty two year olds in the front road that
Speaker 6: think I'm pointing at my brain. The next time you
Speaker 6: point to your brain, use it to remind yourself that
Speaker 6: I'm pointing to my smile.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you. Yes, why did you start pointing
Speaker 3: at your brain?
Speaker 1: Have you ever done career day for your kids?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yes, it's the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: So no, my daughter loved the fact that I came
Speaker 6: to her school. Yeah, but then she hated the fact
Speaker 6: that I gave all the attention to the other kids.
Speaker 6: So then she tried to she wanted to the attention back. Yes,
Speaker 6: so there's two things that happen. One, she had her
Speaker 6: hand up. Obviously, I'm not going to pick my daughter first.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm there special guests gotta you know, don't
Speaker 6: want the audience. Of course, yeah, I'm the teacher. Obviously
Speaker 6: she needs her attention to so she asked me, you know,
Speaker 6: can you give us something that'll be cool to see.
Speaker 6: I say, yeah, I was just on TV with The Rock.
Speaker 6: We should watch that. Forgetting that this is a second
Speaker 6: grade class in the Rock slapped me on the ass
Speaker 6: and swore, oh, so now the entire class saw that. Yep.
Speaker 6: So now I'm sweating profusely.
Speaker 1: The school is ready to throw you out.
Speaker 2: They loved it, okay.
Speaker 6: But then my daughter decided to tell a story about
Speaker 6: because they were like, oh, you know, do you ever
Speaker 6: get hurt wrestling? And I'm like, yeah, you know, it's
Speaker 6: very dangerous what we do. My daughter's hands been up
Speaker 6: for like five minutes at this point. I just go, yes,
Speaker 6: go ahead. She's like, well, you said, you know, sometimes
Speaker 6: you get hurt, sometimes you don't. But what happened to
Speaker 6: that one time that you suplex mommy on the bed
Speaker 6: and her hair clip broke?
Speaker 2: And I'm like, whoa, what what what are you telling
Speaker 2: the class here?
Speaker 6: There's none of this well playful banter at the house.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, now the teacher thinks I'm violent.
Speaker 1: Yes, breaking mommy's hair clips.
Speaker 6: Yeah, anyways, sorry about that.
Speaker 1: I have a history with seeing Ethan Page wrestle I
Speaker 1: was a PWG frequenter, like physically there, physically there, multiple Yes.
Speaker 1: A true life highlight for me, honestly is being able
Speaker 1: to see everything that went down in that gross little
Speaker 1: legion hall.
Speaker 2: Why for you?
Speaker 3: It really is they talk about all the time, like
Speaker 3: seriously all the time.
Speaker 6: Is the best?
Speaker 2: Okay, what about it?
Speaker 1: It was where I fell in love with wrestling again.
Speaker 1: So I've been you know, like a lot of people,
Speaker 1: I've had an in and out love relationship with wrestling
Speaker 1: over the years. And when my husband and I started
Speaker 1: dating and he said, you like wrestling, I have a
Speaker 1: place for you, and he took me to p WG.
Speaker 6: Okay, so you previously liked wrestling?
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, like what like WWE?
Speaker 6: Okay, okay, okay. And then your husband was like, well,
Speaker 6: I got to take you to this place.
Speaker 1: Yes, He's like, oh, you've been to RAW and you've
Speaker 1: been to WrestleMania, but you've never been to p WG.
Speaker 1: We're going to go to p WG. And I just
Speaker 1: was like, this is the greatest thing ever. I looking
Speaker 1: around everybody knowing every chance, everybody knowing all the moves,
Speaker 1: the sweaty sock smellure.
Speaker 6: Of beer as a cup, yes.
Speaker 1: Exactly, the sweaty bodies just shoved up next to each other.
Speaker 1: I loved everything about it cool and it fully got
Speaker 1: me back hooked into wrestling. But why do you think
Speaker 1: PWG is so was so special? Like, how do you
Speaker 1: think it influenced or do you think it influenced WWE
Speaker 1: at all?
Speaker 6: I think it influenced I guess the wrestlers who ended
Speaker 6: up becoming influential in the bigger companies, for sure. But
Speaker 6: I think it's it's just like we all choose the
Speaker 6: cool places. I guess, like the wrestlers do because we're
Speaker 6: all willing to either make the deal to do it,
Speaker 6: or it's the crowd is worth it, or the buzz
Speaker 6: is worth it, or we know that the spotlight's big
Speaker 6: enough to actually make the trip. So I think I
Speaker 6: got paid like forty dollars to do these shows she's
Speaker 6: talking about. But like, if you do the math, there's
Speaker 6: maybe two hundred three hundred people physically in that tiny, disgusting,
Speaker 6: overheated building, but whatever we filmed would end up across
Speaker 6: the world, and this was like the tapes for wrestling
Speaker 6: that people were trying to watch. So I just think
Speaker 6: it was like, as long as the talent is collectively
Speaker 6: in agreeance that like this is what you need to watch, Yeah,
Speaker 6: it'll always be the place. Yeah, and that was PDBG
Speaker 6: for sure.
Speaker 1: That was Yeah, it's just so great. What are some
Speaker 1: of your highlights from me, Recita, Like, do you have
Speaker 1: any moments that stand out to you looking back? Oh?
Speaker 6: Yeah, Sophia Vergara was there and I pulled my butt out.
Speaker 1: Was O there that night. I feel like we were
Speaker 1: there with Sophia Bergara.
Speaker 6: Now, Okay, maybe I don't know why I remember that
Speaker 6: because there's a picture of it, but I think that.
Speaker 6: And then Aranda came one time and she was rousing
Speaker 6: in the front row and it was maybe like a
Speaker 6: tag tournament or something like that, and I just remember
Speaker 6: the buzz of the audience was just like, oh, this
Speaker 6: is weird, like anyone can kind of show up right.
Speaker 6: I don't know. For me, it was just getting to
Speaker 6: wrestle a lot of the wrestlers that I watched and
Speaker 6: the opportunity to mix it up with people that I
Speaker 6: knew were getting a lot of eyes and attention. It's
Speaker 6: like being an opening act for a nickelback, you know.
Speaker 3: Sure, I do.
Speaker 4: Have you ever wrestled to a place where you're starting,
Speaker 4: You're in there and you're like this, this was a mistake.
Speaker 6: I mean I've signed contracts like that, you know what.
Speaker 6: I never after during yes, but afterwards there's always like
Speaker 6: a store or a lesson to learn or something like
Speaker 6: my go to any time, especially coming to WWE with NXT,
Speaker 6: there's so many athletes that never did anything before coming here,
Speaker 6: and I love telling them that I did an entire
Speaker 6: tournament for a father and son because that's the only
Speaker 6: tickets that's sold.
Speaker 5: Really.
Speaker 6: Yes, there were two people there, yeah, a father, his
Speaker 6: son and one hundred empty brown chairs. And I wrestled
Speaker 6: in the tournament all the way to the finals. So
Speaker 6: that's three matches.
Speaker 1: Wow my god.
Speaker 6: Wow, and I think I got paid like two dollars.
Speaker 6: It's a toney in Canada.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that of course, not to be a
Speaker 1: mistaken for Aloni, Yeah, yeah, correct.
Speaker 6: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: You mentioned NXT. It has a community feeling similar to
Speaker 1: the salad days of p WG. You were both an NXT.
Speaker 6: What does that mean? Salad days.
Speaker 1: You know everyone, No, it means like the high the highlights,
Speaker 1: like the best days, the days that the peak days.
Speaker 2: I'm old, and why is so revered like that.
Speaker 1: I don't I didn't make it. I didn't make this phrase.
Speaker 6: You don't love salad.
Speaker 1: I love salad. I'm not currently because we could all
Speaker 1: have a parasite.
Speaker 6: I heard about that.
Speaker 1: We're avoiding lettuce currently.
Speaker 3: I'm eating as much of it as I can because
Speaker 3: I want to see what happens.
Speaker 6: It's a good diet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean yeah, I think you can order a
Speaker 1: tapeworm online.
Speaker 3: I think can you really? Uh yeah, yeah yeah. The
Speaker 3: stomach flew away from my ideal weight. It's always the
Speaker 3: way it is.
Speaker 6: Wait, hold on, that's a real phrase.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, that's a real phrase. You can feel
Speaker 1: free to use it later.
Speaker 6: I'm going to look it up. First.
Speaker 3: We're going to google wear salad day. I guarantee you
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 6: Why do they like salad so much?
Speaker 3: Back the yield salad days?
Speaker 6: Thank exactly.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry to derail.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
Speaker 6: I'm just so confused.
Speaker 1: You know, when when I wrote it, I thought this
Speaker 1: is going to stop the entire interview. This is the
Speaker 1: moment where he just gets up and.
Speaker 3: These are the salad days of this.
Speaker 2: So you were.
Speaker 1: Both an NXT champ and the longest reigning North American champion.
Speaker 1: Even someone like you who has had decades of experience
Speaker 1: in the ring, Why is NXT important in your journey?
Speaker 6: It was very important. The WWE is such a different
Speaker 6: beast in comparison to anywhere that I've worked before, as
Speaker 6: far as like locker room, company wise, visibility wise, global impact.
Speaker 6: So I'm very happy that I had two years there
Speaker 6: to kind of understand how the ww operates and to
Speaker 6: learn like how much bigger the audience is. And now
Speaker 6: I'm getting reintroduced to so many new fans. I'm very
Speaker 6: happy that I got to kind of start there. I
Speaker 6: guess yeah.
Speaker 4: I'm always so so curious who was your favorite wrestler
Speaker 4: growing up?
Speaker 3: The Rock always from from the jump.
Speaker 6: No, So when I was like a little kid, the
Speaker 6: macho man Randy Savage was my favorite. Then Razormone was
Speaker 6: like the coolest wrestler ever to me, but also because
Speaker 6: my dad thought he was cool, so I was like, okay,
Speaker 6: well I like him too, And then once I started
Speaker 6: picking my own favorites, the Rock was on the list
Speaker 6: for sure, like top of the list.
Speaker 4: So wait, so your dad was a wrestling fan too,
Speaker 4: but you saying you want to be a wrestler was
Speaker 4: still like, well, you're not going to be a wrestler.
Speaker 6: Yeah. So it's a little culturally confusing here because you've
Speaker 6: got families that moved from like the Balkans or Yugoslav
Speaker 6: former Yugoslavia to Canada. So then my grandfather just worked
Speaker 6: his butt off. And then my father was trying his
Speaker 6: best to become a football player professionally, and so I
Speaker 6: guess he tried out and I think was accepted by
Speaker 6: the Hamilton Tiger Cats, the CFL team, and his father
Speaker 6: was like, oh, absolutely not, Like you need to just
Speaker 6: get a job and work because that's what we do.
Speaker 6: So he was always I guess, dreams crushed and now
Speaker 6: here I am hanging out with you guys right before
Speaker 6: Monday Night Raw. The complete opposite. So it's not that
Speaker 6: they weren't supportive, they were just I guess they didn't
Speaker 6: get to chase what they wanted to do, So it's
Speaker 6: weird to like they were definitely like, go ahead, do it,
Speaker 6: give it a shot, but they were skeptical and scared
Speaker 6: the whole time. It just was not culturally accepted.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, do they love it now though, of course? Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean living vicariously through you a little.
Speaker 6: Bit, right. I mean their son is hanging up at
Speaker 6: Target exactly, or in you know, Keaton's toybet or correct or.
Speaker 1: At our house. Many times, I was a big fan
Speaker 1: of your work with another Canadian import and friend of
Speaker 1: the show, Chelsea Greenooh okay, love Chelsea so much. Tell
Speaker 1: me about that chemistry. Why did it work so well?
Speaker 6: I don't know. I don't know. Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 6: Chelsea works with anybody. I know, I work with anybody.
Speaker 6: Then you put us together and it's like, oh, two
Speaker 6: people that are willing to make anything work are now
Speaker 6: working together. It was just magic and both of us
Speaker 6: brought something every time. It was never just one sided,
Speaker 6: and I think that's why it worked.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That's a little like real, like real relationships where
Speaker 1: people say, well it's fifty to fifty, it's like, no, no,
Speaker 1: it should be one hundred, one.
Speaker 6: Hundred, yes exactly.
Speaker 1: Yes, you know, like if you're only bringing your fifty percent,
Speaker 1: but also sometimes you're sometimes one person may have to
Speaker 1: do one hundred and twenty.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they didn't have that conversation where it's like I
Speaker 4: can give you sixty percent today, it's like, all right,
Speaker 4: I got you touch, I can do one for Yeah,
Speaker 4: I can do that.
Speaker 6: And we had tag matches like that, we had promos
Speaker 6: like that, we had show days like that. Yeah, and
Speaker 6: we were at least honest with each other like, hey,
Speaker 6: I'm feeling this today, I'm feeling this today. So she
Speaker 6: was amazing to work with, Like, absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 4: How what how often do you wrestle that injured is
Speaker 4: different but hurt?
Speaker 3: I mean is it most most of the time?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Yeah all the time?
Speaker 7: Wow?
Speaker 6: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: My shoulder hurts a little bit, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: it was hard for me to wake up this morning.
Speaker 4: It's like I have a little bit of all These
Speaker 4: are the salad days of her shoulders.
Speaker 5: Thank you these?
Speaker 1: No, Yeah, we have Summer Slam next weekend. And you
Speaker 1: did come up short to Chad Gable for challenging Kenta
Speaker 1: for the Intercontinental Championship. Now we all know that.
Speaker 6: Didn't you actually watch that or are you just reading
Speaker 6: a piece of paper because if you're going to bring
Speaker 6: it up, I'm redial. All right, thank you? For being
Speaker 6: honest if you're going to bring it up, huh.
Speaker 1: Is it a hurtful moment for you? Yeah?
Speaker 6: We got this podcast for you, go do media and
Speaker 6: promote Summer Slam.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fine, Okay, I mean that that. That was
Speaker 1: my question was does missing out on these opportunities still
Speaker 1: bum you out? Or is it just the nature of
Speaker 1: the trade, because like we all now know the inner
Speaker 1: workings of it thanks to Unreal, but like before Unreal,
Speaker 1: I don't know that anybody necessarily knew how it all worked.
Speaker 1: But so is it actually painful for you you won't
Speaker 1: be at SummerSlam or are you just like it's just
Speaker 1: the way the cookie crumbles something?
Speaker 6: So look, I wish I could be honest. I wish
Speaker 6: I could have been honest this entire interview. I've just
Speaker 6: been lying this whole time. But when it comes to this,
Speaker 6: I think for me, yes, I'm very upset that I
Speaker 6: missed the opportunity, but the WW and TKO won't allow
Speaker 6: me to have the time to do that because I'll
Speaker 6: be available for photo ops and me in greets the
Speaker 6: entire Summer Slam weekend and doing you know, appearances like this,
Speaker 6: and they've kept me very busy, so I will not
Speaker 6: be allotted the freedom to think.
Speaker 1: I feel that. Yeah, I'm also in a period of
Speaker 1: my life where I'm not allowed to think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're all happy for that.
Speaker 6: Yeah right, Yeah, because when you have time to think,
Speaker 6: that's when bad things happen. Yeah, you're a little too free. Yeah,
Speaker 6: and you need to be booked up a little bit more.
Speaker 3: When you've got time to think.
Speaker 1: Oh see, I told you that's.
Speaker 3: What he's doing.
Speaker 1: That point, that's why it points think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's going to career.
Speaker 1: Aren't you glad you said yes to this?
Speaker 6: Guys, this is a little too early and my ww
Speaker 6: career for them to be changing my branding on a
Speaker 6: popular podcast. Okay, this is not good synergy.
Speaker 1: Finally, I do want to do a little rap Finally,
Speaker 1: you're you're You're almost you're almost free.
Speaker 2: One thing.
Speaker 1: You want to read?
Speaker 5: More?
Speaker 3: Do you want me to read?
Speaker 4: Hey, Danielle, what's next?
Speaker 1: I want to do a little rapid fire. I want
Speaker 1: to find the sweet side of ethan page.
Speaker 6: Well, as long as we're talking about delicious desserts, you'll
Speaker 6: find it.
Speaker 1: Yes, I want to list a few people, and you
Speaker 1: have to come up with the best thing about them.
Speaker 1: You have to praise them, even if it is the
Speaker 1: hardest thing you've ever done.
Speaker 8: Okay, after this podcast, nothing you say will be the
Speaker 8: hardest thing. Chad Gable, Oh ugly you said nice, he's
Speaker 8: the ugliest person you've ever seen. He's number one and ugly.
Speaker 6: No he's not. I've seen some of these Luca guys
Speaker 6: without their masks. It's got a great tan great. Uh,
Speaker 6: he'd make a great birthday clown.
Speaker 2: That's fair, that's fair.
Speaker 1: Von Evans.
Speaker 6: Mm hm. Oh you know what, since he started putting
Speaker 6: those grills in, I haven't heard a single thing he said.
Speaker 6: And that's amazing.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 6: American, Oh ah, something positive about El Grande. He's got
Speaker 6: very nice Spanish accent.
Speaker 1: And Cody Rhodes.
Speaker 3: We broke, we broke broke his brain.
Speaker 6: Great at kissing kids, he's.
Speaker 1: Great a kissing babies. Okay, finally, how about will here?
Speaker 6: Oh you are the best brain pointer ever score. Yes,
Speaker 6: I'll take it yourself.
Speaker 1: No, no, I'm definitely not saying I don't. I'm going
Speaker 1: to skip right over it. Ethan. It was so great
Speaker 1: talking to you. Thank you, thank you so much, so fun.
Speaker 3: No problem, we love you.
Speaker 1: I will shame Keaton, No, I get home today.
Speaker 4: Yeah you do, not shame keeping the timeouts for exactly
Speaker 4: you know what your room to your room?
Speaker 1: How are you know?
Speaker 6: This is how you make lifelong fans. Okay, okay, you're saying, oh,
Speaker 6: don't you want to be beloved? Yes, I'm trying to
Speaker 6: manipulate the youth.
Speaker 7: I got it smart. Okay, get a long term playing
Speaker 7: a long time smart correct kind of like how you
Speaker 7: guys got me to do this podcast. Yeah, I TG
Speaker 7: if I could not say no.
Speaker 1: It's a manipulation tactic.
Speaker 6: And now imagine my mom sent me to my room
Speaker 6: because it's something you said. I wouldn't have been a fan.
Speaker 6: I would have hated the show then, and I said, no,
Speaker 6: I'm not doing this podcast.
Speaker 1: Not doing that makes sense, makes sense. We are big fans.
Speaker 3: Good, thank you, thank you, thank you guys.
Speaker 1: Well you know those people who peek in one sport
Speaker 1: and then just one day decide to peak again in
Speaker 1: a completely different sport, Well, today we are interviewing one
Speaker 1: of those respectfully athletic freaks. She was a prodigy gymnast,
Speaker 1: performing backsprings in front walkovers like some sort of olympian,
Speaker 1: and then one day looked around and said, you know,
Speaker 1: but this sport is missing steel chairs. From there, she
Speaker 1: has dominated NXT, becoming an undeniable fan favorite, and now
Speaker 1: she is the WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion, which she took
Speaker 1: off Becky Lynch in Italy just weeks into her first
Speaker 1: stint on the main roster. Oh part of an impressive
Speaker 1: class of emerging young superstars breaking through. As some of
Speaker 1: our veteran favorites call it a day, she's ready to
Speaker 1: carry the torch and bring a whole new level of
Speaker 1: athleticism to the women's division. Now on Pod Meets World,
Speaker 1: it's the best thing to ever come from Ska soul Ruca.
Speaker 5: I love that. That was perfect. Yeah, that was spot on.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for spending time with us. I
Speaker 1: live in a soul Ruka household.
Speaker 5: Oh I love that. I love to hear that.
Speaker 1: Yes for having me. We're happy you're here. I joked
Speaker 1: about it in the intro. But your dad is a
Speaker 1: founding member of the legendary ska and reggae band The
Speaker 1: Skeletons and was in Fishbone Entertainment is obviously in your
Speaker 1: DNA and he played the Apollo Red Rocks outside Lands.
Speaker 1: They opened for no doubt, Sublime, Incubus, the list goes
Speaker 1: on and on. So what did he say when you
Speaker 1: told him, Dad, I want to be a wrestler.
Speaker 5: I mean both my parents were stoked.
Speaker 9: I think like right before I told my mom that
Speaker 9: I had a try out, my mom was out to
Speaker 9: dinner with her mom and my brother and it was
Speaker 9: on the TV. My mom was like, oh, she'd be
Speaker 9: so good at that. And then like a few days later,
Speaker 9: I was like, hey, I have a tryout. Yeah. They've
Speaker 9: always been super supportive and like, like you said, my
Speaker 9: dad's always been in entertainment, so he kind of knew
Speaker 9: what I was like getting myself into.
Speaker 5: But he was really really excited for me.
Speaker 1: That's so great. It's not often you hear that from
Speaker 1: you know. We've interviewed to quite a few wrestlers at
Speaker 1: this point, and most of the time they're like they
Speaker 1: were supportive, but also.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of them we've met.
Speaker 4: It's also it's such a departure from everything else in
Speaker 4: their family. Whereas you grew up in an entertainment family,
Speaker 4: so it's entertainment, so it's kind of like, Okay, you
Speaker 4: want to entertain a huge crowd.
Speaker 3: I get that I guess a little more.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but this is this something even when you were
Speaker 4: a gymnast that you were like to be professional wrestling.
Speaker 5: No, not at all.
Speaker 9: I was not a fan. I never like was exposed
Speaker 9: to it growing up. Like now looking back, I wish
Speaker 9: I was, because if I did see it, I probably
Speaker 9: would have been like, this is what I want to do, right.
Speaker 5: But I had some kids that I babysat for a bit.
Speaker 5: They had like all the.
Speaker 9: Action figures, they had all the rings, and they would
Speaker 9: like try the moves on each other, and I was
Speaker 9: just like making sure they're staying safe. So that was
Speaker 9: like the extent of my experience with wrestling. And then
Speaker 9: I got a DM from their recruiting page on Instagram
Speaker 9: and they asked if I want to do a tryout
Speaker 9: and I was like, at first I thought it was
Speaker 9: UFC and I was like, I don't know how to fight, yeah,
Speaker 9: and I rather not, but did my research and I
Speaker 9: was like, wait, this is like sick, like I would
Speaker 9: love to do this. So except to the tryout, and
Speaker 9: my mentality was just like if I get it, hell
Speaker 9: yeahf no, it's a cool story to tell everyone. So
Speaker 9: I flew out to Orlando at the Performance Center, did
Speaker 9: the the tryout, and then a few days later got
Speaker 9: the call and moved from Hawaii to Orlando within like
Speaker 9: a few months and been here ever since.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, we have talked a lot about the Performance
Speaker 1: Center Live Morgan, uh, talk to us about what that's like.
Speaker 1: What was your experience like when you entered the Performance
Speaker 1: Center having not grown up watching wrestling. Were you were
Speaker 1: there like some massive surprises?
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I was just like it was just like a whole
Speaker 9: new world, you know, like I was going from the
Speaker 9: University of Oregon to here or to the Performance Center,
Speaker 9: which is like a bit different with just like how
Speaker 9: everything's run and like the uh like the team aspect.
Speaker 9: It was like there, but it's also like a bit different,
Speaker 9: so a lot of characters, and I was like used
Speaker 9: to that, you know, I'm so used to just being
Speaker 9: an athlete and being so like serious all the time,
Speaker 9: and then coming into the PC and everyone's like super
Speaker 9: bubbly and like has all these personalities and this like
Speaker 9: whole storyline and all this stuff.
Speaker 5: So that was a bit like different, But it.
Speaker 9: Was really cool because I've never had that kind of
Speaker 9: like creative like output and within my like athleticism and
Speaker 9: my like character and stuff. So I think that was
Speaker 9: like the biggest thing for me. But it was, Yeah,
Speaker 9: it was really cool. The Performance Center is absolutely amazing.
Speaker 9: I mean, wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them.
Speaker 3: So I'm still trying to wrap my head around this.
Speaker 4: So you're you're an athlete, you're a gymnast, and you
Speaker 4: just open Instagram one day and there's just a random
Speaker 4: DM to you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 9: I mean once I graduated, I moved to Hawaii and
Speaker 9: I was doing online personal training and I was doing
Speaker 9: like social media influencing at the time. So my social
Speaker 9: media was just me doing flips and tricks on the
Speaker 9: beach because I kind of missed just being an athlete
Speaker 9: and that's like what I grew up doing, so I
Speaker 9: kind of wanted to see where that would take me.
Speaker 9: And so I think they saw one of my videos
Speaker 9: and then from there they were like, wow, yeah, we
Speaker 9: want you, and I was like, cool, let's do it.
Speaker 3: That's crazy to me. Your whole life change is one DM.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's wild.
Speaker 1: We'll still hoping it's going to happen for him, right.
Speaker 4: I don't have any social media, which makes it harder
Speaker 4: I'm waiting for an actual letter to arrive at my house.
Speaker 3: Right happening a lot.
Speaker 1: We want you in the ww A lot less. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to ask you one more question about your
Speaker 1: dad's music too. Because you grew up around so much
Speaker 1: amazing music, you must have gone to some incredible shows.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me about like a show you went
Speaker 1: to that was just blow my mind?
Speaker 9: So he played at Coachella when I was in high school,
Speaker 9: so it was that was really cool. Like he got
Speaker 9: artist passes for me and my friend, so we were
Speaker 9: like backstage and like just meeting so many really cool people.
Speaker 9: And I think that was like one of the best
Speaker 9: experiences that I've had. Some of the people you met
Speaker 9: I met like Tyler creator Andre three thousand. Shoot, there
Speaker 9: were so many people I've met, some like influencer like
Speaker 9: David Doe, Bricky like that. Yeah, it was really really cool.
Speaker 9: I met Rihanna well kind of she like brushed past me,
Speaker 9: and I.
Speaker 3: Was like, oh my god, I met.
Speaker 5: Her, but I didn't say anything.
Speaker 1: I was so nervous still you were you were millimeters away.
Speaker 1: That's why it.
Speaker 4: Makes you pretty popular in high school when you can
Speaker 4: say all your friends like my dad's playing Coachella.
Speaker 3: Yeah, go, I mean that's got to be artists. Do
Speaker 3: you want to go hang out at Coachella?
Speaker 6: That's pretty great.
Speaker 1: Your background, as we mentioned, was in gymnastics, acrobatics, tumbling,
Speaker 1: and you competed at the University of Oregon. Did you
Speaker 1: ever contemplate joining Circasla.
Speaker 6: Yes.
Speaker 9: Actually I thought like I wanted to get into something
Speaker 9: like that or stunt doubling before I went went to
Speaker 9: the PC, But I didn't really know how to get
Speaker 9: into that kind of world, especially being in Hawaii, like
Speaker 9: a lot of it is like on the mainland or
Speaker 9: like in you know, La or you know, there's a
Speaker 9: lot of stuff in Orlando as well. But I did
Speaker 9: actually do a cirk Disila like event thing within WW.
Speaker 9: We were like in NXC and they brought some of
Speaker 9: us to cirk Disila where they were like training because
Speaker 9: they had to show out there and it.
Speaker 5: Was really really cool.
Speaker 3: That's cool.
Speaker 5: I definitely think maybe one day I'll I'll dabble in that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that feels like something that should be on your
Speaker 1: manifestation or yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm curious.
Speaker 4: How does the workout regiment for high level gymnastics compare
Speaker 4: with the workout regiment for being a wrestler.
Speaker 5: It's like the same but different.
Speaker 9: I mean, like in gymnastics training from I was like
Speaker 9: twenty five hours a week from the age of six
Speaker 9: all the way up until I went to college. But
Speaker 9: wrestling is just so different from any other sport, Like
Speaker 9: you really have to listen to your body and just
Speaker 9: like stay safe in terms of like working out on
Speaker 9: the outside, just because it is so demanding. I think
Speaker 9: I learned that the hard way, like I form a
Speaker 9: ACL and I think it was because I was just
Speaker 9: doing so much, because I was still trying to like
Speaker 9: do powerlifting and do acrobatics on the side, and then
Speaker 9: also wrestling and also being on the shows and traveling,
Speaker 9: and it was just like too much. So I think
Speaker 9: that's like the biggest thing is that it's so different
Speaker 9: that you really have to take into account how your
Speaker 9: body's actually feeling. But in terms of like the schedule,
Speaker 9: like it is pretty much the same, Like we are traveling,
Speaker 9: we're working out all the time, we're like in the
Speaker 9: ring all the time. Yeah, it's just a bit more mindful.
Speaker 3: Does your gymnastics mind lend itself to where you want
Speaker 3: to like create brand new moves in the room.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, Yeah, that's like all I think about all
Speaker 9: the time, like trying to think of like different ways
Speaker 9: I can do things, or even taking like you know,
Speaker 9: like normal wrestling moves and like trying to make it
Speaker 9: a little bit different or like get into it a
Speaker 9: different way or just make it a little bit more me.
Speaker 5: So that definitely shout out to gymnastics for that.
Speaker 1: You mentioned your torn acl which you tore rather early
Speaker 1: in your career, and it has a notoriously long and
Speaker 1: difficult rehab. What did you learn about yourself during that process?
Speaker 9: I mean, I definitely learned to listen to my body
Speaker 9: a bit more, and I also learned that I can
Speaker 9: almost like gaslight myself into being okay. Like I was
Speaker 9: really really scared at first and being like, you know,
Speaker 9: I don't know if I'm ever gonna be the same
Speaker 9: when I come back. I don't know if I'm gonna
Speaker 9: be able to do the move sets that I still do.
Speaker 9: But and I was like really scared because I've never
Speaker 9: had a serious injury. I've never been under the knife before,
Speaker 9: so it was really terrifying. But once I started the rehab,
Speaker 9: I was like, I'm just gonna tell myself I'm fine,
Speaker 9: Like I'm just gonna tell myself that I'm gonna return
Speaker 9: even better.
Speaker 5: Than I first was here.
Speaker 9: So I think just that mentality, I kind of just
Speaker 9: like forced myself like almost like manifested it to be true,
Speaker 9: because I definitely think I returned way better than I left.
Speaker 3: Oh that's great.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, and then in your final NXT appearance against Zaria,
Speaker 1: you went through a table from a very high ledge,
Speaker 1: and I for one, held my breath for about three minutes.
Speaker 1: In the end, you needed eight staples in your head,
Speaker 1: and then again you healed and came back stronger than ever.
Speaker 1: So I I guess my next question is are you Wolverine?
Speaker 6: I mean, are you.
Speaker 1: I've never seen you in the same place.
Speaker 10: I'm not allowed to talk about that because that would
Speaker 10: be awesome. The next question, okay, next, okay to ask
Speaker 10: with the stuff. Now, I know we the one thing
Speaker 10: so Daniel's brought me into the world of wrestling. I'm
Speaker 10: still learning as of getting there.
Speaker 4: But one thing that I've I've we're learning is there's
Speaker 4: a very big difference between fake and choreographed. Choreographed is
Speaker 4: it's the amazing athleticism when you do something even though
Speaker 4: it's choreographed, like going through a table, how much does
Speaker 4: that hurt? We have a lot of adrenaline, so so you
Speaker 4: don't feel it when it first happened.
Speaker 5: No, I mean when.
Speaker 9: Especially when I went through the table, I had no
Speaker 9: idea that my head was split open.
Speaker 5: I was just I landed and I was like sweet,
Speaker 5: like I made it.
Speaker 9: I was like I wanted to hit both tables, but
Speaker 9: I ended up under one of them, so I was
Speaker 9: a bit confused. But I was just sitting there waiting
Speaker 9: for us to you know, get off off of Live
Speaker 9: and uh, medical came out.
Speaker 5: They're like are okay. I'm like yeah, I'm fine.
Speaker 9: They're asking me like what day is it? Where are
Speaker 9: you like making sure that? Like I was all good
Speaker 9: to go. I like had my hand over my head
Speaker 9: just because I knew how it looked, so I just
Speaker 9: wanted to, you know, make it, sell it, Yeah, sell it.
Speaker 5: So I had my hand there. I went to sit
Speaker 5: up and.
Speaker 9: They're like, don't move and I was like okay, and
Speaker 9: I look at my hand and it's like covered in
Speaker 9: blood and I was.
Speaker 5: Like, oh, that's not what I thought happened. I mean,
Speaker 5: I yeah, I was fine.
Speaker 9: Even afterwards, Like I was, it was just a freak accident,
Speaker 9: you know, I think I just hit it at the
Speaker 9: perfect angle.
Speaker 3: But so did you feel it the next day?
Speaker 5: Honestly no, Like I was fine, superficial head.
Speaker 1: Would you know it needs eight stitches? I mean eight staples?
Speaker 3: You're telling you the wolverine question. I'm still now starting
Speaker 3: to think she's an ex man.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, well, we can see how your acrobatics
Speaker 1: background has helped your wrestling and made you have your
Speaker 1: own you know, pov on things. How does it does
Speaker 1: it in any way? Does it hold you back? Does
Speaker 1: it hurt you or hinder you in any way?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 9: I know I wouldn't say it hurt or hinder, but
Speaker 9: I do think I can sometimes overcomplicate things or like
Speaker 9: try to do too much just because I'm trying to
Speaker 9: be so different. So I do think that. I don't
Speaker 9: know if that necessarily hinders me, but I do. I
Speaker 9: have noticed that a few times. I'm like, I need
Speaker 9: to just like chill out for a second, and like
Speaker 9: it's okay to not have every single movie something like
Speaker 9: no one's ever seen before.
Speaker 1: Right, the straight line between A and B is okay?
Speaker 1: Here it doesn't exact.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you get the The other thing that's interesting
Speaker 4: is it's such a like any It's like no other
Speaker 4: sport I've ever seen before, because there's such a balance
Speaker 4: between athleticism and performance.
Speaker 3: So you obviously had the athleticism coming in.
Speaker 4: Did you have any trouble kind of getting into the
Speaker 4: I need a character, I need to act, I need
Speaker 4: to be in front of the cameras.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, was that just a whole new world
Speaker 3: for me?
Speaker 9: Yeah, that was I think like the hardest thing for me.
Speaker 9: And I feel like I'm still like trying to get
Speaker 9: used to that and trying to like really find myself,
Speaker 9: especially because I've only been doing this for like for
Speaker 9: almost five years and I was out for nine months.
Speaker 9: But yeah, that was definitely like the hardest thing. Like again, athletics,
Speaker 9: you're supposed to be serious, you're supposed to you show up,
Speaker 9: they give you a uniform, they tell you have to
Speaker 9: do this this, and then I have to say this,
Speaker 9: you have to you know, give you your like move
Speaker 9: set in a way.
Speaker 5: So when I got here, they're like, oh, like what's
Speaker 5: your character, Like what do you want to be? And
Speaker 5: I was like, no, one's ever asked me that before.
Speaker 5: I don't know, I don't.
Speaker 9: Really like the first like day of the tryout, we
Speaker 9: have a promost like seg at the end uh. And
Speaker 9: the trial I was at was a mix of indie
Speaker 9: workers and athletes. So the indie workers went and they
Speaker 9: had this whole persona.
Speaker 5: They were all had this.
Speaker 9: Like get up and everything and like had a whole
Speaker 9: story and it was like really cool.
Speaker 5: They had like a punchline at the end.
Speaker 9: And then like I remember, I went up and a
Speaker 9: bunch of the US athletes went up like, Hey, my
Speaker 9: name is this. I went to this school. These are
Speaker 9: my accolades, and that's all I got. And after that,
Speaker 9: I was like, I'm not getting the job. There's no way.
Speaker 3: Wow, did you just binge wrestling? After that?
Speaker 9: Since yeah, yeah, I still feel like I'm so far behind,
Speaker 9: but I am trying my best.
Speaker 5: It's there's so much You.
Speaker 1: Have admitted that you are a below average surfer, So
Speaker 1: how did that kind of end up being your aesthetic?
Speaker 9: People just like assumed I guess like as soon as
Speaker 9: I walked in, they were just like I think people
Speaker 9: knew I was like living in Hawaii at the time,
Speaker 9: Souburn was just like, oh, you're the girl from Hawaii,
Speaker 9: like surfer and like even growing up, just like because
Speaker 9: I'm from California originally, I've always loved the beach and
Speaker 9: I try and be at the beach as much as
Speaker 9: I can. But I think just the way I like look,
Speaker 9: people just assumed that I was a surfer and I
Speaker 9: was just like yeah, Like I remember at the PC,
Speaker 9: I think someone told me like, yeah, you have like
Speaker 9: a unique look.
Speaker 5: You should just keep that. You should just keep doing
Speaker 5: what you're doing.
Speaker 1: I was like, cool, Yeah, So many people first learned
Speaker 1: to view from your finisher. The soul snatcher, a gravity
Speaker 1: defying move from the top rope that often goes viral.
Speaker 1: Where did that come from?
Speaker 9: So it's similar to a move I did in gymnastics.
Speaker 5: It was a it's called a straddle back.
Speaker 9: It's on the uneven bars, so essentially it's like a
Speaker 9: reverse gainer in a way, so instead of moving forward
Speaker 9: and flipping backwards, you're moving backwards and flipping forwards.
Speaker 5: So on the bar, I would like swing.
Speaker 9: Forward, swing back, and then like let go of the
Speaker 9: bar and then catch the low bar in a handstand.
Speaker 9: So now I'm just catching a human instead of the bar,
Speaker 9: so yeah, that's kind of where it came from.
Speaker 1: The first time you tried it catching a human. Yeah,
Speaker 1: was it terrifying? Did it go as planned?
Speaker 9: Yeah, it was a bit scary. But we have like
Speaker 9: a squishy ring at the PC, so it's like the
Speaker 9: floor of the ring is like a bed. So I
Speaker 9: was able to like practice a few times make sure
Speaker 9: that I could, you know, flip all the way through
Speaker 9: because I am used toill landing on my hands or
Speaker 9: on my feet, so like landing on my back was
Speaker 9: a bit different for me. But yeah, once I had
Speaker 9: someone like step in, it was just more so just
Speaker 9: getting used to my spatial awareness and being able to
Speaker 9: like look at where the person is. But yeah, once
Speaker 9: I was able to kind of get my bearings on that,
Speaker 9: it was relatively easy.
Speaker 4: Now, how strange question, but you so once you know
Speaker 4: you can do it, how important then is the partner
Speaker 4: you have to work with to make sure that they're
Speaker 4: doing exactly what they need to do.
Speaker 5: So well, yeah, I mean it is definitely important.
Speaker 9: When I was thinking of a move for my finish,
Speaker 9: I wanted something to be like easy for another person
Speaker 9: to take, you know. I didn't want to have something
Speaker 9: where I have to lift someone up, because you know,
Speaker 9: sometimes you're in the ring for like thirty minutes and
Speaker 9: you get really, really tired and blown up towards the end.
Speaker 9: So I was trying to think of something that was
Speaker 9: easy for someone to take and something that I didn't
Speaker 9: have to worry about someone being way bigger than me
Speaker 9: or really smaller than me. So essentially, I feel like
Speaker 9: I've never taken it, but I try to make it
Speaker 9: as simple as possible, like as long as they're just
Speaker 9: there and their like neck is available.
Speaker 5: Like I can hit it.
Speaker 4: So I wondered, that's going to be something if somebody
Speaker 4: tries it on you at some point.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I know, I'm a little worried about that. I
Speaker 9: know Becky attempted it in our match and I was like, girl, you're.
Speaker 1: Crazy, no way. Now on raw, you are surrounded by
Speaker 1: some of the best women to ever step foot in
Speaker 1: a ring. What is the best piece of advice you've gotten?
Speaker 1: And from home?
Speaker 9: Oh, you say men and women are just the way
Speaker 9: I just talked about the women on this one. I mean,
Speaker 9: I've learned just so much from Bailey, not necessarily anything
Speaker 9: like that she said, but she's just made it a
Speaker 9: lot easier for me to.
Speaker 5: Come up here and just like feel welcomed, Like.
Speaker 9: She's just like she's such a good locker room with leader,
Speaker 9: and she's just honestly like my favorite.
Speaker 1: She is so sweet. We love Bailey. Yeah, we's big
Speaker 1: Bailey fans. Being that you brought it up. What about
Speaker 1: some of the men, the male wrestlers, have you gotten
Speaker 1: any advice from them? And from whom?
Speaker 9: So not necessarily a wrestler, but I've been talking to
Speaker 9: Paul Hayman recently and he's been helping me a lot
Speaker 9: with like promos, and uh, a few weeks ago, I
Speaker 9: was supposed to have a like stylized backstage just talking
Speaker 9: about my reign and just like introducing myself to the
Speaker 9: Raw universe, the w universe. And so I also last
Speaker 9: minute got added to a main event match. So I
Speaker 9: was planning that, and I didn't have any like Burbridge
Speaker 9: or any idea of what this like promo segment was
Speaker 9: supposed to be about. And then I received a envelope
Speaker 9: and I was told not to open it. It was
Speaker 9: like my verb for the backstage, and I wasn't allowed
Speaker 9: to open it until I talked to Paul Hayman and
Speaker 9: I was like okay.
Speaker 5: But I also had to like go get ready and
Speaker 5: like all this stuff.
Speaker 9: So then I finally like made my way over there
Speaker 9: and he's like, okay, like open it. And it was
Speaker 9: just a blank piece of paper and he was like,
Speaker 9: so what can you do with the blank piece of paper?
Speaker 5: I was like, put anything you want on it.
Speaker 9: He's like exactly, He's like, you need to like separate
Speaker 9: yourself from like the verbiage and from the character and
Speaker 9: just like you know more so just like feel it
Speaker 9: and just like kind of just embody the character a
Speaker 9: little bit more.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 9: So I've been working on that a little bit. But yeah,
Speaker 9: he's been helping me a lot with just like stepping
Speaker 9: out of my comfort zone because I do feel like
Speaker 9: I kind of like just not fit myself into a box.
Speaker 9: But I kind of take it easy a little bit.
Speaker 9: I'm just not used to being so like out there.
Speaker 9: So I'm just kind of like working on that and
Speaker 9: he's been He's been a lot of help.
Speaker 1: Who better to help you with that, Paul Ham? I
Speaker 1: mean no, I don't know that there's anybody better at
Speaker 1: a promo. Yeah, and that look, if it's not him
Speaker 1: winging it, he certainly makes it look like he's winging it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it feels it's just very from the heart. Who do
Speaker 1: you look forward to facing the most? I, for one,
Speaker 1: am very excited about an eventual Soul Ruka and Rhea
Speaker 1: Ripley match. That is a dream. So who are you
Speaker 1: looking forward to?
Speaker 9: So? EO Sky was like my dream match for a
Speaker 9: very long time, and I luckily was able to have
Speaker 9: a match with her.
Speaker 5: I would love to have many more.
Speaker 9: I would love to have a triple threat with her
Speaker 9: and Ria. Oh yeah, But as far as right now,
Speaker 9: I think my next ideal match would be against Charlotte Flair.
Speaker 5: Who's her and I have had quite a.
Speaker 9: Few multiperson matches, but we've never been in the ring
Speaker 9: face to face, So I think I would would love
Speaker 9: to get in the ring with her. That would be
Speaker 9: pretty great.
Speaker 4: Okay, now that you've started to binge wrestling, who's your
Speaker 4: favorite wrestler?
Speaker 5: Guy? Love her? She's incredible.
Speaker 3: About that.
Speaker 1: Her athleticism is something else. So I want to paint
Speaker 1: a WrestleMania picture. Okay, you enter as champ and you're
Speaker 1: played out by your and the skeleton. Yes, I know
Speaker 1: they recently made a track. She'll snatch your soul inspired
Speaker 1: by you. Do you think you can manifest this?
Speaker 5: I would love to. Yeah, that is like, yeah, that
Speaker 5: is my goal.
Speaker 1: Okay, goal dream, another thing to add to your manifestation board.
Speaker 1: Now you are still in your first year on the
Speaker 1: main roster, already with a title. What is the next
Speaker 1: goal for you?
Speaker 9: I mean, I just want to be involved in like
Speaker 9: everything I want to be, you know, in all the
Speaker 9: like ladder matches and all the crazy like stipulation matches,
Speaker 9: Like I love that kind of stuff. So and it's
Speaker 9: just it's kind of hard to have like tangible goals
Speaker 9: here just because like things change so fast and so frequently.
Speaker 9: Like obviously I want to main event WrestleMania, Obviously I
Speaker 9: want all the titles. But I think for me, I
Speaker 9: just want to do as much as possible within my career.
Speaker 1: It's so great too, because you're at such a perfect
Speaker 1: position to say I want to try that. Now, let
Speaker 1: me try that. Like even just hearing you talk about
Speaker 1: working on on you know, cutting promos with Paul, you
Speaker 1: can taste every side of the business and find all
Speaker 1: of your strengths and then play to those strengths.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's like the one really really cool thing about
Speaker 9: wrestling is like if you're you know, not good at
Speaker 9: this thing in the ring, we can work around it,
Speaker 9: and we can figure out like what your strengths are
Speaker 9: and play into that and like and then make magic.
Speaker 5: It's really really cool.
Speaker 4: You're talking about ladder matches and all this stuff. Is
Speaker 4: there anything out there in the world that's that scares
Speaker 4: you in the wrestling world, Like, is there one You're like,
Speaker 4: I don't want to do that one.
Speaker 9: I mean, I feel like when we're thinking about ladder
Speaker 9: matches or when we're like practicing going up ladders and stuff,
Speaker 9: that's terrifying. But like once I'm in the match, like
Speaker 9: it's good time and I'm not thinking about anything other
Speaker 9: than what's going on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I know. I feel like that has to
Speaker 1: be what it is. Because if you think about like
Speaker 1: anything we're doing with a show, if there's any sort
Speaker 1: of fear before once the audience is there and once
Speaker 1: it's nothing's gonna stop you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I get, I mean, I guess, but then there's
Speaker 4: certain visceral fears, Like I have a fear of heights,
Speaker 4: so like a ladder, like the idea, I guess I would.
Speaker 4: I can see just like, no, you're just doing it
Speaker 4: because we've rehearsed it, we've done it.
Speaker 3: But I wonder if I would be able to conquer
Speaker 3: that fear, because I'd be like, I want to get
Speaker 3: up on a ladder that right now.
Speaker 1: I mean hearing her talk about the way she felt
Speaker 1: after tearing her a c L that that for me
Speaker 1: would be very difficult to have an injury that you
Speaker 1: get in the ring and then to spend a long
Speaker 1: time rehabbing and recovering from it, and then you're like,
Speaker 1: all right, they've all said I'm ready to do it again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but what if you know like that? That would be
Speaker 1: hard for me.
Speaker 3: I get that too. But if you don't do it,
Speaker 3: you don't get the belt.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 3: Look incredible.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being here. We are big fans,
Speaker 1: really excited to watch you and see where your career
Speaker 1: continues to go.
Speaker 5: Thank you, guys, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode of Pod Meets World.
Speaker 1: As always, you can follow us on Instagram pod meets
Speaker 1: World Show. You can send us your emails pod meets
Speaker 1: World Show at gmail dot com. And we've gone merch.
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Speaker 4: Podmeets World is nheart podcast producer and hosted by Danielle Fischel,
Speaker 4: Wilfredell and Ryder Strong executive producers, Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman,
Speaker 4: Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor,
Speaker 4: Tara Sudbaksh producer, Maddy Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World
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