Speaker 1: Welcome to the Sports Bubble, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio Entree Fork Media. My name is Jensen Carf and
Speaker 1: I'm a sports fan, and look at us. We've got
Speaker 1: a brand new name, the sports Bubble. You see with
Speaker 1: golf and soccer and tennis and NASCAR and maybe baseball,
Speaker 1: but for a little not baseball, and now maybe baseball again,
Speaker 1: and basketball but also maybe not basketball, but yeah, probably basketball.
Speaker 1: All these sports are returning, and because of that, the
Speaker 1: No Sports Report just doesn't cut it anymore. But we'd
Speaker 1: be fooling ourselves to think everything is going back to normal.
Speaker 1: Normal is clearly subjective. Things are changing every fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: And anyone who pretends they know what's going to happen
Speaker 1: when it comes to athletics, well they haven't seen that
Speaker 1: video where Roger Goodell encourages kneeling. Hell has frozen over
Speaker 1: and we're living in the matrix. And the quicker you accepted,
Speaker 1: the better. So I'll just keep trekking along, following the changes,
Speaker 1: riding the wave as our favorite games return or everything
Speaker 1: just shuts down again and we're begging or another Jordan documentary.
Speaker 1: I'll keep interviewing athletes and sports industry professionals about what
Speaker 1: they're doing in this very weird time because someone has
Speaker 1: to keep track. And now, for the first time, this
Speaker 1: is the sports Bubble with Jensen carp five pound w
Speaker 1: w E superstar Big E is a big, old, sensitive
Speaker 1: teddy bear. Don't tell his opponents, but the current w
Speaker 1: w E SmackDown Tag Team champion, former college football player,
Speaker 1: and power lifts standout feels a lot. He's a former
Speaker 1: Intercontinental and n x T champ, a two time Raw
Speaker 1: tag team champion, and he's held the SmackDown titles he
Speaker 1: now possesses a record six times. But it's his ability
Speaker 1: to see the larger picture that's always stood out for me.
Speaker 1: He's recently been vocal online and in the ring about
Speaker 1: the racial divide dominating our culture, and though that seems
Speaker 1: like something second nature to an African American in this
Speaker 1: squared circle, well it hasn't been in the past. There's
Speaker 1: a pretty big online swell for Big E to finally
Speaker 1: get an individual shine as a singles champion, and I
Speaker 1: get why. He's really a new voice in pro wrestling,
Speaker 1: especially as part of the popular New Day podcast Feel
Speaker 1: the Power, and his words are more in line with
Speaker 1: society than maybe anything else in sports entertainment. This episode,
Speaker 1: Biggie and I talked about the history of the black
Speaker 1: performer in the w w E, his own experiences with
Speaker 1: racial bias, and what the wrestling industry is facing in
Speaker 1: the form of sexual predators and assaulters. Out it online
Speaker 1: by women with the hashtag speaking Out, and to make
Speaker 1: things a little lighter, we play the cameo game. It's
Speaker 1: an important episode with Biggie in the sports bubble from
Speaker 1: big to accept Press one. Hello Biggie, Well, I want
Speaker 1: to start off. You know, we're obviously starting to gingerly
Speaker 1: tiptoe our way back into the real world. But I
Speaker 1: wanted to know where you've been quarantined and with who
Speaker 1: I am solo. Although I lived in Lando Lakes, which
Speaker 1: is a real town. Uh it's a real excellent town.
Speaker 1: It's just upside of Tampa. And I've been quarantined alone.
Speaker 1: There's not a ton of people we've spoken to alone.
Speaker 1: Have you Have you enjoyed it? I have so. I
Speaker 1: really liked my alone time. Even though I'm obnoxious on TV,
Speaker 1: I am at heart and introvert. I like being alone.
Speaker 1: I like my alone time. But I did find with
Speaker 1: the quarantine that. So the first few days I think
Speaker 1: was a little anxiety written just because I didn't know
Speaker 1: this is We're just so used to having four shows
Speaker 1: a week and then we have appearances, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's some months where I've been home three days of
Speaker 1: the whole month, and that's like pretty common just to
Speaker 1: be gone all the time. So there was some some
Speaker 1: anxiety initially when everything closed down, but then I kind
Speaker 1: of got into a nice groove for the first probably
Speaker 1: like six eight weeks honestly, and you know, Florida had
Speaker 1: been open enough and maybe it shouldn't have been but
Speaker 1: the recent spiking chases. But it allowed for me to
Speaker 1: go over to Baron Corgan's house. It was about the
Speaker 1: two minutes for me and I would just work at
Speaker 1: work out at his his garage, so still allowed me
Speaker 1: to work out, um, and it was I was finding
Speaker 1: a nice balance between we still had the podcast that
Speaker 1: we were doing, so we're staying busy with that, and
Speaker 1: I was working out, having more time to like I've
Speaker 1: recently the last probably the last year so I've really
Speaker 1: got into guided meditation, so I've had more time to
Speaker 1: do that and to stretch. So there were some things
Speaker 1: that I really enjoyed with with having extra time, But
Speaker 1: then I realized, man, I really missed people like I missed.
Speaker 1: I'm fortunate enough to like so many of my co workers,
Speaker 1: and you see them, you know, five days a week often,
Speaker 1: and then you go to maybe seeing them once a week,
Speaker 1: or if we do tapings, we might do two tapings
Speaker 1: in a row and then be off for twelve days.
Speaker 1: So it was just weird to, uh, to not see
Speaker 1: people that I liked, and even even things like physical touch.
Speaker 1: I realized how much I appreciate just a good hug,
Speaker 1: as as simple as as medias that might sound, just
Speaker 1: being able to hug someone was something that I missed.
Speaker 1: So yeah, man, it's it's been a lot of kind
Speaker 1: of just refiguring out the best way to stay saying
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, Well, people who might not have been
Speaker 1: following the w W during quarantine and the pandemic, you
Speaker 1: guys have been taping out of Florida out of kind
Speaker 1: of a small in house arena with at first no fans,
Speaker 1: and then now they've sort of brought in some employees
Speaker 1: to be fans. This must have been kind of the
Speaker 1: best case scenario for you, since you live out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it worked for me well because I love about hundred
Speaker 1: miles from the performance center, and so I just popped
Speaker 1: in a car and drove the hour and forty minutes. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I could drive back every night. So it's also
Speaker 1: like rare to sleep in your own bed every night. Um,
Speaker 1: that was new for me. And yeah, so it was
Speaker 1: I guess it was convenient in the fact that I
Speaker 1: haven't had too haven't been on a plane since uh
Speaker 1: like March twelve eleven ish around there, and that's very
Speaker 1: uncommon where we're used to take in probably averaged three
Speaker 1: to four flights a week with w w E Private
Speaker 1: This Yeah, what a different life with this? Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: with the w w E kind of publicly admitting to
Speaker 1: hitting a bit of a snag with a developmental talent
Speaker 1: testing positive. How did that throw a wrench into wrestling life?
Speaker 1: Did that change how you guys normally do things? I mean,
Speaker 1: is it is it kind of evolving the same way
Speaker 1: the rest of the world is. Well, it definitely changed
Speaker 1: our shooting schedule that week. So when we heard about
Speaker 1: the positive test with an n X key talent, it's
Speaker 1: we were supposed to tape on that day, but then
Speaker 1: I think the day it came out, but the next day,
Speaker 1: uh so we actually did tape that day, then the
Speaker 1: next day we got on that evening the next day
Speaker 1: we had to stop the taping and we all got tested.
Speaker 1: We did the nasal swab for coronavirus, which I kind
Speaker 1: of heard some horror stories and it's not great, don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong. Not quite as bad as the thought,
Speaker 1: but not great either. And so we had all got
Speaker 1: tested that day and then if you were negative, then
Speaker 1: you were allowed to tape again the next day. So
Speaker 1: it's definitely, you know, caused a shift in the way
Speaker 1: we do things and tape again, and I think there
Speaker 1: may be some more testing moving forward, which is honestly
Speaker 1: what we should be doing. I think, yeah, it seems safest.
Speaker 1: And today I saw Kevin Owens came out and spoke
Speaker 1: a little bit about his decision not to wrestle, and weirdly,
Speaker 1: the w w E has faced this before the rest
Speaker 1: of the of the sporting world. We have Avery Bradley
Speaker 1: and a bunch of players who have just decided for
Speaker 1: the health and safety of their family not to join
Speaker 1: the NBA or you know, you'll we'll see that in
Speaker 1: the NFL soon. Uh, you guys have faced it with
Speaker 1: Roman reign Samy Zane, there's a bunch of of superstars
Speaker 1: who kind of made their own decisions. Is that what
Speaker 1: you guys are kind of encouraged to do? I think So,
Speaker 1: I think it's, uh, you know, you have to consider
Speaker 1: what your individual case is, the people you're around. I
Speaker 1: think for those guys with families, I definitely understand completely
Speaker 1: because you know it could it can devastate your family,
Speaker 1: and that would that would like you know, to do this,
Speaker 1: to decide to wrestle, to step into a ring, and
Speaker 1: the fact it could really negatively affect your your family's
Speaker 1: future as something that it's just I don't think it's
Speaker 1: worth the risk for me. Like I said, I go
Speaker 1: home to no one, So I kind of I think
Speaker 1: there's a certain risk with wrestling that I've accepted anyways
Speaker 1: for myself. And there's really no fear that I'm going
Speaker 1: to get anyone else sick, not a family member or
Speaker 1: anything like that. So I have really minimal contact with
Speaker 1: anyone else outside of wrestling at all. So it's kind
Speaker 1: of something that I've been more comfortable with going back
Speaker 1: with supposed to know, with more testing, but I completely
Speaker 1: you know, except that you know, there are people who
Speaker 1: are going to say this is not right for me
Speaker 1: and my family, and I think it's smart that they
Speaker 1: decide not to step in the ring. And you you know,
Speaker 1: you played college football, you found great success and power
Speaker 1: lifting and with all that teamwork that you've been in
Speaker 1: in the locker rooms that you've been in both sports
Speaker 1: and sports entertainment. Now, can this be contained or is
Speaker 1: social distancing the way is you know, like I have
Speaker 1: been open about it on the podcast, being very nervous
Speaker 1: for athletes going back. You've been back, So are there
Speaker 1: things going on backstage getting ready? Are people keeping it
Speaker 1: in mind? Man? It's hard because you talk about like
Speaker 1: I played college football at at a major university of
Speaker 1: ot Iowa, and it's very difficult because you're just used
Speaker 1: to being around your teammates. And I've talked to like
Speaker 1: two of my really good friends, um we played collegeball
Speaker 1: together that we're like brothers. Um their coaches they're high
Speaker 1: school coaches, and talking to them about some of the
Speaker 1: things that they have to do where they have like
Speaker 1: groups of ten and it's really limited. It doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like that's not the way we're accustomed to running practices
Speaker 1: and doing things same with us, Like we're we're a
Speaker 1: business where there's a lot of contact with another human.
Speaker 1: It's not like tennis or baseball where you can play
Speaker 1: these sports and still have distance. You know, we're just
Speaker 1: used to touching each other and even in the back,
Speaker 1: like we're, we're encouraged to wear masks and to be
Speaker 1: socially distant, but it can be difficult, and it's it's
Speaker 1: hard to say, you know, after months and months of
Speaker 1: seeing people that you really like or your your close
Speaker 1: friends and having no physical contact with them, with seemingly
Speaker 1: no end in sight. You know, this could be probably
Speaker 1: several more months to go, I would say, at least
Speaker 1: before we get back to a more normal schedule. So
Speaker 1: it's definitely something that's encouraged, but I think just naturally,
Speaker 1: it's very difficult for us to continue to maintain distance
Speaker 1: and to continue to wear masks, and it's something that
Speaker 1: we need to be cognizant of. But I don't know
Speaker 1: how you will be able to enforce this in high
Speaker 1: schools and in the NFL, the NBA, to make sure
Speaker 1: that guys keep a respectable distance in a sport or
Speaker 1: in a culture where you're just used to being around
Speaker 1: people and used to being in close physical contact. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I even have trouble. My mom stopped by
Speaker 1: the other day to see our kid, and I'm even
Speaker 1: just like, the instinct to want to hug your family
Speaker 1: isn't something we should be doing, right, I mean we did,
Speaker 1: we don't do it. We haven't done it in months,
Speaker 1: but even three months later, I'm seeing myself starting to
Speaker 1: go for it. I mean, do you guys have kind
Speaker 1: of those oops moments as well? Like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just you've you've trained and wrestling for so long. How
Speaker 1: do you just change it out of nowhere? It's hard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely an adjustment, and I feel like we're and this
Speaker 1: isn't the right thing, but I feel like we were
Speaker 1: definitely more A lot of us were more cognisant of
Speaker 1: it the first month or two months in, But then
Speaker 1: you get to a point where you're at eight weeks in,
Speaker 1: twelve weeks in, and you just kind of star for
Speaker 1: physical contact and being close to people you enjoy, and
Speaker 1: it's it's difficult, and it's it's obviously something that's important
Speaker 1: because it's it's really wreaking havoc man, I like my
Speaker 1: barber of mine. Uh, he's my barber, and he's just
Speaker 1: he's a good friend of mine. Uh. Was someone who
Speaker 1: not that he didn't believe it, you know, but but
Speaker 1: Jay was someone who was in great shape. He worked
Speaker 1: out a lot. He's not that old, but he kind
Speaker 1: of questioned like, hey, I don't know anyone around me
Speaker 1: who has it? Do you and just kind of was
Speaker 1: more just kind of weird. But then he's been he
Speaker 1: was in the hospital, just got out of the hospital.
Speaker 1: He's in the hospital for eight or nine days. And
Speaker 1: it really took it just took a huge toll on him.
Speaker 1: He was he just didn't look the same. He FaceTime
Speaker 1: me from a hospital and you could see how how
Speaker 1: much it took a toll on him. And it's scary
Speaker 1: to see. Like I was really worried, like is he
Speaker 1: gonna make it? I don't. I don't know to see that.
Speaker 1: But um, it's something that obviously we need to take
Speaker 1: very seriously. And you know, I just think you've gotta
Speaker 1: listen to the experts. You know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people with you know, opinions who have no science, who
Speaker 1: read stuff on Facebook and think they're qualified to weigh
Speaker 1: in on what we should and shouldn't be doing. But
Speaker 1: I really don't think it's that difficult to put a
Speaker 1: mask on, you know. I don't think it's worth uh
Speaker 1: storming your city halls just to wear a mask, you know.
Speaker 1: So I have no problem wearing a mask. More with
Speaker 1: w w E superstar Big E after this. Now let's
Speaker 1: get back to Big E. Well, this time in America
Speaker 1: has been wild, first with the pandemic and then with
Speaker 1: the civil unrest semming from the murder of George Floyd.
Speaker 1: I wanted to first talk to you about speaking up
Speaker 1: in your industry. You you had a special episode of
Speaker 1: your podcast where you tackled race, You've tweeted support for
Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter, you took a knee at a recent
Speaker 1: w W W tape, and you've had gear made with the
Speaker 1: names of victims that have not yet had the justice
Speaker 1: they deserve on them. Have you felt supported about this
Speaker 1: from I mean the locker room in general, but maybe
Speaker 1: white superstars. Yeah, I have. You know. One of the
Speaker 1: things that was really eye opening to me is I
Speaker 1: had so many of my peers reach out to me,
Speaker 1: people who worked with us in digital fellow wrestlers who
Speaker 1: wanted to reach out and either offer there you know,
Speaker 1: support or some like. Several people also wanted to learn
Speaker 1: and like one of the things that I realized that
Speaker 1: I'm kind of out of loop with a lot of
Speaker 1: this stuff, and I have been. I was an African
Speaker 1: American litt minor in college, and I found, honestly, I
Speaker 1: found the weight of of knowing the history of like
Speaker 1: what happens to black men and women in this country. Uh,
Speaker 1: it really feels like a weight. It was depressing, It
Speaker 1: was sad, and I there was a big part of
Speaker 1: me that just kind of wanted to distance myself from
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff after college because it was
Speaker 1: hard to just continue to take in these images of
Speaker 1: black people unjustly dying and nothing being done about it.
Speaker 1: But I've the stuff with George Floyd and the aftermath
Speaker 1: really weighed, so have on. Like you said, we we
Speaker 1: were gonna you know, the podcast for us is usually
Speaker 1: very fun and lose and irreverence, but it felt very
Speaker 1: necessary for us to record uh an Hour and change,
Speaker 1: and we did it. It It was the three of us
Speaker 1: and a buddy of mine, Andrea's Hale, who works in
Speaker 1: combat sports covers combat sports, but he also has a
Speaker 1: history and activism. And you know, for the three of
Speaker 1: us with me coping Woods, we don't have the answers,
Speaker 1: but we wanted to speak to our experiences. So many
Speaker 1: of my friends, young black men, who have that histories
Speaker 1: of being pulled over by police, of being harassed by police,
Speaker 1: of being unjustly stopped. Like we, this is something that
Speaker 1: we've talked about, and especially now too many of my
Speaker 1: friends have kids now and they're having to you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about the talk usually is the birds and
Speaker 1: the bees and talking to your kids about sex, but
Speaker 1: for so many black men and women, their talk to
Speaker 1: their kids is about how to act when you're pulled
Speaker 1: over by police, because you don't know what can happen.
Speaker 1: If you don't all the letter of everything they say you,
Speaker 1: you fear that your child can be unjustly killed. And
Speaker 1: even if they do follow every single thing they're told,
Speaker 1: you never know. So a lot that's that's a big
Speaker 1: part of what it means to raise a black child.
Speaker 1: And that's scary, and that's frightening, and that's sad. And
Speaker 1: you know, even me, like I got pulled over, I've
Speaker 1: never gotten to any trouble, never had any issues with
Speaker 1: the law. But in college it was a group of us.
Speaker 1: We were actually be had the youth leadership program and
Speaker 1: we put all played college football at Iowa and someone's
Speaker 1: I think someone said that we had a gun in
Speaker 1: the car and called the cops. And we did not
Speaker 1: have a gun in the car, but we got pulled over.
Speaker 1: I had a gun pulled on me by a cop.
Speaker 1: And who knows, like how that could have gone to
Speaker 1: have a gun a few inches from your face and
Speaker 1: have done nothing wrong. And this this happens time and
Speaker 1: time again. So you know, for us, it's uh, it's
Speaker 1: it's very frustrating, very sad. And I found the George
Speaker 1: Floyd news really really weighed heavy on me and something
Speaker 1: that was a It was at the forefront of my
Speaker 1: mind for days and days thinking about it, and for me,
Speaker 1: I kind of felt some hopelessness. But I didn't want
Speaker 1: to just use my anger and frustration and do nothing
Speaker 1: with it. Um. I wanted to at least have a conversation.
Speaker 1: And it's been nice. Man. We We've had so much
Speaker 1: feedback from different people who reached out and said, man,
Speaker 1: I didn't consider these things until I listened to your
Speaker 1: podcast and I learned something or I heard a perspective
Speaker 1: I had never heard before, and thank you. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to presume to say we have all
Speaker 1: the answers or any answers, but we just wanted to
Speaker 1: speak to our experiences, to not be preachy, to to
Speaker 1: not tell people how to feel or what to to believe,
Speaker 1: but to tell you how we feel, to tell you
Speaker 1: our experiences, to tell you the experiences of our black
Speaker 1: friends and what they go through and the things that
Speaker 1: are are in their minds when it comes to being
Speaker 1: pulled over by beliefe. So a lot of what we've
Speaker 1: done recently is it's trying to raise awareness. And you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes I really think I don't know the power or
Speaker 1: the purpose. Sometimes up a tweet or an Instagram post
Speaker 1: and I really like, sometimes I'm wondering, am I just
Speaker 1: screaming into a void or petting myself on the back
Speaker 1: when I post something and feeling like I've done something
Speaker 1: And that's not, that's not. I wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: that it came from a good place, a place of
Speaker 1: actually wanting to help make our country and our society
Speaker 1: more equitable. I wanted to make sure it came from
Speaker 1: a place of of not self aggrandizement, but a place
Speaker 1: of of wanting to actually see a better world. So
Speaker 1: we've done a few things and I think we're going
Speaker 1: to to continue to do some things that you mentioned
Speaker 1: taking a need to bring attention to this movement on SmackDown.
Speaker 1: And the nice thing is, you know, we ran it
Speaker 1: by by venture Man, our boss, and he approved it.
Speaker 1: We got no pushback there. We got a lot of
Speaker 1: support from the company with the podcast, and we can't
Speaker 1: typically put out the video, um not the whole video
Speaker 1: because of the way that the contract is with our podcast,
Speaker 1: but they were so supportive with us putting up the
Speaker 1: whole conversation because we felt like it was important for
Speaker 1: people to listen to this our plus and to see
Speaker 1: it and to see our faces and see our expressions.
Speaker 1: So we were thankful that we got support from the
Speaker 1: company too. But we've done different things. Like you said,
Speaker 1: we put the names of the victims of these people
Speaker 1: who who lost their lives and shouldn't have put them
Speaker 1: on arm bands, Chikaradi, Brianna Taylor, Tamla Horsford, Riot, Milton
Speaker 1: uh and so many more. And Uh, we we've done
Speaker 1: a lot with trying to We've tried to do a lot.
Speaker 1: We're trying to learn ourselves with reading. UM actually rent
Speaker 1: across a great booklist from Victoria Alexander and she's at
Speaker 1: Victoria a l x N d R on Twitter and
Speaker 1: on Instagram, and I had a lot of people reach
Speaker 1: out to me and asked like, Hey, how can I learn?
Speaker 1: What can I read? What can I watch? And I'm
Speaker 1: trying to find stuff that that I know of, but
Speaker 1: she put out this great bookist of of just stuff.
Speaker 1: If you want to be an ally and you're trying
Speaker 1: to learn, here's just a laundry list of books. And
Speaker 1: she does a great job. I believe she's a PhD
Speaker 1: student and she's been putting out consistent information with with
Speaker 1: ways to learn. So we just tried to do things
Speaker 1: on our end. I've also worked with some great companies.
Speaker 1: Astro flav is a supplement company and they're donating of
Speaker 1: all the income that comes in from their products. In
Speaker 1: June is going to the a CP Legal Defense and
Speaker 1: Educational Fund. Same thing with Cameo. For a few days
Speaker 1: all their cameos, they were donating a portion to the
Speaker 1: end double a CP Legal Defense and educational fund, and
Speaker 1: we've got a few other things in the next two
Speaker 1: that we're trying to not just post on Twitter and
Speaker 1: on social media, but to help raise money to for
Speaker 1: organizations that are working towards racial justice. So it's been
Speaker 1: a lot of that, just trying to do the work
Speaker 1: in our communities, to try to stay on top of this,
Speaker 1: to keep even just keeping the conversations going, man, honestly,
Speaker 1: just just to keep talking about this. And I think
Speaker 1: too often we've just shied away from this because we
Speaker 1: didn't want to be labeled a racist. And it can
Speaker 1: be uncomfortable because as soon as you feel that someone
Speaker 1: is saying you're a racist or your racially sensitive, your
Speaker 1: your first instinct can be to the back pedal or
Speaker 1: to defend yourself. And for me, I don't want it
Speaker 1: to be about It's not about labeling people around me
Speaker 1: racist or or pointing fingers. It's about having these honest
Speaker 1: conversations and analyzing the biases that we carry and being
Speaker 1: honest about that. And and for us, it's really just
Speaker 1: about like the same protection I want for my female
Speaker 1: friends and for my gay friends and people I don't
Speaker 1: know who are gay or female, the same protections that
Speaker 1: I would want for them. I want for black men
Speaker 1: and black women, and I you know, that's it's all,
Speaker 1: it's all this fight is for. And uh, I think
Speaker 1: it's something that's worth continuing to fight for even beyond
Speaker 1: this next week or this next month. Uh, it's something
Speaker 1: that's going to be at the forefront of you know,
Speaker 1: at least my mind and trying to continue to keep
Speaker 1: the conversations going and to keep fighting for a more
Speaker 1: equitable country, a country where you don't feel that being
Speaker 1: black is a strike or two. But you Yeah, anyone
Speaker 1: who hasn't listened to the podcast, I highly suggest you do. Uh.
Speaker 1: You guys did a great job, and you talk about
Speaker 1: seeing some change even in what a tweet means and
Speaker 1: those kind of things. I mean, I was so happy
Speaker 1: to see Randy Orton tweet his support for Black Lives Matter,
Speaker 1: and not for any reason other than in the past
Speaker 1: he's sort of been a bit conservative with his political
Speaker 1: views online. But I really do think that things like
Speaker 1: that mean a lot. When you see someone who you know,
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily equate with that kind of justice or
Speaker 1: online you know, social justice or whatever you wanna call
Speaker 1: and then they jump out with it. It has to
Speaker 1: be rewarding, yeah, for sure. And you know, Randy will
Speaker 1: admit like he doesn't have the squeaky clean past like
Speaker 1: he's definitely you know, he's definitely made some mistakes in
Speaker 1: the past. Um, and that's not to absolve him of
Speaker 1: anything he's done. But like you said, he's he's had
Speaker 1: this really conservative viewpoint. It's not for me to try
Speaker 1: to make him a liberal or anything, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it's something that he's had. He had some you know,
Speaker 1: close black friends, and I consider Randy of friends, and
Speaker 1: we've had some of these conversations at work, you know,
Speaker 1: just over the course of the last few years even
Speaker 1: and I think he's finally starting to get it, you know.
Speaker 1: And and like you said, that is as impactful as
Speaker 1: it can be to see black athlete or black entertainers
Speaker 1: speak up about these things. I think it can be
Speaker 1: really impactful as well to see someone like Randy who's
Speaker 1: had these conservative views, who in the past would never
Speaker 1: speak up to say anything like this too. You know,
Speaker 1: I thought he did a really good job with what
Speaker 1: he posted you and uh to offer that kind of support.
Speaker 1: Growing up, I was a huge WWF fan at the time.
Speaker 1: Obviously becomes w w E. I was never and I'm
Speaker 1: a white kid from the suburbs, I was never a
Speaker 1: huge fan of the way black wrestlers were portrayed. There
Speaker 1: weren't a lot of realistic portrayals back then, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of stereotypes sort of being thrown out there.
Speaker 1: What did you see as a kid watching? What was
Speaker 1: your representation feeling when you watched? Yeah, and I guess
Speaker 1: it really hit me more as I got older, as
Speaker 1: I moved into my teenage years. And I agree completely.
Speaker 1: I think we have a notice to say it kindly,
Speaker 1: a very rocky path with the way we've depicted black wrestlers,
Speaker 1: for sure, and uh, you know you have, you have
Speaker 1: so many that are celebrated and I'm not going to
Speaker 1: point the finger at the performer, but you know, Junkyard
Speaker 1: Dog and Kamala was and even African Savage we didn't
Speaker 1: speak and he padded his stomach, and you know, there
Speaker 1: were a lot of depictions of black wrestlers that really
Speaker 1: made you cringe when you look at it now. And
Speaker 1: we wanted to not be that with the three of us,
Speaker 1: that's what we really pushed for. And you know, at
Speaker 1: first it was it was kind of in that mold.
Speaker 1: We came out as three black inspirational speakers slash preachers,
Speaker 1: and it didn't feel right. It didn't feel like us.
Speaker 1: And then when we were finally able to have um
Speaker 1: more of the reins, it really we had a more
Speaker 1: authentic depiction of of who we were. You know, it's
Speaker 1: obviously you know your characters who you are with the
Speaker 1: volume turned up, it's kind of the same wrestling, and
Speaker 1: that's what we wanted. That's because representation does matter, And
Speaker 1: I know sometimes it can be to something that people
Speaker 1: throw out there, but it does matter when you see
Speaker 1: an authentic portrayal of someone who looks like you, who
Speaker 1: acts like your friends and talks like your friends. Because
Speaker 1: the three of us are into video games and anime
Speaker 1: and we have a myriad of interest and so many
Speaker 1: of our friends, so many of my black friends who
Speaker 1: I grew up with, we're the same, Like they felt
Speaker 1: ostracized because there weren't that many depictions of black guys
Speaker 1: who liked anime or black women who were nerds. So
Speaker 1: we wanted to to kind of open up that box
Speaker 1: a little bit. And two shows like, hey, there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot of us who who talk like this and
Speaker 1: who like this is this is what we enjoy and
Speaker 1: this is who we are, and we want to keep
Speaker 1: pushing that to get more realistic depictions of black wrestlers
Speaker 1: and uh, and to kind of get beyond that that
Speaker 1: past that didn't pick black wrestlers in a in a
Speaker 1: very good way. Yeah. And I think obviously you guys
Speaker 1: now being veterans in the locker room, I think you
Speaker 1: guys are clearly have been, especially you and KOFE and
Speaker 1: and I mean, you guys have been changing the culture
Speaker 1: around you, superstars like Bianca Blair, Keith Lee, Ricochet, Malcolm Bivens.
Speaker 1: It feels like the tide is turning on a gimmick
Speaker 1: that would glaringly only be given to a black superstar,
Speaker 1: right right. And that's and that was kind of are
Speaker 1: one of the things that we wanted to do. Like,
Speaker 1: you get white wrestlers who are, like Wood says it
Speaker 1: in a way that they they get this blank slate
Speaker 1: that they can be any character across suspect and they
Speaker 1: can be just just pretty much any character you can imagine,
Speaker 1: they can pretty much be. But with black wrestlers until
Speaker 1: maybe recently, and it's something we're still fighting for it.
Speaker 1: You know, you had these very few tropes to pick from.
Speaker 1: You can be an angry, randomly angry guy, or you
Speaker 1: can be like a rapper slash dancer, or like we
Speaker 1: got saddled with these preacher gimmicks. You just had these
Speaker 1: like Okay, he's a black wrestler, she's a black wrestler,
Speaker 1: and this is you have three or four of these
Speaker 1: archetypes to choose from. We want to break that mold
Speaker 1: and continue breaking that mold and showing that the black
Speaker 1: experience is not this homogeneous single experience. We would come
Speaker 1: from so many different backgrounds and countries and we have
Speaker 1: a myriad of interest that we want to continue to
Speaker 1: explore those on screen. And we want our fans to
Speaker 1: be able to see Black wrestlers, Japanese wrestlers that aren't
Speaker 1: just stuck into these boxes, that that are allowed to
Speaker 1: be full uh unique interesting characters. And I think that matters,
Speaker 1: and I think we'll continue to keep pushing for it
Speaker 1: and no more kid rock. That's all I'm asking that
Speaker 1: will help us at least see some black culture and
Speaker 1: w W after this more with w W E Superstar
Speaker 1: Biggie right now feeding a Mary UCA is working tirelessly
Speaker 1: to ensure our most vulnerable populations, like students who are
Speaker 1: out of school, the elderly individuals whose jobs are impacted,
Speaker 1: and low income families continue to have access to food
Speaker 1: and other needed resources during the COVID nineteen pandemic. The
Speaker 1: Feeding America Food Bank Network is committed to serving communities
Speaker 1: and people facing hunger in America, and their greatest need
Speaker 1: is donations and support of local food banks. This podcast
Speaker 1: is committed to donating a portion of the proceeds from
Speaker 1: the show to Feeding America and we hope that you
Speaker 1: can join us in this effort to find out how
Speaker 1: you can help Feeding America dot org, backslash COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: and now the rest of my chat with w w
Speaker 1: E superstar and the host of the New Day podcast,
Speaker 1: Big E. This past week has been extremely illuminating. You
Speaker 1: kind of hinted to it for a second earlier, specifically
Speaker 1: and Independent Wrestling and in the UK with the hashtag
Speaker 1: speaking out about sexual harassment, assaulters, predators inside of the
Speaker 1: wrestling world, which I did not see it being such
Speaker 1: an epidemic. I know you tweeted out your support of
Speaker 1: the women coming forward were you as surprised to see
Speaker 1: how just absolutely rotten to the core. Uh this business
Speaker 1: has kind of been last fifteen years out mostly outside
Speaker 1: of the w W E. Yeah, man, it's um, I
Speaker 1: guess I you know, sadly enough, I wasn't surprised you
Speaker 1: hear some whispers or haven't understand the culture. I will
Speaker 1: say there was there wasn't any specific instance or the
Speaker 1: rest of that I knew that I saw and that
Speaker 1: I had like covered up, or there wasn't anything that
Speaker 1: I knew of and just shrugged my shoulders at. So
Speaker 1: there wasn't anything that I was specifically aware of. But uh,
Speaker 1: it really really saddened me to see and disgusted me
Speaker 1: to see how prevalent this was. And I had to
Speaker 1: give my like hatch off to like a friend of
Speaker 1: mine actually was the one who started this all, Victoria.
Speaker 1: She was brave enough to tell her story about David
Speaker 1: Starr and this all came out, and then she emboldened
Speaker 1: a lot of women and even men to come out
Speaker 1: and talk about some of the things that they've experienced,
Speaker 1: the way they were victimized in this industry. And I
Speaker 1: think too often we as men, we shrugged our shoulders
Speaker 1: or we've said she's probably lying, or we've turned a
Speaker 1: blind eye to it, and we haven't given these victims
Speaker 1: the voice and respect that they deserve. And I think
Speaker 1: our industry can no longer tolerate what's going on. We
Speaker 1: can no longer tolerate rape, we can no longer tolerate
Speaker 1: sexual harassment. We can no longer shrug our shoulders at
Speaker 1: the way women have been victimized in this industry. And
Speaker 1: I hope these stories. I don't want to know that
Speaker 1: there are more stories, or that you know, I don't
Speaker 1: want that to be the case. I hope this is
Speaker 1: the end of it. But I hope every woman gets
Speaker 1: an opportunity to speak her voice, to be heard, to
Speaker 1: be respected, to not be dismissed. I hope all of
Speaker 1: the people who who are guilty of this, I hope
Speaker 1: they're eradicated from the business. I hope there are usted.
Speaker 1: I hope they're imprisoned. I hope it's a real turning
Speaker 1: point in our business. And I hope that women aren't
Speaker 1: persecuting I've I've already seen a lot of horrible comments
Speaker 1: from people, you know, at the times. I think we
Speaker 1: have a great fan base, but I think you can
Speaker 1: also at times as a portion of it that can
Speaker 1: be very toxic. I think the way it disrespects women,
Speaker 1: the way it condones abusers and rapists, I think is
Speaker 1: discussing and the problem. I think one of the things
Speaker 1: that happens with a lot of these movements is that
Speaker 1: it causes a surge and then a week or so
Speaker 1: later it can be forgotten. And I hope to God
Speaker 1: that's not the case. I hope this is not forgotten.
Speaker 1: I hope it's something that we continue to talk about,
Speaker 1: that we continue to clean up this industry, that we
Speaker 1: continue to eradicate abusers, rapists, that we get them all
Speaker 1: out of this business. That we have been prosecuted because
Speaker 1: it's something that no woman or man, no one should
Speaker 1: ever be victimized or or have to endure. And seeing
Speaker 1: so many stories of kids, of people who are under
Speaker 1: age who came into the wrestling business and wanted to
Speaker 1: learn or to train and we're victimized is really disgusting.
Speaker 1: It's a born and I hope we continue to keep
Speaker 1: fighting this and to listen to and support those who
Speaker 1: come out who tell their horrible stories, who are brave
Speaker 1: enough to that they get the support they need that
Speaker 1: we don't condone these abusers, that we don't just say, hey,
Speaker 1: it's okay to to go to rehab and you can
Speaker 1: come back, because that's not something that I'm interested in
Speaker 1: if it means that justice is not something that we're
Speaker 1: trying to pursue here. So I hope it's something we
Speaker 1: continue to talk about and continue to be open with.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad these stories are being heard. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: that there are so many stories, but it's something that's
Speaker 1: important to speak out against and to show women that
Speaker 1: we support them and that we're going to to do
Speaker 1: our best to investigate these allegations, to get rid of
Speaker 1: these abusers, and that we have them prosecuted. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean it's well said, and I think to like, it's
Speaker 1: not the eighties business anymore, you know, as a guy
Speaker 1: who's watched wrestling and I worked w W for a
Speaker 1: while in writing, and I mean, it's a of a crew.
Speaker 1: You know, you guys all grew up with a different
Speaker 1: thought process than kind of what the womanizing. And that's
Speaker 1: why it was so shocking to me to hear that
Speaker 1: there was kind of this underbelly and indie wrestling, and
Speaker 1: I think, you know, with you and and and and
Speaker 1: so many guys on that roster involved in activism. I
Speaker 1: think we've already seen changes, whether it be uh, you know,
Speaker 1: a real kind of reach out to the Pride community
Speaker 1: with Finn Baylor, I remember with his you know, his
Speaker 1: gear with all the rainbow and now you know, Jake
Speaker 1: Atlas and things that are happening in w W. I
Speaker 1: think it's just now it's time to focus on the women.
Speaker 1: It appears right right now completely and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: as horrible as this year has has been in many respects,
Speaker 1: I think one silver lining is that people are actually listening.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like a lot of times in
Speaker 1: the past and maybe it's due to the pandemic and
Speaker 1: the fact that a lot of us have I just
Speaker 1: slowed down. We don't have as many distractions. A lot
Speaker 1: of us aren't We're either not working or not working
Speaker 1: as much. And we now have time to listen and
Speaker 1: people are listening. So I hope we continue to listen.
Speaker 1: I hope we take these things seriously, whether it's racial inequality,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, the awful crime of rape uh
Speaker 1: and domestic abuse, you know, I hope we continue to
Speaker 1: have these conversations and continue to take people seriously and
Speaker 1: actually listen, and not to to speak from a place
Speaker 1: of defense or or or condoning these acts, but to
Speaker 1: actually listen to actually want to make our cultures better. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: on a lighter note, someone wrapping up the last ride
Speaker 1: on WW network right now? Can this really be the
Speaker 1: Undertaker's retirement? I've heard this before. There's no way. What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts? Is he done wrestling? Oh? Man, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I thought he was done when he took
Speaker 1: off the gloves and laid them down, So I don't know.
Speaker 1: And athlete retirements, whether it's in wrestling or not, it
Speaker 1: can be it can be very shaky, you know. It's uh, well,
Speaker 1: you know, we all were wrapped up in the last
Speaker 1: Dance and obviously m J retired and then unretired, and
Speaker 1: it's very common in you know, with a guy as
Speaker 1: popular as the Undertaker. I think, you know, what I
Speaker 1: thought was the cinematic match, the match with a G
Speaker 1: I thought was incredible, and I think he can continue
Speaker 1: to have those kinds of matches. I think that I
Speaker 1: think the cinematic match style, I think it's kind of
Speaker 1: best for a guy like Undertaker. Who's older, who might
Speaker 1: not be able to have the twenty five minute classics
Speaker 1: in the ring that he would want at his age.
Speaker 1: So I could see him continuing to do like cinematic
Speaker 1: matches for a few more years. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's kind of I guess it's his call. You know,
Speaker 1: here's the the leverage to make the decision when he
Speaker 1: wants to walk away, and I don't know, I don't
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna make any declarations because I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised one bit if he returns. Yeah, he's coming back
Speaker 1: with the forty five. He's gonna wearing forty five like Jordanhill.
Speaker 1: He'll fight staying in a cinematic match. I'm saying it
Speaker 1: now exactly all right. Lastly, something stupid I like to
Speaker 1: do to end the end these interviews, Let's play a
Speaker 1: game this time. You, like many athletes and celebrities during
Speaker 1: the quarantine, gravitated towards cameo. You've been great involving charities
Speaker 1: with yours. It's a place where a lot of people
Speaker 1: were able to connect with their fans, especially during a
Speaker 1: tough time. You I think are priced perfectly at a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five dollars. Like you said, a lot
Speaker 1: of it going to charity. But what I want to
Speaker 1: do is I want to list off some of other celebrities.
Speaker 1: You tell me if you think they are cheaper or
Speaker 1: more expensive than you. Let's do it. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: Let's start with basketball player Austin Rivers. Uh, he is cheaper.
Speaker 1: He is fifty dollars. Listen, if I got doc on
Speaker 1: a kind of a conference call, I'd pay a lot more.
Speaker 1: But I think fifties right for Austin? Right? Okay, here
Speaker 1: we go wrap legend flavor flavor. Oh well, I think
Speaker 1: Flave had that resergain several years ago with Flavor of Love.
Speaker 1: I bet he, bet he thinks. I'm going to say
Speaker 1: he's definitely more expensive than he is. Double he is
Speaker 1: to fifty. He's a he's an expensive cameo. I'm not
Speaker 1: s I'm not sucked it up. Okay, alright, bar rescue
Speaker 1: John Taffer. This is the guy who yells at people
Speaker 1: tells him their restaurant is garbage. I feel like I
Speaker 1: could maybe get him to tell me my house is dirty. Uh?
Speaker 1: Is he more expensive or cheaper than you? On cameo?
Speaker 1: I'm going to guess he's someone who's a little self important.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go more expensive. Hey, you know what, I
Speaker 1: agree with you. He's one fifty. I knew if you're
Speaker 1: exactly right. You know that John Taffer is not humble
Speaker 1: about his cameo pricing, so he is all right. Reality
Speaker 1: TV star Heidi Montag from The Hills. Is she more
Speaker 1: expensive or cheaper than you? Oh? She was a big
Speaker 1: deal at one point. I'm going to go more expensive
Speaker 1: than me. She is actually fifth, she's twenty dollars less.
Speaker 1: She's a hundred dollars man, not bad. All right, Let's
Speaker 1: go to Cisco the Thong song, you know, R and
Speaker 1: B Crooner from drew Hills. Cisco. Is he less money
Speaker 1: or more expensive than you? You know this is random,
Speaker 1: but somehow would his friends Francisco had a gaming thing
Speaker 1: or something. Uh they're like texts. I think we're trying
Speaker 1: to do something with all of us. But uh so,
Speaker 1: I will definitely not be arching Cisco. I will go cheaper.
Speaker 1: He is cheaper. He's a hundred dollars. But also now
Speaker 1: I am obsessed with the idea of New Day being
Speaker 1: the new Drew Hill with Cisco coming out and performing.
Speaker 1: R and B at a show. We've talked for years.
Speaker 1: We've talked about doing a booty song, you know, like
Speaker 1: an old school Miami basse. Uh, that kind of like
Speaker 1: just that that kind of booty song. And I think
Speaker 1: with Cisco, I think that's the way to do it.
Speaker 1: Love it lastly, let's do one last one. It is
Speaker 1: a teen heart throb Jennifer Love Hewitt. Is she cheaper
Speaker 1: or more expensive than Biggie on cameo? She should definitely
Speaker 1: be more expensive. I had a huge crush on Jennifer
Speaker 1: Love to do it in my teen years. What a
Speaker 1: beautiful woman, I'll go she is by dollars, she's won fifty.
Speaker 1: You did very good in the game. I did want
Speaker 1: to also let you know that the soup nazis only
Speaker 1: eighty dollars. I didn't even need to ask you. It's
Speaker 1: just seems like he's too low, considering we can get
Speaker 1: him to say no soup for you to any family member, right, right,
Speaker 1: He's way too low. I'm sure you know this because
Speaker 1: I try to at all possible times. Are a huge
Speaker 1: science fans, favorite sitcom, all time, favorite TV show all
Speaker 1: the time. Sure, And uh, that's that's a bargain. I
Speaker 1: think it's a great bargain. Yeah. Well, Biggie, thank you
Speaker 1: for not only doing the interview, but for everything you're
Speaker 1: doing with w w E and making sure that you
Speaker 1: know they have so many kid fans. I feel like
Speaker 1: you guys are doing a great doing great work with
Speaker 1: with alerting people to what's going on around the world.
Speaker 1: And thanks for talking to me. I appreciate that we're
Speaker 1: trying world, just trying. Thanks for having me. It was funny.
Speaker 1: W w E intellectual property used with permission of World
Speaker 1: Wrestling Entertainment, Incorporated. The Sports Bubble is produced and distributed
Speaker 1: by tree Fort Media. The show was executive produced by
Speaker 1: Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr.
Speaker 1: Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer and sound supervisor,
Speaker 1: with production and editing by Jasper Leek additional production help
Speaker 1: from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hayley Mandelberg. Theme music
Speaker 1: is composed by Spilkis. If you've enjoyed what you've heard,
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