Speaker 1: I like to call our next guest the Tapanga of
Speaker 1: pro wrestling.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, not just because she's cute.
Speaker 1: And she's smart and she's down for her man, but
Speaker 1: also because after her first incredible run with the WWE,
Speaker 1: she is back after a ten year absence to do
Speaker 1: it again. But the results have been luckily much better.
Speaker 2: Than Girl Meets World.
Speaker 1: She's a multi time champion, but nowadays she's the reigning
Speaker 1: Women's Intercontinental Champion, putting it on the line against her
Speaker 1: arch nemesis Becky Lynch this weekend at WrestleMania. She's a
Speaker 1: New York Times best selling author, a comic book writer
Speaker 1: and a screenwriter, an actress, an advocate for mental health,
Speaker 1: and my fitness goals.
Speaker 2: It is the legendary A J Lee.
Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 2: Welcome.
Speaker 3: By the way, Danielle has taken all of these interviews,
Speaker 3: I'm doing this one solely, and we're only talking comic
Speaker 3: books I love, Just so you know.
Speaker 4: I'm ready for it.
Speaker 5: And also I think, like the last words I hear
Speaker 5: before I die, it is going to be W's Tapanga.
Speaker 4: Yes, thank you for that.
Speaker 2: I was hoping it wouldn't be insulted.
Speaker 6: I was like, I was the greatest I hated to
Speaker 6: bank character. Thank you well.
Speaker 1: AJ for the record, I have had Jensen text Punk
Speaker 1: numerous times saying, tell April to drop the workout routine.
Speaker 2: I am, I'm still waiting.
Speaker 1: I want And then when I said that to him,
Speaker 1: he said, well, a lot of it's diet too. I said,
Speaker 1: whatever she needs to send me, I just need to know.
Speaker 1: I want to know everything. We don't have to tell
Speaker 1: me now, but I'm not kidding. I need to know
Speaker 1: everything you're doing.
Speaker 2: Because you are. You are fitness and athletic goals.
Speaker 4: Thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: So you famously took ten years off of wrestling, and
Speaker 1: yet you were still in this kind of shape. Were
Speaker 1: you staying ring ready for a decade, I probably.
Speaker 2: Would have given up and just ordered in and out
Speaker 2: a bunch of times.
Speaker 6: Oh that's all I ever do.
Speaker 4: That happened.
Speaker 5: There was a solid maybe five years of we were
Speaker 5: just talking about this. I just like really enjoyed myself
Speaker 5: and had a great time and learned how to bake
Speaker 5: and gained like fifteen pounds.
Speaker 6: Nice. I call that onion ring ready. There you go,
Speaker 6: which is very important.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, we can pretend it was like a bulking
Speaker 5: season really I was chilling.
Speaker 4: It is amazing.
Speaker 5: And then I think like after the pandemic, I was
Speaker 5: about to produce.
Speaker 4: My first TV show.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I was like a volunteer to be on
Speaker 5: it and do like announcing and stuff on it, color commentating,
Speaker 5: and I was like, oh, I have to be on
Speaker 5: camera again. And then so I sort of just wanted
Speaker 5: to like learn as much as I could about fitness.
Speaker 5: So I got my fitness certification. Wow, just to like
Speaker 5: so I can make my own workouts and understand why
Speaker 5: people tell you to do. You know why those trainers
Speaker 5: tell you to do what they tell you to do.
Speaker 5: Just made my own workouts and started doing intuitive eating
Speaker 5: because if anything's like too structured, I can get like
Speaker 5: super disordered and unhealthy. Okay, so I had to be
Speaker 5: like whatever feels good and lets me have carbs.
Speaker 2: And doesn't restrict you too much.
Speaker 4: No restriction.
Speaker 5: And but when you were not restricted, you don't feel
Speaker 5: like you have to inge or you know, go crazy
Speaker 5: or nothing's off limits.
Speaker 4: Everything's a treat.
Speaker 5: So once I've cracked that code, then fitness was like
Speaker 5: fun again. And it was just like for me. And
Speaker 5: so the time he worked out perfectly with working out
Speaker 5: for you know, auditions and for you know, doing shooting
Speaker 5: our show, and then happened to be ready to go.
Speaker 4: To the opportunity exactly.
Speaker 1: Well, we're just days away from your very first WrestleMania
Speaker 1: since coming back. You will enter the ring as a champ.
Speaker 2: Was it all just like.
Speaker 1: Riding a bike for you or was there like an
Speaker 1: adjustment period, because it feels like you just settled right
Speaker 1: back in.
Speaker 6: Thank you.
Speaker 4: It's a very painful bike.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's been a little straight so like the muscle
Speaker 5: memory is there and like knowing my body, like there's
Speaker 5: like a fluidity to it that just like a second nature.
Speaker 4: But the.
Speaker 5: Strangeness has been like the time, but matches back in
Speaker 5: my day, we're like five minutes, right, you know. And
Speaker 5: we had one match where right before we went out
Speaker 5: there they were like it's a thirty seconds now, you know.
Speaker 4: So it was kind of brutal.
Speaker 5: We learned to make the most of it and but
Speaker 5: you're not really testing your cardio. I've been a match either,
Speaker 5: So to come back my first match like half an hour,
Speaker 5: like twenty two minutes and twenty five minutes, it's just
Speaker 5: been like way longer than I've ever ever done, Like
Speaker 5: maybe all my just combined, we're shorter than what I've
Speaker 5: done this year.
Speaker 3: Do you have to change any of the moves ten
Speaker 3: years later or are you still like I'm doing all
Speaker 3: the same stuff.
Speaker 5: Well, I had like a serious neck injury, so like
Speaker 5: I'm a little bit more cautious of like I used
Speaker 5: to like rabbed all myself, like just bump on my
Speaker 5: neck for fun.
Speaker 4: So I try not to do that. It comes out
Speaker 4: just instinctively still, Yeah, but stuff like that.
Speaker 5: I try to be a little bit more careful, careful,
Speaker 5: condescen about. But if you think about it too much,
Speaker 5: you'll like get a little too gun shy, right, So
Speaker 5: try not to do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you get that in your head right before
Speaker 2: you go out, like careful of your neck, Yeah, you're.
Speaker 6: Holding back, but it also has to be a weird
Speaker 6: balance because you should also be careful of your neck.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I mean I imagine it's kind of like that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, trying to figure that out.
Speaker 1: So coming back, what old friend were you most excited
Speaker 1: to see? And what new superstar someone maybe you hadn't
Speaker 1: worked with yet were you most excited to meet.
Speaker 5: I mean, I can't talk about Bailey in that I
Speaker 5: was just obsessed with her. I met her at NXT
Speaker 5: when it was like kind of not even like the
Speaker 5: show yet. I think it was just like sort of
Speaker 5: still minor league's idea, and she just struck me as
Speaker 5: someone who was like my like soul wrestler. Like she
Speaker 5: was like the next iteration of like me, but better.
Speaker 5: And I was just like, Oh, she's going to carry
Speaker 5: that torch and connected her really early on, and then
Speaker 5: I think I defended my title against her. We had
Speaker 5: like one match forever ago, and then my last match,
Speaker 5: when I knew it was my last match, I went
Speaker 5: to merch and like stole one of her shirts because
Speaker 5: we were not.
Speaker 4: Allowed to do stuff like that back then, right, I
Speaker 4: put her shirt on, put a.
Speaker 5: Hoodie over it, and like went out there and like
Speaker 5: took the hoodie off.
Speaker 4: And they didn't know I was gonna wear her shirt
Speaker 4: for my last match, but I just was like co
Speaker 4: signing her like instantly.
Speaker 5: So I was so excited to get back and see her.
Speaker 4: And that was my first question.
Speaker 5: When I started talking to them about coming back, was
Speaker 5: can I wrestle Bailey?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: And I got too, and you got to do it.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You met Bailey last year. We got to interview Bailey.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm still learning everybody, like learning a new language.
Speaker 3: It's our comic books are superheroes or anything. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm learning everybody as we go.
Speaker 6: And all the people I drove here.
Speaker 5: And to me, well, there's not a single person who
Speaker 5: will say a bad thing about Bailey.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: And so was there a superstar you hadn't worked with
Speaker 1: yet that you were very excited to meet and possibly
Speaker 1: work with.
Speaker 4: Yes, I have.
Speaker 5: I call them my wrestling daughters. There's like this generation
Speaker 5: of girls who've been so kind to, like very vocally
Speaker 5: let me know that I was like an inspiration for
Speaker 5: them to get interrestling, where there's like pictures of them
Speaker 5: like at my signings. Cool and like from day one,
Speaker 5: I always uh knew that like when people come to
Speaker 5: your signings, like it's maybe it's like, you know, a
Speaker 5: long day for you, but it's like this is this
Speaker 5: very special.
Speaker 4: Minute for them to like interact with you. So make
Speaker 4: it count.
Speaker 5: And so anytime like a girl would come up to
Speaker 5: me and be like I'm want to be wrestler one day,
Speaker 5: I'm like you one hundred percent can do that.
Speaker 4: Like these come back and kick my butt one day.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I set that to a few girls who
Speaker 5: actually became wrestlers, and one of them is Roxanne Perez,
Speaker 5: who was just killing it and is just like this,
Speaker 5: like leagues better than I could have ever been. Like,
Speaker 5: it's so cool to see what ev Lucian really is.
Speaker 5: And so that's been really cool to like see her
Speaker 5: and be like, hey, what a I do in this match?
Speaker 5: I'm trying to remember that move and she's like, well,
Speaker 5: I know all of them.
Speaker 4: He's the cutest thing.
Speaker 2: That is amazing.
Speaker 1: You had a real thriving Hollywood screenwriting career going. Did
Speaker 1: you call your agent and say, hold my calls, I
Speaker 1: have to go German Suplex Becky Lynch or are you
Speaker 1: bringing the laptop on the road with you?
Speaker 4: I tried to bring the laptop on the road.
Speaker 5: Okay, is a little hard because we're actually delivering our
Speaker 5: second original comic book as we speak, Issue to is
Speaker 5: do like the week Aftermania?
Speaker 6: Can we talk about that? Can we talk about that?
Speaker 2: She's done? You can go right into that.
Speaker 6: Okay.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So that has been a bit of a balancing gag.
Speaker 5: But luckily for like screen rating, I had just finished
Speaker 5: an animated movie for to a animation which has done
Speaker 5: like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon, like I'm obsessed
Speaker 5: with them, and I was in the process of finishing
Speaker 5: it when we started talking, and so I thought it
Speaker 5: was like kind of the perfect timing of like, okay,
Speaker 5: in this, I can't really get into the discussion too
Speaker 5: hard until this is done and then and then I'll
Speaker 5: like focus on wrestling, and so I'm trying to find
Speaker 5: the right balance.
Speaker 4: It's not easy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not. We'll go ahead.
Speaker 6: Animation nice. So that's my world.
Speaker 3: And so I'm just curious what your favorite animated shows are.
Speaker 3: What are you into more kind of anime than animation?
Speaker 3: You are, okay, so what are you like one punch Man?
Speaker 3: What do you What are you into?
Speaker 6: Well?
Speaker 5: I grew up loving Cowboy Bebop in Yasha. My dog's
Speaker 5: name was Cogome Fashiki Yuki kind of like a rom com.
Speaker 5: My friend got me into this, like anime was like
Speaker 5: heart and soul. And then I'll also loved the Batman
Speaker 5: animated series, like that's where I fil in love with Harley.
Speaker 4: Quinn the first time.
Speaker 6: You know, that's my world talking about it. Did you
Speaker 6: go to Akira first? Did you? Did you watch Akira.
Speaker 5: Okay, So yes, I think I maybe mentioned this in
Speaker 5: my book. I have such a weird traumatic memory with
Speaker 5: A Cira because I was watching it on a Christmas
Speaker 5: Eve when like, somebody broke into my apartment.
Speaker 6: Oh no.
Speaker 4: The name of that chapter is like you never forget
Speaker 4: your first stabbing. I had to stab my way out
Speaker 4: of this from the hood in New Jersey and you
Speaker 4: you got you stabbed?
Speaker 6: Yes, wow, while watching A Kira.
Speaker 4: So that is my memory of that day.
Speaker 5: It's a very hilariously dark chapter in my own Wow.
Speaker 4: But you know what, kids in Jersey, we were special breed.
Speaker 4: We are survivors alone. Yeah, but I had my pit
Speaker 4: bull with me.
Speaker 5: But then me, I was like, I've got to protect
Speaker 5: my dog pound pitbull away in a room.
Speaker 3: Oh man, did you see the end of the movie.
Speaker 5: Yeah I did, Okay, Okay, actually set back down.
Speaker 3: It was like, see you like to watching They're just
Speaker 3: going just continuing to watch the film.
Speaker 1: Sorry, sir, you're gonna need to wait till the movies
Speaker 1: over for me to get your dead body out of here.
Speaker 6: Exactly.
Speaker 5: It was a quick handstab. It was a face on
Speaker 5: an apartment. So it was breaking into my windows.
Speaker 2: And then it ran away.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, the cops got them.
Speaker 6: They did. Okay, good, Oh man, that's crazy. Cure is
Speaker 6: a great movie. By the way, it's.
Speaker 2: Don't have if it doesn't give you pts.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like people go back to that for
Speaker 3: the start of anime kind of. But yeah, it's one
Speaker 3: of the one of the the ogs of anime. Yeah,
Speaker 3: which has exploded in the world.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it was the pandemic really brought animation
Speaker 6: and because we were still working, so we were still
Speaker 6: at home recording all of all the animation. So it
Speaker 6: was exploding during that time. So did you grow up
Speaker 6: an animation fan or did you find it later in life?
Speaker 4: A little bit of.
Speaker 5: I guess it's like when I was a teenager because
Speaker 5: when I really which I think is when you start
Speaker 5: to find out exactly who you are. Like I think
Speaker 5: I knew who I was when I was fourteen, right,
Speaker 5: and like really never changed, like like that's the person
Speaker 5: you want to go back to. Yeah, maybe lose your
Speaker 5: way and then you that's your heart and soul. So
Speaker 5: that was like wrestling and like anime and comic books
Speaker 5: and video games.
Speaker 4: That was my teenage years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so cool, Okay, I'm sorry, we can go back
Speaker 3: to wrestling. It's fine, you can go back to wrestling.
Speaker 1: Well, you've been such a vocal advocate for mental health
Speaker 1: over the years, and I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: struggle with returning to something from their past. We have
Speaker 1: certainly experienced that in our life. I'm sure the decision
Speaker 1: to come back to WWE wasn't easy for you. How
Speaker 1: were you able to weigh out the decision and take
Speaker 1: your mental health into consideration?
Speaker 4: That was one.
Speaker 5: Hundred percent, Like the biggest priority, yeah, was when I left,
Speaker 5: my mental health was not great for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 5: And then the journey over the past decade was like
Speaker 5: getting myself right and take taking care of myself before
Speaker 5: anything else, because if I'm not one hundred, I can't
Speaker 5: take care of my family. I can't, you know, be
Speaker 5: a good partner. I can't you know, be a good artist.
Speaker 5: Like nothing matters if my brain isn't right. And so
Speaker 5: that was my first priority, even just talking to them,
Speaker 5: talking to Paul and talking to ni Con And one
Speaker 5: of the reasons why I was like, Okay, I think
Speaker 5: maybe I can do this is because they were so
Speaker 5: open to that conversation, right and like Nick On especially,
Speaker 5: was like, if you ever feel like you are not
Speaker 5: in a healthy place, then we're not doing our job right.
Speaker 5: So like keep that line of communication open and we'll
Speaker 5: make sure we take care of that.
Speaker 6: And I was just like, yeah, and that kind of
Speaker 6: support must be really amazing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just to see like that change, you know, because
Speaker 5: it wasn't even a thing I thought I could speak
Speaker 5: about openly, you know, ten years ago, and so that
Speaker 5: was really cool, and that was that still.
Speaker 4: Remains the most important thing to me.
Speaker 5: So with the schedule, with everything, it's always am I healthy?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Now I'm curious, as somebody who deals with myself, is
Speaker 3: it something did you find a routine in your life
Speaker 3: or did you find something like meditation or what was
Speaker 3: the thing that really, you know, helped kind of get
Speaker 3: past whatever you needed to get past.
Speaker 5: So I have tried literally everything. So I became a
Speaker 5: mental health advocate because I was sort of hiding my
Speaker 5: bipolar disorder and it's something that runs in my family,
Speaker 5: and so I kind of wrote.
Speaker 4: A whole book about.
Speaker 5: Just ignoring it and how bad that is and like
Speaker 5: disassociation and not taking care of yourself and then the
Speaker 5: power that comes with sort of embracing it and realizing
Speaker 5: that there are kind of awesome things that come from
Speaker 5: it too, Like I am a little delusional in what
Speaker 5: I'm capable of, like, but that's also gotten me.
Speaker 4: Everything in life. It's made me like weirdly confident so
Speaker 4: and very creative.
Speaker 5: So once I was able to embrace like bad and
Speaker 5: the good and be able to separate it from who
Speaker 5: I am. Like I always tell people, if you're going
Speaker 5: through like a depressive episode, give it a name, Like
Speaker 5: that really helps because it's not you, the things you
Speaker 5: think are not it's not the truth. It's like something
Speaker 5: lying to you. And so I named her Gene. And
Speaker 5: Jeane's just a real dick. And every time you know
Speaker 5: it's a dark day, and like Gene, you stop fucking around.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that really helped me.
Speaker 5: But I've done everything from like prescriptions to like in
Speaker 5: patient therapy like extensively, and I found like the right
Speaker 5: balance for me. Some of these people can. I'd like
Speaker 5: to not be super prescriptive because I think every it's
Speaker 5: different for every single person, So I don't want people
Speaker 5: to like that's exactly the answer.
Speaker 4: A million things could be the answer. It's a little
Speaker 4: bit of everything.
Speaker 3: For me.
Speaker 5: But something you can do daily is something like that
Speaker 5: name your darkness. I love it off, and a routine
Speaker 5: is really helpful. Like for me, it's like waking up
Speaker 5: at the same time, like having consistent diet, like to
Speaker 5: know what I want to eat all the time. Limiting sugar.
Speaker 5: Sugar makes me a little bummed out sometimes, even though
Speaker 5: I love donuts.
Speaker 6: Exercise too.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so that, like having sort of consistency has been
Speaker 5: the healthiest thing for me.
Speaker 6: I love that.
Speaker 2: One thing we share is a love for Big E.
Speaker 1: You two did some great work together back in your
Speaker 1: first run, and he has transitioned into hosting for WWE
Speaker 1: since getting injured a few years ago, and I just
Speaker 1: wanted to know what it was like to get to
Speaker 1: team up with him. I feel like he deserves all
Speaker 1: the flowers.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, oh my god, I love that you love him.
Speaker 2: I love him so much.
Speaker 5: He's the greatest, like not only one of the greatest
Speaker 5: like performers, because he's just such a natural like star,
Speaker 5: like you want to just like stare at him, and
Speaker 5: he's like really funny, and he's just has so so
Speaker 5: much charisma and just like Cap debates the room like instantly,
Speaker 5: so He's a natural performer, but also as like a person,
Speaker 5: just the best person in the world, and like so
Speaker 5: pure and so kind, and especially back then when I
Speaker 5: wasn't at my healthiest and I felt maybe alone a
Speaker 5: lot of the times, like he was maybe one of
Speaker 5: the only people that really like had my back, and
Speaker 5: when I wasn't around for ten years, he's won Him
Speaker 5: and Bailey or probably the only two that really stayed
Speaker 5: home maybe a few other people, but stayed in touch
Speaker 5: with you consistently and were just like we're just friends,
Speaker 5: Like it didn't matter if a wrestler or not. So
Speaker 5: he's a special part of my heart. And I call
Speaker 5: him my son because I feel like I birthed him
Speaker 5: into this world.
Speaker 2: That's hilarious.
Speaker 1: Nowadays, the journey to WWE runs almost strictly through Florida
Speaker 1: and the WWE Performance Center. But you spent some time
Speaker 1: on the independent circuit for a few years before you
Speaker 1: signed here. What was that like for you? I want
Speaker 1: to hear like the worst indie stories.
Speaker 2: I want to know. I want to know the worst.
Speaker 6: That prepared me exactly.
Speaker 5: Oh man, the indies were not built for women back then.
Speaker 5: And I was just at dinner with Ifa Lyra and
Speaker 5: fal Carrie and she was talking about somehow reading an
Speaker 5: article about my place where I went to train, like
Speaker 5: didn't even allow girls the time.
Speaker 4: I had to convince them.
Speaker 5: And I remember the person who was like, you know,
Speaker 5: I was paying money to train. They were like, you
Speaker 5: know this hurts right, Like so it's just not a
Speaker 5: world for women, and so like in that vein, like
Speaker 5: your locker room would be a towel you put around
Speaker 5: yourself and hit in a corner and then you change
Speaker 5: your clothes, you know. And but I had a really
Speaker 5: supportive group of guys in my training school that really
Speaker 5: took care of me and like were like ros and
Speaker 5: like that. I was a good experience, but like actually
Speaker 5: competing in the Indies was like I probably did four
Speaker 5: matches in one night for twenty dollars, oh man.
Speaker 4: Telling dollars a match or you mean you want to
Speaker 4: know twenty dollars total?
Speaker 6: Yees, it's like thirty five dollars in gas to get there.
Speaker 4: I know. But I won the tournament, so I was like,
Speaker 4: I'm killing.
Speaker 2: It right now, oh man.
Speaker 5: And then I remember to try out for w W,
Speaker 5: I had I had to pay like my there was
Speaker 5: this time it was a few years where you could
Speaker 5: like pay to try out, and so I had never
Speaker 5: had money ever. I grew like insanely poor, so it
Speaker 5: took me like two years to save.
Speaker 4: Up the money to try out.
Speaker 5: But I was doing indies, so all the indie like
Speaker 5: twenty dollars year twenty there all was served for my
Speaker 5: tryout and got signed.
Speaker 4: So it worked out.
Speaker 1: I mean it didn't work out, but man, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to figure out when you how you were able to
Speaker 1: afford your meals while also saving money from your twenties
Speaker 1: twenty dollars to try out.
Speaker 4: No, I was not eating gray. I worked at a
Speaker 4: spa and they had like a cheese.
Speaker 5: And cracker plate that was out all the time and
Speaker 5: that I literally lived off for you.
Speaker 2: Nibbled the cheese.
Speaker 1: Man, I love our shark hooterie plate over here. Didn't
Speaker 1: give you flashbacks.
Speaker 4: You know, it's a good thing.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 5: I always go back to like my my like struggle meals. Yeah,
Speaker 5: Like I have a weird, like nostalgic love for them.
Speaker 2: So it is my mom.
Speaker 1: My mom talks about those years where before my dad
Speaker 1: had graduated college and started you know, really working, they
Speaker 1: would get twenty dollars a week each and they would
Speaker 1: have to use that to eat throughout the week, and
Speaker 1: then whatever they could save at the end of the
Speaker 1: year they would buy each other Christmas gifts with. And
Speaker 1: my mom talks about that time like it's just the
Speaker 1: most floor. Yeah, she has such a nostalgic plate center hearts.
Speaker 6: So, yeah, I'm curious. You're on the independent circle.
Speaker 3: You say, it's obviously not a place for women, but
Speaker 3: so were there times where you had no one to wrestle?
Speaker 5: Yeah, So there were some great women who we would
Speaker 5: would come to our school to like train with me
Speaker 5: and have somebody to train with. And one of them
Speaker 5: actually was Selena Viga of all people, who like is
Speaker 5: New York girl, but like she would come to Jersey
Speaker 5: and so we were like ships passing in the night
Speaker 5: where we were kind of in the indies at the
Speaker 5: same time and then sort of tried out maybe around
Speaker 5: the same time, and then I had my whole career,
Speaker 5: then I left, and then she came and now she's
Speaker 5: got her whole career and she's killing it uns back.
Speaker 4: Down with her husband, and so.
Speaker 5: Like that's just so crazy, Like we were sort of
Speaker 5: these girls alone in New Jersey and New York. But yeah,
Speaker 5: it would be really hard you like wrestle the same
Speaker 5: people all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was one of your favors, just like, okay,
Speaker 3: we're wrestling again.
Speaker 5: You have to like go to a different state to
Speaker 5: like all Women's Federation like and that they were they
Speaker 5: would be cool to like, you know, you'd really really
Speaker 5: want to get on to those shows because it felt
Speaker 5: a little bit you know more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, how I'm curious how from the beginning to
Speaker 3: now which again you're talking about back in the day
Speaker 3: to what is Daniel is telling me is essentially the
Speaker 3: super Bowl. Have you noticed how the audience reception has
Speaker 3: changed towards watching women wrestle.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, And that's been cool about taking the time
Speaker 5: off is because it's sort of like if you like
Speaker 5: have a puppy, and a puppy grows so much in
Speaker 5: like the first few months, but like you're with it
Speaker 5: every day, so you don't really notice. But if you
Speaker 5: like see a puppy day one and then you go
Speaker 5: away for three months, you come back and it's like
Speaker 5: the size of.
Speaker 4: A truck, That's what it feels like.
Speaker 5: Yeah, to the change to wrestling, because when I started
Speaker 5: it was legitimately bron panties matches.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 5: I was in Dan's contest, I was in limbo contests
Speaker 5: and like just wanted to wrestle. And so it was
Speaker 5: just such an interesting like change to leave feeling like
Speaker 5: it was on the cusp of that, to feeling like
Speaker 5: we really did prove something and just like hoping maybe
Speaker 5: one woman gets another opportunity like I did, Like I
Speaker 5: got some cool chances. And always remember driving with Caitlin
Speaker 5: and being like, who is the wrestler back in the day,
Speaker 5: And I always say, if I can just make this
Speaker 5: place better for one more woman, it's just like somebody
Speaker 5: that comes after me.
Speaker 4: And so for there to be like thirty women right
Speaker 4: ten years later, it's insane.
Speaker 5: In the crowd, I will say to their credit, back
Speaker 5: in the day of the Diva's era, the crowd really
Speaker 5: started to fight for us. Like there's this like group
Speaker 5: of like diva fans who were so loyal and have
Speaker 5: stuck with us throughout the years, which is why you
Speaker 5: see so many divas and from our era back now.
Speaker 4: Our fans were hardcore.
Speaker 2: R Yes, when did you start the skipping?
Speaker 1: Was that before WWE w W? When what was what
Speaker 1: was the idea that kicked that off.
Speaker 5: So that was a complete accident that was there was
Speaker 5: this segment. I was in a storyline, many storylines where
Speaker 5: I was just like stalking the guys. Sure fall love
Speaker 5: with everyone was unrequited.
Speaker 4: They're like, ill, it's really good.
Speaker 5: And one of them was Kane, all people who I
Speaker 5: had a poster of like above.
Speaker 4: My bed when I was a kid.
Speaker 5: So well, I did this some segment where I come
Speaker 5: out and I am stalking him and I skip around
Speaker 5: him and then jump on him. And I think the
Speaker 5: idea was like like little Frankenstein sort of idea of
Speaker 5: like him playing with a little kid and accidentally killing her,
Speaker 5: and like that was the idea was like I'm.
Speaker 4: Like a little girl, and like it was just supposed
Speaker 4: to be creepy.
Speaker 5: Yes, And so that got such a pop that they
Speaker 5: were like, Okay, next week, come out and just like
Speaker 5: skip around the ring dressed as Cane.
Speaker 4: And do like the creepy skit.
Speaker 5: And so I was dressed like with his like creepy
Speaker 5: mask and did like a Harley Quinn shout out outfit.
Speaker 4: And it just stuck.
Speaker 5: And then all of a sudden, I was doing house
Speaker 5: shows and like househaes Haack in the day, like you
Speaker 5: were on the road for five days a week and
Speaker 5: you'd drive like three hundred miles a night, and you
Speaker 5: really wanted to wrestle on those shows. But I was
Speaker 5: just skipping around the ring once and I it would
Speaker 5: be like the end of the show, the main event,
Speaker 5: and then my music would hit. I'd skip around and
Speaker 5: then all the guys would make fun of me and
Speaker 5: be like, thanks for working.
Speaker 4: Hard on there. Oh my gosh, just stealing money.
Speaker 5: But so it just sort of like evolved from the
Speaker 5: cane thing and then it just they were like, just
Speaker 5: do it on your.
Speaker 1: Endr w it just because yeah, that is so cool.
Speaker 1: Do you remember a specific match. Maybe it's from the indies,
Speaker 1: it could be from WWE, where you think it all
Speaker 1: just like kind of clicked a moment where you thought
Speaker 1: like I got it.
Speaker 4: Ooh gosh, that's a great question.
Speaker 5: I would say the coolest moment was a promo and
Speaker 5: it was this storyline I did with with Caitlin, who
Speaker 5: was like my girl, like loved her so much and
Speaker 5: we were just like two weirdos together backstage and we
Speaker 5: were doing the storyline where the super weren't paying attention
Speaker 5: to it, so like we were going live a lot
Speaker 5: and then just like ad lipping and be like do
Speaker 5: they notice like we're saying this dumb shit, like just
Speaker 5: putting together really stupid like sketches and just popping each other.
Speaker 4: And that made us really really comfortable.
Speaker 5: And then we were gonna have this promo where I'm
Speaker 5: like revealing as her like secret admirer and like I've
Speaker 5: just been like messing with her mean girl style. And
Speaker 5: right before the promote, Stephanie McMahon talked to us and
Speaker 5: was like, Okay, they're gonna chant what the whole time?
Speaker 5: They're gonna like you know, it's gonna be hard to
Speaker 5: get them, but you just like waited out like was
Speaker 5: prepping us for the crowd, not wanting to hear women
Speaker 5: speak because women never had the mic back then. You
Speaker 5: never got the microphone ever. So they were really like
Speaker 5: just trying to take care of us and be.
Speaker 4: Like, Okay, get ready for it.
Speaker 2: Here's the yea.
Speaker 5: So we go out there and it's like really creepy,
Speaker 5: mean like segment and we're like really close friends, so
Speaker 5: like we are going at it for each other, like
Speaker 5: writing mean stuff for each other, and the crowd is
Speaker 5: just like like.
Speaker 2: The edge of their seat.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know, it's one of those moments. It's
Speaker 5: happened a few times in wrestling in my career, like
Speaker 5: maybe like five times, where it's so electric you feel
Speaker 5: it on your skin and it's just like we were
Speaker 5: warm and it's the greatest thing in the world and
Speaker 5: we just like have them and they were just they
Speaker 5: ready for her to tear my face off, and it's
Speaker 5: like it was the one moment where like I've waited
Speaker 5: my whole career for this moment.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's so cool, that's amazing, that's such and we
Speaker 1: know that feeling you're talking about where you're in front
Speaker 1: of a crowd and you just know, yeah, oh we
Speaker 1: got yeah.
Speaker 6: They got them. We got it. They'll go go anywhere
Speaker 6: we take them right now. Yeah, that's the best.
Speaker 1: I'm going to assume you never had a death match
Speaker 1: or anything in those Bengo halls. But what's the worst
Speaker 1: injury you sustained in those early days?
Speaker 5: Oh man, early days was probably I broke my foot
Speaker 5: learning how to do like, uh back body drops.
Speaker 4: And then did a wholely three hour practice on my
Speaker 4: foot broken.
Speaker 5: Because I'm so tough like I was like twenty, Like
Speaker 5: I was so stupid. Yeah, so like the twenties are
Speaker 5: my foot Yeah yeah doing that, And then probably early
Speaker 5: in my career hurt my kneedn tell anybody, like strained
Speaker 5: my MCL and like my knees like three times the
Speaker 5: size for three months because I never got told anyone.
Speaker 5: I was hiding it under a knee path. So that
Speaker 5: was like the earlier days. And then my neck later
Speaker 5: on was not great.
Speaker 6: It was that in a match, your neck.
Speaker 5: That was one hundred percent of my fault. I like
Speaker 5: messed up a girl's move. I like over rotated and
Speaker 5: landed like straight on the top of my head and thought,
Speaker 5: I like thought I paralyzed myself instantly.
Speaker 2: I couldn't feel a thing, and I was just like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, that.
Speaker 5: Was like fingers toes legs okay, Like I had to
Speaker 5: like do the check.
Speaker 1: Man, and then you as as you were doing the check,
Speaker 1: you could start to feel them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, but it.
Speaker 5: Was a moment of like lightning and it was just
Speaker 5: completely my fault. I like Wade jumped too hard and uh.
Speaker 6: Did you have to continue the match after this.
Speaker 5: Was the last thing in the match than got yeah, god, yes,
Speaker 5: but I had to wrestle really soon after that, and
Speaker 5: I remember the girls helped me get dressed in the
Speaker 5: locker room.
Speaker 4: That's how like.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so like that was I was not the greatest
Speaker 5: of taking care of my body. And so now I'm like,
Speaker 5: all right, is everything okay?
Speaker 6: Am?
Speaker 5: I warmed up beforehand like ice and heat like in
Speaker 5: your like I'm going to be forty next year, so
Speaker 5: I am taking care.
Speaker 2: Yes, you're in that contrast therapy. Yes, oh wow, go.
Speaker 3: Back to well you said your second book is coming out?
Speaker 6: Can you tell me what's the first one about? And
Speaker 6: where can I get it?
Speaker 5: And so the first we started writing comics for like
Speaker 5: other companies just like get in It. So I wrote
Speaker 5: Glow like the Netflix like comics series, and then to
Speaker 5: have done Dungeons and Dragons and some wonder Woman.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 6: I am what do you play? What do you play? Okay?
Speaker 4: It is my dream?
Speaker 6: Have you not played?
Speaker 4: You never?
Speaker 5: However, I will collect dice because I'm hoping to play one.
Speaker 1: Okay, this it's never been so excited. Okay, go ahead,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell.
Speaker 5: You love with the learning for the comm books, so
Speaker 5: I started researching it. It was like I belong in this world.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, well, we got to build you a character.
Speaker 3: What what do you think you are?
Speaker 4: I think maybe like a teethling rogue.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, perfect, it's perfect. You have no idea
Speaker 6: what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Enjoy enjoying roses, God of good.
Speaker 6: Okay, I just and I.
Speaker 5: Put a teething rogue in our series because I was like,
Speaker 5: I connect to like this.
Speaker 3: So I mean, you're you writing straight up Dungeons and Dragons?
Speaker 3: Is it actually Fours of the Coast or.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we did that like a four issue are okay?
Speaker 4: And then that was really fun. But like that's how
Speaker 4: I learned.
Speaker 2: All about it.
Speaker 3: In fact, yeah, that's my world. So I learned to
Speaker 3: play in a show called Critical.
Speaker 4: Role, okay, and I'm obsessed with Critical So.
Speaker 6: Matt Mercer's my is a good friend of mine is
Speaker 6: my first. I will flip this chair. He's my first.
Speaker 6: DM is Maddie, Matt Mercer your first? Well, because we
Speaker 6: did a show together. I was Liono and he was
Speaker 6: Tigra on ThunderCats. So we that's how we met.
Speaker 3: And then he leaned over to me one day and said,
Speaker 3: I'm putting the other D and D game do you
Speaker 3: want to play?
Speaker 4: And I went no, but you are in season one?
Speaker 6: Yeah, oh my god, that's right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yes, okay, okay, I remember, it's all.
Speaker 4: It's all coming back.
Speaker 6: So I'm on the cartoon as well. I'm on the
Speaker 6: animated series as well, so I love.
Speaker 4: The animated it's great.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so I mean, yeah, we're take amazing.
Speaker 2: So that's my I want to tell her that you're
Speaker 2: also Terry McGinnis.
Speaker 6: Well, do you watch Batman Beyond? Uh? Yeah, I'm Batman.
Speaker 6: I'm leaving. Oh my god, yes he's down here when
Speaker 6: he's Batman though, like.
Speaker 4: I'm having like a Kaiser sur Say moment, like everything.
Speaker 3: My gonna straighten out, the gold lighter is gonna come
Speaker 3: out exactly.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, amazing. Yeah.
Speaker 5: The closest I've come to critical role is on the
Speaker 5: one of the Ever series. I wore a mighty nine
Speaker 5: shirt like walking into the arena and like the Amazon
Speaker 5: account like retweeted me, and I was.
Speaker 6: Like, I love you.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, so that I mean it was kind of
Speaker 3: I've had great d ms, but when Matt Mercer is
Speaker 3: your first one, spoiled yeah, kind kind of yeah, kind
Speaker 3: of spoiled.
Speaker 6: We're trying to get Daniel to play. He has not
Speaker 6: fully been involved.
Speaker 2: I'll learn with you, I will, I will learn with
Speaker 2: That's what it's gonna take.
Speaker 3: It's gonna take one of your favorite wrestlers to get
Speaker 3: you into our world.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, Yes, it's going to take a woman. I love.
Speaker 6: The two guys you love was not enough?
Speaker 4: Did you play match the gathering to my husband does?
Speaker 6: Okay? Well, I know what the next interview is going
Speaker 6: to be. There you go.
Speaker 2: Now you know where you're going.
Speaker 6: This is great stop to talk about. I know, the
Speaker 6: whole full world of this is awesome. We're going. Are
Speaker 6: there any DoD w W have dice? You should come
Speaker 6: out with a w W E dice? Really, you absolutely
Speaker 6: should take that idea.
Speaker 3: Do you also realize that w W the characters that
Speaker 3: you have, it's perfect for a tabletop game.
Speaker 4: I feel like there's probably a bunch of you of
Speaker 4: backstage should be into it.
Speaker 5: You'd have to, but I mean, I mean it's like.
Speaker 3: You could all play where you can you build your
Speaker 3: own wrestler and you go on adventures. I mean, we'll
Speaker 3: talk and we'll invent a tabletop game for w W
Speaker 3: Y and.
Speaker 2: We'll get you to play D and D.
Speaker 1: Let's say, when you get the chance to write a
Speaker 1: superhero movie, who are you picking?
Speaker 4: Squirrel Girl?
Speaker 6: Great character, great, great character, just.
Speaker 5: Like I like the uncoolness and the earnestness, and like,
Speaker 5: I don't know, there's something that's really interesting about that
Speaker 5: with like the sort of evolution of superheroes being super
Speaker 5: cool and then there being like a comedy to with
Speaker 5: you know, Guardians, and then like star Lord.
Speaker 6: I told world, Oh my god, I'm star Lord on
Speaker 6: the animated series.
Speaker 4: Yeah, amazing. So yeah, that's you're gonna have to like
Speaker 4: sign my arm.
Speaker 6: That's squirrel Girl. That's why when you said that, it
Speaker 6: was like, it's that perfect melody.
Speaker 4: It's great.
Speaker 5: I loved how that's where that's come. And I think
Speaker 5: like that would just be a fun character. I would
Speaker 5: I would want to if I would want to write that,
Speaker 5: I would want to direct that.
Speaker 4: I would want to be squirrel Girl.
Speaker 6: You could totally squirrel Girl. You actually could. You could
Speaker 6: because you'd also do your own stunts, which would be
Speaker 6: really bad.
Speaker 5: Save get there but also producing producing.
Speaker 6: Did you say you want Wonder Woman too?
Speaker 4: I did get I got to write a story for
Speaker 4: Black and Gold.
Speaker 6: Oh Man yeah.
Speaker 5: And then after that we did we started our original
Speaker 5: titles and it's called The first one was Day of
Speaker 5: the Dead Girl, and it was sort of this like
Speaker 5: X Files spin off but like set in you know
Speaker 5: dead is it? That is like the love of my life,
Speaker 5: Like I didn't know who I loved more molderous Scully.
Speaker 4: The same way you know, everybody's by Sexual Awakening.
Speaker 6: Let's go.
Speaker 4: It's just the greatest show.
Speaker 5: And like, especially for women like that, has there been
Speaker 5: a character like Scully that has just changed.
Speaker 6: The world the way she did?
Speaker 2: I don't know, I know.
Speaker 5: But yeah, so so that sort of an homage to that.
Speaker 5: But it was like, what's like a Mexican Porto Rican
Speaker 5: version of the X Files and if they are a
Speaker 5: mother and a daughter instead of you know.
Speaker 6: Cool, And that's the one you just did.
Speaker 5: The second Now we're about to do a second one
Speaker 5: with Ignition Press and we haven't announced it yet.
Speaker 4: I think we're announced it a comic con.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Nice, I'm so excited. That's great.
Speaker 1: Other than your own or punks, what match are you
Speaker 1: most excited for this weekend?
Speaker 5: It's definitely I feel like I'm split down the middle
Speaker 5: between the women's tag mat yep, and Live in Stephanie
Speaker 5: because they've just been murdering each other every single week,
Speaker 5: and I watch it like a fan for most of
Speaker 5: the women, I sit there and I'm like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 5: my god, like I don't want to know what's gonna happen,
Speaker 5: Like I just like turn into like a thirteen year
Speaker 5: old fan again, and they like pull at my heartstrings
Speaker 5: so much. I don't know who I want to win
Speaker 5: between Stephanie and Live. It's like my Latina sister or
Speaker 5: my Jersey sister. What am I supposed to do there?
Speaker 1: Yep?
Speaker 2: Hard choice's choice.
Speaker 4: Both teams have fun. The tag match is like my friends,
Speaker 4: you have the Bellas who are like my Diva's error,
Speaker 4: so I got to work for them too. Then Lyra
Speaker 4: and pammere in it.
Speaker 5: And then Charlexa, who I ship so hard, so I
Speaker 5: don't know, and then like Lash has just been like
Speaker 5: Lash and Ya.
Speaker 4: Have just been murdering everyone.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So it's just I don't know, Like that is
Speaker 5: the most exciting match as a fan, and I don't
Speaker 5: know how I think we're all in the same night,
Speaker 5: So it's gonna be really hard to like be panicking
Speaker 5: and like dry heaving over a garbage can for my match,
Speaker 5: right and watching their.
Speaker 1: Also fan girling. Yeah, I love Charlexa. I hadn't heard that.
Speaker 1: That's cute. I think the WWE universe is nervous they're
Speaker 1: going to lose you again. Can you state here that
Speaker 1: your plan is to keep wrestling, that this isn't just
Speaker 1: a stunt where you come by once or twice a year.
Speaker 6: Do you know?
Speaker 4: I will say.
Speaker 5: I didn't really know how it's going to feel, and
Speaker 5: so going into wrestled Losa was like, let me dip
Speaker 5: my toe in the water because.
Speaker 6: I have.
Speaker 5: Some I don't know trauma from before that I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 5: this place is supposed to be new and feel safer.
Speaker 5: And that was the thing that was like really pitched
Speaker 5: to me. It's like it's a safe place. You're going
Speaker 5: to love this locker room. The office is going to
Speaker 5: take care of you, put your mental health first. And
Speaker 5: I was like, okay, I'll believe when.
Speaker 6: I see it.
Speaker 5: And then I got there and I just instantly fell
Speaker 5: in love with all the women in the locker room
Speaker 5: and I feel really taken care of. I also feel
Speaker 5: like like women don't talk about money enough and like
Speaker 5: I was like, hey, this is what I'm worth, Like
Speaker 5: that is.
Speaker 4: What you were worth.
Speaker 5: And I was like, here we go, right, That's what
Speaker 5: I fought for, like quite vocally back in the day.
Speaker 5: It was like fair pay, fair screen time. Yeah, because
Speaker 5: we're value.
Speaker 4: We should be valued as much as the men are.
Speaker 5: Yes.
Speaker 4: And so for the company to be like yes, you're right,
Speaker 4: fuck yes right? Who would have thought?
Speaker 5: And then for the locker room to be the most supportive.
Speaker 5: Like it's so it sounds so sacharine like cheesy, but
Speaker 5: like I've just never experienced like a sisterhood like that
Speaker 5: really heartwarming and healing in a lot of ways that
Speaker 5: I kept coming back because of them. So I'm definitely
Speaker 5: open to, you know, seeing how long I can go.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean it's so nice now that women are getting
Speaker 1: the screen time they're getting and the pay that they're getting,
Speaker 1: it feels like there's less of that feeling of like it.
Speaker 2: Can only be one of us.
Speaker 6: Yes you know that, you don't.
Speaker 1: Women aren't feeling like they have Like it's there are resources,
Speaker 1: there's time, we can all support each other and we
Speaker 1: can all have our moment.
Speaker 2: We're not just fighting for one spot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's I think this.
Speaker 5: Huge thing, like you know, people would I was like
Speaker 5: pit women against each other and it's not their faults
Speaker 5: the system that the general patriarchy telling us that there's
Speaker 5: only one spot and you have to survive, and you're
Speaker 5: not your best self when you're trying to survive totally,
Speaker 5: So to I think there is like such a calmness
Speaker 5: when you know that there is space for everybody. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and the sun can shine on one person and warm
Speaker 5: everybody and that doesn't mean anyone's in the shade.
Speaker 4: Like everyone can shine and they all get that.
Speaker 5: And it's so cool to see like up close and
Speaker 5: personal like it is. It's what I dreamt of And
Speaker 5: so that's been really fucking cool.
Speaker 3: Ah.
Speaker 2: What's it like being on the road with your partner?
Speaker 4: Really good?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's crazy because we weren't married on the road before,
Speaker 5: Like we were just started dating when he left Okay,
Speaker 5: and then like engaged and he wasn't there, and so
Speaker 5: it was very much like I was on the road
Speaker 5: or he was on the road, and and we had
Speaker 5: our little baby Larry for so long that like we
Speaker 5: never even like traveled together, like one of us always
Speaker 5: had to be the dog. Yeah, So to actually be
Speaker 5: like a married wrestling couple is so bizarre, but it
Speaker 5: is genuinely like bringing home with you so like I'm calm,
Speaker 5: I can you know he's there if I need some support,
Speaker 5: and like he's just always uh, he's like extra cute,
Speaker 5: like at work, but he's like hips me up all
Speaker 5: the time and like makes me feel like you know,
Speaker 5: I don't know. From day one, he has always made
Speaker 5: me feel like the most beautiful girl in the room,
Speaker 5: you know, and he still.
Speaker 2: Does as you deserve to feel and as you deserve
Speaker 2: to feel.
Speaker 1: Next year will be the ten year anniversary of your
Speaker 1: memoir Crazy is My Superpower.
Speaker 2: You mentioned that next year ten years?
Speaker 4: How did that happen?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Wow, how I triumphed by breaking bones, breaking hearts and
Speaker 1: breaking the rules. And I feel like so much has
Speaker 1: happened in your life in those ten years. Do you
Speaker 1: have any plays to write a follow up?
Speaker 4: I do, Yeah, I really really.
Speaker 5: There was this like sort of rush on it at first,
Speaker 5: or just like let's do the other one, and I
Speaker 5: really felt like I had to live some more life
Speaker 5: and get some more stories and there was a lot
Speaker 5: packed into the.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had a rough child, right.
Speaker 6: People at thirteen? But were you thirteen.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thirteen or fourteen?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I stabbing age.
Speaker 1: That's well, I said, she said she was a kid.
Speaker 1: I said, were you alone? She was home alone? At thirteen,
Speaker 1: I had to stab a person. Do you see why
Speaker 1: she has PTSD about that movie.
Speaker 5: I wouldn't change any of it because I feel like
Speaker 5: it made me know who I am and resilient and
Speaker 5: have a very dark sense of humor and a survivor.
Speaker 4: But so that book was pretty heavy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I did you know the last sentence of
Speaker 5: that book is I'm going to change the world, but
Speaker 5: first I'd like a nap.
Speaker 4: And I feel like I took my nap.
Speaker 5: I took a little break, and my mental health work
Speaker 5: has been like the way I want to change the world,
Speaker 5: and I feel like I'm seeing some progress in that.
Speaker 5: And then now to see literally the wrestling world changed,
Speaker 5: and I feel like I've got to be a part
Speaker 5: of that.
Speaker 2: Attributed to that. Hey ed the way for that.
Speaker 5: I appreciate, thank you, and I'm confident in that. I'm
Speaker 5: proud of that, and I feel like to now have
Speaker 5: that like full circle moment. I do have more stories
Speaker 5: to tell, so I would I would love to write
Speaker 5: another book.
Speaker 6: But you can't because you're gonna you gotta do scrorel girl.
Speaker 4: First, I had a scroll girl. I have my first
Speaker 4: original horror movie I'm writing now.
Speaker 6: Wow cool writer.
Speaker 2: Our other co host is a horror writer, and I
Speaker 2: love yeah horror movie.
Speaker 4: So get My husband got me into the horror genre.
Speaker 6: Yea.
Speaker 5: And it's just like the perfect genre for like anything
Speaker 5: any sort of life trial tribulation you can like put
Speaker 5: into a horror movie. And so that is what I'm
Speaker 5: working on now. And I'm also adapting the book for.
Speaker 6: A future Nice.
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna do that and then maybe the book after.
Speaker 2: That, perfect follow up and we'll see.
Speaker 4: I there's wrestling sprinkle ye also professional rest.
Speaker 3: All.
Speaker 4: I could have ten jobs.
Speaker 2: Why not listen. I'm right there with you. I know
Speaker 2: the feeling.
Speaker 6: So yes, I have something to do next Thursday, and
Speaker 6: it might get canceled, so.
Speaker 2: You may end up having that day off.
Speaker 1: I love that Will says when we talk about like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: I know we're all very busy. He goes, I just
Speaker 1: have to take my pills at noon.
Speaker 5: That's it.
Speaker 6: Every day, it says, take pills. I'm like, all right,
Speaker 6: and that's the.
Speaker 4: Time I forget Nice I have an alarm for my.
Speaker 6: I do too, but I go, I'll get there and
Speaker 6: then I don't ever take it.
Speaker 4: So yeah, minds not today, Satan.
Speaker 6: That's the reminder. I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: Before we let you go, we have a little WrestleMania
Speaker 1: rapid Fire. Don't think on these too long. You're going
Speaker 1: to pick between two different options.
Speaker 2: Okay, here we go. Luma Natty's Pizza or super Dog Luma, Naddies.
Speaker 1: Sailor Moon or One Piece Sailor Moon Charmander or ev
Speaker 1: Evy Cubs or black.
Speaker 5: Hawks black Hawks because I don't like sports at all,
Speaker 5: but they have good snacks.
Speaker 4: I prefer the snacks.
Speaker 2: I already know the answer to this.
Speaker 4: One bagel or donut, donut.
Speaker 2: Freddie or Jason.
Speaker 4: Jason. I mean, my husband would say so I had
Speaker 4: to support him.
Speaker 2: Punk and Mayans MC or punkin Heels.
Speaker 4: Punkin Mayans, punkin Hills is a whole mess.
Speaker 2: Batman or Superman, Batman than You Live or Stephanie.
Speaker 5: No, I won't be lowed back in Latin America. I'm
Speaker 5: split into it really, just as people. They're so fucking cool,
Speaker 5: like so good and like just to see them like
Speaker 5: beat the ship out of each other.
Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, Jade or Charlotte.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, it's like choosing my favorite Amazon.
Speaker 6: Oh my god.
Speaker 5: Okay, I love Jade. I feel like she's a human
Speaker 5: action figure. But I gotta go Charlotte cause she's my
Speaker 5: teammate for.
Speaker 4: Four games.
Speaker 2: Finally, a J or Becky aj J. That's right, that's
Speaker 2: what I'm saying.
Speaker 6: A J fucking lay. No, she's not.
Speaker 2: No, not the man is not as cool as you are.
Speaker 6: I want to add one wonder Woman or squirrel Girl
Speaker 6: school Girl.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough, though, Diana from Famous Care is pretty
Speaker 3: bad ass, so that's it's tough.
Speaker 6: Tough to say that.
Speaker 2: I do think we really have to manifest squirrel Girl now.
Speaker 6: It would be huge. He really would need to bring
Speaker 6: with nine people that are still working at Marvel.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think I think we'll get them out.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: No, it would be it would be put out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, put it out there for you.
Speaker 6: I like that for you.
Speaker 3: I want to see squirrel Girl in Rocket end up
Speaker 3: together on screen, which I think would be really cool.
Speaker 6: Yeah. Nice.
Speaker 4: So we have to talk like indie comics too.
Speaker 6: Have you done any? Oh? Sorry, we're going have you
Speaker 6: found Radium Black. You'll dig Radio Black. It's great. Yeah,
Speaker 6: a friend of mine does that. We actually, I mean,
Speaker 6: i've met the guy who who Kyle Higgins. Yeah, Kyle's
Speaker 6: a great guy.
Speaker 4: I've met him. We've talked about radio.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kyle's an awesome dude and and a great resource
Speaker 3: for comic book stuff.
Speaker 6: A few days Yeah, awesome. Yeah, his black Market narrative.
Speaker 6: His company is starting to do some really great stuff.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 5: I've been really enjoying Magma Comics, of the first ones
Speaker 5: I worked with. The Cognition has a really cool lineup
Speaker 5: coming up.
Speaker 6: There's Yeah, there's the stuff that's happening in comic books
Speaker 6: now is pretty phenomenal. Yeah, okay, sorry, all right.
Speaker 2: You guys can talk about that.
Speaker 6: I still want now, I want w W E. Dice.
Speaker 2: I know, listen, you've got great idea as well.
Speaker 6: We have to leave my house to get them done.
Speaker 6: It's a whole thing.
Speaker 2: You're given the idea to her.
Speaker 1: She can she she knows who to bring it to.
Speaker 1: She can bring the idea to the front office, go
Speaker 1: figure it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but we got a roll at some point, and
Speaker 3: in my world role that means Dice not actually you
Speaker 3: throwing me around a ring, so it would it's so much.
Speaker 5: Fun, fellow comic book writer Jody Hawser so that she
Speaker 5: is going to help me get into my first.
Speaker 6: It's again, getting in the campaign is the greatest thing
Speaker 6: in the world.
Speaker 3: But if it's anything like my friends and with the
Speaker 3: people that are you, that are working, it's like hurting
Speaker 3: cats because you're trying to get seven or eight people
Speaker 3: together for like I'm a game. A decent game takes
Speaker 3: six or seven hours, so it's like trying to get
Speaker 3: people together for that.
Speaker 6: Long all the time game start. It depends are we
Speaker 6: drinking or not.
Speaker 2: I don't drink so.
Speaker 6: Roy so if we're not, then you know, you can
Speaker 6: start at four o'clock in the afternoon and you're done
Speaker 6: by ten eleven o'clock at night.
Speaker 4: This isn't the greatest thing in the world.
Speaker 6: This is only, by the way, This is only if
Speaker 6: you're lucky.
Speaker 2: Every week, oh oh good, oh every week.
Speaker 3: I there are times where then you're gonna leave and
Speaker 3: you're gonna be texting each other about what you hope
Speaker 3: happens the next time.
Speaker 4: We started to make friends. The problem I don't have
Speaker 4: enough friends.
Speaker 2: Well, you don't too terribly far from us.
Speaker 6: There we go.
Speaker 2: You don't know, La, so.
Speaker 4: We're doing this?
Speaker 6: Oh my god? So you know the first thing we'll do.
Speaker 3: No, the first thing we'll do is we'll just get
Speaker 3: a one shot together. Yes, I'll call Matt, Oh my god,
Speaker 3: and maybe Maddie you'll come. I don't, he's busy as hell.
Speaker 6: But maybe Matt will come in case, yes, or maybe
Speaker 6: or maybe Liam or Sam or somebody Carr, even Ashley.
Speaker 3: Okay, we'll come in DM for us or GM, depending
Speaker 3: on what we're playing.
Speaker 6: And maybe we'll just get a one a one shot
Speaker 6: together where we don't it doesn't need to drag on.
Speaker 6: We'll drag you there. I'll be there and you will
Speaker 6: come in. We'll just play one specific game.
Speaker 2: Isn't it. April's there. You don't have to drag me.
Speaker 6: I mean no, as long as we now we know
Speaker 6: the secret. There's Ryder and I've noticed since she was twelve,
Speaker 6: trying to drag her there. One good wrestler. She's in.
Speaker 1: I'm in.
Speaker 6: Why didn't we try this last time? We literally the
Speaker 6: last game we played is like all was all ninety stars.
Speaker 3: Matt, we did a one shot for us on the
Speaker 3: critical role channels, myself, Ashley Johnson, Stacy Keenan, Jody Sweden.
Speaker 6: It was all of us together and Danielle like you
Speaker 6: had to bail.
Speaker 2: I did, but I did tear my hamstring, which is
Speaker 2: the reason I bailed.
Speaker 4: Pretty good excuse my leg was.
Speaker 6: Nothing to do a hamstring. Nothing to do with a
Speaker 6: hamstring at amazing. Yeah. So but it's so much fun
Speaker 6: and you can get those done in li three to
Speaker 6: four hours. Nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, great, we'll bust out at four and end
Speaker 2: at eight and I could still be asleep by nine.
Speaker 6: I love it. There you go. We're gonna roll to
Speaker 6: see if you get a long rest. Okay, so we'll
Speaker 6: get there. But yeah, we'll get that together and it'll
Speaker 6: just be a ton of fun.
Speaker 4: Documented it has been.
Speaker 6: Rider will be in. We're always looking for excuses to play,
Speaker 6: so we'll figure something out that we'll learn together. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6: it's gonna be all. Yeah.
Speaker 4: The rules intimidate me, but the world is like, that's
Speaker 4: the joy is.
Speaker 3: You don't really have to if you have a great
Speaker 3: DM or GM, they they're the rules, they're the top
Speaker 3: of the box.
Speaker 6: You don't have to worry about it. They're going to
Speaker 6: let you do what you can do or what you
Speaker 6: can't do. You just roll and you play. They encourages
Speaker 6: asking questions, hey can I do this, and most of
Speaker 6: the times you get a good DM they're like, I
Speaker 6: don't know, try and then you got to roll and
Speaker 6: see if it works. So it's a ton of fun.
Speaker 3: They never make you feel stupid. You're always just having
Speaker 3: a blast and enjoying it. By the end, you're just crying,
Speaker 3: laughing and having the best time. So you're gonna have
Speaker 3: so much fun.
Speaker 1: AJ thank you so much for being here. Really cannot
Speaker 1: wait to see your match this weekend. Thank you, Sharon,
Speaker 1: very loud for you.
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me. This so much fun.
Speaker 2: This was really fun. We're thrilled, so thank you for
Speaker 2: joining us.
Speaker 6: Thank you, guys. Yay Yay.
Speaker 1: Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted
Speaker 1: by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Wright Strong. Executive producers Jensen
Speaker 1: Karp and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo,
Speaker 1: producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddi Moore, engineer and
Speaker 1: Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our theme song
Speaker 1: is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Pod Meets World Show, or email us at Pod
Speaker 1: Meets World Show at gmail dot com.