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Speaker 1: Battle Down. Why from the Parts Unknown Studios into the

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Speaker 1: Battle Crowd, Battle Round, the battle Bound, battle the Battle Crowd.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Battleground Podcast, your place for all things

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Speaker 1: pro wrestling.

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Speaker 2: The Battle Road, the Battle Round now making their way

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Speaker 2: to the microphones.

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Speaker 1: Give it up for your hosts. Welcome to the Battle Crown.

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Speaker 1: What's up you guys? Welcome back into Iheartradios official wrestling podcast,

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Speaker 1: The Battleground Podcast. And uh, you know, I was scrolling

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Speaker 1: through some text messages and I got a notification saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: do you have some time to talk to a certain somebody?

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Speaker 1: And I was like, I think I could break away

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Speaker 1: from vacation here in kan go to talk to a

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Speaker 1: guy that it's been over a year since we've talked

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Speaker 1: to him. Ricky Starts joins the show. Ricky, my man, Sure.

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Speaker 2: Hold on, wait a minute. Two things. First off, you

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Speaker 2: made time to talk to me. Is that what I'm getting?

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Speaker 1: Okay, that's what it is. I mean, I can go

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Speaker 1: back and read you the text messages if you want

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Speaker 1: to see them.

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Speaker 2: Gotchas Just everyone is clear. This guy reached out to

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Speaker 2: me to have an interview with me. It's not the

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Speaker 2: other way around. I'm not desperate to have these interviews,

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Speaker 2: that's for sure. And second off, Second off, I hope

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Speaker 2: that you are using a good picture in place, because

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Speaker 2: I don't feel like turning on my camera right now,

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Speaker 2: so I hope you're using a really good stand in

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Speaker 2: picture for me.

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Speaker 1: Maybe we use that photo that they send us of

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Speaker 1: you know, Brian Danielson choking you out with that that strap.

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Speaker 1: Maybe we use that photo. That'd be cool too. I

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Speaker 1: have no problem with that. I framed that myself, and

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Speaker 1: that's what we're gonna do, so let's kind of go

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Speaker 1: ahead and talk about it. I won't use that photo way.

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Speaker 1: So you're coming off of a big victory over Wheeler

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Speaker 1: You or Wheeler you to during Wrestle Dream, and during

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Speaker 1: that math, as everybody was listening to it, Moxley had

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Speaker 1: some things to say about you during the match, including

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Speaker 1: the line that everybody kind of got popped off of.

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Speaker 1: He is pretty, but he's annoying with his mouth. I

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Speaker 1: don't know whether to fight him or take him on

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Speaker 1: a date.

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Speaker 2: But uh hold from Eddie Kingston. Eddie Kinston said the

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Speaker 2: same thing to me on a Dynamite back in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty one.

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Speaker 1: I think, uh huh uh but you know he's stealing

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Speaker 1: people's stuff. I mean, I mean, at the end of it,

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Speaker 1: he ultimately puts you over. What were your thoughts on that,

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Speaker 1: hearing what Moxley had to say about you? And also,

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Speaker 1: you know, maybe, just maybe, if Moxley came and said, hey,

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Speaker 1: would you want to join the BCC, would you join?

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Speaker 2: I don't know, man, I'm sick of groups, I really am.

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Speaker 2: I'm tired of groups. I'm tired of factions. Everybody has

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Speaker 2: a faction, everybody's in a group. It's so annoying, you

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Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. I would say thanks with no thanks,

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Speaker 2: But I don't want to join the b CC. I

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Speaker 2: don't want to have to walk around wearing those jackets

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Speaker 2: that you don't like, the.

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Speaker 1: Jackets you want to put like a little Starkman Jones

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Speaker 1: the flare to him.

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Speaker 2: I could, but there's there's only so much you can

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Speaker 2: do with a black jacket. True, That's just it's just hard.

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Speaker 2: And there's everyone's bleeding in the group. It's just a

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Speaker 2: lot of blood and the exchange of bodily fluids. It's

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Speaker 2: just a lot for it's it's a.

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Speaker 1: Lot, you know then, and uh, you know, when you

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Speaker 1: think of freaky starks. You're not thinking of that kind

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Speaker 1: of persona per se when.

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Speaker 2: I'm too answer to be I'm too handsome to be hardcore,

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Speaker 2: But I'm also I'm too hardcore to be azo sometime.

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Speaker 1: Right well, you know, speaking of the BCC, you recently

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Speaker 1: had a killer match with Danielson where Meltzer gave me

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Speaker 1: your first five star match. Congratulations that that was a

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Speaker 1: fantastic match.

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Speaker 2: By the way, it seems to be out already, but

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Speaker 2: go ahead.

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Speaker 1: It's not forgotten, not in our book. It's it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be probably one of the matches of the year in

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Speaker 1: our category when we come to voting for our stuff

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Speaker 1: at the end of the show. But does something like

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Speaker 1: that mean anything to you, Like when you see Meltzer

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Speaker 1: gave you that five start being that as your first

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Speaker 1: and how did how did you know you feel about

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Speaker 1: the match after it was all set and done?

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Speaker 2: It was cool that that, you know, Dave thought that

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Speaker 2: highly of my match. That's you know, that's pretty cool.

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Speaker 2: I guess a little cool thing to put in my

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Speaker 2: hat there. Overall, I thought the match while going into it,

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Speaker 2: I didn't really, I don't know. I didn't have much

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Speaker 2: expectations there's a lot surrounding everything leading up to that match,

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Speaker 2: and I guess for me, I just didn't know what

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Speaker 2: to expect. That was my first strap match, obviously, and

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Speaker 2: I really felt like as a as a competitor, I

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Speaker 2: stood on my own and that was like, you know,

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Speaker 2: the true, real glimpse of what you had been seeing

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Speaker 2: over this this summer on Collision, where you know you're like, damn,

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Speaker 2: this is this is it, this is the dude. And

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Speaker 2: I worked very hard, you know. I may, I know

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Speaker 2: my style may not be for everybody. I know some

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Speaker 2: people will call me boring or as a as a

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Speaker 2: young kid, say mid or you know, but I feel

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Speaker 2: like there's some people out there that do like me,

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Speaker 2: and I'm I'm cool with that.

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Speaker 1: And I worked.

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Speaker 2: I worked hard in every match that I have and

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Speaker 2: that match was no different and I took my fair

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Speaker 2: share of punishment. And I'm glad that a lot of

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Speaker 2: people enjoyed it. I'm glad that people thought highly enough

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Speaker 2: of it.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: You know, the reception that I got, especially from people

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Speaker 2: backstage and people that texted me, was very overwhelming. As

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Speaker 2: you know, the next day, I was very overwhelmed with

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Speaker 2: how it was received and especially Brian's comments at the

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Speaker 2: presser where he really gave me praise, and you know

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Speaker 2: that that meant the lot to me, especially as a performer.

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Speaker 2: You know, you you work very hard, and some days

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Speaker 2: you feel like, you know, you're up to stuff. In

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Speaker 2: other days you feel like, well, maybe maybe I'm not.

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Speaker 2: But in that moment, in that day, especially the match

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Speaker 2: and then the stuff after the match, what I did afterwards,

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Speaker 2: I thought it was how can I say? I thought

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Speaker 2: it was a perfect moment that I can hold on

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Speaker 2: and cherish you absolutely for sure.

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Speaker 1: And of course you know, like you said, I mean

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Speaker 1: watching that match as it's going down, it's like, this

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Speaker 1: is this is a killer match? Uh, And my buddy

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Speaker 1: Eli we were texting back and forth about it, and

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Speaker 1: it's like this has this has potential match of the

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Speaker 1: year written all over it. And then I mean with

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Speaker 1: Meltzer coming out and saying, hey, it's five stars, that

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Speaker 1: solidified it right there, that that's that's a candidate for

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Speaker 1: Match of the Year. And we still got a few

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Speaker 1: more months lefts Togo, right, But I mean you look

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Speaker 1: at it and you think about this. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: been a year since we've talked to you, you've had

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Speaker 1: a killer year. I mean, you've had some critically k

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Speaker 1: Clayton matches like we just talked about with the Danielson match,

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Speaker 1: and you've had stuff with MJF. Do you feel your

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Speaker 1: you're finally getting the respect you deserve or are we

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Speaker 1: not there yet?

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Speaker 2: I don't think we're there yet. But I also I'm

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Speaker 2: not the type of person that is, well, how can

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Speaker 2: I say it. I'm not wrestling to try to win

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Speaker 2: the respect of everybody, right, I feel like that is

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Speaker 2: an impossible task. I do feel like this year has

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Speaker 2: been kind of bumpy as always, and the opportunities that

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Speaker 2: I've had have been good. But it's always about the

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Speaker 2: stuff that happens afterwards. Right, Yeah, that's a big that's

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Speaker 2: a big thing for contention. It's like, all right, let's

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Speaker 2: see how this kind of plays out. I do think,

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Speaker 2: you know, some people are like, wow, all right, Ricky

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Speaker 2: is more than what we thought. You know, I'm not

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Speaker 2: saying every every match that I that I have people

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Speaker 2: are going to rate it five stars or whatnot. It's

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Speaker 2: just not gonna happen. But I would at at least

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Speaker 2: hope if I don't earn so much respect, at least

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Speaker 2: I have someone who says one thing he does is

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Speaker 2: he works very hard, does not phone it in every match.

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Speaker 2: I genuinely work as hard as I can and give

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Speaker 2: it all, give it.

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Speaker 1: Right for sure. And that's the thing is like, you know,

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Speaker 1: we we've followed your career, I mean for the longest,

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Speaker 1: I mean when you were in the n W A

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Speaker 1: we meet and Eli again on the show is like

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Speaker 1: that dude is gonna be a star and you have

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Speaker 1: three step of the way. Uh, you know, for everything

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Speaker 1: that you've done, and you know recently, and it's always

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Speaker 1: fun to just watch being a fan of wrestling, it's

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Speaker 1: always fun to watch. I guess how things play out

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Speaker 1: on social media, especially now since where I guess kind

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Speaker 1: of like back in the nineties where it's like flipping

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Speaker 1: back and forth and recently. I can say this because

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Speaker 1: I'm a Mark, but there was some Marks that got

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Speaker 1: very upset at you because you congratulated Jade on her.

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Speaker 1: Can you, I guess your perspective on this, because again

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Speaker 1: it's it seems like you're not allowed to have friends

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Speaker 1: outside of aw and it seems like the fans wants

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Speaker 1: you to hate her for that. Can you, like explain

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Speaker 1: from your point of view of like, it's not that

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Speaker 1: big of a deal that you're congratulating a friend.

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Speaker 2: I I didn't, you know, I didn't think it was

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Speaker 2: a big deal. So I don't think it's a big deal.

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Speaker 2: I did congratulate my friend, for sure. It's no different

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Speaker 2: than any other a friend that they you know, go

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Speaker 2: on and get a job or you know, whatever the

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Speaker 2: case may be. It was kind of weird to see

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Speaker 2: all of that, but I'm not I'm used to it

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Speaker 2: because when I when someone liaked that footage of me

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Speaker 2: at you know, going to visit Cody, I got kind

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Speaker 2: of the same viscual reaction. I kind of got another

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Speaker 2: visceral reaction when I had thanked Punk for how Punk

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Speaker 2: had treated me. Right, I'm only doing these things based

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Speaker 2: off of my experience with them. It has not I

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Speaker 2: ignore whatever else. If it don't concern me, then I'm

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Speaker 2: not gonna talk about it or touch on it. So

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Speaker 2: it's weird when people get mad at me or they

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Speaker 2: tell me that you know this or that, all because

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Speaker 2: I am speaking truthfully and genuinely from my heart. So

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Speaker 2: I didn't understand and I still don't understand it, and

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Speaker 2: people are going to make up people are going to

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Speaker 2: make up different excuses of why that was a bad

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Speaker 2: look or this and that, And me personally, I don't

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Speaker 2: see being proud of somebody for their efforts and what

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Speaker 2: happens next in the next chapter, Like, I don't see

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Speaker 2: that being a bad thing. I never will see it

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Speaker 2: as a bad thing. And I'm not one to try

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Speaker 2: to go on and argue with people about how they're wrong.

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Speaker 2: At the end of the day, people are going to

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Speaker 2: give context to whatever they see me post as They're

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Speaker 2: going to try to give it some type of background

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Speaker 2: and some type of story to it. And that's that's

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Speaker 2: beyond me that I thought of my control and I

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Speaker 2: can't really put focus into it. It was it was

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Speaker 2: kind of weird to see, you know, that reaction for sure,

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Speaker 2: but also too like I'm not surprised anymore. I really,

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Speaker 2: I'm not surprised at anything.

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Speaker 1: It's it's just weird and it's it's it's kind of

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Speaker 1: like interesting to see because you think about it now, well,

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Speaker 1: now that we have access to social media, it's like

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Speaker 1: if we could go back in a time machine and

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Speaker 1: go back to the old like Monday Night Wars, how

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Speaker 1: would that be if like social media was a big

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Speaker 1: thing back then as it is now. You know.

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Speaker 2: That's everyone always makes that comparison, and I think it's

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Speaker 2: not really a fair comparison, just because of how society is.

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Speaker 2: Society is a lot different back then than it is now,

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Speaker 2: and I think more than ever, like you had forms,

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Speaker 2: you had, you definitely had forms to go and post

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Speaker 2: on it. And I'm sure people back then were like, oh,

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Speaker 2: why is this person taking a picture of this person

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Speaker 2: at the airport, Like we have photo evidence of that.

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Speaker 2: We have guys mixing and mingling at a beach, hanging

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Speaker 2: out with each other from respective companies.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, it's just it's so weird. It's so weird

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Speaker 2: to see and read of people who aren't even involved

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Speaker 2: in a friendship. I will ride for my friends, I

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Speaker 2: don't care. You know, people will call me a dick

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Speaker 2: rider or whatever whatever you know may have you, but

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Speaker 2: to me, these are people who don't have passions or

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Speaker 2: don't know the true you know, point of relationship. I

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Speaker 2: have social media. Why not tell people that I love them,

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Speaker 2: that I'm proud of them, that I care for them,

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Speaker 2: you know, why not say that out loud? Why should

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Speaker 2: I have to keep that secret? Because of scope or

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Speaker 2: because of what just looks bad politically. I had to

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Speaker 2: go through that when I when I first came into

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Speaker 2: aw where I couldn't say who I was friends with

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Speaker 2: because I was a bad look or you know, just

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Speaker 2: shit like that. Hey here's newslash. I like. I like

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Speaker 2: young Bucks, I like the elite, I like seeing punk,

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Speaker 2: I like I like all these people. I like everyone.

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Speaker 2: So this weird tribalism that keeps occurring, it's gonna happen regardless.

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Speaker 2: But to me, just who cares? Man Like, I'm not

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Speaker 2: a piece of shit. I'm not out here fucking pillaging

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Speaker 2: and killing a whole town or anything.

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Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of people that we should be angry about.

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Speaker 2: I feel like I'm as harmless as it can be, right.

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Speaker 1: And I think at the end of the day, fans

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Speaker 1: should just be excited because wrestling is fun to watch.

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Speaker 1: Who cares? Who? Friends with who? We have wrestling literally

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Speaker 1: on every single day, and if one of them is

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Speaker 1: not your cup of tea, boom, flip the channel and

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Speaker 1: go to the next day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's it. It's very simple. But at the

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Speaker 2: same time, you can't expect everybody to have the same

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Speaker 2: type of philosophy and mindset that you may have. And

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Speaker 2: I'm also you know, I'm a little bit I've experienced

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Speaker 2: life in different ways than other people have, and so

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Speaker 2: what my values are when it comes to friendships and

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Speaker 2: these things and telling people or making jokes online, it's

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Speaker 2: a lot different mind you, man, I don't take social

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Speaker 2: media very seriously. I don't really see anything wrong about

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Speaker 2: that we have people in our roster that openly acknowledge

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Speaker 2: the other side, and that those people don't get nearly

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Speaker 2: as much shit as I was getting in that day.

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Speaker 2: It's just very weird.

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Speaker 1: Right, It's just yeah, it's it's a very weird thing.

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Speaker 1: So something that's been awesome to watch again, because, like

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Speaker 1: we just said, wrestling is on pretty much every single

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Speaker 1: day of the week, and aw has actually become like

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Speaker 1: a major player in the wrestling industry right now. How

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Speaker 1: do you see the pertion's role in shape in the

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Speaker 1: future of wrestling, and how do you envision your own

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Speaker 1: contributions to that future?

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Speaker 2: Oh man, my contributions to wrestling, I I don't that's

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Speaker 2: a hard question because you know, of course I would

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Speaker 2: like to think, like, hey, when I retire that there

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Speaker 2: would be a generation of people that go back and

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Speaker 2: watch my matches and they they like the small details

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Speaker 2: that I put forth or you know, things like that.

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Speaker 2: I would hope for that, and that's probably the extent

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Speaker 2: of my contributions that I thought of. You know, I

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Speaker 2: think adew and a whole being present and being the

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Speaker 2: alternative to what people have always known is a great

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Speaker 2: thing just because it breeds competition, It breeds newer opportunities

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Speaker 2: for people, It breeds different creativity that wrestlers may have

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Speaker 2: got gotten. It breeds new fans too. There could be

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Speaker 2: a fan right now who's never seen rest of their life.

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Speaker 2: Its flicking through a channel. It sees aw or they

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Speaker 2: see somebody that looks like you know, they someone that

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Speaker 2: they can relate to that I look like them, you know,

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Speaker 2: things of that nature. That's cool, honestly. Actually, of any

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Speaker 2: contribution I give to wrestling, it's kids growing up and

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Speaker 2: they can look to me as someone that they can

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Speaker 2: relate to, because I didn't really have that growing up

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Speaker 2: when I was watching wrestling. There wasn't really anyone on

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Speaker 2: TV that looked like that. I could be like, oh wow,

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Speaker 2: that's cool, you know, so uh just that that would

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Speaker 2: probably be the extent of it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's that's that's some great stuff right there,

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Speaker 1: because I mean, you know, growing up as a wrestling fan,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of wrestlers that I looked up to,

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Speaker 1: and the fact that, you know, my six year old

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Speaker 1: goes to these wrestling shows with me and he sees

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Speaker 1: all these wrestles that he looks up to and he

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Speaker 1: gets into it. So it's it's it's great to see

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Speaker 1: something like that and what you were just saying, and

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Speaker 1: you know, I know your I know your time is

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Speaker 1: very precious, and I have one more question than I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna let you go. But I wouldn't be an interviewer

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Speaker 1: if I did ask the question, what are your thoughts

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Speaker 1: on Adam Copeltt coming to ae W and being in

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Speaker 1: that locker room and is there a match that you

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Speaker 1: would like to have with them? Of course that probably

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Speaker 1: answers yes.

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Speaker 2: Well the answer is no because Adam didn't mention my name,

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Speaker 2: so I'm not gonna mention his name. Buddy. Uh, there's

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Speaker 2: your there's your critic bait for the day. I think

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Speaker 2: it's a I think it's a great thing. I think,

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Speaker 2: you know, always having new people come and spruce it

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Speaker 2: up and mix it up is always good, and especially

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Speaker 2: people who are eager to try to help uh and

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Speaker 2: I think like that can only benefit everybody obviously, So

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Speaker 2: I am excited to see the different matchups that he's

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Speaker 2: able to have, you know it within ae w on

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Speaker 2: top of that too, like I'm glad that he has

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Speaker 2: his music. I was like, hell yeah, and the entrance,

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Speaker 2: I just think it's very exciting. It's a very exciting time,

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Speaker 2: especially for people who may have fallen out of wrestling

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Speaker 2: to hear that edge or I can say edge. Well,

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Speaker 2: actually I don't know. Adam Copeland. Adam Copleant is back right,

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Speaker 2: So I think it's good, I really do. I just

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Speaker 2: need to have a talk with him about the spear

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Speaker 2: because there's only one top dog that uses the spear,

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Speaker 2: and it's me actually, Ricky Starks. So you know, you

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Speaker 2: gotta knit that in the button when we can. It's

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Speaker 2: just minor housekeeping rules when you come in. Aw you know,

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Speaker 2: don't tug off Superman's cape, don't piss in the wind,

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Speaker 2: and don't do the spear because that's my stuff, you

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Speaker 2: know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: Spear versus spears Starks versus Copeland.

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Speaker 2: You know what happened last time that that occurred right

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Speaker 2: to that, Yeah, freaking speared each other in the skull

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Speaker 2: and they were out. Okay, so ah, so we won't

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Speaker 2: do that. We'll just leave it alone, exactly. I don't

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Speaker 2: want to have to you know, I just don't want

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Speaker 2: to have to spear Edge or I want to have

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Speaker 2: to spear out of Copeland, all right. I don't want

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Speaker 2: to have to do that because then I'll be hated

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Speaker 2: even more online. And we don't want that, right.

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Speaker 1: No, we don't. We don't need that. But then again,

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Speaker 1: if if something happened, I mean, you just blocked the

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Speaker 1: haters out, it's all good.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I don't mind it. I find all of it

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Speaker 2: to be great. It doesn't bother me though. The spear

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Speaker 2: situation though, like I said, Edge, Christian whatever, the biggest

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Speaker 2: spear of them all at aw is want me I

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Speaker 2: have the best spear.

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Speaker 1: Well, Ricky, it's been an honor to have you on

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Speaker 1: the show Man, and thank you so much for taking

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Speaker 1: the time out of your schedule to talk to Just

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Speaker 1: know you're a busy person and I just want to

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Speaker 1: say thank you and look forward to seeing you this

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Speaker 1: weekend on Collision, which is live in Salt Lake City

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Speaker 1: at the Maverick Day You can grab right now.

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Speaker 2: He and Big Bill, Yeah, Big Bill versus f t R.

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Speaker 2: The greatest tag team there there is FTR that stands

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Speaker 2: for I forgot, So.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna be good and flicking at your tickets. You

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Speaker 1: can grab them at the box office, ticketmaster dot com

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Speaker 1: and Everything at all a Wrestling dot com. Ricky, it's

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Speaker 1: an honor to have you on the show, Man, and

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Speaker 1: we look forward to talking to you again soon.

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Speaker 2: Buddy, absolutely man, take care, enjoy your trip in cant Coon.

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Speaker 1: Since you forgot to tell people where you're at, that's

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Speaker 1: what tell people.

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Speaker 2: Ma