Speaker 1: You're listening to playback a Variety podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Variety Awards Editor Chris Tapley. I don't know if any
Speaker 1: of our listeners are professional wrestling fans, but i am.
Speaker 1: I have been for quite a long time. Actually, I'm
Speaker 1: a fan of storytelling in general, to be honest, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the athletics with professional wrestling are impressive, but
Speaker 1: if they don't mean anything, then the business of sports
Speaker 1: entertainment can't work. And I've always been very fascinated by that.
Speaker 1: If you think about it, someone like Rick Flair. These
Speaker 1: guys are playing characters for forty years and who else
Speaker 1: can you really say that about? So that's always been
Speaker 1: intriguing to me. And along the way, naturally, a number
Speaker 1: of w W superstars have made the jump from the
Speaker 1: ring to Hollywood, whether it be Whole Cogan or De
Speaker 1: Roddy Piper or The Rock, who is one of our
Speaker 1: biggest box office draws in the industry today. My guest
Speaker 1: today has made the same leap he waited in a
Speaker 1: decade ago with movies like The Marine in Twelve Rounds,
Speaker 1: but lately he's been accelerating. He's hilarious in films like
Speaker 1: Sisters and train Wreck, and he's in a great new
Speaker 1: movie this summer from director Doug Lyman called The Wall.
Speaker 1: His name is John Cena, and we're very happy to
Speaker 1: have him. Thanks for coming on the show Man, Thanks man.
Speaker 1: As I said in the elevator earlier, congratulations on the
Speaker 1: engagement recently, thank you very much. You and Nikki Bello
Speaker 1: were engaged at WrestleMania this year, which, uh, I'm curious because,
Speaker 1: like you know, you guys live a life a career
Speaker 1: where reality and story bleeds in a lot together. But nevertheless,
Speaker 1: with something that intimate, the moment that intimate, did it
Speaker 1: feel weird to share it on such a massive stage
Speaker 1: like that? Was certainly nervous. And I get excited every
Speaker 1: time I performed with w W E, but very rarely
Speaker 1: do I get nervous. And I was very nervous on
Speaker 1: because it was such a genuine moment um and you
Speaker 1: have a stadium full of fans who oftentimes are vocal
Speaker 1: and I'm not afraid to tell you how they feel,
Speaker 1: and and oftentimes I'm not exactly their favorite, so um,
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure how they would receive the moment, and
Speaker 1: I was very very grateful that they they understood that
Speaker 1: it was real and genuine and provided me with literally
Speaker 1: the greatest moment in my life. Yeah. I mean I
Speaker 1: got engaged in Central Park and I felt weird about
Speaker 1: just like the five or six people that were around us,
Speaker 1: you know, So I can't imagine just it was. It
Speaker 1: was really a good time. And um, you know, I've
Speaker 1: I've dedicated a large chunk of my life too w
Speaker 1: w E, and I consider my home and I consider
Speaker 1: the audience my family. Um, it was a really big
Speaker 1: moment for Nicole and I being on the same team
Speaker 1: at the biggest stage that w w has to offer. So,
Speaker 1: you know, partners in life and and I guess partners
Speaker 1: in w w E. And uh, I couldn't think of
Speaker 1: a better play. And the one thing I was worried
Speaker 1: about was everybody else's opinion. But I still went through it,
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad that I did. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a memory that I'll have forever. Good do you guys
Speaker 1: have a date? That's up to the boss. And I
Speaker 1: know she's working on it. She's working on but um,
Speaker 1: you know, I believe you're taking a little bit of
Speaker 1: a break away from the ring right now, only because
Speaker 1: movie companies won't. They won't let you do both. It's
Speaker 1: a it's an insurance risk. And uh, as much as
Speaker 1: I'm trying to change the way the game is being played,
Speaker 1: sometimes I totally understand that. If I'm filming something and
Speaker 1: then go off and get a broken nose like I've
Speaker 1: been known to do, and come back with my nose
Speaker 1: on the side of my face, um, it's not good
Speaker 1: for the movie. So another unbelievable fun moment. But it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things where I deep down and
Speaker 1: wish that it could work, but I understand why it
Speaker 1: can't work well that I'm still interested, because like, I
Speaker 1: know how passionate you are about w W E and
Speaker 1: and expanding the brand and everything. But do you nevertheless
Speaker 1: fill the feel the siren call, like do you long
Speaker 1: for the moments away at all? No? No, I don't.
Speaker 1: I love every minute of it. Traveling with the brand
Speaker 1: and watching essentially the same show night after night after
Speaker 1: night still is unbelievably interesting to me. If you talk
Speaker 1: to any of my co workers, I do my best
Speaker 1: to digest as much of the product as I can,
Speaker 1: and I love just the constant, ever changing energy that
Speaker 1: is the live audience. I think it's like no other
Speaker 1: just it literally keeps me creatively inspired. And you had
Speaker 1: mentioned storytelling, and I love trying my hand to telling
Speaker 1: different types of stories and playing the same character for
Speaker 1: essentially a decade and a half now, I've had to
Speaker 1: tell a whole lot of stories and it never gets old,
Speaker 1: it never it's not fun. I've never had a bad
Speaker 1: day at work, So I don't you know, like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm well aware that physically I will be unable to
Speaker 1: compete long before my heart grows cold or my brain
Speaker 1: stops working in a sports entertainment capacity. And you mentioned
Speaker 1: the live audience a movie like The Wall. It's interesting
Speaker 1: to me because there is another film called Free Fire
Speaker 1: that's out this year, and both of these movies reminded
Speaker 1: me of the theater. Uh, largely just because of their
Speaker 1: single setting situation. I mean, certainly they both come up
Speaker 1: with their own cinematic language to tell the story. But
Speaker 1: that element made me think about the theater and if
Speaker 1: somebody like you would be interested in like plays or
Speaker 1: something like that, because you know you're halfway there with that.
Speaker 1: I've been, um, I've been in kind of a risk
Speaker 1: taking mode as far as creativity. And I think I
Speaker 1: think that's important in order to push creativity. I H
Speaker 1: I really dedicated myself to learn in my craft. And
Speaker 1: you had mentioned the marine in twelve Rounds. Those are
Speaker 1: those are projects I was kind of told to do
Speaker 1: um and and begrudgingly did them. And I don't have
Speaker 1: any regrets about them. It just I learned a lot
Speaker 1: about what what I don't want to be involved with
Speaker 1: and and the value of getting involved with something that
Speaker 1: you're passionate about. And that's that has been the key
Speaker 1: to sustainability for me. It's just being involved with whether
Speaker 1: it's on the on the business side, brands that I
Speaker 1: care about, on the creative side, projects that I care about,
Speaker 1: or you know, at home in w W. Just being
Speaker 1: invested in stories and being passionate in stories. It it
Speaker 1: um It helps. So I don't want to say that
Speaker 1: I'll never do theater, because if if I have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to do something that that sounds like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: invested and I'm invested in it, why not. Yeah? Uh,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the Wall. I thought this movie was awesome.
Speaker 1: I just thought it the other night. Doug Lenman again
Speaker 1: as the director. But what interestingly it's a bit of
Speaker 1: a one man show for Aaron Taylor Johnson. Is he
Speaker 1: is just outstanding? Yeah? Yeah, but your presence is uniquely
Speaker 1: felt throughout the film. So what I'm wondering is what
Speaker 1: made you say yes to the project to begin with?
Speaker 1: Because it was an unbelievable read. I I you know,
Speaker 1: I had no idea of what, who, who was going
Speaker 1: to direct the movie, who was gonna be the co star.
Speaker 1: I read the script in one sitting and was unbelievably
Speaker 1: moved by it and said, yes, I want to do
Speaker 1: this in any capacity. It wasn't like I read for
Speaker 1: this role and I want to do this. I read
Speaker 1: this script, I thought it was great, and I knew
Speaker 1: that I could. I knew within my skill set I
Speaker 1: could provide a good contribution to this movie. And then
Speaker 1: the people came back who are running the joint, and
Speaker 1: they said, we would like you to do this role
Speaker 1: of Sergeant Matthews. I said, no problems, go yeah, I
Speaker 1: know you've done a lot for the troops in your
Speaker 1: time as well. I mean, was that part of it
Speaker 1: as well? Like I said, I mean that the story
Speaker 1: was just unbelievably riveting, and the fact that you get
Speaker 1: to to showcase a different take on combat, one of
Speaker 1: intense psychological warfare and certainly a movie that brings the
Speaker 1: viewer on its own psychological ride. It's amazing. That's a
Speaker 1: psychological a cat and mouse game between a sniper and sniper,
Speaker 1: but it also throws a lot of curveballs for the
Speaker 1: viewer as well. Um, it was an honor to be
Speaker 1: able to play an army ranger, but I mean it was.
Speaker 1: It was. It's really cool to be part of an
Speaker 1: awesome story. Yeah, I went into a totally cold cold
Speaker 1: I didn't even see a trailer or anything. I kind
Speaker 1: of recommend that actually, because you're right. I mean, it
Speaker 1: takes you on a on a ride and Aaron is
Speaker 1: amazing in the film. How'd you like working with Aaron?
Speaker 1: He is a unbelievable professional. He had so much to
Speaker 1: be responsible for shouldering the movie. M His Southern accent
Speaker 1: was unreal. Uh. He did another one in Nocturnal Animals,
Speaker 1: just all of his remembering ninety pages of dialogue and
Speaker 1: because uh, people may or may not know. The movie
Speaker 1: was shot in two weeks and in fourteen days. He
Speaker 1: would have to jump. Depending on how severe the sandstorms were,
Speaker 1: he would have to jump from scene to scene, and
Speaker 1: we would have a certain schedule and then just out
Speaker 1: of the blue, change it and he would just fall
Speaker 1: from piece to piece. He was flat out amazing like it.
Speaker 1: It was. It was really awesome to watch him work
Speaker 1: in the desert, and it's in the undisclosed California desert
Speaker 1: in the middle of hot season. It was. It was awesome.
Speaker 1: It was it was fun. And I just I just
Speaker 1: did a commercial shoot this morning with a gentleman who
Speaker 1: was a camera assistant on the movie. He said, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I remember from you from the Wall. That was a
Speaker 1: tough one out there, And I said tough one in
Speaker 1: a good way. He's like, yeah, man, I never felt
Speaker 1: so gratified after every single day. It was like you
Speaker 1: left every day just beat to crap, but you wanted
Speaker 1: to go to work the next day. And I think
Speaker 1: everybody from from myself and Aaron and Doug to anyone
Speaker 1: on the on the pitcher felt really rewarded after like
Speaker 1: a They felt like they put in a hard day's work.
Speaker 1: It's easy to pull away for the two weeks too.
Speaker 1: I guess regarding your other work, it was great. I um,
Speaker 1: they they only obviously I was only needed for I
Speaker 1: think ten of the shooting days or nine of the
Speaker 1: shooting days, and in between I rehearsed and hosted the SPS.
Speaker 1: I was able to main event Madison Square Garden, and
Speaker 1: I was able to go to uh Tokyo on behalf
Speaker 1: of the WW as well, So it worked out fantastic.
Speaker 1: I meant to ask, Actually, I was trying to put
Speaker 1: it together, what was going on with WW at the time, Like,
Speaker 1: what like when you filmed this with uh Man? That
Speaker 1: was like that was literally right around when I was
Speaker 1: filming the SPS, so rehearsing. I'm I'm not sure who
Speaker 1: I was kind of incohots with maybe a j yeah. Stuff.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Doug Lyman, I had first of all, how
Speaker 1: did you like working with Doug? He was amazing. He
Speaker 1: was amazing any individual that is creative and driven like I, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm a sucker for efficiency and I'm just a sucker
Speaker 1: for like a well oiled machine, and I also love
Speaker 1: being creative. I'm that that weird mix of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we have to get in, get out, and get onto
Speaker 1: the next one, but at the same time we have
Speaker 1: to take time to absorb and tell a good story. Um.
Speaker 1: He He was awesome. He was unbelievably creative. He knew
Speaker 1: his vision, he knew what he wanted. He certainly knew
Speaker 1: how to get the best out of me. Somebody was
Speaker 1: still getting their their feet solid in this whole thing.
Speaker 1: He knew he had a short thing in Aaron, and
Speaker 1: he knew he only had fourteen days to shoot. He
Speaker 1: never wavered, He was never stressed. He was always just
Speaker 1: crazily excited, showing up, you know, every day covered in
Speaker 1: dirt when he left. Every day, he would get down
Speaker 1: in the dirt if he if he needed to to
Speaker 1: motivate you like he was. He was a wonderful leader
Speaker 1: for the film and it obviously it shows on screen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's got two films this year, so he's working hard
Speaker 1: as well. Uh. And speaking of him, we had Jon
Speaker 1: Favreau on the show last year talking about Jungle Book,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to pick his brain about Swingers
Speaker 1: because it's one of my favorite movies and it was
Speaker 1: celebrating a twenty anniversary at the time. Uh, you know
Speaker 1: when it was a big movie for me when I
Speaker 1: was coming up. So I was just curious for you.
Speaker 1: We know you're a big W W E fan as
Speaker 1: a kid, But were you a big movie buff? Two?
Speaker 1: I think movies are the fabric of all of our lives.
Speaker 1: I think as a I mean, ever since the debut
Speaker 1: of the motion picture, it's been something to go do UM.
Speaker 1: Just like anything, it's I have my list of favorites,
Speaker 1: and and everyone else has their list of favorites, and
Speaker 1: for different reasons. I think with any sort of UM
Speaker 1: method of entertainment or sport, you can go as far
Speaker 1: down the rabbit hole as you want. I have a
Speaker 1: group conversation that never ends with a bunch of high
Speaker 1: school friends where we often uh talk back about baseball
Speaker 1: and and my knowledge and baseball is is general. But
Speaker 1: I have some baseball heads who just go way down
Speaker 1: the rabbit hole and they kind of lose me. Like
Speaker 1: it could be said the same for for w W.
Speaker 1: E could be said the same for cinema. So I
Speaker 1: think it's it's like saying, how man, what do you
Speaker 1: listen to? From music? If I definitely have a list
Speaker 1: of favorite movies, you gotta give me a couple of Uh.
Speaker 1: I loved The Big Short just recently, I love Blazing
Speaker 1: Saddles as a favorite. UM. The entire story arc of
Speaker 1: Star Wars, even the first three where everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: they don't they don't enjoy I just love the continuous
Speaker 1: good story of good versus evil. Um the Matrix films.
Speaker 1: I loved all of them. I think they were not
Speaker 1: only cutting edge, but such a wonderful look at existence
Speaker 1: and in the same vein I'm I'm a huge Prometheus fan,
Speaker 1: but not like an Aliens fan. I'm a huge Prometheus fan,
Speaker 1: looking very much forward to the next one. I just
Speaker 1: saw it the other day, very much Prometheus too. I
Speaker 1: love it. I love it. It's so exciting, so very excited.
Speaker 1: You're gonna like it. So do you have like a
Speaker 1: list of filmmakers that are like on your wish list
Speaker 1: that you want? You know? I think any and And
Speaker 1: this is the thing. It's like I've been I've been
Speaker 1: doing a lot of interviews lately, a Primo on the
Speaker 1: Wall obviously, and everybody's asking me like, well, what's your
Speaker 1: dream role and who would you like to work with?
Speaker 1: I guess because I had the luxury of being paired
Speaker 1: with so many diverse individuals in w w E, and
Speaker 1: I've had the luxury of being in there with Hall
Speaker 1: of famers, and I've had the luxury of being in
Speaker 1: there with people who are literally just learning their craft.
Speaker 1: And I find as long as there is passion, a
Speaker 1: passion can cover a lot of weak points because it's genuine.
Speaker 1: So everyone's always asking me, like, what do you want
Speaker 1: to do next? And the response is the same. I
Speaker 1: know when I'll read it. If I read something and
Speaker 1: I'm moved by it, and I know I want to
Speaker 1: be part of it. At least I'm invested even before
Speaker 1: I get the job. And then on top of that,
Speaker 1: if I if I'm fortunate enough to work with a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame team, that's great. I just did The
Speaker 1: Wall with with Doug Lyman, but simultaneously, right now I'm
Speaker 1: filming The Pact with Kay Cannon, the first time director.
Speaker 1: But she loves the movie so much, and so do I,
Speaker 1: and so does everybody in it. So it's a it's
Speaker 1: a print process, but a wonderful process because everybody steps
Speaker 1: on the set. I want to make a good project
Speaker 1: as long as I can get that vibe. Man, it
Speaker 1: doesn't you know that's that's a good method for success.
Speaker 1: You've also got later this year, Blue Sky's so excited
Speaker 1: about that, voicing the lead in that that's gotta be
Speaker 1: just cush work right to show up. And I mean
Speaker 1: I don't need you know you know what you say
Speaker 1: that the deal with the v O stuff and and
Speaker 1: Blue Sky knows what they're doing. They did ice Age
Speaker 1: and they did Rio. They won't let you vo for
Speaker 1: more than four hours because they think your voice deviates,
Speaker 1: so they truly know what they're doing. They want to
Speaker 1: get you in blocks of maybe three or four days
Speaker 1: at a time, not to wear you out too much,
Speaker 1: but it is you get out of it what you
Speaker 1: put into it. Um Carlos, who's directing the picture, is awesome.
Speaker 1: He is an animator, like a pure animator. When he's
Speaker 1: in the booth, he's so animated and like he's another
Speaker 1: one who just closes his eyes and can see the
Speaker 1: movie while you're reading, and then knows when he sees
Speaker 1: the read that you need for the animation because the
Speaker 1: already is a great idea on the animation. It's like,
Speaker 1: all right, we're good, go ahead and move on. Like
Speaker 1: it's I I don't want to say. I mean, you
Speaker 1: are in a studio. It's kind of like we're doing
Speaker 1: here in a podcast, but like this is work. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have to. You have to do your research, you
Speaker 1: have to do your homework, you have to you have
Speaker 1: to actually produce the thing and make it like I'm
Speaker 1: and and I'm I'm very excited for Ferdinand, obviously, because
Speaker 1: when you can do a cool project, that's one thing.
Speaker 1: When you can send a good message at the same time,
Speaker 1: that's another. And I've tried so hard through all the
Speaker 1: the back and forth with the audience and the w
Speaker 1: w E to maintain my integrity. I think that's very
Speaker 1: important because when you send a message of like, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what other people think as long as you're
Speaker 1: comfortable in your own skin. You have to be comfortable
Speaker 1: in your own skin, and you can't change when people
Speaker 1: are asking you to change, like, no, this is me,
Speaker 1: like it or not, this is me. And the ethos
Speaker 1: of Ferdinand is very much it's it's okay if you're different,
Speaker 1: and it's just it's a wonderful ride to wonderful movie.
Speaker 1: And I was so very fortunate to be a part
Speaker 1: of I can't wait for You probably have to wait
Speaker 1: a while before you can really get some feedback on
Speaker 1: something like that, right, because you have before you can
Speaker 1: sit down and see the movie, see something I've seen pieces,
Speaker 1: and the great thing about animation is you can see
Speaker 1: it in stages and and I never lost I never
Speaker 1: lost that crazy imagination that I as a kid. So
Speaker 1: even when they show like animated storyboards which are legit
Speaker 1: bare bones sketches, you can see it. You can see it,
Speaker 1: and then it comes to life more and more and more.
Speaker 1: So I've seen the movie. You just in really rough form,
Speaker 1: which helps you develop the voice and the mannerisms and
Speaker 1: all that, and then you see a few finished scenes
Speaker 1: and man, it's it's pretty special. Well that's later this year.
Speaker 1: Speaking of voice work, I saw this thing. You were
Speaker 1: channeling your best Gordon solely on self. Paul Regional's so
Speaker 1: happy with Let me explain what that is to some
Speaker 1: people might not know. You should check it out. It's
Speaker 1: on YouTube South Paul Regional Wrestling. It's a number of
Speaker 1: WW superstars and they're playing like characters from a nineteen
Speaker 1: eight seven regional wrestling outfit. And I grew up in
Speaker 1: North Carolina, so you know, watching Smokey Mountain and n
Speaker 1: w A and everything. So it was right in my
Speaker 1: wheelhouse and you guys were cracking me up. It's like
Speaker 1: a long lost VHS kind of thing. Uh, so go
Speaker 1: check that out, but first talk to me about that
Speaker 1: first of all, like just being able to cut up
Speaker 1: with the boys like that, because it's interesting they that
Speaker 1: kind of creative outlet wasn't always there and things like
Speaker 1: the WW network and digital media allows you guys to
Speaker 1: do something like that. It used to be like you'd
Speaker 1: show up at the Norfolk Scope or Sportatorium or whatever
Speaker 1: and then you drive to the next one and that
Speaker 1: was the job. But with this kind of thing, you
Speaker 1: can really expand the world of sports entertainment in a way.
Speaker 1: That is that is because of our w W universe.
Speaker 1: As we are our audience disclamorous for intent. We are
Speaker 1: one of the highest socially active programs on television. We
Speaker 1: have global outreach um our. Our YouTube is one of
Speaker 1: the Our YouTube channel is one of the very few
Speaker 1: that is like Diamond play on YouTube, so it has
Speaker 1: the highest rating as far as user approval and consistent
Speaker 1: content and South Pause a YouTube series of digital show.
Speaker 1: It certainly about five minutes a piece, and it's amazing
Speaker 1: because it captures everything of that era. But we never
Speaker 1: show any wrestling right and it's so great and it
Speaker 1: just goes to show, like you said, how far sports
Speaker 1: entertainment has come, because the sports entertainment of your the
Speaker 1: old WWF for the w W attitude era, or even
Speaker 1: when I you know, when I started coming in as
Speaker 1: a as a newer generation post attitude era. Um, you
Speaker 1: very much focus on your brand and only your brand,
Speaker 1: like you are Okay, John Cena. Character is this And
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, being the hip hop guy like
Speaker 1: dressed hip hop, made an album, made videos like freestyle
Speaker 1: how people in the parking lot and you you have
Speaker 1: to It's very much like constant method acting. And and
Speaker 1: that was me. I love hip hop culture. I love
Speaker 1: that like eighties and nineties boom bab culture. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, that's not all me. You know. I
Speaker 1: also love to tell jokes, you know I I if
Speaker 1: you get me in the right scenario, I'm pretty decent
Speaker 1: with my hands in a fight. Like there's there's certain
Speaker 1: facets of your personality, but because you have to identify
Speaker 1: with the audience, you try to showcase the one that
Speaker 1: will resonate the most. And in my case, the fact
Speaker 1: that I've been on TV for fifteen years, I've my
Speaker 1: life has been an open book to these people. So
Speaker 1: now I'm at the point where I really have a
Speaker 1: lot of fun and I like to to mess around
Speaker 1: with stuff like that, and YouTube is a great outlet
Speaker 1: to do digital shorts, to do um just fun videos.
Speaker 1: We did one on the Bella's YouTube channel celebrating half
Speaker 1: a million subscribers where we got naked Nicole and I
Speaker 1: got naked, and it truly was just a just a
Speaker 1: funny video where I was the of the joke pun
Speaker 1: intended and I'm looking like an idiot, but everybody had
Speaker 1: a good laugh about it, and it was it was
Speaker 1: a great way to tell the subscribers, Hey, thank you
Speaker 1: for your support. So South Paul was was awesome because
Speaker 1: you get once again to create a new character. And
Speaker 1: I like you as a fan of um Gordon solely,
Speaker 1: you know. I'm I tried to get a little bit
Speaker 1: of even even thinking of the name like Lance Russell
Speaker 1: came to mind, and I tried to get a commentary
Speaker 1: name that would sound like Lance Russell, but not like
Speaker 1: Lance Russell, almost sound like Ron Burgundy. And I remember
Speaker 1: passing the Catamaran Hotel in San Diego and go with
Speaker 1: Lance Catamaran. Holy, holy sh it, that's it. It's Lance catamaran.
Speaker 1: He's it sounds like a sailboat. It's distinguished, like he's
Speaker 1: Lance catamaran. So then you could exactly. And then because
Speaker 1: and the reason I chose Utica was because Ithaca College
Speaker 1: has a wonderful broadcast program. And like nobody tells you this,
Speaker 1: but once again, you you get out of it what
Speaker 1: you put into it. And that's what that's what it's
Speaker 1: fun about the creative environment. And it was a hit.
Speaker 1: And I think there's a great core audience in the
Speaker 1: w W that looks for stuff like that. Yes, they
Speaker 1: like to see heated rivalries and they love that good
Speaker 1: versus evil story, but they also have a sense of
Speaker 1: humor the human beings. And we are essentially laughing at
Speaker 1: the industry. We are parodying the industry and the way
Speaker 1: it was, and people enjoy it. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: here we are thirty years removed from that era more
Speaker 1: and and we can now look back and laugh at
Speaker 1: the way things done, things were done, and especially the
Speaker 1: the small time promotions trying to keep up with quote
Speaker 1: unquote New York when Vince was doing crazy global stuff
Speaker 1: and and everyone else was following by the wayside. And
Speaker 1: it's just their crazy last dig attempts to try to
Speaker 1: to to keep up with the front runner. It was
Speaker 1: it was really fun and there's there's more on the way,
Speaker 1: So I'm very much looking forward to he Is Bro.
Speaker 1: I have seen text ferguson Unleashed. Be on the lookout
Speaker 1: for more tech first just a superstar man um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: there's other things on the way. From Netflix. There's a
Speaker 1: show called Glow about women's wrestling. There's events has a
Speaker 1: biopic script is amazing. That was one that I read
Speaker 1: in one sitting and was like, man, I need to
Speaker 1: be part of this movie. Well it's what it makes
Speaker 1: me think about is like I was mentioning, like the
Speaker 1: opportunity to tell the story behind sports entertainment like it.
Speaker 1: But then again, you do the brand itself. Man, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's in. It's it's old. They do a football
Speaker 1: life now they do uh stories about the superstars. Like
Speaker 1: every industry that has a run like we have had,
Speaker 1: you get to a point where it's okay to look
Speaker 1: back and we are there now, we are absolutely there.
Speaker 1: We have been through generations of leading individuals, so to say,
Speaker 1: Hogan Austin the Rock, myself now Roman reign. It's like,
Speaker 1: it's okay to now look back. They're doing an awesome
Speaker 1: biopic on Andre I can't wait to see, you know, like,
Speaker 1: that's what a wonderful story that is. Simmons has a
Speaker 1: documentary too, right, Yeah, it's it's amazing to to find
Speaker 1: out this story behind the story, and it's not It
Speaker 1: doesn't hurt the product in the ring because it's not
Speaker 1: about the current people in the ring. If anything, it
Speaker 1: raises the mystique about like what actually goes on and
Speaker 1: what we do. What did you think of Mickey Roks film?
Speaker 1: I thought it. I thought it was wonderful. And everybody
Speaker 1: asked me about that, like so cautiously, like what did
Speaker 1: you think of the Wrestler? I loved it because I
Speaker 1: thought the film could have been called The Ballplayer, the
Speaker 1: rock Star, it could have been called anything. The story
Speaker 1: was about the life and a guy who was so
Speaker 1: entrenched in the life he can't let go, and that
Speaker 1: that happened a lot to eighties superstars. You get caught
Speaker 1: up in this whirlwind and it is man, it's like,
Speaker 1: and this is just for us. You you you you
Speaker 1: leave on Friday, you get back Tuesday, you leave on Friday,
Speaker 1: gain and you get back Tuesday, and it's constant, like
Speaker 1: you just get institutionalized. And for the guys in the
Speaker 1: eighties it was even more. They had, you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: double shot to do a show to leven. You do
Speaker 1: a show at seven, you're gone for forty one days,
Speaker 1: in your home for ten, then you're gone for another
Speaker 1: forty one. Like that is a lifestyle, man. It happens
Speaker 1: in entertainment all the time. It happens in athletics all
Speaker 1: the time. Watch ESPNS Broke if you don't believe me,
Speaker 1: like that sort of lifestyle. The documentary on John Daily,
Speaker 1: the thirty for thirty on John Daily, where he's just
Speaker 1: like signing autographs outside of a Marriott, like that's it happens.
Speaker 1: And I thought they took our genre and used it
Speaker 1: so wonderful. And man, what a wonderful, wonderful performance Mickey did,
Speaker 1: and just it was. It was real, man. It was
Speaker 1: a great depiction of how somebody can't get rid of
Speaker 1: the rush and they still want that one last try
Speaker 1: even though it's gone, you know, it's gone. That lifestyle
Speaker 1: you talk about, I mean, do you think that's why
Speaker 1: I think about this often? So many superstars wrestling superstars
Speaker 1: are lives have ended tragically, tragically, and you know, I
Speaker 1: think of somebody like you who is you know, kept
Speaker 1: it straight and even. But then a guy like Sting
Speaker 1: who has been around since the eighties and never got
Speaker 1: caught up in anything that left him like that? Is
Speaker 1: that why you think that has happened for a number
Speaker 1: of superstars because of the lifestyle. I think it all
Speaker 1: comes down to personal choice. You look at choices in
Speaker 1: the entertainment industry, they're there are great entertainers that we
Speaker 1: lose too soon, and it all because it all comes
Speaker 1: down to personal choice. So it's not necessarily it's not
Speaker 1: the life. I mean, there are there's a lot of
Speaker 1: guys who did all those dates on the road and
Speaker 1: they're just fine. And then there are a lot of
Speaker 1: guys who lived like there was no tomorrow. And guess
Speaker 1: what when you do that, there is no tomorrow, Like
Speaker 1: that stuff catches up with you. That's just plain and simple.
Speaker 1: So it's like I said, I don't think it's regulated
Speaker 1: to a certain profession. What I admire about the w
Speaker 1: W nowadays is even know the way we are set
Speaker 1: up as independent contractors. They take care of us as
Speaker 1: if we are family. They offer financial assistance, they offer
Speaker 1: on site healthcare. If you get injured, we get injury pay. Now,
Speaker 1: they offer secondary education, they offer second language programs. Like
Speaker 1: the depth that they go to make sure that we
Speaker 1: are protected is they don't need to do that, and
Speaker 1: they do it anyway. It's it's um, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a great testament how much they care about their current
Speaker 1: talent and talent of of life after, you know, after
Speaker 1: the business. And they had to build to a point
Speaker 1: where they were big enough to be able to do yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's the thing you gotta They're they're doing this
Speaker 1: in all the while they're running a business. And and
Speaker 1: the eighties was like the infancy of it all, so
Speaker 1: you're you don't even know which way is up. You
Speaker 1: don't even know if closed circuit is gonna work out,
Speaker 1: and then it becomes pay per view and then like
Speaker 1: it's crazy, man, it all is just it was. It's
Speaker 1: a crazy ride, which makes the pandemonium script, Vince script
Speaker 1: that you reference, just all that more interesting. Man, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to see I want you want to get
Speaker 1: you in hot water with him? But who do you
Speaker 1: think should play Vince McMahon, Man I don't want to
Speaker 1: get myself in hot water with him, but I would
Speaker 1: love to. Yeah, I would love to, kind of like
Speaker 1: if I just glanced at you right now, you've got
Speaker 1: I just look. I love the story, the words jump
Speaker 1: off the page. I certainly know and admire the man.
Speaker 1: He's literally one of my heroes. He's a friend of father,
Speaker 1: a mentor um. Whoever does that they have they have
Speaker 1: a wonderfully crafted challenge in front of him because he
Speaker 1: is one of a kind. He is one of a kind.
Speaker 1: I have a suggestion. I don't know if he'd be
Speaker 1: too volatile to work with, but Tom Hardy, I think
Speaker 1: that would be a fantastic choice. I think it'd be
Speaker 1: a fantastic choice. Boss. No, well, I don't know if.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he has final saying. I think
Speaker 1: the people making the movie do. But like that that's
Speaker 1: a brilliant choice. It just it's he Vince is just
Speaker 1: so unique. Man. I can't I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: the movie. They already they already have my ticket money.
Speaker 1: Uh let's see what else do I have here? Oh?
Speaker 1: You would you would you be interested in like putting
Speaker 1: on a suit and being in a position like Triple
Speaker 1: H is like, would you want to so your level
Speaker 1: your level of commitment to the businesses on that level,
Speaker 1: you don't understand there's it is a business of creativity.
Speaker 1: And I'm wearing a suit right now because I'm comfortable
Speaker 1: in a suit like everybody's like, I address casual. This
Speaker 1: is my casual, So I don't mind being in a suit.
Speaker 1: I have more of events style than I do a
Speaker 1: Triple H style. Um, but you get to be creative.
Speaker 1: What what Triple H has done with n x T.
Speaker 1: He literally has created another functioning brand for the company
Speaker 1: that is awesome. Like I tell him all the time,
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by the growth and development. It's amazing that
Speaker 1: we can run two functional brands and now we legit
Speaker 1: have a third that we can set up in a
Speaker 1: town for one of our big four papers and sell
Speaker 1: it five days in a row. That's unheard of in
Speaker 1: the lot, in the in the in the ticket tear
Speaker 1: and business, that's unheard of. And people flocked in the
Speaker 1: network to to to watch an XT and they know
Speaker 1: these superstars before they even debut on our television, which
Speaker 1: is a testament to how much they watch the product.
Speaker 1: It's Um, I would love to do something like that,
Speaker 1: and I don't mean in that even major of a capacity.
Speaker 1: I live very close to the Performance Center in Orlando.
Speaker 1: I would love to just go there every day and
Speaker 1: and give advice. I got all these secrets, and it's
Speaker 1: the crazy thing about entertainment is it's a chicken soup.
Speaker 1: Business is a million different ways to make it, but
Speaker 1: it's all chicken soup in the end. So I love
Speaker 1: going to the Performance Center every once in a while
Speaker 1: and just giving a way left field look of like,
Speaker 1: I know you're being told this by your coaches. I'll
Speaker 1: drop like some weird fortune cookie moments on them and
Speaker 1: then just about face and leave and everybody scratching their head,
Speaker 1: going what just happened? So I like that too, man
Speaker 1: Like it's you don't have to be in charge of
Speaker 1: the creativity to be around the creativity. And I just
Speaker 1: love the creativity of the business. So you're in it
Speaker 1: for that long haul. We're not like witnessing you transition.
Speaker 1: They would to tell me that they don't need me anymore,
Speaker 1: and trust me, after fifteen years of service. If they
Speaker 1: tell me that, I walk away with a stern handshake,
Speaker 1: a genuine smile and a and a heartfelt thank you
Speaker 1: because I've overstayed my welcome and in some aspects like
Speaker 1: I this is a dream ride for me. But it's
Speaker 1: not like I'm getting into the other gigs who I
Speaker 1: can leave one behind w w W is legit my home.
Speaker 1: I consider them my family. Uh. I have such a
Speaker 1: very close connection with all the people that are responsible
Speaker 1: for the brand. Um, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I would
Speaker 1: never think of that. I'm very I have a good
Speaker 1: perspective of it. So if they say, hey, kids, it's over,
Speaker 1: that's fine. But until they say that, I would like
Speaker 1: to think that I would I could contribute in some capacity.
Speaker 1: Last question for you, it's kind of a two parter,
Speaker 1: and it's it's a cheap question. What's your greatest match?
Speaker 1: What's the greatest match you've ever seen? Uh? The questions
Speaker 1: are what's my greatest match and what's the greatest match
Speaker 1: I've ever seen? The ants or to the greatest match
Speaker 1: question is always the same, it's my next one, because
Speaker 1: that means I can continue doing what I love. The
Speaker 1: greatest moment is obviously when Nicole said she would marry
Speaker 1: me in front of the greatest moment and Citrus greatest matches,
Speaker 1: the next one by far, the greatest match you've ever seen,
Speaker 1: The greatest match I've ever seen. M hmm, Undertaker Shawn
Speaker 1: Michael's the first time first time WrestleMania. Is that the
Speaker 1: one most people consider the better of the two. That's
Speaker 1: the one I had to follow. And I remember sitting
Speaker 1: in the gorilla position with the Big Show and Edge,
Speaker 1: with the Triple Threat at the time, and they just
Speaker 1: went out and crafted a masterpiece, absolute masterpiece. And I
Speaker 1: remember Big Show being so nervous and and and Edge
Speaker 1: was a little bit upside down because they kept I
Speaker 1: mean that those guys took their time, and they kept
Speaker 1: taking time from us because I think there was only
Speaker 1: one match after us, so so we didn't have It's
Speaker 1: like doing a long skin on SNL. All the other
Speaker 1: skits have to go short. Some skis get cut, um,
Speaker 1: and we got cut a little bit, and I just
Speaker 1: I knew in my heart we were gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: And there's an iconic moment where I left up both
Speaker 1: Adam and Paul a Big Show an Edge, and that's
Speaker 1: all anyone remembers, um, But that's they remember that, and
Speaker 1: and uh, I just remember the feeling of watching this going,
Speaker 1: this is the best match I've ever seen. This is
Speaker 1: the best match I've ever seen. Ship, I have to
Speaker 1: follow this like it was. It was an awesome yet
Speaker 1: such a nervous feeling, but the show went on as
Speaker 1: it always does. Yeah, that one is amazing. We'll check
Speaker 1: out the movie everyone is called The Wall comes out
Speaker 1: May twelve, Yeah, yeah, which is tomorrow when this airs,
Speaker 1: Yes it is, and uh, Ferdinand's later this year to
Speaker 1: check that hands. Later this year, I'm in a cool,
Speaker 1: unique offering from the Andy Sandberg group called Tour to Pharmacy.
Speaker 1: That's going to be his follow up to Seven Days
Speaker 1: in Hell. Cool cast, very funny. I snuck into the
Speaker 1: sequel of Daddy's Home Daddy's Home too, that's going to
Speaker 1: be out right before Ferdinand and November. And you can
Speaker 1: certainly find me back in the Squared Circle as soon
Speaker 1: as they turn me loose from the pack in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you're just hitting the gas in the movie
Speaker 1: business man. So yeah, I uh, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know what I can offer. I'll find out script by
Speaker 1: script where where I can contribute to two projects here
Speaker 1: and there. But I do know that if I get
Speaker 1: invested in something. I'm I'm gonna work hard and I
Speaker 1: don't know any other way, and I'm happy to be
Speaker 1: able to do that. In more than one avenue of entertained.
Speaker 1: I've pretty much got all your scenes from Sisters memorized,
Speaker 1: so more of that as far as I'm concerned to
Speaker 1: be hilarious anyway. His name is Johnson. I thank you again.
Speaker 1: John's coming on show. No little shot you tech forgot
Speaker 1: a fell off. I'm still hot. Knock your shell off
Speaker 1: my money stack back. Plus I can't turn the swell
Speaker 1: off the franchise to a thick fitness my living. This
Speaker 1: is automatic. I win until you hit those who you
Speaker 1: finish the soldier and I say, I'm nicking fighting for
Speaker 1: some storming on you