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Speaker 1: Hey, it's Battle and real quick. Before we jump into

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Speaker 1: today's episode, we do want to take a brief second

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Speaker 1: and remember two amazing people that we have lost in

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Speaker 1: the wrestling community, Shad Gaspard and Hannah Kamora. So before

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Speaker 1: we get in today's episode, we're going to take a

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Speaker 1: twenty second moment of silence for both Shad and Hannah

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Speaker 1: right now before we get into the episode. Shad and

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Speaker 1: Hannah will be extremely missed here in the wrestling community.

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Speaker 1: And there is many ways that you could help out

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Speaker 1: with both Shad and Hannah, and we'll leave a description

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Speaker 1: in the information about today's episode. But it is now

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Speaker 1: time to get in today's episode. Welcome to episode number one,

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Speaker 1: twenty eight of the Battleground Podcast. It is Battle checking

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Speaker 1: in with you. We've got a good show for you today.

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Speaker 1: We have a special guest on the show. But before

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Speaker 1: we get into that, I do want to talk about

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Speaker 1: some new merch that we've got. You can definitely check

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Speaker 1: that out Territory Wrestling Teas dot com. We have new shirts.

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Speaker 1: They are Me and Eli as Funko figures. We've got

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Speaker 1: us in the box and outside the box. And to

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Speaker 1: celebrate the new Funko shirts. We are going to do

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Speaker 1: a contest later this week. We've teamed up with Popping

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Speaker 1: Off Toys, a local funk Cod dealer here in Nashville,

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Speaker 1: where we are not only gonna give you a Naomi chase,

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Speaker 1: but we also have a Dwayne the Rock Johnson chase.

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Speaker 1: Plus we're gonna throw in our brand new Funko T

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Speaker 1: shirt and we're gonna throw in an autograph from Seamus

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Speaker 1: and Becky Lynch, so it is a big package. We

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Speaker 1: will tell you about that contest later this week. Also,

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Speaker 1: make sure you're following us on Instagram It's Battleground podcast,

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Speaker 1: Twitter's Battleground IHR, and you know, with us being a

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Speaker 1: wrestling community, we all are very supportive of everybody. And

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Speaker 1: you know they're seven days a week, right, so you

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Speaker 1: can be listening to multiple podcasts. One podcast that I

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Speaker 1: highly recommend is one that I have stumbled across thanks

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Speaker 1: to an NWA Facebook group. It is Mixed Tag, which

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Speaker 1: these guys are amazing. You should definitely check them out.

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Speaker 1: They just had tim Storm on and we kind of

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Speaker 1: talked about how we had James Storms. They had Tim

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Speaker 1: Storm and it was just a big storm no pun intended,

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Speaker 1: dad joke, I get it, Yes, I know, but yes,

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Speaker 1: Jared and Keith awesome people. Definitely check them out Mixed Tag.

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Speaker 1: You can find them wherever you get your podcasts from.

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Speaker 1: But today, let's talk about today's show. You see this

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Speaker 1: guy if you've been to National Predators games. He walks

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Speaker 1: around with a Luchador mask on and he has his

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Speaker 1: own National Predators title. Yes, today we talked to the

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Speaker 1: Ultimate Predator. He talks about his you know run in wrestling,

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Speaker 1: how he became the Ultimate Predator, and a very interesting

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Speaker 1: story of you know him working in wrestling. So, without

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Speaker 1: further ado, let's get into episode one twenty eight. This

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Speaker 1: is the Battleground Podcast with special guests The Ultimate Predator.

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Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the battle Ground Podcast. This

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Speaker 2: is a podcast all about professional wrestling, joined Battle and

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Speaker 2: Eli as a breakdown what's going on in the world

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Speaker 2: of professional wrestling with special guests including some of your

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Speaker 2: favorite wrestling superstars. You never know who's gonna stop by

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Speaker 2: now making their way to the microphone. Give it up

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Speaker 2: for the greatest podcast team in the world, Battle and Eli.

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Speaker 1: We are back with you know, another episode of the

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Speaker 1: Battleground Podcast and with everything going on and in the world,

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Speaker 1: it's it's very hard to kind of just want to

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Speaker 1: sit here and talk about wrestling. So for the past

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Speaker 1: several weeks we have been just getting friends and wrestlers

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Speaker 1: on to talk. And it just so happens that I've

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Speaker 1: got a friend of mine who we have met through

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Speaker 1: the National Predators. The Ultimate Predator joins the show man.

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Speaker 1: What's up, dude?

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Speaker 3: Atta? How you doing? Man? How you surviving?

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm here, I'm at you know, I'm at

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Speaker 1: the studio mostly during the week and then you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm with the family on the weekends.

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Speaker 3: How about you. We're We're good. We're doing good. You know.

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Speaker 3: Fortunately both of us are still working and employed, so

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Speaker 3: that's always good. Keep your mind off things and uh

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Speaker 3: and we're good.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's good to hear. The thing that I'm

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Speaker 1: kind of missing though with some National Predators hockey.

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Speaker 3: Right, brother, I'm telling you, let me listen. I'm I'm

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Speaker 3: finding out something new about myself during all of this,

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Speaker 3: and that is I've never been one to really, you know,

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Speaker 3: watch twitch or or stream video games or anything like that.

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Speaker 3: But man, I'm telling you, I'm one hundred percent invested

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Speaker 3: in these virtual playoff games that the friends have been

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Speaker 3: posting on Facebook and Twitter to the point where I'm

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Speaker 3: chanting from my couch like it's I'm finding out I'm

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Speaker 3: okay watching video games and that.

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Speaker 1: And that's the crazy thing is like you look at

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Speaker 1: that and you're thinking, man, this is gonna be kind

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Speaker 1: of cool. This could be maybe the future of certain things.

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Speaker 1: Like I've been watching how Jeff him has been calling

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Speaker 1: Nashville Sounds game using MLB the show.

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Speaker 3: I haven't watched one of those yet. I've seen I've

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Speaker 3: seen them doing it, but I haven't actually sat and

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Speaker 3: invested time in in in the Sounds game yet. I should,

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Speaker 3: you know. Uh. Booster is a is a buddy of mine,

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Speaker 3: and I feel bad for saying I help watch a game,

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Speaker 3: but I haven't watched a game yet.

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Speaker 1: But it's it's it's it's actually kind of interesting and

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Speaker 1: it takes your mind off of, you know, everything for

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Speaker 1: a second. It's like, oh, there's no sports, but you know,

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Speaker 1: you kind of get UFC back and wrestling is still

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Speaker 1: going on every week and NASCAR's back, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I just want hockey and baseball back. That's what I want.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely miss getting out to uh I guess

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Speaker 3: it's it's it's it's first Horizon Park now, not first

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Speaker 3: Tennessee Park. And definitely definitely miss getting out hanging out

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Speaker 3: with seventeen thousand of my closest friends at the Stone.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was the one thing that you know,

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Speaker 1: and I do another podcast with two of the wives

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Speaker 1: of the Predators, with Eta and Julie, and that's one

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Speaker 1: of the things that we talked about, was like, it

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Speaker 1: feels weird not having hockey, not being able to do

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Speaker 1: a podcast every week with them, and it's just weird.

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Speaker 2: It is.

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Speaker 3: And it's so weird because you get used to an

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Speaker 3: off season, but the off season happened way earlier than

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Speaker 3: it should rus So there is kind of that couple

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Speaker 3: month void where you're in the back of your mind,

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Speaker 3: you're thinking, we should be in the playoffs right now.

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Speaker 3: Even if the Preds had gotten knocked out or hadn't

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Speaker 3: made it, there should still be playoff hockey on my TV.

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Speaker 1: Yes, And you know, you look at this and as

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Speaker 1: a fans perspective, you look at it as like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: this happened at a time when the Prens transitioned to

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Speaker 1: a new coach. Could this be beneficial because now they've

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Speaker 1: got more time to kind of wrap their mind around

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Speaker 1: his game plan coming into a new season. If they

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Speaker 1: just say to hell with this season and we just

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Speaker 1: go to the next season.

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Speaker 3: Or you know, I'm gonna be a little bit on

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Speaker 3: the controversial side here, especially given my background. I wish

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Speaker 3: they'd just kill the freaking season. I think that really

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Speaker 3: has bad I really do. I think I've seen plans

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Speaker 3: out there where, hey, we'll base it off of win percentage,

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Speaker 3: since not everybody finished their quote unquote season at the

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Speaker 3: same point. You know, we'll just put all the teams

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Speaker 3: in the playoffs. We'll have one player from each team

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Speaker 3: hit the ice at the same time, and the first

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Speaker 3: one to score wins the cup. Like, there's so many

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Speaker 3: random things out there on how to try to cram

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Speaker 3: all this play and the only thing in the back

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Speaker 3: of my head is great, we have the playoffs, we

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Speaker 3: win the cup. Someone wins the cup, there's a there's

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Speaker 3: awards at the end of the season. Now we've pushed

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Speaker 3: the season into two or three months into what next

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Speaker 3: season should be. So are we cramming that out together

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Speaker 3: or do we just start a new eighty two game

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Speaker 3: season that goes into August.

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Speaker 1: Now, right, and would you put an asterisk kind of

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Speaker 1: next to whoever wins the Stanley Cup for this season?

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Speaker 3: Well, I hate the fact that you would have to

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Speaker 3: do that. You know, you still earned it. Yeah, shortened

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Speaker 3: season or not. You know, they they they don't put

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Speaker 3: an asterisk next to Barry Bonds, so you know, yeah,

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Speaker 3: there's a hot take.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of it's it's it's weird not having sports.

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Speaker 1: But the thing is is the show's about wrestling. So

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Speaker 1: wrestling is on every week, and that's been consistent, whether

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Speaker 1: it's been with you know, twelve people in the audience

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Speaker 1: for ADW or an empty arena for you know, WWE,

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Speaker 1: it's been consistent. So let's let's let's kind of talk

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Speaker 1: about your your wrestling path and how how did you

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Speaker 1: get started in wrestling? Like what was the first thing

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Speaker 1: that you saw that you're like, I'm a wrestling fan,

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Speaker 1: oh man, I grew.

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Speaker 3: Up in the eighties and nineties, so I you know,

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Speaker 3: of course, when you're a kid in the eighties watching wrestling,

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Speaker 3: if you're not a hulk of maniac, you're not watching

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Speaker 3: wrestling right period. That was there really was no way

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Speaker 3: around that. Phenomenon. So yeah, I watched with Hogan and

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Speaker 3: Big Boss Man and Roddy Piper and Ted de Viazzi

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Speaker 3: and and Tito Santana and Ricky steam But you know

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Speaker 3: that was that was my era. That's when I really

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Speaker 3: started wrestling as a wrestling fan. My brother and I

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Speaker 3: would stage wrestling matches, and you know, i'd be Hulk

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Speaker 3: Hogan and he'd be the Ultimate Warrior, or I'd be

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Speaker 3: uh Ricky Steamboat he'd be Macho Man, or you know

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Speaker 3: whatever it was. We we liked the bright characters and

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Speaker 3: got out of it for a little while, came back

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Speaker 3: into it around the Attitude Era, and and found my

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Speaker 3: way back into wrestling that way. Through the Attitude Era,

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Speaker 3: watched both Nitro and Raw. I did lean a little

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Speaker 3: more towards Nitro.

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of people did.

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Speaker 3: I did. I enjoyed this is gonna be weird and

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Speaker 3: here quote unquote controversial take. I liked Vince Russo really

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Speaker 3: to a degree.

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Speaker 1: Okay.

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Speaker 3: I liked the concept of Vince Russo making every match matter. Yes,

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Speaker 3: you know, whether you were the curtain jerker or the

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Speaker 3: main event, you had a reason to be there. It

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Speaker 3: wasn't the repo man versus you know, Bastian Burger on

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Speaker 3: its a curtain jerker match because we needed to fill

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Speaker 3: time if those two were gonna be in a match.

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Speaker 3: The Repo man wanted Bastian Burger's bugger Man and there

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Speaker 3: was a reason, right, you know. And he was good

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Speaker 3: at that. That was the one thing I always thought

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Speaker 3: he was good at. And I do think he did

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Speaker 3: push wrestling into a a I guess at that point

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Speaker 3: twentieth century mindset instead of the nineteen seventies, in the

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Speaker 3: Crash TV era with Attitude era and and what he

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Speaker 3: did with Nitro and really what he did with TNA.

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Speaker 3: But I think his one drawback was one, he would

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Speaker 3: stretch himself too thin. And two when the business moved

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Speaker 3: past Crash TV and Jerry Springer and the world moved

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Speaker 3: past that, he didn't. So he evolved wrestling, but he

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Speaker 3: didn't evolve with wrestling, right and that you know.

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Speaker 1: And you mentioned TNA because I grew up every Wednesday

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Speaker 1: night at the Fairgrounds for TNA, and I thought when

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Speaker 1: Vince Russo was there, I was like, it feels like

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Speaker 1: I've seen this before.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a lot of well, you know, one

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Speaker 3: of the things that I think he tried to do.

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Speaker 3: And I still love this concept and I still think

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Speaker 3: if it were done right, it could work. One of

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Speaker 3: the things that he tried with WCW was that New

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Speaker 3: Breed versus the Millionaire's Club, and he kind of tried

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Speaker 3: that with Sports Entertainment Extreme versus Triple X and the

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Speaker 3: main event Mafia versus TNA. All of those things were

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Speaker 3: it was the same storyline, but nobody ever did it right. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: you know, you got you gotta let the kids win.

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Speaker 3: You gotta let the kids win. Can't eat Hulk Hogan,

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Speaker 3: Kurt Angle win in every match, right.

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Speaker 1: You gotta you gotta let the young guns, you know,

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Speaker 1: And that that kind of went back to the WCW days.

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Speaker 1: It was like Hogan and Nash and all they're running

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Speaker 1: the show, and then they come to TNA and they

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Speaker 1: run the show.

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Speaker 3: Yeah it really You know, guys are so and I

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Speaker 3: found this when I was working even on the the

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Speaker 3: small time indie level. Guys are hard pressed to quote

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Speaker 3: unquote give up their spot, right, And and what frustrated

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Speaker 3: me sometimes is when you've got a name, that's a name,

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Speaker 3: when you've got a Hulk Hogan, you've got a Kurd

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Speaker 3: Angle well, kurd Agle wasn't as bad. But you've got

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Speaker 3: a Kevin Nash. You've got some of these guys that

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Speaker 3: you could lose to me, and your name isn't going

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Speaker 3: to be tarnished. Yeah, you know, give the rub, give

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Speaker 3: the rub to somebody else. You know, your legendary Taker

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Speaker 3: gave the rub to Lesnar, and at WrestleMania he put

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Speaker 3: the streak up. Well, Roman didn't have the streak, but

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Speaker 3: he put the streak up and he gave the streak

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Speaker 3: to brock Lesnar. Right choice, wrong choice. That's a later debate,

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Speaker 3: but still that's the Undertaker man. That's the streak.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is the thing that like when I watched it,

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Speaker 1: I was like, did this just happen? Like was it

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Speaker 1: a botch? Like you know, that was a momentum thing

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Speaker 1: right there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely it was. And even when he put Roman

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Speaker 3: over after the streak, it was still a momentum thing.

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Speaker 3: It was at WrestleMania. It still meant something, and Taker

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Speaker 3: did what he thought was good for business, not good

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Speaker 3: for Taker, right, just like.

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Speaker 1: You know this past WrestleMania, him and aj Styles, which

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Speaker 1: I thought that match was phenomenal.

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Speaker 3: That was a great match. The cinematic, both of them

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Speaker 3: really the cinematic matches. I think that's a direction that that,

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Speaker 3: especially given current climates, could really really take off and

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Speaker 3: do well with the right gimmick. Right. You know, I

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Speaker 3: don't necessarily think Randy Orton and Edge needed to a

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Speaker 3: cinematic match. Their gimmicks don't lend to that. But those

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Speaker 3: cinematic gimmicks could totally go with cinematic matches, right.

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Speaker 1: And we were I was talking to a friend of

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Speaker 1: mine and I was like, this is the moment you

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Speaker 1: just saw with you know, the scene in the bray

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Speaker 1: Watt and the Undertaker and AJ, this is the time

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Speaker 1: now that we can finally get Undertaker and Sting and

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Speaker 1: you could do the cinematic match so it doesn't look

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Speaker 1: like Undertaker and Goldberg at you know, Crown.

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Speaker 3: Jewel, Yeah that was bad. You can mask the fact

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Speaker 3: that those guys, no offense to either of them are aging.

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Speaker 3: You know, Sting now can't do what Sting did at

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Speaker 3: Bash of the Beach, right, so yeah, you could. You

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Speaker 3: could mask some of that aging factor and still have

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Speaker 3: them put on a hell of a show.

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Speaker 1: And that that finally gets us, you know, Undertakers Sting

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Speaker 1: at WrestleMania, like we've all wanted for so long and.

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Speaker 3: I'm I'm in bucket, let's go.

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Speaker 1: And that's that's the thing is like you can easily

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Speaker 1: do that, even though you know there's a little bit

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Speaker 1: of controversy of Staying not being with WWE and Sting

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Speaker 1: was supposed to show up at a w but then

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, now it's Mike Tyson instead of

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Speaker 1: Staying and some other stuff. But this is the time

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Speaker 1: that you know you're gonna see WWE kind of go

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Speaker 1: to the thinking tank and be like, okay, like the

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Speaker 1: Money in the Bank ladder match that was that was

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Speaker 1: pretty good. Like I was wondering how is this going

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Speaker 1: to happen and then watching it and I was like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: this is really cool. Other than the fact that you know,

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Speaker 1: Baron Corbin threw Ray Mysterio Analyst or Black off the

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Speaker 1: roof Ray Mystereo's back at RALL the next.

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Speaker 3: Night, Yeah he did. He should be dead.

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Speaker 1: It's it's kind of like when Hogan threw Big Show

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Speaker 1: Off and.

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Speaker 3: He showed up wandering and yeah, that was phenomenal. Ah,

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Speaker 3: that was great. But you know, getting into some of

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Speaker 3: that a little bit, you know, who to thank for

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Speaker 3: those cinematic matches is a guy that I looked up

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Speaker 3: to a little bit when I was working with TNA,

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Speaker 3: and that's Jeremy Borash. So we need to get in

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Speaker 3: touch with Jeremy. I mean, like, look, man, Undertaker, stings,

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Speaker 3: cinematic matches. Put it in the boneyard match, put it

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Speaker 3: in stings, you know, crow barn somewhere, bring back the

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Speaker 3: Jester Sting whatever. Man, it'd be cool.

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Speaker 1: And that's that's the cool thing that I think. When

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Speaker 1: I first saw of W snatching up Jeremy Borash, I

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Speaker 1: was like, that is like a hidden gym that nobody

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Speaker 1: knew about.

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Speaker 3: I've always liked Jeremy man. He's been around the business

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Speaker 3: for a long long time. And I don't know why

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Speaker 3: you put up with me in the early days of TNA,

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Speaker 3: but he did. In fact, I worked with him pretty

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Speaker 3: closely on a couple of things. Nothing that ever made TV,

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Speaker 3: but I did a lot of backstage and web work

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Speaker 3: for them in the early days, and you know, I

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Speaker 3: got to work really really closely with borash'm on a

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Speaker 3: on a couple projects, and like I said, I don't

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Speaker 3: know why you put up with me. Maybe he thought

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Speaker 3: I had something. Maybe he just thought I'd shut up

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Speaker 3: if he talked to me, but uh, you know, I

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Speaker 3: always had a good good time with Jeremy and really

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Speaker 3: thought he was both over and underutilized at the same time.

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Speaker 1: Right, And you know, and when I was reading you know,

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Speaker 1: after you know, the Undertaker match and everything else, when

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Speaker 1: I read that, you know, Jeremy had his hand in

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Speaker 1: those matches, I was like, Okay, it makes sense, and

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Speaker 1: it's you know, Jeremy is probably, in my mind, one

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Speaker 1: of the greatest wrestling minds there is today.

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Speaker 3: I agree with that. I think he could hot take.

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Speaker 3: I think he could be what Vince Russo was in

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Speaker 3: the nineties and evolved the next step of wrestling. Yes,

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Speaker 3: because I mean, look, as much as there are so

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Speaker 3: many purists out there that want, you know, Luthez in

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Speaker 3: a sixty minute iron Man hold for hold, toe for

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Speaker 3: toe catch wrestling, it's not what wrestling is gonna be.

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Speaker 3: It's just not. You can get away with some of

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Speaker 3: those matches. But if you want to draw, you want

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Speaker 3: to get that mainstream drawback, you gotta adapt with the

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Speaker 3: times and people attention span these days don't have a

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Speaker 3: sixty minute mindset. No not not in wrestling anyway.

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Speaker 1: And that's like if you know, I sit there and

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Speaker 1: I'm watching, you know, stuff on the ww network and

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Speaker 1: they say, like, get a paper view, there's a sixty

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Speaker 1: minute iron Man match. Well, I'm not sitting there watching

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Speaker 1: the entire sixty minutes like it is background noise, and

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Speaker 1: I might look up every so often if I'm like

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Speaker 1: if I hear the commentators saying something, But I'm not

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Speaker 1: gonna sit there and watch it for the entire sixty

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Speaker 1: minutes like none on the edge.

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Speaker 3: I didn't do it when it was live. Yeah, I

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Speaker 3: just you get up, you make a snack. It's when

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Speaker 3: you go get a drink, you go, you know, take

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Speaker 3: a leak, you know, whatever it is during that sixty

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Speaker 3: minutes because you don't need it's wrestling. I love this,

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Speaker 3: I do, but you only need to see the last

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Speaker 3: ten to twenty minutes.

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Speaker 1: Right because, like you said, I mean the first you know,

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Speaker 1: thirty minutes of it, give or take, is just them

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Speaker 1: just kind of setting the ending up.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, and you can tell a phenomenal story. What

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Speaker 3: was it?

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Speaker 1: Oh?

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Speaker 3: Shoot now I can't think of it. I had it

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Speaker 3: in my head. Shawn Michaels and Brett Hart sixty minute

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Speaker 3: Ironman match. They told a hell of a story in

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Speaker 3: that sixty minutes. I do not want to knock anybody

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Speaker 3: going Broadway for sixty minutes and telling all of the story.

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Speaker 3: It can be done, but it's hard. It's really hard,

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Speaker 3: and you've got to keep that attention span, and today's

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Speaker 3: wrestling fan, you're just not gonna hold that span.

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Speaker 1: You're not, no, And I think that's why you kind

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Speaker 1: of look at it. In some of like the Ironman

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Speaker 1: matches and Iron Women matches, they've dropped down to like

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Speaker 1: thirty minutes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And really the only way you'd be able

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Speaker 3: to hold their attention in a full sixty you know,

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Speaker 3: Broadway style match like that would be a cinematic style

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Speaker 3: match because you can do different camera angles, you can

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Speaker 3: move to different locations. But if you're just in a

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Speaker 3: ring for sixty minutes, I love the sport.

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Speaker 1: I get bored, right and you know, going back, like

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Speaker 1: you said, the cinematic thing, like I was hooked the

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Speaker 1: entire time of Undertaker and aj Sena and Bray, like

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Speaker 1: I was watching every minute of it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. It was really really good. I'm not

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Speaker 3: a huge Matt Hardy fan, and I still watch the

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Speaker 3: entire old Ultimate Deletion. Yes, and I'm not a hardy fan.

390
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Speaker 3: I used to be a hardy fan, but I'm not

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Speaker 3: a hardy fan. Different story for a different day. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: but I still watched it. I still sat and I

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Speaker 3: watched every bleep and second of it because it was

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Speaker 3: it was different, it was something different and cool.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and that that's I could see more matches being

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Speaker 1: that way, even if we have, you know, a live audience,

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Speaker 1: I could at least see one or two matches going

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Speaker 1: to that cinematic shower and yeah, finishing in the arena.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, we're gonna get back to live audiences. Wrestling

400
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Speaker 3: just isn't the same without a live audience. It looks

401
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Speaker 3: honestly stupid. Yes, the matches don't look stupid, but the

402
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Speaker 3: entrances look stupid. The you know, I watched the UFC.

403
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Speaker 3: Their entrances look stupid because they're high fiving people in

404
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Speaker 3: the stands that aren't there, or they're uh uh, they're

405
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Speaker 3: doing the typical you know, babyface out to the crowd pose,

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Speaker 3: and of course there's no reaction, there's nothing there, And

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Speaker 3: I'm like, you just look stupid.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And the one person that looks amazing with the

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Speaker 1: no audience is our Truth.

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Speaker 3: What's because our Truth is his own audience.

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Speaker 1: I've always said that, you know, that guy is probably

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Speaker 1: going to end his career with WWE. But it's like

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Speaker 1: any gimmick you give him, he's gonna crush it, and

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Speaker 1: he plays to the no audience crowd tremendously.

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Speaker 3: Oh perfect. I got a chance to hang with Truth

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Speaker 3: when he was here with TNA, you know, back when

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Speaker 3: he was Ron Killings at that point, Ron the Truth

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Speaker 3: Killings at that point. Yeah, and man, we had so

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Speaker 3: much fun with him. I was in the crowd at

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Speaker 3: that point, and we would for whatever reason, I don't

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Speaker 3: know why, not that he's not talented, not that he

422
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Speaker 3: didn't deserve it, but for whatever reason, me and my

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Speaker 3: buddies and some of the people around us decided, we

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Speaker 3: love truth. We're gonna make this guy. We're gonna put

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Speaker 3: him over as a crowd favorite, come hell or high water.

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Speaker 3: We're gonna do our damnedest to try. And so we

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Speaker 3: we adapted the stone cold Steve Austin, what you know,

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Speaker 3: every time Ron would take a pause, every time our

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Speaker 3: Truth would take a pause, we would say truth. So

430
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:50,159
Speaker 3: you know, he'd get out there and cut his promo

431
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,480
Speaker 3: and you know, I'm the baddest man, I'm the sun

432
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,200
Speaker 3: Tan Superman Truth. I'm gonna come out here and we

433
00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 3: gonna whoop some ass Truth. And it got to the

434
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 3: point where what was the group at the time, was

435
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,800
Speaker 3: it three elk not three lk uh? Yeah, three lk.

436
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,800
Speaker 3: They started pointing to the crowd every time we would

437
00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:12,440
Speaker 3: start chanting Truth. We just latched onto that star man

438
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:14,680
Speaker 3: and we loved him. I still love him to this day.

439
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,440
Speaker 3: And you know, he was very appreciative. He'd come over

440
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 3: and high five of us after the show, talk with

441
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:23,159
Speaker 3: us after the show, and I love Truth Man, and

442
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,440
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I think you're dead on. You give

443
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 3: him a gimmick of any sort and he's gonna find

444
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,680
Speaker 3: a way to turn it into something gold most definitely.

445
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,919
Speaker 1: And you know, and that was some of the best

446
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,920
Speaker 1: times that I think of wrestling growing up, was those

447
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 1: Wednesday nights at the Fairgrounds and we just had James

448
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,880
Speaker 1: Storms on and we talked about, you know, the fair

449
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,880
Speaker 1: Grounds and you know, that whole situation, and I said,

450
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: that's I told him. I said, that's where I found

451
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 1: out that I really liked girls because of the cage

452
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:54,240
Speaker 1: dancers on the rams.

453
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 3: Oh Lollipop, Yes, oh Lollipop.

454
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 1: And I remember being there every Wednesday night, and then

455
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,640
Speaker 1: when I left, there was always the promo street team

456
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,400
Speaker 1: handing out the tickets for the following Wednesday night show.

457
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,439
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And I remember I was in college at

458
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 3: the time at Western Kentucky, and my buddy and I,

459
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 3: my roommate and I were huge wrestling fans. We would

460
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 3: drive down finished class Wednesday afternoon, get in the car,

461
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 3: drive down from Bowling Green. Did we get No, We

462
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 3: never got freebies. We bought tickets. We bought tickets every time,

463
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:34,719
Speaker 3: and we had our seats practically reserved for us. We

464
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,439
Speaker 3: got to the point that we were loud, we were vocal.

465
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,359
Speaker 3: We were not part of the heel section, but we

466
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:44,520
Speaker 3: were we were close enough. We kind of called ourselves

467
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,240
Speaker 3: the A holes because we were just we were there

468
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,200
Speaker 3: to entertain ourselves and if it entertained other people, awesome.

469
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,239
Speaker 3: We kind of put ourselves over a little bit. And

470
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 3: you know, don't do that as a fan, A don't

471
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 3: It's stupid. But Dixie loved us, so Dixie kind of

472
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,679
Speaker 3: reserved our seats for us every time. Right, and so

473
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:06,920
Speaker 3: we had the same seats and we would drive down

474
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 3: from Balling Green, we'd go to the show, and then

475
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 3: depending on what was going on, we'd either drive back

476
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,440
Speaker 3: or we actually got This is how I got into

477
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 3: the business. This is exactly how I broke in. I

478
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 3: started hanging out after the show. We we found you know,

479
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 3: they had the bike rack gates on the back side

480
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 3: of the fairgrounds, so that's where all the boys parked,

481
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,359
Speaker 3: all the girls parked, and so we would kind of

482
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:31,399
Speaker 3: hang out back there and we'd see some of the boys,

483
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,399
Speaker 3: and eventually they started warming up to us, and we

484
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,919
Speaker 3: started getting invited to the after parties. So, you know,

485
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 3: Wednesday night, go to the after party, don't get back

486
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 3: to Balling Green until two o'clock in the morning, and

487
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,639
Speaker 3: wake up for an eight o'clock class. But that's how

488
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 3: I got it, That's how I got my foot in.

489
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:49,720
Speaker 3: I just I hung out around and TNA was what

490
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 3: broke me in.

491
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,600
Speaker 1: So let's let's kind of talk about your your your

492
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 1: time in TNA, your time in Wrestling's let's kind of

493
00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 1: what's some interesting stuff that you took away from your

494
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 1: time there?

495
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 3: Uh from TNA. Jeff Jared is a busy, busy man,

496
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 3: great guy. He and I still talk every now and

497
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 3: then to this day, run into each other every now

498
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 3: and then. But he he is constantly doing something. He's

499
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:23,440
Speaker 3: just constantly doing something. And you know, he he really

500
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 3: poured his heart and soul into that promotion. And I

501
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,879
Speaker 3: don't know exactly where it turned and and and became

502
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 3: what it is now, which is honestly a shadow of

503
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 3: what it was. But I know he poured his heart

504
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 3: and soul into that, into that promotion, and gave up

505
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 3: a lot for it. And you know, man, I got

506
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,639
Speaker 3: nothing but respect for for for Jeff, for Double J

507
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 3: and and always will the boys that were putting those

508
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,840
Speaker 3: shows on the wrestlers, the guys and later the girls.

509
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,840
Speaker 3: They poured at that. A lot of the guys poured

510
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:06,359
Speaker 3: a lot into that. I don't think anybody, Yeah, I

511
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 3: don't think anybody was there in the early days, especially

512
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,879
Speaker 3: just to cash a paycheck, including the veterans. You know,

513
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 3: when Raven showed up, he wasn't there to cash a paycheck.

514
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 3: He still wanted to prove himself. You know, when Sting

515
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 3: showed up, he wasn't there to cash a paycheck. He

516
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:24,919
Speaker 3: still wanted to get out there and work. You know,

517
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,120
Speaker 3: Piper really wanted to get out there and be Piper.

518
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:32,400
Speaker 3: And and of course, you know Christopher Daniels, low Key,

519
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,160
Speaker 3: AJ Stiles, Johnny Devine, Eric Young, you know, these guys

520
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,399
Speaker 3: that cut their teeth in the American market, major market

521
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 3: with TNA. They definitely wanted to prove themselves whether they

522
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,360
Speaker 3: thought TNA was the end all, be all or if

523
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 3: this was going to be their stepping stone to the show.

524
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 3: They wanted to prove and man they did and we

525
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:55,800
Speaker 3: all had way too much fun. And you know that,

526
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:57,760
Speaker 3: I guess that was my stepping stone into the business.

527
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 3: I started working closely with borash I. In the early

528
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 3: days of the website. There was a interactive page where

529
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 3: you could, you know, you click on the wrestler bios

530
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,440
Speaker 3: and watch matches and merchandise, and they had a trivia game.

531
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:20,160
Speaker 3: I wrote the trivia game, every question, every answer, every

532
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,679
Speaker 3: single one of them, every question, every answer, every everything.

533
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 3: I was like the unofficial historian. I guess it lasted

534
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 3: that website. The original website lasted a few years. That

535
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 3: trivia game. I would update it every so often with

536
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,600
Speaker 3: new things as shows progressed and whatnot, and eventually it

537
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 3: faded away. I don't remember exactly when, but yeah, if

538
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 3: I don't know if anybody out there remembers or played

539
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 3: that game at all, that trivia game on TNA, and

540
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 3: there wasn't a prize or anything at it. You just answered,

541
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 3: I don't know, one hundred questions, ten questions at a time.

542
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 3: I don't even remember the setup, but every single one

543
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 3: of those questions were written by me. And man, it

544
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 3: was a good time. That's a storm was my original trainer.

545
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 3: It did not last long.

546
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 1: Really tell me about that.

547
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 3: Oh. He the first day of the first day of training,

548
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 3: we went to the fairgrounds and the ring was set

549
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 3: up and I was not nearly in shape as I

550
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 3: needed to be. Well, I wasn't in shape at all,

551
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:30,400
Speaker 3: but I definitely wasn't in shape for this, and he

552
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 3: wanted to start on cardio, which is where you should start. Yeah,

553
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 3: you can bump around in the wrestling ring, and you

554
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 3: can learn how to take the bump and you can

555
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 3: learn how to give the move. But if you don't

556
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 3: have cardio, you're not gonna last sixty minutes or not.

557
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 3: So my first day we walked up and he said,

558
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,440
Speaker 3: all right, before you even step foot in that ring.

559
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 3: You're gonna start at the bottom of the fairgrounds, bottom

560
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:57,280
Speaker 3: of the arena. You're gonna run to the end. You're

561
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 3: gonna run up the stairs, you're gonna run back down.

562
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 3: You're a run back down the stairs, and you're gonna

563
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 3: do five laps of stairs and running, and then you're

564
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 3: gonna drop down and give me five push chumps and

565
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 3: you're gonna do that five times. As before I even

566
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 3: stepped foot in the ring, I barely changed at that point.

567
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 3: And it sounds easy, and it sounds like, Yeah, I

568
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 3: can knock that out. Five push ups, five laps, that's

569
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 3: not gonna be a problem. Yeah, go do it, and

570
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:26,959
Speaker 3: then tell me you can do it easily.

571
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, because that hill at the Fairgrounds is no joke.

572
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 3: No, we weren't even at the hill. This was inside

573
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 3: the arena. I had to run up the stairs. Yeah, No,

574
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 3: we were in the arena. I was running up the

575
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 3: back set of stairs on those bleachers and then cutting

576
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 3: across the arena and then running down the bleachers. And

577
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 3: that was my lap. That was my lap going going

578
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 3: that way. God, if he made me run up the hill,

579
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 3: I don't think i'd have made it.

580
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:56,840
Speaker 1: I don't think nobody could even make it up that

581
00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: hill even walking.

582
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 3: Oh man, are you kidding me? That was and it wasn't.

583
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 3: And then after that he said, okay, now let's get

584
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 3: in the ring. I'm gonna tach how to run the ropes.

585
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,320
Speaker 3: I'm like, man, I just ran, like, I don't know

586
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 3: where my feet are At this point, he goes, I

587
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,720
Speaker 3: don't care, get in there and run the ropes. So

588
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 3: he ran the ropes and then uh uh. He showed

589
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 3: me how to take just basic back bump, and I

590
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 3: think we did a basic back bump, and then I

591
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 3: think we did a flip bump. The first day, just

592
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 3: basic bumps and I don't know, hour and a half,

593
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 3: maybe two hours, hour and a half summer right in there,

594
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:35,120
Speaker 3: and man, I had to crawl to my car to

595
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 3: get home. I had to, you know, I had to

596
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 3: to wing my shoulder up on the steering wheel, and

597
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 3: I don't know how my foot found the gas pedal,

598
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 3: and I don't know how I steered my car. I

599
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 3: was immediately sore, and but I also knew I want

600
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 3: to be a part of this. You know, you read

601
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 3: the stories that guys would try to find ways to

602
00:31:57,960 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 3: make sure you wanted to do this and they would

603
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,120
Speaker 3: run you out out And I don't know if some

604
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 3: I was trying to run me out, he probably didn't

605
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,280
Speaker 3: remember any of this. This has been god twenty years ago,

606
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 3: but uh, you know, I stuck around. I made it

607
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 3: thirteen years in one former fashion.

608
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:14,840
Speaker 1: Next time we have James on, we'll have to ask

609
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 1: him about that if he remembers that.

610
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 3: If he does, I'll be impressed.

611
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 1: So let's kind of fast forward. What was kind of

612
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:27,920
Speaker 1: the last thing you had with wrestling that you did

613
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: that led to you becoming the ultimate Predator?

614
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:38,600
Speaker 3: So I was working for NWA top Rope Wrestling. That

615
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 3: was kind of my home base. I did a couple

616
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,400
Speaker 3: other appearances here and there, but at this point I

617
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 3: had pretty much kept myself to Lebanon, Tennessee and NWA

618
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 3: top Rope with Mike Cercy. We were I was working

619
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 3: with Tasha Simone, who was the then at that time,

620
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 3: the NWA World Women's Champion in we'd had the North

621
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:06,360
Speaker 3: American Champion come through a couple of times. At one

622
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 3: point we were scheduled and I can't remember who was

623
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 3: holding at the time. Uh oh, shoot, that's going to

624
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 3: drive me nuts. The heavyweight champion was supposed to come through,

625
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 3: and now it's driving me crazy. I can't remember who

626
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 3: it was, but anyway, it doesn't matter. That was my

627
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 3: home base at that point. I was working heel with

628
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:31,080
Speaker 3: a group that we called the Cartel, and Tasha was

629
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 3: in that in that click and Eric Andrews, Eric the

630
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:39,720
Speaker 3: Dragon Andrews was in that click, and we were basically

631
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,280
Speaker 3: it was it literally was, you know, Mike serc is

632
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 3: the Babyface promoter and me and my click coming in

633
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 3: trying to take it over. As as every independent wrestling

634
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 3: organization is done, the bad guys want to take over

635
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 3: the good guys and run things their way. And we

636
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 3: had just finished the storyline where I had gotten kicked

637
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,720
Speaker 3: out of my own cartel, and I had mostly because

638
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:06,280
Speaker 3: I had to take some time off, but we were

639
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,239
Speaker 3: we were running that story and I had just come

640
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,959
Speaker 3: back as a babyface and ran the Cartel out of town,

641
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 3: and uh, that was it. That was kind of the

642
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 3: last thing that I did was was turned on my

643
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,879
Speaker 3: own group become the Babyface, and then some personal things

644
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 3: caused me to hang it up. A little bit part

645
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:30,440
Speaker 3: of that was my ex wife, but but a lot

646
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:32,360
Speaker 3: of other things kind of played into it. But I

647
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 3: decided at that point I had done. At that point,

648
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 3: I had done everything I wanted to do that I

649
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,239
Speaker 3: knew I could do, not everything I wanted to do.

650
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 3: Of course, I wanted to be WWE heavyweight champion in

651
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 3: the world, but that didn't happening. But I knew it

652
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 3: was my time. And but man, and that was it

653
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:56,760
Speaker 3: that hung it up five or six years ago, and

654
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,840
Speaker 3: uh but I was still missing that creative void in

655
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:04,279
Speaker 3: my life. And for a while, man, I it really

656
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,640
Speaker 3: kind of sucked, and I didn't know what to do.

657
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 3: And uh we were going to hockey games. I was

658
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,120
Speaker 3: a season ticket holder. We were going to hockey. I've

659
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,520
Speaker 3: loved hockey ever since I was a kid. Grew up

660
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:18,839
Speaker 3: in Philadelphia for a little bit, so I grew up

661
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:20,920
Speaker 3: a Flyer fan. When we moved to Nashville, I was

662
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,799
Speaker 3: here before the Predators came here. So once the Friends came,

663
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 3: I said, that's it. I'm giving up my Flyers allegiance.

664
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,479
Speaker 3: I'm going to cheer for the hometown team. I still

665
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:34,000
Speaker 3: have a soft spot for the Flyers. So I'd been

666
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,319
Speaker 3: going to games since since since I was a kid,

667
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,760
Speaker 3: and uh so I was going then and we stumbled

668
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 3: across the first mask at the pro shop and it

669
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:51,280
Speaker 3: was just this cloth sock really like not a nylon

670
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:56,799
Speaker 3: but I don't know, stretchy licra material and with eye

671
00:35:56,800 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 3: holes and a mouth hole. And there's still I still

672
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:03,480
Speaker 3: have pictures of it. I still have pictures of it

673
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 3: up that I put on my Twitter account every now

674
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 3: and then, just as you know, memories or whatever. And

675
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,920
Speaker 3: so I originally I bought that and put that on

676
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 3: to entertain myself. I thought this would be fun for me.

677
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 3: This is my creative outlet again, and I'll put the

678
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,120
Speaker 3: mask on and be the crazy super fan. And there

679
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,960
Speaker 3: was no name, there was no belt, there was no jersey,

680
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 3: there was no logo that there was nothing. It was

681
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:31,400
Speaker 3: just me and a mask being stupid. In fact, I

682
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 3: think the first the first name was given to me

683
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,160
Speaker 3: by Maverick. I was doing one of those enterprise hat

684
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,759
Speaker 3: trick challenge things that they do in between plays when

685
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,319
Speaker 3: the whistle's blown and whatnot, and I think, you know,

686
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 3: what do we call you? What do we call you? Like?

687
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:47,960
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't have a name for it,

688
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 3: and it's just me and he goes, all right, all right,

689
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:52,440
Speaker 3: all right, I got you. He gets on the microphone

690
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 3: and he goes, I'm standing here with pred choe Lebra

691
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 3: and I immediately went, no, that is not going to

692
00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:00,360
Speaker 3: say stick.

693
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 1: What That's how it always is. Like the very first

694
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:08,360
Speaker 1: DJ name that I was ever given was DJ Timmy

695
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:09,200
Speaker 1: Tim Tim.

696
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:12,200
Speaker 3: No that is not gonna stick.

697
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 1: I think there's no way that that's gonna stay.

698
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:19,720
Speaker 3: Oh man, yeah no, no, yeah, So pret choe Lebre,

699
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,280
Speaker 3: I think was the first. And no, that's not gonna stick.

700
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:26,520
Speaker 3: And eventually I adapted. I had custom shoes made, I

701
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,720
Speaker 3: had the jersey, and a buddy of mine were buddy

702
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 3: of me and mine were brainstorming names and like, we

703
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 3: got to make something out of this. Especially when the

704
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 3: belt got involved, it became okay, we got to make

705
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,479
Speaker 3: something out of this. We got to do something. And

706
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:43,160
Speaker 3: uh And he said, well, you know, Randy Orton is

707
00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 3: the Apex Predator and I said, well, I can't use

708
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,480
Speaker 3: that because he's using it. Well, no, but you know

709
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,080
Speaker 3: you've got the mask. You got he's the Apex Predator.

710
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:54,440
Speaker 3: You grew up in the eighties. Why not take the

711
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,880
Speaker 3: Ultimate Warrior and the Apex Predator and become the Ultimate Predator.

712
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,920
Speaker 3: And I went that's a name. So that was it.

713
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:04,319
Speaker 3: That was how Alty.

714
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:08,080
Speaker 1: Was born, and that's the rest is history. And I

715
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,759
Speaker 1: think you remember we talked when you came to the

716
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,160
Speaker 1: radio station one day to do stuff with Woody and Jim.

717
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:16,359
Speaker 1: We kind of talked about the wrestling belt and how

718
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:19,399
Speaker 1: security almost didn't let you bring it in.

719
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:23,880
Speaker 3: No, finally they know who I am for the most part,

720
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 3: but yeah, the first few times they would not. They

721
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:31,280
Speaker 3: started to put up a little bit of a fight

722
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 3: to let me let that thing in because it's a

723
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,239
Speaker 3: legitimate wrestling That's not a three D printed thing. It's

724
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:42,120
Speaker 3: not plastic, it's not a WWE toy that I painted.

725
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:47,240
Speaker 3: It's twenty pounds of steel, nickel plated steel, painted, hand

726
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:52,720
Speaker 3: painted with real leather straps. It's legit. And they thought

727
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:57,760
Speaker 3: that it could be used as a weapon. And while

728
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,600
Speaker 3: it could, I'm not going to go around knocking some

729
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,799
Speaker 3: black Hawk fan out with the belt. Tempted, but I've

730
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 3: been very tempted. I've been very tempted. But no, I'm

731
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,799
Speaker 3: not gonna do that. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna

732
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,759
Speaker 3: sully my name or lower the Predators franchise by trying

733
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:20,720
Speaker 3: to kill someone with a twenty pound piece of steel. Tempted, tempting,

734
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:26,759
Speaker 3: But yeah, at first it was a little bit of

735
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,400
Speaker 3: of you know, we're not gonna let you in. Why

736
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 3: aren't you gonna let me end? Because you could use

737
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:36,120
Speaker 3: this to hit somebody really and and and they also,

738
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:40,040
Speaker 3: you know, at times it's gotten a little better, it's

739
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,719
Speaker 3: got a lot better, but at the original they didn't

740
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:44,880
Speaker 3: want to let me in with the mask on. You

741
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 3: gotta take the mask off. You can put it back

742
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:47,600
Speaker 3: on when you get in, but you got to take

743
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 3: the mask off. The security Well that kind of gives

744
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:53,359
Speaker 3: up everything that I'm trying to build. Well, we don't care, well,

745
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 3: but I do, right, So like, what what what's gonna happen? Well,

746
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:02,120
Speaker 3: if you do something bad, you could blend in. How

747
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:03,800
Speaker 3: am I gonna blend in in a mask?

748
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: They're gonna think you're just gonna rip it off like

749
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 1: a joker kind of thing and just stand Yeah, like

750
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:09,839
Speaker 1: I'm better.

751
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:12,600
Speaker 3: Do you know? I've got a crew, a crew of

752
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 3: Luta doors hanging around, and they've all got guns, and

753
00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 3: they're just waiting for me to give the signal and

754
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,800
Speaker 3: then we're all gonna rip our masks off and blend

755
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:22,560
Speaker 3: in No, it's a character. The mask goes on when

756
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 3: I park and it doesn't come off until.

757
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 1: I leave, and that way it keeps the identity so

758
00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:32,359
Speaker 1: nobody knows who you are. It's just like a lutrador it.

759
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 3: I mean. Now, granted, there have been some news outlets

760
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:38,719
Speaker 3: that have outed me, but you know, I think for

761
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,480
Speaker 3: the most part, people who read those articles and I'm

762
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:44,839
Speaker 3: not gonna point anybody at them, because you'll find them

763
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:49,840
Speaker 3: if you want to. But uh, you know, but I

764
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 3: think there's a lot of people out there that that

765
00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 3: respect that it's a character and a gimmick. And and

766
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:56,920
Speaker 3: you know, there are some people that are like, I

767
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,400
Speaker 3: know your real name. I'm like, yeah, that's cool. Just

768
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 3: and I know how David Copperfield made the Statue of

769
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:04,880
Speaker 3: Liberty disappear. Doesn't make it any less cool. And I'm

770
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 3: not going to tell you, so just chill right right.

771
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:13,759
Speaker 3: I mean, my girlfriend Courtney did not know my name

772
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:18,520
Speaker 3: until third or fourth eight. Really.

773
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:22,360
Speaker 1: Yes, that's kind of like one of those things like

774
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,840
Speaker 1: when you say, hey, I've got to tell you something

775
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 1: and then her eyes get really big and then you're like,

776
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:28,560
Speaker 1: I'm the ultimate predator.

777
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, no, she didn't know she knew Altie

778
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:36,879
Speaker 3: really and even when we would go out, she would

779
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:40,439
Speaker 3: call me Altie and yeah, no she didn't know my name.

780
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 1: Well there you go that, but but yeah, that's a

781
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,120
Speaker 1: that's an interesting story right there.

782
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:52,040
Speaker 3: Now, we we we met before we met. She remembers

783
00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 3: it differently than I do because I meet a lot

784
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:57,840
Speaker 3: of people. So we actually met before we met. She

785
00:41:58,080 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 3: met me at games, and she met me at a

786
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:03,640
Speaker 3: wrestling of and I don't remember any of it. And

787
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,280
Speaker 3: I hate to say that because it sounds so crass,

788
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,960
Speaker 3: and you didn't. This is the girl you're living with

789
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:11,359
Speaker 3: and you love dearly. You don't remember meeting her. I

790
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:17,800
Speaker 3: don't remember meeting her until we met at a midget

791
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:22,120
Speaker 3: wrestling I shouldn't say midget micro wrestling. You can edit

792
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:25,640
Speaker 3: that if you want to micro wrestling event in Hermitage, Tennessee,

793
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 3: at this smoky dive bar. And even then it was shooters.

794
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,000
Speaker 1: I took a girl before I met my wife. I

795
00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:39,720
Speaker 1: took a girl for her first date to micro wrestling.

796
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,720
Speaker 1: And they like, they did some stuff with the radio station,

797
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,000
Speaker 1: and they set us up like VIPs or they set

798
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:48,360
Speaker 1: us up on the table on the stage and we

799
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:49,800
Speaker 1: had a bucket of beer and all this sort of stuff.

800
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:51,319
Speaker 1: Nils's just say, I never went back out with that

801
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:52,040
Speaker 1: girl after that day.

802
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:56,160
Speaker 3: I'm sure I don't know how she ended up there.

803
00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:00,359
Speaker 3: Courtney ended up there. She we were not together, and

804
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:03,640
Speaker 3: but yeah, I know at the table, all the people

805
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:05,640
Speaker 3: at the table were calling me Oldti. She knew me

806
00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 3: as Oldti. And it really wasn't until until later. And

807
00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:13,400
Speaker 3: the only reason she found out is I had her

808
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:17,360
Speaker 3: over and I had mail on the table, and she

809
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 3: flipped the mail over. Oh no, and she saw. I'm like, man,

810
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,400
Speaker 3: I can't even k fave myself at my own house.

811
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:29,160
Speaker 1: Oh that's great. So where where's kind of the best

812
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 1: place people can find yet? On social media?

813
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,880
Speaker 3: The best place is my Twitter account. It's at I

814
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:39,800
Speaker 3: am ultimate pread and I'm pretty stupid on there. I

815
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,200
Speaker 3: like to crack jokes and I don't keep it too

816
00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:47,080
Speaker 3: serious unless I have to for some reason. I try

817
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,480
Speaker 3: to interact with anybody who want to wants to interact

818
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:52,320
Speaker 3: with me. You know, I've got a bunch of followers.

819
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:56,319
Speaker 3: I try to keep up with everybody. And and you'll

820
00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:58,160
Speaker 3: find a lot of hockey stuff, You'll find a lot

821
00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:02,040
Speaker 3: of wrestling stuff, local hockey, low cool wrestling. I have

822
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:06,600
Speaker 3: an Instagram account. I'm not great at posting pictures on

823
00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:08,839
Speaker 3: my Instagram account. You can look for it. I don't

824
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:11,560
Speaker 3: even remember the name of it right now. And I

825
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:15,239
Speaker 3: have a Facebook page that I never update, so you're

826
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:17,399
Speaker 3: welcome to go find that too, but you're never gonna

827
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:19,800
Speaker 3: see anything. The main thing is Twitter. I am Ultimate

828
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,320
Speaker 3: pred and you know, check out my merchandise. I sell shirts,

829
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 3: and proceeds don't go in my pocket. They actually go

830
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:32,719
Speaker 3: to different charity organizations. Seven Element is one that I'm

831
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:37,160
Speaker 3: I'm big with Behind the Mask Promotions, which is a

832
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:42,359
Speaker 3: pediatric cancer wrestling organization. I work a lot with them,

833
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 3: and I've got a shirt that's based on Roco Grimaldi,

834
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:52,960
Speaker 3: who's my favorite player Rocko's Modern Line, and proceeds for

835
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:55,120
Speaker 3: that one go back to the University of North Dakota

836
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:59,319
Speaker 3: hockey team. You know. It's it's what I can whatever

837
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 3: I can do to give back a little bit. So

838
00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 3: check it out. Interact with me if you see me

839
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:06,719
Speaker 3: at a game, give me a high five, stop me,

840
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:08,480
Speaker 3: pose with the belt, whatever you want to do. I'm

841
00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:12,680
Speaker 3: always game for that. And y'all just be saying, look,

842
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,400
Speaker 3: I'm a trendsetter. I knew Masks We're gonna hit Nashville

843
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:18,479
Speaker 3: before Masks hit Nashville.

844
00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:22,040
Speaker 1: There it is, well, ultimate predator. I really do appreciate

845
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:24,880
Speaker 1: you coming on the show this week with us. Definitely

846
00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:27,520
Speaker 1: everybody that's listening. Check out them on Twitter, check us

847
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:30,319
Speaker 1: merch out and uh, I want to get back to

848
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 1: some hockey games and we've got to catch a hockey

849
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:32,640
Speaker 1: game together.

850
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, absolutely, I'll be safe out there. And if

851
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:40,280
Speaker 3: you're not listening to the Battleground Podcast, I don't understand

852
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:42,799
Speaker 3: why you're not, But if I find out, I'm gonna

853
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 3: come to your house and I'm in a body slam.

854
00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:49,360
Speaker 1: There it is, man. Thank you so much for that,

855
00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:50,440
Speaker 1: my pleasure.

856
00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:50,719
Speaker 3: Brother.

857
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,880
Speaker 4: We hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Battleground Podcast.

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Speaker 4: Make sure you give it five stars and a nice review.

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Speaker 4: To stay up to date with the show, follow those

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Speaker 4: at Battleground Podcast on Instagram.