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Speaker 1: Welcome to The Battleground Podcast, all things pro and exclusive

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Speaker 1: interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers.

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Speaker 2: Podcast Stop It, What's up you guys? Welcome back into

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Speaker 2: iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast, The Battleground Podcast.

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Speaker 3: It is Battle from one.

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Speaker 2: O five to nine the Right Nashville's classic rock station,

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Speaker 2: and of course, Friday Night SmackDown is here in our backyard,

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Speaker 2: literally down the street from us Bridge Don Arena. And

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Speaker 2: joining us on the show, we got the Man, the myth,

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Speaker 2: the legend, and he's been on this show multiple times,

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Speaker 2: so we can now consider him a friend.

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Speaker 3: Austin Theory joins the show. Austin, how are you doing, sir?

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Speaker 4: I'm doing great and I'm super excited to be coming

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Speaker 4: back to Nashville. It's always a good time in Nashville.

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Speaker 4: That's where the party is at.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, you and you and Grays are gonna hit up

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Speaker 2: Broadway after the show on Friday night or what?

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Speaker 4: Oh, me and Grayson we got so many plans for Friday.

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Speaker 4: You know, we might beat up the Bloodline. I don't know, Wait,

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Speaker 4: that might have been too far. Let's see, you know,

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Speaker 4: maybe Cody Roads. Maybe we'll beat up Cody Roads. That's

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Speaker 4: you know, it's a better option. And uh yeah, Broadway, man,

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Speaker 4: there's a lot of bars over there. There's a lot

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Speaker 4: of you know, opportunities to showcase your singing skills. So

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Speaker 4: maybe Grayson can do that. You know, he's a good singer.

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Speaker 4: If you guys didn't know.

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Speaker 3: Oh really, no he's not.

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Speaker 4: I wouldn't.

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Speaker 2: I would not be surprised if as it gets he's

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Speaker 2: just got the accent, you know, that's.

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Speaker 4: All he's got. He's got that accent. That's it.

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Speaker 3: Of course, WW right now is tremendous that it's on fire.

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Speaker 3: The product is great.

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Speaker 2: You can grab tickets still available ticketmaster dot com. But

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Speaker 2: let's just kind of dive right into it. You've been

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Speaker 2: in some high profile storylines recently. What's something about the

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Speaker 2: creative process behind the scenes, pulling back the curtain a

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Speaker 2: little bit that fans would be surprised to know about

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Speaker 2: your involvement in.

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Speaker 4: I would have to say, man, with the creative process now,

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Speaker 4: it's very hands on and there's a lot of opportunity

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Speaker 4: for us superstars to you know, make tweaks, make changes,

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Speaker 4: have our own ideas and you know them, not be

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Speaker 4: shut down them. You know, actually having the opportunity to

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Speaker 4: be looking at and say, well, you know, maybe we

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Speaker 4: could go somewhere with this, or that's not really the plan,

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Speaker 4: but you know that that might have something to it.

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Speaker 4: So it's very hands on, but it's also very uh,

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Speaker 4: you know it being the creative. It's very creative for

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Speaker 4: all of us because we're all being able to create.

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Speaker 4: And you know, when it comes to what we do

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Speaker 4: as sports entertainers professional wrestlers is showing our art. So

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Speaker 4: that creativity is so important for us to have in

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Speaker 4: our own hands. And I feel that way now that

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Speaker 4: we do have it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's you can you could tell as you're

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Speaker 2: watching it from you know, previous regimes. Now with Hunter

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Speaker 2: and Sean taking over and everything else, you could tell

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Speaker 2: like it's a little bit more relaxed that the camera,

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Speaker 2: the production, the pyros, the vignettes.

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Speaker 3: The thing that I.

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Speaker 2: Really like is shooting the interest ins, like for example,

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Speaker 2: Jay Uso coming in from the crowd.

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Speaker 3: I know you don't really want to hear me talking

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Speaker 3: about Jay on the show, but you know what, I

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Speaker 3: love though.

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Speaker 4: You know, and I'd love to beat him up, so hey,

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Speaker 4: we can talk about him all you want.

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Speaker 2: I mean, he's got a He's got a title around

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Speaker 2: his way, so there's obviously a target on his back.

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Speaker 3: So I mean, maybe we see Austin after that IC title.

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Speaker 4: Hey never been in the Continental Champion, you know, but

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Speaker 4: I'm definitely marking off the boxes of all these titles

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Speaker 4: and briefcases and whatever you want to call these achievements.

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Speaker 4: I'm taking them all.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, for sure.

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Speaker 5: We recently saw you guys in NXT popped in from

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Speaker 5: her parents there. Well, I mean, do you guys, is

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Speaker 5: there any motivation for any like are you just looking

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Speaker 5: for a fight anywhere at this point?

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Speaker 4: I mean, Grayson, we you know, we like to really

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Speaker 4: look at the field of you know where we're at,

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Speaker 4: and it's huge. You know, you have NXT, you have

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Speaker 4: Monday Night Raw, you have SmackDown. I've been on Monday

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Speaker 4: Night Raw. Grayson hasn't, but I'm sure in the future

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Speaker 4: you'll see him there. But SmackDown. You know, we've been

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Speaker 4: running smack Down. We're always in the main event. You

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Speaker 4: always see us out there with celebrities, Hall of famers,

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Speaker 4: World champs. It doesn't matter because me and Grace and

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Speaker 4: Waller are the two guys you put out there with

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Speaker 4: anybody and we get the job done, and you know,

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Speaker 4: we're entertaining. That's what this is about, you know. But yeah, man,

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Speaker 4: we're just I feel like when it came to NXT,

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Speaker 4: you look back, I never got a championship opportunity in NXT.

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Speaker 4: Grayson never got one as well. So tag team championships,

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Speaker 4: grab those, go to SmackDown, grab those, like, just take

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Speaker 4: all the tag championships. But I feel like also too,

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Speaker 4: when you look at NXT and you have two guys

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Speaker 4: like us come down there, I think we kind of

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Speaker 4: straighten everybody up and they're like, oh wow, Like these

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Speaker 4: are two young dudes that are getting it on the

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Speaker 4: main roster. And we're young too, but we're in NXT,

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Speaker 4: which NXT is amazing, and I mean you saw last

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Speaker 4: night the arena full, the new championships, the matches, the

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Speaker 4: way the superstars are in the ring, their next level.

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Speaker 4: But I think when two guys like us come down there,

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Speaker 4: it really makes everybody go, oh whoa, Like there is

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Speaker 4: another level and age really isn't the thing here, Like

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Speaker 4: it's about just being that good and being able to

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Speaker 4: prove yourself.

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Speaker 3: Right for sure.

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Speaker 2: And I know recently we had a conversation with Tamaso

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Speaker 2: about you know, superstars being up on the main roster

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Speaker 2: and then going to NXT and how fans kind of

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Speaker 2: think that that's like a punishment per se. But what

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Speaker 2: is your thought on that, because I mean, it seems

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Speaker 2: like everything is cohesive.

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Speaker 3: You have everybody on this brand, this brand, and this brand.

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Speaker 2: But again, like you said, we could show up anywhere

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Speaker 2: and it's not like a punishment according to the you

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Speaker 2: know IWC.

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Speaker 4: I think, you know, like we all saw NXT right,

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Speaker 4: like you have the Performance Center, that's where I started

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Speaker 4: when I got signed, and then you slowly get on

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Speaker 4: NXT TV and then eventually you make it to the

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Speaker 4: main roster. But it's crazy how the feeling of NXT

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Speaker 4: has changed and the caliber of superstars that they have

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Speaker 4: and the level they perform on the arenas they go to,

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Speaker 4: how they showcase those stars. Man, you can't really argue

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Speaker 4: that it's not a main roster feel. So to me,

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Speaker 4: I feel like, WWE, it's this universe and we have

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Speaker 4: all these different you know, almost planets. You know, you

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Speaker 4: got smacked Down, you got RAW, you got NXT. So

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Speaker 4: I think it's it's so cool to look at it

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Speaker 4: as Wow, there's all these new characters. There's all this

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Speaker 4: new talent. Let's see how an Austin Theory would collaborate

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Speaker 4: with this star, or Grayson Waller would collaborate with this star.

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Speaker 4: So I look at it more so as you know,

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Speaker 4: anybody that's on TV and the WWE, whether it's NXTTV, SmackDown,

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Speaker 4: or ROW, you're looking at a superstar. That person made

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Speaker 4: it out of millions and there's a reason they're there.

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Speaker 4: So for me to go to NXT, it's not a

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Speaker 4: step back, it's not a downgrade. It's not a know

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Speaker 4: like do I have to like get worked on or

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Speaker 4: do I have to get better at something. It's none

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Speaker 4: of that. It's just about elevating everybody and all of

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Speaker 4: us being in there together. It just makes us all

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Speaker 4: better and it improves the WWE for sure.

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Speaker 5: So the three current tag team champions would be the Bloodline,

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Speaker 5: Judgment Day, and then an NXT Nathan Frasier in axiom, Yeah, well,

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Speaker 5: I was just say objectively, if you had to go

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Speaker 5: after a set of belts, who do you think would

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Speaker 5: you would have the best chance of defeating?

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Speaker 4: You know, I don't really look at it as like, oh,

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Speaker 4: what's the best chance, because me. I love the risk.

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Speaker 4: I love to be all in. I love the chaos.

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Speaker 4: A lot of people would say, hey, you know the

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Speaker 4: blood Line, I made that joke at the beginning. Lead

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Speaker 4: the blood Line out of it. The only reason I'd

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Speaker 4: leave the blood Line out is because, you know, anytime

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Speaker 4: you got a close chance of beating them, there's like

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Speaker 4: a new guy. I'm like, who is this? Who is

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Speaker 4: this guy? Get this USO out of here? You know

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Speaker 4: what I mean? Hard to keep up, Yeah, but as

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Speaker 4: far as you know the other tag team championships go

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Speaker 4: Judgment Day, me and Grace and Waller would drop them.

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Speaker 4: We could do that on RAW and NXT. I mean,

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Speaker 4: we've already made a point. You know. We got little

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Speaker 4: Nathan Fraser that looks like Kurt Cobain, and we got

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Speaker 4: the Power Ranger Axiom over here. These two guys they

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Speaker 4: call themselves Phraxium. Now as we do make fun of them,

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Speaker 4: they're both very impressive. They both you know, they've they've

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Speaker 4: done their thing, They've proved it. That's why they're the champs.

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Speaker 4: But we definitely know we're taking those NXT Tag Team championships.

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Speaker 4: Me and Grace and Waller are on the same page.

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Speaker 4: It's scary, man, and there's only one way those people

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Speaker 4: are gonna go, and that's atown down under o.

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Speaker 3: Man, that's gonna be fun.

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Speaker 2: Of course, speaking of fun, SmackDown is at the Bridge

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Speaker 2: That Arena Friday night. WW makes their return. You can

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Speaker 2: still grab tickets ticketmaster dot com. Now, a little bit

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Speaker 2: ago you had mentioned talking about working with legends and

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Speaker 2: Hall of Famers and whatnot. Has there ever been a

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Speaker 2: moment while working with this legends where you're like in

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Speaker 2: your head, You're like, man, this is unreal, Like I'm

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Speaker 2: really doing this.

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Speaker 3: What was that feeling and what was it for you?

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Speaker 4: Man? I have to say, like every opportunity or a

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Speaker 4: moment that I've you know, had the honor of being

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Speaker 4: a part of, I really take every moment in Like

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Speaker 4: I can remember a lot of moments, so specifically, I

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Speaker 4: remember the Rock promo. I've never met the Rock before.

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Speaker 4: There's a couple of guys in the back, you know,

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Speaker 4: they've met him at the performance center, or they've met

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Speaker 4: him on the main roster, never had an interaction with him.

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Speaker 4: And thirty minutes before that whole segment took place, I

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Speaker 4: met the Rock and we went out there and just

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Speaker 4: how he told me, sorry, how he told me that

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Speaker 4: we're going to create magic out there. You're going to

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Speaker 4: feel it, so just just feel it out there. And

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Speaker 4: I did, and just how the crowd just reacts to

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Speaker 4: him and it's just magic man, And that moment really

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Speaker 4: stuck out for me. And you know that goof Pat

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Speaker 4: McAfee was in there too. Whatever.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's that's always a cool thing because you

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Speaker 2: can that you could see that that magic happening on TV.

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Speaker 2: You could feel it through the TV. I know as

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Speaker 2: a fan, like, uh, you know, watching Monday Night Raw.

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Speaker 2: A buddy of ours who is a professional wrestler's name

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Speaker 2: is Colby. He was actually one of the security guards

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Speaker 2: in the Hell in the Cell match or the Hell

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Speaker 2: in the Cell promo, and like I'm sitting there watching

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Speaker 2: it and I'm like, you could just kind of feel

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Speaker 2: him taking everything in as just being like, you know,

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Speaker 2: one of those guys.

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Speaker 4: And hey, you know your your friend Colby being an extra.

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Speaker 4: You know he might become a world champ. You know

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Speaker 4: that's usually how it goes, right. Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Well, and he was in the ring with Punk and

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Speaker 5: Drew McIntyre, so I mean he's he's off to a

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Speaker 5: good start.

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Speaker 4: You know, it's a good start to his story.

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Speaker 3: Dude, Yeah, absolutely for sure. So you know, is there

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Speaker 3: a you know, you've you've done a lot of stuff.

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Speaker 2: I know, last time we had you on, my my

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Speaker 2: son presented brought in some old promos from uh Pass

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Speaker 2: Wrestling promotions that you have worked for with Chammpionships and

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Speaker 2: you had that on everything. Is there a specific match

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Speaker 2: or moment, because I mean your career is still going

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Speaker 2: that looking back, you think completely redefined you as a performer.

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Speaker 4: M you know, I feel like maybe not specifically a match, right,

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Speaker 4: but I think all these little moments, like we were

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Speaker 4: saying before, like we had the rock situation, We've had

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Speaker 4: the scene of situation. We've had the Stone Colt stunner,

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Speaker 4: We've had Jelly Roll, We've had it just keeps going,

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Speaker 4: you know, even having the match with Pat McAfee. I mean,

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Speaker 4: look what Pat McAfee's doing now and what he was

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Speaker 4: doing before. You know, the guy doesn't stop as much

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Speaker 4: as he sucks, you know. But yeah, it's just for me,

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Speaker 4: I think that all of these moments define me. And

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Speaker 4: I think ever since I started on the main roster,

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Speaker 4: I'm learning, but I'm also figuring it out more so now,

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Speaker 4: and I think having these little pieces here and there,

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Speaker 4: it's either you know, you could take some stuff from

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Speaker 4: there or you can just let it be what it

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Speaker 4: is and move on. And for me, it's just little things.

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Speaker 4: You know, it builds your confidence. I've always been confident,

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Speaker 4: but you can definitely build your confidence the comfortability out

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Speaker 4: there grabbing a mic and really just being able to

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Speaker 4: flow getting in the ring, the bell ringing and you

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Speaker 4: not thinking of anything, just flowing in there, you know.

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Speaker 4: And I think where I'm at now, I've definitely grown

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Speaker 4: as a performer, and I think it's just hard to

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Speaker 4: narrow down a specific match or moment because I think

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Speaker 4: it just takes all of those to make me who

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Speaker 4: I am. And still, like you said, I'm very early

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Speaker 4: on in my career and I feel like, man, the

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Speaker 4: stuff that I've done is amazing, especially in the last

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Speaker 4: three years, but man, that's nothing compared to what I'm

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Speaker 4: gonna do. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you talk about like just the being in

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Speaker 2: the ring with Jelly Roll, Pat McAfee, the Rock, all

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Speaker 2: these celebrities, it's got to be a good feeling for

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Speaker 2: you that you know, WW could come to you and say, hey,

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Speaker 2: Austin and we need you to go into this ring

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Speaker 2: and take a choke slam from Jelly Roll.

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Speaker 3: We need you to go and be with this celebrity.

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Speaker 2: That's got to be a good feeling for you that

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Speaker 2: they entrust you with those kind of things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, And speaking on the Jelly Roll situation, it wasn't

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Speaker 4: going to be a choke slam, yea. I heard little

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Speaker 4: ideas of, hey, maybe a choke slam or this, but

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Speaker 4: I think like a scoop slam was actually going to

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Speaker 4: be what it was. And I remember, you know, being

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Speaker 4: in the ring with everybody and going to Triple H

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Speaker 4: and being like, hey, like just trust me on this.

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Speaker 4: Let him give me a choke slam. I'll make it

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Speaker 4: look amazing. All he has to do is put his

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Speaker 4: arm up and sure enough, Man, we went out there

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Speaker 4: and it looked amazing. It trended like crazy, it was

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Speaker 4: all over the place. But it's just understanding, like that

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Speaker 4: job of what you need to do that night. And

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Speaker 4: I think always understanding why I'm doing something and Okay,

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Speaker 4: is this gonna, you know, help, this is this what

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Speaker 4: we're trying to do for the company right now? In

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Speaker 4: the position you're putting me in, and I just I'm

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Speaker 4: all in. I'm never like ah or disappointed and stuff

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Speaker 4: like that. I have a huge opportunity. I got a moment.

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Speaker 4: It's the WWE. It's the place I wanted to be

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Speaker 4: my entire life. There's not one other place I'd ever go.

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Speaker 4: This is it. So I'm locked in, man. So whatever

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Speaker 4: the opportunity is at the moment, or whoever the guy is,

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Speaker 4: it doesn't matter. If it's the Rock or Jelly Roll,

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Speaker 4: doesn't matter. You know, I'm all in.

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Speaker 5: Then yeah, well, you know it's been incredible obviously even

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Speaker 5: going I don't think you mentioned, but your match for

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Speaker 5: John Cena. Obviously the company trust you.

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Speaker 3: That's evident.

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Speaker 5: We've got a lot of wrestling to go for twenty

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Speaker 5: twenty four, Bad Blood's coming up Survivor Series, and then

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Speaker 5: we're right back at the Rumble in the road to WrestleMania.

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Speaker 5: What are your plans or goals for the rest of

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Speaker 5: this year heading into the new year?

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Speaker 3: In the reset in January, Man.

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Speaker 4: I have to tell you, when you say Royal Rumble,

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Speaker 4: my mind goes straight to winning that thing. For me,

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Speaker 4: that match has always been one of the coolest matches

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Speaker 4: for me. I can't exactly remember the year, but I

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Speaker 4: remember when I was living back in Georgia going up

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Speaker 4: to Atlanta and getting to go see the Royal Rumble.

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Speaker 4: This is the one I believe Edge returned at. And

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Speaker 4: I even remember telling my grandfather. He was sitting next

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Speaker 4: to me and we're like right by the stage, so

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Speaker 4: you couldn't really see the ring or anything. But every

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Speaker 4: time somebody got eliminated, they'd walk to the side and

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Speaker 4: I'd have one of those little scroll cameras and I'd

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Speaker 4: take a picture of them. But I remember telling my grandfather.

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Speaker 4: I was like, Edge is going to come back. He's

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Speaker 4: going to come back, and he was like, Noah, no way,

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Speaker 4: And then he came back and he just kind of

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Speaker 4: gave me a look. But those little moments like that,

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Speaker 4: I remember when my grandfather because he's always been around

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Speaker 4: me and always took me to wrestling, but also that

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Speaker 4: Royal Rumble, just how cool that matches. How you can

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Speaker 4: just change your career trajectory like so fast. You know,

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Speaker 4: you go straight to the main event of WrestleMania and

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Speaker 4: you can become a champion. And I think anybody if

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Speaker 4: they say this isn't it, they're lying anybody that's ever

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Speaker 4: wanted to be in the WWE, they've wanted the main

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Speaker 4: event WrestleMania and win that title. And that's always going

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Speaker 4: to be my biggest goal, I feel like, and once

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Speaker 4: I accomplished that, I already know myself. If I don't stop,

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Speaker 4: I'm gonna want more. But that's definitely the goal. So

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Speaker 4: I have to say, coming up, man, it's that Royal Rumble.

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Speaker 4: I want that Royal Rumble this year. Nice.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, you can ask several of your other

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Speaker 2: wrestlers that have co hosts and well not co hosts,

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Speaker 2: you can ask several other people on the roadcast on

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Speaker 2: this show.

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Speaker 3: They're in good graces to winning titles.

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Speaker 2: We had Naya Jackson and while she went on to

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Speaker 2: win the Women's Heavyweight Championship, and Tiffany Stratton came on,

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Speaker 2: she went on to win money in the bank. So

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Speaker 2: you came on, you put it out there that you

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Speaker 2: want to win the Royal Rumble.

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Speaker 3: So very good, Chess, very good chance.

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Speaker 2: Austin Theory will be your twenty twenty five Royal Rumble

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Speaker 2: champion there in Indianapolis. And then you can give Pat

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Speaker 2: McAfee the bird because I'm sure he'll be their ringside.

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Speaker 4: Hey, I know he will be, and he'll love that moment,

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Speaker 4: every second of it. Like you said, the twenty twenty

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Speaker 4: five Royal rumble, it's mine. But speaking of that twenty five,

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Speaker 4: I know you mentioned earlier that you know this Friday

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Speaker 4: Nashville tickets are on sale ticketmaster dot com. But speaking

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Speaker 4: of that twenty five, you can get tickets as low

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Speaker 4: as twenty five dollars. That's insane. You get to see me,

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Speaker 4: how talented I am, how good I look, only twenty

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Speaker 4: five dollars. That's a little disrespectful, but you know what,

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Speaker 4: you get that opportunity, so don't miss it. Twenty five dollars.

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Speaker 4: It's how load the tickets.

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Speaker 3: Are well, Austin, it's an honor and the privilege to

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Speaker 3: have you up.

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Speaker 2: I know, we got to wrap things up and look

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Speaker 2: forward to seeing your Friday night in Nashville Bridge don Arena.

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Speaker 3: Before we let you go, you want to say anything to.

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Speaker 2: People that are watching or listening to this right now,

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Speaker 2: even though you just did the promo for buy tickets.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, hey, make sure you guys watch smack Down this

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Speaker 4: Friday in Nashville and also next Tuesday on NXT We're

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Speaker 4: brand new on the CW. You better check it out

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Speaker 4: because me and Grace and Waller are going to be

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Speaker 4: the new NXT Tag Team Champions and we're going to

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Speaker 4: take those titles everywhere. And then, you know, like we

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Speaker 4: talked about on here, the bloodline, better watch yourselves. You know,

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Speaker 4: you might have a bunch of family members, but me

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Speaker 4: and Grace and Waller, we're yeah, we don't have that

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Speaker 4: many family members.

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Speaker 1: Never mind, just

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Speaker 4: Forget about the bloodline.