Insight with Chris Van Vliet - DDP On Dominik Mysterio, LA Knight, MJF and Why It's Never Too Late To Chase Your Dreams - EPISODE #500!

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

Diamond Dallas Page (@realddp) is a professional wrestling icon, actor, fitness guru, bestselling author and international speaker. He joins Chris Van Vliet at his house in Atlanta, GA for the 500th episode of INSIGHT! He talks about his thoughts on MJF, Dominik Mysterio and LA Knight, what made him start DDPY, his entrepreneurial spirit, filming "The Resurrection of Jake The Snake", why his WCW entrance theme sounded like Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', Cody Rhodes' success in WWE, what he learned from his friend Dusty Rhodes, his career ending matching with Hardcore Holly and much more! Sponsors:  To get 15% off go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv to support the show and use the code CVV Quote I'm thinking about: TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are good. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blurley. Oh, man, episode number 500. So good to see you, my friends, and welcome to a very special edition of Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you so much for being with us. And I thought a lot about what to do for episode number 500, because on one hand, this is huge. This is 500.

podcast episodes, most of them being interviews that we've done over the last four-ish years, and you know this, we've had some massive guests. The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Christian Bale, Tony Kahn, Chris Hemsworth, The Rock, Margo Robbie, L.A. Knight, yeah, Cody Rhodes a few times, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Hanniston. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And with that said, I've always talked about how important it is to celebrate the little wins and to celebrate to see how far you've come, really. And it's so amazing to see it pay off when you look at the charts and you see that Insight right now is one of the top wrestling podcasts in the world. And I mean, most of this is because you guys show up each and every week. On the other hand, though, this is very much just the first

500 episodes. And then we're going to do another 500 episodes and another. And another or 500 after that. So it kind of just feels like it's just, you know, it's kind of another episode. And it is another episode. But it's a special episode. 500 is a huge number. And there's this term in podcasting called pod fade. And if you've started a podcast and maybe you don't have a podcast anymore, you're very familiar with what pod fade is. There's a statistic that says, there's like 80% of podcasts fail after seven episodes. Because, you know, it's a lot of work. much work that goes into, if it's an interview show, it's finding the guest, researching for the interview, doing the interview, editing it together, producing it together, uploading it,

and then promoting it. It's so many different elements that are happening there. So we're here on episode number 500. And I thought for a long time of who would be the best guest to have for episode number 500. I wanted to bring on someone who was really special to me. me and special to this whole journey. And that's why DDP was the perfect person for this. I'm so grateful to be able to call him a friend. He and his wife, Paige, have been so incredibly kind to me, especially when it goes back to five years ago, 2018, and a completely chance encounter brought us together. And we tell the story during this episode. It's really crazy. I'm a firm believer when I hear stories like this of how we met of like things happen for a reason. I mean,

it's really crazy that we're in each other's lives now. And DDP is just that kind of guy who just, he'll just randomly call you just to say what's up, just to check in on you. And I mean, you got to love it. I feel like everybody needs a friend like DDP. I hope you enjoy this conversation. So cool to be able to do this at DDP's house. I was in Atlanta for the premier. of Cody Rhodes documentary, which I'm sure you've seen that interview that we did. But I reached out to DDP and I said, hey, I'm assuming you're going to be at this thing. You know, it's a Cody thing. You and Cody are tight.

And he goes, yeah, of course I'm going to be there. You're staying at my place. No questions asked. And that's just the kind of guy he is. He's awesome. I hope you enjoy this. Please snap a screenshot. Tag us.

Let us know that you're listening to this. He is at Real DDP. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. I'm sure you know that. If you're not already following, please take a second of my name. now to follow or subscribe to the show wherever you're listening to this. So please welcome for episode number 500, a very special conversation with my friend, Diamond, Dallas Page.

There is, uh, there's no one better that I'd rather be sitting down with for episode number 500. This is your 500. Episode number 500 show you. Episode number 500. So, so how many was it when I, when I showed up at your door? Well, how many, well, like, way back that. And what would that have been?

The show hadn't even started yet. So I was doing the YouTube channel. I was doing the YouTube channel, but the podcast didn't start until 2019. We met in 2018. But I was thinking like, you know, 500's a huge number, right? Huge. A big milestone. Hundreds are a big number.

Absolutely. Tens a big number in these days. Yeah. But I was like, who would I rather sit down with and spend some time with for, you know, episode number 500? And it's you, my friend. I appreciate that, man. love you and the fact that we're here in your house.

Thank you. And you came in for Cody's. They're doing a little premiere for him. Yeah, yeah. For his documentary, which is super cool. Yeah. And you text me and said, are by going to be there?

I go, do you just stay in with me? Yeah. Just come on and crash with us. The fact that you're so hospitable is, like, there's so many things about you and your wife page that I love and I admire, but the fact that you are so welcoming is,

it's one of your best traits. Oh, dude. We're just being ourselves. And anybody we care about, You're like, like, I invite, I just literally invited Matt Hardy, who I love. And I always see him with, he's got a gorgeous family. He's got all those little babies, beautiful wife, Rev. I mean, he has a beautiful life.

Yeah. And I know that he's still working. And he does, I just text him saying, are you still doing the program? And this is what I loved. He said, I've developed. what you taught me into me doing it without, I don't need to, the app anymore. And I'm like, yes, that is my goal for each and every person,

especially that's, if they're one of the boys or one of the girls. Because I give it to all of them. I'll give it to any NFL players, anybody who's made it. And now their body is their life. Yeah. And I look at Maddie and it was beautiful, this is a beautiful family. And I'm like, bro, if you ever really want to come here and by yourself, with your brother, with your wife, whatever, and just you've seen all the stuff I have, all the anti-aging stuff.

Yeah. And you put me through it. The gauntlet, which I would also love to put Matt through. But it just would help, again, always looking for the way to hold back to Hansa time. Yeah. And that's what really goes. Matt Hardy is such a great entertainer. can he keep doing it forever?

Look at Sting. You know, I mean, Stinger is still going, but he's finally going to, I heard, going to retire at 64. But, you know, it's all about how you live after the business. And for me, it's 67, it's, that's my biggest example. I always want to set, like, look what I'm doing. Look at me now. I don't look like your average 67-year-old or even 57-year-old.

And I can do a lot of different things because of this. It's not just EDP yogurt. It's not just a food. It's not just the ice plunge. It's not just the oxygen deprivation. It's everything. Chiropractic, deep most simple size, everything. And that's what I try to share.

When I see someone I really care about, like Matt, and I say, God, man, got these all these beautiful babies. And he's just, I just, I just tried to reach out to him. So whenever, consider it an open invitation, you ever want to come, you know, you stay. Like, what's it like staying at this place? This, I mean, you have a mansion here. I mean, let's be honest. But you, this is, you're just so welcoming.

And you're like, I've got five king beds upstairs. Just pick whichever one you like to sleep in. Your wife put a gift bag on my bed. She does it for everyone. It's unbelievable. She does it for everyone. Well, one of the words you said in there, I want to key in on you, said you give it. And that's such a big thing for you.

You were so giving. Have you always been this one? Yeah, pretty much. When I was in a nightclub business, because I love the nightclub business, it was so much fun. It's kind of ironic that I felt so many people get sober with my program, too, which is kind of crazy. But way back in the day, you know, every Christmas, it was always, you know, toys for tots or anybody who needed something that if a family reached out to me, we'd do a thing and a door would go to. you know, to them, whatever we collected that night or whatever. So there's always something that we were doing like that.

But I never really even thought about it. Just like, to me, when you're like, what I'm doing today with the program and helping so many different people, it's the best karma in the world. You know, it's like I use it all up with my driving. God takes all my hate. It saves me. God is my co-pilot. And Lex had to correct me.

is no one's co-pilot. But for me, I feel like God is watching over me. When I'm driving, stone cold sober, I think I'm a really good driver, but nobody else does. It's interesting because the wrestling business and a lot of people in the wrestling business are not usually outwardly giving. It's a lot of times, it's like, look at me and look what I'm doing. You're the complete opposite of so many people in this industry. Well, you know, it's so hard to, when you're trying to come up and,

You're trying to get noticed. I mean, that wrestling is the world of look at me. Let me push your buttons. You know, like, I personally know Max MJF and he pissed off of me for saying this, but he's the nicest, he's the nicest guy. He really is. To me, but everybody, he's out and open, he's an asshole.

Yeah. And it's not him being an asshole. it's him living the gimmick he could turn baby face in an instant and he would be over even bigger i think but as a heel oh my god one of my favorite mjf stories i was old and i'll give chris jericho the jerk the jericho cruise which is amazing if you haven't done it and you're thinking about doing the jericho cruise do it i do it i just did a couple of them and i love chris jericho there's another goat i mean capital g-o-a-t i mean like big time but one of the comedians was up on stage and it's a packed house you know that that particular night

and i can't remember his name but he said you know you have to really appreciate mjf's commitment to being the character he's never had a character my buddy and I, we love, we love to listen to him. So we find, we're waiting online. He's charging more than anyone. I don't know if it's a particular moment, but I remember there was a point of charging for autographs. And MJF, when he was nobody, put himself at like $150.

That's right, yeah. And people were paying it. And they paid it, which was brilliant. But it was also part of the gimmick, right? Of like, I'm such an asshole. Yes. And I don't give a fuck. If you come here and want my autograph or not, I'm better than you, and you know it.

I mean, that was one of the great, that's a great tagline. And I put the kid over because I love him. But he says, you have to appreciate MJF's commitment to being MJF. My buddy and I finally get up to the front and we say, bro, we love your shit. Now, my buddy's drinking a coffee at the time. MJF grabbed this cup, took it, spinning it, gave it back to my buddy and said, so what the fuck do you two want?

I mean, what a roar, you know? But that's him, man. He is committed to the character. So I don't know how we got up and I'm not. I can talk about MJF for hours. I feel like there's no coincidences in life. And the way that we met, It still blows my mind of this day when I think about her, when we talk about it, you would have done Rogan that day, right?

So you're on this massive high. We're both in L.A. Neither of us live in L.A. I think that's the start of the story. I check into my hotel. This is from my perspective. I was there to interview the cast of Bohemian Rhapsody. Right.

Just flown into L.A. I was checking in my hotel. I'm unpacking my suitcase, and all of a sudden, I hear someone trying to break into my hotel room. the door they're trying the door this thing won't work so let me go to mind it got me to that moment my buddy Josh

who is everybody pretty much has learned now knows today who Nita Straushes I mean she's one of the greatest guitar players she's played with you know the bigs Alice Cooper she has her own band my buddy Josh is her fiance

he also is her manager and just a phenomenal guy and he's a good buddy, mine. I come out to L.A., every time he comes to Atlanta, we try to hook up. So I said, hey, you want to go to,

do Rogan? Joe, come to see Rogan with me. He's like, absolutely. So he had those shirts, and you might remember him. This one was Ego Hills Talent. That was the shirt. I was wearing it.

He gave me, and I loved that shirt, because I don't think there's a truer statement to that. And I get to the show, and Rogan goes, I love that. shirt, which gave Josh a big boost for his t-shirts, which I loved. And me and Rogan were having a couple cocktails, you know?

So when you're, I mean, that interview was like two and a half hours, you know, and we were just, he goes, he got to the end of it. He goes, is there anything else you want to talk about? I go, I can't believe it, but I'm kind of talked out. So I never, I was so pumped, got in the car and we drive there, and I got to go to the bathroom. Bad. I get out of the car, give him a hug, boom, run inside, put my stuff down. There's that piano that was there, right?

In the lobby of the hotel. Right, right there. I put everything down on that. I go, my wallet, my wallet. Oh, God, now there's a guy who's got a camera. He's talking to his kid. He's like, and I can hear him. Oh, my gosh.

Look, look behind me. It's DDP. Time of Dollar's page. He's back there. I'm like, and I got a little bathroom so bad. So, so. So, bring it, I go, oh, God, I got to call Josh. See if I left in the car.

I call him up, he goes, I just, I just found your wallet. It must have slipped out when you got out. He zooms around. The guy walks up, he's already, where you'll just say a load of my kid? I go to bathroom so bad. Of course I will. Hey, buddy. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

I grabbed my stuff. And it's all, like, my wallet, whatever I had my jacket and everything. It wasn't like put together. It was, I was running K. I get to the elevator, I push my floor that I think is my floor. I bring it right out of the elevator. I go to the door and I'm pushing the thing in front of it. No, no, no.

And you open the door. And that's all I hear from the other side. I'm like, what is going on here? So I'm like, they'll figure it out. They'll figure out they're in the wrong room. And then it just keeps getting worse. Oh, I can't believe this. So I go over and I look through the people and I'm like, is that DDP?

And by the way, we've never met each other in person at this point. Right, right. So I open up the door and I go, uh, hey, you're in the wrong room, but I'm a big wrestling fan. Dude, dude, I'm so sorry, man. I'm so sorry. You go, wow, I'm a big wrestling man. And I go, can I use your bathroom? Like, yeah, come on it.

Bro, I got to pee so bad. So you go in and you take the world's longest pee. And you've just thrown all your luggage in like the entry area of my hotel. And I'm sitting there going, Is this actually happening? EDP is in my hotel. So I'm like, I'd love to ask if he'll do an interview. So when you come out, I go, I actually do a lot of interviews.

I've interviewed The Rock and Batista. And I know, I cut you up. I go, bro, bro, wait a minute. I can't buy my phone. I can't buy my fucking phone. What else my phone? I go, can I leave my shit here? You go, yeah, I go, I'll be back.

So I go downstairs. And they know me in this hotel. It's in Century City. And I'm like, Barry, did you, did you find it? Anybody find a wallet or whatever? I mean, my phone. Is anybody found my phone? So I've lost my phone in my wallet within, 15 minutes, maybe 10 minutes.

So, friggin, I can't, no, no, looking around, looking around. And this guy walks up and he goes, hey, man, he goes, did you lose a phone? And I go, yeah. He goes, he took a picture of it. He goes, I gave it over there. They got it over at the front desk. I said, I was just over to bread desk. Finally, I get my watch.

I mean, my phone, I go upstairs, and then I go, so what were you saying about an interview? And it's funny because I think I was in room, I don't know, 618, and you were in 518. Right. So you just got off at the wrong floor, the other way around. Right, off the wrong floor. It's the same thing. And I was like, yeah, so I interview a bunch of celebrities. I'm actually in town to interview the cast a Bohemian Rhapsody, and you're like, let's do it.

I'm like, let's do it right now. You're like, let's do it. You're like, let's do it. Like, right now, bro. I'm like, okay, and this is the funny thing. I never travel with my camera gear. But after that trip, I was going to land in Fort Lauderdale and then immediately interview the bucks, like right from the airport.

It was the only reason I had my gear with me. And I was like, this is perfect. I actually had my stuff with me. So I called my buddy Jake, and I was like, hey, are you free? He's like, yeah, I'll be right there. And I'm like, I can't believe, like, I can't believe the timing of this. I can't believe that you're at my room. And then we sat down and did an impromptu 45-minute interview.

Right. Like that. I just got done doing Rogan, man. So I was so pumped up because he is like the guy you hear is the real guy. Sure. That's why he's so good. It's why he's so good. He's just frigging, and he knows really a lot about a lot of things.

He's very well read. Very well read. But fast forward now, five years later, I'm so incredibly grateful to be able to call you a friend and to be able to give you a call whenever anything's going on in my life. and I just want to thank you for being the person that you are. I appreciate it, man. Just doing me. But it's amazing that a chance meeting of you trying to break into my hotel room

has led us all here. Yeah, it's pretty pretty funny, man. And now you can see I'm wearing a Power Cuff shirt. That's my new thing right now. We're just releasing it. It literally has been, it's really been over three and a half years in the making. And my buddy and partner, Chet Paulson, who has the patented, you know, blood flow restriction straps.

And together we tweak them into this really, I think, the best version of BFR blood flow restriction training. And you've done the workout service, so you know. And you promised me when you got done with your ab rooting for your 40th to be your 40th that you'd give me 90 days. I'm in now. Let's do it. Because the whole thing about blood flow, and when you're wearing the cuffs, what I call power cups, the, it's multiple reps. So you know, because you've done this, but you're doing 30 reps. With super lightweight.

Super lightweight. Like, normally with dumbbells back in a day, you know, I was slinging between 40 and 65 pounds with dumbbells with dumbbells. Damn. You know, that's what I was jacked, you know. But after retirement, I was about 45 pounds. I never really went over 45. 15 pounds is heavy. When you're doing it like this,

and the way the blood flow, the way it works is if your heart, okay, your heart, you know, pumping blood through arteries and it comes back through veins. So think of it if I put a, you know, a cuff around this, disarm. when the arteries are pumping the blood think of the arteries as PVC piping think of the veins as garden hose if we step on a garden hose water's going to still comes

and trickle out though on the PVC nothing's going to get touched so it's constantly pumping blood into your arms and kind of restricting it there it's still going through but it's trickling through

and that's why when you get to that first 10 reps, if you're doing 30 reps, the first rep, the first 10, well, this is easy. I should have gone heavier. Get to 20, you're like, wow, this is starting to get heavier. You get to 24, you're like, oh, man, this is like, is this really 10 pounds? You know, now I'm doing 20 pounds. You know, I've built up from 10 to 20.

I will never go over 20, ever. and a lot of times that's the first set of the 30 where you do 30 20 well really 30 15 reps 15 reps 15 reps 15 reps for 30 second break in between I work it with Tony Freeman now who's the ex-man uh you know Olympia top five there's thing is second last year or year right before he retired but um Tony is blown away by this guy's lifted 500 pounds on the bench he's you know, slung, fucking 80-pound dumbbells and curls. And he's doing the same weight I'm doing, man. And it's the workout. I mean, the density of that muscle.

And when you're, when you get older, when this is really tailor-made for guys in their 40s on up, because you're going to get that same pump. If you were an athlete and you're beat up and now you can't lift the heavy weight anymore, this is that same pump you used to get, but better. And so much better for your joints, I guess. Way better, man. And it works your whole body. So that's been, if anybody's interested in what I'm doing, I'm not going to get along

about this, but powercups.com, they're now up there. You can, the science. Like, let's just take a piece of the science. Because this isn't like DDP, it's not at all. A guy, I want to say Dr. Katsu, I could be wrong about the name exactly. Japanese doctor 65 years ago developed it for reaffirian. have for the legs and for the arms, but not just the arms. When Cody tore his back, he used blood flow.

He didn't even know that I had these at the time. By the time he had healed, he'd been using just a pull strap, which is really not safe. When he saw that what I was doing, he goes, God, I want a pair. And I pulled that a pair with his logo. And he popped. But it's just a safer way to train. When Dr. Katzoo, he developed it for people to do in rehab. And Birmingham, like if someone triple H tears his quad or Roman Range does something to his shoulder, whatever it is, and they need surgery, they do not pass go.

They go right to Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Andrews. Dr. Andrews's head of PT is a guy named Kevin Wilkes. He uses our stuff to heal the bodies. and what they do, after they've got them doing whatever their rehab is, then they start moving off. And I remember he was telling me at Triple H, and I haven't talked to him about this yet.

But when he was using the cups, he was like, God, I want these. I want some of my own. That's ours aren't the clinical ones. They're still selling, Rockups still selling those ones to clinical, but they're also making the ones, for power cuffs. And they're made like right to your body.

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you were one of the rare pro wrestlers who's been more successful after wrestling. And the other ones that immediately pop in everyone's mind, of course, the Rock, Dave Batista. But so... Yeah, those two guys are okay. They're okay. But so many wrestlers get caught in this identity, and I think that's probably a big part of it, if I'm a pro wrestler. But it's hard, though, to be fair to every guy, got to remember, starting at 35 as a wrestler,

and I started at 31 and a half as manager, a color commentator, just trying to get noticed, you know? I'd already had a really broad scope. I had pages painters. I've been running nightclubs for... You had a painting business? And when I was, I started working with a guy named Pat Kane when I was a kid.

And back then, a lot of smoking pot. And Pat had a gazebo behind his parents' house. And I'd come and wake him up in the morning. You go, light up a joint. You know, we'll go in an hour. And that could turn into two hours. But eventually we get to work. And, you know, he was a very handsome, very charismatic guy.

And he taught me basically how to paint. And he had a whole crew of guys. Sometimes they'd start at 12 o'clock. You know, but they got to work. But I learned a lot from him. And when dad thought, I could do this. And I just decided to do Pages Painters. And I'm still working in the nightclub at night and doing Pages

painters during the day. And then my nightclub career got bigger and bigger. And I didn't need to do any of that. But I still knew how to paint. And I knew how to have my own business. That's the point. Yeah, you're very entrepreneurial before it was even cool. to be an entrepreneur.

Yeah, I didn't want to work for anybody. I didn't want my last real job. I only had one job that I did for a half a day. I don't consider anything I did working because I love painting. I love being with my boys. And if that was the closest I came to what I would call a real job, I remember doing these clam factory. I lived on the shore on the ocean, you know.

I lived a mile off the ocean in this little town called Point Pleasant, New Jersey. And they would crush up the clam. Ham's roasted. It was the worst smell ever. Like, I left for lunch. I never came back, never went back. And back then, a buck 65 an hour was a lot of money. We're talking about like 1970, you know, or somewhere around there.

But I've always wanted to do things I love doing. Then I never feel like I'm working. Do you ever feel like you're working? Not anymore. And I've had some pretty not great jobs before I got into broadcasting. Like there was one where I was doing like door-to-door vacuum sales. That's the worst. That was awful.

I quit halfway through that day. Dude, I actually did that same thing. And that was trying to like, okay, they're sales, you know, because I'm, you could sell, you know, ice to an Eskimo. Yeah. I ain't selling people shit. I'm really great at being passionate about what I'm doing. Sure. If you believe it, then other people will believe it.

Right, man. We talked about this last night. The people who say, I'll believe it when I see it. Those people don't see shit ever, ever. But the people who say, I believe it because I see it, they're the game changers. They're the people who think outside the box. They're the people who make shit happen.

And like for me, when I said I was going to get in wrestling, my buddy's thought I was out of my mind. And then it happened. And then at some point, I said, I'm going to be a wrestler only because they took the managing away for me. because as Magnum said, the hair, the clothes, the bling, the rap, the dolls. It's like, you're taking too much attention away from the boys

and they got to draw the money. And to his credit, of course, Scott Hall, the late great Scott Hall had said to me, Dally, you're too much. It's too over the top. You've got to be a little more sedated. I'm thinking, what are you talking about? You know, exactly what he was talking about.

But that's what forced me at 35 and a half to say, I'm gonna be a wrestler. And your name comes up all the time, especially recently, you know, like L.A. Knight's 40, and there was talk of like, ah, maybe he's too old to do this thing. That guy, he ain't too old for nothing.

He is at the right time, at the right place, and I pray for him that they see it because he deserves it. I remember walking up to him, I want to say it was mania this year. And I said, dude, I just want you to know,

I personally love what you're doing. doing and from watching you from nxte coming up and you know him working with uh bronson who's one of my boys i mean he's worked out in that gym with me 50 times and uh you know i'm like i love what you're doing i said what it and i said the same thing as sammy uh that it's your time do like these people are going to get with you it's going to get bigger and bigger and it did you know uh both of those guys are like they're top guys to me like they're top guys to me like they're But they are top of the top with that. Just give them that little push.

Give them that little push. And they both will deliver. But whether it's wrestling or it's anything else in life, a lot of people get this mentality of like, man, I'm too old. I love to bring up your story to people. Because 35, especially in pro wrestling, that does feel really old.

No, it really does. And if I didn't have all of the time put in, like you have to remember when I was winning for a championship wrestling, which I drove 137 miles up and 137 miles back from to Fort Myers to be with Dusty Roads. You have to remember

my two mentors, Dusty Roads, Jake the Snake. Yeah. Like, I mean brother mentors. Like, when Dusty passed, and his jokes about to talk about it, but Cody had called me,

I was in an airport, I remember exactly where I was, and he said, Dusty said he wanted you to know. He had five friends. And he could count him on his fingers. He had told me this story before. But Cody put another level to it. He said, some of those five friends, time of time would fall off.

And they'd find her way back up on the hand again. And he said, Dallas never fell off that hand. That was coming from Cody. It was super cool. but you know i had those guys in my ear without them i couldn't have done it what do you say to someone who might be 35 and there's something they've always wanted to do in life

and they hate going to work every single day and they want to chase after that but i think the biggest thing is they're scared to chase after what do you say to them um i don't say anything to them unless they ask you know like what do you think about me you know going go going for it let's say they're asking right now okay uh 35 is i i don't really have people at that age say it's 32 30 somewhere around there and i will say to them if you can't breathe without it you should do it but if you can I would forget about it. Because, dude, you have no idea how hard it is.

Think about how many, today, with all the independent wrestling that there is, there's so much. Yes. And thank God, there are so many really places from AW to impact. Yeah, New Japan, MLW. There's so many places that the boys can get gigs now. and make a living. Yeah.

You know, so it's a good time. And also, as I'll say to the young kid, do I know he's 160 pounds. You know, well, that was plenty of guys

who started from Edge to friggin, the Hardee's. They were all that and still out there wrestling. But those guys, and the reason they ended up here, he couldn't breathe without it.

Like, you got to, you got to want it so bad. Your work ethic has to be at a different level. You have to work five times hard anybody just to get noticed. And being Bischoff's buddy, that was a really strong relationship, really strong. Still is today. When we get together, we're right back where we were, you know, but we don't see each other that much like we used to.

But he also wasn't going to do the nepotism card. He wasn't going to push me because he was his buddy. So he went and he said it when he. inducted me. He said I had to work twice as hard. No, I had to work five times as hard. And they have to understand. And if they're a kid coming up, like they're Dylan.

Have you met Dylan yet? Yes. Dylan, great. You know, he has Southern Honor wrestling here in Georgia. He is a kid who is five, six, you know, and now he let himself got big again, only because he wants to be that big wrestler in there. And he's 300 pounds, you know. know and but he's the booker he runs the you know he brings the people in the show

him and nathan one of his other partners also works for me um these guys are editors and filmographers and like their show is as good as any independent show out there but they're not doing it to get in w w not trying to get in a w they just want to live a dream be a wrestler so if you if that's your dream you should go for it but if you're thinking I got to be in WWA. Well, that's as hard as it gets. Now, is it possible?

Absolutely. And you have to also take, if you look back, like Edge did jobs, the Hardys did jobs. You don't remember them that because they, you know,

because they weren't featured. There was some guy went out there and got beat. And there's guys that have done that for them. But look at the stars. I love listening to, like, Edge is one of my favorite people in this.

business. And he would even tell me stories about him and Christian and, you know, driving 600 miles across Alberta, wherever they were in Canada. And then sleeping on the floor where the ring is at that is an ice rink. Think how cold that is. You know, like those guys paid their dues at a different level, you know. And there's kids out today doing exactly that. Yeah. A lot of people point to you at 35 and a half decided to be a wrestler.

On the other end of your career, what do you think it was that's led you to everything you're doing now with DDPY? Without wrestling, without having that fan base, like, I have some amazing people who are fans. And it's so funny, the woods you really put the work, it end up becoming friends. Because I respect what work they put into themselves. like my buddy, Dr. Tom Wallen, who was a huge fan of mine as a kid and started to do the program and went through a transformation doing DDP yoga. Now he's the head of my BFR blood flow restriction program that we're putting together with power cups. He's a doctor. You know, he's a scientist and he's a doctor.

He's a set level two, DDPY. instructor. He's a transformation coach instructor along with being a doctor and ahead of my BFR. And he stayed up here because we were filming some stuff for power cups. Because I want the doctor's side. Sure. You know, of what this is all about. And he's gone through all the courses for blood flow restriction and everything. So we're getting ready to go over and film.

And he stayed over the night before like you did. And like I did for you, I'm making breakfast. And as I'm walking over with the plates. She goes, I'm having a little flashback here of my 12-year-old self. D.D. Piny's making me. But, you know, without the fan base, without that, because in the beginning, anybody who pretty much got it, it was pretty much wrestling fans. Yeah, believe it.

And then Arthur's video came out, and that changed the entire skew. What do you think the percentage is now? I think it's probably about 55% wrestling fans that have never seen a DDP match. Never. But when something next goes viral, like we have and me and you have talked about this and now I can really talk about it

because it's going to be coming out at some point with probably around the first of the year, I'm guessing, our show that we, it's a docu-series that we filmed called Change or Die. And we brought five people into one of my other homes that I kept when I got this one. And I was just renting it out. And then Steve said, we need a house and everything is so expensive in Smyrna where the company is like, you know, you'd think you'd take that off the market and let us use that.

And I said, well, you're in luck, man, because they're at the last month, they want to renew, but I can tell them. you might have to give him a couple of months, you know, just to get, you know, so they got out comfortably. And that's what happened. And then we brought these five different people into the, into where the resurrection of Jake the Snake was filmed, into the accountability crib. And these people go on this journey,

and we film everything. Wasn't Buff Bagwell one of them? He was one of them. That's why you see Marcus, I don't even call him buff, because the character buff, today is good. But when he would flip it in a buff, he'd become an asshole because he's an addict.

And he didn't think he was an addict then. So that's another guy that has kind of like gone through what we're doing. And then it was like, you have to see it. I don't want to spoil it. But you can look at Marcus when he walked in our house and who he is today. And he is completely different. He's coming up on close to a year of being sober. Yes.

Yeah. I mean, it's super. I mean, I can't believe how many guys and women who do my program that is help them with their sobriety, which is fascinating to me. But think of how many people that we as wrestling fans can thank for their health now or the fact that they're still around now because of you. Because of my team. It's not just, everybody thinks it to me. And I always say to them, man, it takes a village. I mean, it took every single person.

Like Jake, I look at Jake today. And I, man, I couldn't be more proud, happier. Because my whole goal, where we started filming the resurrection Jake's name, which is on Amazon Prime, by the way, and our other documentaries were relentless. You might want to check that out. But when we started filming, we'd never done documentary before. Like Steve, you and I, he's my partner, my business partner.

we are the guys who figure it out. I will hire a person who knows nothing about our business before I'll hire a person who knows a lot about it. I'll hire the person who doesn't know a lot if they're a figure it out person. If they, I'll figure it out. Because that's what we are. We're going to figure it out.

I remember it was in Iraq. one time. I've lived there like three different separate occasions to see the troops for like two weeks once to Afghanistan

but I was in Iraq and it was the first tour I was on and I was out because they didn't be in Rob Dibble who played for the Reds and he was the

when the Reds won the World Series he was the MVP he was one of the pitchers and we're out there and out in the Outers like Fallujah out of the the outer like where bad shit was happening.

And the, the colonel's like, well, DDP, that you can drive a tank? I said, yes, I can. Now, how those tanks went, I don't know if they're all like this,

but here's a tank. And then there's a middle part that's open and you slide your body in and you grab a hold of the steering wheel and the, you know, the frigging speed like this. And I,

I could just, because I'm still about 250 back then, I could just fit in there and, man, figured out how to drive a tank. Dude, I drove it like a madman. Do you think that that's one of your greatest superpowers as being able to figure things out? Yes. The three superpowers that I have and I own, I'll figure a shit out. Really? There's four. I'll put the work in.

I know how to breathe. in every scenario. You know, everybody knows, calm now, breathe, breathe, breathe, but why? So again, I do a lot of inspirational speaking to corporations stuff. I do them all the time. I turn down more than I do

because I don't want to, and I don't want to work too much like that. I love doing it and I want to stay current with it. But whatever I'm talking about, I want to be able to back it up. So I always talked about, because I know how valuable it is. I'm like, but why?

Why does it calm you down? Why does it bring you down? And then I read, and I read, okay, this is right out of a medical journal. So I worked this into my deal and I'll say, I'll say take that deep breath. Hold on to it. Now let it go slowly, controlled. Take another deep breath, a mindful breath. Like you know, hold it.

And then, see, what happens when you're deep breathing is you activate the hypothalamus. which is connected to pituitary gland in the brain that calms you down and chills you out. When you're deep breathing, it is relieving stress and anxiety due to the physiological effect that deep breathing has on our nervous system. When you're deep breathing, you are turning on neurohormones, which are inhibiting, stress-producing hormones, which causes a relaxation response in the body. That is directly out of a medical journal. You know many people listening or watching this right now have not taken a deep, mindful

breath in months, maybe years, maybe ever? Everybody pretty much breathes like this. Yeah, shallow breathing. And they never do this and get all the air out. They never do that. I do it every day, all day. You know, and when you own your breath, you are on your way to owning your life.

And this will come back to what's my fourth superpower. Discipline. Discipline. I remember being Mike Tyson and I watch it again on one of these channels that he's been on. He talks about a lot, how his coach. Custamato. This 80-year-old white man, kid, you know, you're going to hate discipline.

But if you can learn to love it, if you can learn to love discipline, you'll be the heavyweight champion world. He would tell him that since he was 13, 14, 15, 16. And at 20 years old, he's the baddest man in the world. Yeah. Discipline. Now, unfortunately, Cust died right around that time.

And then vultures can swoop in. So another interviewer, one guy said to Mike, I love Mike. I said, man, he said, what was your happiest time? He said when I was in the joint. And he went, really? He said, nobody could pull at me then. It gave him time to start recalculating. And look at him today.

I mean, he's a very successful businessman. He's very good. I saw him do his one-man show two hours. He was unbelievable. I mean, funny. And frigid, Holyfield was right like eight seats over from me. And he talked about all that. And even Holyfield were tight now, you know,

because they didn't want to hold on to that. They were two of the warriors of warriors of that time. You know, so then I'll say like, so what is, what is, where do you? Where do you find discipline? And according to Jocko, and if you're online, you know, a lot of people know who Jocko is, he said that discipline comes from telling yourself the truth. Telling yourself the truth about where you are right now at this particular time in your life. Now, a lot of people will lie to themselves and say, I don't need discipline.

But that's bullshit. You see, when you can tell yourself the truth, that you know you can be better today than you were yesterday. You won't have to find discipline. Discipline will find you. And I thought, okay, I'm taking that whole piece right there. Just like Jocko said it, because I said, that's amazing. And then I came up with some of my own stuff.

Like, discipline is making yourself have the ability to do what you know you need to do, when you need to do it, whether you feel like, doing it or not. Discipline is the truest form of self-love, ignoring the current pleasure for the bigger reward to come. When you can own discipline, and I do, man, it's a mega superpower. I've known you for years, and there's actually some wrestling questions. I've always wanted to ask you, but I've never asked you.

Sure. How did you not get sued by Nirvana? You know, that's fascinating because I went to see Jimmy Hart. Let's go back to where it comes from. Jimmy Hart was a musical genius. You know we had a number one hit at one time with the gentries. Did you know that? I don't think people realize how, like, musically inclined he is.

Oh, my God. Again, number one hit. So what if was a one hit wonder? He was number one when it meant something. thing like when they got paid and shit you know um but we went down i went down to florida and he said so what music do you like i said right now i'm listening to nirvana i really liked them i think they're the sound of the 90s and he goes which song do you like and it was between smells like teen spirit and i can't remember the other name of the other one but it was between both of them and i said let's fix it smells

like the teen spirit and then he did something with the music and i go that sounds amazing sounds just like it He goes, all I did was flip the beat. So instead of going, boom, boom, boom, boom, it went, boom, bump, boom, boom. So if you notice, you played the both at the same time, you'd hear the difference. I think it's like the chords are reversed, right? Yeah, exactly, exactly. But when you hear it, everybody knows what it's supposed to sound like. Dude, I'd tell you, I was so bummed out when the WWE changed my music.

and on all the WCW stuff, all the peacock stuff, they changed the music because they didn't want to get sued. And then I also found out that it wasn't David Grohl who owned it. It was Courtney. Oh, wow.

She probably wasn't even aware I was using it. She probably has a lot more other things to be worried about. Yeah, so that's your answer to that question. Well, let me share one other thing with you. Yeah. Do you remember what I did the angle would Raven and I was on MTV. Of course, yeah. David Grohl is sitting right

next to me and his drummer and when Raven hit me. Dave Gore was the drummer. Oh, no, right, right. Kurt Cobain. Yeah. No, no. This is when he had his own band. Oh, oh, foo fighters. Yes. Okay. He wasn't, he's the guitar player. He's a guitar player in that, yeah.

Yeah. So he's sitting next to his drummer and they just did a piece with Carson Daly. And now I'm out there and we got the whole thing. and only people who know this is going to happen are me and Carson and of course, Raven. And at some point when the Raven comes on the TV and takes over and cuts his little promo and then I say whatever I'm going to say and Raven comes behind me.

Now, we know stop signs are this big and this big. This one, you get hit in the head with it, not a big deal. This one, I didn't realize it until he hit me. But that motherfucker, that hurts like, like you stole something. And, man, he hit me with that thing. DGT me. I mean, those guys jumped up. They scared me.

They have no clue what's going on. I have no idea. If you get us ever chance to see it, it is like Dave, Dave jump, like 10 feet. But understandable, I would have too, you know, if I didn't know. But I love Dave Grohl, man. You're talking about a guy who's a frigging rock star at a different level, man. How many people have mega fucking bands, two of them? There's a handful of guys who've done it.

You know, Tom Petty did it. There's a bunch of, you know, top, top, but mega stars. You want to talk about someone who's on another level. We were talking about him last night, but how impressed are you with Logan Paul? Oh, my God. You know, and I got it, I'm not told this story since I told the other story. Back, when I first met him, not this, right now, it was the many before. To Dallas.

Yeah. and he walked into the elevator. I was like, hey, man. Bring in, boom, Dallas Pages. He goes, oh, good to meet you. I said, man, I got to tell you, I'm blown away by just what you've done so far, but keep up the great work.

You want to get a pitcher? He's like, yeah, sure. And I go, and I go to put the diver cutter's side up, and he goes, I can't do that. And I go, you can't do that. He goes, well, it's a gang sign. I go, it's really not. I figure, I'm not going to start.

I'm not going to debate this. So I put it down. And then later I talked about it when I was doing the podcast with Jake. Yeah. And, you know, they kind of took off on the Internet, you know. So now it's mania in L.A. And I'm on the elevator. And who walks in?

Logan Paul walks in. And I go, hey, bro. I go, we got to stop meeting like this. And he goes, oh, my God, oh, my God. I'm so, dude, I'm so sorry. You know, a legend, I mean, a legend of, he was so apologetic. I said, can we take a picture now? And I thought it was absolutely.

He's okay with the gang signs now. Well, you know, not a gang sign, as you know. But the bottom line is just the nicest guy. And I watch him in that ring. I heard, you had said to me, at Triple H said, he has no business being that good. But he is such an amazing athlete and entertainer and, like, daredevil. Like, when I saw him and ricochet, who was one of my boys, man, when I saw that.

What, the Royal Rumble? Yeah. That deal with what I did, the flying belly to belly. I don't know what you could call that. Crossbody in midair. Like, there's so much room for failure that. You have to perform at this level to do shit like that. And Rickochet is used to doing it all the time.

He's worse. It's a thoroughbred. So is frigging, welcome. And that he can do it the way he's doing it and know how to beat the heel. He's like five matches in. And we can already talk about these incredible moments that we'll be talking about, I think, for years. like the frog splash off the top rope through the announced table holding the cell phone.

He did a Spanish fly with ricochet at Money in the Bank, which was insane, of course, the Rumble Spot. And now, as we sit here, they're going to meet a SummerSlam. I'm not going to miss that match, because that match has the potential to be, like, stealing the show match. Well, I've been saying this so much,

but it makes so much sense that Logan Paul's like the new Shane McMill, how he may not win the match, but he's going to do something in that match that's going to make you go, oh my God, how is this possible? And that's all we're going to remember. No one's going to remember who wins or loses.

And that's the beauty of wrestling. If you're a top guy, you can go out there and lose. If you can go out there, I mean, if you really look back, how many times the Rock, Jake, Scott Hall, Diamond Dallas page,

how many times we lost? I'll give you once a lot. I'll do you one better. Mr. WrestleMania. Sean Michaels has, like his win-loss record of WrestleMania is terrible.

But no one remembers that? Of course. Because he stole the show. If he's on the card, he's still on the show. And that's his only goal. To go out there and just take it away from everybody.

What do you think your life would look like if WCW had continued being successful into the 2000s? I don't think it would be this. I might have, because sometimes we have to get on to get back on a track and end up back in our destiny. But I don't know. I don't know if it's the same if we do the people's champion versus people's champion.

I don't know if it's the same if we do that. How close were you to getting Rock versus DDP? Well, it was in my mind two years before it happened. I went to go see the show, big show, and he was a champ back then. And Pat Patterson was on the same flight I was on. You have to understand, when I was in the AWA, I got the know through my buddy, Lee Marshall, Classy, Freddie Blassie, who was him and Captain Liu were my favorite guys, you know,

as far as entertainers on the show. And I love Freddie. And he, Lee Marshall put me together with him. And, you know, Freddie was a god till the day he died up there. and I sent him my tape and he brought it in for Pat Patterson to see and Pat was like he's got he's got something

but he's also he's like Andre de Jain is a manager because I towered over everybody you know and that killed me right there being a manager in WWE Pat when Hogan was working with Warrior.

I'm working for large championship wrestling as a color commentator and a manager. And I was up there that day, one of those days they were there, and they had just driven off. And Pat was still there. And he basically told me, you know, you're just too big. You know, so Pat and I had talked. And then, you know, the, you know, the Cadillac

driving a pink Cadillac. my boy Luke from the Bushwhackers. You've seen pictures of him at my club and shit. And back in those days, and he's like, The Diamond, Cadillac, Dick a Hockey Talk Man, and Jimmy Hard, and you're doing rhythm and blues thing. You know, I was like, that would be cool.

So he calls Pat, puts me on the phone with Pat, and says, how much? I said, well, if you'll ship it up there, because it is a 60, you know, 62 pink, you know, Cadillac, you know, and this was a 90, 80, it's 90, 90, whatever, whatever Warrior and Hogan were facing off in Montreal, in that same building, you know, not Montreal, into Toronto, the Blue Jays play. Roger's Center, or it's Skydome. Skydome.

Skydome. So, you drive it up there. and you let me drive it and put me up, I'll give it to you for nothing. That's how the car got the gig, not me. But again, it got in the form more relationships over that and meeting people. What a lot of people don't understand is it's not about clicks.

It's about relationships. And clicks can come out of that, you know, and get a group of tight guys together. but you build all those relationships. You got to remember when I first started going from being a wrestling, a wrestling manager to a, to a wrestler, the guys I was hanging with was Stone Cold Steve Austin,

Kevin Nash, Scottie the Body, but later Raven, Scott Hall. Eric Bischoff, you know, was from W-A-W-W, or excuse me, AWA, Dusty,

I mean, Jake, these are the people that I'm hanging with and building relationships and what happened, almost all those guys. Like,

Raven should have been, like I brought up to the main event plenty of times. And if they would just, if Goldberg didn't get hot right then, when we were doing the trade, and we were going to trade the U.S. title back and forth,

it would have moved Scottie to that spot he deserved. to be in because I'll tell you, man. Scotty, I just got to call him Raven. Raven has one of the best minds for the business, and he proved it up there working with one of the other best minds for the business,

Paul Heyman. What do you remember from that superplex with hardcore Holly that really effectively ended your WWE run? Right. I remember, because, you know, Bobby works for Super Sith, and that's where he gets a name Mark Corolla and I lit him up in the corner with some punches, threw him in the turnbuckle,

and like I can judge your foot. I could make a little like it ripped my head off, but you got to hold it there. And Bobby would later apologize because he last second caught me. And my neck only moves so far, even back then. And when it hit me, boom, it kind of staggered me. Now, when he would come through with a clothes line, I would always, he's been gone. Like, I'm not going to be there to take that hit. But I was knocked a little silly and my timing was off. So when he hit me, it apparently frigging, like, jackknifed my neck,

like whiplash type thing. And by the time I hit the mat, I'm like, okay, I have no idea where I am. So it wasn't the superplex? No, no. That'll tell you what happened from the superplex. This is what led up to it. Oh. So I have no idea where I am. Now, this isn't the first concussion I've had. Sure. You know, and the one thing you learn, you know, if you're in a match, look for a red light.

Now, if there's a red light, that means we're on TV. If we're on TV, we have a time limit. If it's not TV, I would have said throw me to the floor, you knocked me out. let the cobwebs. Okay, where that fucking am I? Yeah. You know, but it's a red light. So Bobby goes to slam me.

I go, dude, you knocked me out. What's next? He goes, going off the top rope, stop me. And I remember, oh, I'm a suplex. I'm off the top. So he goes to climb up and I've never seen anybody do this before. I've seen people do it after me. But instead of just running over and hitting the guy's legs, that's stupid to me,

I would dive on the middle, on the rope, which makes it wiggle, and he nutshots himself. So we get that pop. Then I come over to him, and I hit him a couple times, and I'm going to go up the second rope. We're going to go up the third rope, and I went, maybe not. I want to make sure I get him flat.

So I'll put him on the second, one on the third. We come back. I was so focused, hyper-focused on getting him flat that I didn't think about myself. and you're supposed to hit your whole body and whole body so you absorb the impact together and that it's not as stiff

still stiff but it's not as stiff I landed on top of my shoulders I land on top of my shoulders my body jackknit and I hear him go oh and I'm on my neck I'm thinking what's he bitching about

I know I landed flat Yeah. But now I'm like my fingers and my toes. Yeah, you're favoring your arm as soon as you go down. Yeah. But I feel like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. So your first thing you want to do is, am I, can I still move my toes and hands? You know, because if you can't.

Yeah, you're paralyzed. Yeah. And that could go away. Yeah. But I felt the shock hit him. Like, I'll do this sometimes. I go, oh, fuck, what was that? And just like a stinger.

And it only lasts for a second. but I'm dying. I'm praying. It never, he just keeps going. But I realize, like, I'm hurt.

Like, I'm hurt. And he goes, you okay? And I said, no, go home. And he was going to fucking catch me

with something. And then I was going to fucking hit him with a diamond cutter. So I hit him a diamond cutter. And I'll never forget. I would throw my pan out. I grabbed my neck and I'm like, oh God.

So now we're backstage. And what you always do is you thank your boys, you know, for great match, man. Thanks for tonight. And when he's coming up to me, he hugs me, he goes, man, sorry about that boot. He goes, I know I caught you in a boot. Like, hey, fuck, I ain't checkers.

You know, he goes, but I know I got you with that clothesline. And he's doing this with his arm. And you look like right here. And you see my jaw imprinted. He goes, I thought it tore my bicep. That's how hard he hit me? Wow.

So he goes, but you got me back. I said, how did I get you back? He goes, when you jackknifed, your foot came around so fast and so hard, you hit me to dick so hard. I thought my dick was on fire. And that's what everybody did, Roared. but uh you know i probably you know when my when my spine guy who first guy to make when i blew my back out broke my back he's like you're done and three months later because what would become ddp why i went back to him he's like i've never seen this recovery ever what did you do and i told him

I showed him and he goes, don't stop doing that. I'll keep doing whatever the fuck you're doing. Well, now I go back about my neck. He's like, let me show you something. And he shows me how bad my neck is. And he said, if you would, because he saw the bump. I showed him the bump. He's like, if you would have landed, you were so lucky.

If you were to land a little to the right to the left, you'd be a quadriplegic right now. You need to be done. Wow. Yeah. And I was never really happy with what they did with me there at all the first time. I feel like in WWE, if you were a WCW guy, they just didn't want you to be successful. Well, you know, I never took it personally. I did take it personally in the beginning.

I shouldn't say. Never did. I did take it personally in the beginning. But I realized later, it wasn't about me. It didn't matter. If Booker was the only guy there, it would have been him. If any other guy would have come in who was a top guy, it would have been them. They wanted it to be me because I was one of the, the biggest faces.

I was the only guy besides Goldberg that WCW ever made. Like at that level. Yeah. You know? And they wanted it to be that character. It's funny, you know, in hindsight thinking back about WCW, Ray Mysterio doesn't feel like a WCW guy. You know what?

Ray's AAA, WCW and WWE, but he's really done. He's 20 years in WWE. Which is ridiculous that you even say, but 20 years on top. Maybe not tip top of the top, but there were times a series, but tip top and a top. Yeah. One of the greatest performers of all time. It's fat. Like, I watch Ray Mysterio do one of those things where we went out of the ring and flew down and landed on guardrails.

Like, how are you not throwing your ACLs out? How can you still walk? But he can't. Yeah, that guy, like, he's very mobile still. He's still, I mean, I love the guy, man. And you're speaking to him, you got to put, you know, I, and I said this six months ago or five months ago, whatever it was. I said, if I was booking, I would put Dominic over every time he went to the rain.

Just because the heat is so amazing, the heat he's got. And you talk about a kid has been thrown in the middle. in the middle of the fire. Like, not like, you know, you can learn to swim. You're getting thrown in the middle of fire water. And I think he's done an unbelievable job. You know, considering when he's not on the road, he's like what I did.

Go back to the power plant. He's going back to the performance center. He's got some big shoes to fill. Well, you know, I think that, I don't think it's about him filling the shoes. Because Ray Mysterio, there's one. It's like there's dusty roads. One, now you could say Cody or Dustin,

that's a big shoes filled, but no, they did their own thing. So I really don't think that's a case with him, but I think he could have a hell of a career. You know, as long as he takes care of his body, I think the kids are just going to get better and better. And, you know, the heat that he has is crazy. You speak to Cody like every day, right? No, God, no.

I might talk to her every week or so, a couple weeks. sometimes it's a month we won't talk can you believe the crowd reaction when he comes out now with the wow i think that it's when you can get the fans involved like that they feel like they're a part of what you're doing yeah for me it was a diamond cutter sign yeah without the diamond cutter sign i never get the push i got because the bucket committee never saw it they never saw it when Scott, like, I listen to Kevin Sullivan, who I love, you know, there was times, oh, you know, when we were, you know, oh, God, but I love them, you know, we all, we all let all that bullshit go.

But there was times where, you know, well, I was listening to one of his podcasts, what he did on me, which I thought was really good. And he talked about Kevin wanting to do this, to be dropped by me. And it was my, he thought it was Kevin's idea. And I told everybody, this is not my idea. You know, because I don't want it to be, you know, I want Kevin. Sure, I do. And Kev, he fucking, he made it happen.

Him and Scott both did. It never would have happened without Kevin and Scott. And I'm, you know, deeply indebted to both those cats for that. So I've got two more questions and then we're going to go work out. You're going to put me through the gauntlet. Yeah. Again, who's on your pro wrestling Mount Rushmore? Oh.

yeah of course gotta be flare you know gotta be jake uh i gotta have dusty up there because it's mine you know uh just thought he was this unbelievable and um i'm gonna put five guys put hogan and austin up there you know those fucking guys did a lot just monstrous for the business yeah like i feel like without the hogan era everything after that doesn't happen now then without Austin, specifically Austin McMahon. Sure. WCW probably wins the rating war. Yeah.

And without that, without that, you know, those are two major pivotal. Like, Austin was in such a, and still was today. You know, it was like, he could go back there tomorrow and be the most important guy in the company. Yeah. And not do, just do shit like he did with, uh, K.O. You know, outside the ring and stuff. stomping and popping.

He's still top five merch seller every month. And dude, he's friggin' Austin. That's why he has to be on that Mount Rushmore. He has to be up there, you know? And just when we were on the road together in the beginning, because he don't drive with many people, you know, he frigging, he'll just do a, I can remember going to Chattanooga, but he lived here in Texas.

And I don't remember who I was driving with, but all I know he just drove by me. He made sure he was just never in front of me to see him, and then he took him. So I end every conversation with gratitude because it's such an important part of my life. Sure. And I want to say I'm super grateful for you

and for our friendship and just for the person that you are. And I know that a lot of people acknowledge you, but I just want to sit here in front of you and acknowledge you for who you are. I love you, man. I appreciate it, man, because attitude of gratitude is everything. So many people have so many problems. But if you focus on the things that you have,

suppose that you don't have, it does take a lot off. Yes. Because I've been that person who's not doing that. You know, when I was, you know, I tell people, wrestling was the best, most amazing thing I ever did. And it was the worst shit I was ever part of. I mean, there's times I'm making over a million dollars a year.

and I'm like, fuck this job, I'm done, I'm out of here because you get caught up in all that shit as opposed to being focused on what you friggin, what you really have and the spot that you're in. So, you know, if everybody lived life with attitude and gratitude, gratitude, we'd have a lot, people would be a lot happier. What are three things today that you're grateful for? My wife and kids, for sure.

the opportunity to help people with what I'm doing and changing lives on a different level and you know I guess just frigging God's gift of the sight of

my superpowers you know which are all that we talked about today breathing and work out you know work ethic and discipline and like it's just repetition. The more you do something, the more you own it,

and understanding that, you know, and in my older age, patience, you know, I've got, I'm much more patient. I'm not the most patient, but I'm getting better every day. I think we can always be a little bit more patient. I certainly fall into that category.

Everyone does. Thank you. It's so good to spend time with you. I love you, I love you too, buddy. Great time. There we go. Love that guy. What a great guy and just a great conversation. And it's amazing when you look at his career and everything that he's accomplished.

Of course, in his wrestling career, it's incredible, but everything after that. And I am truly honored and grateful to be able to call him a friend. Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you listen to episode number 500 and tag us so we can share it out. on Twitter he is at real DDP. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and I'll leave you with a quote that spoke so much to me here.

It's attributed to Mark Manson. He's the author from the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving an F If you enjoy this, please maybe share out this quote. It's attributed to him but I feel like I've heard it from other people as well. Stop complaining about results you didn't get from work you didn't put in.

Be great and be great We will see you on the next one. Episode number 501 for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today.

No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be?

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