Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Lil Yachty: WWE Debut Match, Trick Williams, SNME, Gingerbread Man Segment, Celebrities In Wrestling

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

Lil Yachty (@lilyachty) is a Grammy-nominated rapper who has been making appearances in WWE since March 2026. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Atlanta, GA to discuss his WWE debut against Baron Corbin at Sunday Night's Main Event, how much he hurt after the match, his real life friendship with Trick Williams, if he wants to wrestle more matches, being a massive CM Punk fan growing up, being referenced by Eminem in a song, Michael Cole being a fan of his music, and more! Please support our sponsors: SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount SUPERPOWER: Head to https://superpower.com and use code CVV at checkout for $20 off your membership. Get 100+ biomarkers tested every year, plus a personalized health plan and on-demand care team. Detect early signs of 1,000+ conditions. #superpowerpod HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flees! Thanks for inviting us to your house for this. Of course. This is, this for me is, I'm inducted. It's a few things that I felt like I had to do before I could like say I'm a wrestler. I still really can't feel like I could say it, but getting the Chris interview, this was a proud of me being able to say that I'm in the WWE now. Well, you are. So we're sitting here right now a day after your debut match, your Sunday night's band.

Sunday. How are you feeling? I feel like shit. Really? I feel like someone hit me with a bag of bricks. What hurts the most? My kneecaps. But when I woke up this morning, my shoulder felt dislocated at my kneecaps, my shins. I couldn't even tighten my hand.

And as the days going on, everything's like loosening up. When I first, first sat up in the bed, it was the most pain I ever felt in my life. What? Shins, knees, whatever this is behind. the kneecap, my back. My lower back, I feel like I'm resting for 20 years. Man, it's bad.

What was the spot that, like, hurt the most? The clothes line. Yo, bro, when I tell you, so it was the kendo, I came in, I hit him with the kendo, and I charged up to give him another one,

and he gave me that clothes line. And it's so funny because I've, my entire life, I always, two things, A, wonder what a clothesline felt like. Like, because JBL used to make him look so disgusting. All the clothesline from hell. Oh, my goodness.

The clothesline from hell was so, like, just, it looked so excruciating. So it was like, I always wondered what they felt like, and I was like, I always wanted to take one. And I don't think that was anywhere near JBL's, but it hurts. So, and I thought it would not at me. And I thought when he first did it, I thought I wasn't going to, be able to finish. Like, I could not breathe at all. Like, that was not selling. Yeah, Corbyn you with that clothes on. That was not selling at all. And I think that was a receipt for me hitting him with that microphone. Oh. But, uh, I don't know. Felt like it. It hurt so bad,

bro. I was sitting there and I was like, oh my God. That and then when he threw me at the barricade, that shit really hurt too. Did you realize how hard you would hit him with the mic? No, no. I didn't know what the blood came from. I thought it was a Kindo shit, uh, Kindo stick shot. I thought I hit him.

I thought I hit him in it with the kingdom, but I didn't even, it's so crazy, bro, because I just like really in the moment of it, do not remember. Like, I remember it, but like I don't remember when, I remember that clothesline.

It was painful. And I remember being, thrown to that barricade, but I didn't see that blood. I didn't, like, I saw, I think maybe I saw it eventually, but when I hit him, it was, you know, honestly, it's funny. I think about it, it was extremely overstimulating. Like, the whole thing, like, from people screaming at you to, like, just trying not to get your ass kicked.

Like, it was just over-stimulating. Did those five minutes feel really, really long or really, really short? neither. It felt just like, man, it's so weird. It felt like, I don't want to say flow state, but it felt like this weird space where like nothing in the world existed. And time didn't even exist until like the last 10 seconds. I didn't look at the clock until like 13 seconds. You know, not once that I look at the clock because again, it's overstimulating. I can't even think about the time because I'm like just like trying to exist. And then like my friends were fucking with me. They kept screaming at me. You know, it was a lot. Tyler was screaming at me, fucking front row. He kept shouting shit at me.

It was, yeah, it was, man, it was, I've done thousands of shows. I've done hundreds of shows in that arena. It's never felt like that, ever. That Hurricane Ronnie you did. That video's everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Nailed it.

Man, it shocked everyone. you know um and i tell you man i was scared as shit when i first practiced that move like i was like really scared until it's kind of like anything in life i guess where like you just got to get one out the way but the first one i think i sat on that rope for a little minute until i was like fuck it man fuck it hit it i was like i could do it yeah the wrestling thing man it really is I mean, it's as similar to music as I'd expect it to be like any crap where it's just, you have to rehearse. Like, not rehearsed, but you have to get the reps.

You know, like, you have to, that's why I like bringing back the live event shows makes so much sense to me. So they get the reps in, yeah. We got to talk about that CM Punk versus Kevin Owen's match recently for the WWE title on Smackdown. It was nuts, and I was lucky enough to be right there for it. And what I say right there, I mean right there behind the announced table. Second row. Big thank you to Seekek for the amazing tickets and for sponsoring this episode.

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Twice. Twice, man. And his punches fucking hurt. I'm telling you, he's big. He's a big dude. Yeah. Yeah. But if you're talking about having an opponent for your first match

who's going to take care of you, you couldn't ask for someone better than Baron. No. No. No, no, Tom, Tom, he, like, it worked, you know. I mean, again, though, this wasn't expected. Like, I didn't expect to come to W.A. and Russell. I was like, man, I want to be the best manager ever.

That was my thing. I mean, not ever. I all respect to Paul Hammond. I want to be the second best manager ever. And wrestling was not in my car. It's not one match, not two matches. Like, I was like, I'm gonna come manage and have fun. Maybe even, like, try to be one of the brand managers,

like, be a SmackDown manager or, like, you know, like... Oh, you'd be like Teddy Long? Yeah, or like Kurt Engel or McFoly when they were like the manager for like a month. Okay, yeah. And just, like, really have fun running the brand for like a month or something. I really wanted to do it when, when Nick went into this shit with, the Gunther. Yes.

I was like, I was like, Triple-A's, can I be managed for a minute? Because I just would have raised absolute hell. Rock,

it still happened. Yeah, it'd still be the smack down general manager at some point. I mean, you know, we'll see one day, maybe.

Yeah. I'm always, I feel like, I'm always like trying to plant some kind of seeds. So if you didn't want to ever have a match,

how did this match come together? I think AAA just wanted to see it. I really do. I would love to know, actually. If I had a guess, I'm sure if I had to just do it through it out there in the writer's run.

And I could just imagine like AAA's just be like wanting to see me get my ass beat or something. Because I don't even know how we got here. Look at this view. Yeah. There's someone wakeboarding behind you here.

What a spot. Yeah. This is crazy. Well, how did this all come together? in the first place. How did you even start to work with WWA? Okay, so my pre-K birthday party was a WWF Attitude birthday party. My older brother watched wrestling. He loved WCW. So since WCW versus NWO revenge on Nintendo 64, I watched wrestling.

And play wrestling video games. I play WWF attitude. I play, shut your mouth, I play, just bring it, I play, smackdown one, I play. I played the raw game on Xbox. I played raw two. I played all the SmackDown versus Raws. I watched Raw every week. The bathroom rug in your bathroom? The SmackDown versus Road 2006.

Rug, you know what I'm saying? I was engulfed in the rest of my entire life. I became, I'd say high school, because I think my last game I had was 2009. And then I went to high school, and I stopped watching. And so what happened was bad blood came. to Atlanta.

And I don't know if I got invited or I was like, I just heard about it, and I reached out for tickets, and I came. And, man, I was like, oh, you know what? I think, man, shout's out to Pete Rosenberg. I don't know if he invited me. I think I went and I saw him. And I sat with him and I just, man, I instantly fell back in love. So that's 2024.

Yep. And that day on, I did not miss a taping on TV every week, Monday and Friday. I tried to watch some NXT, but every Monday and Friday I watched, I don't know how many Peelies I caught. I went to so many Peelies. And I was just like, I knew everything about everything. And I'm the type of person where I'm like, I set goals. The highest goals I set, like, it was my goal in high school was to become a rapper, right? But I had no, like, handbook.

I had to do it. It was just like a goal. I said, I've always set really crazy goals. And I was just, I kept coming. I spent all this money on flights and hotels and going and watching. I was so investing. I was like, I'm going to see if I could join.

It was a goal I said. And I was like, okay, how do I do it? Because I started thinking about the history. And it was like, usually I let's let me come on for a day or, you know, come do some, a little spot. But like, how do I get in it? I was like, okay. I was like, maybe if I'm, I'm going.

I'm going. And I'm going with the craziest vintage merch. And I'm just trying like, that's my first thing. Yeah, there was a photo of you. you with Triple-H, you're wearing a WWF attitude shirt. And there were a lot of people in the comments being like, oh, this guy knows. Yeah.

He's a fan. And then, and then Rock kept wearing, to the point where that, eventually it was like, they were like, please stop wearing WWF merge. They said that to me. That's funny. Yeah, like, could you not wear the, well, when I came to the company, they're like, could you not wear the, the F stuff, you know?

Get the F out. Yeah, just E, you know. Then I did the, when I had my PSP and I showed the, game on the screen. Yes. And I was like, I'm gonna just keep coming. And those moments were going viral. So I was like, um.

Yeah, what a crowd shot that was. Yeah. It turned around the P. I mean, the fact that you had the PSP was one thing. I was like a turn it around and it's SmackDown versus Raw. It's like, oh. Yeah, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, I was a moment. And so that was the thing.

I was like, I'm gonna just keep going, right? And so then eventually, I met Neil, who was just amazing, man. Shouts out to Neil. I got nothing but the most. love. Neil's in charge of all the music for WWA. Yep. The man.

Neil is the guy. My guy. And I don't know if I asked him if there was ever opportunity somehow for me to do something, anything. Y'all need the floor scrub, anything, I'd love to do it. And he's like, I'll let you know, let you know. That went on for a long time. And then WrestleMania was coming around. It's like, man, how would you like to walk out trick for the entrance?

I was like, like, like, you? Like, you know, I was like, fuck yeah. And then, so I was like, I'm so invested. I know what it's like when a, I know what it's like when a celebrity walks out or does something randomly with WW. IWC does not fuck with it. In general, it's just weird. Yeah, wrestling fans don't want to see that. No.

So I said to him and said, hey, man, this opportunity is amazing. I would love to do it. But is there any way, and I'm down to cover all my. cost, whatever, if I could somehow make it make sense that I'm walking them out. I didn't want to just pop up on wrestling. I was like, a couple of smackdowns before could I come to a smackdown and introduce our friendship? And it's funny, at the time, I didn't know Trick. I met him twice at a couple shows, but we didn't have a relationship. And I was like, man, could I like, it's in some way that we could like

I wouldn't like trying to like insert myself in the story but I was just like can we make it make sense for me to walk him which was then it started with me and Trick got on the phone and we talked for like man almost two hours when I guess the idea came to him he DM me and we got on the phone and we just instantly clicked and we like talked of like

a million storylines a million ideas and then it started with the Instagram post where he invited me we came I came and I paid for my own flights on all that stuff our own flights on a whole test for like a good minute it was a few months before they ever started paying for the flights and stuff. But I was that investing. I wanted to show them like, hey, I really want to do this.

Did the first one. I think they was like, oh, man, he can kind of talk on the mic. Did the second one. It's like, okay, he's kind of good at this. I was on time. I was there. I was diligent. Had no problems.

Snacked WrestleMania King and Bruce Pritcher stepping down the fucking goat. I feel like it really is a dream for me because all these guys are just like absolute. legends. And Bruce sat me down in the rehearsals and it was like, first I thought I was in trouble, pulling me aside and he was like, you know, like, man, you're here more than, you're here more than I am. And he's like, man, what the hell, man? What did you say if you come on down and you'd be with the family? I was like, what? I was like, what? He's like, man, I was like, I couldn't believe it. You know, and offer me a contract. And it's, it's, it's like, it's like, it's like, man, I was like, you know, and it's like, you know, and it's like, it. And it's, it I was just like, I actually did it. I was like, I can't believe if I actually did it. Like, I didn't think. Like, obviously, like, the goal, you set the goal, and to achieve the goal is the goal.

But, like, I didn't really think I were going to, they were going to let me do the rest of the room and it would be done. And then when he offered me a contract, I was like, wow, this is fucking awesome. So at what point did you start actually training and taking bumps? About three months ago. About three months ago, And I do everything to the stream

I damn, I'm damn near the price of buying a house in Orlando. I'm just that extreme of like just like getting an opportunity and like really committing to it. But I also went to Orlando and kind of fell in love with that I love it down there. And it's just in this journey, man, I've met so many awesome people that just long lifetime friendships with

that have just like elevated me and like just are pushing me in the direction that I want to go on my life at this point, you know? It seems like you've built a real friendship now with Trick Williams. Like when we pulled up to the house here, you and Trick, like Trick drove you here. Man, that is like my brother. Like I, I, things like that, like that relationship, I couldn't have paid for it. I could have asked for it.

That was like dropped down from like God, you know, like. I couldn't have asked for that friendship, man. That guy, man. He has just, he's been like the most positive influence on my life. I've ever had, ever. And I've always wanted, like an older brother like that. You know, like, I mean, just, I don't, I'm not even going to, like,

I don't want to put him over, like, too much. But, like, man, he has, he's really helped change my life for the better. not only with like the wrestling stuff and the opportunity like I'm grateful for that too but like off camera like man just like my health and like training and and and just the way he lives his life I come from rap you know it's dark you know we live a different life you know I'm up all night you know it's a lot of drugs and women and it's just like it's a different lifestyle where trick trick is like a really really scheduled, really healthy, really clean, on point, just like structured guy. And just being around him, it's really reshifted my brain in so many ways of life that he would never even know or understand because it's just, it's just an image I haven't had around, you know, being in studios or rappers and in the club or whatever. Like, just the way he lives, it's just.

shifted me. It feels like putting you guys together levels him up, right? Put him with a Grammy nominated artist like levels him up. Levels you up too, right? 1,000. Because you immediately get put into this

relevant storyline. But even more than that, again, like that stuff is great, but I'm telling you, in real life, it leveled me up. Yeah, that's great. Like, I mean, like, just eating and gym and, like, I lost so much weight. And, like, I just put on so much muscle.

like I'm still doing it. It's only been like two and three months, but like just the path that I'm headed on. I wouldn't have for sought it. I don't know if that's the word. If it wasn't for him. So that's why I like have no problem going on camera and like being his like guy,

even though I'm like 50 times more famous and more known and more rich and more successful and more all these things than him. But like I would, like I'll be his guy on TV. And I have no problem. because he's the things that he's without trying you're not trying to like tell me what to do and how to live my life but just like seeing him do it has pushed me in that direction because it's true you are who you hang around yeah you know so um if you're aware of how wrestling fans would feel

about you going to wrestling how did you think about your fans your music fans how did they feel about you being part of wrestling well first off I think wrestling fans in the beginning absolutely hated the fact that I joined at first Yeah, you've really won them over. Oh, man, I was just made trick with just talking in the car about, like, I was like, man, I can't go anywhere. Like, I have to stick around, bro. I'm just getting some love.

You think you got another match in you? I think I got tons of matches in me. So you go from I don't want to wrestle ever to give me more matches. It wasn't I won a wrestle, I just had no intentions of it. I'm the most unathleted person ever. Last night, I can't believe I did that. But that's where, like, three months of pure training. I had two a days, man.

I was doing shrimp training and wrestling training two days, man. Like, I was really dedicated. How much have you had to dial back music? Almost all the way. I'm still recording like I would try to record after, but it was so tough because two-a-day wrestling trainers were really tough. And then you've got to get your rest in, recovery. But I wasn't resting.

I was in the studio all night. I was in the studio from like seven to like four in the morning or five, and I come to the Airbnb, and I'd sleep. and I had Russian train at 11 a.m. with Coach Norman Smiley, and he didn't want you one minute late. And so I would get up at 1045. And I had like a 15, 14 minute drive. And I was there at 1059, 11 o'clock every day. I mean, I was right on the money every time.

Like, smile at me. I would tell him I'm here when I wouldn't even hear because I knew it would take him like two minutes to come to the door. So I was like, I'm here. And I'd be down the street doing like pushing it just to show up. By the time he opened that door, I was like, pulling in the parking, but I'm here, like, no shirt on, no shoes on. Like, I'm getting out the car, like, putting on all my clothes. Because I was running out four or five hours of sleep.

Because I'm still making albums, this album. You're still performing, too. Yeah. Yes, and I would, yeah, go and do a show or go do something. Like, I'm everywhere. But this was, I put this into my forefront. My manager just thinks it's so funny. She's like, I manage a wrestler now.

Because this is, like, become the most important thing. in my life. So like... Yeah, you put something on Instagram where you're like, I think I accidentally changed careers. This is also way more fun

than making music. Like, making music is fun. Performing is fun. This. And I did the match. Doing the match is so different

than going to cut a promo although kind of promo is fucking awesome too. But man, that shit, it's dope. How have your music fans reacted to this career shift

to the wrestling? I think it's... I think they're just, It's like, what? I think I've become an anomaly that could just do anything at this point. But, I mean, from seeing the reaction from last night and this morning, we can have it's everywhere. Yeah.

I just feel like who, it's kind of like one of those things like, who else could have did it? Like, who else, what other rapper could have did it? And it made sense. And it fit. And it didn't feel forced or stretched, you know? Is there any fear? Like, there's a lot of people relying on you for work. Is there any fear if you go out there and break something and maybe you can't perform?

I won't say it's a fear, but it's a thought. I thought last night I thought about, man, I've read and break anything. Because injuries happen. Sure. And I am the most unathletic person ever. And I've never injured myself ever because I don't do anything. I've never done anything. So it's like, fuck.

You know? And I'm not Logan, man. Like Logan is, if he breaks something, he's going to train every day. Now Logan's such an athlete. Bro, Logan is a beast. I don't know. But I don't really live in, like, tomorrow. I'm so in the moment.

We'll cross a broken injury when it happens. But you're not taking it easy out there. This match is Sunday night's main event. You get chokeslam through a table. Bro, if I told you, like, yeah, it was going to be crazier. There's more. It would have been. Oh, yeah.

You dialed it back. I didn't do shit. I have no control over nothing. I was grateful. But I was really going to die. Yeah. But I think for the sake of time, we pulled back for, thank God. But it was going to be bad.

How did that choke slam to the table feel? In the moment, adrenaline was rushing. Yeah. But an hour later, two hours later, bro, I was like, oh, my God, my back. And then this morning. The day before, I went to Cody's gym with Trick and Lash. Shout out to the legend. And they, like, we just did some reps and, you know,

was teaching me some shit. And I did a crossbody the wrong way. And I hit my knee on the crash bat. So that started. And then I was training with my trainer, Ari, Ivy Nile's husband. And, man, I did say that more. They put yesterday morning. I just was doing some, like, some squats or some dead presses.

And, man, I did think my form was a little off. So my lower back was already bad. Then going through that table was tough on my back. Our body's not used to pain. Yeah. I'm not used to, like, fighting. Sure. So.

When you took that first bump, when you were training at the PC, how did that fail? It was the most painful. But the first one, bro, I would never forget it. Is it the one where tricks down and you're falling over trick? Yeah. Yeah, I always tell people who the hardest thing is bumps. Because you have to train your body to fall. Oh, it's so unnatural.

No, bro, it is the most unnatural because that's just not life. Yeah. And it took months and I finally got it. Like last night, I think I bumped great, you know? Like, I don't think I, I don't think I looked silly at all, you know. But, bro, it was so, so, so hard. And it took me countless tries and it hurted it so bad, bro. So many countless tries are falling and falling in my head and hitting my head and not falling right in my back.

And, like, bro, I would leave there so sore in those rolls. Yeah, running the ropes hurt. Fuck. Bro, for months, I didn't even do any moves. I just got beat up. Like, I just, like, fell on myself and, and conditioned. And it took so long for me to get in shape because I was so out of shape. I had to stop, man.

Like, I was, you know, I was doing our drugs. So I probably stopped drinking, lean, like, five months ago, six months ago. So I wanted to stop. Once they told me, like, I had an idea that, like, I, because originally, I don't even know if I, I probably can't say that. I won't say that. But, but so there were different plans at first. Okay. And the second I heard, like, a possibility of maybe, I was like, oh, I'm taking a city.

I stopped, I stopped drinking. And I was like, I didn't start working out yet, but I like just, because I already knew that process. I've been, you know, drinking. And I'm not, by the way, not glorifying. and I'm just being honest here for 10 years, you know, I've been drinking. And so, like, I stopped and it was like nasty withdrawals and it was dark and it was like, it was like tough. But also, Trick was the big influence on that, you know? You go around Trick and he's cleaning, he's up and he's, ooh.

It's like, I'm like, oh, I didn't want to like, you just, man, the guy like really just like influenced me to like just want to be a better person. So good, such a good husband to his wife, just seeing him. around Enriel and how he treats her, opens every door, holds all her stuff. I ain't ready for that yet. But you want to continue down this health path. Yeah, absolutely.

And so I quit doing drugs and was like, just starting to prep my body for some kind of fitness. And it was a journey, man. It took a long, there was a long five, six months of transformation. And I'm still in the very beginning. I know where do I say I look like something. But I'm on this journey and this path to like building myself until like a new me. I'm already a new me.

I'm completely a new me. But like elevated me. You love fashion. So you know a lot of eyes are going to be on you for your debut WWE match. How did you decide where you were going to wrestle in? So I have a deal with Nike. And like my connection with Nike is airtight. And I was.

was just like, man, I feel like, like, WWE, and I feel like, I know they don't let a lot of logos, if any logos on TV, you know? But Roman has a deal with Nike. We had to deal with Jordan. Yeah. I was just about to say, so Roman gets the way we're wearing Jordans. That's it. And obviously, he's the star.

Yeah. And I had a, I got a Nike deal, like a real one. So I'm like, I need to utilize it. That's a sports company, you know? like, this is my first sport tea thing, you know, and I reached out to my rep, so I saw Dylan Foster. He was like, yeah. And I was like, fuck it.

And when I had been training, when I first, I went into Dix or somewhere in Orlando and I found these wrestling shoes and they were Nike wrestling shoes, but they were just regular white and I beat them to the ground. I was like, man, I was so comfortable in those shoes because I was training them every day. It's like, these are the shoes I want to wrestle in, but not the, my guy next decade. they only come in white and black. I was like, can I customize something? Yeah.

And so I made like a couple different cool pairs. I just settled on gold because tricks gold and white. And I was like, I want to be aligned with him. Yeah. But I had some really cool different outfits, like some really cool ones. But I was like, I want to be aligned with him. And I want to wear white. And I want to wear gold.

And it's just like, that's our thing. You know, that is our, you know, things. Yeah. As much as I love clothes, I love colors. And I was like, man, you don't understand. I understand how much, I have a million, you see the clothes and the shoes. Your entire house. It's a closet.

Yeah, it's just full clothes and shoes. So all I want to do on Friday is put on an outfit. Are they a size 12 by any chance? All 10 and a half. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I fucking, but having to align with all white, I mean, it makes it easier because I'm not like going through all this clothes trying to figure out fits every Friday,

but like keeping it white. And then Trick kind of put in my head this idea of like, I started thinking about the toys and thinking about the video game I was like man you kind of want to get yourself some kind of look I love clothes too much though to wear one thing all the time

so I'd be like man I hear you but like I got so much white I can wear some different every day if I want it but yeah yeah yeah yeah I still try to keep it flotto every Friday you know keep it funky and

look at the shirt you're wearing right now oh yeah vintage Undertaker Yes sir It's badass Yes sir I think the first one of the first moves we saw you do in the ring was the people's elbow. Hapha!

Shouts out to Ricky, man. I got nothing but love for Ricky, bro. I'm not going to lie. Ricky is a music head. He's into, I'm a music head. So we kind of bonded over that. I love for music. He's just dope, man.

I fuck with Ricky, bro. He's a cool guy. But I don't even remember how that. I was so nervous to do that because I really did not have any prep on that. And it looks so shit. But that was fun. All these moments, bro, I don't have one moment. I'm like, man, that sucked.

Every time I go there, it is just like, like, I look for it all week to either leave on Thursday night or flying on Friday morning for Smack Man, bro. It is, like, the highlight. It's just more fun than anything else I'm doing. And it only be like, you know, like a five-minute spot or 10-minute. or like, I'm only on TV for like two seconds, but all week I'm waiting for Friday. It's just fun, bro.

Those people are so great. Everyone, everyone there is just like, this is family. So, like, man, they've been with each other for years. I'm new. But they welcome to me. All the women, all the guys in the locker room. Whenever we double tape and, like, we're raw,

everyone is just so inviting. And like, it's not like, oh, this rapper here. They don't treat me like shit Everyone, all the camera ops Just security Everyone in guerrilla Everyone is the doctors All the doctors

Catering Everyone is so nice And everyone's so cool And it is just like I'm like so grateful To be a part Of this thing You know because like especially like

I said I was watching it every week Like I was so infested. And I was like, man, I love this shit. Who was your guy growing up? Growing up? Yeah. Sam Punk. In high school, I used to draw the X's on my hand. And I was going to tattoo him and I just never did it. But I got so many pictures with me with these two Xs on my hand. And I was sober because of San Punk for a long time.

Until like I became an adult. But like my entire like, I didn't do any drugs in high school. I didn't drink. I didn't do drugs. I was like sober. Like you couldn't influence me to do anything because it seemed punk and I was like punk was sober I was sober punk was still sober but but uh

man he was my guy I loved Jeff Hardy obviously um man I used to in 2000 I loved chat and JTG I loved crime mob Oh crime time Crime time was crime mob as a rap group

crime time bro man punk was my favorite though When did you have a chance to finally meet him I wouldn't I find I don't know when I think I met I'm at like at WrestleMania but like

when he came over to Smackdown like I finally like I actually like you know got to have like a little conversation with him then like that's all I'm like you're regular here he said that to me in the hour I was like yes sir

he's the funk because that's literally how I kind of end with him and then meeting Cody man Cody is so cool man and so funny Because, like, in the world, like, I'm a, I'm a celebrity too, you know?

But, like, when I'm there, I genuinely feel like a kid. And I feel like I'm the kid and these are the celebrities. And I'm just like, like, when I see Paul Heyman still and like I have a relationship with him, I'm still just like, wow. Yeah. He's so wise, dude. He's the best. Dude, he is so fucking sick. All of them, though, like, even like Chris having a business as a producer.

Yeah. Like, I watched Teenade growing up. Like, so, like, I try my hardest. Like, I try to, like, limit myself to asking them questions about their lives. Like, I try, like, one or two questions, like, but one time, man, I had Bruce Pritchard, man, I think I felt. So I apologize to him, like, twice or three times. I had him on, like, the side of, like, backstage for, like, two hours asking him questions, bro. Like, I just, because, like, I just had so many questions, bro.

So many things I always wanted my entire life. And he just had all the answers. I got so many answers to so many things my entire life that I just always wondered the truth about. And he just, we talked for like two hours, bro. And I just like, I felt bad. People, his phone was ringing. And people was like, you need to come. I just like, I can't have asked him all these questions.

And he was so nice, man. And actually, I think he enjoyed it. But it was like, because they all love wrestling too. Yeah, of course. You know, it's not like people there because they got to be there. Everyone loves it. So, like, the love is genuine. And it's so, as a rapper, it's hard to find other people with that genuine love.

So when you go there, everyone has a genuine love. It's so awesome, man. You could be free and just, like, talk wrestling. With most people, everyone there don't want to do it. But, like, the ones that really do love it, it's cool. What do you think the biggest similarities are between the music world that you became famous in and the wrestling world? I'm a trick talk about this all the time only similarity is the internet hates

a bunch of haters on the internet with opinions that be loud and wrong other than that nothing bro like rap music rap it is free will I don't know there's no creative you have to create your creative you have to create your storyline storylines just happen you know and they be legit your beeps are real um you know and I guess in the fact that you can be a character. You know, you kind of like everything is what you make it and who's to tell you can't act. And like your character can't be a little fabricated or whatever in your music. But it's very different, man.

And I kind of like that, though, like how being told what I got to do. Obviously, they give me a little more freedom than most people to say what I want to say and be myself, which I'm grateful for because sometimes I look at that script and I'm like, brough, I would not. say this. This is so corny. But they do say, okay, well, you know, the writers are awesome. And like, oh, how would you say? Or do your thing. And they usually always let me do my thing. If it's like something that needs to be in there, they're like, let me know, just make sure you get out this thing, but they let me do whatever I want. And that's why I mean trick when we do any of our promos, they'll come off just like how, so us. Because they just

like, all right, do your thing. Yeah, it feels authentic. Yeah. From the biggest rivalries conference showdowns to every game-changing moment, Believe is where football lives. With more than 500 shows covering NCAA football and the NFL across every major podcast platform, Believe brings you closer to the voices, teams, and stories you love. This season, there's only one network you need to believe in. Believe in the game. Believe Network.

Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Speaking about music and those beefs, When did you find out that Eminem had this line about you in a song? The second it came out, the second it came out, that's not, I wouldn't call that a beef. Because I honestly was, I was so grateful. I feel like, wow, he could have used anyone, but he said my name. And I really thought that was dope. I got love for Eminem now.

If I saw it, I'd be like, thank you. Speaking of music, he was talking about Jim Johnson. Oh my gosh, the goat. The legend. Can we speak about? How was he not in the Hall of Fame? Bro, is he not in the Hall of Fame? No.

Bro, my ringtone is JBL's theme song. Oh, man. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dun. That's one of my favorite Jim Johnson theme songs. I think it is so amazing. That theme song, it was just, bro, There was so much, like, identity in his theme song. From the second, literally one second into the theme song, you knew exactly who it was.

It is, like, it was like, man, he honestly could have produced hip-hop records. Man, I love that you're looking at this through the eyes of your musician. Of course. He was, bro, he was, just the way he produced songs from the jump. He, like, he understood from the jump, you capture the ear because you don't have that much time in wrestling. You know, so, like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm a little bit of, you can't. my iPod and I can play it whenever. It's like, uh, entrance.

And I got to grab you. I got to get choked you in one second. He's a genius. And one of the big things that doesn't get talked about enough with Jim Johnston is he made some of those songs in hours. Like he gets a phone call like, this person's debuting tonight. Wow. Come up with a song.

Wow. And he'll be like, all right, well, what do they look like? What's their character? How do they walk? And he would just put it together. Wow. Yeah. I think that's amazing.

I think even like honestly, I don't know all. I would love to meet him and pick his brain. But like, I'm sure he'd love to meet you. And just like ask him so many questions. Because even the songs he produced that he didn't like necessarily maybe touch like motorhead with triple H or the evolution. That's my favorite theme song.

The evolution theme song, that's my favorite faction and my favorite theme song. It is such a beautiful song sounds like gold to me or. Man, the stage presence of Lemmy. Like his live performances at WrestleMania. He's so bad. We'm out ahead. And we're going to kick your ass. He sounds like he has like three small holes in his lungs.

Like he's like, oh man, triple eight. He was so, like, it was so perfect for Triple H. Yeah, like so much aura. Bro, it was crazy. Randy Orton's original theme song. The one before this one, before. They kills, yeah, yeah. Uh,

uh, tte, tte, yeah. Oh, man. I'm blanking on, on the lyrics, but his thing before

the new one, I always, like, hoped he would come out to it, like the 2009 song. Yeah, oh, bring that back.

I just, like, just how I went, Rosamani and, um, Roman came back out to the old one, you know? Also,

you know, I really loved, I loved, the very small stint of rated RKO when Edge and Randy when they meshed those two theme songs together they don't do that anymore but I think that's probably another Jim Johnson thing when like when a new

a new group would start with two already established some stars and we would just put their theme song together like a Jarrah show exactly yeah yeah and but it was so good because I've always who doesn't love Edge's theme song? Oh it's one of the greatest of all time Yeah, no one, no one doesn't. And I love when.

There's some real underrated bangers from like 90s into 2000s. Like Ken Shamrock's theme song, Steve Blackman's theme song. It's an obviously gangrelle's theme song. Bro, there are so many great attitude era theme songs. Like so many good ones that you just, even like thinking about 36 Mafia. Oh, man. That might be one of the greatest live performance at a WWE show of all time. Yeah.

And then Mark Henry comes out and looks like he could kick anybody's ass on the planet. It's so, that was a random episode of Smackdown. Yeah. Just like, just like that, like random Smackdown with the wedding with Jagged Edge. Bro, there's so many funny moments like in wrestling, like great music moments. I feel like it's not that many great music moments now like there were, but there were some great music moments in wrestling under Vince's Ring. And there's so many just great performances.

And they like meant something. I just think, I think like maybe artists maybe like were more into it at that time, you know. There was a lot more of a crossover, I feel like, especially early 2000s with MTV and wrestling. Like, if you were, you were finding out about new songs. a new artist by watching TRL. We're turning on the radio. Yeah. It's not a thing anymore.

It's different for sure. You want to talk about aura in music. This entrance you had, the video is titled the hardest entrance of all time. What's the story behind that? So the funny thing, man, is that that was my interest like every show. It was just so happy we recorded it once and put it out. And that's funny because I used to do, I performed so much around that time that I used to think there was

even a point of me having a cameraman record the shows because it's the same show

every time it's always turned, they're always lit the same songs. And this

time we just put the entrance out. I posted on Instagram. I didn't even think it was that special.

I just posted it like just to post some content and it went insane. That's one of things like

true morality, you can't fake it. You can't like, you can't frame it. Yeah.

It just happens. But you've seen all these memes that have been made from this. Of course, man. It's just, I don't know, man. It was another day I work. But I think the thing that makes that so special is you can feel your passion. And every single person in that crowd is invested in what you're doing on stage. It's so funny when they tried to make me recreate it for WrestleMania and just completely flatline.

I remember going on the internet and seeing like everyone's shit on that. And I remember thinking like, man, I didn't even want to do that. That was like a, but it's like one of the things when something goes by it was like, try to like capitalize. Yeah. But you can't catch lightning in a bottle twice. No. No.

But along with the IWC, like it's a lot of miserable people. Like, like, there's a lot of like miserable people. Like, they hate life. Or they just hate fun. They just want to bring other people down. Man. But like, if you're a real wrestling fan, you know wrestling has always had fun element to it. It's always had a silly adorn to clown.

Like, what are we talking about? It has not always just been super serious. Like, it's always been fun moments in wrestling. Fucking horn swoggle, I mean, boogie man. And some of them work and some of them don't. May Young giving birth to the hand. Katie Vic, you know, one of the worst storylines of all time. some of them work and some of them don't.

Bro, the, the, the, fucking, I'm blanking on name, but it was like eight male cheerleaders. At one point. Spirit Squad. Yeah, Spirit Squad. Dolph Ziegler was one of them. I didn't even know that. That's crazy. Nikki.

Nikki! Like, so it's like, there were always a silly element. There was always a silly element to, like, wrestling. And they act as if, like, just now under Triple H's controlled, just started having silly stuff in WWW. But, you know what it is, is that we have the inner. it now like back then you had to complain on a wrestling form somewhere and like maybe a couple people saw it but now we have this big ex platform and instagram and everyone's opinion is so

heard now everything's so connected tic-tok so now it's just everyone's opinion back then you probably just had to complain to the people at the tv set but now yeah or you had to wait till the next morning to complain to somebody at school or at work right it was local complaints yeah but now everyone feels the need to voice their absolute pain. I said this when Chelsea Green was on the show recently. The best thing about social media is everybody has a voice. And the worst thing about social media? Everyone has a voice.

Everybody has a voice. And shout out to Chelsea Green, man. She is the bump taker. She's up for anything. Man, she is dope. Yeah. She is dope, man. And she's working through this injury right now.

She's worked through all her injuries, right? That's true, yeah. She's fucking dope. I really like respect all. all the women, man. Raquel Rodriguez, my favorite. She's your favorite.

Yeah. I think she's dope, bad ass, bro. I just think she's ill. And what a presence she has. Man, I think, like, I think she, I hope she's bigger.

I think she has the potential to be the most unliked, most, like, just to heal, like, she has it. It's just so funny because then you meet her in real life and she's the sweet.

He's so sweet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry yesterday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but she deserves it. Like, I think she deserves it. Yeah. Like, I don't think she should be in the back. I think, obviously, I love Judgment Day, but, like, I just think she, she, she, she, I mean, she's Icy champ right now, well-deserved.

I love So Ruka, too, by the way. I mean, I love, I love all of them. I think it's just a matter of time before Raquel starts to really break out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I would love to see that, that breakup of. Well, I think it's happening. would love to see. That's a few. I, I, I, they teased it a little, a couple months ago.

Yep. And I was like, it's going to happen. It's going to do. I was so excited for, I want to see it so bad. They teased it. Then it went away. And then they got that cool and it was just like normal. Because I thought when, um, man, I am blanking right now.

Um, when, um, Roxanne came. Yeah. To the group before, um, Liv came back. I was like, ooh, live ain't going like this. Because as much as I'm going to end it, that's nothing about being ending. It's hard to be like, like, I'm still a fan and, like, following. But now I'm like, it's hard to kind of catch it sometimes because I leave and I'd be, like, tired. And it's just like a lot.

But I still try to catch everything. And I remember watching it like, ooh, when Liv come back and like, I didn't, I personally thought Liv wasn't going to fuck with Roxanne. I was like, man, that's not going to work. But it did. And I thought that was going to be. split. I wanted it to be a back girl. I really did.

But I fuck with, I fuck with all that. And J.D. McDonnellman, he's so awesome. Oh, man. Nobody sells like him in WWW. He was such an awe.

I was there that day. He did that dive through the ropes and hit on that announcement table. I was right there. I saw that. It was crazy. Yeah. And they're all, Dom is fucking the coolest hair cutting mustache of all time.

Like, like, I'm just like, I know I'm glazing right now, but like, because it's just true. shit, man. These guys are cool, man. Everyone is fucking cool. We have to talk about the gingerbread man. How did this idea get pitched to you? It's so funny. When it, it was not supposed to work. Like, we, I remember when me and Trick got it and we were like, man, you're sure. But then we just

like, tried to make the most of it, you know, like, when I got the gingerbread shirt printed and And we did the song. And we just like was really clowning him. And like, and that was funny enough. They didn't actually, they didn't pitch gingerbread man. That was something we said. Like, because he was ginger. And I just, me and Trick just clowning him, calling him gingerbread man.

And I, you know, had got the gingerbread cookies. And, bro, we just had fun with it. You know what I mean? Me and Trick, we always get on the phone or text and or shit. Be together. We would just think of ideas. How are we going to say. is what we're going to do.

And we spend, you know, we'll spend the whole day in my dressing room just like trying to figure out what are we going to clown or what jokes we're going to make or. And it just stuck. And then it turned into like a thing. And it was so fun. I thought the gingerbread man funeral was so funny. And the fact that the face of the gingerbread man looks completely different now that he was gone. It was so silly.

It was so sick. I mean, again, people forget this entertainment, man. and it's supposed to be funny. It's supposed to be fun. And, yeah, it's like good wrestling, but it's like, entertainment and fun and, like, have fun, man, like, don't be so uptight. People are so, like, sometimes I'll be thinking,

it's like, damn, you just want a car full of five-star matches? I have fun. That segment was right out of the attitude era. And I think people forget that that's the type of stuff you'd have in the attitude era, along with Austin and Rock and McFolly and Undertaker and Kane and all that stuff. but the announcer's taking a serious tone

and then the choir singing the song. How long were you in the gingerbreadman costume? Too long, bro. Too long, and in it, it feels like, bro, in it, it feels like forever. Just like, it's so interesting, this is my first wrestling interviews. I don't know what I can and can't say.

It's hard for me to like know, I don't really know how deep to talk into things. It's really interesting for me because when I do interviews, I'm such a free speaking person. I just say whatever comes my mind in here. I'm like, I don't really know how to approach certain things. So, but, uh, just, I think we know where K-Fabe exists in 2026.

Unreal exists. Yeah, fair enough. Just like, like, for instance, I think Tricks Match was 10 minutes last night. It felt like 20 with me selling on that floor, man. like for that belt spot. Yep. It felt forever, man. So like in that shit, man, that five, ten,

however many minutes, bro, it either goes really fast. So it's like. So when you're in the gingerbread costume, you're in the coffin. First time in a coffin. Okay. Hopefully the last until many, many years are most. Until the time last, right?

Yeah, like, bro, that... You're the sit-up in the coffin. The sit-up in the coffin, like the Undertaker. Yeah. I had to practice that, bro. That's perfect. I had to practice that. I had to, like, they had to pad my feet up so I could push it.

I don't have the apps for that. That's app work, man. Shout out to the undertaker, bro. Like, that's ab work sitting up. What was your cue to sit up? How'd you know? I forgot. I had one, though.

I can't remember what it was, but I forgot. Because it was so perfectly done, right? We see over Sammy's shoulder. Yeah. The gingerbread man sitting up. Who's the gingerbread man? You take off the head. Hey, it's Liljati.

Yeah. Bro, they know what they're doing, bro. Like, people like to talk shit, but, bro, the WWE, bro, they are so good with playing the shit. Last night, bro, like, me in Atlanta with the, the way it worked out with the, like, putting me on a flyer, put me on the chair. Yeah, you were on the chair. Bro, I was on the chair. That's a, like, child of dream of so many wrestling chairs in my garage. to be on one.

Like, these aren't things I'm, like, asking for my contract. I need to be, like, I would never, that's out and outrageous acts for me. When they show me the graphic of, I'm going to chair,

my jaw drop. It's like, what? I don't know how many non-wrestlers have ever been on a WWE chair. I don't know of any. Yeah, I don't know the stat out there,

but yeah, that's pretty incredible. And then how many, like, amazing wrestlers who haven't, You know? Just like fantastic wrestlers who haven't been on a chair. I'm grateful.

I am extremely, I don't take any of this for granted. I pray that my wrestling career is lasting. Like I would completely put music second in a heartbeat. Oh, wow. But, yeah, but if my time ended tomorrow, I'm so grateful. I think people were surprised to hear that you were under a WWA contract. I think that they just thought you were just showing up.

know of, I think it's the first time I publicly said it on here that I'm actually on contract. I think people probably just thought I just loved it. I definitely, I don't think I've said that publicly. So yeah, because again, that's, I think I'm the first rapper to get a contract. Artists, like, of course they have people coming. Yeah, I don't know if Bad Bunny was under a contract or not. No, Travis. No, I don't, um, um, um, jelly. Jelly. I think I'm, I think, on the first, I think. I'm almost surging I'm the first artist on contract.

So do you think this match is the beginning of something? It feels like, because this is the way wrestling works, that we're going to build up to Trick Williams versus Loliotti at some point. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

On a serious, no, they haven't said that, but like, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, bro, he's becoming one of my best friends. So, like, I would love nothing more. Well, who turns on who then? You know?

He's a good guy. He wouldn't turn on me. Oh. So you turn on him. Yeah. I don't want to. I want to put that in the air, but. Well, the Kendo stick feels like it's become your weapon.

That's my stick. That's my thing, man. And that shit, have you ever took a Kendo shot? No. It hurts. So bad. Sandman obviously became legendary for the Kendo Stick. Right.

And he said that the way that you tighten it up can either make it hurt a lot or not hurt as much. I didn't know that. So he said it the bands on there. If the bands are really close together, it's stiff like a baseball bat. If the bands are further apart, there's a lot more give to the wood. I think my bands are a little bit loose. I would hope so. It still hurts, bro.

Still hurt. I probably got hit by like Sammy like really lit me up once. Yes. Sammy hit you with a kendo. Oh my God, and it fucking, I was like, this is what I'm doing to people. Shit. And then Sammy hits you with the Huluva kick, too. On the outside.

What a pro, man. On a serious, I know we joked on Sammy like, what a fucking pro wrestler. My goal is to probably never happen, but actually, I don't know, man. I oftentimes I said goals, they happen. My goal is to somehow I get into something with Seth. He's my favorite. Seth?

Yeah. And Seth's just one of the best. You could have a great match with him just because of how talented he is. Man, saying a match with him is very far-fetched, but like if I could, just something with him,

I don't know, anything. Him and Becky, him and Becky are my favorite. He's a big fashion guy too, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that could align. Him and Becky, they both big. in fashion. Yeah.

Yeah. Those are my number ones. How do you feel like the entrance at WrestleMania where you're introducing Trick? Trick. How do you feel like that whole thing came together? Trick's got this massive train coming off of his robe. It's a cool shot.

I don't fucking know. I really don't know. I don't know. It just did. That was kind of like above me. I just kind of like got told. I was so fresh. I didn't have any really.

input on anything. I just kind of showed them and got told what to do kind of. That's why I came out doing and trying to recreate the entrance. That was all their idea. If I had any more foot in the company like now, today, I would have been like, I don't want to do that. I'd be like, it's not going to work. But then

it was kind of like, I'm like a foot soldier and I'm like, I'm still a foot soldier, but like I wouldn't have dared like, I don't know about that. But I wouldn't change it. I love it. I love. Bro, that moment, bro, WrestleMania. That wasn't my first WrestleMania.

I think it was my second one, but my entire life I always wanted to go to WrestleMania. I could never afford it. When was your first one? The one before. Oh. Sitting being able to watch the turn of Paul Heyman. Yes.

On punk and Roman. And, bro, I have clips of me in the crowd. I was, bro, that was such a shocking moment. That was like one of those moments like that. And then I was there for John's Hill turn. both of those that I mean like Oh you were in Toronto for elimination chamber I took Drake I was when it took Drake

Oh you took Drake You guys were right down there Yeah I took Drake Because I was just like bro you have to experience it Like a wrestling match And it was like what better match Than elimination chamber You know

What a crazy Damn I might watch that out to this Elimination Chamber was sick Yeah that was start to finish Yeah like the women's the men Jade came back. Oh, K-O and Sammy Zane. Bro, the K-O-N-Same match was crazy.

That match was crazy. That's an underrated PLE. Yeah, that card is... Because everyone just focuses on what happened at the end. Yeah. And it's a great moment. Say what you want about John Cena's heel run. The heel turn is amazing.

And I feel like that card as a whole doesn't get talked about enough. It was a badass card, bro. Yeah, I don't think anyone expected Randy Orton. That was last year. Yeah, that was at St. Louis. Man, what a fucking bad-ass card. Yeah.

It was great. Yeah. Awesome. I don't think your promos get talked about enough. They are far better than anyone expected them to be. Man, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't, I'm not going to see an act.

I always feel like when I do it, I'm always like, shit. I always think they suck. I was like shit but then you watch it back in like oh no that was kind of funny Is that just because of years of performing being in front of a crowd being comfortable with a mic in your hand?

Yeah I've always been easy I've always been really good talking and even last night I didn't have one jitter I was not nervous at all I was like so excited like and I was my first match you would expect someone to be nervous

but I just I've done thousands of shows man 10 years straight like yeah been booked and I'm rocking 20, 30, 4 50,000, like people, you know, from 1,000 to 50, 60,000 in the crowd. So, like, crowd controls my thing. Even though I watched my matchback last night, it was like so many things I would have did differently.

But next time, hopefully if there's a next time, like, hopefully so. What's one thing you would have done differently? Just, just, like, taunted more. I would have taunted more. I would have, because I have had personality. So I would have interacted with the crowd more. I would have charged up more. I would have just, like, gave it more character, you know?

Yeah. I think I would have ended differently on that top rope. I think I would have ended that moment differently when it was counting down. I would have that differently. And I think I would have to wear a tank top off. I was just trying to do some, like, old boxing shit. But I think I would have took my tank top off. Next match.

Yes. Next match. Next match. But no complaints. It was fucking awesome, bro. It was awesome. Pretty cool thing to check off the bucket list. And I asked everybody a thousand times, what I do wrong?

Did I do that? And no one. I feel like people would have told me. No one had anything to say, which was an honor. And I felt so, like, I know they wouldn't. Like, Paul, he would have told me. You know, he would have told me, like, and he shook my hand. and congratulate me and say, good job, man.

And, you know, Boss Man 3H gave me, like, two hugs. And it was like, man, great. And that's like Nick and Chris, who were the producers, they tell me everybody, Lash. Like, everyone was just like, it was so much, man, the love when I walked through Gorilla. I'm such a fan. It's so, like, weird.

Like, I've watched so much stuff when, like, people do things and they come back and everyone's clapping for them. It's like, I pray everyone claps when I walked back through the curtain. I walked back and everyone's there clapping. It was dope, bro. That's awesome.

Yeah, I was like, damn, I hope I don't go back there and no one's there. I hope it's like a bunch of people clapping. I came back and he was filled and everyone clapped. And I was like, oh, shit. I did it. It was, bro.

It was dope. Shots out Brian Breaker, bro. He showed me so much love, bro. And I love him. I think he's so explosive. When you love him, love people, bro. Yeah.

And you're like a fan and then they show you love. It's like dope. Yeah. You know? I fuck with this shit, man. I really do like, and I don't care.

I'm not in it. I never try to like make anyone believe how much of, like I'm, how invested in how much I love this because it's not for the money. I don't want to anybody think I'm just getting some crazy check.

I'm losing money. All right. I'm losing money doing this. But I love it. I love everything about this shit. And like, You're losing money because you're not performing as much? Yeah, I'm just like everything, I'm not doing anything as much.

Yeah, like, you're in your prime right now. And I don't, like, I'm just, I don't travel light. I got a security guard, I got an assistant. Like, I got assistants. I got, I got, the homies, I got traveling a group. I got, you know, they cover not me, but I got to do, I got to handle everything else, you know, which is fine. I don't mind. But like, I'm just saying it's like, I'm doing this because I love this shit.

And this is like everything to me. Believe is where football lives. From the biggest rivalries, conference showdowns to every game-changing moment, Believe is where football lives. With more than 500 shows covering NCAA football and the NFL across every major podcast platform, believe brings you closer to the voices, teams, and stories you love. This season, there's only one network you need to believe in. Believe in the game.

Believe Network. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Do you have an end goal of how far you want to go with wrestling? No, but I mean, shit, I would love to get in the Hall of Fame. Okay. Which obviously I'm far from, but like... There's a lot of celebrities in the Hall of Fame. That's true.

Snoop's in the Hall of Fame. Mike Tyson's in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, man. Just keep going, man. Just keep going and keep paying my respects to the business. And keep putting the reps in, man.

I want to be like Logan, man. Like, Logan obviously still has his life and still does his things, but like he's in it when he's not fucking injured, you know, but like. But he's still there every week. I'm there every week, you know, but like I just, I like how he, like, I mean that, I mean like in the aspect of like, man, he has matches. Yep. Like, like, I want to have matches, you know.

Obviously, it's going to take time and more training. That's why I wanted to get a house in Orlando so I could really like just grow myself. as a wrestler because it does take reps. When you made your entrance at backlash with Trick Williams, you had actual money that was being thrown into the crowd. I know this because I was sitting in the second row and I grabbed one of those singles and I went, this is real money. Yeah, people tried to say that shit was fake.

That was my, I did it a bunch of times when I was like. How much money? $1,000 every time. $1,000. Yeah, I was sitting in my sister to like the bank or the strip club, local strip club. I was like to get $1,000 in singles. Yeah, yeah. That was your money?

Yeah, yeah, WWW. They wouldn't, they wouldn't, they wouldn't, they wouldn't, they were covering that. I just thought it was cool, you know, and I didn't want to throw fake money. That's not me. I wanted to throw real, my own do it last night. It was a Sunday. I couldn't get to the bank in time. But there's wrestlers that have done like money with their face printed on it.

Yeah. Danhausen. Yeah, Danhausen, yeah. Shane McMahon. That's got his baller. I go to the strip club, man. I throw thousands of dollars all the time. I want to throw real money, you know?

Like, you know, me and that a man. Yeah, stuffing money down people's throats. The best, you know, the best man to ever breathe. If we were to find you backstage before our show, you're about to go out and perform, what are you doing? What's it looking at? A rap show or a wrestling show. Taking a shit?

I always got to take a shit before, always. always we gotta take my shit before my show and uh are we talking five minutes before half an hour before bro it's like usually right before i hate it it's like shit wipe stage i always have to shit right before i like shit and go straight on stage like watch shit watch my hands and go straight my stage uh but yeah probably taking shit or playing a game but but usually taking the shit. Like playing a video game? Yeah.

Hell yeah. What are you playing these days? Shit, smack raw. WWE. Wow. And 2K, NBA 2K, Call the Duty Fortnite. Yeah.

What's the song that really changed your life? What's the song that made things really pop for you? Breathe. Oh, my career. Yeah. My music.

Talks you about a song that changed my life. Sure. It could be that too. Breathe, Pink Floyd. But my career was one night. It's the first song I ever had that popped in 2016 that started my career. But Breathe by Pink Floyd, the whole dark solid moon was like when I felt like I. And I heard that album in like 2017, 2018, so late.

But it like reconfigured my brain to how. music could be made. That album, man, it's just so different, bro. Like, I love Pink Floyd so much, you know?

They were just, like, so ahead of themselves in the 70s, you know? Like, where there was hardware and there wasn't a ton of technology. You know, and they were still, like, making, like, futuristic sounding

alien, like, just out-of-worldly music that created, like the concept that just took you out of body in the 70s. And they were young, early 20s, teenagers, making that rock music. And it was just

fucking ill, you know? Man, music is everything. When things started to change and you had a song that was popping, did you feel it immediately? that life was changing? You know, it was 2016 was a different time,

so virality was, like it was always been virality, but like music was changing. You know, streaming services were just coming. Apple music was just being introduced in title and Spotify was like taking the rain and SoundCloud and all these different, like, ways of the music were like really emerging.

And we had this whole new genre of artists who would just bend, the genre of hip hop. And I was 18, 19 years old. And I think it just was all moving so fast. And it never stopped for 10 years to ever truly, excuse me, ever truly even look at it.

Like the one time when the finding shit slowed down was COVID when it finally stopped. And I was like, whoa, bro, look what I did. Look how quick, look how far I am and where I am. But it took so long. Yeah. because shit was just going nonstop.

Yeah. You know, that happens a lot, man. And I'm grateful for my success. But, like, it's not like a, like, one-time thing. Like, I got lucky. Yep. Like, it starts and, like, just goes. Like, same with this WWU stuff.

That was supposed to be a walkout. I was supposed to be, like, originally I was supposed to be, like, offset walking Javon to the ring at that one. I don't know what Atlanta PLE that was where offset walked Javan to the ring for no absolute reason and it just kind of was like

oh oh okay that's what me and Trigg was supposed to be like I just wouldn't stand for it because I was like I'm finally getting my chance you made it work Michael Cole has said many times that he's a big little Yadi fan so funny

is he actually a little Yachti fan I don't know, but one time he signed a lyric and I was like, when I watched it back, I said, what the fuck Michael Cole know that? He didn't get that lyric from. But Michael is so, man, he's so, he's such a pro. I mean, obviously, he's like with 30 years in? Yeah. And so, like, obviously who can, who can announce better than him, you know? So good.

He's, he, man, he's so dope. Him, Wade. Like all of those guys, bro That's what I mean when I say everyone is so great Yeah Man, it's crazy, bro I really am grateful to like Be in this shit

It's really cool to see where you're doing Yeah Because wrestling fans as you know Are a hard crowd to win over Bro You've won a lot of them over I have And I'm and I'm and I'm

And I found that awesome because bro They were mean as fuck And they are still mean as fuck Don't get it twist it they still fucking hate. They'd be like, man, this shit. Like, this is where you're wasting TV time on. And then they also assume that, like, they're cut.

For some reason, wrestlers are getting cut to pay me. Oh, yeah. That's not happening, guys. They're not cutting wrestlers to pay my bills. I promise. I'm not getting paid that much. I don't want you to think that all these fantastic wresters are getting cut to pay my salary.

that's not the case I just want to put that out there because all the time I'll see like you cut Ilya Draganoff or Yadi it was like that hey hey I have nothing to do with that

you know like by the way Dragon House is an amazing wrestler I told him that at Tricks wedding because I always saw him in the hallways and I never said anything to him because he just always looked so serious and like aggressive

but I told him at Tricks where I was like you are a fantastic worker, man. I'm like, damn, bro. His shit looks aggressive. Yes. Dude, and he's like, he is. And Mello.

Their matches? Yep. I never got tired of him in Dragon Off matches. They were like bad ass, bro. Shit. Yeah, man. It's some great talent. Well, you, sir, are officially a pro wrestler.

Bro, I am. You are officially a WWE superstar. Man, it's awesome, bro. Like, I need to check and see if I'm on a website. Ooh. I need to see him. I'm in an active roster. And if not, I'm going to go complain.

Thank you for allowing this to be your first wrestling interview. I'm honored. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I love that. Now everyone else, now we can take all the other ones. Okay. I just had to, this was, I had to get this out the way. I didn't happen done any podcast.

I haven't, I haven't done anything. We ran into each other in a hotel lobby months ago. And you were like, when are you going to have me on your show? Yeah. Like, wow. Yeah. I said, well, I'm sure you'll do something in the ring at some point in time. So we'll do it right after that.

Here we are the day after. This is highlight. It's a highlight for me too. Let's do it. Yeah, man. What a beautiful spot. My backyard, man. Pretty amazing.

And my storage. I don't call it home. I call it storage because I just go around the world, collecting shit and bringing it back here and storing it. It's pretty amazing. Yeah. You've said the word grateful many times during this interview. Bro, there's no other way to be.

I couldn't agree more. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I could imagine be the same way, like being WWE fans and growing that connection with them and being able to like have this relationship where you get like, you know, where you guys have a relationship where they like trust you with their talent. They don't approve talent to do everything. You know, so like that's a trust that they have with you. So like I'm sure you can understand like just being grateful to like

I mean even more than it's just like live and be alive and be able to live the life that I wanted to live but like uh yeah just have this like this is the life that i have you know um could it went so many ways bro i didn't come from money you know and my father wasn't in wrestling or in music or anything like you worked at McDonald's right i worked at McDonald's bro i worked at mcdonalds and six flags what'd you do at six flags i was a part of like when it's Halloween time i was like i was in a haunted house it's like a zombie or you were scaring people Yeah. Yeah.

I was a... I bet you have some stories from that. Bro, those people were like... It's so funny. They'll pay to be scared, and if you're scared them good enough, they want to fight you. I don't know.

That's just a black thing, but like, if you scare someone good enough, they'll, like, want to, like, white you. It's like, dude, you paid the company scared. Like, why don't you want to fight?

It's an interesting concept. Like, why go? Like, if you're going to buck on me, I'm just a kid. Dude. I love that you live your life with gratitude because it's a huge thing for me as well. It's the question I ask at the end of every one of these interviews. So again, congratulations on everything.

Thank you. So cool to see you doing it in the ring. This is the beginning, man. I'm telling you, bro, I want to take it, if willing, I want to take it so far. You know, like the joke is always like, oh, it'll be, soon it'll be fucking Yadi versus speed and the final Rosamina main car like those kind of jokes were like I think if I show my dedication and I keep working

and show like man it's not it's not a gimmick to me not a joke like I really do love it and I really am obviously you have to start somewhere and you have to have to grow and like no one just came out the wound John Cena um you know the difference is you're making your mistakes in front of of the WWE universe.

Right. Whereas a lot of people get to make their mistakes in front of a few hundred people. But the last thing is in my life, all of my mistakes have been made in front of the world. You know, I got famous at 18,

six months after I graduated high school. I was a kid. So all of my mistakes have been made in front of the world under a microscope. It's just kind of the price you pay of being famous, you know, with good, you know,

and like all of this. You've got to take the negative that comes with it. And that's just life. That's energy plus negative and positive. But I wouldn't have it any other way. So the last question I want to ask you is it's about gratitude. I do this every morning when I wake up. I do it right before I go to bed.

I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. So what are three things right now that you're grateful for? First, I'm most grateful for my daughter. Um, I'm grateful for my, my daughter, man. I'm grateful for my mother. My mother lives right there. Um, she is just like... Right next door.

Yeah, she is such a power influence. And, um, honestly, man, I'm grateful for my manager. Jim McDaniels, man. Um, she is really just like, she, she makes this stuff happen, you know? Like, so it's really, that's, it's kind of like, like my foundation, my mother, who was my business manager and my mom, my manager, who's just like the person who fights for me and my seat, you know. Yeah.

And it's just kind of like my life. You know, that's three things. But obviously, I'm grateful for opportunity. I'm grateful for great relationships. And just like, I think opportunity. Yeah. Opportunity, man. Just like the option to do, even just the option to do right or wrong, just the option to do that opportunity, man.

It's because everyone doesn't have it. Yeah. You know, everyone doesn't have the opportunity to get up and walk or drive to get a smoothie or go to sleep when they feel like it. Or sleep warm or cold tonight or whatever, you know. So just that opportunity. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. I just want to apologize, again, for spilling your-knocking my milkshake.

milkshake over in the driveway. A fresh smores limited edition of Chippolea milkshake. You were holding it in your hand and you went to give me a fist bump. Yeah. And I fistbo. And you're so strong. I'm so strong. It's so jacked.

They knocked on my medium. I didn't even fist bump you that hard. I don't know. You weren't holding on to it very tight, I guess. Yeah. I didn't expect you to be the Hulk. It's smashed. Yeah.

Dude is ripped. Did you at least get to have a sip of it in the car? Like two sips. Damn. There's my mom. Oh, we were just talking about her. There we go. Hello, hi, Mom.

Yeah. Sorry about that. No, no, no, that's fine. You do. I know me how to check play. The news moves fast, but the truth should not get lost in the chaos. I'm Sean Ferris, host of Sean Ferris Live. Each episode of my show brings you the biggest political stories of the day.

We're grounded in common sense analysis, a little bit of sharp humor. Now, if you're tired of the spin, the fake news, the phonies, and the losers. And you're ready for informed, entertaining commentary that gets straight to the point you are in the right place. You can watch the show live on Rumble weekdays at 1 p.m. Eastern time and subscribe anywhere you get your podcast. But yeah, man. Thanks again, man. Thank you.