Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Michelle McCool On Marrying The Undertaker, LayCool, Mickie James, Hall Of Fame

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets are on sale now for INSIGHT LIVE in Toronto & Las Vegas with VIP Meet & Greet! Michelle McCool (@McCoolMichelleL) is a retired professional wrestler known for her time in WWE. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Austin, TX to discuss getting into the WWE by entering the Diva Search, being a part of the Divas Era and having to fight for airtime, the controversial "Piggy James" segments with Mickie James, forming a tag team with Layla and the broken Women's Championship, how she first met The Undertaker and started dating, her surprise entry in the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble, if she thinks a Hall of Fame induction will happen one day and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "Every man has two lives, and the second starts when he realizes he has just one." - Confucius Please support our sponsors! 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/?ref=tibcloux TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insight to get 10% off your order of Mitopure while supplies last VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.com ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet! Oh yes, welcome back to another one here on Insight. Hope it's been a great week for you. I appreciate you for being here. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. I'm assuming that you already follow the show because you're listening right now. But if by some chance you're not hit a Stiles clash on that follow button, on Apple or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now so you don't miss out on any of the

episodes that we have on the way. This one was a long time coming with Michelle McCool. When I interviewed her husband in June, you might have heard him before. His name is Mark Callaway. He goes by The Undertaker. Oh yeah, yeah, that guy. We plan to do this interview with Michelle at that point in time, but schedules just didn't pan out. Finally, we were able to set this up and, perfect. timing for this episode to be coming out because we just saw her at Smackdown a few weeks ago when WWE was in Austin. And if you haven't seen her lately, she is in incredible shape, maybe even better than the shape when she was an active wrestler in WWE. Michelle McCool had a hell of a career. She's the first ever WWE wrestler to win both the Divas and the Women's Championship.

She won both of those titles twice each. She had a hell of a run with Lay Cool. as a tag team that you just loved to boo. And what a theme song Michelle McCool had. You're not enough for me. We can pretend that singing didn't happen there, but great theme song. She officially retired from WWE in 2011, but we've seen her pop up at a few Royal Rumbles here and there.

And from the sounds of this conversation, she may have another match or maybe two left in her. I don't know. We'll see. Snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening and tag us. She's at Mimi Calacool on Instagram. So it's like Calloway and McCool mixed together, Calla Cool, Mimi Callicool. She's at McCool, Michelle L on Twitter.

I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Michelle McCool. Well, thank you for inviting me into your house. Yeah, thanks for coming. Well, good to be back here. Did the other one with Mark? Yep. Still strange for me to call him Mark.

Look, it took me several months. There was a point where he literally looked and goes, when are you going to stop calling me take? I'm like, I don't know. It sounds weird. Don't most people call him take, take her? Probably not his wife. Yeah, dead. Dead man.

Yeah, but it took me a while. What do you call him on a daily basis? Do you really want to know? Because it depends on the day. Oh, okay. Like if he makes me mad and he's super sweet, not just joking. Normally, babe, daddy, because of the kids. Sure, yeah.

I mean, this is already going bad. But it's just, it's good to see you, good to finally be able to meet you. Ran into Mark at the gym right before we walked in here. Was he doing anything? I don't know, walking around there a little bit. He does that a lot. Although when he walked out, I was like, oh, dude, he could still be in the ring. Yeah.

In great shape. Yeah. He's in good shape. But he does a lot of walking around sometimes. But I feel like you could still be in the ring. I feel like I could too. My mind tells me I can. Sometimes I'm like, I can't believe it's been 20 years.

which is crazy to say, but I am 44 now. But I do feel like I could, I mean, at least for a very short amount of time, I could get in there and do it. With the workouts that you're doing, like you look like you're in the best shape of your life now. Thank you. Thank you. Sometimes, I'm not going to lie. Sometimes what you see on Instagram is all I've done that day.

And that's okay. Right, exactly. Just consistency is key. A little bit of move every day. So thank you, though. Is it every day you're in the gym? I try to do something. You know, it's get it in when I can get it in.

I knew you were coming today. So after my little morning devotional, I went over there at 545, which I prefer early morning anyway. But whenever I can do it, two nights ago, I hadn't worked out in three days. So at my daughter's football practice, I had a band, I had a football field, just getting something done. So it's getting something in every single day. Yeah, pretty much.

I mean, just moving. But you're, I mean, these videos you're posting, and maybe it's just the magic of Instagram, but you're shriended. Well, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, working out, running after my kids. Yeah, taking care of my husband who had double-kneed surgery. Sometimes, you know, that just kickstarts a whole new journey. It's just another big kid you're taking care of?

That's it. That's it. Is he doing all right? No, he's doing great. It's just literally that dick kind of kickstart. I lost a few pounds unintentionally. Then we just start trying to rehab him and get the best nutrition in him. So it just kind of changed a lot for me as well. I do work out.

I eat relatively clean, but not, I hate when people ask me that because we are meat and white rice five times a week. I eat bread every single morning, pizza once a week. You know, so I mean, but I do move. It's just consistency. But I just try to not getting any younger. So I had to take care of myself. But I feel like eating pizza is just like for your sanity. It's like.

Oh, it's so good. It's my favorite. You are speaking directly. to my heart right now. We're actually having it tonight. Oh, man. I know. What's the go-to pizza for you?

Well, just like type. Type toppings. Double pepperoni, simple. And because the kids love it so much, I do love it, but Papa Johns is where we go. I think, do you get the chakaroni then? I have had the chakaroni. The chakaroni is really good. I know.

It is. I feel like pepperoni is just like, that is like the measuring stick. Yeah, that's good. The measuring stick for like, because you can, go pepperoni versus pepperoni in any company. Anything. Yep. Yeah. And it's like if you can't do a pepperoni pizza right.

There's something wrong. Get out of here. Get out of the piece of business. Yes. I agree. But we saw you back in the ring, the Royal Rumble, 2023. Yeah. That was so fun.

You're sitting in the front row. Your music hits and it's like, oh, no, she's going to enter the Rumble now. Yeah, that was fun. That was interesting. I've told the story before. They called me very short notice. I think it was eight, nine days. Asked me if I wanted to do it.

And I was like, oh, shoot. I mean, yes, I'll work out. But there's, I'm sure you've heard it a million times. Ring shape is a whole different ballgame. Like being in shape to get in the ring is just a different ball game. And did they tell you you were actually going to be staying in the match for a little while? No. You know, you could enter and leave in 10 seconds.

You don't need to be in ring. Sure. No, no. You were in for like 13 minutes, I think. I was in for a few minutes. Yeah. I think at one point, you know, it was kind of in a corner with, it was either Piper, Naomi. I was like, oh, give me a second.

y'all, I'm tired. But yeah, that was super fun. I knew I was going to be there with the kids watching, and my dad was there. And it was something different. I mean, they said I could wrestle with my sweatpants and ugs. Should have been doing it my entire career. I was like, I am in. And honestly, it was a thing where Mark and I talked.

I was like, our daughter was kind of struggling with, she's a perfectionist. And if she can't do something on the first try, she gets so mad. So it was kind of a lesson. I said, you know what? I'm just going to let her know. This is something that Mommy is kind of a little bit terrified to do on such a short notice. I don't know if I'm ready to do it. But you know what?

We can be scared, brave at the same time and go out and do it. So it's kind of a lesson of trying to build in for her. I don't really know that she got that. She's just loves WW, period. Not even sure she was cheering for me, but that was part of the reasoning as well. You're rocking the ugs right now. Yes, always. People think it's just, no, it's literally always.

These are ugs. These are ubs. They got fancy. They got fancy. They've got, I know, I've got workups right. I've got, yeah. Yeah. I've got the whole gamut.

Do you think your daughter aspires to do what mom and dad did? That's all she wants to do. That is all. And she has been obsessed as long as I can remember. I mean, she was probably three or four watching something. And even Mark turned to me. He's like, oh, no, she gets it. She asks this question, like, why would they do that?

Or this doesn't make sense. Or, wow, that looked really good. And we're like, oh, gosh. she gets it, she loves it. Yeah. She wants to do it. And look at the genes that she has, right? Like between you and the undertaker, she's going to be like six foot something, I'm sure. She's definitely, she's almost got me. She just turned 12. She's five foot five. Same size as me. Heck of an athlete. But we've also let her know, like, if you do this because of who your daddy is, you're going to have the biggest target on your back. You have to outwork everybody. You'll have to

prove yourself 10 times over. And I just got a little dose of that, you know, just being with him. And then obviously eventually marrying him. But she wants to do it. But we're also, you know, we shoot straight with her. What do you do when you're raising kids and this is what you guys did for a living? And everywhere you go, everybody's recognizing mom and dad. Yeah.

It's from a young age, we have had to explain to her. My biggest thing was know what's inappropriate and know what's annoying. If it's just annoying, you have to learn to deal with it because annoying happens every day will happen your entire life, right? So, like, what's an example of that? So annoying, a boy in her class, hey, can The Undertaker still roll his eyes or whatever, you know, just like. Can he? He can't. But he says bad things happen every time he does it.

So you don't see it too often. So just knowing what's annoying people asking questions about her daddy maybe. And then what's inappropriate? Has somebody crossed the boundary? Has an adult come up to you asking about us? You know, all these things happen, right? Sure. Yeah. So that's hard. It's hard just trying to be mom or dad at a sporting event when so many people, you know, come to find him and just the safety of it.

Yeah. But it is their normal, even though it's abnormal. So we try to definitely, we shoot from the hip. We're blunt. You all tell her this playroom right here, not yours. That bed you sleep on? Not yours. This house, not yours either. And it's not normal. So I like to think they're pretty grounded and try to keep them humble. But there's only so much, so much you can do. What are airports like for you guys? Awful. Oh my gosh, they're awful.

I joke that I married named Tucka where whatever hills I wanted to and occasional security jumps at the airport. You know, people recognizing we were traveling on the road all the time. Like, take her. Sweet. But, man, it's crazy. People just don't have boundaries. And it's like you appreciate and love the fans.

You know, you hear it from even the superstars today. But when you're getting chased or followed and your kids are around especially, it's just like, dude, come on. Yeah. What was the relationship that you had with wrestling when you were growing up? So I grew up watching it with my dad and his dad, who I called my Pat Pap Pap, my grandfather. A whole family watched it, loved it. And it was kind of the night that I could stay up just a little bit later and, you know, watch wrestling with them. So it was a cool little bonding thing that you obviously realized later in life, you know,

how special that time was. So I grew up watching it, was a fan. Who were your people? Dusty roads. I loved Arne Anderson. I love the bushwhackers. I know that's not the normal answer, but I loved it. They were fun.

Of course, Rick Flair, always fun to watch. Love watching Ricky Steamboat. Did not ever want to meet Mark or Kane. Yeah, those are my guys. And then when did you realize, I mean, you were athletic, your entire life? When did you realize this might actually be a path for you? Not until honest to goodness, I got the call for the diva search because I come from such a small town in Florida. And it's kind of one of those deals, nobody ever leaves.

There have been some great athletes that have come out of that town. But everybody just kind of comes back. And you just always think that's just what you do. And so I never really thought, hey, this is what I'm going to do. But in 2004, when they had the diva search, I was watching it. And a friend said, there's your chance, but you won't do it. And I was like, oh, I hate being told that I won't or I can't. I also hate failing.

So I'm not going to tell you I'm trying. But I did. I filled out the papers. I went to this local park. Had a friend take pictures, didn't tell them what for. Sent them in. And I got a call. I was too nervous to answer it at the time.

I was actually with my parents. So I just sent it the voicemail, got the voicemail that they were asking me to come. And I was like, this can be. This can't be true. So called him back and went to New York, this huge cattle call, you know, and everybody had these portfolios that their agents to send. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I don't even know what fake eyelashes are. I have these pictures I took in the park.

Like, where am I right now? This is almost more like a modeling call. It seemed like it. And I guess that was the era of the WW week that time, yeah. 1,000%. So I was super nervous. They chose two of us from New York as all. And then they did Chicago and L.A., I believe.

And that was that. Did they tell you what they saw in you? They just saw me as an all-American girl who, you know, we had a panel and it was Randy Orton, I think Hunter and somebody else. I got super nervous talking front of because they were on my screen just this week, you know? Yeah. But I knew the storylines when they questioned me. And I think they could tell that I had a true passion for the business. I wasn't just there to, that's a step in stone to, you know, whatever.

Did you think at that point that this would be a career path for you? I still was like super, not that it wouldn't or couldn't because I trust it in my abilities, but it just seemed too far-fetched. You know, it just seemed like, oh, here it is, this is fun. But especially after I got cut, I didn't think I was going to get called back to go train at Deep South. So while it was within reach, I don't know that I ever thought, man, can this really happen to me? Like little me from Palacca, Florida, this teeny tiny town nobody's heard of. but here we are.

And look at the path that you went on, right? So, like, you get cut from the diva search. And then where's your mindset at there? Shoot. Like, dang it. It was all shot. Like, how else can I get into this business? Seems like, you know, that it's forbidden to get into or, like, I didn't know how to get

into the business. So when I got cut, I thought, shoot, well, that was fun. And then I think it was the very following week. I saw what they made the girls do or I think they insulted each other and some the things that were saying, I was like, they did me a favor because that would not, like, that wouldn't come out of my mouth. But I got a call and they said, are you interested in coming to train? And at the time, I was teaching school.

I was like, yeah, absolutely. Like, if I'm going to give it a shot, this is it. So moved to McDonough, Georgia, trained under Bill DeMotte. And it was one of only two girls there and it was a rough. Who was the other girl? Angelina Love. Oh, wow. Yep.

We were the only two there for quite some time. school with her at the same time in Toronto. Were you really? Yeah, way, like 2002. Yeah, it was just the two of us for a long time. Not even a girls' locker room, girls' bathroom. So what did you think growing up that you'd be doing for a living? I want to do physical therapy, something in the sports, nutrition, fitness, fitness world, for sure.

And then teaching? No, I didn't want to teach. My parents were both in education. My dad was my principal, my entire elementary school career. My mom was my P teacher. I didn't want to do it. Came home one summer, though, and they needed a sub for something. Subbed.

I do love kids. And I loved it, so I just kind of rolled with that. When you were training in Deep South, when was the moment when it started to click? When were you like, I think I'm getting this. This could be a thing. You know, honestly, the physicality was never a real issue for me. Did it hurt? Like, I've never hurt my entire life before.

Yes. In fact, we were at the PC not long ago, and I think I started like my name. neck and back started hurting just watching the guys and girls bump and hit the ropes. But that part, I picked up pretty quick. I wasn't too worried about the physicality. It was being able to come out of my shell in front of God knows how many people. And that was the hardest part, but the physicality was not too difficult. How did you start to develop your character? Well, it took a while. I think, you know, if you watched the first several years of my career, I wasn't super comfortable speaking on the microphone or doing promos.

But once I realized, you've got nothing. I mean, you have everything to lose, yes. But the more comfortable you can go out there and just act as if nobody's there, it becomes a lot easier, right? And when Layla and I got paired together, game over, we just had fun. Well, you're so sweet. You're so sweet. And you play such a mean, you were a mean girl.

Yes. And they didn't think it was a wonderful. it to be for quite some time. And I remember Arne Anderson, they're going, come on, Michelle, they're never going to buy it. Nope, you're just too sweet. Nope, not going to buy it. Then when they finally turned me, he came out to me that very night, he goes, I apologize. After, you know, I had to get used to, like, the little kids, like giving me fingers, they shouldn't be throwing up in the air and saying words they probably shouldn't be saying. It was a lot more fun. Everyone talks about how much more fun they have been in a hill. So much more fun. Is it just because you're tapping into a side of yourself

that like you'd never tap into in real life? For me, yes. Yeah. And it's absolutely easier to get people to hate you than it is to love you in that world, especially during the time we were there because people really didn't care. It was kind of like a cool thing not to care about the girls. So that was hard. So when you could get them to care, it was a lot more fun doing it as a hill. Do you feel like you were just fighting for airtime all the time? Oh, I don't even know. There's not a strong. enough word, but fighting, absolutely. Yeah, 1,000% just to get two minutes, three minutes. When we got six minutes, it was like, y'all are joking. Like, no way. Are we talking three minutes, including entrances? Including entrances. Curtain to curtain. Curtain to curtain. So many times we're

like, I don't need music. You know, I don't need music either. Like, we can please give us that ring time. And I remember getting, I want to say the longest match I had, what may have been my last match, we may have gotten 16 curtain to curtain with Awesome Kong coming out at the end. Maybe. Could have been 12. Because I'm going to say,

I know for sure, like 12 was when we heard 12, I was like, they're messing with us. Just be prepared. That's how we would prepare. Undertaker has entrances longer than that. Oh, way longer.

Like probably a month's worth of our matches. It's still way longer. Yeah, for sure. Deservably so. But, yeah, no, it was, I mean, just to get on TV. And you go out there. And my mindset was always, no matter if it's two minutes, three minutes, minute and a half,

like give them something, try to do one little thing where they go, why, they do that? Even if it wasn't from creatives end, it was just like maybe Layla and I have a little tension. They're going to wonder, you know, maybe that can go somewhere next week. Like we had to just constantly for ourselves figure out how to either get interest from the back or interest from the fans to where they would, you know, want to give us more time or more. more storylines. And we pitched storylines right and left. You guys know that being healthy is a big focus of my life. And I'm always looking to incorporate better habits into my life, like getting more protein in my diet. And our next sponsor makes that so easy to do. This podcast is sponsored by Orgaine. Orgain believes real nutrition

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One last time, it's 30% off when you go toorgaine.com slash insight. That's org-a-in.com slash insight and use my code insight. How do you tell a story when you have two minutes in the ring to do so? It's not easy. It is not easy. In fact, there was one where Lela and I, um, tagged with my memory's horrible. Was it Dolph against John Morrison, Trish?

It was a mixed tag match. But I remember before we went out, I think Trish had already made our entrance. And they said, as soon as y'all get there, you'll need to go home, which clearly means go home, come back, come back and see us. I'm like, I don't know how to do that. Like, I'm not a veteran at this point.

Trish is out there in the ring. I mean, I've been there long enough, but I literally don't know how to go home. home if I can't get in the ring. So it was one of those kind of asked for forgiveness. I mean, we probably went four minutes. But I was like, that's just not possible. So it wasn't easy. When did that start to change? Especially not easy for it to make sense, right? Well, that's the thing, right? Like, how can you tell a story with three moves? You really can't. And that was the hard part during my era. I mean, you hear about the

divas era, or you hear about the attitude era. You hear about the divas era, which we were kind of like a forgotten era. We were kind of like the in-between, which, you know, for a while I was frustrated with that. But then I was like, there's nothing. We did all we could. You know, with what we had. And I'm grateful for that.

But it was hard to tell a story. And, you know, they started giving Lela and I more and more time, which was nice, more and more freedom, which was nice. Also led to a lot of other people not liking that because that's the wrestling business, which made that difficult as well because you have to have somebody to work. But it was hard. It was a struggle. When did you start to feel it shifting?

And maybe it was after you retired. I think it was after I retired. Yeah. There were a few moments where I remember Fit coming up to us and telling us we had the first ever tables match. And I was like, you never know if somebody's messing with you, right? Like today, not so much, but back then, for sure. And Fit, I'm sure you've heard a million times from every girl.

Fit Finley is just a savior. Like, he's the best, absolute best. And he'd fight for us and he would go to bat for us and he would just help us any way he possibly could. But he's a ribber. So when he told us we had a tables match, I'm like, all right, Lay, I don't know if he's being serious. But let's prepare for it. Obviously, we did end up having a tables match. So we got some cool moments during the time I was there.

But at the same time, I don't think it really shifted until after we were gone. I'd like to think maybe we helped that. But I don't think it truly shifted. it until a few years later. Were you proud of that table's match? Yeah. 1,000% I was proud of that table's match. It was not only the first, it was fun.

You know, earlier in the day, they said, we were walking up the ramp, and I remember somebody saying, surely, you know, the table's fine. Like, it's going to break. There's two of them, right? There's Leila and Michelle. They're like, yeah, no problem.

That sucker did not break. The table wouldn't put you over. Nope, table would not put us over. They didn't like us either. So we hit, I'm like, oh, oh gosh. And I look back up. We're like, Natty climbed back up. And it couldn't have turned off better with her going back up for the second time.

But yeah, that was a big moment. It looked like it hurt. It did hurt. It did not tickle. It hurt. It hurt hard. Yeah, we hit hard. But, you know, it's worth it.

What do you remember from the extreme home makeover? What was it? Extreme makeover match. Yeah. Extreme makeover match. I remember hearing that thing, okay, y'all have reached an all-time high of what on earth are we doing? Like, extreme makeover, that's what you're making the girls do, seriously. But then I remember ironing boards.

I remember buckets of water, which that's what hurt the worst. Bucket. Have you ever been hit by a bucket? I mean, a bucket by name, maybe not with water in it. Yeah, no one's throwing a bucket at me. It hurts. That hurts. It was weird because of all the items we were using,

but I don't really remember how well it turned out or how well it didn't. We tried to have fun with it. I tried to roll out the ring and get Michael Cole with some water just to have fun at Fit Finley's request. But you had to deal with what you had and make the best out of it. I always feel like you have to apologize for the type of wrestling you did during that era because you were working within such strict parameters. So confined. I mean, there was one point where Lisa, Victoria and I had a match.

We came backstage, getting changed. And they came back and said, hey, y'all need to come back out and do your match again. We're like, what do you mean? Come back out and do our match again. They're like, your punches and kicks look. No, that was Molina. No, that was Lisa. Your punches and kicks look better than the guys.

We're like, wait a minute. we have to go redo our match because our punches look too good, that doesn't sound like an us problem. And Chris Jericho at the time, he stood up for us. And he said, you know, if the guys' punches don't look as well, that is not the girl's fault. Like, that's not their fault. Regardless, we had to go out there, redo our match.

And there was a period of about three or four weeks that girls couldn't punch or kick. Think of how wild this is. Wild. Go out and have a worse match. Wrestling match. Go have a worst match. worse match than the one you already had.

Yeah, dumb it down a little. That's crazy. It was crazy. And then Molina and I, we had some really good matches. There was so much talent during that time, too. There was. There was. And it's sad that you didn't get to, I mean, a lot of the girls still wrestle now or every

once in a while, and you get to see that. But there was a lot of talent. There really was. And it's sad that, you know, not everybody got to see that for sure. But I also feel like with the work you did, especially as a heel, you're just so known for like the character work. And while your work in the ring was great, your character works really what got you over. Well, thank you. And I give credit to this day, and I said this to somebody the other day, and I've said it to her.

But the whole Piggy James storyline, like me at heart hated it just because of what it was, right? Like you're bullying somebody supposedly that they're supposedly overweight and that has never been me. that is not every week I'd go up to her and like, Mickey, I'm so sorry, this is what they want us to say. Complete, complete professional. Not once does she try to change things, which often girls did. Not once does she, she's like, no, it's good. It's cool. She knew that took two to tango. She knew what her role was. She knew what our role was. And she really, I think, put us on the map with that storyline. Could you imagine them trying to do that storyline now? Oh, gosh, no. Could you imagine? I mean, even watching it back now, it's like, I can't believe they did this.

That's how I was every week. Like, I can't believe y'all want us to do this. Do you remember the original pitch for it? I don't remember the original pitch. A lot of times back then, things started with personal digs at somebody or, you know, maybe somebody got in trouble and they wanted to make fun. I don't know what it was, but it just came out of the blue. And, you know, Layla and I were stupid.

We acted just dumbed together. Like we said stupid things. We had a lot of fun. But when that came about, I was like, oh, man, this is just mean. This is, this is mean. Yeah. But it did get us over, and I give all the credit in the world to Mickey for that. And for Mickey to roll with it, too.

Well, that's the thing. So I give her all the credit. Yeah. Like she easily, easily could have been like, guys, this is too much, too far, not doing it. Yeah. She was already over, you know, but she didn't. Yeah. She knew how the business worked and it got her moreover and she helped us.

When I was in the gym, I was looking at all the championships you guys have up there. And the women's title cut in half. I love that you have that. Yes, Layla's got the other half. Yeah, she's at the lay part. I've got the cool part. That was funny. And we were such a fun idea, too.

That was, I want to say that was Batista's idea. We were backstage. And he's like, well, what have you all cut it in half? Like the best friend necklaces? Our minds went there. And we're like, that'll be great. And I don't think anybody else thought it was a great idea at first. I'm like, come on, guys.

That was fun. Yeah, that was fun. But think about it. That's something that people still remember however many years later. Yeah. Yep. They do. What did it mean for you to be the first ever women's and divas champion?

It's cool now. I don't think I appreciated the moments as much while I was in them. Just a personal thing that I try to teach my kids now. Enjoy the moment. You know, enjoy this very moment. And looking back, I'm like, you know, sometimes we get forgotten, but they can't take that away from me. So that's, I feel very grateful for that. But like I said, I wish I could have enjoyed a lot of my career, most of my career in the moment.

Is it because of just how fast-paced it is? how fast-paced it is, how much we had to fight for our, you know, spots. And like I said, once Layla and I started popping up on every show and getting a lot of the pay-per-views, not everybody like that. And then certainly when I started dating Mark, that added a whole other level of a lot. Is it because it went from you were a performer in the ring to now you're the Undertaker's girlfriend? Yeah, now I'm getting everything because of him. Yeah, 1,000%. What was the first time you met, Mark?

I mean, early on in the diva search days, because everybody was backstage. The first person I met when I was sitting in makeup that day was Rick Flair. I'm like, oh, what is happening? What is happening? And, of course, he's wooing, you know, and everything you would epitomize Rick Flair to be is Rick Flair. Yeah. And so it's already in la la land, but in the early days. So you meet Mark in the early days.

So you meet Mark in the early days, do you go, that is my future husband? That is the father of my children. Is that what he told you? That's probably what he, that's his story. One day people are going to believe the truth. No, absolutely not. In fact, I was like, I don't like when people started chirping a little bit, like, Haker doesn't help the girls.

Like he's helping show. I think he's like, I don't like tattooed, long hair and guys. What were your first impressions of him? I didn't want to meet him because he was scared. from TV. Like, I legit did not want to meet him in Kane and met him, you know, out of respect. It's very respectful business. You got to shake hands. So I did that. And then when I met Kane, he was in catering and I walked in. I just remember he was laughing. His big old shoulders were going like this, the nicest guy in the world, right? No. He bothered me for so long to the point.

I was like, if you will leave me alone, I'll go out to you with you. And I think he finally admitted to that when he was speaking out of church recently. But that's probably just because it was in church. But he's been lying to the world for years about how I chased him. That's not true. How did you know he had a crush on you? Well, I was always early to the building. I like to be first to get their last to leave, learn all I can in the ring with everybody that's there.

And then he started helping me. And like I said, he didn't help the girls really. just not as a dig or anything. But I mean, he just never crossed that line. But he's really helping me. And then I got super sick overseas on a European tour. Like literally almost died. And I guess he really took care of me.

I don't remember the last three days of that tour. So I can't honestly tell you what went down. But I remember we were in Ireland. And it was like this janky ceiling. They had a hangar coat with IVs in me. And he had come in. I guess he put his coat over me. I guess I was shivering.

Kicking everybody out of the trainer room, bless their heart, they probably need ankles taped and everything else. But Mark was like, nope, nobody comes in. And then he went to the ring that night without his coat on because he kept it on me. And so I think people started chattering them. But again, I'm literally out of that. I don't remember how I got home from that tour, which was his doing as well. Had somebody meet me on the tarmac in Atlanta because.

I wouldn't have been able to get on the plane. So long story short, kind of after that, while I was in the hospital, he had called, but in all fairness, so had a lot of the guys and girls called to check on me. So I didn't really think anything of that as well. But then when I came back, he was like, can I please just pick you up from the airport?

I'm like, gosh, I want to say no, but it is an intertaker. Like, how do you say no without like worrying about the disrespect thing? which is a fine balance. And so he picked me up from the airport. And at the time, myself, Kelly Kelly and Candace, were on a cover of the magazine, which is a big deal too.

And I walk out and he's holding the magazine up in front of his face, like leaning on the car. I'm like, you're so stupid. But then, so kind of from that point after I'd gotten sick and then heard everything that he had done, which is totally abnormal for him to do. I was like, hmm, I guess these people are right, but I'm still really not into the long-haired tattoos.

He saved your life. He likes to say that too. Thanks for the reminder. I saved your life. You know, one night he was choking here at dinner, and I'd literally saved his life, so I can say that too. There you go. I mean, we're even. Quit using the line.

We're even. What was your first date? Oh, we went somewhere like Applebee's. Really? No, really. Like our TGI Friday, something like that. Yeah. I think he thought I was joking.

I'm like, no, there's my type of restaurant. So something like that, I just went to dinner. And then were you like, man, he is a charming man? First date? No. I mean, he's super sweet. He is charming. He's obviously he's great.

But it took me a little while. You know, I think one of the things people don't, I think, appreciate about Mark. And all we're doing is just making him sound like he's the greatest. I know. And he told me to put him over before he came in here. So I'm getting a little mad that I am. He has piercingly beautiful eyes. Green eyes.

Pretty eyes. Right? Maybe I'll start calling him pretty eyes. Pretty eyes. You would never think so. But like when you are standing there having a conversation and looking into the man's eyes, you're like, wow. Because they're always covered in an eyeliner. That's true.

Or roll back. You never saw him. Yeah. That was my first gift to him, eyeliner. He's like, what are you getting? I'm just going to use a black eyeliner. You'll use it, right? What?

Yes. I don't know what to get him as a gift. There you go. I lost of eyeliner. Was it like one of your. previous eyeliner? You went out. A bolt,

the like $5 eyeliner for him. What else you want to get him? What's his reaction to this? He used it. It was, it was a great gift.

Can you roll your eyes back? I don't, I don't think so, can I? No. Close. No. It hurts, too.

Like, it's a weird, you kind of do. It flutters. Yeah. No. I don't know how he does it. I don't either. You're close.

You just look like you're looking at the ceiling. I am. How do you do it? Look at the back of your brain. Oh, that's pretty good. Was it? Try looking in the back of your head. Is that the trick?

That's pretty good. No, that's worse, actually. Than your last one. How does Mark do it? I don't know. That was really good now. He did it on accident the very first time. He told me that.

You guys should take a photo where you're both doing it. And see what we look like. Yeah. We could do that. It'd be pretty good, I think. Yeah. So how does it go from a few dates and also all this backstage chatter of like, oh, what's Michelle and Mark doing?

How does that go from, I like this guy? This could be something, and it could be something serious enough that I'm willing to pursue it. I don't know if there was a definitive point. I joke, but he did wear me down to where I was like, just leave me alone. Just if I go on another date, wait, leave me alone. But it was kind of our banter back and forth as well. So I don't remember a definitive time, but I remember thinking, okay, you know, there was a point where after dating for a while, I had obviously had to tell my family.

And it all started with, okay, before I tell y'all, like, he's not what you would think he is or what we've seen on TV. So that was how I always prefaced it. But, you know, I mean, he's a charming guy. Like, it didn't take much. We clicked. We got along well from the beginning. And it just gradually built. And that came with, you know, that came with a lot of trouble or, or.

That's much trouble, but a lot of hate backstage that led me to, you know, the last two years I was there, I contemplated like, gosh, I don't want to hate a business that I love so, so much. But I thought about leaving for, you know, two years prior to when I actually did. And a lot of that had to do with just the, you know, from writers to some talent to. And was it fair? No. Were there a lot of people dating? Yeah. But because it was smart.

know, I got everything from that point because, not because of the storylines we pitch everything week, not just for myself. I have to have an opponent for myself and other people. You know, I know I can look at myself in the mirror and know my work ethic was there, know how hard I, I worked day in, day out. You know, when he started riding on the bus, I would wait until the arena cleared, but I didn't want anybody to see him even getting on his bus. Like it was, you know, but it is what it is. Is that what led to you wanting to retire? A lot. Yeah. a lot. I mean, the schedule's grueling. It was a constant fight like we spoke about earlier, weekend, week out. And it was a lot. It was a lot being with him that I had to take and endure.

So then what was the last, call it six months of you deciding like, okay, I am going to retire? Yeah. I don't think I told anybody other than Mark and Layla. She knew it was coming. I wanted to enjoy it. It was hard because we were still fighting for, you know, that last match or that last, you know, build up to the last match. And it just, I don't know I've ever got true closure because it's like I didn't really want to leave, but I didn't want to, like I said, hate something that I loved my entire, tired life and still love to this day. So it was a tough decision. But I had to just try to find the good. Always try to find the good. You know, I have some very dear friends to this day that I take from the business.

It's got to be difficult because it's not that you couldn't do it anymore. Yeah. You were early 30s. Yeah. And I did know that I did want to have kids. So that was a huge, obviously a huge part of that decision as well. So I don't want to negate that. That was huge. But yeah, it was hard.

But that's a big decision as well, not just the retirement, but if you take it one step before that, like deciding, yes, I am going to not just date a wrestler, I'm going to date the wrestler. I'm going to date a top guy. I'm going to do it. But it's a big decision. to make because it comes with all these repercussions afterwards and you would have to, you know, assume that that's going to happen. Maybe it was worse than you thought. Yeah. Well, I just know

that I wasn't the only one dating guys around there. And I definitely didn't see that from anybody else. So did it feel personal then? Not so much personal to me, but because he is the top. You know, he is the top. He is the benchmark for everybody. And so I think people looked at that differently. Like, he has whatever pool he wants is what people you think. And you can ask him, and I actually am so stubborn.

I'm like, don't ever, I don't ever need any type of help to fight any battle, to fight a storyline, to pitch a storyline. I can look in the mirror and just say that's never happened. Now, there was one time a little incident happened with a guy, and I had to beg him not to say something, even though this guy was calling Mark and wanting to talk to him and apologize and everything else, which he didn't answer.

He may sweat it out for several weeks, and all is good now. All is good. Totally fine now. But, I mean, just the point being, you know, that's my nature, that's my character. That's how I've always been my entire life. Like, to a fault, I don't need help from anybody.

I can figure this out. I can, you know, I can chuck on through and get something done. But, you know, there are writers that literally threw up their papers. If she wasn't The Undertaker's girlfriend, she, you know, wouldn't be on the show or a couple of times. I will turn my cheek a million times, but I'll also stand up for myself. And there are a few times I can remember, like a handful where I'd already talked to somebody earlier in the day. and they had treated me one way. And then, of course, they see me a mark together.

And I have to say, guess what? I didn't change from 10 minutes ago. So treat me the same way you treated me when he wasn't standing here. It's like, you know. Prize Picks is the best place to get real money sports action. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 1,000.

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That code is Insight when you download the app. Prize Picks, run your game. What's one thing about Mark that we might not know? Oh, that would be mean if I told you. But he has green eyes. Pretty green eyes. They are. We know that.

Good save. We know that. I don't know. Who's the Undertaker when nobody's looking? Depends on the day. No, but I mean, he's loving. He's caring. He runs my bath every night.

He, you know, little things like that. I don't think people would go, oh, I bet the Undertaker runs Michelle's bath every single night. I think they think he rides around on a motorcycle. I think so with a bandana on his head. And yeah. Limp biscuit playing in the background. That's it. Yeah.

Kid Rock. But no, just very low-key, very down-to-earth, which I think at this point in his career, since he's been doing these one-de-man shows and actually speaking in public, not in his character all the time, that a lot of people do know the type of person he is at heart. But, yeah. When you're so competitive for your whole career and you're so driven and it comes to a screeching halt when you retire, what do you do to,

keep the competitive juices flowing. Yeah, that's hard. I'm just competitive at everything, like to a fault. It's not great. It's not that good of a trait. Like, I mean, there's a good competitiveness. Then there's, you know, me and my daughter walking down the hall. I'm a naked to get over in my head. And she's gotten that as well. But it was hard because it's like, where do you go from here? But again, I did want to have kids. So now that's my focus. So thankfully, I did have something to focus on. My faith has always been strong. So my identity was not in wrestling.

Obviously, I loved it and was super grateful that I got to do it. But who I am is not half of Lake Kool. Or who I am was not Michelle McCool before Lay Kool. Who I am is Michelle McCool, who grew up in a small town, was raised a certain way, and who has faith. So my identity was never that, which made it easier, an easier transition. but it did get difficult through the years, even after having my first child, watching and going, oh, my gosh, like, I'd have given anything, anything to have this amount of time on TV or to have

the PC training center or whatever it is. And not even from a jealousy standpoint, just like, they are so lucky. Like, they are so, so lucky. So. With that said, do you feel like you and everybody else during your era weren't allowed to, like, really showcase your full potential? Yeah, 1,000%. I think if you were 15 years later, right?

If the diva search was even 12 years later, 10 years later. And that's why I've loved doing the Royal Rumble, getting in there with some of the girls and mixing it up. It's like, dang, we could have gone. Well, and everybody can see that. Like, we could have gone. Yeah. Like, there's no generational gap there, right?

None. It's not like you guys from that era of wrestling any different. It's like, no, no. There's some of us that could have, yeah. There's some of us that could have had some real good matches. And so that's always fun to get in there and be. you know, be in there with them. Do you think you'll be recognized in the Hall of Fame?

I don't know. I get that question all the time. It, I mean, it would be an honor. I don't know. Not my call. Don't even know who's called it is. I don't know. I have no idea.

I would think maybe Layla enducks you? Oh, in Ducks. Well, I mean, I don't know. I would hope Lake Cool would go in. You know, everybody always ask, I mean, that would be an honor to go in as Michelle McCle, obviously. But think about Lake Cool. is what put Michelle McCle, really, on the map. And I'll never take that for granted.

But she just disassociated from wrestling for quite some time, and I respected that. Would I give anything to have a lay-core reunion at a rumble? Yeah. There's a rumble right around the corner here. Well, y'all got to call Layla. Help me out. Help me out. You guys still keep in touch?

Yeah, every once in a while, yeah. I mean, it's one of those deals. We don't have to talk every day, not even every month, but nothing changes. I think when you look at what you accomplished and, like, you look at, the history that you made. A pretty easy case to be made there for you going to the Hall of Fame. Well, I appreciate it. I do.

My daughter asked me all the time. I'm like, would you hush? I don't know. I don't know. Don't rub it in. I don't know. What do you think was the toughest undertaker match for you to watch? Oh, gosh.

I wouldn't even know where to start. Seriously, there have been so many. Whatever WrestleMania number it was where he dove out onto the cameraman. with Sean Michaels was it with Sean and one of the cameramen got in the was supposed to be there

yeah yeah oh that was an awful the first one maybe was it anyway he did the dive out and somebody was not there

quite enough to catch him and that was a bad one I can't even watch that one when they play it back on documentaries and stuff I can't I can't watch it um

Brock was hard to watch because I knew he was out of it. WrestleMania, New Orleans. That was a rough night. Did you know the streak was going to end? I did.

That was one of, I think he told me, I think that's it. Yeah, early in the afternoon when they made that decision, he told me, I was hot. Like, why? That does not make sense.

Like, I was, and of course, he's like, his business, that's his call. You know, I've, and I knew that it had been pitched that edge break the streak years prior. Yeah. But Adam said, no, there's no rhyme or reason that I need to break the street, that the street

needs to be broken, that I won't have any part of that. And he didn't. And I was like, mad respect, but yeah, not a good night. Well, he ended the night in the hospital. Yeah, he didn't know his name until like 4 a.m. Man. When you watch, he told me that story recently. When you watch the Mr. McMahon docu series and he's like, oh, that's not a real story.

What do you think of that? That's a touchy. Yeah. That's touchy. That's, yeah, that's rough. Look, Mark has been in the ring with broken everythings. He's been in there with fractured eye sockets, finishing matches. He's been in there, concussed before finishing matches.

It's not like he's ever going to. not tell the truth about how he feels or what's happened or anything. And, you know, we were all right there in the hospital in the waiting room. And, you know, the first guy that read the, his x-rays came out and told me that he has broken his neck. And I was like, oh, man. Because at this point, he'd been having a surgery a year, basically, and rehabbing and coming back for mania. Surgery, man. So they tell me his neck's broken.

I'm like, oh, man. Then they tell me his back's broken. I'm like, holy crap. Like, it's way worse than I ever even thought. Second guy that Reddit came out, he's like, his neck's not broken and his back's been broken for years. Okay, well, not sure that makes me feel much better, but good, I guess. And then the whole night in the hospital, like I said, until 4 a.m., where are you at?

I don't know. Babe, you go, babe, what's my name? Like, I am not cheating for you on this. Like, no way. Like, babe, where are we at? And I'm like, no, I can't help you. So that was a rough. So to see it, if anybody says or takes it for anything less than what it was,

is, you know, that's hard. That hurts. What about WrestleMania 40? That feels like it was just like, such a special moment. And for The Undertaker to be a small part of that, for you to be there to be able to watch it, was that like? That was fun.

That was special. Yeah, I'm not playing any part in it, but just to be able to witness anytime he's doing anything and just how much love and adoration there still is as soon as you hear the gong, you know, the place goes crazy. It's special. There's just nothing going to replace that. There is so much love when people hear your entrance theme.

Now, yeah. Oh, people love it. Well, thank you. It wasn't always the case, so it's nice to hear. And that was always one of the things you go back. Like, is anybody going to cheer or remember me? For the first few years, when I got the music, it was, again, a difference in the days, right? It was Tori Wilson's recycled music, which she's like a sister to me, love her to death. And she was so over, right? So when their music hit, get cheers at first with my music. And then they're like, oh, listen, Tori. I'm like, dang it. So yes, it's nice now. I think the first two lines are just, it speaks totally to like, you're not enough for me, just another, what is those? Just another man. Oh, gosh.

You're not enough for me. Just another man. I'm going to look that out. Just another man in love with me? I think that's it. You've heard it a thousand times. There's so many screams and cheers, Chris. That's right.

Just another man in love with me. That's right. Yeah, just another man. Yeah. But it's like, damn, what a heel. Dang. She's full of herself, right? That's the point. Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah, I liked it. When you heard it for the first time where you're like, that fits. Like, okay. I was thinking it's not quite as upbeat. You know, you kind of want to come out with a little more swagger, but it worked. Made it work. Well, it tells the whole story.

It does. It does. There was a whole breakdown on TikTok. Have you seen this? Of what? Of your entrance theme of someone being like, listen to this. Like, this is just a bad bitch right here. Oh, no. I'm going to look that one up.

I'll show to you after. That's funny. Because they're going through like line by line and they're like, you're not enough for me. Come on. Okay. Just another man in love with me. What? Just another man?

I thought that's just all it said. Are there actually other lyrics? I mean, I thought it just kind of like stopped there and there's some, you know, go. What comes after that? I don't know. We have all the world's information in our pocket. Let's see. I literally have no idea.

Oh, this is going to be great. Let's see. I didn't think there were words after that. There's tons of them. That's funny. You've got to open your eyes and see. You're not enough for me. Okay, we know that.

Then there's a whole verse. What? And a core, and then chorus again. Then another verse. Wait a minute. Yeah, look at all these lyrics. Who knew? Look at that.

Does it sound familiar? Um, no clue. No, you never, no? No. Oh, no, I really like it, though. Now, though, speaking to you? Hey, yeah, I like it. I'm feeling out of that.

I mean, because I think you forgot this chick is mean. Right. I never lost my touch. I just gave it to you. I mean, I'd have been still in those lyrics or promos. I don't know when I had those lyrics. Like, that's good. You had heard the song before?

Not past the... Oh, because the entrances were so short. Yes, we barely got the enough for me part. Like, it was just, you're not... Like sprinting to the ring. And then a few minutes later? Ding, ding, ding. That's just so unfortunate.

I know. Who did you not get a chance to work with that you would have loved to work with? During my time or after. Both. I think we pretty much worked everybody that was there during our time. Like I said, loved working with Victoria. I loved working with Molina, Mickey, we've already mentioned. And I pride it myself on being able to work with anybody.

Like, I'd always have a good match with Kelly Kelly. I would have a good match with Maria. It was all about finding people's strengths, you know? So I did pride myself on that. I would have loved to be able to mix it up with Bianca, Naomi, some of the girls that, you know, I've now been in the ring with just for a hot second. Obviously, Charlotte, which a lot of people have asked about. My son still ask, Mommy, why are you on TV?

I'm like, oh, you're so sweet. What do you want? Everybody always thinks that Charlotte's me or Gwen Stefani on the voice. But anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Do you ever in public get mistaken for somebody else? No, because I'm, I mean, normally with Mark, so, no. Normally, people don't know I have a name. It's just Undertaker's wife.

So I can appreciate anybody that says, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah. I'm like, I have a name, people. Yeah. Nice to meet you. I could see. Does he ever get mistaken for somebody else? Hmm. I don't think so.

Unless it's like some like... Who would you think? I mean, it could be like a lapsed fan who's like, you're the, you're, you're, you're, your, you're, you're, you're, oh, maybe. Yeah, maybe. Like, I close.

Yeah, yeah. That's my brother in real life. Yeah. Do you know at our wedding, which you had like 30 people literally in the woods here in the neighborhood with a wooden cross. Tiny. Somebody asked where Kane was. I'm like, guys, wait a minute.

Like, if you got invited here, you should know that he has four brothers, but Kane's really not one of them. like not biologically. And is it, it's Paul Bearer are going to be here too? I know.

Like, oh, oh, no. That's so funny. That's so funny that people would think that. To this day. Yep. Isn't that funny?

Would you want one more match? Because maybe you didn't really have a chance to end your career the way you wanted to? I was happy with my last match for sure. It's one of my favorite matches. I think Layla and I had a great match. I think we told a great story. And then Awesome Kong coming out for her debut.

which we only knew minutes before. Minutes before. And what's crazy is, again, I just love the business. And you know it takes two to tango. I vividly remember coming back and Hunter and the boss and a couple of people saying, thank you so much for doing business.

Thank you so much. I'm thinking, see, it shouldn't be an issue that you do business. Like what? And we dealt with that a lot. Lake who dealt with that a lot. No, I don't want them to beat me or I don't want, you know, whatever. I'm like, I wouldn't think twice. to have her come out there and kickstart, you know, an honor for me.

You know, come beat me up and then, you know, add salt to my wound and send me on my way. It also makes the match even more memorable. Yeah, for sure. So, yeah, that's crazy world we worked in. But I think, I mean, I don't know. Look, I did my first rumble. I think when my daughter was in kindergarten, because, like, she's never seen Mommy work. And we didn't have merch back then.

and they actually presented me with a shirt. And I'm like, she can watch me wrestle. And if I wrestle, I get a shirt with my name on it now. I'm like, oh my gosh. So that's why I did it. And then that little turd came to the show. And she's coming around catering with my parents. Like, hey, baby.

She goes, Mommy, mommy, and Joe from merch, he gave me a Naomi shirt. And I'm like, you serious right now? I put the Naomi shirt over my shirt. I'm like, hold up. This is messed up. Like, I'm doing this for you, kid. Like, show a little bit of love. Geez, but so I did that for her to see me wrestle.

My son hasn't seen me wrestle, so, I mean, you know. Well, I hear there's a big match with 30 people in it. I mean, there's a lot of girls on the roster now. There are. A ton. That's true. Yeah. Then I guess, you know, we get to a point where you feel like you're taking someone's

spot. Right. Yeah. And I know a lot of people throughout the years always have problems with that, right? Like, oh, our match got cut because, and I've always understood, like, If my match gets cut from six minutes to three because Mark and Sean Michaels are going on after me, I get it. You know, like I get.

I've always gotten that. But it was always a thing when people came back and it's like, we're fighting so hard. Like, that should be us, give us that, you know. But at the same time, they paved the road and people want to see them. So it's just a catch-22 kind of. Well, we know how wrestling retirements work. You know, a lot of people say they're going to retire and then come back and come back. Yours feels like my husband.

not say any names but they did call him Santa Claus he'd come back once a year for do you think you know him better than anybody do you think he wants one final match in front of an audience he's happy with the graveyard boneyard match he was happy with a boneyard match but i don't think he got closure until um this past russomania but for whatever reason he had complete closure no for now for now so he says no but i really think So, yeah. You mentioned it earlier, but what's your morning routine look like? I wake up at 4.45 every morning.

I'm an early to bed person. Pass 8.30. I'm delirious. Donezo. As soon as I put the kids in, I'm in bed. Sidebar. It just makes me laugh because, in fact, Mark came to bed the other night. It was like 10 o'clock.

I was already out. I was like, I got to pee, and I don't want to get up, and I don't normally have to. We have a little hall to go to our bathroom. And I was coming back. I must have turned left, like a foot. and a half short and the wall. I turn around. Thankfully, I got my hands up, I guess it's natural instinct, but it was like this

caboosh. And I get bed, he's like, just running to the wall. I'm like, yep, made that turn way too short. And he's dying laughing at me. But anyway, wake up at 445, quiet time. Hopefully the kids don't wake up anytime soon. Do my devotional, get some prayer time in, and then get the kiddos ready for school, get them off to school.

And that's it. Come home, get a little workout in. Sounds like faith is really like the center of your life. Yeah, it is. It is for sure. And had I not had faith, I probably would have gone insane many, many times in my life, but definitely when I was working. Yeah. I want to ask you the question that I ask at the end of every interview because gratitude is the cornerstone of my life.

Wake up every day. I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. My wife and I do before we go to bed. Michelle, what are three things in your life you're grateful for right now? Oh, gosh. I could go on and on. In fact, we have the door that leads out to our garage and post-it notes. Gratitude wall. I might just post a little. Oh, I love that. Yeah. So it's covered in different color, sticky nose. Does each person have their own color? No, that's just grab what you can find, stick it up there. But yeah, my calendar. My calendar. Everybody has a color. Paper calendar. Paper calendar. Old school. Clearly, I like old school. Moves, thanks, people. I am grateful for my health, my family's health.

for sure. I am grateful for outdoors and nature. And I am grateful, not only if we're doing this day, but just, you know, I'm grateful for the, for the business and the opportunities that's brought us and our family and just the platform that it gives us to be able to, you know, reach out to others and help other people. I just want to acknowledge you in the career that you've had. Thank you. Congratulations on everything. And all the, the history that you made. and the paths that you carved out, congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you. My husband tells me I'm horrible taking compliments, but I appreciate it. It's hard to sometimes see that and give yourself enough credit. But, you know, after all these years, when you look back, it's nice to see. So thank you.

And thank you for today. Thank you for inviting me into your beautiful home and this great conversation and look forward to seeing you guys again sometime. Yeah, absolutely. We're here. All right. Well, thank you for listening to this.

episode and thank you for being with us all the way until the end here. And thank you to Michelle for inviting us into their beautiful home in Austin to record this. I feel like it's just a matter of time before we see Michelle McCool inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. I mean, the first ever to win both the Divas and the Women's Championship for Time Champion. Come on. I think it's just a matter of time here. Snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening to this one. Tag us on social media. Mimi Calacool on Instagram. She's at McCool, Michelle L on Twitter, and she posts some sort of her crazy workouts on Instagram.

Like I said in the intro, she is in crazy shape these days. And tag me. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. I'm in solid shape these days, but not Michelle McCool shape. And I'll wrap this up with a quote that I love from Confucius. Every man has two lives.

And the second one starts when he reads. realizes he has just one. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Ask CVV number 70 tomorrow. Leave a comment on Spotify. If you have a question for Ask CVV number 70, leave a comment on social media tag.

Use the hashtag AskCV. Shoot me an email. CVV at chrisfanbleet.com. We will see you right back here tomorrow for that one. 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's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

been warned.