Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Peyton Royce on Billie Kay, how she met her husband Shawn Spears, dream matches, Aussie slang words

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

Peyton Royce chats with Chris Van Vliet from her home in Orlando, FL. She talks about her new YouTube channel called Cassie Vs, being friends with Billie Kay since high school, who her favorite wrestler was as a kid, how she met her husband Shawn Spears, the conversation that she had with Shawn before he asked for his WWE release, her favorite match of his, who her dream match in WWE would be against, we learn a few Aussie slang words, get a surprise appearance from an angry Shawn Spears and much more! Support the show by supporting our sponsors! BetOnline  - Head to http://betonline.ag and use the promo code BLUEWIRE for your free welcome bonus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light. These days, everything is go, go, go. It's nonstop hustle all the time. Work, friends, family. Expect you to be on 24-7? Well, sometimes you just need to reach for a Coors Light because it's made to chill. Coors Light is cold-loggered, cold filtered, and cold package. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies.

It is literally made to chill. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. What's up, my friends? I am so pumped to be able to share an exclusive trailer with you after the show.

From Blue Wire Studios comes Golden Goal Stories of Soccer Legends. It's narrated by fellow Blue Wire host Brandon Kelly. And each Monday, two episodes will take an... in-depth look into some of soccer's biggest stars and the moments that define their careers. From Pele to Messi to Rapino and many, many more each episode will focus in on the historical plays and the personalities that make the sport great. So stay tuned after the episode and listen to Golden Goal, Stories of Soccer Legends, wherever you are listening to this podcast right now.

Now hit that entrance music. It's Chrysomania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you, man. What's the powerful questions. This is the Chris Van Vleet Show. Chris Van Vleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen.

Chris. The. Greetings and salutations, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure on the Chris Van Vleet Show. This episode is brought to you by Bet Online. And how are you feeling? You good? You doing well?

I'm doing great, even though you didn't ask. But if by chance you're feeling just a little bit down, you are going to feel so much better after listening to this. I promise. Because not only does Peyton Royce have this incredibly infectious energy and charisma, but her story is so inspiring. And I'm so grateful that she shared it with us here. She's living her dream against all odds.

And she basically said as a 12-year-old, I am going to be a WWE superstar and nothing is going to stand in my way. I don't care that I live in Australia and WWE is based in the United States. I am going to make this thing happen. And look at her now. You know, I always say vague goals, good vague results. And this is the exact definition of setting a specific goal and getting a specific result. Ah!

Just fires me up when I see someone live in their dream. because I truly believe that we should all be doing that. We all have that inside of ourselves. So you're going to get fired up listening to this story as well. A bunch more reviews over the last few days. So a huge thank you to the almost 1,100 people who have left reviews on Apple Podcasts. I don't have Patreon. I'm not asking for your money.

Although, if you want to buy a t-shirt or a coffee mug, you can check them out on chrisfanfleet.com or pro wrestling teas. but all I'm really asking for is for you to take a few seconds to leave a review and subscribe to the show. It's the least you could do. Well, I guess listening is the least you could do. You know, doing nothing, I guess it would be the least that you could do. You get the point. If you could take some time to subscribe and leave a review, like this one from John Faisal. Thank you so much for this review. You titled this, CVV is a legend, which I don't know, I don't know about that. That's very kind. Thank you, John. CVV is a legend.

what you titled this. Chris is an inspiration for anyone who wants to set goals and find the positive results they are looking for. Anyone who's a wrestling fan will appreciate Chris's talent as a media personality. His interviews bring out those that he's, bring out the best in those that he's interviewing. He finds a great balance between personal and professional conversations. Everyone check this podcast out. Having personally met Chris and having spent some time conversing with him, I can tell you that he's not only talented, but he's a great person as well. He is very kind and treats you like a friend. Oh, man, that's very nice.

Thank you, John. I'll never forget what the Rock said. This actually reminded me of it. He said, it's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice. And they don't get much nicer than Peyton Royce. It was such a pleasure to chat with her here. And I haven't seen her. I haven't seen her since my visit to Flatbacks,

wrestling school where she stood by as I took those 20 chops from Tyler Breeze, Sean Spears, and their students. I'm sure you've seen the video on YouTube. It now has over a million views. We talk about a lot here, including Peyton's new YouTube channel, Cassie Versage, which I highly suggest you subscribe to because she's so entertaining on there. We also talk about her best friend and her tag team partner, Billy Kay. They've known each other since high school. Yeah. We learn a few Australian phrases here. here. And we learned that Peyton wants to live on a goat farm. Didn't expect that. We also get a surprise visit from Peyton's husband, Sean Spears, who did not seem very happy that I was talking to

his wife. Hmm. Please enjoy this. It's Cassie Lee, aka Peyton Royce. Well, hello. Hi. How are you? I am fantastic. How are you? I'm great. Thank you for joining me on this. Congratulations on your new YouTube channel, which is exploding. Thank you so much. I'm so excited. I've been wanting to do your show forever, so I'm really excited about this. Really? Oh, my God.

I've wanted you to do my show forever. Well, I'm glad we finally worked it out. But, yeah. This is perfect timing because you have a new YouTube channel. We are on YouTube with this right now. So we'll just get it out of the way right now. It's Cassie versus. I'll put the link down below in the description,

and I'll put the link in the pinned comment. comment and you can subscribe to Cassie's channel where, I mean, as of right now, we see how great of a baker you are. Yeah, I did not pick that up from my mom. She author is not a cook. So, yeah, I'm just not good at it, but, you know, one day I want to be that mom who can bake for her kids. So I think I should start trying now.

Maybe perhaps you should be watching other people's YouTube videos then. Yeah, I need more tips for sure. So what's the plan with the YouTube channel? It's just, I just want to, I just want to get out there and do some things as Cassie. I'm not going to be Peyton forever as much as I would love to. So I really want the world to be introduced to who Cassie is as well. So it's not going to be just a baking channel. I want it to be like a variety.

I want to have my kind of life on it. So I'll have my husband on it. I'm going to have my best friend. Like, I have a lot of ideas for it. So I'm just excited. And the response to it has been overwhelming. I'm so thankful. Like, I was not expecting this in the slightest.

So it's been crazy. Before we started this interview, I looked and you had like 8,000-ish subscribers. Do you know how long it takes, like, normal people to get 8,000 subscribers? I'm very lucky. I'm very lucky. You are. You're going to have one of these little guys here in just like another month. I think at this rate.

I thought a spot huge on the wall right. That's a good, yeah, yeah. Oh, my nails are so bad. I'm trying to find a good nail to please. What's wrong with your nails? Get a load of it. Ooh, they're fine? They're fine.

Yep. Yeah. You said maybe your husband would be on there. Maybe your best friend would be on there. Will we see your dogs on there? Oh, of course. I don't know what I'll do. There may be a little training video or something,

but they are, They are such, like, big parts of our lives. They're our little babies, so they will be on there often. For anybody who watches your Instagram videos, your dogs are, like, exceptionally well trained. Thank you. We did put a lot of effort into having them trained. We have a friend who is local, and she's an incredible dog trainer.

So we kind of put them through a really intensive course with her. And then when they come home, you have to keep up with the rules. but they're so intelligent and they're just so smart. They're the best dogs. We got really lucky. I mean, you posted a video and you're like, all right, go to your crate. And all the dogs dispersed to the crows. Actually, one of them was like going to a different crate.

You're like, no, your own crate. Next thing you know, every dog's sitting in their crate, like looking super happy too. Yeah, yeah. Well, he's the baby, so he still likes to push it a little bit. But, yeah, especially when it's dinner time, they know they have to be in their crates otherwise they don't eat and they know when it's dinner time they know at 3.34 o'clock every day okay feed me mom well what do they do when you're on the road then we have um we have a nanny a dog nanny well when i last saw you this was in january

you're January already yeah yeah gosh I was in flatbacks on January 30th was when I was there I didn't realize it was so long ago this year I've been weird. We've all lost track of time this year. Yeah. But your baby dog was like, I think you guys just got that dog at that point. Yeah, he would have, because he's about to turn one. So he would have, yeah, we would have only had him a couple months at that point. Right. So the last time I saw you, when I first met you, my chest was completely fine. And then when I said goodbye to you, my chest was, you know, caved in by 20 tops. Yeah. What was your reaction? when I told you that this is the video I wanted to do.

I thought, I don't know if he knows what he's getting into. Especially knowing how good my husband, Ronnie and Breezes chops are. I was like, man, even just those two are in there and that would be, that would be kind of tough for you. But you had a whole lineup of people and they all got like two tries. Yeah. That was a real manly moment for you. Well, thank you. I appreciate you saying that.

So I had trained before, but I'd never taken that many chops before in my life. I do have to thank you for not joining that chop line. My heart went out to you that day. I thought I'm going to let him be. I'm not going to join this. But I also have to apologize because the way that the video was put together, it kind of made it seem like it was your idea. Did it?

I didn't get that. Well, because I was like, all right, you know, it's so good to be here and we'll wrap things up. Yeah, come on. Let's get to it. And Spears and Breeze are like, well, we should do something else. And you just kind of pop your head and you're like, chops? That's right. And then it happened.

Yeah. But the video now has more than a million views. Wow. That'll be like every one of your videos in the next few weeks here. I'm not going to put myself through that. Maybe you should. Maybe some sort of training at flatbacks on your channel. Yeah, I was thinking about that.

So have you like made a whole list out of all the videos that you want to make? So I have got, so I have a few films already and I have a few edited. So I've got about a month's worth ready to just kind of go. And then I do, I don't have a list per se in my head with the list. But I just know the different topics that I want to cover and different things. I have a really fun idea to do with Billy. I want to do like a blindfolded, nose blocked taste testing.

Oh, that's going to be great. That's her idea. I was like, I want to put this on my YouTube. It's a great idea. So I have been stocked up with the food that I want to use for a while. I'm just waiting for her to come on over. So is Monday going to be your day to release videos? It is, yeah.

Okay, so there we go. Cassie versus every Monday. We've got a new video. Yes. Who were some of your friends in? WWE that have really been succeeding with their YouTube channels where you go, ah, I got to start doing it like that. Yeah.

First person that comes to mine is Woods, Xavier Woods. Gosh, he has been so good to Billy and I threw out our whole, ever since we came out to the main roster, we kind of, us and the New Day just kind of like bonded really well. So he's amazing. He's always there if I need to text him, if I need to like bounce ideas off him, he's got ideas. He's just absolutely incredible and so supportive. So he's one person that I always go to and I always kind of look at his stuff to see like, because he's so successful. And I'm like, I got to, I got to get on your level somehow. But obviously he's been working on that for a long time.

I mean, his channel has such a dedicated fan base. Oh, totally. Yeah. Right. And he's tapped into that. And I think you can actually do the reverse here. You have such a dedicated fan base in general. Yeah. I mean, when you type your name into, Twitter or into Instagram. You know how many people have like their username that is basically your name? Yeah, that it's so incredible. It's like I'm just shocked when I see that. One of my, one of my, probably one of my biggest fans, her name is Ashland.

Her name is Peyton Royce, but without the O. And she, she's just an absolute sweetheart to me. She's so supportive and kind. And so yeah, she's one that has got my. name is her name and I'm like, oh, you guys are just so sweet. Yeah. Well, you're so sweet and you're so kind to your fans too. Oh, thank you.

Well, thank you. I mean, everybody appreciates how awesome you are. But when you look back at this entire journey here, did you ever imagine that you'd be where you're at right now? I mean, it was always the dream. And my dreams, I haven't even like hit them all. But it's, these were my dreams. So like being in the moments.

Sometimes I have to like pinch myself and think, well, you, this is what you wanted and you're here. Sometimes you don't even notice like the doors open and you're already through the door and you look back and it's, oh, I got here. This is where I am. So I just, I pinch myself. I say a prayer and I'm so thankful every night for everything that I have. I'm so blessed. I mean, there's not really a long list of Australian wrestlers who have been crazy successful before you. So who is it when you're growing up that you look up to and go, I could be like that person?

Eddie Guerrero was my absolute favorite, my inspiration. He was my hero. I mourned his death like it was my family. I really, really struggled with that because I was young too when he passed. But he was the one who helped me actually realize that this was my dream. was a fan for a few years before I actually realized, oh, this is what I want to do with my life. This is actually my dream. And that was because of him.

What did your family say when you told them, this is my dream? I'm going to be in the WWE one day. I mean, I said that to them when I was about 12 and I was a ballerina at the time. So I think they were kind of like, yeah, okay, Cassie, no problem. But they were always supportive. Of course, in high school, I was so vocal about my dreams as a teenager that I got bullied for it because I was just a small town girl in a small suburb in Sydney, Australia, and I was bullied for having this wild, crazy dream that people just thought I was insane. So it's, yeah. What's the name of the town that you grew up in?

I grew up in Campbelltown, which. as like western suburbs of Sydney, I think. But I moved around a lot. So I stayed in like Sydney, but around in like an hour diameter. Circumference? I don't know. Diameter, I think makes sense. Lots of us have dreams when we're 12 years old.

I mean, every kid wants to play football or baseball or be a ballerine or whatever it happens to be. And then usually something happens when you get to be 16 or 18. or 20 and you go, oh, that was a cute dream when I was a kid. Now I'll just enter real life now. But you hung on to this. Yeah, it grabbed my heart and my soul and it didn't let go. And even my dance teachers were like, oh, Cassie, like, I'm, don't mean to

my own horn, but I was a pretty good thing. Go away. I did a lot of dancing. I was, did a lot of, I was selected into groups. I did a lot of dancing and that's all I did for 15 years or something like that. So I think a lot of people were kind of waiting on me to get through the phase. And then when I started training, I think that's when my teachers and people around me started realizing, oh, maybe it's not a phase.

Maybe this is actually what she wants to do. Is there any crossover between being a ballerina and wrestling? I am actually so incredibly grateful that my life went in that direction, dancing into wrestling, because dancing taught me so, so much that I've been able to translate in the ring. Things like footwork is just, that's the number one thing that I'm grateful dancing taught me. The other thing is being aware of where you are in a space with other people around you. Right. Timing, rhythm, all of it.

I was able to use dancing and transfer it into my wrestling. And I'm so grateful that's how my life panned out. So you must have had a point, though, in your life where you had to give up one for the other. You had to stop the dancing. Do you remember what that moment was like? Yeah, I always knew that's what was going to happen. So I went to my high school was a selective sports high school.

So you could only go there if you were selected, if you were good enough playing a sport to go to this school. So I was selected as a dancer. So I knew I would have to dance until at least the end of high school because that's what I was there to do. So I started wrestling in year 11. So I had just turned 16. So I so had two more years of dancing before I could give it up and fully commit to wrestling. But I remember when I started wrestling, I had ballet class on Friday nights.

All I wanted to do was go to training. just wanted to be with my new group of friends and it was it was a social thing too i had never really had like a social group of friends but i was stuck in ballet class and then eventually i said to my mom i don't i don't want to i don't want to do ballet anymore so i i go about my studio dancing so that i could go to training i actually lost my first job because i called in like 30 minutes before my shift and said i'm sorry i have training tonight i can't come in oh my gosh what kind of job was this. No, I was a waitress in a restaurant that I didn't like anyway. It worked out great then. Yeah, no problem for me. But the dream of wanting to be a pro wrestler is already like a lofty dream.

And then you throw in the fact that you are living in Australia at the time. And I feel like that just stacks on it like another layer of difficulty. There we go. Sure, I follow you. Yeah, sure. So how do you then go, this is possible. I can't. do this thing? I think just for me, I was going to make it happen any way I possibly could. My mom won't have conversations with me because we didn't know about indie wrestling. I had never heard of the term. I had no idea it was even in Australia.

So my mom kind of said to me, well, you know, if you want to wrestle for WWA, you're going to have to move to America. So how are you going to move to America? Maybe you'll dance. Maybe dancing will get you to America and you can wrestle there. I was like, okay, that's not a bad plan. But then one day I was just like Googling. I don't even know if it was Google back then, but I googled pro wrestling schools.

And I found OVW and all these things where I was like, oh, like one local. Where can I go local? So I found a place local and I was like, whoa, this is like 10 minutes down the road. This was crazy. And I had to wait until I was 16 to start there. So I had like two years to wait. at that point. And then your journey ends up taking you to Canada.

Like you're still like, I got to be, you know, WWE, I got to go to America. So you end up training with Lance Storm. Yeah. That's a huge step. Like you could train literally anywhere and you went to quite possibly the furthest place away that you could train. Yeah, I did. But I knew that was a really important move in my journey to get to the WWV.

And a lot of people in Australia had taken Lance's course. and I had heard nothing but good things about it. So when I decided that's what I wanted to do, I wanted to take that step. That was literally the best thing I could have ever done for my career. My three months with Lance was so incredibly beneficial for so many reasons. And I'm so grateful that I got to go while he was still open. Yeah.

Do you think he'll open back up again? I don't think so. He did. He had the school for, God, I think it was like 15 years or something. So I think he's ready to, for the next step. So had you ever been to Canada before? No. I am not a winter person.

I get moody when it's even slightly cold. And I want to myself too. You've never been to Canada before and then you pick up your life and you move it to Calgary for three months. Yeah. Wow. But the thing that I think is the huge takeaway from this. is that's the kind of dedication that you had to make this thing work. I had to.

I wanted it so, so bad. I literally was going to do anything that I had to do. Like, there was nothing stopping me. I think it's so important for people to be hearing this right now because a lot of people see you on WWE and go, oh, yeah, you know, she was just a wrestler and they just signed her from there, not knowing the journey that you had to get there, which, as we're saying it out loud here,

it's a pretty crazy journey. Yeah, it is. I know. I think a lot of people really don't realize that they can chase their dreams. I think sometimes people think their dreams are too wild or too unrealistic. And people told that to me for years and years, but in my heart, I knew there was a way to make it happen. And so I just believe that literally anything is possible.

If it's what you want, you can. make it happen. I love that so much because so many people see other people living their dream and they go, that's great for them, but I could never do that. I know. And I just, when I see that, no, you can do it. You really, really can do it. I had the odds stacked against me. Crazy odds. Who was the person in your life that made you believe that it was possible? I think a lot of it. A lot of it was just me in my head talking to myself. But three people in my life were always supportive and never really told me that it was a phase.

My mom, my brother and my best friend, Ashley. I was, you know, through all my bullying and all of that stuff, they were the three people who always knew that I was dead. serious about this. And they never treated me like it was a phase. They supported me so, so much. And I think it's mind-blowing to think that Billy also went to high school with you. Yeah.

So you guys both have the same dream and now you're both living this dream together. Yeah. Is it one of those things where like she's wearing a wrestling shirt or you're wearing a wrestling shirt walking down the hall and you're like, you like, you like this thing too? Oh, it could not have been further from that. So Billy's three years older than me, but in high school she was four years ahead. So when I started high school, she was a senior and I was super, super intimidated by her because she's this pretty athletic girl.

And I honestly don't even know how we knew that we were each wrestling fans. We were two wrestling fans in the whole high school. And it turned into a competition between us of who was the bigger fan. So you were an Eddie fan. Who is she a fan of? The Rock. Oh, well, you can't go wrong with The Rock. No, of course not.

And we've all seen the video of her meeting The Rock for the first time. You got to be the camera person for that. I did. I did. I took my role very seriously. So if she's, you know, freaking out and crying meeting The Rock for the first time, obviously you can't meet Eddie now. So who's the person that you would just absolutely lose it like that if you met them?

I don't think there is someone. When I, first time I saw Sean Michaels backstage, I was like, I was very taken back. I was like, oh, and he was just like walking by. And I was like, hello, Mr. Michaels there. And he was just so sweet. And hello. But I said, I said this to, I think I said this to Billy. Or maybe I just thought it.

When she had that moment with The Rock, it was amazing for me to be there and be there and go through it with her. because I will never have that feeling. I'll never know what that feels like. So I feel like I was living vicariously through her. So that could be a moment for both of you guys then. Yeah, yeah. That was an incredible moment. He was so kind and just had all the time in the world for her.

And I thought that was just so incredible. I've said it so many times before. I've had the pleasure of interviewing the Rock a number of times. But the Rock has this stark quality about him, where he understands that the moment is about you. Even though he's the biggest star in the world, he goes out of his way to make the moment special for you. Yeah, that's very encompasses what happened. Yeah, it's just so amazing to see.

And I was watching that video and watching Billy's reaction. And I'm like, I know exactly how that feels. Yeah. It was very special to watch. But look, this is also the reaction that you have for a lot of people. Oh, really? Of course. What do you mean?

I'm sure you've had many, many fans crying during an autograph signing, freaking out because they get to meet Peyton Royce. Yeah, I mean, not on that level, but... Oh. Uh-oh. Well, I don't know what way to go. Hey, buddy. What's going on in here? Say hi. Hi. Hey, what's going on?

How are going, man? Doing well. My chest has just started healing up. I was about the question why you're talking to my wife, bro. Oh, no! Let's have a chat. Oh, yeah, this was an accident. Sorry.

Wait, why are you talking to Chris? Oh, stop. All right. Bye. I just realized I'm wearing these. And they're not working? Yeah, no. Oh.

Let me get rid of those real quick. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. No, nothing to be sorry. It sounds great now. I'm just not technically gifted. Do you edit your YouTube videos? I do.

And you are technically gifted. I can't believe I do that. How'd you learn how to do it? I just downloaded an app that one of my friends suggested, and I just was playing around on it. And this was before I was filming any sort of videos, but I was just playing around with, like, photo shoot, behind the scenes. and things like that. And I just got to like work it out. I think this means you are officially a YouTube creator.

What? Does it really? Sure. Oh, that's so cool. Do you know how many other people just like perform during the videos and then hand it off to somebody? You're shooting at yourself. You're editing yourself. You're coming up with the ideas yourself.

Yeah. I have thought about using someone's services. But for now it is just me. Well, you're two videos in right now. You know, maybe when you're like six videos in, you can hand this off to somebody. That's another thing I've really learned is like if somebody's better at something than you are, like maybe it's worth having them take care of this. Yeah. I'm all about having a team.

Team effort. I'm sure that the Cassie versus team could become very large. Oh, hopefully. I'm predicting your million views. in like the next year or million subscribers in the next year. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm a subscriber. Thank you so much.

Yeah. I'm a subscriber to you too. I got your notification today. Oh, you did? That's so kind. I still have it. Hold on. I'll tell you what it is.

Chris Van Bleet with Mark Henry. Wow. Yeah. Thank you. Now for everybody that's watching this right now, if Peyton Royce can subscribe to channel, why can't you? Yeah, you tell them.

Yeah, I just told them. Now, if we weren't having this conversation right now and you and Ronnie, Sean Spears, we're just hanging out, what would you guys be doing on a typical Tuesday? At the time, 2.30, probably just hanging out right now. We like to do our workouts in the morning and then we leave for flatbacks around four. So at this time, I hope I'd be having a meal and just kicking my feet up on the couch or playing in the pool or playing with the dogs, something like that. And all of that sounds pretty great.

Oh, it is. Yeah. You guys have probably spent so much more time with each other over the last three months than probably ever in your entire relationship. Yeah, absolutely. Has this been a good thing or a great thing? Oh. No, it has been great.

It gets really hard sometimes when I'm on the road, you know, four, five days a week and then he's gone. When our schedules go back to normal, we will have two afternoons a week together and they won't even be consecutive. So that's a very scary thought for me just because I miss him so much when we're not together. And I miss the dogs.

And so I'm living for this life right now. Yeah. So when you're on the road with your normal schedule, how many days a week are you able to go to flatbacks? probably two oh that's that's pretty great not bad yes my only two days home but yeah yeah i think that i know that the the female students they're like super appreciate getting your input there obviously breeze and spears are incredible but like being able to hear from you who has been there is there and then is showing them how it's done i think that that just adds like an extra layer for them yeah i am really glad

that I can be there for them. And I like to get involved. I like to do the whole classes with them because I feel like you can never brush up on your basics enough. But yeah, I do really love being able to be there for them, especially the women in such a male-dominated industry. I feel like they really need that female representative. So I am very glad that I get to do that. Let's hit pause on this interview for just a second to thank our sponsor, Bet Online. And there's no shortage of action going on at our exclusive partners, BetOnline. Online.ag. Sports are slowly making their way back, and Bet Online is leading the way with the best odds and lines for all UFC, NASCAR, boxing, and soccer matches.

And if you need even more, well, they have simulated NFL, NBA, and UFC simulations all day, every day, and it's live on their website. If you're looking for something more than sports, well, BetOnline has hundreds of casino games, poker tournaments, and prop bets for you to check out. So visit betonline.ag. Use the promo code Bluewire for a free welcome bonus. That's one word, Blue Wire, B-L-U-E-W-I-R-E. BetOnline, your online wagering experts. How long have you lived in America now? A bit over five years now.

Now when you talk to your friends back home, do they think you don't have an accent anymore? Yes. Yeah. And when I go home, it's weird. when I go home, the Aussie like ramps up. But they still say to me, oh, you sound American. I'm like, I miss my accent.

I think to most of us, you definitely have an accent. Yeah, well, not to Australia. I don't. People tweet me about it too. They're like, where's your accent gone? And I'm like, I'm sorry. Do you hear Sean's accent? Does he have a Canadian accent to you?

Not at all. Yeah. Not at all. He's very Americanized. Yeah. I mean, I grew up not far from where he grew up. And when I moved to America, I made like a point. I'm like, I'm not going to say I'm going out and about anymore.

Oh, really? I love that, though. No, I don't. I think to be on, I was on TV in America. And I'm like, I think that they will instantly know, he's not one of ours. So your accent's cute and fun. Like, everyone loves Australians, right?

Oh, do they? Sometimes I cringe at our accent. What are, like, what are some specific Aussie phrases you can tell us that we might not know? This is funny. I said a couple of things last week at Flatbacks and Greene and Ronnie were like, what is that? I said, I'm not feeling too crash hot today. Okay, give us another one. Oh, what was another one I used recently? Oh, well, I can't, I can't remember. There was one recently, but I don't remember it.

But when we were first, like, dating and kind of getting used to each other, and I would go get the groceries or something. I'd say, can you go grab the trolley for me? The trolley? Yeah, or I'm just looking for a park. What do we say? I'm going to the car park. Okay, car park, yeah. Oh, one really bugged me when I first moved here.

I went into this restaurant and I said, do you do takeaway? And she was like, what? And I was like, did you take away? And she was like, and I don't know what that is. And I was like, if I buy the food, can I take it away from the restaurant? And she was like, oh, take out. And I was like, yes. Yes, you're right.

Take out. I'm very sorry. One of my Aussie friends says that since quarantine started, they've been bludging around a lot. Oh, bludging is a good one, yeah. That's a good Aussie phrase, right? Lodging, yeah, gosh. And that makes you a bludger when you're bludging around, right? Yeah, yeah.

I had no idea what that meant. I have not heard that in a lot. I haven't heard that since high school, to be honest with you. I'm bludging in my school work. Then we're throwing a back here. Yeah, I like it. I'm going to put it in my back pocket. When you and Billy get together, do you really ramp up the Oziness?

I mean, her accent is super thick. loves it. Mine doesn't ramp up on a week third, so only when I go back home. Or the other one, I just remember the other one. We were telling Breeze the other day. In Australia, if you say, yeah, nah, it means no.

If you say, nah, yeah, it means yeah. Nah, yeah. That's very confusing. I know. How is Ronnie's Australian accent? I mean, awful, like most people that try it. Yeah. Like British for some reason.

Well, yeah. Yeah. Who do you think you like more? Ty Dillinger or Sean Spears? Oh, Sean Spears. Hmm. Yeah. But he's kind of mean.

Oh, it's great. I love it. I love his mean streak. Were you around during the process of him trying to figure out the perfect 10? Yeah. I came in, right as, right as he was picking it up and kind of starting to run with it. So I feel like I saw it from the very beginning. And as I got to know him and watch him and learn from him, I was like, he is incredible.

He belongs inside a ring. He belongs behind a microphone. My gosh, I can't even tell you how much I've learned from him and how much of what I bring into my work and my wrestling, I've learned from him. and Breeze too, both of them. I'm so glad that I have them. Is there something specifically you do in the ring that you can attribute to something that you've learned from him? Yeah, I think the big one for me is like kind of stalking my opponent. So if I pick them or something and they're down and they're hurt

and I just, he's always taught me to like stand behind them and just stalk them. And I love that. I love when the camera picks up on that. It just looks evil. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're such like a goal-driven person, what are the goals that you have in WWE for yourself? I mean, growing up, I always dreamt of being a women's champion one day.

So that is definitely still up there in my goals. Pioneering, helping to pioneer the women's tag division was the number one goal on my list absolutely had to be a part of making that happen. So it's incredible that we got to do that. But, you know, I just want to keep doing. I want to be on top. I want to feel fulfilled. I just want to wrestle so bad.

I just want to be out there and do what I love to do. If I can do that on a top level, week after week after week, be a champion at some point. obviously way down the line I'm looking for the Hall of Fame type deal but that's the kind of career I want to go for there. I think there's no reason that you can't have like a super successful singles run. Oh, thank you very much. Now but seriously, you've got all the tools to make this happen and you're incredible in the ring. There's no reason that you can't be fighting for that championship sometime before the end of this year. I mean, that would be absolutely incredible.

obviously being in a tag team it impacts other people so loyal to her she is we've done everything together we've been a tag team in the WWE for the last five years so I'm very loyal to her but you know even if she got the opportunity to go for a single-stapmanship I know

I would support her 100% just the same as she would do for me so yeah those sound like all the things you would say when you're about to turn heel on your tag team partner I will support you. I've been here with you since the start and then. So, yes, if I said that on TV, I could understand that. But Billy and I literally have these conversations where we say to each other, I will support you. We have individual careers at the same time. So we are loyal to each other, but at the same time, we're going to

support each other if we want to go kind of singles. And I don't, I can't have a picture not having Billy by my side, you know. Who were the dream matches for you? One that probably won't happen because she's retired. I love to wrestle Gale Kim. Oh. I think she's so incredible. But as far as being in WW right now, gosh, I just want to go for 30 minutes with

Sasha Banks at WrestleMania. Yes. How about next year? Oh, please. Yeah. I would love that. Same as Bailey. And especially right now, the two of them together,

hey, we couldn't take him down. They are absolutely killing it right now. And it's very inspiring. And that's the level that I aspire to get past. If Eddie was the person you looked up to growing up on the men's side, who was the female wrestler? Was it Gail Kim? Gail Kim, I think, has been the one that I have looked up,

who since I started wrestling and I was able to appreciate everything that she did in the ring. But growing up before I was really able to grasp it, Trish Stratus was huge for me. And same as Mickey James. Both of them, I thought, were just so incredible. Mickey James was just on the show. Yeah, what a talented wrestler she is. Oh, yeah. A Peyton Royce Mickey James match would be incredible.

Oh, I would love that. I met her at a meeting greet before I was a wrestler. And I cried when I met her. And she gave me a hug and she wrote in my program, meet me in the ring one day. So it was still yet to make that happen. But I really, really hope we can. Oh my God.

That's an amazing story. Yeah. Yeah. What other wrestlers did you meet before you became a wrestler yourself? So with Mickey James was Jeff Hardy. and then in 2006, I met Ray and Chris Benoit. Wow. Which for me was very special that signing in particular because it was very recent after Eddie's death.

And to me that was the closest thing I was going to get to meeting Eddie. Yeah, those are like the two closest people to Eddie. Yeah. Wow. So someone who's in little Cassie's shoes, you know, they're 16 years old and they want to follow in the path that you're on. right now. What kind of advice do you have for them? I would just say don't, don't give up. Find a way to make it happen. If it's what you want, do not give up. Don't listen to the naysayers. Find a way, if it's what you truly want and you put that energy out into the universe and you work hard

and you literally give your all to the journey, I believe the universe will give it back to you. And this is exactly what you're living right now. Yeah. I'm so motivated. I'm so jacked up listening to this. Oh, yay, that makes me so happy. No, it's just, it's so exciting knowing that like you basically said, I want to do this thing.

And guess what? You're doing that thing right now. Yeah, I know. I've pinched myself often because sometimes I get stuck in a rut and I'm like, God, I just want to do, I want to do more. I know I have more to offer to this industry and I just want, I just want to do these things. But then I have to like take a step back and realize how far I've come and how much have overcome just to get to this point.

I had a moment with Ronnie at Dynamite, and I said, have you taken a step back to realize like how big of this year has been for you? And this is October of 2019. Yeah. You guys had a new house, a new dog. You guys had just been married. And he also had a new job all within the course of like six or eight months. Yeah.

Yeah. In 2019, I was thinking about earlier, 2019. was the year where I had my highest of highs and my lowest of lows. 2019 was a wild, wild, wild year. So if you were at the highest of highs, lowest of lows, where are you at right now? I feel like I'm three quarters of the way high. Three quarters of the way?

Okay. I like this. Yeah, it's a very different professional year this year than it was last year. year. And I have to be doing it. But it must be good that you guys live so close to the performance center. Oh, my gosh. It is incredible.

I hate flying. I literally get physically ill as I'm driving to the airport. As I'm on the plane, I absolutely hate it. So having the performance center 30 minutes away, I am thriving right now in this life. I'm so, like, happy. I don't understand how you can not enjoy flying if this is a big part of your life. I know. And I struggle with it every week when we have to fly.

So what kind of person on the plane are you? If I had to sit next to you, if I got to sit next to you. What would you be like on the plane? So I have to be in the window seat because I have to have the window open for take off and landing. Otherwise, I am so nauseous. I have to, if there's turbulence, I have to be able to look at the window. But I'm pretty good. It's just if I'm not in the window, I am looking around frantic, trying to find the nearest window.

It is not fun for me. Oh, my. Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, I mean, I knew what I was getting into. It's just not fun. Yeah, it's only, you know, 150 flights a year or something like that. I know, one of my friends said to me the other day, How do you do that?

You have to fly every other week. And I was like, every other week, it's twice a week at the very least. What's the longest flight you've been on? Oh, my gosh. I mean, anything to Australia is insane. But one, I think it was for Super Showdown. They flew us from Dallas straight to Sydney. No, it wasn't.

Yeah, maybe straight to Sydney, which is 17 hours. Non-stop. And that was a layer. We had to go from Sydney to Melbourne. So anything from Australia is so long, but because I'm used to it, any other flights seem really easy to me. Yeah, I guess so, by contrast. Yeah. What is your favorite Australian animal?

I love koalas. They always have since I was a little girl. I think most people go, it's either going to be koalas or kangaroos, but there's so many different animals that could be. Yeah, kangaroos are great. I love just seeing them like down the street. Where my brother lives is a little bit rural. Wild kangaroos? They're all wild.

Well, not the ones in like a zoo. I know, and they should not be in a zoo. I get so angry when I see a kangaroo in a zoo that's not in Australia. I'm like, how'd you get it? Because it didn't hop here. You captured it, and I don't like that. This can be one of your YouTube. videos.

Yeah, it could be. Talking to the kangaroos of the zoo. I know. I love animals so much and I want to go to the zoo in the aquarium and I just can't do it. Yeah. Well, this is why you have three dogs. I know. And I want more.

I want so many animals. I want a horse and a cow and I want goats and chickens. Yeah, I want it all. I want my own zoo. It sounds like you guys are going to have to move again. Yeah. I kind of gave him a warning. I'd like to live on a farm at some point.

In Florida? Maybe, yeah. There's lots of farms in Florida. Yeah, there's lots of land that I want to find. Yeah. Well, that's where you can have your goat farm. Yeah. Oh, God, wouldn't that be so good just to wake up in the morning and go feed your goats?

Of all the things that you could have possibly said in this interview, that was certainly not one I was expecting to hear. But I look forward to you guys having your goats that you're. You feed every morning. I don't think he really wants the goats or the horse, but we'll see. Did he want three dogs? Oh, no. They were all, I'm not going to lie, the first dog.

I had helped pressuring him into it. It was Royal Rumble, 2016, and we were backstage, and I had Billy and Alexa Bliss with me, and I had them come with me up to him, and we said, we're going to get a dog. He pressured him, and then. Next day, we went and got a dog. Wow. What about the other two dogs? Marshall, the Doberman, he, we had wanted a friend for Sherriff, and then one day we, he was a total, what's, spontaneous. He was very spontaneous, but chief was planned.

I'm pretty like to see. What is your favorite Peyton Royce match? Just Peyton Royce? Yeah, sure. No, a match that you've been involved in. It can be an iconic match. Yeah, I really, really loved backlash that we just did a few weeks ago. I feel like that's probably the most wrestling match I've ever got to be a part of and do.

So I really love that. WrestleMania will always hold a very special place in my heart, but I think for me that's more because of the moment that it was. elimination chamber last year to crown the first new inaugural women's tag team champions was so special and I absolutely love that match. So yeah, those are the ones that come to mine. What's your favorite Sean Spears slash Ty Dillinger match? I have to say him and Cody.

That was just so incredible. Oh my gosh. I had chills. That was actually in the middle of our honeymoon. What do you mean? So we were on our honeymoon and smack bang in the middle of it was the show. So we flew from Hawaii to, where was it, Chicago, I think. And then back to Hawaii to the second leg of our honeymoon.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, but I was so, so happy for him and proud of him because honestly, even up until this point, world has not got a glimpse of how talented he is. He is on another level. And I can't wait until he finally gets to show the world. Well, he's certainly had a bigger opportunity to show what he can do over this last year. Absolutely. And, like, you know, there was a lot of times when Ty Dillinger wasn't given those opportunities that Sean Spears is now being given.

Yeah, absolutely. When he left for AEW, were you worried at all that it might affect the situation that you have? No, that was never a thought for me. I wanted him to be happy. I needed him to be happy. And I never thought of it like that. I just, what was the important to me was that it was his happiness. Because he talked recently on the AEW podcast about how people think, oh, it's so wild.

Like you're both living together in the same house and working for different companies. And he was just like, no, I go to work. She goes to work. Yeah, that's exactly right. And wrestling is such a small world. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone's friends. Like so many of my friends are over there.

And I know a lot of the people there, they have friends with us. It's just one big world. Yeah, it's not as crazy as people have this strange idea. Well, people want it to be like it is in the ring, I think. Yeah. Tell us one thing about Ronnie that we might not know. Oh, he's the biggest goofball. You'd have no idea because he's.

has such like a badass front on TV, but he's such a goofball. He walks around the house flexing on me, showing me his muscles. He puts on voices. He does this voice for Marshall, the Doberman, just like comment, like as if it was Marshall's mind and it makes me laugh like crazy. But he's he's such a goofball and he'll do anything to make me laugh. This is why you guys are perfect for each other. Yeah, we are.

Do you remember? You remember when you like, I'm sure you guys passed each other a lot at, you know, backstage, but do you remember when you were like, huh, that could be, that could be a thing, me and this guy? Yeah, that happened pretty quickly, to be honest with you. He, I was just drawn to him, drawn to him. And I, I, yeah, straight away, I don't know what, I don't, I don't know, I just thought he was so attractive. You're like blushing now. But yeah, we, so, and as well, I looked up to him because he was so good.

And so anytime we kind of got extra training in the ring or something, and I knew he was going to be taking training, I was like, I have to be in that session. I have to be in that session. Partly because he's a good wrestler, but mostly because he's so handsome. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds about right.

Yes. I remember that session very clearly, too. Oh. Just my first time kind of being in close quarters with him and learning from him and and I had a crush on him too. So I was like, oh, there's a lot more now.

I realized that he too had a crush on you. I had no idea. No idea. He thinks he liked me first, but I'm like, I don't think so. It doesn't really matter now, does it?

Exactly. This has been really fun. Thanks. I've had so much fun. Thank you for hanging out with me. I wish it wasn't over. Oh, we can keep talking. What else did I miss? I don't think you missed anything. I look forward to coming back down to Florida and taking some bumps, but probably not some chops.

Yeah, that's okay. I'm on your side. We'll do. I do need to get Tyler Breeze back, though. Yeah, you should. That first chop he gave me. Like why did I only give chops to Ronnie? Why didn't I give a chop to Sean to, uh, to Tyler? I think we were just out of sorts. I was fine.

Okay. Okay. Well, I was fine. I was totally, totally fine. Didn't even hurt. No. You dealt with it very well. It was a lot.

Yeah, come back down and get him teaching a lesson. Yeah. Yeah. I will come down. Um, but it's. Cassie versus on YouTube. Yes. The link is down below in the description and in the pinned comments.

And like I said, 8,000 subscribers as we record this now, I'm sure by the time we post this, you'll have 17,000. That's a number I threw out. I don't know. I guess we'll find out. And next Monday, you'll have another video. Can you give us a little taste? Actually, by the time this is posted, that video will already have been up.

Okay. It's going to be a makeup video. A what? Makeup. Oh, a makeup video. Oh, very nice. Well, thanks for hanging out. Thank you so much for having me.

I'm glad we finally got to do this. Me too. I look forward to being able to do an interview like this in person when... I get back to normal a little bit more. I love that. Okay. Big thank you to Cassie, aka Peyton Royce, for this, and to Sean Spears.

for the special guest appearance. He was smiling the whole time. I know you couldn't see. He was smiling most of the time, some of the time when he was on there. Take a screenshot. Tag me at Chris Van Fleet. Tag Peyton.

She is at Peyton Royce, WWE. And a big thank you to you. Yeah, you for being part of this interview. You know, I messaged Ronnie. I messaged Sean Spears before the interview to see if he had like any sort of embarrassing story or something funny that he maybe could tell me about his wife. I was like, oh, you know, I could really embarrass her with this.

And this is what he sent me. He said, no particular story comes to mind specifically. She just did what you're supposed to do, work multiple jobs, barely make any money just to support a wrestling addiction. She trains just as hard today as she did years ago. She takes part in classes that we teach at Flatbacks and stands in line with the other kids learning. To me, that screams of being hungry, humble, and professional. man so i was expecting an embarrassing story and he sends me like this super heartfelt text about his wife that's it that's incredible and that's love you just have to respect this work ethic too i mentioned

at the start of the interview but this is the best quote i think it's so fitting for everything that we talked about during this interview what we talked about the intro from dwayne johnson it's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice. Keep that little nugget with you as you go into the weekend. Have a great weekend. We'll see you next week with some huge interviews. This is Brandon Kelly, the host of Blue Wire's new podcast, Golden Gold. From Lionel Messi to Marta to Pele, our show takes a deep dive into soccer superstars. From Zlatan Ibrahimovich's brash confidence with the play to back it up, to Megan Rapino's heroic outspokenness and World Cup flair.

Each episode examines a personality of the world's game. We'll dig into Maradona's Hand of God performance and subsequent downfall. The teenage trio at Dortmund that signal the next generation of superstars and that infamous headbut that slung Zinidine Zadan from glory. Golden Goal. Soccer stars and the moments that made them. premiering this summer on Blue Wire. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary.

Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley.

Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Allie. and listen on your favorite platform.