Insight with Chris Van Vliet - R-Truth Is HILARIOUS! His Childhood Hero John Cena, 24/7 Championship, Getting Brock Lesnar To Break Character

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets for the first ever INSIGHT LIVE the day before the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2025 in Indianapolis are on sale now! R-Truth (@RonKillings) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Phoenix, AZ to discuss how his career is still going strong at 52 years old, being a former TNA World Champion, his hilarious segments with the likes of Brock Lesnar, Wade Barrett and Triple H, his music career, how he is able to make so many stars break character, crashing Drake Maverick's actual wedding to win the 24/7 Championship, his more serious side in 2011, whether another heel turn could happen and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "Most New Year's resolutions fail because they are wishes, not plans. Break your goals into daily, actionable steps. Success isn't about the resolution — it's about the execution." - Joe De Sena Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux 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 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: Use the code CVV to 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 Inside. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and welcome, my friends, to episode number 700. Man, that's a big number. That sounds crazy saying that out loud. Some of you have been listening since the very first podcast episode in 2019. Heck, some of you have been around since the YouTube channel started in 2011. and some of you just started listening over the last few months.

Wherever you've fallen there, I appreciate you so, so much that this podcast is even able to be a thing. And thank you for helping to make insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. If you haven't yet, I'm assuming you have because you're here, but if you haven't yet, hit a fisherman suplex on that follow button because we've got some huge plans for 2025, including live shows. live shows in Indianapolis for the Royal Rumble, Toronto for Elimination Chamber, Las Vegas for WrestleMania, and then hopefully, probably New Jersey for SummerSlam.

I'll let you know about that one. Tickets for Indy right now are on sale at CVVTX.com. CVVTX.com. The tickets for Toronto will be on sale soon, but I'm so excited about this one today. Our Truth is one of the most requested guests ever. And you guys have been sending me messages or leaving comments trying to get him on the show for years. And what better time to do it than the big episode number 700. And what a way to wrap up 2024.

I don't need to tell you this. You already know, our truth is hilarious. He's all so brilliant. The art truth that you see on TV is not the same person as Ron Killings. There's so many layers to Ron Killings and what he does in the ring and what he does on the mic. And I think this interview is going to surprise you in a lot of different ways. And I just love from the second he came in the door. He brought with him this big, excited energy.

He's just, he's such a happy dude. I love it. We talk about some of his viral moments like bringing out the ladder in the Royal Rumble or mistaking Triple H for Tomaso Champa, how he became the most interesting thing about the 24-7 championship. We also talk about his heel turn in 2011, which led to the creation. of Little Jimmy and how he wanted to do a little Jimmy action figure,

which would have nothing in the package. I still think he should do that. We talk about him winning the NWA TNA championship. Also his role in the movie The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke. Man, there's just so much in here and so many great stories. So snap a screenshot. Let us know you're on this ride with us and tag us. He's at Ron Killings on Twitter.

Very active on there. So I have a pretty good chance. If you snap a screenshot and tag him that he's going to retweet I'm not saying he's going to, but she's saying there's a good chance. He's at Ron Killings One on Instagram. You can also check out his music on his website. It's the official Ron Killings.com. All right.

You ready for this? Here we go. Please welcome the one, the only, our truth. We are finally making this happen, my friend. Yeah. Oh, man. Long time awaited, yes. We've been talking about this for a while.

It's good. I know, right? So thank you for making this happen. Oh, thank you, man. Get it moving. You do not age. It's incredible. I wish I didn't age.

Oh, thank you, man. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the kind of words. I hear that a lot, man. And it's good to know. It's crazy, though, because if you look at a clip of you from 10 years ago, you look the exact same as you do right now.

I get that a lot. I get a lot of that online as well, too. So I like that. Yeah. Is there a secret to staying young, looking young? Um, Daniel Brian always said this. I don't have a,

time just doesn't exist to me. I don't, I don't, um, I feel like we have to make time for time. In a sense, you know what I'm saying? So I don't look at it as,

oh, are you too old for this or you're too young for that? Just look at like, we have time to adapt, evolve, we have time to make time for time. So you're like, time is the most important currency.

time is the key to everything timing time time plays so much so um it affects our lives in so many different ways yeah where we look the way we age um our success rate um troubles we get in time is a is the essence of life to me at what age did you realize that um i'm still realizing it again we we don't care how old you are you never stop learning on this is earth we always learning you know what i'm saying we always evolved we always recreating we always time is always going yeah did you always think that you'd be doing this for a living uh i knew i would be doing something chris i didn't know um it would be this but uh i knew it was something i knew i had a calling i knew um man upstairs had big hopes for me i had the desire i had the

heart i had the want i had the ambition it was just time to put some work behind it where did it start to feel like it was realistic to do something in entertainment. Oh, wow, man. I don't know. It's just always been in me. When I felt, I guess I would say, to pinpoint your question, I would say probably when I could say I made it. My first WWE contract, first time, you know what I'm saying, leaving NWA wild side to being on television. Yeah.

was like that sense of this is what I was meant to do. But there's got to be a moment before that where you're just, you're a kid with a dream, right? But it's just a dream. How does it start to feel like it's something you could actually chase after? Always from the time it become a dream. Man. From the time you develop that dream, if you believe it,

you're supposed to achieve it. You're supposed to go with it. You're supposed to roll with it. You've got to run towards it. Yeah, so the feeling comes from the dream. What's the difference between Ron Killings, that character as a wrestler, and the Art Truth that we see now in WWA? Oh, wow. Ain't that much of a difference, man.

But there is a difference. Ron Killings is he's a father, he's a husband, he's a son, he's a friend, he's all those things above. Our Truth shares that with Ron Killings. I would say share because when I'm our truth, I'm our truth. That's up and down. What's that, Chris? Ron Killings, dog. Yeah.

I'm here for an interview? Yeah. Oh, we're getting serious now. Yeah. I'm here for an interview. This is what's so great about you. It's so great about... There's a fine line, right, between Art Truth and Ron Killings.

Yeah, we've got cameras here. I don't think I'm supposed to be here, though. Oh, man. What's Chris at? I'm right here. Oh, no. That's it. Our truth's out of here.

I'm just joking. See, at first you would think, like, this joker can cuss or something, right? You'd think it's something crazy, but not, no, no, no. It's just, they're just giving you a little part of that right there. That's a little of our truth. Unpredictable.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Ron Killing is predictable. You pretty much. But you know, I'm on key. I'm on schedule. I'm going to point. You know what I'm saying?

Art truth, you never know what you're going to get. There's a lot of WWE fans that will look at your resume and they'll go, that guy was the NWA champion? Art truth, the 54-time 24-7 champion? Yeah. How different was that version of you? Oh, man. That was a running wild version of me.

That was a, uh, ooh. If a lot of people never seen me. as that version. Yeah. They know me as the happy-go-lucky. That was more of a young, enraged, immature. I was very, I was, I was that mature because I didn't know that much. Talent, talent is talent.

You know what I'm saying? Everybody, we all got talent. Talent is talent. But knowing how to use the talent at the right time, they're going to timing again. Knowing, you know what I'm saying? Like, I had a lot to develop when I was run on the truth killing. the NWA time. I had a lot to develop mentally,

emotionally, spiritually, physically. I was just, I think I was just evolving into who I was. You know what I'm saying? Who was it become? Because there's a lot of, when people see Our Truth now, they don't know, Ron Killers,

had a lot of depression. Ron Killings had a lot of hatred. Ron Killers had a lot of, I had a lot of things going on in my life, my mind, still at the same time, trying to juggle a career. So a lot of what you saw

from Ron, the Truth, killings, the NWA. It was like real, a lot of stuff that was built up in me. It seems like a real lightness, though, to you now. Yeah, because I know now. It's difference, man, when you're in the dark, you don't know.

I've been there. That's why the Archie Catholic can relate to so many people because I've been one of you. I was that guy with no sense of direction, but a hope and a dream, ambition. You know what I'm saying? But when you're in the dark, man, it's like not knowing.

is the worst place to be. So where'd that change for you? When I started learning, when I start seeing the light, when I started thinking differently, when I start going different routes, not going to a different place I used to be at night. My song, that song called Making the Cut, cutting certain things out of your life,

to where if you don't let go certain things, you can't grab nothing, you know what I'm saying? So that that's part of like evolving and adapting. When you do that, you start learning more, you start seeing things different, you start adapting, you start, you know what, maybe I should do it this way right here. There's always a way that's going to get, she's got to find a way to do it. Are there certain points of your career where we can see this happening, this awakening happening before us? Oh my goodness, yes. If you go back to

the beginning of my career all the way to me and Road Dog at WWF, New York, you know, in the restaurant to now, I know now. I know what I possess. I know how to entertain. I know psychology. I know how to tell a story. I can cut you a promo that will have you to edge your seat. I can cut you a promo that I have you behind your seat.

You know what I'm saying? So it's like I know all the aspects there is to be in great entertainment. And back then, I had all the tools, but I didn't know how to use them. How did you find this comedic side of yourself? I've always been funny. I think we all funny, man. It's timing. I think just, just being able to, and I'm best at it on the spot.

It's nothing I can just, I mean, I can't be creative and think of it too, but like on the spot, funny is just, that's what my strong point is. Are you not coming up with most of this stuff ahead of time? Hell no. Excuse me, can you cut some here? Of course. Oh, hell. Hell, no.

Since what is hell a cuss word? Yeah, yeah. Well, they said the cuss word. They said it ain't PG, so, you know what I'm saying? Right? You know what I'm saying? I don't want to be the first one to say hell on the show, dog, you know what I'm saying? You could say hell.

You can't say whatever you want. You can't say motherfucker on here. You just did. Did I? Yeah. I didn't say that. Our truth said that. Oh, yeah, that's right.

Yeah, see? Yeah, you got to give me, yeah. Okay. You're not coming up with that stuff in advance? No, most of the stuff, no. It comes like on the fly. Even in pre-tapes, backstage stuff, I sometimes don't tell her what I'm going to say

because I don't know what I'm going to say. It's the moment. You have to ride the wave. What's your most, what's the impromptu thing you're most proud of? Probably Paul Hammond, the Paul Hammond and Brock Lesnar thing. That was, I come to the gorilla.

And Paul was there, he's like, hey, we got a bet going on. I was like, what bet? He's like that you can make Brock Lab. I said, what you mean? He said, you know, we're not going to tell him what you're going to say. We don't want to hear what you're going to say. I said, man, I think we should let Brock know what we're going to do. He said, no, we're not going to let Brock know at all.

And that was the most impromed thing that, man, that was just, that came off like sliced bread. It was just great. It was so good. Yes. You got Brock Lezzer to break. Yes, yes. That was one of my, not to my belts right there. Who have you tried to get to break?

They will not break. Nobody. I haven't tried to break anybody. It's just, it just happens, man. Everybody got a funny bone, you know what I'm saying? Well, how are they not going to laugh? Exactly. If you said timing, it's all the timing.

And I think a lot of people, when they're in a promo with me or they're in a backstage with me, I think their guard is up so much because of that that it's easy to penetrate. Because when you try not to do something too hard, too good, you end up doing it. You see what I'm saying? So like the reverse psychologist type thing. So you have to just like be yourself. I'm going to be myself. You in the ring with Triple H was so good.

Yes. Because you're setting this up. You're like a genie. Tomaso Champa. Yes. Yes. And Hunter was another one that was like, you know what? I got to get through this.

I'm not going to break. I'm not going to. this is going to be this business. And I've been on Hunter for a long time. So I kind of like, I know his funny spots. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, I know the funny spots on him. I know what to say to like, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah. And that was one of the moments I was waiting on. The look on his face is like. Yes. And he was trying to hold it in. Trying. He was trying his best to hold that in. He was not going to give me that one.

I interviewed Damien Priest recently. And you got him to break, which was great. But he said, like, he turned away from the, one camera because he didn't want to, like, show that he was breaking. Yeah. He turned around and there just happened to be another camera. Another camera right there on. Gotcha right here, DP.

Yeah. You can't hide from the cameras. They're everywhere. It's so good. I love it, man. I love it. And it just shows the different elements, man, with the entertainment that we do. You know what I'm saying?

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care provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. I don't think people give you enough credit for how smart you are about all of this. And I think that might just be a testament to how good you are at playing this character, that there's people who think that you're like our truth all the time. Yes. They really think I'm like that all the time, man. Y'all really do.

But, hey, I mean, I don't want to bust nobody's bubble. Shit. I mean, excuse me. I mean, half the time I think I'm like that, too. No. Yeah. I think that to pull things off at the level that you pull them off, you have to be really smart to be able to do that.

You do. Timing. Timing. Knowing, knowing your audience, knowing the people you're talking to. It's like, it's kind of weird. I'm giving my secret to that, but soon as I come into contact with people, I'm already analyzing you. I'm already analyzing everything, everything around me.

I don't know if that's just my upbringing or something. streets or what, but I'm analyzing everything about you to where I know your temperament. Yeah. I know how I can make you laugh. I know if you're a jolly guy. I know if you're sticking the mud. I know if you're like, I'm not going to laugh at nothing. I know if you're, I just know you now.

Yeah. And it takes me a couple of minutes. I have do sit and listen. So you're like reading people? Always. Man. Always. You see there's so much more to you than people would ever think.

Yes. And you can read people without even looking at them. In what way? Energy. Vibe. Huh. Feel. Yeah.

Real stuff. You know what I'm saying? I love this. Yes. Going deep on this. Yes, man. Yes. At what point did John Cena find out that he was your childhood hero?

Oh, man. I broke him too with that one. I broke him too. That was good, man. And they're still running with it. Of course. Still running with it. love it, man. And it's like, um, like on commentary, they will bring it up all the time.

And I'm not going to, I'm not going to bust nobody's bubble. It's hilarious. I'm not a bubble buster. You know what I'm saying? So I love it. He is my childhood here, man. I would be, you know what saying, lays cross, watch him every Saturday of the morning. Did you tell him in advance that you were going to do that? No, they, um, they actually had it written out. And I was like, oh, this is funny. This is funny. But I did. I text John and asked him about dressing like him, and I got the ha, ha, ha, ha, the laugh here, you know what I'm saying, the emoji. He's, I think it's great.

Yeah, I think it's great. Run with it. So I just, I become my childhood hero. Did you, with his blessings? Did you ask for his blessing to do the five-knuckle shuffle? Yes, everything. Even to wear the shorts. He said, truth, you don't have to ask me to wear shorts to ring.

I said, man, but I want to, I want to be you. I want to, I want to, everything you do. woke, talk. How do you hold your head to the side? I want to do everything. I want to be, you know what I'm saying? You. He said, run with it.

Man, it's so good. Yeah, he's one of the greatest, man. Everybody says that about you. About me? Yes. Oh, I hope so. I hope so. You know what I'm saying?

But people talk behind your back, too, now. You know what I'm saying? Everybody behind your back says truth is the best. That's what's up, man. And that's why I hope I can leave the business like that. to where there's nothing. Nobody have no discomfort about being around me, working with me. Truth is all good.

Truth is solid. But it hasn't always been that way. From what you were saying earlier, right? What you mean? What you're talking about, Chris? What are you talking about? Oh, in my dark days? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, but that's all mental stuff. That's all like, man, just crashing. That comes from, if you ain't ever been down, you wouldn't understand. If you've been down, you would understand. Like, if you've ever been broken, you understand. To be broken as a man, it's like, especially when you have people depending on you. When you have kids, you have, you know what I'm saying, a home at home, parents, you have people depending on you that's looking up to you.

And when you're broken, man, you have to dig down deep. and find a way out. And sometimes it's hard to. Sometimes you find your way out better without being around people than being around people. Sometimes people consoling you and babying you and peppering you kind of like it makes you miss the essence of feeling that rugged. Because when you go down, that's just setting you up for a big come up. You know what I'm saying? So sometimes you got to feel all that, man, and go through the roller coaster ride of it, man.

And I felt every roller coaster ride you can feel from losing loss, whether it was a family member, my sister, whether it was a relationship. With regards to what, to lose in life, man, it makes you feel like a loser. So I've been down that road. So those times, those dark times was me just like all that stuff just bottled in, bawled in, bawled in, bawled in, bawled in, bawled in, bawling, ballad in. and learning, adapting, evolving with life, taught me to, like, release. Yeah. And once you release me, you'd be surprised at how much stuff you can grab. You know, you can grab influence.

You can grab some more motivation, some more ambition, some more discipline, some more love, some more compassion. You can grab those lighter and brighter things that take you away from the dark. So just like going from that to where I'm at now, man, it's just, it's good. day and night to me. As in physically, you can see it on me. I feel it in me. And I shine for people. I love the passion that you have for life and the curiosity that you have to life. You have to have it, man. You have to. If not, life will do you in. You know, I love that quote. It's that we don't stop, but we don't get old because we stop playing. We stop playing. We don't stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing. Yes. Man, you know what? Bennett, you said that,

My daughter's that dance, and one of her dance friends, mom and dad asked me, how do you stay in shape so much? How do you, you know, you're 52 and you're doing this, you're doing that? I said, I never stopped working out since high school. And I asked him, I said, when was the last time you did a jumping jack? And they laughed. But I was serious. Once you the last time you did a jumping jack?

But you look like you work out. So I can't question you like that. Thank you. Yeah, he looked very dapple. Look at it. It looked very daffle. Thank you. Coming out everywhere.

Okay, okay. So yeah, man, so it's like, this is book, Daniel Brown, I had me to read. It was called Supper Like a Leopard. And it was about an animal, not, an animal is always going to be an animal. We as humans sometimes, we get lax of daisy, we get too comfortable, and we stop doing the things that we normally, to keep this engine going, keep this vehicle moving, we stop doing those things. Yeah. Then you got joints tightening up. stiffening up, can't move, can't bend down and what's that.

I never stopped, Chris. Yeah. I never stopped. Yeah. Motion is lotion. Motion is lotion. Yes. Vaseline, too.

You know what I'm saying? I think that was a DDP. Lupricate those joints, man. Yeah. The Vaseline. Yes, yes. Is this the most fun you're having in your career right now? Yes, it is.

The most fun I'm having. my career. Because I'm clear-headed, man. I'm, I'm happy. I'm in a good space, good spot, man. Everything bounces off me, man. It's just, I'm good to go now. And you can tell. Yeah. You can tell when you're out there, whether it's a match or it's a promo or a backstage, you're having a blast and you light up the screen. Man, you have to have a blast at what you do. If you don't, you're going to self-destruct. Why force it? Why force do anything you don't want to be doing? Change that motion.

It looked like you were having so much fun if we go back to 2011 when you turned heel. What me and Morrison, smoking a cigarette? Yeah. I have fun doing that, yes. And then everything that came after that, that was the invention of Little Jimmy, and a lot of people don't remember that. That was the invention of Little Jimmy. Yes.

Do you know people were taking pictures with an empty chair? Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. They were like, hey, do you mind if we take a picture with Little Jimmy? Like, by all means, take a picture of Little Jimmy. And they would get beside the chair. And they were just like, it would be nobody in the chair. So I was getting a kick out of this, you know what I'm saying?

So as long as they went with it, I was going with it. But Little Jimmy was birth. He was created and the people loved them. What was the genesis behind Little Jimmy? I was calling them Little Jimmy's. They were my Little Jimmy's. All the John Cena fans, the one that was their hats, the ones that want me to dance,

want me to be funny. They were John Sena. I just happened to turn to my side and say, oh, look, a little Jimmy. And I don't know, a lot of people who was like, oh, my God, he's talking to him right now. He's talking to Little Jimmy. There you go. And I looked, too, so the little Jim was born on that stage that night. Man.

And took off. It did. I actually wanted to get Little Jimmy an action figure, but it wouldn't be nothing in there. That would be dope, right? It'd look a lot like the John Cena action figure. I would have the box, the clear plastic, would nothing be in there. I just say, little Jimmy.

That feels like a missed opportunity. That would have been good. Yeah, I think they'll say, no, truth, we've got to give them something. That's what they get the box. Right? They get the box. They would have bought it.

They would have bought it. I mean, the idea, you're floating it out there right now. Yeah. I mean, come on. The little Jimmy with nothing in it. People would buy that. Do you think so? Hell yeah.

Would you buy a little Jimmy with nothing in it? Okay. We might have to talk about that. And Helen Selle, Wendy. Helen Selle 2011, when you and Ms. were just causing chaos. That felt like one of the most realistic segments, at least in like modern day wrestling. Like it just felt so authentic. Everyone's coming down there trying to open Hell and a Selle, what looked to be actual police officers.

are down there trying to do it. There was just a real, it was very authentic. It was, um, me and Ms. man was in that mold, man. We was ready to like, grab the bull by the horns and ride it, man. It was, um, again, at that time,

it was time for Awesome Truth. And I think it was the first time of Awesome Truth. So we was like, who was in it to win it? So everything, man, was like coming up on the fly. Everything was just great. I love that moment. As it right now, that video.

has over 100 million views on it. I think it's the second most viewed video. Really? WWB's YouTube channel, or one of your videos is? Wow, that's great. That's great. Yeah, but me as though went down the wrong hole now. Yeah, what the heck?

Yeah, he gonna get what he got coming to him. That seems like it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I remember watching the wrestler, and I didn't know you were in the movie. and I was in the theater watching this, and I'm like,

that's Kay Quick! There he is! He's right, and you had lines in this. You weren't just like... Yeah, man. That was crazy, man. I actually had a friend of mine, Eric Adams, is a wrestler,

Darren Aronofsky was shooting the movie, and he actually talked to me to holding another audition for me. And when I got there, he auditioned me, man. He gave me the part. We started doing it. Roerick saw me, we started talking, hanging out, and I think Mickey actually added more parts to the movie.

Wow. You're trading lines with Mickey Roark. Yeah. He actually added more parts for me in the movie, so shout to Mickey Warwick on that. What a movie. Did you like it? Oh, my gosh. He got robbed.

But it was deep, though, right? It was deep. And I don't want to spoil anything, but that ending. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it shines a little, a tad bit of a light. He got robbed. He should have won the Oscar for best actor that year.

Sean Penn's performance that year was very good in milk. But I remember I interviewed Mickey Rourke a few months later and I'm like, you got Rob. You got Rob. He's like, oh, thank you, brother. I love Mickey, yeah. Come on. Cool.

What was Mickey Rourke like off camera? Cool on the fan, though. Cool dude, man. Straight shooter. I didn't know he used to box. too, man. I love Mickey Roick, man. He was down the earth. Where more you would think it would be. And it looked like he had a real appreciation. A real appreciation for what you guys do. You did. He did, man. Which he was asked a lot of questions about it, too. You know what I'm saying? He was intrigued by it. And he respected the business as well. You know what I'm saying? So I think it was like a mutual type thing. You know what I'm saying?

It looked like it could actually work. I think, yeah, for real. Yeah. Like it looked like he could actually have a match. I think Mickey Roy would have a hell of a match. Man. Yes. You're still doing some acting, right? Still doing the acting. Still doing the acting. Actually creeping into a little bit of voiceover now.

Where? I got this new country album coming out. Brilliant. Country album coming out, man. It's called The White album. Okay. When's it come out? Probably the first song will be coming out. mid-November, probably towards late after Thanksgiving.

That's like right around now? Right around the corner. Okay. I just did a holiday song, man. I got so much music coming out right now. I got a just release a song coming out tomorrow called For Real. It's about just life. It's about what you do it for.

What do you do? What you do and where you do it, who you do it for? You do all this. A lot of people do it for themselves. A lot of people don't have kids. I do a lot of stuff that I do, whether it's me grinding, whether it's me hours in the airport. Whatever I do, what I do, I do it for my family.

Me is the second thought. Me was that guy that was learning and adapting and evolving through time to become this vessel that would take care of a lot of people, my family. I still take care of my mom, my dad, so it's like, I do this for my family. And this song I got coming out called For Real, it's about that. It's just putting in people's mind, a question asking people, you know what do you do it for?

Who do you do it for? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Then I got a holiday song coming out called Holiday Fields. And it's just, when you were younger, man, like in the holiday time felt so good. You know what I'm saying? Like just being with your family, just being around loved ones or people, your family brought over that respected the family. Like, it just made you feel good.

And I think, like, as of recent, everybody's just missing that feel good. So much negative energy, so much negative media. It's just negativity is everywhere. It's going to always be there. But holiday feels is about just feeling good again. I love that. Bringing that good feeling back. Yeah, there's a real magic around the holidays.

It's always been magic there if you look for it. Yeah. Yeah, we just get older and we get out of, to get out of that element. I'm a relatively new dad. So my daughter- Oh, congratulations. Thank you so much.

Welcome to the club. Yeah. Thank you. My daughter's 18 months. And as I sit here right now, baby boy will be here in three weeks or so. Wow. Okay.

So you're doubling up on it. Okay. Double it up. But there's a, I now see the world through my daughter's eyes, right? And there's a real magic of like, we just put the Christmas tree out. Yes.

And I just, oh, wow. I see that in her eyes. Yes. And it brings me to that situation of going, oh, man, I feel like as we get older, we forget that that magic exists. We forget. Because we get to life and life. We get to living. And life does these things on us.

And we forget certain things that gives us life. Yes. Just that moment of her with that tree. How many times you think you're going to be able to do that with her? So it's important. Those times mean stuff, those times are magical. Don't forget the grasshole of them. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, like when I first became a dad, I saw something on Instagram. It's like, if you're lucky, you get 18 summers. It's like, what? Yeah, when you break it down and count, yeah. It makes you think about it, right? Yes. Boom. It makes you think about it.

How many more summers, how many more times do you get to put the tree up with her? I'll tell you this right here. It's just weirdly, I'll, uh, My 10-year-old still sleep well, my nine-year-old still sleep with me my wife. And she just recently stopped sleeping with us, and it broke my heart. And the week before that, she packed up all her baby dolls, all her toys. She's done, like, I'm done with the dolls. Like, I got three girls.

So I went through that stage of, like, and this is my last daughter. It's like, this is it. She's, my little girl is growing up now. No more baby dolls. She don't want to sleep with us anymore. She's like, I want to be in my own room. But I thought you was, you know, time. Cherish those moments.

And it just reminds me of this two shall pass. A good times. This two shall pass. The bad times. This two shall pass. Yes. Yeah. So enjoy it, man.

Yeah. did you ever have a point in your career where you didn't think you'd be able to keep doing this? Like this injury you had recently, did you feel like that might be the end for you? At one point I thought it was because it was when I caught the infection. And see, a lot of people thought I just tore my quarantine.

I did tell the quiet, but I think like a couple weeks out when I was supposed to go get the sutures out, it wasn't healing. And that's when they found that. five different bacteria and the staff, Mercer,

their cousins and Ken folks and relatives. Yeah, it was bad. It was so bad the doctor wouldn't even give me a high five. Yeah,

you know what I know what I'm saying? I know what I'm saying? Like I want to high five with the doctor. But like, you know what I'm saying? He didn't work on me, man. Like, oh,

bro, he could be like. He's like, nah. Nah. He didn't want to catch that. Not catch it. He was like,

bro, you don't have time to be high five. This is serious. Like, this is like, He said, what are you doing this afternoon? I just went to get my stitches out.

Yeah. He said, what are you doing this afternoon? I said, going to pick my kids up. He said, can somebody else go to do it? I'm like, why? He's like, we need to take you to surgery now. Oh. Yeah, so everything went from ha-ha-ha-ha to like,

boy, you better be ready, you know what I'm saying? So it was serious. There was a chance I could lose my leg. What? Yes. So that's how serious he got. The infection was that bad that he thought they were going to have to amputed. if they couldn't get it slowed down.

I was on antibiotics, man, that was like, think about it, I think I was feeling like, it was $4,700 a week for it. I was on the heavy stuff just to get out. I had a pick line here. The first six weeks, and I had to have a pick line there. I can see the, the, still have the scar.

Yeah, people didn't know that. They just saw me on, they get it out of it. They just stopped me, you know what I'm saying? But they didn't know it. Like, deep down, it was like, might be gone. Like, so it was, um, And my mind was thinking way ahead.

It wasn't just thinking, oh, it was thinking, okay, if you don't have this, what are you going to do? You have to think that. That was, he told him my wife that. He didn't think, I heard him, I heard him like, if this doesn't get controlled, he said, we have to think of the options. She was like, what do you mean other options?

He's like, amputation. So I'm like, what the fuck he's, excuse me, I'm like, what the, you know what I'm saying? He can tell me that. But that's when I was thinking, oh, wow, my only better to go back. to this again, how am I going to adapt? It wasn't a woe with me.

It was a, how can I adapt? How can I reroute this thing? It's always about rerouting. Can't crash out no more. That sounds really scary. It was scary. It was scary, man. But it's a part of life, man.

It was, I think it was just moving so fast and I just took it as it came. You're also at a stage of your career with what you're doing. You don't need to be in the ring. Like, I feel like you can be in WWE until you're 100 doing what you're doing. And you'll still look the same. That was a rowdowne said, yeah.

Road down said that too, man. I like being in the ring. I think, and I'm like Ray Mysterio with this right here, I'll let my body be the guy and be the answer to that. And you're listening to your body. I always listen to my body, always. And right now, man, to be honest, man, I've, I never felt as healthy.

as I feel now. Clear-minded, clear-headed, still can do my backflips, still can do my splits. There's a lot of things the generation that hadn't even seen me do yet, and I still can do. Like you said, sometimes I don't need to do it.

I just give an opportunity. I will go out there and show that, oh, shit, he can still go. But the great thing about doing comedic work is you're not taking as many bumps. and every wrestler talks about you've got a bump card, right? Yeah. You only have so many bumps your body can take.

That's a book of T-line, yes. That is a book or T-line. Yes, you only got so many bumps to take. Yeah, man. And when you've gotten to, when you get to that level to where, like, you don't have to, man, it's a blessing, right? Especially when you can get the same numbers, you can get the same effect, and you can send them home happy. Yeah. That's one of the wrestlers, Monta, we have to send these people home happy.

And when I can send them home happy, they can read something. They can be happy. I send them on that roller coaster. My job is done. Do you think about how much longer you want to do this for? I don't. I never think about time. It'll come to me.

I think every answer we seek, look for, it'll come to us in due time. What's the hardest part about what you do in WWA? Is it the travel? Like if we break down the fourth wall right now, it's almost midnight as we sit here in Phoenix, Arizona. Yeah. Your flight just landed a little while ago. You've got to get up tomorrow,

go to work for your call time. Is it the travel? I can't say that, Chris, because it's part of the gig. I've been doing this for how many years? I've been, I've missed flights. I've been in airports, probably more time than people to work there.

You know what I'm saying? Like I, It's part of the gig. There's nothing too hard about this that makes it hard that I'm not used to. I haven't been through that I don't expect in this business, this line of work, man, not just professional wrestling, but any line of work entertainment-wise, you got to be willing to go, man. You got to be willing to take it, give it, receive it.

You know what I'm saying? Run with it. On the flip side of it, what's the best part about your job? Everything. All the perks, the love, the notoriety, meeting different people, meeting different cultures, going different places. I've been to some imparts for the world, man, and I've seen more than the eyes probably have seen. I've seen places people only will read about in books. I've been there.

I've been in pyramids. I've been, I've experienced so much in life. life man because of what I do for a living. And those perks could, I could write a novel on the things that these perks give you. Not only does it give you that, it gives you a sense of, I know people. Yeah. When people talk about the Mount Rushmore of comedic wrestlers, you are number one on that. You think so?

Everyone's always like, okay, it's our truth. Okay. And then Santino and then, you know, they kind of throw in two other. people after that. Yeah. How does that make you feel? It feels good. I really like that.

Rock was funny too, though. Rock is very funny, you know what I'm saying? Kurt Angle was really funny. Kurt Angle is funny. Cina is funny. Yeah. There's a lot of fun. Booker's funny.

Booker's funny. So, yeah. Stone Cold was funny. Stone Cold was funny. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So to be on that Mount Rushmore, man, I mean, that's, I like that. I like, oh, they give me a smile and don't make my nose big.

You know what I'm saying? What's the comedic moment in your career you're most proud of? And we're going to run through a bunch of them here, but... I don't know. Probably the Brock Lesnar. Okay. The Brock, actually me and Triple Hs have, we've had plenty of the one with Little Jimmy. Me and him and I have some good comedic moments.

There's so many men to call it out. You've had some really good ones in the Royal Rumble. Yes, the hot tag. Hot tag in the Royal Rumble? Yes, who, who told me to do that. That was Dom, but who, I don't know if it was Jason Jordan or Kenny Dysra. Somebody came to me and said, hey, you should do a hot tag. I can't.

Could have been Shane Helms. One of those guys gave me the idea to do a hot tag. And I'm like, a hot tag. I thought it laughed. He thinks they would love it. And it just, it worked. Well, because you went all in. You're holding the tag.

You got to believe it, man. You got to go all in. You're going to do it, do it, yes. You bringing the ladder out in the middle of the Royal Rumble? Yes. That was a fan's idea. Yes, I do read those tweets. I see them all, too.

So watch what you're saying. But yeah, I saw a fan tweet that. I used you running there, go in there with the ladder. And I was like, oh, my gosh, that's funny. took it to creative and they was like let's do it. Well, the best part about it is you're climbing the ladder and the crowd starts getting behind it.

Yes. The crowd starts like not just laughing, cheering. They co-sign the bullshit. Sorry. Stuff. The bull stuff. Poop. Yeah. Feces. And then you reach for it.

Yes. I committed. You committed. You got to go all in, man. You can't go halfway. That's the, I don't know, that's PG. All in as far as, like, what you're doing for what you want to do, go all the way. Did you come up with the PG line off the cuff?

Did I? I think I did. Did I come up with the PG line? That was me way better for when to do that line. With the Pinocchio nose. Yes, no, that was written. I think Brian came up with that line for me. I think Brian came up with it because when they said,

showed it to me. No, when they showed it to me, I saw the pinocchio nose get long. I'm like, oh, man, I said, can we do that? Is that PG? And they was like, oh, my God, that's good. Can you say it? I don't even know this.

Is it PG? Can we do that? It's like, yeah, you can say that. So, yeah. It sounds like the best advice here is just go all in. Like, it's you got to commit. You got to. And that doesn't even feel like wrestling advice.

That just feels like life. Bro. All the way. All the way. 1,000% If you don't go all the way, you'll never get in. I had a conversation with you, Gene, and he was talking about that.

Like, if he didn't believe what he was doing with his character, how could he possibly expect that millions of people watching at home to believe it, too? That's the same as we're acting. If you can't convince me that that's that character, how you want me to believe

in that character? I can't believe in what I'm not seeing. I can't believe, you know what I'm saying? You have to go all in so people can see you all in. Yeah. Whose idea was it for you to enter the Women's Royal Rumble? I think it was Jason Jordan. I think that was here, too. Oh, Shane Held.

Those guys are good. Shane Held, Jason Jordan, and Kennedy Dijkstra. Those three are like, they beat my air a lot. Did they're coming up with a lot of these ideas? Excuse me. They come up with some good ones. One of those guys came up with the women's, let me go to the Women's Barrow.

I think it was Shane Helms. Where are the guys at? Yes. Yes. That was good. Do you crack yourself? Oh, yeah, all the time. When they give me something, if I laugh at it, they're like, they're happy that I'm laughing at it because now I become that.

Once I read and see it, I become it. And I'm all in. How about the time when Big Show is just laying waste to everybody in the ring? And then it's you and Big Show and you're like, I got it. And you knock yourself out. everybody got that, right?

Everybody got that, right? Yeah. Let me do it. You don't have to do it. I'll do it, and I'll give myself a good one. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, that was what about good? How did you come up with that?

They came up with that one, which was great. I just went all in. I just went all in. You've got to go all in. And, like, I think your face when you're down on the mat really showed you were all in. All in, man, yeah, man, yes. I want you to believe. I don't need.

him to hit me. I want him to believe that I'm going to hit myself hard enough to where you don't have to do it. How do you keep coming up with new stuff? You have to reinvent yourself all the time. You have to evolve. You have to be, you have to stay up with the time and you won't age out. If you keep coming up, you have to like, we're just like you're only as good as your last match. That's saying you have to always just evolve. You have to resurve. You have to re-serve. You have to re-inve. vent yourselves. Life is about re-envolved. Like, everything changes. Like, I was wrong when they didn't have telephones.

Not when they had pigeons, but when they had, like, pages and stuff, you know what I'm saying? I wouldn't round. I heard they had pigeons, but I don't know about that. But when they had that, you got mail. A-O-A-O, you know what I'm saying? Like, so you just evolved, Chris.

You got to evolve, man, with everything, um, musically, uh, theatrically. with a visual, everything evolves. Where's the inspiration for music come from for you? Life. I got a great, great, great, great producer, man. Jay Tracks, Justin Echoes, man.

He knows me well. He inspires me a lot just by, he's a real, real artist. And to see a real, real artist at work, you know what I'm saying? It's like, it's inspiring to me. music is a part of me. Like, think about music when you come, you think about wrestling. When you hear that intro, that music, it sets the tone.

Yes. You know what I'm saying? When you hear that glass break, you know what's awesome coming. Music sets the tone, man. So music has always been a part of my life. That just itself is influential to me. But just being around people like J-Tracks, man, being around people that's in that.

that same light, that same aura that I am as far as musically gifted, musically oriented. It's just always been a part of my life. You're so right, though, the music sets the tone. It sets the tone of everything. And your music, especially with you, interacting with the crowd, with what's up, like, that sets the tone immediately. If someone's never watched wrestling and they see that, they're like, oh, I get it.

You know exactly what I'm supposed to do here. Simplicity. It involves the crowd for one. interaction. And I think a lot of our audience want to be involved. And a lot of people don't involve them. I will involve you. Where did that concept come from to involve them in your entrance theme? Just reading the crowd, just knowing people, reading the matches before my match, reading the arena, reading the energy. Because that goes back to when you were with Road Dog, right?

Mm-hmm. And like you say what's up, the crowd says what's up. Yes. And you've got them. You got them. When you can engage, once you engage with them, you have a split second to get their attention and keep it to where it's, now we will be involved with this.

We want to be involved. The crowd, the audience is there to participate. They did yell, curse, scream, have a good time. They want to go on that role. Coast arrived. So the more you involve them, the more you make them a part of the show, bigger the show becomes. But not a lot of people get a live mic on their entrance. You're right about that. You're right. I didn't look at me. You're right. Think about it. You're right about that.

Like road dog's one of the very few other ones. You're right. A lot of people don't get a lot. You know, you're right about that. I didn't think of that. How did you get that worked into your entrance? Oh, from the first time. I've always done that. Always done that. I never had the Airbags, the road dog, talked to me to give me the earbuds because it's so loud out there. Oh, so like a monitor? Yes, in my ears. But I've always since Jack Crocker got me involved with wrestling. Bill Barron's at NWA Wildside, I've always come to the ring with the microphone.

Man. And when I signed, they let me do that. I went straight to New York, recorded WhatsApp. Actually, I had I recorded WhatsApp. read it my vocals on that, me and Road Dog. I've always had the microphone. It's just been, that's my stick. This episode is brought to you by Timeline.

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I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Who would you say is the person you've learned the most from in this industry? Oh, man.

So many people, man. I don't want to leave nobody out. I learned a lot, man. Road dog, Ray Mysterio. Sina. Your childhood hero. A childhood hero. Rikishi.

Umaga, believe it or not. Me and he used to ride together a lot from Roman, from Randy. I've learned a lot, man. I just take a little bit from each person I'm around. You know, let's say, show me your friends, I show you a future. So, a lot of my friends that I'm around, man, are like a columnary of good guys that are like, boom, they're successful men that that think this way, think that way. So I just take a little bit from each person and their aspects of the business and put it to my own.

What do you think young talent's learning from you now? I get a lot of longevity. They want to learn longevity. And I think also probably timing, you know, timing. Which seems to be a theme with what we're talking about here. I tell a lot of young talent, timing. And I was like, well, they're not doing nothing with me right now.

I'm not the timing. Timing. Don't wait to get ready, stay ready. So when it's your time, you're right. ready. When you won the United States championship, it looked like you weren't supposed to win against Shinski-Nakomura. Not there.

Okay, so one, two, three, but then you guys kept wrestling. So, man, that was crazy. If I could remember this correctly. We had maybe another two or three more spots to go to, and that was it. I was going to get it anyway. Yeah. But there was a strict. rule, if you don't kick out at three, the referee is going to get fine if you don't,

if he did not want that. Don't hold your hand. You better slap that motherfucker. Excuse me. Sorry. You better slap it down, right? So, Kyoto just, Keogot did his job. Yeah.

Since getting kick out. So it was just, and we were like, oh, shit. Sorry. We're like, oh, shoot. What we're going to do? What was going to do? Like, that was it. That was a rap.

That was, he did his job, you did your job, blah, blah, blah, blah, boom, champion. Huh. All right. But it made it look like you weren't supposed to win. For bullfrogs and had wings, we wouldn't eat his ass every time you hop. I don't know. That sounds like a phrase from the south. It could be, they don't have bullfrogs in the north?

Sure, yeah, of course. Okay, I could be a northern thing, too. Bullfrogs? Do you have to have bullfrogs? Do you have to have, yeah, they have been a wind. wings? No, sir. All right. What he hit the ad every time he hopped?

Do you got any other great quotes like that? That's a good one. When you talk about timing and everything, timing and being right, would you think about your character turning heel again? I think there's a certain section of the audience that wants to see Ron, the truth killings. Yeah. They want to see you win another World Heavyweight Championship or another championship.

There's a part of me that I do want to turn the other game. I think the selfish part just for people to see me as his heel. Because I think a couple generations have just known me to be our truth, the fun guy, the, the, the, the, a lot of people haven't seen that side of me, that, that, that, still can be brought out. There's times I went and talked about turning heel. They're like, ah, true, I don't think people want to see you as a hill. They don't want to see you.

You made people feel good. And it's like, somebody didn't know, Ray Mysterio had never been a heel before at WW. He never was. He was just filthy animals in W.C. That was closest he ever gotten, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, damn, am I just like Ray? Am I just like a... There's a part of me that was...

want to turn the hill, that wanted selfishly because I can be a good hill. I can be a, I can be a good asshole, you know what I'm saying? But then it's that part of me that there's so many bad guys, I've got to be one of the good ones. You know what I'm saying? Everybody's a bad guy. It's easy to be a bad guy. So easy. Can you be a good guy? Do you know, like, even being a good guy, there's people that still say, you suck! And you're not supposed to say that to a good guy. He wanted to cheer him. Like, nah, you suck.

Yeah. You suck. I hope he beats you up. Like, yay. But you still got to be a good guy. You all I'm saying? So it's... The selfish part of me would love to turn heel and be a heel.

But the majority of me is like, I can never be a heel. Yeah, you've crossed over this line. Like, you've gone from loved to beloved. And people would think it's cool if I did something bad. If I did some healer shit, they would think it's cool. I smoked a cigarette, and they thought that was the coolest thing on TV. You know what I'm saying?

It's like, you can't, to be a heel, you have to be crime. You have to be, like, to get that real, genuine hatred, heel, heat. Mine would be more of, like, they will want me to, like, bash somebody head in. Do it like this. Selfishly, I would love to see it one time, but I don't have to. Yeah. I think people just expect like goofiness out of you. That's what they expect the goofiness.

Yes. And again, you've got real longevity with this, you know? Longevity. And I like to like take the archery character into a thing to where they see it as a goofy character. But I've maneuvered my way into plenty of. championship matches. Yeah. And it's almost like I like to play the sense of like, I get the last laugh in a sense.

Sometimes playing goofy or playing the person that doesn't know, you'd be the one that knows. And acting like our truth, sometimes I go over the edge with it. But truth always knows the truth. There's like an extra layer of that Because your name is truth I always know the truth I feel like you single-handedly saved the 24-7 championship

Ha ha ha you think so Well With great respect It was not Coming out of the gate it was not Very well received It wasn't received good Yeah you're right

Everybody said it was ugly Yeah Mick Foley took it out of that bag To like no reaction Yeah, it was ugly. It said it was ugly. It was ugly, baby, right? But you did something to that championship.

You turned it around. Yeah, I made it beautiful. I made them a step to baby, right? How did you get your hooks into that? How did you make it your own? I went all in. You got to go all in. Can't go halfway.

I had fun. I had fun. I was able to throw a lot of creative in there. The numbers that it was doing was ridiculous. Like 15, 20 million views a week. Like more views than it was getting on TV. Did you know Forbes magazine did a write-up about it? Really?

Google that. Forbes magazine did a write-up about it 24-7. title and the numbers that it was doing. So that itself was an incentive for me. That was a booster for me. So I was getting those numbers. Plus this like commercials like the Yang Yang just for 24-7. Like it was doing this thing.

What was the first 24-7 segment that really popped off? When I first wanted. The first night, me and Bobby Rood. Did I come to Smackdown? I came to Smackdown. I actually called me the day before. Say, hey, you got a new title.

Won't you come to Smackdown? They put a title on you. And then when Bob Rood came out and I took it from him at the car and said I'm taking the title of Monday Night Raw, millions of views on that. And it took off very since then.

What do you think was the most ridiculous 24-7 segment? Oh, man. There was so many of them. It was good, man. So good. Oh, I could tell you some good stories on some. The plane was good.

The plane was good. Drake's wedding was good. Wasn't that his actual wedding? That was a real wedding. That was a real wedding, y'all. That was funny. The thing in New York, the Christmas lighting tree, oh, man, they robbed us, dog.

It was so bad. We had these horses, the guy had the horses, and we had to pay him more money for the horses to run. They wouldn't even run. They were trotting. And it was cold. You know, New York here's cold. Yeah.

Yeah, he's like, my horse won't run? My horse won't run. My horse won't run unless you give me more money. More money. Well, he didn't say that first. He's like, we're trying to shoot this thing, like, put me running, right, with the championship running. And he's like, the horse is just trotting.

And I can't remember who the producer was. Can you get your horse to run? Run. He said, give him some money. Give him some money. They put out $20. Horse started trotting then. I tried.

Not a run. It would trot, man. So if you go back and look at that footage, you would see, like, it was so funny that it was in slow motion, we kept it. You would think we were running in slow motion because we got a $20 truck from the horse. You know what I'm saying? So that was one of the great ones. the golf course.

And Genders in his full wrestling gear. You should have some people looking at us out there. And Carmilla drugged me with that golf cart from one end of the fence to the other end. Because I thought I could outrun the golf cart.

Didn't know the guy gave it was the fastest one he had that he had souped up. Yeah. So I said, when you, I said, we ain't got but one take. I said, you push that gas. You better push that gas.

And she pushed it. And I would run. And that last leap I took, I was holding on for dear life. Because she was moving with it. If you go back and watch that, you can tell I almost didn't get it. And are there golfers like? Oh, my God, they were belly laughing. Ah, ha!

Oh, my God, look at it. Yeah, they were belly laughing. And they're in the middle of a round of golf. Yes, watching us do this. Shenanigans. It was great. Maybe they got to bring the 24-7 title back. I don't have no problem with it.

Like, it going away just feels like, you know, that really robbed you. I don't have no problem with it. I'm in Judgment Day, man. I got so much stuff going on. You're in Judgment Day? Yeah. I'm going to kick Damien out. Yeah.

Totally. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Not nothing more, though. I'm not in them. Yeah. I'm not in none of more.

I've cut them loose, though. I've got new friends now. That stuff is so good. You like that? I love the judgment day stuff. I love it. It was so good because they're trying to be so serious. Yes.

And you're doing whatever you can to make it the least serious. Our truth. Our truth, just throw me in the mix, man. And I don't have to just be there. I would have to say anything and it just melts out to be like, okay, something's not right here. Yeah. Right? The jelly roll.

That was one of my great one. The judgment day stuff was a good moment, too. I like all the judgment day stuff. Is there anything you didn't like? No, it's not because I go all in. I become it. Yeah. Again, there's a real lesson in that.

Yeah, man, go all in. When the 24-7 title was originally introduced, did you know you were going to win? A bunch of times? No. Because you saw that, that graphic that we shared. Actually, it was Troy that made that graphic. Really? Yeah.

Of all your WWE championships that you've won? Yeah. And then that one, yes. And then there's... That's a lot of views on that, man. A lot of hits on that. 54-7 titles. Yeah.

That's crazy. I'll pull this up so we can... That's crazy, man. I remember when they drafted me to Raw because of that. Because of the 24-7 title? Well, it was USA's title. Hmm. And they wanted pretty much with the mascot for it.

Like, look at this. It's two hardcore titles, the United States Championship, tag team championship, the United States title, then 54- Wow. 54-7 titles. Oh, and then one more. And then one more tag title.

That's a lot of pins, right? It's a lot of cover running out. I'll take it. I'll take it. That's pretty amazing. It's pretty good, man. Thank you. So when you go into the Hall of Fame one day,

who should induct you? Probably road dog, right? That would make a lot of sense. I think Road Dog. Or Triple Age could come out, and you could thank Tomaso Champa. Yes, for inducting me into the Hall? Yes, that would be good.

You've seen that meme, right? Like where it's you at the time. the Hall of Fame speech and you're like thanking people for coming to something completely different. No. It's like you're like thanking people for, let me see, I'll pull it up. Are you serious? They did me like that. Oh, wow.

People have too much time with their hands. Well, you know, you're too, you're too fun. It's, uh, I'm going to pull it up here. I'll take it. Our truth when he gets inducted in the Hall of Fame. I just want to say, Thank you for choosing me as King of the Ring. This is such an honor.

Wow. Okay. Okay. Who did this? Very funny, hearty, hard, ha. That's great. That's great. I think the best part about what you do

is you're not afraid to laugh at yourself. No, man, I learned that a long time ago. You can't be afraid to laugh at yourself, make a fool of yourself if you want to be in this business. can't take life too serious life don't take you serious it do serious shit to you excuse me

stuff to you but yeah can't be too can't be afraid of life at yourself no and I think that that's what makes you so endearing yeah and it separates you man it separates you from a lot of people that's just too

stiff or just a stiff stick in the mud it just separates you yeah also I feel like you bring the best out in people. Yes, and I don't know. It's a good thing or a bad thing.

How could that be a bad thing? Because why can't they bring the best out of themselves before meeting someone that I have to bring it out of that? Some people are just too stuck in the mud. They see you want to say that. Some people are just too stuck in their own head, you know, too stuck in focusing on all of these other things. You're right about that. And I try to see the good in everybody. I feel like everybody got some type of good in them, but I mean, this is life.

There's a lot of people that's just bad. Yeah. What do you think's been the highlight of your in-ring career? Oh, I can't pinpoint one. The highlight, all of it. I can't pinpoint one. There's just so much, man. It's too much to choose from to pick one.

Yeah. That's like people ask me, what is your favorite mat? What's your favorite place you've been like it's, you're going to get a variety of so many things in life. To pick one, you'd be selling yourself short because each one has its own unique feel, its own vibe, his own message, its own story, its own relatableness to you.

Each one has its own different everything, man. So it's like, it'd be hard for you just to pick one. What did beating Ken Shamrock? For the TNA championship, what did that mean to you at that point of your career? Oh, that was dope at that time. That was mind-blowing. Again, it felt like I had made it. I felt like I had succeeded.

I overcame the adversities. I broke the stereotype. I made it. That was a warm feeling of accomplishment. I was proud of myself. I think people still look back on it now. Yes. People still talk about that now.

Yeah. And that's a moment in history that I will always be proud of. You've got a hell of a career. Yes. That still ain't done yet. That's the thing. I'm telling you, you're going to wrestle to your 100. I don't know about that, but yeah.

We let the body, man, and let the universe be the one of the timekeeper with that. I just do what I do. Yeah. Thank you for making this happen. Oh, thank you, man. You are the best, and I will ask you the question. I ask everybody at the end here. Gratitudes so big for me.

I wake up every day, I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. My wife and I do it before we go to bed. Truth, what are three things in your life you're grateful for right now? My life, my family. and people, people made the world around. Yeah. I feel like I learned a lot from this one. Huh?

I feel like I learned a lot. We all, man, we all do. Go all in? Yes, go all in or don't go at all. If you go half-way, man, you're not getting the full effect of it, and you're not giving your full self. So good. Thank you, man.

Oh, thank you. Man, isn't our truth just the best? And what a guess for episode numbers. 700. Like I said in the intro, there is so much more to him than what you see on TV, and I hope that you saw that here. He's brilliant. And I love hearing him talk about how he breaks people down to see what they're all about. It's incredible. And it just makes me appreciate him and love his work that much more. Snap a screenshot, tag us online so we can share it. He's at Ron Killings on Twitter. He's at Ron Killings, One, on Instagram.

Also check out the music on his website, the official ronkillings.com. Or if you're listening to this on Spotify, I know you're already going to leave a comment. So I appreciate you for that. But if you're listening on Spotify, go check out his music on Spotify. Just type in Ron Killings when this episode is done. Since it is New Year's Eve here, I will wrap this up with a quote about the new year. This is from Joe DeSenna. Most New Year's resolutions fail because their wishes, not plans.

Break your goals into daily actionable steps. Success isn't about the resolution. It's about the execution. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. And this is the time of year when I love to say this. It's so ridiculous.

See you next year. 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 hear you. 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 Alley.

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