Insight with Chris Van Vliet - TJP's Newborn Baby Crashes Our Interview!

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

TJ Perkins (@megatjp) is better known as simply TJP. He is a professional wrestler who has worked for WWE, IMPACT Wrestling and he is currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling where is one half of the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. He joins Chris Van Vliet inside the Blue Wire Studios at the Wynn Las Vegas with his 1-year-old son James to talk about what has changed since the last time he was on the show in 2019, his fiancée Aria Blake, working with NJPW, his favorite memories from Impact Wrestling, he tells a great story about Hulk Hogan on a Southwest flight, how William Regal convinced him to be part of the first ever WWE Cruiserweight Classic and much more! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? 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

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! It is so good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Vleek, coming to you from the beautiful, incredible, unbelievable amazing Blue Wire Studios inside the Wind, Las Vegas, and this was definitely a first for the show. Our first baby, TJP texts to be like an hour,

before our interview and said that plans have changed and that he and his fiance, Aria Blake, didn't have anyone to watch their almost one-year-old son, James. So he said, hey, could James come with me for the interview? I said, of course. So TJ set up a little playpen during our interview just to TJ's right. And there's definitely a few moments where you can hear James in the background. He just clearly had a lot to say. But it's been, it's been three years since the last time I interviewed TJP. Obviously, a lot's changed in the fact that he now has a fiance and he now has a son, but that last interview was just after he left WWE and was having some amazing success doing his own thing. He's now doing a lot of work. He's signed to New Japan. He is the current IWGP Junior

Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and he's on social media at Mega TJP. I'm there at Chris Van Fleet. please take a screenshot, share this on social media, and tag us so we can share it as well. And please enjoy it. It's CVV and T.J.P. This is a first for the show. It's the first baby. And on cue, he's even saying stuff back there. I think you need to grab them.

Yeah, I'll grab them. Yeah. Even though you got all situated with the headset and everything. James is making his podcast debut. On Insight. Here he is. Does he speak yet? How old is he?

He's going to be one in a few weeks. You're going to be able to put those back on? James, you got a base meaning. Uh-oh. It's almost James' birthday. Oh, that one's turned. Yeah, this is great. Oh, James now has something to play with.

This works out perfectly. Well, happy early birthday, buddy. Say you're excited. Yeah. This is great. Look at him. Oh, man. He's got actually this shirt was made by J.E. Chung and a gift from Josh Alexander.

We got Jordans and this Kobe Filipino shirt, homemade. Is it? Congratulations. Oh, thank you. This was the biggest dream I have ever had. It's funny. I only care about wrestling so much as hoping it would lead me to this someday. Now that I got it, I'm like, man, do I just, do I stop wrestling?

Well, not only did wrestling lead you to this, wrestling led you to the person you led you to the person you made this with. Yes. Wrestling led you to Ariya Blake. You guys are now engaged, so congratulations on that too. Thank you, yeah. And now look at this. You made a person. Yeah, I always tell her if she wants to just go ahead, I'll be the stay-at-home dad.

She makes her career jumps, then go ahead, I'll stay home. She's like, what are you talking about? You're in the middle of... Oh, we got the slobber happening. Oh, good stuff, buddy. Wow. He likes this.

He likes when I... Wow! He stands now, actually. He just started standing about a week ago. Oh, so walking's not far away now. No, no. And he barely learned how to crawl, but now he's standing.

He's a strong kid. He wants to, like, get out. Look at it. Yeah, he's going to be a bruiser, man. I can't... I'm not going to be able to... keep them off a field or court or something someday. In like 18 years

it can be TjP versus James. You know Dave Penzer says I'm not allowed to quit until he's old enough to be in a tag match with me and he's he refuses to quit until he can announce it. Well the great thing is when you're in your 50s you'll still look the same.

You haven't aged ever. Well we'll see if my knees in my back will agree with that but you know I mean yeah I mean I think we talked about this. It's like Mr. Miyagi. Like you, or rather, I'll look like this.

I'll look 30 and under until I'm 64. And then I don't know where I look like Mr. Miyagi. Yeah, I wake up and look like that. What would you say being a father? What's the biggest change that has happened for you? Stuff that I kind of always thought would be the case. Okay, maybe you need to go back in this play. Yeah, let's go back in your, say goodbye, buddy.

Let's go back in your ring, but. Yeah, this is the only. little ring over here. We'll put him away here. I like that one of his toys that was in there was the tag team championship. Look at this. We even have a camera on it. That looks like a creepy baby camera that we have in the studio.

It was just randomly set up for this. Now we have people outside looking at all this. Wow. I guess we've got an infant here where you get to look at. Man. Okay. But, I mean, everything that I kind of expected is really all the big changes, you know, I, I, I want to spend all my time with the family, obviously. And I've always been

kind of a homebody just without the family. Like, um, I, I think people have an outside perception of me. Like, like, I, I'm very social or outgoing. A lot of people think I'm an asshole. Um, what? Really? But honestly, like, I, I, um, I've always been, like, I, I'm, Was it like when you don't announce when you're leaving like a party or whatever? Is that the Irish goodbye? Is that what they say? I think, yeah. I'm the king of that.

You know, if I go out with the guys. The Houdini's. Yeah, like if I go out with everybody, I'm usually the first to get back to the room. I just want to like pick up a video game controller or call, you know, my significant other or something like that and just kind of be in. And so he's got a lot to say. Yeah, he's done his first promos today. This is great. I love that when you texted me on Apple.

hour ago. You're like, so like some plans changed. Is it okay if James comes to the studio? Like I for sure thought the rest of that text was going to be like, some plans change. I got to look after him now. I did not expect that to be. I'm going to bring a baby to the interview. Hey, buddy. Do you want to want to, should he watch like TV in the other room or something? No, this is totally fine. Yeah, let me know if the noise is too much. Well, we can. No, I think people, we've introduced that he's here. It's not like there's just a, you know, oh, he found a new toy. He's great. He has a bottle cap, yeah. He has a, he's playing with a bottle cap.

So he's going to be okay. And we've learned that this camera up here is a baby cam. Yeah, he's got that the WrestleMania 10 camera. Can we punch that up again? That was so good. Look at this. At any point in time, you could just call for that. I got to call for the WrestleMania 10 cam. I got to teach him to find the camera. This actually reminds me a little bit of the, find the heart cam. It reminds me a little bit. It reminds me a little bit. bit of the, when impact very early on had the jib cam, the crane cam. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Nobody else was doing that in wrestling. Yeah. I was talking about that recently with Chris Harris. We were talking about the, you look, Skipper, Cage Walk to the Hurricane Rotter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, one of the things that made that so cool is the crane followed him along. It's so cinematic. It's following.

Yeah. Because usually we'd be looking way up at that. Yes, yeah. Or like a hard cam shot where it's really wide. Yeah. I remember during the time when I was suicide, I had a kind of a, I guess like a dangerous ladder type moment. And they weren't, I don't think they had that same camera at the time. And so it was just kind of a wide shot.

It looks cool because you see the whole arenas at the time when they were doing sort of like bigger arenas, kind of like AW-sized now. But it wasn't the same as that one camera. And that camera and the impact zone that they had that, yeah, that was, that's always very cool. So it's kind of like a blessing in disguise for you right now. You were saying that like you're doing a lot of new Japan dates. Yeah. This is great. So you get to spend more time with the family.

Yeah. So it's tough being away, but it is, I'll tell the younger guys on tour, you know, especially when it's like their first tour. I just did the best of the Super Junior. Some of the guys was their first tour or one of their first tours or they're just young guys, you know. and I would tell him like when I first started, this is going to age me really bad, but when I was first going overseas and like to Japan, Mexico and on these long tours, and this was like 2002, so now this is going back 20 years. You know, there was no, like I couldn't face time. Like if I had a family then, I couldn't face time the kid in the morning. Now every day I can do that and it's great.

And but before it was like there was not even like Wi-Fi. You had to go to internet cafe. So you had to like take a type of email out. Yeah, you had to take a taxi like and reserve an hour on this computer to check an email or like buy a phone card from 7-11, walk to, you know, a strange pay phone on the street in the middle of the night. And you got 15 minutes before time is up. And it costs you like $2 a minute or something. Yeah. And a hundred percent chance you're going to fight with your wife or girlfriend on that call.

So you have 15 minutes to get shouted at. And then you got to walk like a doofus back to 7-Eleven and buy three more cards. So you can get you all that for 30 more minutes. Nice. It's different now. Now you can FaceTime. I mean, it's like you're there. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's a lot better now. And I like this schedule. It's hard to be away, say for like two or three weeks. And this last one, I was away for almost two months. And so I compared it to, it's almost like being like a military deck. Like I'm being deployed or something like that. It's like, oh, well, dad's going to be gone a while.

It's not like if I was in, like, if I was in WWE still. But on that note, I sort of prefer it because now when I'm home, I'm home. Yeah. So now it's like if I get a few weeks off before the next door or a month off, like this time I got like a month off, two months off actually. So I could work if I want to. Otherwise, I'm just home. And that's nice. It's nice to know that it's like, all right, sorry, I got a.

I got to leave every Friday morning and I won't be back till Tuesday, you know, and then it's, and that kind of sucks. But it must be difficult because especially at the age that he's at, if you're gone for two months, you're gone for like 20% of his life. Yeah, well, we were, I don't know if Aria was. Maybe she didn't think about it because she was here every day. But like, for me, I was nervous. I was going to miss milestones. But thankfully, everything worked out that most of his firsts, he's almost done with all his firsts. Like, I think technically we're counting Dadas his first word.

Hey, congrats. Wow. He muttered it the other day. I don't know if he knows what it is. So we're only 50% confirming that that's his first word. Was it clear or were you like, I think that might have been Dadda. So he started with Dadda like a couple times. And then he fired it off like 27 times in a row.

So we don't know if he's just learning a new sound or if he's starting to pick up on, because we try to teach him like Mama, Dadda and stuff like that. But, you know, I was like three days after I got home, he stood up for the first time. So I got home from Japan and we were just sitting in the living room and he stood up and just looked at us and then sat down. And he doesn't do it the easy way either. He doesn't use like furniture or the walls of like his crib or anything. He just gets like he's going to crawl and then he puts his butt in the air like he's doing downward dog. He's been doing this for a while.

And then when he's in that position, he pushes all the way up. So he does it the hard way. I guess it's like his dad. He does everything difficult and doesn't listen to reason or do something more easy. But I haven't missed anything. I was there when he sat up for the first time when he crawled. And so we've been lucky. I think if I'm walking as soon.

Yeah. If I'm able to see him take his first steps and run and bash his head for the first time. then I think we've cleared all the milestones. And then it becomes a little easier to go away because then you're not worried about missing things. And then later on, I just got to make sure I make the football games and stuff. Although I've heard a lot of couples be like, the reason I don't want to be away is like I don't want to,

like right now it's 50-50. You know, when I'm away, it's then 100% of my partner and I just then feel awful. Yeah, that's a big part of it for me. So we've like, like I've been away obviously before.

and I don't think Arias ever I don't think she's ever been exposed to this sort of like travel schedule like at this level of like business and stuff and like with MLW which is where she was before it was you know like American TV style stuff with tapings and everything

so this was kind of like our way of learning like what does she need when I'm gone because you think about it you kind of know it but until you experience it you don't really I guess, you know, especially being the guy, like, until you get yelled at for it, you don't really know, like, what you're going to do. So it's like, oh, now I know. Yeah, so it's like, okay, I got to find a good cleaner, a house cleaner, so she doesn't always have to clean. Oh, okay. You know, or like for the pets in the backyard. We found a pet service that will clean up pet bathroom. Oh, okay. So, like, we found, we were able to find little things like that, that can help her. And then, and then we have, you know, there's, there's friends and people. around. His primary babysitter is actually Melissa Santos and Brian Cage. Both of them have sat right there.

Yeah. Wow. And actually shout out to Renee because she was the one that helped me find those services cleaning. Oh, wow. Because when her and John were still out here, she kind of ran into the same thing. Like, man, it's so hard to have the kid and to, you know, be overwhelmed with certain tasks.

And so I texted them from Japan one day. I said, guys, I'm dying here. I need some help. I'm against the firing range right now. I got to figure something out. And she was like, no, call this place is great. So thank you, Renee, if you see this. I appreciate you.

You saved my life. It's been almost three years. I think it's been a little over three years since we sat down. It was double or nothing weekend, 2019. That's right, yeah. And you were so gracious because you had just flown in that morning. You came straight from the airport to our hotel. tell we were staying at the escaliber because it was across the street from the MGM grant.

Much cheaper than the MGM grant. And you came right over and did that interview with us. And it was not long after you had left W.E. And it was pretty big news at the time that you were making more money after leaving WWE. Yeah, I actually think that was my first interviewer, like, podcast thing. I think so. And of any sort, like, at that time, it was very new.

We got interrupted by room service, not room service, but like housekeeping. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. In the middle of the interview. Yes, I remember that. And, yeah, I do. I remember us talking about that. And, God, fans will fight over anything. Give them any bit of information.

They'll fight with each other over anything. Well, I think people wanted to see that as a negative against WWE, but I saw it as a positive of like, look how good you are getting yourself booked. Well, and I actually just talked loosely about it. Not about me specifically in that time or that story, but I was talking with some of the guys this past week. We were at, what was it, Starcast, and New Japan had a show there. And just like when I see that, I don't, I didn't look at it as like a validation for me or anything.

I don't really tend to look at a lot of this stuff personally, like how I'm connected to it. But what I kind of got out of that experience and what we're talking about as far as like being able to earn and the business that people are able to do in or out of WW or anywhere, AEW anything. Sure. Just the importance of people to understand business 101 and like, you know, basic building blocks of capitalism and just how to be a responsible adult, I guess. You know, like a lot of people, especially this past generation for several generations, and you hear it a lot, mostly in a critical way, and I hate to say it this way, because I don't want people to take it as critical, but there's validity in the, not label, but statement, but like people playing wrestler.

But people play a lot of things in life. People play doctor. People play whatever. You know, they get into their professions. They don't really maximize what it's meant to be. They're just happy to be able to call themselves whatever that is, an architect, anything. And it's like, no, no, no, you don't have to just be an architect. Here's how you can be an architect that creates this and that you're an entrepreneur and you start using that to do other things.

And I would tell guys now having kind of experienced it and like making more money than what I was before in certain cases and in a lot of general ways, just find ways to create that business. You have to make yourself a business person. And a lot of people you're going to work for like, and it's kind of sad, but they're not business. people. They don't know what they're doing with their money. That's why you see a lot of wrestling companies will rise and fall and die out of nowhere because they don't really know what they're doing. Yeah. So I tell guys, like, a way to keep yourself valuable, but also help everybody around you is to, you know, find all those little things that create money generation for everybody. So this way, you know, it's not just a person. So I didn't, I saw it as me,

like, kind of going back to school a little bit. Like, it wasn't really like, oh, this is how good. I am, see how much I'm earning. It was, no, like, look how much I'm figuring out about life. So if you were to break it down percentage-wise, how much are you making from actual bookings and how much are you making from other stuff like merchandise or from cameos or other things like that? It would be hard to make a pie chart in that way, even like a rough one. I don't know how I would put a number, but one thing I would say, like when I do look at that,

like in a ballpark sort of way. I think people would be surprised that it's not like 98% wrestling. A lot of people would be surprised by that. A lot of people assume, like, I mean, a majority of it obviously is. But then there's so much of it will come from, you know, non-wrestling appearances or like coaching or merchandising or side projects or cameos or little things like that. What do you mean non-wresting appearances?

So like, and I guess everybody's different. For me, like, I had the opportunity to do a lot of things. like with the Filipino community. And we were joking like before before we went on like like like, like you, Joe Koi, Mani Pacquiao. Mani Pacchio is a god,

right? Oh yeah. Yeah. He's, he's, he's, he's, he's,

he's, he's, he's, uh, he's, if we were a mafia, he'd be the god. Of course. Um,

but, you know, there's, there's little opportunities that will come up for me to, to monetize appearances. And then also stuff that isn't monetized, just stuff that I, like,

I feel it's like a good thing. Like, charities, like toy drive, Christmas, things like that, that is involved with, like, a lot of the Filipino groups that will do certain things with the city, you know, depending on where I am, or just in general. I am kind of unofficially represented by a manager of sorts who also is plugged into this. He's Filipino and part of the aging community, too.

So I guess non-wrestling appearances, stuff like that, or like signings, conventions, things like that, you know. But, so, yeah, it went. I think a lot of people, if for themselves or when they look at me or others, they would assume, oh, it's got to be like 95% wrestling. Honestly, it's not. Well, it was when you started out. Yeah.

You know, 20 plus years ago. And I think the key is to find ways for that number to shrink. Like, how can you make it not 90% wrestling? How can you make it 80% or 75%? Well, because, you know, it's, I don't have to tell you this, but it hurts a lot less to sell a T-shirt. Well, that is why I became a technical wrestler because I, you know, I joke, but it's, it's kind of true, you know, if, if, if I can get through an event, a match and know that, man, I didn't, the other guy didn't have to fall down so much or at all. And I didn't. And the worst thing was I had to stretch the arm or leg out. if I do the octopus hole,

they don't even have to go down. They could stay standing. It's fine. In a lot of ways, I kind of created a style for me, not because I just thought it would be cool. I did think it was unique and cool, but also because I could help another guy wrestle for 30 years,

and I can hopefully do it for 30 years soon, you know. Is that the hope? You started at 98, right? Yeah, I don't know. This is probably the least responsible part of me, but I have never set a goal or like an outlook on that, like what a hope would be for it. So, but I think at this point,

I think God permitting the wheels don't fall off, I'll go until they do. And then I think I'm reaching a point where now I'm starting to realize that there's value I can offer in the non-restling capacity as far as like what I know now. Because I find myself being a coach when I didn't intend to be and guys come to,

and I've never not been the young guy in the room. You know, and I guess I am still a young guy in the room in some ways, But, like, guys come to me like, like, hey, you need to help me with this or what do you think about this? I'm like, well, I can. I just never thought I would be in this position. It's been so long. Well, next year's 25 years.

Yeah. Look at how many people. This is like person number 10 that has said hello to James. Look at James standing up and his waving. James is loving it. Look at that. Oh, and of course we've got the WrestleMania 10 cam there. Yeah, look at that.

Say, hey, James. Wow. Yeah, next year's 25 years in the biz for you. Yeah. 25 years. Because you started when you were James' age. Yeah. Yeah, definitely his size.

For sure. I just think that's so crazy when you told me last time that you started at 15. Like, I can't imagine an indie now booking a 15-year-old. Yeah. 13, actually. Oh, sorry, 13. Yeah. And I don't know.

Not 98 then. No, 98. Okay. 98, yeah. 98 I was 13. I remember because I was starting high school and I thought I would try to wrestle yet. I wanted to join the amateur team. My school didn't have one. So that accelerated my idea like, well, I guess I'll just see, you know, and then I met a kid in summer school before freshman year started. You could get some of the classes done or started a little early. There was a kid there that had a local wrestling school shirt. And I, and I, that's foreign to me at the time. So remember, there's like no internet then. You don't really. There's no way. way to fit. I mean, you had AOL.com. Like, so you could go to like, WWF.com and like check the hotline, but there is no way to like, you know, unless you were really savvy with like, and there weren't even that many message boards at the time. You had to join little chat groups or whatever. Yeah. Like, so a lot of people didn't, there was no way to know. So when I saw that in real life, I was like, what is that?

And then as soon as he took kind of explain to me, oh, it's just, it's a local gym that you can go to. And then that was, I was like, Well, I can't amateur wrestle. There's no team, so I guess I'll start now. I took a screenshot of what you posted the other day on Instagram of your eighth grade yearbook. Oh, my God, Q-D-P-T-E-P-T-E. Name, T-J-P-P-J-P-T-E-P-T-E, but Petutty is spelled U-T-I-E. Yeah, my mom filled that out.

I'm historically bad with obligations like that. I used to skip school pictures a lot. like, you know, you take them early in the year or whatever, and I would not go. So there's some yearbooks where I don't have a picture. Oh. So people think, like, why were you just not at school? I was in school. I just didn't want to be there for picture day?

It's not that I didn't want to. They were just like, all right, you guys got to go and take this pick. I still do this now at work. Okay, we need to take pictures at 2 p.m. at this, you know, in the gymnasium or whatever, the backdrops all set up. And everybody would go and I would just not go. Why? I don't know.

I just didn't feel like it. So I would sit at the picnic tables and eat a snack or something. I still do that now. But we really need a picture. Somebody asked me recently for an updated promo picture and I said, I don't have any. They're like, how do you not have any? They're like, you were just in the best of the super juniors. You won the junior tag title.

Surely somebody has taken a picture of you. I was like, no, I have it. So they're like, all right, so they have like a two-year-old impact picture. Oh, man. That's the one that we'll be using for this episode then. Sorry. I don't know. I've always been really bad at it.

So, yeah, I didn't fill that out. Well, your special trait is the cool class clown combo. Well, that's how you know I didn't fill it out. I certainly would not have said it was cool. My mom filled it out and gave me that nickname, which I told her, I said, when it was printed, I told her, I said, Mom, that they asked for a nickname at school, not at home. And my mom, my mom's the Filipino side of my family. And she's like, didn't understand.

She's like, oh, that's what we call you. And I said, they don't call me that. I feel like you need to do the Joe Coy voice of his mom, if it's Filipino mom. No, my mom is, she's totally whitewash. She wants to be like Barbie so bad. If you speak to her without seeing her, you would never know she's Filipino. The best part about this is ambition. You have point guard for the Lakers or sportscaster.

And I love that you said originally you would have put pro wrestler. I did, actually, because when she didn't know what to put for that. So that was blank. And so when I turned the paper in or the little form for the yearbook, and it was mostly filled out, and I didn't look at it or whatever. And then the teacher was like, well, what do you have to put for occupation? And I used to run into this for career day all the time. And it would always frustrate me.

So I took the paper back and I just wrote Pro Wrestler and gave it back. And he didn't read it right away. He just put it with the other papers. He called me in at lunch or something and was like, you can't more or less, I'm paraphrasing, but like you can't put this as is not a realistic goal. And this is again, like I had dealt with this on career days, you know, from you start doing career days, what, from like fifth, sixth grade on? So like a few years now I had said, I'm going to be a pro wrestler someday and teachers, no, you're not. Do a real thing, plumber, firefighter, something else.

And so I'd have to do a different project. And so at this, I was in, you know, graduating eighth grade. That was my last junior high picture. and I'd had enough of it so I was like, all right, whatever, what do you want me to put? He's like,

what would you want to do someday? I said, I don't know, point guard for the Lakers. Which is, in my opinion, more unrealistic. Way more unrealistic. And I think they were like, I think they were just happier

that I picked something that was a lot more conventional, even if it was unattainable. So I was like, okay, an organized sport that everybody recognizes. And that's why I added Sportcaster because he kind of like shrugged,

at that and I said, well, what have I go into broadcasting or something? And I was like, well, that's something you can get an education for. I don't know. Aria has a degree in journalism. So I don't know why I thought to add that right now, but I figured since I'm with the present company,

you guys have something in common. I don't know. You guys know your way around this world. But anyway, I put that just so. Because you were a Kobe fan? Is that why you put it? Well, Kobe was a rookie at the time. So he wasn't Kobe yet.

People just thought he was an 18-year-old kid that we may get sick of. He wasn't starting. People didn't know if he was any good yet. I just have always looked at the crowd for James now. This is amazing. James, quitsatch. But yeah, I was always a Laker fan, so I just said, well, I'd like to play for the Lakers. I don't know if you can do that.

All right, I'll call Laker games. So he accepted that answer. Wow. But then, yeah, his name was Mr. Maxim. A year later, I was. was a proressor. In your face, Mr. Maxon.

Were you more of a Kobe fan or a Lakers fan? Lakers fan. I was Lakers fans in Showtime. Oh, wow. Yeah. My dad took me to games at the forum. I still have rally towels from like, from,

you know, from going to the forum for the playoff games. Nick Van Exel is my favorite Laker ever. More than Kobe? Yes. Oh, I always thought you were like a big time Kobe guy. No, I am a big time Kobe guy. And I think, like, for me, he's like a more transcendent.

He is. Uh, inspiration. Yeah. Like, I don't look at him and just think, oh, this guy was shooting guard for the Lakers. I feel like that's almost, like, insulting. Because it's like, he's. The man won an Oscar. Yeah.

I mean, he's, he's, I think he's in the realm of, like, Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali in terms of his influence on the world. Like, he's so much more than what he was. But, like, if I just think about, like, my favorite Lakers, like, just playing basketball growing up. It was always Nick Bennings. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg.

And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, 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.

Soccer podcast presented by Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. There's something about also when someone leaves us too early. And I think that you can think, I mean, there's hundreds of names, but you can think of like the legacy that James Dean had or Heath Ledger and like the Amy Winehouse, the list goes on and on and on. It's like what more could they have done if they weren't taken from us so early? Yeah. And it's, I think especially compounding with him because there was always so many what ifs just about him being hurt and maybe having,

what if he would have played a few more healthy years. Because he was so close to start pushing his statistical bar as far as a basketball player past people he was being compared to and probably to unattainable levels.

Like LeBron now has a chance to do it because he's been lucky enough to be healthy for 20 years. But LeBron's put a real emphasis on being health. Exactly. Him and Tom Brady are doing all of these

Very unconventional thing. Yeah. So I feel like LeBron and Brady are like sort of like the, the 2.0 version of what people were thinking Kobe was head for. But Kobe was doing it at a time when there was no concept of how to preserve yourself. He was just like, I'm going to play every game and do it and do it until I can't. And it was like, wow, like, if you're ever going to romanticize a sport or an athlete, it's that guy.

He's going to war for 82 games no matter what. And yeah, I think so there's so many what-ifs. like, man, what if he had three more healthy years? What have he started his first two years? Nobody would score as many points as him. Nobody would have as many titles as him, maybe. You know, who knows? One of the most impressive things about his career is how eight and 24 are like equal chapters of his life where he was equally like a badass. You could cut the career in half and have two Hall of Famers. That's insane. Yeah, I've seen it split and it's even.

They're like, if he would have retired when he changed his number, he would have already been a Hall of Famer. So he's at two Hall of Fame careers together. And then basically, you know, make his first year at 24 as a rookie year. And again, Hall of Fame. He would have been a Hall of Famer, yeah. And yeah, to do a decade pretty much with each, it's like, now that's a career, you know.

Do you remember finding out about him dying? Yeah, actually. I put these on the day he died and I haven't taken them off since. Wow. And I found out I was on a U.S. tour from New Japan and we were in a hotel in Nashville. And I remember getting up in the morning and waiting for the tour bus

to pick us up to take us to the arena. And for like about a year, I had an irrational anger every time I saw God, who were the guys that told me? I'm trying to remember. I don't care anymore, but, like, at the time, one of the other wrestlers had told me, like, hey, do you hear about Kobe? And for, like, six months after, every time I saw him, I was irrationally angry.

And I loved the guy, but I remember thinking, God, I'm so mad. And I was, like, you know, stressed out and just... Don't shoot the messenger. Yeah. I wanted to shoot the messenger for like a year after that. But yeah, I remember the day that morning very specifically. And I had a match that day. It was me and I think Carl Fredericks, and we wrestled Yano and Kolkabana, I think.

Yeah. And that was also the day that I started using the Mamba Splashes. I named it that day. I had been doing it and I didn't have a name for it. Lincey came up with it, actually. He always called it the NBA jam because it was like the Vince Carter dunk. And I remember saying,

you know, Kobe did that dunk too under the legs. That's how I won the dunk contest. So that day, I named the Mamba Splash because of that. Oh, so that, I mean, that's great. You wrestle with those on?

And I think it drives some people crazy because I still tape my hands up and I'll wear this over the top. And like, in Mexico, the actual, like, medical trainers will tape my hands. like, you know, with medical proficiency, not just like crappy. I'm a pro wrestler in a locker room.

I don't know what I'm doing proficiency. Right. And they're like trying to work around these things. And I'm like, they don't come off, brother. Sorry. One day they're going to break. It'll be a saddest day. Yeah, I know.

And I guess I could just add them as tattoos. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah. Do you have a Lakers tattoo? I have a Kobe one. Oh, yeah. There's eight. Yeah.

And then I have another one back here. Oh, yes. The Mamba. Yeah, the later symbol. Yeah. You have a Vegas tattoo in the other arm? Yeah, this one is all, I think we talked about this. This arm is all like landmarks.

Yeah, it's like everywhere you've been. Yeah, you know, you got Santa Monica. Oh, yeah, the pier. Yeah, New Japan that scouted me. I got this one is, people always think it's a Jason mask, which, you know, I am a horror buffing. And it is sort of that, like a slash a mass. But I got it for Canada.

So I lived in Caledin for a little while. You lived in Caledon? Across the street from Josh Alexander when he was just like a chubby youngster trying to get into the business. He told me this later. He was like, yeah, the guys I stayed for were the promoters for UWA. There's two brothers. And they were young guys.

And they, for indie fans that may hear this and don't know, in the mid to late 2000s, they pretty much created like Ring of Honor Canada, like as far as the way the show felt and the types of talent they would book and bring in from out. And it was, and the production value was great. And it was just these two brothers that had a T-shirt printing company and just put their... A T-shirt printing company. That sounds familiar. Yeah, their dad was like a, I think a glass blower.

Like he did windows and stuff. Wow. I think he did the windows at the Hockey Hall of Fame. I don't even, I was living, I think, at Ontario at the time. I don't remember this. So then they were still living with their mom, and they had a wrestling school because they got a ring and put it in the warehouse that they did their t-shirt printing. They just printed band t-shirts or whoever needed a run of merch shirts, right? Man.

And then they started running shows, and they just, you know, one of them was the commentary guy and the other was a wrestler on the show. And these two brothers built this incredible promotion for like a few years. And I lived with them when I just wanted to get into a new part of the world. and just, you know, work in a different place. I thought, you know, the Northeast is right here. I live in Canada for a while. And the whole time, I guess, they used to, like, ride bikes with Josh Alexander or something now. Look at him now.

Yeah. We need to talk about your hair because you walked in here wearing a hat. Yeah. And it looks like you spent half an hour in your hair. Yeah, no, I've spent the last seven days not touching it or washing it. What? It's, I don't know. I'm not, I'm actually not good at doing hair.

You're known for your hair. Well, I'm no good at it. And every time I get my hair cut, I always tell the girl will ask, like, what do you do? Like, how do you style? And I'll say, man, you know, I have this really curly hair. It's thick. It's unruly. I don't know how to do it.

And they're like, do you want me to straighten or whatever? And I always say, yes, please, because I need to like learn something new about it. And no matter how much I've ever tried, it always looks. I look like weird science like Beaker from you know was it Muppets and uh

and over the course of like seven days it's I don't know like like a burnout rock and roll band guy I just don't touch my hair or wash it and then it starts to look like this and people think that it looks all right I think we all need to know what kind of product you're using in there if it looks like this after seven days

well I straighten it with a flat iron and I don't know how to use it. So like I said, it's all over the place. Usually I'll tuck it under a hat and then however it's messed up is how I accept it. But and the only product I use,

I think right now I'm using that pomade from suavecito, I think. It's kind of popular. Oh yeah, I know the one you're talking about. Yeah. Has a picture of like the dude on the front.

It's like a skeleton guy. It's like a greaser. Yeah. So I use that. And I just straighten it and then I'll mess it up and then tuck it under a hat and then like three or four hours

later. However, it's been mashed down, I leave it. It just doesn't move. I don't touch it for seven or eight days. You know, you've been in wrestling so long that you were at UPW the same time that John Cena was at UPW. Yeah. That's wild to think about. So, I don't know, maybe you picked this up from, because I tweeted about this the other day, because I think somebody else said it. And they're like, you know he's been wrestling longer than Sina. And I replied, I don't.

reply to a lot, but I replied to that. And I said that's not like, I don't know, like, in my head, I was like, that's not the flex you think it is. And I was, oh, they said it's, oh, fun fact. And I said, it's not that. Because like, he's so good at successful. And I'm not anywhere close to John. Well, nobody is, except for it like, maybe the rock.

But, yeah, I remember thinking, like, I was like, which, coincidentally, I only started like a year or two after. to the rock. Now, that's great. Imagine being sandwich between those guys and saying, wow,

how is their career winding down? With their DC movies and like, and like mine, I'm hoping, is still getting started. You,

I mean, you started wrestling during the attitude era. You weren't working for WWF, but you started during the attitude era. Yeah.

And the cruiserate tournament was interesting for me because I was, I remember telling some of the guys, because for a lot of those guys, it was their first wrestling job. You know, some of them were like personal trainers.

They worked in like Best Buy or like, like Ali was a cop, you know, like some of these guys, it was their first wrestling job. They had no experience. They were a little nervous. They didn't really know how to fit in. And like, it was their first experience at that level. And I'm telling these guys, I'm like, guys, I've been so old. I could have been in the first years rate division in WCW.

Yeah. Like that was my goal when I broke in. I remember thinking I want to be like Jericho and Guerrero, you know, like Melancho, Benoit, all these guys that are like putting all these building blocks down. And that if I was old enough, that's what I would have wanted to be, you know? Like, I want to wrestle Chavo on Monday Nightro or something. Have you wrestled Chava? Yes, I have.

Okay, good. Yeah, it's a blast. I love it. It's very strange to think that you started around the same time as The Rock. Yeah. So what are your Marvel movies coming out? Oh, yeah. I think I told that guy my D.C. movie is in development, right?

You're D.C. Yeah, D.C. Not Marvel. Hopefully I'll just get a bit part on the boys and call it a day. Are you interested in acting? Um, not especially. I was an actor when I was a kid. I remember. Yeah. I still have my headshot. My mom had Hulk Hogan sign it one time. She, she would keep some of them, of course, because she's a flight attendant. She likes to brag about her son. Um, and she had Hulk Hogan on a flight. And she went into first class and brought him this picture of my headshot. I was like, well, you sign it. So I have a Hulk Hogan. Big, big tear signed a headshot. My own headshot. That's the weirdest thing about it. Yeah. I wonder what Hulk Hogan's reaction was. I would love to bring it to him someday.

Oh, you should. Go see him in a shop or something. He does the signings at the beach shop all the time. And because, you know, I spent a few years or a year or so, like, with him and TNA. I'm working, like, with him along, doing promos and things. And I learned a lot from him. He was such a gracious person. And he was just so much one of the boys.

And I can't stress this enough. He's so, so, like, normal to be around. Like, he's so down to earth and approachable and, like, cool. And you wouldn't think that because he's, like, like, like, we're talking about, like Kobe is, like, we're like Muhammad Ali or baby. Like, Hulk Hogan, Michael Jordan, like, these are guys that are like. Hulk Hogan's a cultural icon. Yeah.

In the world, somebody knows what that silhouette looks like, that mustache, the hair, and ripped up shirt in the yellow and red. Like, non- Wrestling fans born in the last 10 years in Nicaragua knows what Hulk Hogan is somehow. Because there's a transcendent cultural presence with him in pop culture, you know? Even if you've never watched wrestling a day in your life, you know exactly who a Hulk Hogan. Yes. I mean, that Hulk Hogan is wrestling. Yes, that's just what it is.

And so you would think that he's definitely got the past to not be like, like a cool guy or a nice guy, but he is. He's great. Jolene, seamstress, she worked for Impact and works for WWE now. She's a good friend of mine. And she lives in Tampa. And so she was saying one time, she was traveling for TV for impact. And she goes, it was the funniest thing because, you know, Hogan comes from the Tampa Clearwater area. So they would be on the same travel like geographically. And she was like, the company for some reason booked us both on Southwest

and it's like Jolene I understand or anybody else I understand but not Hockely put him on a real flight in first class if he doesn't have his own accommodation somehow I don't know what he has or not but but she said it was the funniest thing

because it just he was totally not self like he didn't like it didn't matter to him like he didn't even think about it it was like oh well I got to go to this gate and I How does this boarding work? He's standing with like 30 other total strangers with this like stuff. And she's like, I had to say, no, you can't stand here.

And she walked him up to the front and said, listen, this is, you know who this is. This is Holcogen. You have to board him ahead of everybody else or different so that he's not, not because he demands it or because you need to treat him better. But like, it's literally going to cause a seat. Like people aren't going to board the plane because they're going to try to talk to them. You got to, you got to like accommodate him differently. Well, the funny thing about Southwest is you don't get to. have assigned a seat.

So you get on the seat, it's kind of like. So that was the thing. She said he didn't know how to board the plane. So she was like, oh, you have to stand here. But she was like, I wasn't telling him to stand there. I was just explaining to him how it, how it works. And she assumed he obviously has some other accommodation. But he was like, like everybody is like, oh, okay, I'll stand here.

Yeah, I'll sign this brother. But then the thing is, when you're boarding the plane, you decide like, all right, do I want to, do I want a window seat? Do I want an aisle seat? Do I want to sit next to that person? Do I want to go further to the back of the plane? Everyone would just want to sit near Holokogen, I would think. Oh, yeah.

So that's why she was like, you got to get him seated and, like, kind of help him out here. Because he was not like, he wasn't pulling like a Hogan card. Like he was like not saying like, I need this or that. He was like, oh, this is what everybody does. And I'll always remember that story as like, if you've ever met him or spent time with him, that is him in a nutshell. He's always been so kind of him. I've interviewed him three times.

And I remember the second interview. He knew exactly where the other interview was. What we talked about when it was. I was like, you kidding me? He must do a thousand interviews a year. Yeah. And he's like, oh, yeah, I saw you last time, WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans, brother.

We talked about this. I'm like, are you serious? Yeah. Wow. He's one of the boys, like, through and through. I remember, like, we had a talent meeting one time at 3 p.m. A bunch of the guys came out of different locker rooms at the same time. Again, this was like when TNA was in like different arena.

So we had different locker rooms and stuff. We're looking for like, how do we get to the ring? And here he comes out of a locker room. Of course, he did have his own locker. But he came out and just walking with everybody else. Like, where, what time is this thing at, brother? Like, where are we going, man? I was like, I feel like you would either be exempt from this or you're the one running this thing.

Like, you're the one that's going to tell us stuff to do. And he was just like anybody else. Like, no, I'm just here to. I'm waiting to get told what to do like everybody else. I was like, dude, you're so cool.

You're so nice. For who you are, you're so nice. And it's not like he's not aware. Like he is. I'm sure that there's some ways where he probably like definitely throws his weight around, obviously.

But like, when you're around him, he looks out for people. He's very down to earth. And he's always been really loyal to people and like, looked out for people. Like he's incredible. And I love hearing stories like this about Hogan.

And I love telling the stories that I've had with the interactions I've had with him because there's a lot of people that think about Hulk Hogan in a certain way. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, that's not going to work for me, brother. And, you know, like, right. But I remember I was like,

we were walking down the hall of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to do this interview. And I turned to him, I said, thank you. Like, thank you for doing interviews still because you're at the level where you don't need to do them. No, yeah. And he turns to me and he goes, I'm at the level I'm at now because I still do them.

And I went, wow. Yes. Yeah. He cares. He doesn't, I don't know. He's, he's, he's a dude like everybody else. And I always thought that was the coolest thing when I met him and experienced that with him. Last time you told me you weren't that interested in doing the Cruiserweight Classic and it was William Regal who talked you into it.

Yeah. How did he talk you into it? I just kept asking me to do it really. He called me one day. Okay, Mr. Regal. I was doing mocap for motion capture, the stunt work for the WW video game at the time. Were you doing it with Eli Drake? Because he does a lot of that.

I don't know if he was there that day, but yeah. I'm sorry, Max do. Yeah. I've done it a lot with him. I think I might have been the guy that got him on the crew when he was there. Okay. Because I've been doing it for a long time now. And Loki helped me get on.

And I remember from that point on, whenever they would ask, I would try to help get other guys on. So I would get Scorpis guy on. Sean Ricker, you know, for a while. Just anybody, right? Kenny King. So anybody that lived in L.A., basically. Or just anybody that, like, because they kind of look for certain body types or certain movement or whatever. So, like, I know a guy.

Just try to spread the wealth. Yeah. Like, try to help pass it on, you know. But anyway, I was at MoCap. And he left me a voicemail, and then he called back again, and I answered it, and he asked me to do it. I didn't turn it down. Like, I didn't have any reason to not necessarily want to do it. What I didn't think I was going to do was sign and stay with the company.

But I knew when he asked me, I was like, well, this is, this might be like a generational thing. This could be like the new Jacob, you know. And I don't particularly care about legacy things. I don't care about my own legacy at all. If I retired today and my wiki disappeared or people never knew I existed, I'd be fine with that because this is just a job and then only doing it to protect the family and all that. I enjoy it. I love it. But in terms of like flagpole moments, I don't care about that. So I don't usually care about this stuff, but I thought, you know, this is going to be something that in history is like going to go like 20 years from now, some kids are going to be like, man, that cruise is a classic. So I knew I had the foresight to know it was going to be special because the company never does something. stuff like this at the time.

We're still at the tail end of the FCW era where I thought I was like, man, this company only likes big dudes, brother. They don't, big dudes and models. So that's it. And so I remember thinking, wow, stuff is changing here now. So I'll do this. I'll do this one event. I just didn't think I would stay.

But yeah, he called me a couple times. And then he called me a couple more times and then a few more times. And it was starting to become where he was now looking for help to fill out the rest of the field. is like, do you know guys from different parts of the world or who are we missing? Like, what are guys, like, you can, who'd you get on board then? Um, I mean, I don't know who I got on board. A lot of the guys may have been people that had already been on the radar, just people I

recommended. I think I recommended Dorada, um, um, Bradd Metal, yeah, yeah, Metallic and then, um, uh, some different guys, uh, because primarily they, he was asking me in case they were missing international talent. Hmm. I knew that they had, I mean, plenty of, of domestic town. But he was like, is there anybody in Mexico or Japan that you know that we're not seeing? And I would just kind of let him know there were some people.

And I don't know who all they contacted or got for it or they already knew. But we did it. And then it was after the second round with Gargano, for my match anyway, after that particular part of the tournament was where they put us all in a room and they were giving us offers one by one. And that was the day I was like, I kept turning them down. Turned them down like three times. And they still let you win the tournament without signing a contract. Yes, I didn't sign until Clash of the Champions. I had some time between the final and Clash agreed to sign, but I hadn't signed.

So I guess I could have left. But then you won the first-of-way championship. Yeah, it's a constant, you know, I could have been Medusa. with my friends. We talk about it all the time. That's got to be a great moment though. Like in hindsight, that has to be a great tent pole flag, you know, planning your flag moment.

Yeah, I mean, it was special and obviously it changed my life in so many ways forever. More importantly to me, I think it gave a lot of people inspiration that they hadn't found it in somebody else. Like, I still meet people all the time,

though. Like, they're young adults now and they were like maybe kids at the time. God, It's crazy to think that that was, what, six years ago. But, like, you know, or like, I'll meet people and they're like, yeah, my kids, like, you're their favorite wrestler, like, especially with, like, the Filipino community. Like, oh, I watched it with my aunt and uncle or my grandparents.

We cried. They cried when they saw it. They don't even like wrestling, but it was like they just a Filipino doing that. Yeah. Like, maybe they don't like boxing, but they cry when Pacquiao wins because it's like it means something to see that. Yeah. You know, and that was big for me. more so than like what it was for me personally.

It was like what like this created things that's bigger than me. And I remember thinking, wow, that's that's crazy. I never would have thought like, like, you know, kids in the Philippines would be like grouping up all in one house that has the one laptop that they could watch the network on and see this event. You know, it's like when you hear about like a soccer player winning the World Cup and people in this home country are gathering in front of like storefront TV. Yeah, yeah. They're just left on all night so people go watch it on the sidewalk because, you know, somebody's playing in the final. Like, that's what it felt like.

And I was like, wow, that's crazy. I never thought that. I can't wait for you to see Joe Coy's new movie. Easter Sunday. It's an entirely Filipino cast. Yeah, me too. I can't wait to see it. Lou Diamond Phillips in it.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think I ruined. Oh, it's a stupid. He might be and I heard a rumor. I don't know. Dude, it's so good to see you. Thanks for having.

Thank you so much for coming by. thank you for introducing the world to James. He's been behind your back here, very, very popular with everybody walking by. He grabbed them. Oh, grab him. People have been taking photos of him as he's been sitting there. I love that we have this camera.

This is so good. He can do a play-by-play. And T.J. picks him up, brings him back over to the desk. That's a lot of slobber on your face, buddy. Wow. That's good. Oh, and look at this. He's already won a championship.

Chip. Congrats. You see that? That's so great. There you go, buddy. It's not like the Stanley Cup. You can still win it after you touch it. You're trying to make you a hockey player.

Yeah, we really don't want them to wrestle, Ari and I. We want them to go into baseball or hockey or something and make better money and do a cooler sport. Hockey's, I, as a Canadian, I've always said hockey's a great sport for Americans to get into. Because if you grow up in Canada playing hockey, oh, the field.

Yeah. Right. You grow up playing hockey here. It's like trying to be a soccer player in Spain or something. This is exactly what it's like. You grew up being a hockey player here. You've got a much better chance because there's a lot of less people playing. Yes.

And hockey is Aria's favorite sport. Look at those cheeks. And it's my favorite sport, too. Big Kings guy. He's got his, I guess they're like Raiders pants on. Okay. Yeah. But, uh, but yeah.

I say. So I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's a big thing for me. Yeah. I say out loud when I wake up three things I'm grateful for in the morning. What are three things you're grateful for? I usually just say Aria and James three times. There's one of my favorite people to follow, they're just like a normal account on Twitter. Usually they do a lot of historical stuff or like some political stuff.

But it's this woman, she's like really smart and, like, dissects the Constitution a lot. And she's like a lifelong student. And one of her daily things, this has nothing to do with that content, but like one of her daily things, she'll say, what is your good thing today? And it's just like just to have people like make a thread, like, what's one thing you're happy about today? Every single time I just put a new picture of the kiddo and Aria, usually have them falling asleep on the couch.

Honestly, that it is. I mean, it's the biggest thing in the world isn't my job or what I do anymore. It hardly was before when I was younger, but especially now, setting the bag down and walking in and seeing them fall asleep to, like, kid shows on Netflix or something is, that's the dream come true. He agrees. Yeah, bud. He likes cars.

That's what he likes. Well, maybe he'll, who knows? He could do anything. That's the great thing. No, the movie. Oh, the movie car. I thought you meant he likes actual cars, playing with cars. Say something, buddy?

Oh, he was so close. He was going to say his one sentence that he knows. Yeah, da. Well, as you put him away there, give him this bottle. I will say, TjP, it's always such a pleasure. I love that we are able to do this in person every time. No, it worked out. Always in Vegas.

Yeah, it works. second. This studio is great. Yeah. We're very grateful. Way better than Excalibur. Excalibur's fine. I mean, it's good. If I could order a cheeseburger the same way, who's it, Max, that ordered room service?

Oh, geez. He's the worst. MJF is the worst. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, man. Well, thank you for having me. I can't wait to do it again. Thank you so much for being with us.

And thank you, of course, to TJ and James for being with us inside the beautiful, incredible, unbelievably awesome. Blue Wire Studios at the Wind Las Vegas, and I feel like he's got a future wrestler on his hand. You need to check out this interview on YouTube to see what I'm talking about. That is a big baby.

Little dude is he is going to be a monster. Share this episode with a friend and take a screenshot so we can share it on social media as well. T.J. is at Mega TjP. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and Robin Sharma said it best when he said, bravery is the solution to regret. Chew on that one a little bit. Be great and be grateful.

We will see you tomorrow with Jamie Fox and Dave Franco for another episode of Insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air.

It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.