My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 153 - AEW EXTRAVAGANZA/COLIN FROM FOXTROT & THE GET DOWN

Episode Date: September 23, 2021

Robbie is joined by Colin from Foxtrot & the Get Down to discuss White Sox Dave’s rockstar debut this weekend (2:00), and also Eddie Kingston (28:30), Anthony Bowens (1:01:25), and The Gunn Club (1:18:04) ahead of AEW Rampage Grand Slam. 3Chi: Use code MMB at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.com Bearbottom Clothing: Use code BASEMENT at BarebottomClothing.com for FREE SHIPPING HelloFresh: Use code 14robbie at HelloFresh.com/14robbie for 14 FREE MEALS! Subscribe to My Mom's Basement on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeZ96PqdsJYQ7DFLRx6MHw My Mom's Basement Merchandise: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/my-moms-basement Intro Music: “Basement Noise” by All Time Low Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/basement-noise/1499013757?i=1499013968 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3Aq9W9BBCjsFOQqcYyO6IA?si=d9d0f74cf54a48deYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Yeah, just stupid boys making basement noise in the basement, noise in the basement. Just stupid boys making basement noise in the basement. Yeah, yeah. Hello and welcome to My Mom's Basement presented by Barstool Sports and 3G. I am your host, Robbie Fox, and today I've got a variety show for you. We are kicking things off with Colin from Foxtrot and the Get Down talking about White Sox Dave's rock star debut this Saturday. It's going to be amazing.

I can't wait to hear the stories from it. And then we will get into three interviews I did this week with some of the AEW roster. That's right. Anthony Bowens, Eddie Kingston, and the Gun Club. Austin, Colton, and Billy Gunn. I've got timestamps in the description, so if you want to skip to any of these interviews, go ahead. And before we get into it, I want to remind everybody about our presenting sponsor, 3Chi. 3Chi is the industry leader in Delta-8 THC products.

All of these products are formulated by a biochemist made in the USA with USA grown hemp. I tell you guys each and every week, I don't leave the house without my three cheap pen. I keep it by my side at all times like Han Solo and his DL 44. I love it. They also now have root beer taffies, Delta eight ball candy and disposable vapes. The disposable vapes, those things are a lifesaver. Remember, this is CBD mixed with THC. So it's not just CBD. It's psychoactive. It will give you a buzz. Please use it responsibly. Please use it responsibly. Must be 21 or older to purchase. If you are, go to 3chi.com and use the promo code MMB at checkout to receive 5% off your order. All right, let's get into the first of our many interviews with Colin from Foxtrot and the Get Down.

Hello and welcome to My Mom's Basement. Welcome back to the show. I am now here with Colin from Foxtrot and the Get Down and on the guest list of podcasts. That is kind of a cousin podcast of Barstool, I feel like at this point. I'm on it all the time. Dante's on it all the time. White Sox Dave is on it all the time. And this is a big week for White Sox Dave. He's got his first show ever. Colin, tell everyone about White Sox Dave's first show. Mother of God. First off,

Robbie, thank you for having me here today, dude. I've been wanting to come on my mom's basement for a while now. Yeah. So backstory here, White Sox Dave around a year ago had texted me after he'd come on the podcast before it was on the guest list and uh white socks dave said hey man i know this is gonna sound weird but will you teach me to play the guitar and i was like sure what the fuck like whatever man sounds great and uh fast forward now we have dave coming on stage with us fox trying to get down while we open for jane's addiction the offspring uh cheap trick darthy who's awesome dirty honey a bunch of bands decent lineup decent lineup at bb and t pavilion in camden

new jersey which is like if you're going to go see dave matthews grateful dead any of the big so this is our first show back and we have dave coming on stage to play Highway to Hell with us. I cannot wait. I literally cannot wait just to see what Dave looks like as a rock star. I have no idea. Honestly, we've been running it as a band just because we don't usually do covers during a set like this. But we had the Knox, who are like a really big DJ duo. They came on the podcast, and we asked them for their opinion on what Dave should play. And they were like,

dude, you need some cocaine dad rock. Highway to hell, baby. It's going to work. I think I have all the confidence that Dave was going to try his hardest. I also know and I encourage everyone to check out Foxtrot and the Get Down. You guys are very talented musicians.

I feel like even with Dave on guitar, even if it goes poorly on his end he'll get through it you'll make sure everyone is you know clapping for dave by the end look we're already a seven-piece band we can hide somebody yeah you know what i mean like so i already i already know i'm going to talk to our sound tech before and say like hey maybe ride dave's fate yeah yeah i mean we already have a secondary show lined up in chicago for afterwards so we have dave's uh i assume it's gonna be a rise from the ashes situation who knows maybe melts faces on the 25th i have no idea but could you imagine just goes knee slide friggin losing it on the

guitar who knows we've never even seen him play it's like when we have like ben askren's debuting in the ufc and everyone is going well we don't know he could be the best in the ufc or he could be the worst in the ufc he's never fought i mean rob i'm sitting here on on my mom's basement and we have a podcast that we have every week with somebody from awol nation dante and white socks day from barstool sports i've seen weirder shit happen in the past year like that would not be the craziest thing that i've seen no and i wanted to get you on the podcast to talk about songwriting specifically because you do a lot of songwriting pop punk is coming back we've got a show for like advertising up front so we keep joking that it's the least punk punk rock crowd we're ever going to play to

but i wanted to talk to you about songwriting because we want to get back into it i've been talking to roan literally almost like every day about like, how are we going to do this? How are we going to do an album? How are we going to do this? How are we going to do that? Do you remember the first song you ever wrote, Colin? The first song I ever wrote was called Vacant Sun. And I have a very faint recollection of how it went.

But I was a senior in high school. And I was going gonna ask how how long did it take you to start writing music well so i've been playing guitar since i was eight yeah um i've always known that i was a musician but i'm from northeast philly it's not something that's like lauded to be like oh that dude's a musician it's like all right you fucking loser like don't throw a football and uh so like i really didn't dive into it that heavily until senior of high school music tech class i already knew how to play all the instruments so i didn't dive into it that heavily until senior of high school music tech class. I already knew how to play all the instruments, so I didn't really have to worry about that.

I had extra time to kill, and I just started writing songs. And Vacant Sun was fucking terrible. Other than that, I mean, going through, I remember early Foxtrot songs, like 2011 when we were just meeting in college. Just these awful songs dude but like were you like trying to be like a specific artist with the early foxtrot stuff oh yeah dude and it's not someone that i tried jack johnson oh really yeah i was in a very heavy reggae phase at that point in my life i don't know what it was but uh i remember like those early days and i think when you guys really start to dive in you're gonna going to like be trying to be other people.

Oh, of course. I mean, that's sort of our thing. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You guys are literally trying to be other people. But I mean, like when you start to really dive into it, like no matter what you do, you're going to wind up sounding like someone else.

Like, of course, you can't have a fully original thought. You're going to steal from somebody. And I realize that. Even the best do that. Right. Yeah. Everybody. Any songwriter that won't tell you where they took their ideas from is a liar. Yeah. Like realistically, I'm also a believer that like songwriting not to get philosophical or like religious here. I think songs come from somewhere else. Like you're lucky enough to channel them. And I think it's the people who put the time in and really hone their craft. Because there's a lot of shoddy songwriters out there who aren't pushing to get better and learning different things. But I have no doubt that between you, Roan, Frankie, and PFT, you can come up with something well that is one of the things i wanted to ask you when we're actually trying to be sounding like a certain genre like the pop punk of the 2000s something that a lot

of people are doing right now in like different ways mgk which i saw him last night i wanted to bring this up on the podcast with you something that i've never seen before they make an announcement hey the concert's got to be over because of lightning we're about 85 percent of the way through the show so it's not a big bummer he had a 30 song set list i saw most of the things that i wanted to see but he just decided no he said nope we're running another song went right into jawbreaker and as he's playing the final chorus of this song they're making the announcement like the show is now over please clear out and he's still going over it it was some rock star shit he brought up travis parker i've had tickets to five separate blink 182 shows that were canceled or i couldn't go to him due to work or

postponed i literally had tickets to a show where travis parker got tonsillitis and it got canceled so like i've been through it all trying to see Travis Parker drum, getting to see him get up on stage and drum like one of my drumming idols. That was awesome. Mod Sun got on stage, Ian Dior got on stage. But as we're trying to sound like a pop punk band, what would you recommend us trying to do? What I would do, honestly, because I know how how you guys work i would take the people that you truly love the blink 182s of the world all the pop punk bands that i know that you love even oasis if it's not the same thing at least take from what they do study the way that they write their songs their progressions and things like that and their chord changes like i was talking to andy grammar

for our podcast last week really big songwriter he's written for everybody had a bunch of number one hits and he said when he was coming up he loved one republic big songwriters nerd band whatever and he would take ryan tedder's song structures and map them out for every single song that he would do and i've never done that i've never like a reverse engineer yes absolutely. But if there's a certain special sauce that you're looking for, you have to go and dive into the greats that have done it. Don't think that you're better than them. You know what I mean? These are the originators.

And there's so much to pull from now because pop punk is an evolving genre. The MGKs of the world. And you're talking E&D or Mod Sun, all these people that are doing it now. If I were you i would go throw headphones on sit with your boys sit with pop punk and say like i love how they did that how did they get the chorus to jump like that why does it sound so fucking good but more than anything i would even suggest if you're gonna get into the process find a producer yeah that's one of the big things that we've always been saying. Like if we had a

producer, that would be like the missing piece that could just kind of jumpstart the whole process. Another thing, when you write music, does melody or lyrics usually come first? I'm a weirdo. I'm just going to say this is not a normal process. I'm kind of a one shot songwriter to where like, I'll sit down with my book, and I'll already have a melody idea in my head, but the words come right with it. It's very rare for me that I write the words at one time, like street poetry, not how I operate, or I just write a melody line and there's nothing to it. If one's happening, the other's coming with it. Kind of do it together. Does it come naturally?

Do you feel like, has it always come naturally? Yeah. For me, once again, I'm not someone, I don't like to teach people how to do things because I'm- I was going to say, for me, I feel like it does not come naturally at all. But for someone like you, you also have, you have such a curious mind. You are so interested in things. And you're someone who could learn. And you love music.

Like, number one, you love the process. process so it's like you can learn it but i mean for me like i i i dude i'm talking like 2015 like our first time in a studio in nashville i thought i knew fuck i thought i was bruce springsteen bob dylan like the smartest motherfucker in the room. And I'm in there with people who toured the world. They're owners of record labels. And I'm in there like, nobody, nobody tell me how to write my song. It's just such a pretentious douchebag. And then I listened back to those songs and I was like, why did they suck?

And then as I've moved on, it's like, I've opened the doors to writing with people around the world. Like the asshole Kenny Carkey, who is my co-host of the podcast who has the second longest charting single in human history sale by awol nation writing with people like kenny and luke dick out of nashville who writes for miranda lambert and just going and working on music row or even work like working with my own band like you learn to take other people's opinions and what's good about them and bringing them together like it's such a collaborative thing and if it's not then you're either the greatest to ever do it or you're not going anywhere yeah where do you fall on the like uh spectrum of people always like artists that write their own music of course but

you're a songwriter who writes music for other artists sometimes so like how do you make that authentic where do you fall on that because like you also write your own music, of course, but you're a songwriter who writes music for other artists sometimes. So like, how do you make that authentic? Where do you fall on that? Cause like you also write your own music. So you've got to have some pride in that. Oh, well, I know, I know when I'm writing something, whether or not this is going to be a Foxtrot song, or this is something that I could pitch out to somebody else.

Oh yeah. It's a right away. It's also, I just know what my band sounds like. Yeah. When I was younger, like when I'm talking like teenager, like when I was first like teenager like when i was first starting like if you would have told me somebody else would sing my words i would dare to sing somebody else's words i'd be like do you know who the fuck i am like and that's such a bad way

to look at it and it's like i i've talked to so many people on the podcast uh about like really big artists being like was it hard for you to sing other people's words or vice versa? Someone like Luke Dick, who Luke Dick, who I just brought up, who got nominated for a song of the year at the Grammys last year. He, his most popular shit is sung by other people.

Yeah. And I said to him, I was like, was that a weird adjustment? And he's like, dude, my ego died a long time ago. It's really,

you go through ego death and you learn like the joy is in the songs yeah and i'm also not somebody who's gonna sit here and tell you like with a voice like this you really think i'm gonna like let anybody else say my words no like i sing because i like it but like i'm never gonna be the kind of person who's like these are for me dude if somebody who's better than me wants to sing these words and you can do it justice take it bro i was gonna say you brought up oasis before which i bring up on every podcast of course and i look at noel and i'm like that's who i want to be i want to be the guy who's in the shadows writing the songs and giving them to a cool ass front man and it's like yeah put some angst into this put

some rock and roll fury into this like yeah do what you must as beautiful as noel's voice is he'll never be able to bring liam's you know balls to the front of the stage that's how that's liam gallagher like yeah noel brings the soul liam brings the balls yeah and i mean but as long as they know that which i'm not sure they do because obviously they're both still kind of like trying to take that front man spot like whatever it is but i mean when you start to figure songwriting becomes a real thing when you start to figure out collaboration when you start to open yourself up and grow and learn before that everybody goes through their i am the songbird of my generation

nobody can ever write anything better than this and i mean it's prince is sitting behind me right yeah few people know this but there's but there's actually a record that came out right after he died called Originals. Prince actually wrote most of the hits of the 80s for other people. Oh, yeah. I mean, nothing compares to you, right? Nothing compares to you?

Yeah. Manic Monday by the Bangles? He wrote that, and he put out a whole record after he died of the original demo versions of these songs. Oh, wow. I got to check that out. I mean, dude, me and you have talked about Kanye.

Kanye has 50 songwriters on every song. It's like, but why does he get the results that he does? It's collaboration, man. That's what it's all about. And it's like shunned nowadays. You see those people will post the like, this song took 17 writers and this song by the zeppelin was just

written by and it's like well it's also like different times there's like they were limited back then and now we have a bunch of resources yeah well not only that like if we're going to use the zeppelin argument all of zeppelin one willie dixon songs so like everybody gets it from somewhere rock and roll came from blues you know fucking rap evolved from r&b and everything like that like nothing's original actually like everything comes from somewhere else and the quicker you accept that the quicker you start writing better songs and you start collaborating like that's truthfully how i feel about it you were saying jack johnson inspired like the early foxtrot stuff who are the people that you're pulling from now and not necessarily like trying

to emulate because foxtrot is very much an original thing now but who are the people that you're pulling from now and not necessarily like trying to emulate because Foxtrot is very much an original thing now. But who are the ones that you're really feeling inspired by? Oh, wow. That's a great question. It's very odd. Like, I haven't been listening to a lot of Weezer. But for some reason, a lot of the stuff that I'm doing has these very sweet yet manic Weezer-y undertones, which I don't know where that's coming from. It's just, I've had a huge Weezer summer. I've never been super into Weezer until I saw them on the hell of mega

tour. And like, I started listening to their set list a little, just to get ready for that. And I was like, Weezer is pretty fucking awesome, man. And they put on a hell of a live show.

I mean, that to me is like, when, when you think about modern songwriters and people who, who take these like very sweet, nostalgic melodies, but then they fuck you up with six electric guitars that come over the top. That's what I'm talking about. But I also pull so much from this new country. Not Americana would be more the word that I'm looking for here.

Yeah. Brandy Carlisle, I think, is one of the greatest songwriters and artists alive right now. Jason Isbell, I have a poster of him right behind me. Last record that made me cry was Southeastern by Jason Isbell. That's another one. But I mean, I listen to so much hip hop. We've talked about this too. I love rap.

And I don't know if it's affecting me in a way in my songwriting phase. But right now, I have to very oddly, which is I wasn't expecting to say Weezer. That's just what's songwriting phase but right now i'd have to very oddly which is i wasn't expecting to say weezer that's just what's coming out of me right now and i'll give me the weezer money i'm fine no absolutely have you heard their uh van weezer album i wasn't a fan listen i wasn't like over the moon about it the level of which they chased down that sound and nailed it though was very impressive to me like there was one song on i forget what this name of the song is but the way it opens you're like oh no this absolutely could be a van halen song and it's like absolutely listen if you're 50 years

old rivers colma however old he is and deciding to do that to have fun all the power in the world to you he is they are fully in their fuck it let's have fun phase yeah which i love and robbie i this just clicked in my head too me and you have had so many conversations on my podcast about pop punk music right yeah to where as a kid that went over my head i was like such a little like fucking early 2000s kid like listening to like zeppelin thinking i was cool and then as a 29 year old adult like i'm going back and listening to like chiotos and say anything like i'm like that's interesting me right now yeah the way and you'll you'll know this the way pop pop punk chorus is hit i need to know how to synthesize that and inject it directly like anthems yeah The people that write them,

the people that write good pop punk courses, right. Some fucking great pop punk course. Who are your favorite pop punk courses? Like who, who are your favorite pop punk songwriters? Uh, Alex Gascar with all time low,

obviously you got to shout them out. Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge are the classic ones, but like those courses still go harder than anyone else's courses. Derek from state champs. Yes. Incredible right now. Like state champs are killing it. I actually just checked out.

Do you know turnstile? I've heard the band. I don't know their music by say. So I just checked him out because I went on a pop punkers, the subreddit, and they were getting a lot of album of the year hype for glow on this new album. I said,

all right, I'll check it out and it's produced by i forget his name mike ellie monzo or something like that produced in the club by 50 cent and he was in the room when dr dray discovered eminem so like if you look up this guy's credits i'm going to send it to you it's crazy how many artists that he's been involved with collaborated with he produced it there's like blood orange features on it love it and it's way softer than their hardcore stuff it's kind of like a pop punk alternative rock album it's fucking incredible and like these choruses are going hard there's almost like a spanish influence in the drums there's a lot of like it is fucking sweet so i would throw that up there and then i would say everything from

neck deep like neck deep knows how to write a fucking chorus yes they do absolutely uh dude it's funny because alex was the first person i thought of too when i think of pop punk choruses here's your first piece of homework for songwriting go listen to weightless and dissect it because that chorus to this day is one of the hardest hitting choruses ever. And the way they do it live, dude is incredible. Nowadays they actually, so get this,

they were playing Reading festival. I think it was 2012, 2013 and all their in-ears went out like their monitors and they're like, Oh fuck. So they just went into a cover of dammit. Cause they were like, we know how to play this without a click. Like, let's just do it. And then the in-ear wouldn't come back. So Alex said, fuck it.

Let's just do the intro of Weightless instead of the, you know, kind of it's like kind of a techno, like right to a beat. So let's do it slow. I'll just play the chords and I'll sing it to the crowd and then we'll kick in when it goes in. And it went so well that that's just how they play it live now. And I saw them open a nothing personal show where they played it front to back with that. And the crowd was in the palm of his hands until they broke into that first chorus.

And then just the whole floor was a mosh pit. Dude, maybe it's not my weekend, but it's going to be my year. That right there is such a stupid, corny lyric, but it just fucking works. It works. It's perfect for pop punk. It's perfect. Once again, the good simple is what you're looking for. You're looking for the good simple.

And once again, I'm stealing from my Andy Grammer interview recently. He says the good simple is perfect. The bad simple sucks balls. Like you're, you're trying to find the, like the most, uh, simple and concise way to say the most impactful thing that you can. I'm going to,

I'm going to take that homework. I'm going to write down and I'm going to have you back on the podcast in like, I don't know, a few weeks, months when we put out a song that I feel like is like, all right, we put out a pop punk song.

We're going to get in the studio with Robert soon. I think. Yes. And we're going to get in the studio with Robert soon, I think. Yes. And we're going to try to do some reggae with him, which would be fun as well. And who else better to ask than him? When you guys go in, if you need an extra songwriter, I'm in Philadelphia.

I make that trip easily. Plus, Mark Roberge is my fucking boy at this point. Yeah. I would love to get in a room and be able to, like, shepherd, Sherpa you towards the right area. Like, I love this shit. This is what, like, literally gets me out of bed in the morning

is somebody saying to me, like, yo, take a listen to this. What can we cut out? Like, is there something? Because I can't do that myself. I have a drummer and, like, three different producers who edit my shit.

But if somebody gives me something that's not mine, I can look at it and say like that pre-chorus is dope, but your chorus sucks balls. Right. Yeah. Oh my God. I would, I would love for you to be the extra ear for us to lend this to and be like, Nope, misshape that. Do that. Do that. I'm excited for the videos from the white socks Dave show as well. Tell the people once again, where, where it's going down Septemberember 25th right all right so here's the deal september 25th camden new jersey white socks dave

fox trying to get down i'm doing our promo right now white socks dave in camden new jersey is worth the price of uh ticket alone just like that that combination i'm like trying to explain to our cameraman dylan like what the run of show the day is and i was like just follow dave just fucking follow dave and see what happens like i just i'm dying for the moment when he's all cocky and shit and then we walk out for sound check yeah there's like 10 000 seats and then an entire lawn and he's just like oh fuck you know what the best part of soundcheck is too when you're on the stage and they're like all right give me kick give me kick and then finally it

goes in you're like boom boom boom all right that's what it's gonna sound like tonight we already made a deal with the band and no matter what happens when he comes out for soundcheck we're just gonna start playing free bird put a microphone in them and tell them that we're like fucking gonna play free bread but yes uh september 25th camden new jersey mmrbq for wmmr jane's addiction cheap trick fox trying to get down white socks dave anything offspring right offspring i mean darthee uh eddie van halen's son is playing that day oh shit he's got a new band right yeah wolfgang's coming through baby yeah yeah yeah also if you're

interested in my mom's basement and the album breakdowns we've done we did an album breakdown with on the guest list of rumors fleetwood mac i thought it was an amazing podcast came out well it's evergreen go back listen to it now listen to it next week it's the same as you know when we put it out it's an old album we're gonna do more of those in the future too we gotta schedule one yeah i think i think the next record should be. Listeners of this podcast would like that a lot. So go check that out for sure. And if anybody has any suggestions on what album they want,

I'm pretty sure me and Robbie can talk anything. Yeah. Honestly, I think we might have to do either Definitely Maybe or What's the Story, Morning Glory, because there's so many stories behind that, dude. Dude, I would be so down. We got the documentaries coming out next week. Oh, my God. I forgot about that. In theaters, too. In the theaters, too. In the theaters, too. In the theaters, too. In the theaters, too. In the theaters, too. In the theaters, too. stories behind that, dude. Dude, I would be so down. We got the documentaries coming out next week. Oh, my God.

I forgot about that. And they're going to put a live album on Spotify from it, too, which is like, yes. They have to be inching towards. They have to be inching towards at least a reunion show. Dude, Noel said some nice stuff about Liam lately. He said, you know, the Oasis reunion doesn't interest me, but he's keeping the

flame alive he's selling more tickets than me selling more albums than me i'm proud of him and i'm like proud of him whoa what are we talking about here why don't you guys kiss him yeah bro we had because now dante the don is now an official co-host on the podcast as well he was talking about on our list because we do green room uh and one of the bands that he picked that he wanted to see was oasis and he said you and him and nate have a deal where you guys are gonna fucking fly no matter where it is i'm sure you'd be there no matter where i'll be there i'll be there i know absolutely even if it was in abu dhabi again where i swear swore i would never go back to because of the 18 hour flight i would go no weed in an 18 hour flight sounds rough for you rob no weed the

whole time it's super illegal there if they find a nug they put you in prison for four years colin bro you know the deal with you know future the rapper right yeah yeah he got into it where in like uh abu dhabi oh and oh was an abu dhabi so his his his he has a mixtape called 56 Nights. Okay. And his DJ, DJ Esco, who is his touring DJ, they found Shake in his bag at the airport, and he was in jail with no lawyer, no visitors for 56 straight nights just because he got caught with, like, specks of weed. Oh, see, that's what I'm talking about. I would go there for Oasis.

And that's the commitment that we asked for, Rob. Jesus, man. All right, Colin, this has been a fun time. I'll talk to you soon. I'll definitely talk to you after that show. Have to hear how it went. Thank you, Robby. All right. Thanks, Colin, for joining the show.

I do, as we mentioned, Colin's podcast on the guest list pretty often. So go check out their podcast feed. If you want to check out my episodes, scroll through. You could definitely find them, but just listen to the podcast in general. It's a good music show. White Sox, Dave Dante, the Don Colin Kenny from a wall nation. It's, it's a, as a blast. And if white Sox, Dave needs something to wear on stage, I can hook them up with a promo code at bare bottom clothing.com. That's right. Bare bottom is back before you pack for your next trip. Check out bare bottom clothing.

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Maybe my favorite pants in my wardrobe, not maybe they are my favorite pants. I actually just wore them yesterday. Everything is built for value. You're getting the softest and stretchiest clothes in the game for a fraction of what you would spend with the other guys. Get free shipping on your first order at barebottomclothing.com with the promo code basement. That's B-E-A-R, like the animal, bottomclothing.com, and use the promo code basement. And now let's get into the first of my AEW interviews with Eddie Kingston. Hello, and welcome back to My Mom's Basement. And now let's get into the first of my AEW interviews with Eddie Kingston.

Hello and welcome back to My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox. I am here with Eddie Kingston ahead of this awesome Arthur Ashe show that's going to happen, AEW in Queens. I can't wait, Eddie. I just watched your video about this Arthur Ashe show in the lead up. I got goosebumps on my goosebumps. I can't wait to see you and Mox tear it up. I used to actually watch you back in the Rahway Rec Center in like 2014, 2015, like wrestling Dan Moff and Mario Bocara and all those matches. So I'm really excited, man. I go back. I'm a big time Eddie Kingston fan.

How are you? I'm good, man. Speaking about mom's basement, I'm in my mother's house. I came to New York early, you know what i mean to get uh my neck checked out get it all loosened up uh trained with homicide and amazing red a little bit oh nice to see what you know just to stay up on things because those dudes kick my ass man how long ago was it that you and mox actually met 2000 i like to say eight or nine. Yeah. And whose idea was it to pair you in AEW? Mox, Mox and Tony. That was their idea. You know what I mean? I just, one day I was sitting there

and they go, Hey, we got this idea. And I went, whatever, whatever you guys want to do. You know what I mean? It took me forever to get on with the major companies. So I'm just like, Hey, whatever I want to do, we'll make it work. Let's go. You know what I mean? I'm here to do you know what i mean it took me forever to get on with the major companies so i'm just like hey whatever i want to do we'll make it work let's go you know i'm here to do my job i mean you guys really have made it work it's so organic and i assume it's because you guys have known each other right like when you're in the ring tomorrow in front of 19 000 people they're going crazy for you that's a very real moment that you really only get in professional wrestling right yes it's uh When you put it like that. It's nerve wracking.

But I'll be in the zone. But trust me. I'll be in the zone. There'll be nothing running through my head. But fighting. But yeah. It's natural with me amongst us. That's how we are in real life.

Like if you see us hanging out. That's how we are. He's the quiet one. Very stoic. And I'm the one busting his balls. You know what I mean? Trying to make him laugh in front of people you know what i mean yeah i try to loosen them up so another thing i'd love to talk about

is your match with miro i really loved it on the all-in pay-per-view it's so good what was it like opening the show in front of that crowd because we all knew that crowd was going to be maybe the hottest of the year in professional wrestling between the punk return between the surprises at the end between the ruby soho debut there were so many surprise even suzuki coming out but what was it like like kicking things off man all i could tell you is uh so we have these ring steps that go up into the gorilla position and then you know what i mean we go out but never run them i just walk up and then i do my thing I was so pumped up that I ran up those steps. And then I just remember

going down to the ring and it was like I just beelined to the ring because I was so pumped up and I was ready to go and I wanted to fight Miro. I don't remember the match at all because I kind of just went into the zone. Does that happen often? You know what I mean?

It's happened a couple times, you know what I mean? It's happened a couple times, you know what I mean, for big matches, I guess, for me, that I consider big matches and just, I just entered this zone and that's it.

I'm not there anymore. It's full, it's full Eddie Kingston. There's nothing else. Was there any inspiration for the entire finishing sequence with the turnbuckle and Bryce? Because I thought it was

so well executed and piece by piece piece it was flawless really I wasn't flawless I'm the hardest uh I'm hard on myself when it comes to my matches so no I wasn't flawless but no but the whole idea was just trying to tell a good story in the ring you know what I mean and everyone knows me when I get in that ring I'm to put pressure on you i'm gonna fight you that's my style you know i mean it i was trained in lucha i was able enough to train with probably the greatest lucha door teacher uh jorge rivera skider i was fortunate enough to train with some of the british guys who knew you know they mean their world of sport and also me just asking questions about Japanese wrestling and their psychology and their, their mental in the ring. I was able to, you know,

pick up on that, but at the end of the day, I can learn all that stuff, but I'd rather just smack you and chop you. I would love to talk about your love of Japanese wrestling and their psychology. And even like the different styles you've trained in when you go and wrestle in Japan do you apply a completely new psychology to every match or is it just a different style same psychology universal throughout professional wrestling to me in my opinion it's feelings of feelings emotions or emotions it doesn't matter what country you're from or what what your culture is emotions or emotions you know what i mean so if you tell the right story in the right emotional story through combat everybody will get it it doesn't matter what you know country you're in or what culture

you're in this is about emotion we sell emotion we sell fighting we don't sell something else you know i mean professional wrestling is fighting it something else. You know what I mean? Professional wrestling is fighting. It's wrestling. Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's it. And what made you gravitate so much towards the Japanese style in that 90s Four Pillars era?

Like, what made you love that so much? Well, it all started. I got to give the show. I know everyone knows I love the Four Pillars. And Kenta Kobashi is my hero. And Toshiata Kawada is the guy who, Kawada is more, I'm more Kawada inside. Like I have that spirit when I'm in the ring. You know what I mean?

Yeah. But I got to give credit first off to the three musketeers of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Keiji Muto, Shinji Hashimoto, and Masahiro Chono as the first guys to get me into Japanese wrestling. That was because I saw the great Muto in 1989 in NWA, and that was it. I was hooked. Then I saw Masahiro Chono in 1992 for WCW. I just remember when he did the STF,

Jim Ross lost his mind and was like, that was taught to him by Luthez. And it's the greatest submission in wrestling history. And I was like, yeah, it is, I guess. You know, Jim Ross says it is, and it's Luthez, bro. It gotta be, you know? But because of them, I bought tapes anything with Japan.

I didn't know the difference between All Japan, New Japan, anything. And then I saw Kobashi and Kawada in 1995, I think, in Osaka. They went 60 minutes. And what gravitated me towards that style, it was so physical that all the people who said

you know pro wrestling's acting or pro wrestling's fake you know that evil word i would just be like watch this tell me that that shit don't hurt yeah you know i mean tell me that dude chopping you in your chest or forearm in your face or kicking you in your face doesn't hurt. You know what I mean? So that's what definitely attracted me to that style more was the physicality of it. Yeah, man. How would you find tapes back in the day? Was it difficult?

Oh, no, I would tape trade. It was definitely dope because I would tape trade and then get the tapes and hope that the tracking was right. For all the youngins who don't know it, the HS tape would come. You put it in, and you will hope to God that it's the tape you ordered or traded for. You will hope to God that it wasn't grainy, or you didn't have to mess with the little tracking dial

to try to get that line somewhere. You know what I mean? That's probably the most difficult thing. Or if you took traded and you sent it to the guy, then he didn't send you nothing back. Yeah, that was always fun. Man, the tape scammers. Also, wrestling fans,

they always come together. You know what I mean? So like, at school, I was a knucklehead, hung out with certain people, but I also hung out with wrestling fans. I didn't have a core group. I went around, you know what I mean? I hung out with wrestling fans. I didn't have a core group. I went around. You know what I mean? I hung out with whoever made me feel good that day,

didn't piss me off that day. And, you know, I had friends who were wrestling fans, and they would be like, yo, I got this tape from so-and-so, and it's the best of Japan 96. And I'd be like, oh, yeah, man, let me check that out. And then you borrow it, and you send it to your next friend. You know what I mean? It's a little community, you know?

Yeah. To me, to see how big wrestling is now from when I was a kid, when there was just this little secret community and only certain guys knew about, like, Japanese wrestling and other stuff, it's weird now to see how big it is. Well, now that all how big it is. Well, now that all of that stuff is so easily accessible with the internet, like what would you recommend to people who maybe aren't into that stuff that want to get into it?

Do you have a specific match or something that you could be like, yeah, check that out on YouTube? Well, for anybody with a New Japan account, I say, I know some fans who love New Japan are going to hate me for this, but I have a special place for this match in my heart. It's Chono vs. Keiji Muto,

1991 G1 Climax. I remember watching that and going, first I saw it and went, oh, I know these guys. You know what I mean? And then I just was like, just took it aback by everything the surroundings the style marcio chono's never quit never fight mudos uh athleticism doing moonsaults and you know at the time you know now we see guys do triple quadruple moonsaults you know what i mean

but at the time we didn't see a moonsault in the states a lot you know what i mean? But at the time, we didn't see a moonsault in the States a lot. You know what I mean? Yeah. So seeing that, that's definitely the New Japan thing. Also, just type in Walking the King's Road on YouTube, and my man Joseph will break down all the All Japan matches and how it went from Ricky Dozan to Giant Baba to the Four Pillars. You know what I mean? And he'll break that all down. Then you can look up the matches once he breaks it down.

Yeah, you get the history first. I think he's doing, yes, I thank him all the time for putting that out there because I would watch the matches when I was younger not knowing anything. Then I would go on AOL. Yes, guys, AOL with the dialogue. You know what I mean? It would take forever but I would go on the I would go and go on the message boards and type in you know what what what is this why did they do that

stuff in the match you know I mean what's the story what's besides watching the technique so you know what I mean I always wanted to be a wrestler. Watching the technique, of course, you have to watch first. Then you can get into the why. You know what I mean? And why does Masawa and Kawada not get along? Why is how it's Kobashi now all of a sudden Masawa's tag partner? You know what I mean? And why didn't Masawa get the push when Tenryu left? You know what I mean?

All this stuff left you know what I mean all this stuff you know and I'm a firm believer in if you're gonna get into any business whether it doesn't matter what it is any business you get into you should learn the history of that business you know I mean so when I got into all Japan I was the first, like, who trained Giant Baba? And then I found out Ricky Dozan trained Baba and Inoki. And then I found out when Ricky Dozan died, that Baba and Inoki split off. And then the difference between strong style kind of method and thinking and psychology with King's Road method and psychology. And I broke it. I was able to find things and look it up.

You know what I mean? That's why I say you got to learn the history. So when some young guys go, there was a young guy. I'm not going to say who. I'm not going to embarrass you. He's a good kid, though. At AEW, I was like, all right, man, so what's your style? Before I had to fight him.

I had to fight him. Sorry, before we had to fight someone else. What's your style, dog? You know, he's new. I just had to fight him. I had to fight him. So before we had to fight someone else, what's your style, dog? You know, he's new. I just want to check him out. And he goes,

oh, you know, you may think I'm a, I'm a Mark, but I like strong style, you know? And I went, no,

no, you're Mark. Tell me about strong style. I'm that guy. You know what I mean? I'll bust you up. Like, tell me about it.

Tell me. And he just stood there and I was like, we'll talk later. He's a good kid. So I was like, we'll talk later. I'll try to pass some of the knowledge I know on to you you know what i mean so you get it do you understand why it's done a certain way you know what i mean and uh i'm kind of a hipster in

that sense we knew japan yeah when it comes to like music especially you see someone wearing a banty and you're like you don't know one of their songs man like yeah i'm with you you get that little feeling i'm just saying i'm i'm the same way with pro wrestling so i'm like do you even know what the three musketeers are who trained inoki you know what i mean what's inokia like i get into it and then i go whoa i gotta back up what am i doing i'm a grown man why am i doing this but it's the passion yeah absolutely that's's true. It's the passion of when guys say they love something that I love, like Japanese professional, you know, pro-arrest, I want them to know. I'm not just busting their balls just to bust their balls to be an asshole.

I want them to know the history of it. I want them to appreciate where it came from, and then they can, you know, help or watch it, see where it's going. Yeah. You know what I mean? What was your first time in Japan? Like, uh, my only time in Japan was for Osaka pro in September of 2011. And it was, I didn't want to leave. I did not want to leave Osaka. I wanted to stay. I wanted to help.

I was there with Kotage, who's now with Noah, Tadasky, who's now with Noah, and Harada, who's now also with Noah. And I had a blast. It was everything I ever wanted. I wrestled every day. It was amazing. It was everything I wanted and more. It blew away everything i was there with ultimate spider jr what's up baby here's this big shout out you know what i mean so it was definitely it was it was a dream it really was a dream and it was bigger than what i thought it would be i didn't want to leave i got to the airport and i was trying to figure out a way how i could stay and be a freelancer in Japan.

And they were like, no. Was there anything about it that was completely different than you had envisioned for, you know, being a fan all these years? No. No, everything was what I envisioned. You know what I mean? Everything. Everything was. And, like, I was just blown away.

And I was only in Osaka. And Osaka's a beautiful, beautiful place. You know what I mean? And I was just trying everything. I was eating in Osaka and Osaka's a beautiful beautiful place you know what I mean and I was just trying everything I was eating all the food I was trying to get you know the experience you know what I mean because this is what I wanted and uh a friend of mine uh Ricky Reyes hit me up before uh animation red hit me up before I flew out and homicide can I can't leave him out. My mentor. And they basically all said, Hey man, remember Hanson, Brody, Dr. Death, Terry Gordy, all these Americans are taking the same trip you're taking right now.

And I was like, wow, you know what I mean? I'm on the plane. Like, Oh man, let's go. I just wanted to hurry up. You know what I mean? And I hate flying, but I was on that plane dancing, like just ready to go with fire and a green ant. And they're just standing there like, yo, calm down. Because they've never seen me like that. You mentioned October 12th will be 20 years for you in professional wrestling in that video.

What can a fan come up to you and bring up that you're like, oh my God, like, you know that, that actually excites you about your own career? Nothing. So I talk about mental health a lot. And one of the things with my with my mental is that. I never think I'm good enough. You know, I mean, I always think things can be better, almost to a point where it hurts me. You know what I mean? I do it too much.

It's good to have that edge, but sometimes I do it too much. So when people tell me, hey, I saw this, this was great that you did whatever years ago, and I'm like, eh. And then I get my balls by my girl,

by my parents, by my close friends that are very rare, my very close friends. Just take it in. Just take it in. Just take it in. You know what I mean? Yeah.

I was very open on another interview after the pay-per-view with Miro. I got a lot of attention from the match, and I had a panic attack that night because I didn't like the attention. Oh, wow. Because I don't see myself as this big Eddie Kingston on fucking TV, TNT.

No, I'm a pro wrestler. It's all I ever wanted to do. That's it. I'm not a celebrity. I'm not an actor. I'm not anything. I'm just me. And I'm just a pro wrestler, man.

And this is what I always wanted to do. And this is what I fought for. I was talking to Ortiz last night. And I was like, man, I spent all my 20s in pro wrestling, and now soon all my 30s in pro wrestling. This is what I love. So, you know what I mean? That's something I got to work on, accepting stuff. But that's my thing.

But when people bring up, like, you bring up Roeway. I was like, oh, wow. You know what I mean? Or if someone brings up Allentown or little shows like that, I'm like, really? You remember that? And they're like, oh, you wrestled this person. I'm like, I don't remember that at all.

You know what I mean? But it's always good, man. It's good when you have people who've been following. It's a great feeling. It's a great feeling. And then I get kind of like, you know, watch somebody else now watch watch guys i watched who are better you know those are the guys that i'm trying to i don't want to be again kenta kobashi's my hero stone cold steve austin hot stuff eddie gilbert the four pillars the three musketeers those are my heroes

i don't want to be like them i want to be better now i may never be better than them but that's the goal you know i mean that's the goal and uh that's why i tell people watch them instead of watching me well i appreciate you being open and about the mental health and the panic attacks and all that as someone who suffers from panic attacks and anxiety attacks myself like it makes it easier to talk about when people like you are going out and talking about it like eddie kingston the tough guy talking about it makes it a lot easier for the my mom's basement guy to talk about it you know what i mean i never yeah no i totally get that see i never had that problem because uh growing up the way i grew up it wasn't bad but i saw things and i heard things and my parents were always very open with me they were

never they never wanted to hide anything or they never took anything as being shameful you know what i mean they never thought trying to get help to better your life was wrong you know and they tried to instill that in me so when i talk about my mental health issues or when i talk about me on zoloft you know what i mean i say it in promos i take zoloft so i don't kill everybody you know what i mean yeah and like people are like oh man thank you so much for saying that i'm like what what's the big deal yeah no i get it because i talk about it some people say that to me and i i get it it weird, but it really does like make a big difference. Yeah. And you know what?

If that helps people with me talking good, I'd rather be known. I'd rather be known for helping people with whatever the open up. And that would make me feel better than wrestling. Trust me. I would love to still be world champion. Don't get it twisted. That's the goal. But at the end of the day,

if that doesn't happen, it will. But if something crazy happens where it doesn't, if I help people kind of open up more and not be ashamed of their mental health or not be ashamed to talk about it, then okay, I won. Because I don't see the big deal of getting't see i don't see the big deal of getting help i don't see the big deal of yeah we're all whacked you know i mean none of us are perfect honestly none of us are perfect show me a perfect person i'll

show you a liar you know what i mean so what's the point of lying to ourselves because we have to love ourselves at some point man because if we don't love ourselves then we have to love ourselves at some point man yeah because if we don't love ourselves then we can't love nobody else and vice versa all that motivational speaking shit but it's the truth yeah preach yeah so take what you are embrace that mother embrace it embrace who you are and get better that's it try your best to get better and love yourself because if you don't love yourself you ain ain't going to love nobody else or let anyone love you. And that's what happened to me when I was younger.

I didn't let nobody love me. I pushed people away because I was angry at the world. I was angry at myself. You know what I mean? And then, you know, you talk to people, you see therapists, all this stuff, and you start to learn and slowly grasp things. Like Eddie Kingston is me at 17 years old that's turned up a thousand notches.

So pro wrestling to me is my therapy. I think that's why it comes off so authentic. Thank you. It's me. If I say I'm going to smack you in the face or do something, I'm probably going to do it. I mean, the video you put out

rides the line between Eddie Kingston, like the character and the person. It's so real of what goes into this leading to Arthur Ashe. I just have a few more things for you. I know WWE pursued you as a coach for a while, and you had told Chris Jericho that you would feel unfulfilled if you had just like taken that coach job and not gotten your chance after your career's over. And you know that you're done out of the ring. Could you see yourself going back into a coaching role or even perhaps

commentary? I feel like you've been doing really well on commentary coaching. Like you seem to have one of those brains that just is, you have a mind for the business. I would definitely love to do commentary. I would love the agent. I would love to help younger talent. You know, there's some young talent that doesn't listen. Like I did when I was younger and I would like to tell them it's not going to work out, man. Trust me. It's not, you know, all this stuff that you're, I like to tell the youngins,

all this stuff today that you're fighting for that you think is so important. I'm telling you two, three years from now, you're gonna look back at it and go why why did i even care yeah like i look at my career and like i said calling the wrong people like i said in the promo calling the wrong wrestler mark next you know he's a champion somewhere and i'm like well not going there or telling a certain promoter you know the f off and all this stuff. Well, not working there. And now I look back at it now and I go, that really wasn't that big of a deal.

You know what I mean? I had to be all tough and street and, you know, wasn't really that big of a deal now. And that's why I try to tell the younger guys, you know, listen, shut up and listen. Because everything you think is a big deal now, a lot of it, a good percentage of it, like 98% of it, later on you're going to be like, why? What was the point?

But, you know, everyone has their own journey, man. I can only lead, my girlfriend thinks this is funny, I can only lead a horse to water. If they don't drink the water, then I got to drown it. It's not a good horse. There was some discourse about Chikara that got like i don't know kind of toxic on twitter recently on social media i saw you step up to kind of defend it and talk about why you and bryce and so many people keep that company so near and dear do you want

to expand upon that at all or just talk about some of your favorite moments in chikara yeah i'll expand on it i was not what got me was when they were people were saying i was trying to defend the actions of certain people in chikara when i wasn't even there i left years beforehand my my issue with the whole situation was we took that picture not to be like hey look at us now f this f that no we took that picture to show hey man hey, look at us now. F this, F that. No, we took that picture to show, hey, man, we stayed at it. You know what I mean? This is a celebration of us still working hard. We're not done.

You know what I mean? And it wasn't about paydays. See, I'm a big guy. I don't like when people mention paydays on, like, and and stuff like that i'm not a big fan of that you know what i mean the business part should stay in the back but it wasn't about that and i hated the fact that bryce had to defend himself on that on that post like hey it's a celebration of us it's not a celebration so know? And then when I said something and someone said something, I was like, you know what, man?

We got Queens coming up. You know what I mean? We're in my state, as I like to say. We're in New York. I got Queens coming up. Me and my close friend Mox, closest friend Mox, against Lance Orchard and the legend Suzuki. You know what?

I don't need this headache to deactivate. That's the way I looked at it Suzuki you know what I don't need this headache deactivate that's why I looked at it you know what I mean and then everyone's hitting me up like I died I'm like no man I'm good like I'm actually I feel good like Andy Dufresne and Shawshank like god bless you you got out motherfucker yeah I was like I'm done at least at least you know what I don't know if I ever go back but for at least this week, I wanted to focus, man. I didn't want any outside shit bothering me. I didn't want anything taking away my energy. I didn't want anything taking away from me trying to recoup

and get ready for Queens. Because I feel like it's disrespect to Lance and to Suzuki and to Mox if I'm not 100% mentally there. It's disrespectful to all the guys in that match. And then it's disrespectful to New York and to Queens and to AEW. You see how it goes on and on and on.

So I was like, I'm done. Just deactivate it. And I don't see the big deal. You know what I mean? I still got an Instagram where I can find the pictures there. You know what I mean? I still got an Instagram. You can find the pictures there. You know what I mean? But I still didn't want to deal with his opinion. And everyone, look, my mother says it the best.

Everybody, opinions are like assholes. Everyone got one and they all stink. And that's it. That's why I deactivated it. I just didn't want to deal with it. You know what I mean? I didn't want to. I wasn't sad. Nothing messed me up. I was just I deactivated it. I just didn't want to deal with it. You know what I mean? I didn't want to. I wasn't sad.

Nothing messed me up. I was just like, before it messes me up, let me get out. You know? And I remember the day Obis Chakar stuff happened, Bryce called me. And it was really down and out. I don't know the whole stuff that happened because I stopped reading it. Because it was during that speaking out and that hit my soul speaking out like all this stuff happening and i was like

and it's during the pandemic we're all at home you know what i mean it was like oh man what you open your phone up it's this person that person this person and i knew some of the guys i was close with some of the guys and i'm like what is what is going on here i actually talked to some of the guys that were accused of stuff and i told them yo get help get help that's that's all i can tell you get help and i hope they are yeah i mean they will never be back at wrestling i don't think but that's fine at least get help for your future. You know what I mean? But anyway, I digress. But all that stuff was so mentally whatever, so I didn't read anything about what happened with Chicago.

I just didn't read it. And Bryce called me and I said, look, man, at the end of the day, no one can take away what we did when we were there. No one can take away that we were in Palo Alto with eight people in the audience. No one can take away that we were in Pittsburgh once. I don't know, Wall PA, I think, where the venue was like a little house on a hill.

And if it rained hard enough with all the mud, we would have probably slid down. And there was 12 people there. No one can take away that we busted, the guys who were, and there was 12 people there. No one could take away that we busted the guys who were there, the guys who were there, busted their asses to get us on our pay-per-view to do High Noon. No one could take away that we had 1,500 people in eastern Pennsylvania for the comeback show.

You know what I mean? The first, I don't want to exclude anybody, but to me, the first three classes of war, we were the guys who built that place. You know what I mean? We didn't bring it down. That wasn't us. Most of us were gone. Or most of us didn't even know what was going on because we were traveling

other places. But I, we, they can, no matter what happened, they can't take away what we did you know what I mean so that's why I look at Jakarta

it's whatever happened when we were gone or behind closed doors is what happened but what we did for that company

and how we helped that company can't take away from us also that company helped me I got kicked out of my first wrestling school

for arguing with my trainer about Eddie Gilbert and Kobashi because he didn't like him. Yeah. I was 20 years old. I was full of piss and vinegar. You know what I mean? I was still one foot in the street. I am working in pro wrestling.

You know what I mean? I was, you know, I was an asshole. But... It sounds like you were all right if you didn't like him. It is what it is. You know what I mean didn't like him. I am what I am. But I remember that a certain person emailing other schools, telling them not to train me and my former partner, Blackjack and Jigsaw, telling them not to train us because we're unprofessional or whatever. And Tricara said no they already paid us of course and they said they're with us now so yeah of course i'm gonna have a special place

because without that happening then i wouldn't have met certain people that got me to either be a mid-self that then got me to the czwW and then got me here. Then it got me to ring a bond and then got me there. And so on and so forth. So no, when I say he never messed with me on my pay was because I asked him for more money. And when he said he couldn't, I left. And a lot of people are like, well, Eddie, you can do that. No, anybody can you

just have to have confidence in yourself that if they say no and you leave then you can make it if you don't have confidence in yourself then sit there shut up take the shitty payday that that was what i was trying to convey you know what i mean yeah because it wasn't about that i appreciate you clearing it up yeah it's good to know that the way you deactivated your twitter i've seen people being like oh my god they really upset eddie and it's good to know that before you got it no no they didn't upset me no one ran me off i seen that but my girlfriend was like you know that's not me but uh no it was just i wanted to be focused for queens you know i mean i wanted to be focused that's not me. But, no, it was just I wanted to be focused for Queens.

You know what I mean? I wanted to be focused. That's it. I got you. And I'm so excited for Queens. Eddie, thank you so much for the time. It's been really cool getting to talk to you. I've been a big fan for a while, and I can't wait to see you and Mox tear it up.

Thank you, man. Now I'm going to get me, like, some coffee and an energy drink and then try to lift weights without hurting my body. Folks, wrestling hurts after a while. Appreciate Eddie for joining the show. That was awesome getting to talk to him. And now our final ad read, and I could present the rest of these interviews commercial free, just like JR used to say back in the day,

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HelloFresh. I post this stuff on my Instagram stories all the time. I use my own promo code to get it. Go to hellofresh.com slash 14 Robbie. That's one four R O B B I E promo code 14 Robbie for up to 14 free meals, including free shipping. 14 free meals is a promo code you won't get anywhere but HelloFresh. All right, let's get into this interview with Anthony Bowens. And right after that, I'll kick it right to our interview with the Gun Club. Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. Enjoy these interviews. Welcome back to my mom's basement, ladies and gentlemen.

I am here with wrestling's five-tool player, AEW's own Anthony Bowens. This is a guy that I've known for a long time. I feel like people probably don't even realize it. I was going to wrestle pro shows in high school and watching this guy rise through the ranks of his hometown independent basically and now AEW Dynamite coming to the home state, Newark, New Jersey tonight. It's going to be awesome. And Anthony, I've said this on Twitter, but I just want to say here for the people, nobody back in those days was nicer to me when I was setting up the rings and doing the spotlight than you. I've always appreciated that. Well, thank you, Robbie, first of all,

and thank you again for having me on the show. And I remember, I remember you showing up to one of the pro wrestling syndicate shows or WrestlePro shows. I'm like, who is this kid that's always standing around? I felt so bad because nobody would be, no one would came up to you. I'm like, who is this kid that's always standing around? I felt so bad because nobody would be, no one would came up to you. I'm like, let's welcome this kid. Clearly you're a big wrestling fan. You're a good friend of Pat Buck. I think you were designing his gear and such. And then I think you trained a little bit too at the school.

Yeah, in this class. It was Bowens, MJF, Fox. That's what they say about Create-A-Pro. That's what they say about Create-A-Pro. Great. But yeah, I'm always making sure that if people are lingering around, that they feel welcome because I used to go to a ton of shows and stuff by myself. And I'd want to feel welcome too. Well, speaking of Create-A-Pro and just training there under Pat Buck,

I wanted to ask what that experience was like because we hear so much about Create-A-Pro now. and I feel like it's like finally people are coming around to it where they're realizing yeah this school is getting people tv ready they're getting people seriously like ready in short amount of time for this and it's both you and Max Castor have creative pro ties so what was that experience like for you it was great i think pat has was one of the best wrestling minds in the business and i think he's a fantastic trainer and i think the school has a good set of uh fantastic trainers there's creative pro new york and there's creative pro new jersey uh new jersey with pat and uh brian myers new jersey uh pat buck at one

point it was uh dan moff mario bocara uh kevin matthews and a bunch of other veterans like you know justin and mark carino falla ba so it was a good collection and mix of minds that kind of helped uh at least developed my career and i guess my psychology and all those like really really important things that have led to me being where I am today. When you watch wrestling, who are the wrestlers you watch to learn from in terms of psychology? Like whether it be going back, whether it be guys today, who do you actually gravitate towards and say, like, I like the way that their mind works when, when it comes to wrestling.

It really depends on what mood I'm in and what I'm trying to learn. Cause I've always been a big fan of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels. I love watching those guys. A lot of times lately I've been, or not lately, I guess pre-pandemic, I was really into New Japan and studying the more, I guess, not strong style, but more of the back and forth type of professional wrestling. So I like to try and mix everything together to try and make one

complete package that's authentic to me does that make sense and obviously you've been working tag stuff with the acclaimed but when you watch Anthony Bowen's singles matches and Anthony Bowen's tag matches I feel like you work both styles so well which one do you prefer if any um good question um so I was I mean it's out there now but I'll say it again I was a singles Which one do you prefer, if any? Good question. So I was, I mean, it's out there now, but I'll say it again. I was a singles wrestler on the independents for eight years pre-AEW, pre-The Acclaimed. I was in a tag maybe the first two years with, I don't know if you remember AC Gamble. Yep. The Untouchables.

We did a tag team thing for, guess a little bit and i didn't particularly understand tag team wrestling back then i kind of just did it and then when i got to aew and got paired with caster and all of a sudden are in the best tag division in the world i had to kind of relearn everything and fast so that was kind of uh it was a challenge it was a bit stressful as much as it was fun uh i've had a recent singles run and the last couple prior to last week and it was fun it was good to show everyone that i can because in a tag sometimes you get a little bit limited because obviously you're sharing time with somebody else there's four people running as opposed to two i got to show aew that i you know, go as a singles guy with some of the top people there.

And honestly, as long as I'm on the show, I don't mind either one. What made you understand tag team wrestling like this go around better than originally? Was it just you growing as a professional wrestler or was it working with a better roster? Was it a combination of both? Combo of both combo of both like you we were immediately thrown like directly into the mix with everything yeah tony brought castronite together and said hey you're the acclaimed it's yours to create what is the acclaimed who are we and what do we do as a team what are our tag maneuvers how do we like yeah how detailed was tony's original? I know he brought you guys in together.

Like how much freedom did you guys get in that? Literally it was exactly what I just said. He was like, Hey, I like both of you guys. I've been wanting to call someone the acclaimed actually from Chris Jericho told me that the original name of the inner circle was supposed to be the acclaimed. It was supposed to be Jericho and the acclaimed. uh one way or another it ended up as inner circle um so then they instilled that upon us which was a big honor and then he was just like yeah you guys are the acclaimed and uh you know you're wrestling in two hours okay go and castor and i are just like well

what is this what do we do like how do we if you go back and watch you can find it on dark i think it's us against uh trent and chuck taylor that was our first match together and it was i can't watch it so cringy because we didn't know what was like he was rapping he didn't have music under or over it i wasn't doing like my meme generating hype man type things. I'm just like standing there awkwardly. And, you know, we didn't have a move set. The match ended up being pretty good. you're the rapper um i'm kind of you're the acclaimed rapper i'm the critically acclaimed like sports entertainer with the youtube and the acting and uh wrestling modeling all that stuff combining together plus i'm a hype man for the raps and then all each week we just started adding a new element and started to shape um i guess the acclaimed as you see us today and i think the cool part is as a fan you can see the evolution from day one like yeah watch every dark i don't know why you would do that but you can watch every day um you know from

start to where we are now and see how we developed every single week in ring and as characters and i think that's pretty cool that's really and especially for like the local guys like me that have seen you in WrestlePro, seeing where the acclaimed has gotten to at this point. It's frigging awesome, man. It's like, oh, my God, this is crazy. It's so cool. And working with tag teams like Best Friends, working with tag teams like the Young Bucks. What is that like? Do you learn more from them from actually getting in the ring with them or from talking about the match with them prior and just seeing how their mind works as far as that goes?

Like, how is that working with veterans like them? It's awesome. And one, not the one, but a lot of, one of the many good things about AEW is we have a plethora of resources at all times to learn from. So now that I'm comfortable enough to, you know, approach people, because, you know, I'm naturally a pretty shy guy. I feel like I'm bothering people. Now I'm, you know, I'm established on the roster. I'm comfortable taking advantage of those resources and, you know, doing tape study with FTR or the Bucs and just kind of trying to pick up different elements from all these great minds that we have around us. So there's a little bit of that. And there's also learning, you know, in the ring, there's a lot of stuff that

just, you know, tends to happen out there. And then everything is like a learning experience. And then you can kind of go back and reflect with them afterwards. So there's never a day where you're not learning something, I guess, no matter who you're in the ring with. And I don't know. It's just been really fulfilling and rewarding being able to work with these guys because, you know, they're the best. They're elite. They're the best wrestlers in the world. And to have really good matches with them and have them be very happy

and complimentary afterwards is kind of like this. It's very satisfying to know that i am on these guys level and i've all the work that i've put in over the last you know eight or nine years is was worth it yeah absolutely you mentioned uh eddie sean jericho some of your favorite wrestlers to watch who are some of your favorite tag teams to watch um i mean if i'm going back to the kid i was a big hardy boys fan i love the hardy boys um i watch a lot of edging christian lately because i feel like we're almost model not modeled after them but it's kind of like a similar vibe or like early 2000s edging christian where yeah no they're these crazy goofballs that you can tell they're having such

a blast with each other and doing all these funny things but then when they get in the ring and they kick ass um we are i don't want to be edging christian the acclaimed or the acclaimed but i feel like that's a good same wavelength i see what you're saying yeah i've been watching a lot of them lately i love that answer i mean both of them are doing such great work right now and And it's crazy to see them doing it. Whereas like, you know, five years ago, we would have never imagined this. You came out as bisexual a what did it mean to you to get to talk about that a little bit with the big show this year paul white i don't when i did first come out i identified as bias i did some soul searching over the last couple years i'm actually made another video announcement um i do identify more as as gay just to put that out there um but that being said you know there was a lot of time spent

i guess in my early 20s trying to figure out who i was and stressing over you know judgment societal judgment you know would i have a career um would fans accept me would other wrestlers me? Would there be situations where I'd have to defend myself because people don't like my quote unquote lifestyle? There was a lot of that anxiety and there was a lot of that fear. And it's mind blowing to think that I can have a sit down interview with Paul White, you know, someone I grew up watching since I was a child, discussing that to the world. I don't think about it as much as I should. And, you know, kind of reflective. I try to stay in the moment and just keep going because everything comes at you so fast now at AEW that I probably should take more time to stop and think like how wonderful it is that I'm able to be myself authentically in a locker room like AEW and on television and be you know a positive representation of the LGBT community as an entertainer and as an athlete and you know there was a time in my life where I didn't think that would be able to happen and there's there's moments where I wish that I can go back and, you know,

tell younger me, like, don't cry. Don't, you know, sit in the garage in your car by yourself and just bawl your eyes out because everything's going to be, um, it's going to be okay. And I'm trying to fight back a little tears right now, thinking about it. Cause it's, it's, it was such an emotional, uh, scary time in my life. And to see how it's all turned out is absolutely insane. And now I'm lucky enough to try and help people who were in my shoes.

And hopefully I am. If there's at least one person I can help, then, you know, job well done. Dude, I definitely think they're out there. I think when you see the fan community that's out there of just LGBTQ fans that go to the shows together now and they like plan groups on Twitter, it's awesome to see. It's like the representation that you provide, I think definitely helps a lot of them. And as a friend, I'm very proud of you as well. We'll do some fun ones to close it out so the tears can stop. Who do you want to work with in AEW that you have not yet gotten in the ring with yet?

I mean, I went through or we went through a lot pretty fast it was Jericho was the Bucks and we you know check those off the the box pretty quickly same thing I wanted to wrestle Pac got him two weeks ago Cody Kenny Omega um you know I watched like I said I got big into New Japan so to have Kenny here as a resource and it's somebody that I can potentially you know have a banger with he's uh he's definitely one of them there's a ton of people on the tag roster that we haven't hit yet i'd love to do ftr i'd love to uh proud and powerful hopefully new york city maybe next week yeah um there's so many different tag teams that i think we would have an interesting dynamic with. I think 2.0 would be an interesting one too, because it's two really big eclectic kind of characters going head to head

with so many different possibilities. So there's a lot to be excited about for the acclaimed and for fans. And then if I could open the forbidden door and say someone outside of AEW could be in WWE, New Japan could be in any company out there. Who would you want to work outside of AEW? Give me a Bushi. Give me Tanahashi. I want to go with these dudes so badly. Um, I think they would be my top picks.

Wow. Bushi and Tanahashi. Those are fantastic. And my final question, this is a question we used to ask every guest on from the top rope can you recommend us an obscure match could be one that you were in could be one that you just enjoy as a fan that you don't think many people have seen but you think people should see an obscure define obscure uh kevin owens answer to this was brock lesnar versus the big show survivor series go Go back and rewatch that because it was fantastic. In 2004, I think it was. I wish you asked me this beforehand.

I don't know what to give you. It could be one of your own matches that you're like, I feel like this one didn't get enough credit. I mean, that's kind of the easy answer. I don't want to put myself away. If we're going with that um myself and tj crawford uh we went to the 30 minute draw in union new jersey right before i got signed last year and that was one of my favorite matches he's actually one of my favorite opponents and somebody i think

could be you know a big star with like if um he's the next big star in the indies if he's able to have the opportunity to break out tj is is really really good and that's a great answer yeah one of my favorite opponents and you know there wasn't a lot of people there but we went out there and it was our second show after you know the pandemic or back from the pandemic and we just went out there and kicked the absolute shit out of each other and people were going crazy and it was union new jersey the building with the really tiny uh ceilings yeah but we did it in the back outside oh yeah yeah yeah so it was it was pretty dope yeah i got lost coming back from there one day and uh wound up in like a sketchy area it wasn't in union though it was like i i got i went the complete opposite area it was it was a whole conundrum but yeah great great times in that building yeah it's actually i don't know if it's one of my favorite building but a lot of my actually

had another banger with tj before that the following year and with casey navarro that building has a lot of good matches in it yeah it really does wrestle pro put on some amazing shows back then with like some amazing talent too that has now gone on to like such big heights and you're one of them and i'm proud of you like i said it's awesome to see i'm excited for dynamite tonight in new jersey home state anthony bowens thank you very much thank you for having me robbie and i'm proud of you too because i know you've had you've always wanted to work for barstool and you always wanted to go i remember you had your own podcast uh talking about mma and to see you do all the cool stuff that you're doing with ufc and just to be out like one of the biggest guys there,

personalities there is absolutely awesome. So I am equally as proud of you, buddy. Hell yeah. Thanks, man. Later, buddy. Hello and welcome to my mom's basement. It's Robbie Fox and I am here with the Gun Club. I've got Austin. I've got Colton. I've got Billy. The undefeated Gun Club, by the way.

Say that. Say that a little louder. Thank you for adding that. Can you repeat that one more time? Step away from the mic, make sure there's no pop. The undefeated gun club. We gotta start showing these guys some respect. A little bit anyway, right? Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure

I burned it, and I'm pretty sure being as I'm carrying those two, they earned it. We're here. It's the morning of the Arthur Ashe show. I wanted to just ask like memories of wrestling in New York what's the first thing that comes to mind it's funny because you know the jaunt that we walked over here because it's nowhere to get easy here in New York as everybody knows if you've ever been to New York and I've been here plenty of times we passed the garden and I told

the boys how many times I've sold out the garden myself. I made sure that they knew that their dad sold out the garden. No, it's amazing because this is kind of, you know, in that other place that we were at was a big deal. The garden was a big deal. And when we sold it out, I know we sold it out a couple times, but it was insane. I was just telling them the people were just bonkers. It's electric. I mean, just bonkers. It's electric.

I mean, it really is. It's a lot of fun to wrestle in New York because the people are into it. This is their thing. Do you feel like I just watched the Adam Cole entrance from the last Dynamite in New Jersey. Just the crowd went crazy for just his music. They were going wild. So I was recording that with Colton just so I could have that moment because when he came out, huge pop, his music's cool,

and then he comes down and he does that swing. And then I was like, oh, yeah, I got my phone out really quick. And just every single person around us was just standing in their seats. Baby! Hands up in their air. It was nuts. Like every little kid to every 55-year-old male just, Adam Cole, baby!

It was like, this is crazy. Yeah, they were so into it. The sound in there, it was nuts. Now, I tweeted. I said, this sounds like the kind of reaction that guys would get in the late 90s. Now, I was born in 98, so I don't really know that. I just know it from the WWE Network. As someone that was there, do you agree?

Like the reactions people are getting in the AEW now are similar to the late 90s reactions? I think what's with the people that we're getting, because I was in Chicago when Punk first debuted at the United Center, and everybody was actually, because like you don't know it until you've been in it and heard it yourself like for people and not bragging but just heard it like people make that noise for you and then

to hear it for somebody else um when punk was about to debut i ran out into the people into the front row because it's it's one thing to hear it in the back and watch it on tv it's another to be in the people and when you haven't, like I was trying to explain to people, those are emotional reactions. They're not reactions just because, hey, you're a good guy. Hey, we're in Mama's basement. Yay. Hey, we haven't seen Mama's basement for a while.

Oh, my God. There's a difference between just reacting and emotional reaction. And punks and the Adam Cole and the Daniel Bryan, all of those are emotional. People are like they feel it. Like you feel it like deep inside your guts kind of feeling. So, like I wanted to feel the people. And when I went out there, I literally got goosebumps. And I almost was like the guy in the front row and started crying.

Because you don't, like you said, you don't. Billy Gunn is crying in the front row. Maybe we can give him a meet and greet with punk. But it's bone chilling, and you don't hear it anymore. You don't hear emotional reactions like that anymore yeah you just don't i mean especially with punk being gone so long and people really anticipating his return and then you have adam cole come over and then you have daniel bryan come over and you just you go i don't know if i can take anymore and then you remember there was also ruby soho

and suzuki on that show and like there's so many surprises and moments you can't keep track. So me and Colton sit in the suite every show. If we're not on the show, we go up to the suite and we just watch the show as fans. Because me and Colton are the biggest wrestling fans probably. We saw over the past couple years. Yeah, right? Just, like, we're the biggest fans at heart. So, like, when we're up there, I mean, we used to watch Dad and the Attitude Era.

Like, we would go to the shows, but we were little, and we couldn't, like, really just watch the full show. But we go up there, and now we're wrestlers watching other wrestlers that just have made it elsewhere and are so successful and so good at what they do. So when they come out, not only are we watching film, but we're watching as fans as well. And we're just, like, so in tune. I'm up. I literally was one of those people that was like, I don't go.

I was like, Cole, watch this. Hold on. The whole crowd's going to do this. And I just like, I'm just, you can't help it.

You just get so engulfed in it. It's just great. It's a great feeling. You get that like infectious vibe from the whole AEW roster. I feel like everyone's supporting everyone. I wanted to ask you guys, what is your favorite moment that you guys have gotten to experience in AEW? And then your favorite moment you've gotten to experience

like for someone else as a member of the crowd? Okay. I think personally it's like a milestone for us. It's like my favorite moment was probably our first pay-per-view, and our first pay-per-view was just me and you only. And that was a cool thing because like as much as dad's helping us and is there for us and wrestling with us and coaching us and like doing everything with us it was like now that was a moment where me and colton were just like we have to show up we have to we have to do this really well and we have to hold ourselves accountable and it was super cool

because i've been in the business for three years now and watching colton go from where he started and just this rapidly happening so fast and him like like before we went out there we were just shaking and we were just like dude this is so cool it was just it was just an excitement because we always talked about this as kids doing this as kids and being a tag team and winning the belts and stuff like that but we literally are looking at each other and we're about to go out and our music's about to hit and we get to be our character like it's just all coming to life and it's just such a such a surreal moment and i think i think the first pay-per-view that that's just cool in general yeah mine would probably be our first match together like that was just crazy it finally

got done and we're standing there with our hands raised and i'm looking i'm like i just had a match with my dad like my first match ever on aew dark and i was just like trying to take it in but trying to figure out what the hell just happened it was just that was probably my favorite because it was just it was just crazy like yeah we just did this as a crowd moment um we were there for a lot of debuts ftr debuted debuted during the pandemic. Sting was on the we had like 5,000 in there or 2,500 or something like that in the Daily's Place.

Sting was cool. I'm honestly just a huge fan of Tanahashi and I'll just say it again. When I first heard that, I literally was in the living room and I was just like wait, what? Who's gonna come? That's the living room and I was just like, wait, what? Who's going to come?

That's the only person that I really just genuinely just freak out about. I'm a huge fan of his match with Ta-Nehisi. Eat shit, bitch. We talked about that the other day. Eat shit, bitch. I went, dad, no. I have a bad habit of doing that. I get lost in the moment. Like, I try not to carry a lot of that over to what I do, but it's just so in me that I just get so lost in the moment

and I get so excited I just start going crazy. He does get amped up. We were in practice one time, and we were just going through the motions and kind of just getting the feel for the ring when Colton was trying to train. Like, why don't you be on? Dad, why don't you team up with one of these new kids, and me and Colton will work as a tag team? He goes, all right, cool.

We'll come back, bang, bang, bang, whatever, here, here, here. And I was like, cool. So hot tag goes to dad. And literally, as he's coming through the rope, you can just see him just start amping up, and his veins start popping out. It's like when a— It's like the Hulk.

Yeah, like when the Hulk starts to transfer into the Hulk. Literally, that's what happened. And as he was in the ring, literally you were looking in his eyes, but he wasn't looking at you. He was looking right through you. He comes with a fist right to my forehead. Bang. Colton, bang. Me and I went, oh, my God.

Before I could even register that he actually hit me for real here comes another fist bang dude he just he beat us up so bad that day but it's just because he gets excited gets amped up and i was like dude you gotta chill we are in a warehouse with two people like you don't have to punch no this is my moment this Practice like you play. Hot tag, baby. They're going wild for me. Here comes the pain. Eat shit, bitch. Dad, I'm your son. Eat shit.

Don't care. It's ridiculous. It's a good excuse for the times you didn't clean your room. Yes. Boom, I'm laying one in. Yes, exactly. Sorry I get amped up, kid. Just ridiculous.

I talked to Anthony Bowens last week, and we were talking about singles wrestling versus tag team wrestling. And I wanted to know for all three of you, what is the differences that you find in tag team wrestling and singles, and which one do you prefer? So I'm a tag guy. I just am. I mean, I like them because I'm a very controlling person.

So I like to control everything and I like to know what everything's going on. Plus I feel there's more action, more components that you can play with. Like in that hot tag. Yeah. Yeah, like that. I can beat up two people instead of one.

Everything in tag seems to build towards something. Like you can do that in singles, but I've just never was into the single saying, cause it's all about it. It's, it is all about you, but it's how you structure singly to where I feel it's just more excitement and more stuff you can do in tags. I just was never, I had a little bit of a singles run, but I never really was into it because I just like tags. I like, I like the format. I like the stuff that you can do. And you can be so creative in tags if you just let yourself.

And it doesn't mean, you know, fly around and flip and do all that. It's just the psychology of how you put it together. It's like – FTR is a good team that does that, right? Yeah, I mean, it's all in the person. It's everybody working together. It's the guy on the outside caring about the one that's getting beat up and letting everybody know that you do care. And where the tag comes in, if I don't care about the person that I'm working with that's getting beat up, then the tag won't mean anything.

But if you're getting enough heat on somebody that I care about, the minute you touch me is where what they were talking about comes into play. I lose, I literally lose my shit. And you have to because that's what makes the people buy into what you're doing. And that's who I work for. I work for the people. I don't work for me. Like my wrestling I know is wrestling. But if I can get the people on board, it doesn't matter what I do because they'll buy into what I'm doing.

And that's the whole thing. We wrestle for people. And I feel like that gets lost a little bit is that I'm just wrestling. How good are me and you? Well, who cares? Like, you're not paying me. Like I pay for these people because I want to be a huge star and the people will make me a huge star, not him or the person that I'm working. But if we make magic together and the people buy into it, then when they leave, whether they came to see whoever they came to see, I want them to remember me at the end of that. And that's involving the people.

Yeah. What about you guys? Yeah, I would say tags is better just because it's so fun. You have four people right there, and you're trying to put this thing together, and ideas are just flying everywhere. Yes, we we can use that and then he can do this and you're like i'm making spots for austin to do like and this would be so sick if he can't and it's just like super exciting and there's just more components like with the singles i've i haven't even had a singles match on tv but so i can't really speak on it but like do you know how many

matches you've had at this point? 27. Oh, my God. That's crazy. How many have you lost? How many have you lost? Yeah. And I've won 27. But, yeah, I just think it's so fun to have everyone there and just bouncing ideas off of each other and then going out and executing. And you're on the ring.

Like, this is so sick. Yeah, it also lets you be your character. I enjoy, honestly, being on the apron more when you're in the ring because it allows me to be just a dickhead yeah and i get to look around and look at the people and look at the little kid that i'm making cry and stuff and it's just like you you you you pick on one person and then they all just like gather up on that person and they try to get you and like it's just it's really great because it's so underrated how how significant being on the apron and doing the small stuff like not just wrestling it's just like the character that you add in here and there during a tag it's just really great also it lets me breathe a little bit because i'm winded winded after i'm

yelling at people during the i'm blown up at the entrance yeah then i get in the ring and i'm like all right you tag here you do something please do this. I'm gassed. Do something. Do something, please. I think my experience with singles is just like I didn't really have a character yet, so it was just really hard to get people. You have to learn body language and when to fire up. You have to learn all these little opponents, and you're doing it by yourself. So if you can't do it, there's nobody to rely on. There's no Colton.

There's no dad on the apron to rely on to help you with that. So it's like if you don't have the people from the get-go and you lose them and you're just like, come on! And then they're just like, no. Then you're like, you really have no fallback. That's the hard thing about singles is you have to be so in-depth with your character and they have to know your – I don't know. It's just – that's just my experience. It's just like I had such a hard time as a second-generation wrestler. It's just like, please cheer for me because of who my dad is.

And they're like, no, that's why we don't want to. And it was just so hard being a babyface during that time. Well, the new change of character, change of direction for the gun club has been very interesting. I kind of love it. Whose idea was this? I think it was a collective kind of idea. And I think Tony kind of wanted us to kind of just put – but the problem with doing that is how do you –

like I've been a good guy for a long time. Like it's hard. Like when we heard it, we went, oh, good luck with that. Really? I would have thought the way I saw the promo, I would have thought you guys were itching to go heel. So we were. I hate being a babyface. I hate being a good guy with a passion.

Although it was just where it went. And that's what I've been for the past 20 years. But I love being a bad guy, though. It just gives you a little bit more freedom. And plus me and my aura and the way that I am, I'm a really good heel. It's just when I had Brian, you just can't be that. Like, no matter how much they hated me and they, oh, if he wasn't with you, we would hate your guy. But I think he has more of being a bad guy tendencies than this one. Although now we get to kind of feed off of each other.

It was just how do we get to where we need to get to. And I think that's where the sacrificial lamb of paul white comes into play sorry buddy because he is a i wouldn't say he's a bigger baby face than we are or than i am you know just yeah bigger in life but it's it's just how do you how do you get the people to switch over and believe that and that's the biggest thing is is rather than just do something to go, oh, okay, now you're bad guys. We get it. You know, you don't want them to do that. You want to do something that makes a statement

that they go, that they legitimately go, okay, that's uncalled for kind of thing. But being a bad guy is awesome. It's so. And I think it's ingrained. That's all me. That's all me. I think it's somehow also ingrained in the people's heads that they want to hate me and Austin.

Yeah. Like, they're just like, oh, they're second generation. They didn't have to work for this, so we hate them. So that was the point I was trying to make is, like, as I'm trying to be a baby face before Colton got in the business, I was behind Dad, and Dad would come out of the the tunnel and he'd get a huge pop. Right. And I'd I'd be following him. And then you it's just like you can feel the energy from the people and that they just like they love him, but they don't appreciate that. I got the free ticket or whatever they want to say as an excuse. They don't know how hard me and Colton work behind the scenes.

They have no idea. But like what they see and what we're giving them is just like oh second generation he probably got a free ticket I don't want to cheer him but he's with Billy alright I'll give him a couple of these so like on Twitter then you started reading over the years of like oh you got a free ticket blah blah blah you don't do oh boo gun club boo gun like it's like

we are working so hard whatever so I was like when I was so excited for this heel turn because i can finally just be myself now i can finally now i can finally just really just give it to the fans so when i the first heel match we had at a prudential center i was coming down and i didn't even care about the entrance i was just like who am i gonna fight like who can i fight in the like in the fans i want one guy to say like oh second generation whatever I want some person and some guy did it in the front row and I literally

got out of the ring at the end of the match and I was like get over here come over this ramp like I was like begging him to come over the guardrail because I just wanted that so bad I was just able to release that energy that I've had for so long and just like underappreciated and like not respected so it's like it allows me to be myself so I can just go out there and be cocky and just yeah and and just to touch on the like everybody like I don't know where like just because they're second generations I have that kind of stroke to go to Tony and go, Hey, hire my kids. Like that's like, if anything, they work twice as hard as anybody. I know for a fact that they worked twice as hard as anybody on the roster and that's not putting anybody on the roster down, but they have high, I have high

expectations for them. If you want to do this, you jump 110%. You don't get to come in at 50 or 60% because if you do I will literally just lace your ass so they they work for it I mean they just everything that they've gotten they I didn't not one time and this is honest God's truth did I go to anybody and say hey they really work hard can you you know hire them like and because then then you get the feeling, okay, now we have a little bit of an obligation to kind of lean forward to do this.

And he literally, when he got hired, he literally went to them and say, hey, because he went somewhere else first. He went to ROH first and it just wasn't working out. Like he was just miserable. And that's okay, because that's a, like, when he came home, I just literally asked. I said, can you live with this? I mean, is this something, like, don't do it just because you're miserable.

Life is miserable. Like, this business is miserable. Like, you have to be able to wade through it. Like, I waded through it for 20-something years. You just have to be able to be strong enough to know that there's going to be big ups and downs. So when he left ROH and he said he went to AEW, everybody, and asked them, hey, do you mind if I get a tryout or whatever? I didn't do it. I didn't do a thing.

I said this is all. I remember you telling me you went to college, right? I requested Dad not to be in the meeting. And I came back. I was super depressed and super down. Dad gave me the pep talk. And I go, I have – all right, if I plan this correctly and I get an okay – so I called Cody. That's who I called.

And I go, hey, Cody. I was like, I don't want Dad to know that I'm calling you right now. I don't want anything. I literally just asked Dad for Cody's number. So I called him and I go, hey. I go, I'm in a rough spot and I understand you don't give out free tickets, but listen. I was like, if you give me one shot, one opportunity to seize everything I ever wanted. I heard that in a song one time.

Could you capture it? But I was like – Does the spaghetti come in play through? So he's like, I'm cooking mom's spaghetti. So I asked Cody. I was like, the January 1st show, I have 30 days to get my ass in shape, to look the best I ever could at that time. And I was like, can I do it?

And I was like, if you give me one shot, literally, I don't care if it's a singles or a tag, I will show you that I am serious. I'm capable of taking this all the way. And Cody was like, all right, we will give you one dark match. It's not going to be long, but it's to see how well you work, what you can do, blah, blah, blah. And I go, perfect. Thank you so much. I called Mike O'Hearn, and I called Mike O'Hearn the day after, and I go, I need 30 days to get me just shredded.

Just I need to look the best I could. And I stuck on the 30-day blitz. No. There's free breath for you. Piece of shit. No, but he helped me get just my body right dad helped me get my mind right and i just trained for 30 days and i i went out there and it just who was the match against the first one it was again sean spears and 10 from the dark order oh yeah yeah it was a dark dark it didn't air. It was literally just to see how well I worked. And I came through the tunnel, and literally it's just been up.

It's just been awesome. It's been a journey from there. And they work twice as hard when they're not at work. Like, I literally yelled at them the other day. Like, literally yelled at them. Yeah, he got pissed. For real, for real. Because they don't know how to manage what they're doing.

So they literally are at the school every day like they're there every day and yes I do appreciate it but sometimes your body has to rest because our bodies are not meant to do what they do to understand yes I get it that's cool I'm into you guys going but sometimes you just

gotta sit back take a deep breath let your body heal a little bit. Because we travel every week. I'm getting him preaching to the choir over here. I know. I'm just letting him go. I'm just letting him go on his sofa. Let him go and then let's just tear this all apart.

But once in a while you have to. I'm from a different era. I'm used to just tearing myself to shreds. Hence why I do what I do these days, go to the gym and do what I do. But I don't want them to do that. I want them to be able to function by the time they're my age. You know, I barely function now. But it's trying to just get them to manage their time and to manage their bodies and to understand, hey, you have a couple aches and pains?

Go sit home. Just relax. Or go to the school and just watch because they won't do that. their bodies and to understand, hey, you have a couple aches and pains, go sit home, just relax, or go to the school and just watch because they won't do that. I know they say, well, we'll just go. Yes. Okay. That's not going to happen. I know how this works and I know how their minds work, but they literally do. They've earned everything without my help, like literally without my help. And that's a fact and people can take that for what it's worth or believe it or not believe it it doesn't matter but we all know how hard they work and people for some reason think that second generation people just have

an open like yeah hell you suck we'll hire you like it's like that's just not a thing it just isn't i think that's why it gets under our skin so much, or at least it just comes to our attention a bunch. And just like, dude, we go from our flight. We'll go from our flight here in New York. We'll go and we'll fly home tomorrow. But we get in at, what, 1.30 or something like that? And we'll be at practice from 5 to 9. Yeah.

And we'll do it Friday. When we touch down, we go home, we eat our meal, we try to take a nap if it's even available, and then we go straight to training. And then the next morning, guess who wakes us up? Dad to work out for three hours. Then we go home, we eat, we sleep if we can, and then we go straight back to practice. So it's like every time we're not on the road, we're at practice and we're working out when we're on the road we work out but we can't train because in the ring because we don't have the ring available um only for the shows but but how can we stay busy that's how the instagram thing came along it's like we were like how do we stay busy

and just get our face out there and just have fun yeah they were like we've been asking people to take this thing over like give it to us like why why does nobody want to take this thing over, like, give it to us. We will do it. Why does nobody want to take that opportunity? 1.4 million people on Instagram. Are you, are you nuts? Are you nuts? I went, give us this sign in.

And that's what we did. It's just me and Colton. We're like, all right, how do we, how do we help the company? It's like, instead of just showing our faces,

we started interviewing new talent that was coming in there and, and extras. And I had an extra one time say, nah, nah, come back later. We're a little bit – like we're a little busy. I went, are you crazy, dude? You guys did one with us when we were there. Exactly. And I went, dude, that kid will never come back.

Like are you nuts? Like you're an extra trying to get hired and then you didn't want to be on the Instagram. Like you're crazy. But we would just go over and just have funny skits for everybody. And then eventually it just became like everybody had their little skit and then eventually everybody started coming up and like hanging around us and like hey are you doing all those instagram skits like oh now we see what you're doing now you're catching up people would come up and be like hey what time you guys want to get that instagram yeah they start scheduling us like this is an

art shop wait a second and then that's how the crowd thing became, too, because me and dad were in Atlanta, and that's when the pandemic really hit. And we're like, oh, man, well, should we go out and at least cheer for them? And so they have some noise and stuff like that. They're not used to it. Yeah, but that's the thing about this company. It's like they really appreciate everything you do. Like, they don't understand where I came from, so they don't – like, they appreciate what they do, but they don't understand the other company's way of doing things to the way that this company – that's why – like, they could ask me to sweep the arena. I would literally do it, only because they appreciate it.

It's like the vibe of a startup almost. Yeah, it's the vibe of, hey, like, Tony, like every time you work, like instantly the first one. Thank you so much. That was awesome. So you feel appreciated, you know, and you feel like, you know what, if he appreciates that, he'll appreciate this. And then you do the Instagram. And then you do the audience. And then you just do a bunch of things and you don't you don't think twice about it you don't think

twice about going damn they got me doing a lot of shit yeah that's the kind of stuff that punk and brian said kind of brought them to aew yeah and that's the roster keeping brody's brian me that's what we want yeah Yeah. We want that kind of thing. Like, only because they were in that system, too. And they understand how not appreciated you are. Yeah. You know, no matter how hard you work or how good you are or what you do, you're unappreciated. You know, but here it's a different vibe.

So now you're energized again. And only because at 58, while I'm still doing this is because i enjoy i love what i do 58 yes 58 yes holy shit dude he's a monster man yeah he's not human but it's that's it rejuvenated my career i love what i do i honestly do or so i wouldn't do it this long and now i get to do it with them and i get to do it with this company like i don't like i can go out there probably if i wanted to another six months but but that's that's how you feel and that's and that's how you want to feel like you don't want to feel like a piece of shit when you're doing something that you love to do yeah like we get to run around and act like complete idiots and get paid for it. Backstage, we're just having so much fun. We don't treat it like a job.

Me and Colton don't get treated like second generation. We get treated as individuals. And we get hugs. And now we're making connections. It used to be we're like, oh, that's Billy Gunn's kid. Or those are Billy Gunn's kids. At this company, it's just like, dude, we're developing great friendships on our own company it's just like dude we're developing like great friendships with like on our own it's just like a cool like journey for us as well it's like

aw just brings you in and just treats you like family and then it doesn't matter that we're second generation like it doesn't matter any of that it's just like are you a good person do you work hard and like it's cool it's just it's a great place to work i love it so much atmosphere yeah that being said they gotta start showing the gun club some more respect. Guys. Yes. It was great having you in here, but a title shot needs to be coming. Hopefully a trio is title in the future.

That would be the ultimate dream, right? That would be. If we were to do that, like the day after I would retire and then they can have a tournament. I'll do the, I'll do do the win the title and relinquish it all in the same day we didn't sign off on that wait a second here uh grand slam tonight rampage on friday i can't wait check it out arthur ash and queens