My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 156 - CODY RHODES/MICHAEL "VENOM" PAGE

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

Cody Rhodes and Michael "Venom" Page join Robbie Fox today, with Cody promoting 'Rhodes to the Top' on TNT immediately following AEW Dynamite and MVP promoting his rematch with Douglas Lima on October 1st. 3Chi: Use code MMB at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.com PaintYourLife.com: Text BASEMENT to 64000 for 20% off today! 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 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 3Chi and Barstool Sports. I am your host, Robbie Fox. And today I've got a wrestling and mixed martial arts episode for you. First, it's Cody Rhodes. His show, Rhodes to the Top, will premiere on TNT tonight, immediately following Dynamite. We'll

say tomorrow in the interview because we recorded this yesterday, but you know the whole deal. It's tonight. And then up next, MVP. He's got his rematch with Douglas Lima coming up this weekend. I cannot wait for that as well. First, let me remind you about our presenting sponsor. It's 3C. 3C is the industry leader in Delta 8 THC products. I tell you guys each and every week, all of these products are formulated by a biochemist made in the USA with USA grown hemp. And that's right. It's made with hemp, not marijuana. So it's a federally legal version of THC. It's a cousin strain, and it's a more functional alternative to marijuana.

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chi.com to shop for Delta-8 vapes, gummies, tinctures, and oils that can be used to make homemade edibles. Use code MMB at checkout. You'll receive 5% off your order. Now, let's get into this interview with Cody Rhodes promoting Roads to the Top, which premieres tonight immediately following Dynamite. Welcome to my mom's basement, ladies and gentlemen. It is Robbie Fox, and I am here with Cody Rhodes. We are one day away from the premiere of Roads to the Top. I cannot wait for this show. It's going to be an inside look at your family, at the behind-the-scenes stuff of AEW.

We're going to get a lot of stuff as wrestling fans, you said, behind-the-scenes backstage content. How are you, man? How are you doing? Robbie, I am the best I've ever been in my life. But I feel like as I'm saying that, that sounds like sarcasm. I good. I'm doing good. How are you? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Talk to me about roads to the top. Whose idea was this initially? Who pitched it? I feel like before I talked to you about roads to the top, we have to tell people that we have a history you and and I. Don't we? I feel like some people know that, yeah, we've been

we've known each other for years. Yes, and do they know the true story, though? Do they know what happened? I don't know. Why haven't seen you in years? Do you guys know what happened? For all Robbie's fans, which he's accrued a great many fans, he has a wonderful job. He's kicking ass,

but I say all of that with an air of spite. And it's because I wanted Robbie to come and work for what would become AEW. At the time, we didn't know what this was, how it would be. And Robbie got real Hollywood on me and told me it wasn't going to happen. And no, you, I forget what happened exactly, but I was mad about it. And then when I see him everywhere, I, part of me is very proud. I didn't get that much time with Robbie, but the time I did get, he's a wonderful person. Everyone should tune into everything he does. And I'm very proud of what you've done, Robbie. Very proud. Well, I appreciate you saying so very much. I'm equally, I mean, even more so,

I think proud of what you guys have built over there, watching it all. I mean, I, of course, didn't know this was going to be AEW. I didn't know that there was even anything in the works. I think this was before Tony was in the picture. I think this was just as you were even building a relationship with the Bucks. It was just as you were going to Ring of Honor and stuff. But yeah, at that point, I will say

I had already signed the three-year deal with Barstool for a few months. So I was locked in no matter what. You were a hot free agent. I think there was a ton of miscommunication, but I'm glad it's in the past. I'm glad we're on to roads to the top. I'm not. You know what? It's not. I'm still mad about it. No, no.

Let me let me. I have one last question about our our questionable past, Robbie. Who set our friendship going? Was it Kevin Owens or was it Pat Buck? I want to say maybe both because it was when you wanted some gear designed. You were still with your former company. Yeah. And I think I reached out and then reached out to Pat and Kevin and we're like, hey,

can you put in a good word? Because I would love this opportunity. Oh, wow. OK, now I'd actually my what a bad wrestler brain, man. Bad wrestler brain. That's awesome. yeah yeah that was when you were trying to get back to being Cody Rhodes you know that's pre even leaving yeah this was for the the pitch before you left yeah I my uh memory of events is incorrect now that you're laying out

the timeline for me I think I think I see more what happened. Talk to me about this reality show. Whose idea was it initially? Because I'm curious, was it something that you were super passionate about? Was it something that you had to kind of be convinced to do? I think the egg kind of was hatched based on our friends at TNT who, they're a really wonderful partner and they're so different than you know when companies I've worked for in the past where the company exists and then the network is its own thing whereas with TNT Warner Media and AEW there's real like this beautiful synergy and there's this this interest this dual interest and it might stem from the fact that we were this challenger brand. We were going to be this alternative. No way it would work. And they were the ones who said,

no, it'll work and we'll support you however we can. So it came from there. It was also something that Tony Khan and Brandy had talked about because if we're ever going to capture a time in our careers and in our lives, now would be that time to capture a company's growing. It's adding another hour of content. It's it's it's planning this. It's planning that it's signing all these free agents. And then on the personal side of things, my life has never been more robust, I suppose, you know, I never anticipated being a father. And then to find out Brandy was pregnant while we were filming the test for all of this. It just I think they looked at it and said, we got to put the cameras on, slap some mics on them and capture this really beautiful time in our lives and in wrestling. Yeah. Congratulations, by the way. I haven't seen you since you've become a father. Yes. Thank you. I have the most beautiful child on earth.

And Brandy put a photo out of her yesterday. And we've been real selective about if we would put photos out and if we wouldn't. But I I can't wait much longer. She's a she's really special and she's she's the best. So this was a, I w I wanted a girl, not that I would have been upset had it been a boy, but I wanted a girl. And for this to happen the way it did at this time in our lives, it's a beautiful thing. Yeah. Josh rush. One of our listeners sent in a question. He said, how do you manage to find time for everything in your life?

I thought that was good because you really have so much on your plate. I don't know how you do it. Well, to be honest with Josh, I don't manage to find the time. A lot of stuff slips through the cracks, not the most priority of stuff. But if I was to put it all in perspective at the moment, number one, first and foremost, priority is a father and a husband. Career-wise, my priority really hasn't been my entering career as much as it's been AEW and being the executive of live events and talent. It's a lengthy ass title, forget me. On top of that, I wanted to dive into community outreach. That's something I thought we could do a lot more of. So I started a department with Tony Khan's blessing to hit every market we go to, big, small, whether the cameras are on or off.

That happened. The Nightmare Factory is rolling into another camp coming up. We've got a few kind of developmental type talents now who are going to be there, not unlike Anthony Ogogo and Jade were with the factory. And yeah, we're at a really, we're at critical mass because Go Big Show season two, we just wrapped up that. We're at critical mass in terms of how much can we continue to do? I think I'm managing it the best I can. I'm putting in as much effort into all these projects as I can. And oddly, it just looks like it's going to get more and more robust. It looks like we're adding more to the schedule.

And let's go for it while we're young, right? While we're young. I mean, that sounds like chaos, but it also sounds like a great reality show right there. Just you trying to manage all of that. And I guess that's what roads to the top is. And we're going to see a lot of backstage behind the scenes, AEW footage in the show as well. Right. You've been tweeting about that. We're going to see so much of it that it almost scares me. Um, and you know, I've, I've, I was a producer on this show and I was really proud of the authenticity that, that shed media and everybody wanted to bring to it.

For a hardcore wrestling fan who thinks they know or just kind of speculate and converse and discuss wrestling, you will see a little bit more of what it's really like. And one of the things that I love is AEW has this appearance of frenzy and live and punk rock. And it appears as if it's happening. And there's on the other side, the flip side of the coin, behind the scenes, it's very disciplined and very organized. And you have some of these genius people like Arne Anderson and Jerry Lynn, Dean Malinkos, who are helping sharpen the swords of all these talents.

And then Tony, as a leader in our industry, I'm excited for people to see how he captains the ship, the type of person he is. He is my favorite person in his small appearances on roads to the top. That's my favorite stuff to see because it's been a while. I think everyone has in their mind what a boss looks like what a boss acts like walks like talks like tony's so different uh and he really looks like the direction we're going with business and with entertainment and with sport everything with that type of leadership i've had very brief interactions with tony but in everyone he's been

nothing but a delight did he say let's fucking go i think he did yeah yeah i think right before we did the uh the little segment with jericho and mjf i think he's like let's fucking go guys here we go he uh his enthusiasm is infectious the other day he didn't have any room in his car and they were he was being driven away from the building and 10 Preston Vance was there waiting for a shuttle that was never coming and I think it's one of my favorite things ever because Tony drove by stuck his head out the window and screamed LFG let's fucking go and then just left him there and I don't think he realized he left him there i don't think he'll

ever know until he watches this but yeah tony's the best he's a wonderful guy and speaking of that behind the scenes aew stuff how was it reuniting with brian danielson because it's been had to be a while since you'd seen him right way longer than i assumed it had been because we rode together pre and just entering the yes movement and pre the yes movement was kind of, I would say a little bit more of a darker, more melancholy time. Things weren't going exactly great. And, and it was interesting that the man, the human being he is, never really changed. Just an honest to a fault, no pun intended to MJF, but a genuine salt of the earth. You hear very little negative ever about Bryan Danielson. That's because he's the utmost professional.

And I'm so glad that he connected with fans in the way he did. He's really one of the last super organic talents to come out of WWE when they were heading towards WrestleMania 30. And just that whole the whole nature of it was so amazing. But connecting with him was a lot of fun because he has children now, multiple houses. He's really looking at it from the perspective of he had a lot of questions about the roster and to be here and play his music without really any micromanagement. So far with Brian, what a free agent to get who can really help with his own star power. The dude could go out there and play the greatest hits and fans would be happy, but he's not going to do that. He's going to push himself even more. And the fact that he gets to rub up with the MJFs,

the Darby Allens are year one and year two franchise players. You know, what did you think of that debut match against Kenny Omega? I was saying right when they started, I was in go position and, you know, Kenny being as good as he is and Brian being as good as he is in the dream match. You know, it's a dream match when you don't have to say dream match that often when it, you know, the marketing, it was all there, but you're, you're, it wasn't forced on anyone because it

truly was the truth didn't need weight. But I was saying this will be the quickest Ironman or the quickest 30 minutes that ever goes by because the fans were so connected to each of them. They didn't have to do a lot. And then they didn't get lazy with it. They didn't just take that and go, oh, we could save and leave a lot of meat on the bone. They really put it out there. If you look at pictures of brian after that match

look at his chest yeah that's that's who he is and we got that and we got to see him with kenny omega you know the best bout machine so definitely gave us something special but left enough meat on the bone that i think you'll see a lot of those which hopefully we'll see a lot of those and what was it like for you getting out there and wrestling in front of Arthur Ashe? There's no place in terms of if you're an entertainer, a competitor or whatever, there's no place like New York City. And there's a reason that so many companies from outside the United States test things out in New York City.

There's a reason that's the first stop on their tour, because it really is the melting pot. It truly is a market that represents so many demos. For me to get out in front of 20,000 plus people or 20,000 people, whatever it ended up topping out at in such a building that has historic roots in American tennis. I was really blown away by the experience. The only thing we had, or I had, comparable is a WrestleMania.

And I didn't say that out loud because, you know, we're a different company. We're something else. But if there was ever a doubt on whether AEW could do a stadium event, I think we have made it clear we can and made it clear the content you get all of it, all four plus hours that Grand Slam plus Rampage ended up being, it was all just truly, truly wonderful. A great memory. And seeing how alive the crowd was throughout it all, like by the end of Rampage,

the fact that they were still there for it. You know, you see these long stadium shows all the time, usually by the four hour mark or something, the crowd started to wear off. The AEW crowd really never did. They don't wear off. And here's why I think this happens. I actually, of more of a

traditional like wrestling standpoint i'm always the one to say hey less is more let's be let's be careful let's not burn them out because i've been in plenty of buildings where we've burned folks out but tony has a really good eye on the cult favorites and a cult favorite can go out at any point in the night and get this great reaction because that's somebody that a large vocal group has been waiting for. and you pull 20 people who their favorite is, you might get 20 distinct answers in terms of who they're there to see. And when they come to see them, they're not just coming to see them. They're coming there. They're going to buy a T-shirt. They're going to do whatever their catchphrase is. They're going to tell the people in the seats next to them,

hey, this is the guy who puts his hands in his pockets. Whatever it is, there's a layer of pride with our fans, and I think that's why they don't burn out. I'm always the quickest to be like, Hey, we gotta be careful. If, uh, if you're ever at like an hour and a half AEW show, you know, it was me, uh, who, who blackjack lands at it just because I'm scared. I don't want to burn anyone out. I want to keep the love going, but Tony is very smart in knowing that there are people they want to see. It's the same with our graphics. There's a reason there's 100 people on our

graphics. It's his way of letting you know, not only are you getting this, you're getting all of this in just a span of four hours. That gear that you wore out to Grand Slam, was that inspired by the boys at all, Amazon? So the boys, which is a wonderful everything uh if you're not reading or watching the boys the boys is outstanding it isn't but i feel bad saying it isn't because everyone thought the initial cape that miss sandra gray had made was Homelander inspired. Yeah. But really I think it was a colonial, a colonial soldier is what inspired it. Uh, and I've never once because of the fun reactions online, I've never told her to deviate only because, you know,

if people find that parallel and they like it, uh, why not? There's, there is kind of a parallel in, in characters in terms of my goody two shoes nature, not always sitting that great with, with wrestling fans, but I can be the good guy, but they don't have to cheer me. They can do whatever they'd like. I mean, it's the wrestling fan. You can do whatever you want. Um, I, when it comes though, here was her outfit. She made for grand slam. There's a slight miss and it's no one's fault. Not hers for sure. The Cape was 22 feet long. And I thought that would be the coolest looking thing from an overhead shot. And we never

once shot it overhead. So this beautiful Cape was draped on the LEDs and we had like shoved it into the elevator that I come up and everything. And I was all like monitoring how it's, how it flowed. There's only a few really bad photos on Twitter of it that look like it's all the photos. Yeah. Yeah. It looks like it's like super imposed, but yes, it was a 22 foot long cape. Uh, I'll try it again, uh, at another point and point and uh get a better shot of it yeah get that big crane shot yeah yeah they i thought for sure i stood here long enough they got it but they had so many cameras and tim wahlberg did such a good job directing that show so understood this is such a random question but i just remember it from the time that you were

leaving wwe do you remember the rumors initially that it was all part of an angle, that it was all, you know, people, not rumors, I would say conspiracies, that it was all, you know, part of a game? And at what point did those get to the point where you laughed at them? And then what point did they get to the point where you were just annoyed by them? If I had like two or three drinks in me, I'd probably say I'm always annoyed by rumors and speculation. But the reality of it is.

If you if people are talking about what you're doing at great lengths, if they're debating it, if there's division over it, well, that's a good that's a good thing. I mean, there's rumors and speculation about how everything at AEW currently works. It's one of the reasons why I'm excited for Road to the Top, to people to see a little bit more of how it actually works. That never really bothered me, the WWE-specific rumor. And I think the reason is because at the time it was so unheard of. Now people leave. Then people weren't leaving and they

weren't leaving on their own accord. I mean, me leaving where I worked previously is insane. I just, there's no lengthy process to it. I just said, I'm not coming back. I didn't even sign my release papers. Now there's like a hundred different firewalls in place to keep everyone in their respective spots. But yeah, I think it just took time with the fans. I'd never been in front of the true younger audience and the true independent audience places at all. I just went on a tour. It was one single year of every independent I could go to, whether it had huge traction, whether it was mom and pop, family friendly, whether it was hardcore, independent, like a PWG, of course, and more with the smartest of the fans. No, I think it just took them time

to see. I really was trying to get more for myself and believed in myself and believed in what I could do. And they got to watch it all happen over the course of two and a half three years and now here we are and you have rosario dawson getting involved in your your angles and your promos at what point on the go big show did it like did you get the friendship with her it'd be like all right give me some star wars rumors give me some star wars stuff coming up my wife told me when we found out rosario was going to be a judge my wife told me not to ask her any questions about star wars uh or star trek because she's a big tricky for that matter um i'm a big fan of dave filoni uh that entire entire world he created the ahsoka character snips uh i'm i feel like i'm incredibly educated on this subject because i've watched so much

read so much played so much i were the one that got me to watch clone wars initially see i'm spreading the message of clone, getting it out there for people who thought the prequels were one thing. This is a good example of where they really succeeded. I did not talk a lot of Star Wars with her out of out of pure respect. But any time, any time it was brought up, I would at least kind of nudge in with a with a fun fact uh that i that i knew uh like for example i really wanted to ask her with mandalorian about the owl because if you're a clone wars uh person or a rebels person for that matter her owl is in the scenes yeah but i i i'm of course i'm gonna ask her hey did you know because i feel like she knows everything.

I watched her several times, explain her character to people who are unfamiliar with it. And she had like a wrestler like explanation of here's, here's who Ahsoka is. It was Darth Vader's Padawan, but there was a separation. He's not even aware if she's still alive and Fulcrum and every, I mean, bam, just like that in a way that any casual person could go okay cool i'm gonna watch this show uh wonderful and kudos to rosario because she's i would say rosario some wrestlers in our in our respective wrestling

circles are less wrestlers than rosario rosario landed at JFK, got in her own car, drove all the way to the Prudential Center, found her own way to like wouldn't even just boat her way into the building, threw her Nightmare Family jacket on and went out and did that segment. And she busted her lip in the segment. So we have one of the most A-list, hottest, highest priority human beings in the building. And she's just out there swinging around on Tom's back, busting her lip. True wrestler. Flexing into the camera. Yeah, she crushed it.

Yeah. True wrestler. I would have her back for anything and everything. And with Go Big Show, she's the closest judge to me because she's closest in proximity. And just what a wonderful soul. I'm glad everything's popping off for her as it is right now. And speaking of the people Who I bonded with

The most on the initial Go Big Show because we were Truly trapped in the Marriott In making The full quarantine whereas this one The bubble was loosened up a little bit That guy I mean the machine That's who he is

But I don't know how we haven't got him yet. I think he's, I don't want to say afraid. I don't want to call him out for fear of it or fear of how our fans would treat him. But Burt and Excalibur, to me, are on a collision course. Because Excalibur didn't get his name wrong the first time on purpose. It was an accident. He doesn't know enough about Burt. And then he didn't know enough about him to get it right the first time on purpose. It was an accident. He doesn't know enough about Burt, and then he didn't know enough about him to get it right the second time. So now it's wonderful

because Burt is so popular in the circles that he's in. He's got his own movie with Mark Hamill that's on the way, just sold out Red Rocks. What an interesting human being to sit down and have a conversation with. I'm better for having known Burt Kreischer for 10 minutes. He's just a wonderful person. You like seeing the good guys win. He's one of them. And he's got the cast now. He could be like a cowboy Bob Orton. Just come in, hit Excalibur with the big cast, you know? He's got, yeah, his, whatever it did to his elbow that was under his little cowboy shirt this season. It's just dangling there.

I felt bad. He was pretty, he was pretty, he was pretty beat up. It seems like you're doing a lot more training coaching lately. You mentioned the nightmare factory. I wanted to ask you, this is a question that I ask a lot of wrestlers, but it's something that just fascinates me. Do you have any pet peeves that you tell people to stay away from or that you stay away from in particular?

Oh my God. You're about to get. A long list. I think the biggest two pet peeves, there's kind of three things that we hit at the factory a lot. The other coaches at the factory teach a lot of fundamentals, a lot of the stuff you're going to really need wrestling. I try to teach a lot of human behavior because lot of the stuff you're going to really need wrestling. I try to teach a lot of human behavior because it's a one strike business. You say the wrong thing to one big star and you're paying for it for years. It's not that that's fair, but it's just the nature of the business. So a big one for me is the word. Yeah. I always tell people it doesn't have to be yes or no, sir, but say yes or no.

That's a big one. Posture is a big one. If you're sitting there taking notes in the seats, the factory sit up, your back is your money. That's a big one. The biggest pet peeve I get on though is when it comes to lumberjack matches. They've probably heard me say it way too many times. This era of wrestler wrestler if you ask them to be in a lumberjack match or a pull apart you'll start hearing these whiny oh i don't know if my character would do that i don't know if my character would do that unless your character is the undertaker your character would be part of this lumberjack match and it's so important if you watch flair versus stinging from the Great American Bash and

you've got Paul Orndorff is a lumberjack in that setting. This is the same guy who put 60,000 people in Toronto. He was a massive star. J.Y.D., the main star of his own territory. There's never that excuse. So that's one you hear all the time. People who use the my character wouldn't do that. Yes, no posture. And then the golden rule of the factory is treat everybody like your favorite wrestler. So I always ask him, who's your favorite wrestler? A lot of times you hear like The Rock. Great. Treat everybody like they're The Rock. And you won't you'll never go wrong if you do that, because you get some of these new types, these MJF types who are, I think MJF was making $40 one day. And the next day he's a massive star on television and well-deserved. He's that good. But man, does he

believe his own shit? My gosh. You see him talking to production people about giving him pyro, going around the people he's supposed to, asking about his own dressing room. These are all authentic things. Starting to drop the term all the time. Look at these extras over here. When he was an extra, like two years ago. I love it, but it's fun to watch that phase of wrestler. Max is really living it right now.

He very much believes everything that's happening. And I can't knock him for it. It's a fun ride. We got one more question for you. This is a fun one. This is a fan question from the quack and Bush. I know that you're a huge Zelda guy, so I had to get one on here. Link to the past Ocarina of time or breath of the wild. You have to pick one and disqualify the other two from you ever playing them

ever again, I guess it's going to be Ocarina of Time. The classic. And if I had to put it in order, I would put Ocarina, I'd put Breath of the Wild, and I'd put Link to the Past. I almost want to keep Breath of the Wild because of the gameplay, and it will hold up, and its replay value will exist far beyond maybe Link to the Past. But the reason Ocarina is is gonna stand the test of time it

changed gameplay z targeting all that yeah yeah that's great the specs are cool but the story is what makes that game exciting the music the story the connection to the characters and at the time that link was growing up the audience who was was playing that Nintendo 64 game was of that age as well. So it completely, the stars won't align like that ever. I think for Zelda, again, they'll have the best game every year, but that game in particular is the one I keep. Well, I'm looking forward to AEW getting their first video game in a short time as well. Cody, thank you so much for this. I'm looking forward to the roads to the top as well. Everyone check it out tomorrow night. It is premiering the debut. Thank you, Robbie.

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Text BASEMENT to 64000. Paint your life. Celebrate the moments that matter terms apply available at paintyourlife.com slash terms all right let's get into this interview with michael venom page okay welcome back to the show ladies and gentlemen i am here with michael venom page ahead of his rematch with douglas lima october 1st in london i can't wait for this fight how are you to kick the interview off it's been about two years, I think, since I've interviewed you. Yeah, yeah. We've had the whole COVID storm come.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Nah, I'm good, man. I'm good. I can't complain too much. Now, as I'm interviewing you right now, it's August 25th. The rematch is October 1st. Have you locked in and started fight camp yet? Is that starting soon? What what is that like for you what's a fight camp like for you we don't really do the camps so to speak like I'm just training all the time obviously we get our opponent and then we start to refine exactly what we're doing specific to the opponent but yeah we're just it's just nonstop, man. Interesting. So you ramp it up, I assume when,

when a fight's approaching, right. Do you cut a lot of weight for a fight? Yeah, normally I do, but to be fair, this time I've tried to be a bit more strict with my diet. So I'm not, to be fair, I'm not massively heavy right now. I want to make it as good as possible. Now here's a question I have as someone that will probably never have this experience obviously the first fight didn't go the way you wanted and in the lead up to this fight they're replaying that finish over and over and over again does that piss you off as a fighter are you like i can't believe i have to see this

so many times does it make you want to like get back in there quicker or is that just like it is what it is that's the business we're in yeah no to be fair it is what it is um i've always said it i'm sure you know some of my opponents uh have had to experience the same thing you see what i mean so it's part and parcel you kind of have to accept it i accept what happened i left it in the past and i'll focus on what's going to happen in the future um so yeah here's what it is you mentioned some of your opponents having to experience the same thing you've so many amazing highlight reel knockouts amazing finishes what was the most satisfying for you personally uh it's hard to to be fair it's hard to say like I've always um I just enjoy what I do and I think a lot of people can see that

in how i fight in you know my entrances my finishes um i i really just enjoy every moment and obviously there's a there's a lot of um relief um that comes with the hard work that you have to put in before the fight and then you know when you get that win i think every i think just that feeling in general just extremely satisfying and that's why a lot of us fighters uh do this crazy stuff it's a feeling that you struggle to get anywhere else so um yeah there's no one particular um finish they're all equally satisfying in in their own different way so you would say maybe it's the next one yeah yeah you know what obviously as soon as you finish as soon as you finish one uh the next one but this

one is definitely uh is a is a big one um obviously because of what's taken place in in the past it's the only thing that's uh kind of tarnished my record so to speak um but yeah so this one this one will definitely feel very satisfying and something else that's happened since the last time we spoke is that you're sort of taking over the rap scene over there across the pond between the the shout outs and the bellator song between being in actual music videos it's pretty awesome like what's it like sort of being like part of the culture there yeah you know what i have to say like i these are that that side of it's very special obviously it shows that um my success and you know shows how well i'm doing over

here and for the people over here but also a lot of these people that um i get to speak to quite regularly and you know i get to call friends i was younger, listen to their music and stuff. So it's just really nice to be in that situation and then, you know, and be able to even be a part of their, you know, their continued success. So, yeah, I'm really enjoying kind of soaking up all of the pluses that come with, you know, comes with the hard work and the success of what I'm doing myself. Do you have any other endeavors that you want to go into outside the cage, whether it be acting or voice acting or anything like that? Yeah, definitely acting is definitely something I want to pursue

close to the end of my career. One thing I'm actually doing at the moment is i've written a script uh for a series uh tv series that we're you know in development for that's amazing can't say too much to say that but um things like that is again i'm kind of just enjoying being able to even do all of these things i know a lot of people kind of stuck in in jobs they look they're not they don't enjoy and i'm not only am i doing something i enjoy massively, I get to also be quite flexible and lean into different industries as well. So, yeah, I'm excited about the series that we're producing as well. So there's a lot of stuff going on.

That's really awesome. Congratulations on all of that. You have fought pretty much everywhere. You fought all over the world you finally get to fight well not finally but you get to fight in london coming up here what is that like fighting like in london having i assume you're gonna have the big crowd this time right it's not covid regulations or anything like that so what's that gonna be like for you uh it's going to be absolutely amazing i think this particular fight uh means so much to myself a lot of people that were invested you know when they saw me lose it hurt them as well

and they're all going to get the chance to be there for the redemption fight and i think it means a lot for them as well there's a lot of people i remember speaking to obviously friends that are over here that you know they're like man that night man i still remember it hurt so much to kind of see what happened and then when you see when i told him about rematch i want to put it out that the rematch is happening and it's going to be you know in london people are just itching and he's got their tickets immediately everyone everyone is super pumped so i think the energy this time is just going to be that much bigger so i'm i really am glad that it's in it's in london i was gonna say i can't wait to just hear like what the arena sounds like during your walkout it's gonna have that like big fight feel that amazing aura um

finally i want to talk about something that's not fighting related to close the interview out last time we talked a little bit about your interest outside of the cage in relation to comic books superheroes stuff like this. So I wanted to ask, have you been keeping up with the MCU? Did you watch Loki? Have you seen the Spider-Man trailer? Yesterday morning, I think I watched the Spider-Man trailer and that is looking scary excited. I'm super pumped to see when that comes out.

I'm going to be first in line to watch that in the cinemas, man. I think that's going to be a good one. Yeah. I actually saw, I watched the blurry leak video as well. Yeah, I did as well. Yeah.

You like couldn't see anything. You're really at the squint. You were looking at, I don't know what I'm looking at, but I guess it's Spider-Man, so I'm excited. Exactly, exactly. Even the blurry video got me excited anyway and when i actually got to see it uh yesterday yeah super pumped for that um i've watched the the low-key um it's weird

actually i haven't gotten into the um wandavision in the same way like a lot of people have told me you kind of have to push past the first couple episodes. Exactly. And I've struggled to, I have to say I've struggled to, but I'm definitely going to, I know, I know I am. As soon as I sit down and go for it properly,

I'll go, I'll go for it all. But yeah, no, I'm enjoying the, the series that they've been putting out. I'm even the Falcon. I think they've done really well with it.

It's just having series that have that movie quality is, is amazing absolutely so yeah no i'm enjoying what they've been doing and what about on the dc squad uh side have you seen suicide squad or anything over there i actually haven't watched i've got mixed reviews from the suicide squad so i haven't been rushed to to go and go and see it some people are like they actually blew the first one away it's amazing some people didn't like it um i'm again there's another one i'm definitely gonna go and see but for me it's weird dc always not always they they seem to let me down a lot when it comes to the the films um but their animations and the the series the series for me smash it they like their story I don't know why they don't just

copy some of that stuff because it's just their animated series are so epic and then again when it gets to the movie side I feel like they haven't quite done well with actually crossing crossing over into the movies and again they're a bit inconsistent they're having to redo so many films and it kind of shows um unlike the marvel the marvel side they're a lot more consistent but um yeah i'm definitely gonna go watch it listen you're preaching to the choir i'm such a huge batman fan and the dc animated batman stuff is amazing like it couldn't be any better i love it i assume it all and then like we've got the upcoming batman movie and I'm kind of going into it like, man,

I really hope it's great, but I don't know. Like I, the last one was, I didn't love the justice league, the Snyder cut, all that nonsense. Like I didn't like any of that. So I am going in skeptical. I think you and me are on the same wavelength when it comes to the comic book movies. Yeah. A hundred percent. And to be fair, I'm, I'm, I'm not a massive, uh, Ben Affleck, Batman fan, to be fair. Yeah. I'm hoping they change it.

They change and update the Batman and hopefully get someone that doesn't look like Levin Pattinson. Well, it's going to be Robert Pattinson this time. Did you know that? Oh, no, I didn't even know. Okay. Yeah, he's the next Batman. Okay. That sounds better, to be fair.

I'm hoping he lives up to it. Yeah, I think he will. Listen, Pattinson, that's a pretty good nickname for him. True. Yeah. All right, Michael Venepage, thank you so much for the time. I'm really looking forward to the fight October 1st. I'm rooting for you.

I'll be not in the UK, but I'll be at home, you know, with the Union Jack around me acting like I'm a Brit for it. Thank you so much, man. Much appreciated. Much appreciated.