My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 191 - MATT CARDONA/X-PAC

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

Matt Cardona and X-Pac join Robbie in the Basement to discuss their upcoming match against one another, Matt winning the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, Sean's WWF tryout match, and more! NEW SHIRTS: https://store.barstoolsports.com/products/ff-24-tee 3Chi: Use promo code BASEMENT at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.com HelloFresh: Use promo code 16robbie at HelloFresh.com/16robbie **************************************** 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 3Chi and Barstool Sports. I'm your host, Robbie Fox. And today I've got a wrestling edition of the show for you and a really great wrestling show for you. First up, we've got Matt Cardona, the king of the death match, the million dollar broski, the Michael Jordan of action figure collecting, whatever you want to call him.

He calls himself the people's champion now. Now he is the NWA world's heavyweight champion. I had him join the show to talk about that and even his feud with X-Pac and Joey Janela in GCW. To get a response, I also brought X-Pac on the show ahead of his first match. And I think about three years back, it's with GCW. It's going to be GCW Heartbreak tomorrow if you're listening to this on release day. Before we get into the podcast, let me remind everybody about 3C, our presenting sponsor. They are the industry leader in Delta 8 THC products.

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this stuff. Use it responsibly. It will give you a buzz. It will make you high. Again, the promo code is BASEMENT. Now let's get into this first interview with Matt Cardona. Hello and welcome to my mom's basement, ladies and gentlemen. It is Robbie Fox, and I am here with the NWA world's heavyweight champion, Matt Cardona. The last time I interviewed the NWA world's heavyweight champion, a different man held that title, a man by the name of Trevor Murdoch. You just beat him at nwa power trip i want to know after the entire feud after the match what did you think of working with him talk to me about winning that prestigious title let me ask you a couple questions first when you

interviewed trevor did he have a nice backdrop like this was a very professional looking i i hate to uh speak badly on an interviewee but he did not have a nice backdrop like that no i think a ceiling fan was in the background. Was he cutting in and out? Was the service good? The service was okay. It was okay. Yeah? Okay.

Listen, all jokes aside, Trevor is a hell of a competitor. If you saw the match, you'll see that he gets busted open very, very early, and he did not quit. He did not give up. He kept fighting.

But I'm always ready, and I would not quit he did not give up he kept fighting but uh i'm always ready and i would not stop i kept beating him up hit him with that radio silence one two three and i am the new nwa world's heavyweight champion um it was an incredible night incredible moment in my career in my life to finally after 19 years in the business become a world champion not just a world champion the nwa world's heavyweight champion uh the the lineage the the the the tradition the history it's all there um so to be a part of that it's an honor um the boys in the back were not happy there were no pat in the backs afterwards there were no high fives no congrats uh they kind of just clear it out um that's unfortunate but this is uh

show business not show friends yeah speaking of one of the people in the back what's it like working with billy corden as a kid of the late 80s, early 90s, who probably grew up with him just as the Smashing Pumpkins guy. Now he's actually running the NWA. What's that like? Yeah. You know, I definitely was an MTV kid. Of course, Smashing Pumpkins fans saw the music videos, stuff like that. I grew up on that.

So to be, you know, discussing the future of the company with him, the plans for the future, it's pretty surreal. Billy is super passionate about wrestling, passionate about the nwa and so am i i'm not this invader i'm not this outsider i'm not trying to kill the nw i'm trying to save it so i think billy appreciates that what are the goals for you as nwa champion and also like you're in so many different companies at this point you're an impact gcw nwa do you have different goals for different companies or is it kind of just an overall i'm thinking of my roles as matt cardona i have three goals buzz money and gold create as much buzz as possible get as much money as possible and win as many championships as possible. My goals for this title. Listen, Trevor was a great champion, right?

Did he go anywhere besides the NWA? Did he wrestle anywhere else? Did he bring that title anywhere else? Did he have a podcast where the title will be in the backdrop? At all times every week? No, he did it. And that's fine. But the NWA needs a world champion like me,

someone who's going to bring the title everywhere, literally everywhere. Every weekend I'm on the road, whether it be wrestling shows, conventions, signings, and I'll always have that title. You know, a little kid will get to meet me and hold the 10 pounds of gold, you know? Like, and he's going to tweet that.

Or his dad's going to tweet it, or his mom's going to tweet it. Or I'm going to walk out GCW LA this Friday night wearing the GCW World Heavy title. So I'm going to put more eyes on this title. I think Billy knows that. And I think that's why he's happy I'm the champion. He might not be happy with the way I won it.

But like I said, there was no collusion. I didn't cheat. I beat Trevor Murdoch fair and square. Is it different working in front of, say, a GCW audience and an NWA audience? Do you have to work different styles? I have my style. Some people like me. Some people hate me.

I have not turned heel. As the Internet likes to say, I'm a baby face. I'm a white meat baby face. But now, thanks to the stuff I did in the GCW. The people don't like me and it's starting to spread. It's a snowball effect. For a while, I'd walk out through a curtain at indie show, be like 50, 50. Are they going to boo me tonight? Shoot me tonight? It was kind of fun. But now I would say 99% of the time, straight up booze,

middle fingers in my face, little kids shoving their middle fingers in my face. It's disgusting. Last week at impact, there was a little kid I saw front row. I had the impact digital media world championship. Just for my match celebrated, hugged him. He bit me. Oh no.

He bit me right here in the arm. He bit me. Like, are you serious, bro? I'm giving you a hug, giving you your moment. Right. And he bit me. What if it was self-defense? He thought you were trying to smother him. No, it's not trying to smother. I'm just trying to celebrate with the people. I am the new people's champion. I am the new people's champion. Well, yeah, you could be in, in, in some people's minds, I would say they would,

they would say, yeah, I think fans of your podcast would call you the people's champion i mean they would call me a lot of things the michael jordan of recipe collecting the thousand dollar broski stuff like that yeah you said in the build to your match with trevor murdoch that when you first got to the wwe he kind of treated you like shit you told busted open radio that he did treat me like shit who were the people in the wwe that were the opposite that didn't treat you like shit that treated you and the other rookies really well when you first got it to the company guys like john morrison yeah guys like the mist who at the time was kicked out of the locker room by guys like jeff murdoch and now look at him multi-millionaire superstar

multi-time wwe world champion has his own reality show je Trevor Murdoch lost to me a couple weeks ago he's nothing right now I haven't seen Trevor on social media since I beat him is he alive is he okay I can't confirm I don't know right do you even follow him on social media I I do follow him he does not have a check mark he's not verified that's disgusting it's 2022 yeah i mean local weathermen have check marks you know he was the nwa world's heavy champion with that check mark think about that yeah i think every minor league baseball player on twitter has a check mark yeah my dog has more followers than trevor murdoch you got a cute dog though two cute dogs yeah that's right. I know you

mentioned as speaking of, speaking of getting kicked out of the locker room, I know that you mentioned that you would have gotten kicked out of the locker room maybe 10 years ago, if you mentioned collecting action figures to the undertaker, Mr. Kennedy, you said, when do you think the change happened where the locker room and the quote unquote, the boys got more accepting of that and just everything in general and got less kind of up their own asses. I would say around 2009, 2010 ish. Listen, I don't blame guys like the undertaker and JBL for not getting it.

Okay. They might get it now, but 10 years ago, 15 years ago, they didn't get, I understand why they didn't grow up on Saturday morning I understand why. They didn't grow up on Saturday Morning Superstars. They didn't grow up with the Wrestling Buddies, the ice cream bars, chasing the ice cream man, that ice cream bar. They didn't grow up on that. I get it. I don't, I'm not, you know, I'm not bitter about it.

I don't hold any resentment towards them about it. I get it. But as the locker room started getting younger and younger, it became more acceptable because the locker room was changing. Culture was changing for the the better i think you know years ago you were a nerd if you collected comic books now look there's these marvel movies the highest grossing movies of all time yeah right so we're trying to break that stigma with wrestling and wrestling figures uh specifically like why should you be embarrassed

to collect an action figure if it's now cool to collect a comic book it should be cool to collect the action figure my opinion i agree look at the shelf behind me i got a ton of them up there i don't quite see any uh matt cardone or zach rider items up there there it's behind behind this shelf you can't see it it's back there you can go to MajorPodMerch.com and pick up the new Major Bendy's. One of the Bendy's, yeah. I do everything. I'm a podcaster. I'm a world champion.

I'm also a toy designer. This is my own toy line, Major Bendy's. I'm kind of a businessman. You're licensing out other people. I know that there's other Bendy's. Dan Housen has a Bendy, right? There's a bunch of them. That's right.

That's right. Speaking of the wwe it's rumored right now that a good friend of yours cody rhodes may be headed back to the wwe after a few years in aew moving around the independence if those rumors are true what would you think of that decision if it makes him happy that's all that matters right i mean cody's a great friend of mine uh i do not know what's going on uh everybody's trying to speculate and i'm definitely not going to ask him because i don't want to know i don't want to know let's let's let this play out uh i'm also a wrestling fan at heart so as a wrestling fan it'd be cool to see right but if he you know

wherever he ends up it's gonna be cool to see that's what's so great about this and if he goes back to aw and this is all big work that's fun. So I'm just along for the ride when it comes to that. Could you see yourself possibly following a similar route to Cody in the next few years or no? Do you think you're going to go independent for the rest of your career? Listen, my goal right now is not, oh man, what do I got to do to get back to WWE or to get to AEW? No, not at all. I love what I'm doing right now. You know, 10 years ago with my YouTube show, I think I proved, no, I know that I proved that via hard work, the internet, social

media, whatever, that you can change your position in a major company. I proved that 10 years ago. And I opened up before there was a forbidden door. I opened up that door for so many people to create their own opportunities. Now, 10 years later, I want to prove that you don't necessarily need AEW or WWE to be a successful pro wrestler. Um, if one of those companies called me, of course I would listen. Of course I would have a conversation, but that is not my goal to go back. Uh, I told you my goal. I have three goals. Do you remember what they are? It was buzz gold and money.

I did it in the wrong order. Sorry. Yeah. Wrong order. That t-shirt's available on prowrestlingtees.com slash Matt Cardona if you want to wear it so you can always remember. Did you know I was one of the first designers on Pro Wrestling Tees when I was in high school? It's a little fun fact about me. Yeah. I used to do Pat Buck's designs, friend of yours.

Oh, really? I used to design his gear, yeah. Wow. Are you still designing gear or no? Nah, I gave that up. I just do the interviews now. Gave that up? Yeah. Okay.

That's cool. Too much work. I was just trying to get my foot in the door, you know? Well, there you go. In GCW right now, speaking of New Jersey promotions companies, GCW, you've got a feud with not only Joey Janela, but now X-Pac. I'm going to have X-Pac on my show tomorrow. Is there anything you would like me to say to him

is there any questions you would like for him say this suck it i'm not gonna say that to xbox me we'll say that i said it all right i don't have two words for you suck it all right i'll tell him that i'll tell him that did you ever get uh detention or in trouble for school for doing the crotch chop i did myself i did not uh obviously it was not allowed you were not allowed to wear that dx shirt to school yeah it's funny because that's like the attitude era was you know looking back it's one of the most iconic eras if not the most iconic era in wrestling history but to me i didn't particularly enjoy it in the sense that i was this wrestling fan for so long and nobody gave a shit and now all these guys i call them 98ers you know coming in wearing the

wolf pack nwo the dx austin 16 and then a year later wasn't cool again like what about what about before what about after i saw i was kind of a wrestling hitter at that time yeah i just i didn't like the people were just jumping on the bandwagon, and then they jumped off. Yeah, that's tough. Would you call me a 98er because I was born a 98er? No. I guess you could be a 98er. I kind of like that.

It has a good ring to it. You missed all that live. You missed all that live. I had to go back and rewatch it. Is it the same going back and watching it? Is it the same, though? It's tough because you go – No, it's not the same because you go back

and you rewatch it through the documentaries first. And then like when the network came out, I went back and really rewatched all of raw and like, not all of it holds up as well as it does on the documentaries, you know? Yeah. But like, it's all, it's more than just the actual shows. It was like, I said, like imagine going into a mall where you couldn't get a piece of wrestling merchandise. And then all of a sudden there's these like bootleg shirts or somewhere licensed and like not ones you would get on you

know at the souvenir uh stands or the magazines or the catalogs it's like it was wrestling was everywhere uh you know you're the kids in school were in the wrestling it was just like it happened so fast the south park signs in the crowd right such a great part of the attitude era right there were so many years of nobody watching it and then it just boom it just exploded speaking of the attitude era there's also rumors that stone cold steve austin might be coming back to wrestling for another match there the rumor is that it might be with kevin owens what are your thoughts on stone cold coming out of retirement his last match was 19 years ago, I believe, at WrestleMania 19. It's crazy.

I mean, I guess I always hoped it would happen. Just, you know, one last stunner, you know? And if he does come back, I wonder, is he going to wear the trunks? Or is he going to be some sort of street gear? I do follow him on Instagram. I saw he's got, you know, he's really dialing in with his meal prep. So it makes me think he could be lacing up those boots one more time. If he comes back, I think he's got to wear the trunks, right?

He's got to. He's got to. He's going to look fucking great. I can just tell. He comes down in Dallas with the vest and the trunks back on in 2022. That's like, holy fuck. I can't believe what world we're living in right now um here's a really important question this is a serious one what do you think wrestling fans were more shocked

by the ending of the undertaker streak or the ending of your podcast streak recently coming to an end because you missed one in paris well technically uh i did the opening so I was on the podcast on a technicality I guess that's right that's like the undertaker went in via dq at Wrestlemania 9 uh I was there for that that streak ending um it was shocking it was one of those things you thought would never happen look at Brock is indestructible right so I guess I guess if anyone's going to end the streak, I guess it's fitting that it's him. I mean, the fan of me wishes it was never ended, but it was. So, you know, what are we going to do?

Yeah. And sit here and complain about it. Not me. Flipping over to the nerdy side of this podcast, my mom's basement. We talk about a lot of nerdy things. I've got the phone. Is this really your mom's basement? No, this is my apartment, but I mean, K-Fade, come on. This is my mom's basement flipping over to the nerdy side. I know Ghostbusters is near and dear to your heart. And I wanted to know what you thought about Ghostbusters afterlife.

I was a fan, but I didn't grow up with Ghostbusters in the same way that you did. I liked it. I liked it a lot. Did I love it? I don't know. I'm not like, I've only seen the one time. I liked it a lot. Did I love it? I don't know. I'm not like, I've only seen it the one time. So opening night, I enjoyed it. I thought it paid, you know, respect and tribute to the original franchise and also created a, you know, set up possible movies, possible new era of Ghostbusters. So I think it did its part. Do you like reboots in general general like the culture of reboots in the sense like if if it's just like a straight up like re-release like remake no but if this is like a continuation of the original then i dig it yeah is there anything else made it true no it's yeah it's like Star Wars. Yeah. I'm a huge Star Wars guy. Yeah. Yeah. So like to get episode seven, it was like mind blowing. We didn't think we'd ever get that. And now look, we have goddamn TV shows.

Yeah. Is there anything else from your childhood that you would like to see rebooted in the similar way that Ghostbusters was and in that it's a continuation or just bringing it back into the pop culture limelight? There's one of my favorite movies of all time it's called the monster squad gets no love uh came out in the 80s uh it's about a group of kids who are a monster squad and they hunt down the monsters who are coming uh and i loved it i thought it was so cool and even now watching it back i think it really holds up um i would love for them to do a sequel where like their kids are the new monster squad kind of deal i would not want like a a remake if that makes sense

yeah i'd want you don't like the straight remakes you like let's consider the original canon still and just like work from it yeah right exactly i like that are you excited for the new seth rogan ninja turtles movie i know you're also a big turtles fan no i'm not you're not why not it's a i'm not a big animation guy it's animated yeah it's animated i'm not i'm not why not you just can't get into it where you you were obviously cartoons as a kid yeah but i just can't really get it? You were obviously into cartoons as a kid. Yeah, but I just can't really get it. I would love a nice live-action Turtles

with the Jim Henson suits. Not the CGI Michael Bay ones. You don't like the Seamus ones? I did not enjoy those movies one bit. Yeah, they were tough. I'm not a CGI fan when things could be done. Listen, some things need to be done in CGI i get it they proved in 1990

you can make these realistic looking turtles yeah and that was 1990 it still holds up you're telling me in 2022 they can't figure it out give me a break are you a turtles and time guy do you like that movie the third one yeah no i don't like it but i consider it part of the the franchise for sure yeah of course of course i was just making sure i love secret of the ooze but turtle the third one yeah like if neca for instance makes the third movie into figures i'll have to buy it but if they make start making some of these cartoons and reboots then i won't do it are you when it comes to figures you're a completionist is that the the term you have to have the entire set no no well it depends what it is um it in regards to ghostbusters or turtles or star wars no because it's just too

many even the current wrestling products it's way too many but if it's like a particular line like the w hasbro line that was around in the early to mid 90eties. Yes. I have everything. I, including the Greg, the hammer Valentine rhythm and blues, Holy grail spectacular. Is there anything, is there anything other than that, that you would consider a Holy grail at this point? You know, there's been rumors that there was a, it's not rumors. It was supposed to happen. There's going to be a final set that never came out.

It was supposed to have diesel Jeff Jarrett men on a mission. I was able to track down the drawing for diesel because back in the day, it wasn't done on computers. It was hand drawn. Oh yeah. You know, I, I got the drawing and I was able to get the, the, the sculpted molded head. So I wonder if there's a fully painted prototype out there, uh, that would be my Holy grail, but I don't even know if it exists. Do you have,

do you think you have like the largest wwf hasbro collection in the world um maybe not in terms of like duplicates but you have all of them correct yeah i yeah i have all of them i have them all out of the package i have them all in the package and then i have some of the prototypes i'd say i'm definitely top five for sure were you into the 90s superhero shows at all that's kind of aside from wrestling you were never into the x-men shows never into the spider-man shows really a super never really a superhero person like i read the comics i shouldn't even say read the comics i had comic books yeah but i listen i'll see a cool marvel

movie i saw the latest spider-man i dig it but i'm not really into it not really my thing all right fair enough you got enough things on your plate where you like enough things yeah i'm a busy man too much for the brain to handle i know you also do a disney podcast with chelsea and i wanted to ask you did you see that that that one uh it's on a hiatus all right fair enough but you're a disney expert disney connoisseur i would say did you see dave portnoy from barstool sports went to disney with the intention of going to star wars land big star wars guy and he just went on star tours he thought that was star wars land and he left he was actually not even on star tours the picture he posted was in front of the launch bay

where you yeah darth vader yeah well he went on star tours and he texted me he said i just went on rise of the resistance it was the greatest ride of all time and he thought star tours was that he thought yeah so we're actually going back now because he missed out on it i've never been myself so i was like oh my god i would love to go i'm a big star wars nerd so i was like can we go back he said yes what are the disney musts and also is it possible to just miss star wars land if you go with the intention of seeing it absolutely it is actually yes it's hidden you would say that like he was right in missing it or not right in missing it but it was understandable understand i could understand yeah because it doesn't say welcome to galaxy's edge welcome to star wars land you would imagine they want to

put it out there like that No because it's the way it is It's like you have to go through this little like Tunnel where they want it to seem Like it's not part of the theme park They want it to seem like you're in Batuu which is the planet you're on You know Especially and it doesn't quite make sense

Because you see The Star Tours the ride he went on And there's the big AT-AT There's a big setup the ewok village all right this is it yeah it looks pretty cool and i i actually love star tours it's you know it's dated in the sense that it's been around since i think like in the late 80s they they've updated the they've updated the video and stuff like that it's a really good ride um galaxy's edge there's two attractions in there. One is Rise of the Resistance, which I think is the absolute best.

The other one is called Smuggler's Run. And you're inside the Millennium Falcon. Yeah. I think that ride sucks. Oh, really? Horrible. It just broke my heart. Sucks.

I think the queue, as they call it, the line, is really cool. I think, obviously, walking up, seeing the Millennium Falcon is cool. You actually get to stand in it. That's fucking cool. You sit in the cockpit. That's fucking cool. And then the ride starts. It's like a bad wrestling match.

You get the buildup, the hype, and then the bell rings. It's one of those. In my opinion, I don't like it. I prefer Star Tours over Smuggler's Run any day of the week every time i'll go to hollywood studios i would say 10 out of 10 times i would do star tours i would only do smugglers run if there was like a zero minute wait or someone i was with hadn't done it before that's how much i don't like it what are your disney months what are your things where you're like oh my god if you're going for the first time you got to do this or you got to try this.

It's a loaded question. I mean, how long are you going for? Let's say I'm going for two or three days. Okay. Well there's four parks there. There's this, the magic kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood studios, uh, animal kingdom and animal kingdom. You got to do the, uh, the Pandora, like the, the, the avatar ride. Oh yeah. One of them sucks, but I wouldn't say sucks. One of them is like a little like slow boat ride.

And one is you're on the back of a Banshee. It's pretty incredible. You got to do that. Hollywood Studios, I would recommend Tower of Terror as a must do for the rise of the resistance. Is Tower of Terror not there anymore, though? Aren't they replacing it with like Guardians of the Galaxy ride? that's that's uh that's disneyland oh gotcha land california um magic kingdom listen magic kingdom is great in the sense that i feel like if you grew up going to those parks it's a very nostalgic park but if you go do rise of resistance and then go do this uh avatar

ride and then you go and you ride parts of the Caribbean for the first time, like what the fuck is this? You know what I'm saying? It's like, it doesn't really hold up. Uh, you know, space mountains, a must do, but even so it's not like this intense coaster. It was in the seventies when they built it, you know? Um, and then Epcot has some cool stuff. I don't know if you're a big consumer of alcohol but you can go around the world and drink from every country yep i think that's a must do

what's the best country is there is there like one uh one alcohol that's the best oh i mean i love the tequila in uh mexico for sure there you go yeah there's a nice little tequila bar there like cavendale tequila uh oh beautiful all right those are some good like disney things i'm gonna try to hit those i saw dave i i don't know how close you are with him but i saw him posting all these pictures i'm like you're doing it all wrong yeah i would have given him some advice yeah we're gonna need we're gonna need you to give some advice tell him if you need me to come along and be the the tour guide because i know the vip tour guide's a couple thousand bucks i'll do it for free oh that that might be the way to do it i don't have the fp tour guide yeah i mean maybe buy my drinks and my food yeah you know i wouldn't be free not free

free i'm not how much that dude's worth here yeah it's on his tab trust me yeah oh yeah yeah and he doesn't even have to buy me tickets because i'm an annual pass holder and and fuck yeah make sure he knows about the reservations this time he almost didn't get in i know yeah he didn't yeah that was a whole thing he had to be able disney is harder than it seems i think you're a disney guy i think the outside disney people it's complicated yeah it's complicated for sure all right matt i really appreciate the time i appreciate you joining the show today to talk about the nwa talk about things even outside of the nwa and i'm looking forward to your future in 2022 i think you're gonna have an even bigger year than last year and that's saying a lot i mean i agree it's only february and the crockett cup coming up nick aldis this guy like oh my god he he just the

jealousy just like oozes out of his pores it's unbelievable it's like i've never met somebody more jealous in my life as soon as i win the title i can't even celebrate my good friend vsk comes all the way from long island mike knox chelsea green we're trying to celebrate out comes nick aldis in his suit that he probably got a coles or something like that right he tries to be oh i got my suit of clothes nothing wrong with that nothing wrong with that he claims he's the real world champion getting suits at Kohl's. Comes out there, talks his big game. You know, he challenges me for the title. My question is, why didn't he use his rematch against Trevor?

My question is, are you not a Kohl's cash guy? I don't even know what Kohl's cash is. So the answer is no. The answer is no. But Nick chose me because he understands his business he knows that people will know who nick aldis is if he wrestles me if if my name is next to him on the marquee on the graphic you know on the on the poster so i get it i get what he's trying to do he's trying to capitalize off my buzz right he's listening to my three commandments right my three goals buzz money

gold he's trying to get he's trying to get buzz and he will and i'm sure billy's gonna pay him well he'll get money but he's not gonna get the gold sorry nick damn we're gonna have to tune in to find out sorry nick i'm gonna speak with nick soon and i'm gonna have to relay some of those messages as well you can tell them everything I said. All right. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to spark the fire. I wonder what his backdrop looks like.

He probably has a nice one. He probably has some like mahogany wood behind them or something. It's probably all pictures of him because he is an egomaniac. He might be one of those green screen background guys that has like a fake fireplace behind him. Or just like a fake like wall of a collage of him or something maybe yeah well i mean your background is kind of a collage of you in a way right what are you talking about i have some some you know the major pod title over

there the nwa title i have some action figures you know a lot of stuff with you on it yeah this is called promotion it's all something that's for sale it's been for sales promotion baby there's a difference and matt you are the best at promotion so like i said i appreciate the time i will uh catch you on the flip side all right see you later dude all right i appreciate matt cardona for joining the show he mentioned that stone cold is really zoning in on his meal prep. If you want to zone in on your meal prep, why don't you get some HelloFresh? With them, you get farm fresh, pre-portioned ingredients, and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Skip those trips to the grocery store.

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16 Robbie for up to 16 free meals and three free gifts. Again, HelloFresh.com slash 16 Robbie and use that promo code 16 Robbie, you're going to get 16 free meals. That is a deal that you won't get anywhere else but HelloFresh, America's number one meal kit. Now let's get into this interview with Sean Waltman, aka X-Pac, aka the 123 kid, aka a WWE Hall of Famer. Hello and welcome back to my mom's basement ladies and gentlemen it is robbie fox and i am here with sean waltman xbox the one two three kid whatever you want to call him i'll call him a legend is what i'll call him and we are here ahead of his first match in what's it going to be three years almost four years i think it was april 2019 i looked up match and it's w heartbreak and it's going to be in LA you and Joey

Janela versus the major players yeah Matt Cardona and Brian Myers yeah man Robbie Matt Cardona's tearing it up man like I go he's an asshole or whatever but like I got to give him the utmost credit man like he came out of WWE and just

just started killing it man and just collecting belts. Anyways, yeah. So, I mean, honestly, I'm really happy these are my first opponents. You know, I spoke with Matt Cardona yesterday, actually, and I asked him for a comment. I said, I'm going to be speaking with your opponent later in the week. Can you give me a comment? And he actually did.

So I'm going to play it for you on the mic and I'll give can't wait to hear this i'm going to have xbox on my show tomorrow is there anything you would like me to say to him is there any questions you would like for him suck it i'm not going to say that to xbox well me we'll say that i said it all right two words for you suck it all right he didn't want to break out any of his good stuff huh no no good material he just took yours i think yeah well from fan of yours to foe unbelievable journey both of these major players have taken right like two years like two no last year at wrestle con he's like oh my best friend here please sign my uh one two three kid hasbro and like you know it was cool you know it's it's nice when people are like that

with you and then as soon as i as soon as i announced on the bump that i was making my comeback and i got cleared he started healing the fuck out of me man yeah and then you came back at the harristein ballroom it was what a moment that was gcw let me ask you this you looked so fluid in the ring with that keg with the moves were you worried you were going to rip those jeans those jeans look pretty tight okay they were and here's the thing man like they're they're made of a stretchy material so they look like old school like acid wash jeans, but I could, yeah, I could kick just fine.

I could probably kick easier nose than in my new gear that I just had made. Oh, really? Yeah. The problem was this, Robbie. I don't know if you remember, but like as soon as Cardona got the win and the people, like they promised they were going to riot, and they started to. And there was shit in the ring.

There was not actual shit, but, you know, man, there was beer, cups ring there was not actual shit but you know man there was beer cups it was like a slip and slide in there like i mean i i thought i was gonna i thought i was gonna eat shit before i even got my first kick in were you worried like when you come out and the place is going wild are you looking at the ring and seeing all the garbage like oh what was what happens man like because you know how good it went right but if i would have slipped and fell that would have been a laughable moment it would have just fucked everything that would have been brutal that would have been really what was like the most pressure you ever felt to perform man that's a good question because

i think when i was younger i think when i was young okay i think when I was young, okay, I'm going to tell you, I, I can, I can actually answer that with pinpoint accuracy. Now just, I took me a second to think it was my, it was my tryout match when I first came to WWF in 1993. And I was at a match with Luis Piccoli. I had another one with him the next night. It was in Phoenix, Arizona, and Tucson. And, man, I mean, there was so much on the line, Robbie.

Yeah. You know? And I was so fortunate to have Luis as my opponent. And he gave me a hell of a match. And I did everything I could think of to try to get that job. And luckily, it worked. Do you remember, like, the moment where they were like, yeah, you got it?

Yeah, well, see, I remember camping outside of Vince's dressing room after the match, waiting just to get even just an eye contact or a thumbs up. And Kurt Hennig walks by me. The coolest thing

was after my match, Brett Hart came up to me. We didn't really, we didn't know each other. I met Owen a little bit, but he came up and he was like, man, I'm really a fan of your work,

man. That was really good. That was a, that was huge for me. And cause he, he's one of my biggest influences. And then, so Kurt Henning and I knew Kurt from, from Minnesota. And cause he, he's one of my biggest influences. And then, so Kurt Hennigan, I knew Kurt from, from Minnesota and Kurt walks up to me, he goes, so you want a job? You want the job here?

And I'm like, well, yeah. And he goes, okay, one second. He walks into Vince's room and then he walks back out. I don't know if he actually even said anything about me, but Vince finally comes out and he comes up to me and thanks me or whatever so that's kind of how that went but it took like about five it's probably about a month i got a phone call from vince and pat they laid the whole thing out to me robbie the whole one two three k razor razor ramon like storyline repped yeah man wow yeah that's unbelievable i think i told you this and maybe our first interview and this might have been four or five years ago at this point but one of those matches i think it was the

the ten thousand dollar match was on the wwf's most unusual vhs tape and that was my first introduction to wrestling ever it was really match it was a lumberjack match it was uh brett and sean in a ladder match yeah it was fantastic but man i watched that one two three kid razor ramon match a hundred times as a kid yeah man i almost died well i don't know about almost died but man i got messed up pretty bad in that one yeah did they show it on that on the vhs when i took the when i fell on my face yeah yeah that was on the vhs burned into my memory forever scott also dumped me pretty hard on a choke slam real early in the match were you guys close at that point or no you guys were

just becoming acquainted we weren't close because we just we didn't know each other that well but he was already like very like uh you know nurturing and took me under his wing and tried to be you know just he was so good about that, you know, cause Kurt Henning was like that with him. And, and, and, you know, Scott's always been really good about that. You know, about that as well. Like, obviously you probably saw the clip of Dax coming out this week and saying that you were very nice to him at raw 25 and stuff.

There's been other wrestlers throughout the industry. I wanted to ask you what advice would you give to newer wrestlers coming up through the business when it comes to the outside of the ring stuff when it comes to the politics and the backstage stuff what would you say to someone to navigate their way through that i would i would say do the exact opposite of the shit that i did, you know, because I, here's the thing, Robbie, I was so young, you know, and to be all of a sudden in the WWE locker room, WWF locker room with all these big old grown ass fucking men that are just big bad asses and, you know, so much older than me, most of them, it was almost like, all of a a sudden now they have this kid they got to raise in the locker room right like it wasn't their responsibility or anything but like anyways it was so important for me to to fit in and be accepted that i just did stupid

shit you know um and i didn't have to do that you know i i really didn't and i just i i would hope that you know you know, I think the substance stuff had a lot to do with it, you know, just get messed up, you know, and all that. I just, just be you, man. Like, don't worry about impressing people or, I don't know, that sounds kind of cliche, man. Honestly, it's tough.

It's tough to navigate though, because there's, it's, it's important to fit in, but it's how, you know, it's just, man, it's so tough. Like people say, Oh, I don't do politics. Well, you kind of have to a little bit. You don't have to do dirty politics, you know man it's yeah it's really tough it's easier for me to tell guys like how to you know uh things about like the inside the ring stuff yeah you know you guys like for me it's like my thing to everyone is like you got to be different you got to stand out like for instance nowadays, like being great in the ring,

you don't stand out being great in the ring anymore because everyone's great. Like the bar is set to where like just minimum you're great in the ring. Right. So yeah, you got to have other shit going. Like you could be like a little bit less than great, but if you, if you got all the other stuff going on, that a lot of other guys these days are missing man that'll that'll make you the star who are the ones for you that are doing it right nowadays that have that other stuff that you really enjoy watching um wow you know what there's this kid that i saw uh and you know like last time i zombie tried a little too hard to impress me, I think.

Or just, like, maybe. I don't know if it was me, but there's this kid. He's from Vegas. His name is JV Dow. He's a real pretty kid, man. Like, I don't know if you've ever seen him. I think I have on Twitter, yeah. Yeah, but, like, he's very, like very kind of exotic.

He really stands out. He might not be the absolute best guy in the ring on the show, but there's something just special about the guy. And that's a guy, really, I don't think a lot of people have heard of. Yeah, no, that's a great shout. Yeah, everyone go check him out. Someone that I would bring up as someone that's very creative in the pro wrestling business is actually your partner in this tag match joey janela you guys go way back right you guys have known each other for a really long time am i right yeah and joey's brilliant yeah you know um and like for him i think like up in like

recently in the last year or so man i've I've seen him, man. He's put, he's taking it to a different level for himself. Like he's leveled up. He's he's, he was always very brilliant and coming up with cool shit and be willing to do some crazy shit. Right. To get attention. He's going to take a ridiculous bump. Yeah. Yeah. But now like he's worked on his body. He looks more, he looks more of the part and like,

he's more aggressive in there. And his matches are even better now. So huge amount of respect for him. We're not fully compatible, but you don't have to be, man. Kane and I weren't. Yeah, yeah. Shout out Jared Karabasas our pal heartbroken forever over that breakup he's still hot right yeah still hot over it he can't run up in front of him it'll

ruin his night it's amazing to me robbie it's amazing to me that like there's still legit feelings surrounding that with people still mad at me like knowing full well it's a show but still they're scarred from it, man. He tells that story to future candidates for his girlfriend, and he's like, just so you know, this is when I got my heart broken. I've never been the same way. You have been in front of sold-out stadiums, X-Pac. I was at WrestleMania 31 when you guys came out, and it the dx versus nwo match right in the middle of triple h versus sting there's got to be something special about coming out to a rabid smaller house

though right like if the fans are going crazy and it's that smaller punk rock field do you still love that just as much yeah it's different i mean obviously magnitude of like walking out there and there's like 80,000 or 50,000, you know, uh, people it's insane. But, uh, you know, for instance, the Ukrainian cultural center, we're going to be in on Friday holds about a thousand, something like that. And they're always, if it's, they're going to, it's going to be jam packed and the crowd, the crowd, the energy is hot. Right.

So, um, it's a different feel man it's just a different kind of intensity and you got to work to the crowd differently you know because you don't have you're not worried about the people up in the nosebleeds like you know like it's weird like you got to change your styles a little work a little differently when you're in front of the you know an intimate crowd like you're talking about or, or say the big stadium, or even the, you know, 25,000 seat arena. So. Do you enjoy working the arena crowd over working the smaller crowd? Or is there something more fun about the intimate?

I think it's more fun about the intimate stuff, but you got to pay attention to details more because the people are right there. Okay. And like, I got more comfortable working in front of the bigger crowds because it's just like a you know sometimes you can get away with doing stuff you could never get away with doing it and the you know and you look at it's like a right it's just like eventually it just becomes a big blur yeah yeah and you got like people these days that are like this close to the ring sometimes yeah exactly um i asked you before what the most pressure you ever felt to perform was and now i want to know the flip side what was the most fun you ever had performing

oh it was once we got like so we were doing DX and the heel version you know the second time around when Hunter was you know and we would have matches house show matches with like Rock and the Dudleys things like that like you know

the Rock and APA you know be like me apa and you know it'd be like me road dog and uh and hunter and man we could just do stuff we could we could cut up a little bit and get away with it you know hunter would do the spot with bait with with earl hefner he would take a bump and then we all took a bump earl you could never do that shit on tv yeah those killers i love watching them still the push against the ropes push back and stuff yeah yeah and it was just fun and the people ate it up and man you know uh so those yeah those were really cool that's awesome speaking of house show matches

i saw on twitter recently you were searching for a house show match between you and hunter hurst helmsley from 1995 from mG. What was special about that one? Okay. Do you know the story about Bill Watts coming to work for WWF when Vince wasn't sure if he was going to jail? Yes, I was at the JR live show in Jersey where you came out, and

JR was telling that story, yeah. Was that in Paramus or something? It was in the Starland Ballroom. Starland Ballroom, yeah. So, Bill watts gets hired right and okay the significance of this match is a couple things one thing was that was hunter's very first mass in square garden match and it was first me you know i you know i had a lot of guys first matches when they came to WWE, Hunter was one of them. And, uh, so we didn't do anything out of the ordinary that we did that, you know,

we just did the same type of match we did everyone else, everywhere else, but was, um, you know, we always put everything into our match, no matter, you know, we were at the garden, but nobody knew Bill watts was sitting up in the crowd watching without without people knowing so he could get an idea of who was good in his eyes or you know who he wanted to do stuff with creatively yeah and he loved our match man i mean we got over big time with bill that night that's's awesome. That's a really good story. And it was a good match too. It was a good opening

preliminary match. Not trying to go out and do everything on the book and every 20,000 balls. It was perfect for that spot on the card. And he appreciated that too. Yeah, you got to know your spot on the card. Yeah, absolutely. That's

a big part of wrestling that goes under talked about something else that goes under talked about when it comes to sean waltman xbox i think is the star wars fandom i've tweeted a couple times about star wars yeah you respond with things where i'm like damn this guy knows his shit he's a big star wars guy yeah your thermal detonator tweet yesterday oh my god yeah when did you get into star wars man it was i was like four or five and we lived up in northern minnesota and uh you know we didn't go to i don't remember i think it was like the only movie i think i ever went to when i was that age like i was running in aisles you know when the start when you know it was the it was the new hope it was the first star wars yeah and it first Star Wars. Yeah. And it was just, you know, it blows you away, man. You remember the phenomenon of it all?

Yeah. And just the Hulk. Because I was like four or five. And so, like, looking at that through the four or five-year-old's eyes, like, it was just amazing. I mean, just like when i first watched wrestling live yeah i was i was 10 and and i was still complete just i mean i fell in love with it it was just so yeah man and and and you know i told you it's not that popular uh

sentiment but i'm a fan of the prequels man i know yeah i remember you tweeting me that you said you took your kids out of school i think the day episode one came out to take them to see that and i took them out of school several times and it got to the point they both of my kids hate star wars oh oh yeah because i shoved it down their throat too much like i wanted so bad to share star wars with my kids but i like you push it on somebody too much and like you know i'd say hey you guys want to go to the movies like stay home from school they'd be like yeah and i go go see star wars and they go i couldn't be more opposite so the prequels from the first episode one two and three like you saw

them in theaters you loved them from the jump well i mean i i understood the flaws in them but like i really loved a lot of things about like you know for instance like that whole fight scene at the end with uh ray park he was amazing as darth maul so good the duel of the fates yeah that score behind it yeah yeah all of that and just also the the underlying story throughout the prequels like you know like the the false flag like yeah you know like the guy working two sides against each other just like i loved all that shit face turns heel turns i'm a fan of the prequels because obviously i'm a kid of the prequels so it felt like those were kind of made for me as i was growing up never realized that people didn't even like until i got

a little older but yeah i mean i'm not like you like i recognize the flaws i get it they're not the perfect movies but are they more fun to watch than a non-star wars movie yeah my eyes they are yeah i love it just that's what it is for me do you remember finding out like oh my god i can't believe vader is luke's father you remember seeing empire yes i but i God, I can't believe Vader is Luke's father. You remember seeing Empire? Yes. But I didn't like, I didn't go see the movie because like, you know, no one took me back at that point. But I read like the graphic novel comic book.

Yeah. So, you know, I got to see it that way. I saw Return of the Jedi before I saw Empire Strikes Back, believe it or not. Oh, really? You must be one of the only people that has that claim. Maybe. But I knew the story of Empire through the comic book. But, you know, it's just that you didn't have VHS.

There was no way for me to see it, like, after it was out of the theaters. Do you have a favorite Star Wars movie? Probably Return of the Jedi, if I have to be honest with you. Big fan of the happy ending, the big heroes win in the end. Yeah. And also, I kind of like the special editions when they took the original ones and kind of updated them. Yeah. Because some of that shit yeah yeah you're into some other quote-unquote nerdy stuff as well i remember us tweeting back

and forth about watchmen when that was on i know you're a big fan of that like other nerdy stuff there's other stuff that makes you geek out in this realm right yeah i think watchmen might be one of the greatest single seasons the television ever made. Cannot agree anymore. It was perfect from start to finish. Did you watch Peacemaker? Also, like, for what it is, especially, like, recently, like, it's one of the best. My wife loved it, too.

I played. We watched. We binged the whole thing because she didn't see the whole thing. You don't need to be a superhero fan. You don't need to be a nerd. Like, this show was phenomenal yeah i'm glad to hear you like that what are the other things like into superheroes overall you into the mcu and stuff yeah for sure well i mean i'm a little late coming getting into it though

like you know i'm a late on the mcu stuff and even later on dc man because i didn't like the uh you know i liked superman and the superman versus batman and stuff but like like that justice league that sucked until until the zach until the uh you know i'm with you the snyder cut came out i and that like that's what got me hooked a little bit on dc you like the snyder cut i did i i didn't mind them four hours like i just watched it in stages yeah i thought it was so frigging long. I was like, how could you make a four-hour movie? But it definitely improved the original.

So, I mean, I'm excited about the future. I think the new Batman movie is going to be pretty sick with Robert Pattinson and everything. And remember when the news first came out, how people were all shitting on that? Like, oh, man. Then that trailer came out and everyone changed their tune real quick as soon as they heard that nirvana kick in yeah i think back to when people said

that about heath ledger getting cast as the joker i remember so many message boards people on oh the guy from brokeback mountain's gonna play the joker and he gave one of the greatest performances we've ever seen in a movie i would say in that before yeah people same thing about kristen stewart when she got cast as princess diana people shit on her then they saw pictures and they said oh now i could see it everyone's just gotta chill let things play out before they react to it especially in wrestling yeah man um all right before i get you out of here where can people watch the return and one more question what is xbox favorite movie of all time we talked about star wars movies but if you had to pick one movie do you have one it depends man um wow hey you know man there's this movie it's it might not be my favorite but it's one that

always comes in my mind whenever i whenever somebody asks me time Time Bandits. Time Bandits? Did you ever see it? Yeah, a long time ago. I think I might have seen that from the Little Frey Library where I grew up. Yeah, what a unique pick. I love that. That's weird. No, I like it for a pick. It's not like, oh, The Godfather.

Right. Yeah, Time Bandits. I mean, I love all the normal ones that people would pick too, but just crazy shit pops into my head, you know? Oh, that's unique. People get a sense of like, where can they watch your return? Are there still tickets available? It'll be Thursday when this comes out. So it'll be tomorrow. There might be a few tickets, but they're all general mission, but I'm,

I'm assuming it's going to be sold out. And it's a double header too, man. There's a, there's another show the next night here in the same building that's probably almost sold out too which is crazy right you the vibe of gcw right now is yeah it feels like that punk rock we're on the rise we're all together the fans are in on it i feel like it's the perfect company for you to return to yeah i feel so too man i feel very comfortable, uh, and everyone's been great to me, the whole crew, man, they've been very welcoming. Uh, but you can watch it on fight TV. If you can't make it to the show, fight TV, fight TV is, is a great service, man. Yeah. So, uh, yeah,

I hope everyone tunes in, man. You know, I'll be watching, you know, I'll be cheering you and Janelle on against the major douches and I hope to get you on the show soon we'll talk star wars we'll talk other things nerdy stuff music we'll get into next time i really appreciate the time as always it's a pleasure thank you robbie thank you