My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 221 - DANA WHITE/BRYAN DANIELSON

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

Robbie is joined by both UFC President Dana White and AEW wrestler and member of the Blackpool Combat Club Bryan Danielson this week! 3Chi: Use code STOOL5 at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.com G...ametime: Download the app and use promo code MMB for $20 off your first purchase! **************************************** My Mom's Basement is a weekly podcast hosted by Robbie Fox, started in March 2019, to discuss movies, music, comic books, wrestling, mixed martial arts, and more with his friends and idols alike! Subscribe on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-moms-basement/id1457255205 Follow Robbie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatrobbiefox Follow Robbie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobbieBarstool My Mom's Basement Merchandise: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/my-moms-basementYou 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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, My Mom's Basement listeners. You can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Yeah, just stupid boys making basement noise in the basement, noise in the basement. Just stupid boys making basement noise in the basement. Yeah, yeah. Hello and welcome to My Mom's Basement presented by Barstool Sports and 3G. I am your host, Robbie Fox. And today I've got a wrestling and MMA edition of the show for you.
Starting point is 00:00:43 Kicking things off with UFC president Dana White, and then moving on to AEW superstar Brian Danielson. Should I say wrestler instead of superstar because he's with AEW instead of WWE? Probably. Let me tell you about 3G and then we can get right into the interviews. Whether you live in a state where marijuana is legal or not, 3C now offers federally legal dispensary grade Delta 9 THC products that deliver straight to your door. In case you didn't know, Delta 9 THC is the active ingredient in marijuana that gets you high, which means 3C is
Starting point is 00:01:16 selling the same edibles that you'd get from a marijuana dispensary, but at a lower price, and they deliver to your door. How is this possible? With science. 3Chi uses Delta 9 from hemp, which is the exact same as taking it from marijuana, except it makes their products federally legal. It's amazing. I stand by all of this stuff. I love their gummies, the cereal treats, the brownies, the cookies. They have so much at their website. I always say it's like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, but for 3Chi, for edibles, for Delta 9, for THC. It will give you a buzz. It will get you high. So please use it responsibly. You must be 21 or older to purchase. Get 5% off all 3Chi's premium THC products by going to 3chi.com. That's the number three, chi.com, and using the promo code STOOL5,
Starting point is 00:02:07 all caps, S-T-O-O-L-5, to take 5% off your complete order. Let's get into this interview with Dana White. Hello, and welcome back to My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox. I am here with UFC President Dana White, recapping UFC London, previewing UFC 277. We've got a lot to talk about, Dana. Let me start by just asking, how are you? I'm good. How are you, buddy? I'm doing very well. Obviously, after UFC London, I think everyone from Barstool is doing really well. And I want to start there with UFC London. What were your overall impressions of the event? Yeah, you know, the prelims weren't exactly uh a barn burner but the the main
Starting point is 00:02:48 card delivered and that's uh that's all you can hope for yeah why don't we see you there this time so the last time which was uh singapore no i went to i went to miami singapore right was my was my oldest son's birthday uh and then this It was my oldest son's birthday. And then this time it was my youngest son's birthday. So he asked me to take him to our place in Maine. So we went up there. All right. That's nice.
Starting point is 00:03:15 That's like you take off for one son's birthday. You kind of got to do it for the other son, right? Yeah, yeah. And then my daughter is coming up in August. What do we got in August? Nah, I won't miss anything for her birthday. Hers is August 27th, so we're good. And I assume you'll be at UFC 277 this weekend.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Yeah, yeah. I'm flying out there on Wednesday night, I think. All right. So talking about UFC London, let's start with the meatball, Molly McCann. Unbelievable performance. What did you make of the performance and then the celebration, jumping right into Dave's arms? Yeah. No, it was awesome, man. Yeah, it was awesome. There's just this entirely, I try to tell people there's this different vibe, man, when you're in
Starting point is 00:03:56 London or anywhere in England or Ireland. England or Ireland, the fans are absolutely awesome, man. And Scotland, too. I got to throw Scotland in there, too. And it's a very unique experience when you go to an event out there. Are those places that you'd like to get the UFC back to? Scotland, Ireland? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we want to take it all over the place. Get back, you know, like I've been telling you guys, I want to go to Africa. A lot of places we want to hit. But who knows, man? I'm seeing craziness in the news again. We'll see what happens.
Starting point is 00:04:37 Oh, geez. Is Molly McCann the greatest walking howlerhead commercial of all time. Yes, she is. Yes, she is. You know what I need to do? I just, I just need to do a deal with Molly. Yeah, you do. Yeah. You honestly do. Give her the bag. She deserves it. Um, she called out. I love the back and forth with her and the rock too. That was awesome. The people's meat bow. Come on. So awesome. International superst superstars they truly are and she called out Antonina Shevchenko and her post-fight presser do you think that's a fight that makes sense I don't know well you know uh matchmaking's today right after this uh tour
Starting point is 00:05:18 oh really we dive into matchmaking and start figuring out what's next yeah let me know if you want me to just stick around on the call. I'll help you guys out. I would love to have you in a matchmaking meeting sometime. Maybe that could be like a future thing. You're one of the very few fucking people that I like. You understand that, right? Wow.
Starting point is 00:05:36 I actually like you. I appreciate that. That's a big honor to be one of the few, yeah. On to Patty the Patty Pimlet, another guy that you like, I assume. When we talk about the fastest rising stars in ufc history people keep putting patty's name up there i mean you've got the analytics his name deserves to be in that class correct there is no doubt about it i mean i wasn't in the arena on saturday night you were that. That was some Conor McGregor shit. It was.
Starting point is 00:06:09 It was a main event feel the second he walked out. You did the main event lights like the UFC did it for him, obviously. And it felt right. It was like such a huge vibe. He said that he feels like his next fight is going to have to be in America somewhere bigger. Do you think that's the case for him? He's not wrong. He's absolutely right. Yeah, the O2 is starting to
Starting point is 00:06:26 get a little too tiny for Paddy the Batty. Crazy, three fights into his UFC career, right? We're talking like this? The O2 is never too tiny and never overplayed, man. I can't say enough about doing fights in London. And I was watching on social media, you know, Portnoy was loving London. I mean, London, from the first time I went to London to today, London is a badass city, man. Great restaurants, great shopping, unbelievable hotels. I keep trying to tell the fans, you know, you have to, if you're from any other part of the world,
Starting point is 00:07:04 you have to experience one of these events in London at the O2. It's a very, very cool experience. I agree. I've been to fights everywhere. I've been to Fight Island. I've been to Vegas, New York, London. There's no environment like London. You're saying, and it's very true, like it's my favorite fight environment that I've ever been in for sure.
Starting point is 00:07:22 And like we were saying, it's Meatball, Molly, and Patty. They're the second, fourth fight on the card. Both of them felt like main events, the pop. I mean, it almost like played out in Molly's favor that the prelims weren't as exciting as they were last time, because she was really the first big thing that everyone got to cheer for. And that place came unglued. I mean, the roof came off the place. I couldn't believe she landed another spinning back elbow. I know, right? Absolutely insane. And then in the main event, Tom Aspinall unfortunately suffered kind of a weird injury back-to-back weeks where main events have gone like this way in the first round. Have you heard
Starting point is 00:07:55 from him about his condition at all or how long he's going to be out? I have not. I don't know yet. We'll know more this week too. And I saw Curtis blade say that he doesn't want to wait around. He just wants the winner of Tevasa and gone. Do you think that makes sense for someone in his position right now? He wants the winner of, Hmm. Well, I never liked when guys say, I just want to wait around. That's that's of course. Yeah. Patented worst move of all time. Look back throughout history for guys that said, I just want to wait around and see how that plays out for you.
Starting point is 00:08:32 That story ends the same every way, every time. But, um, yeah, I could see him fighting one of them or who knows. We'll see. We'll see what happens. What are the other big, uh, Dana White pet peeves when dealing with fighters what's the other one pet peeves like someone saying i you know i want to wait around or something like that i i'm gonna wait around for this and uh i don't want to fight him he's my friend those are my my two biggest you hear someone's friendly so you're like it's just fighting who cares yeah friends yeah we're friends so speaking of aspinall and blades You hear someone's friendly, so you're like, it's just fucking fighting. Who cares? Yeah. Friends.
Starting point is 00:09:06 Yeah, we're friends. So speaking of Aspinall and Blades, heavyweight as a division is in a very interesting spot right now between some injuries, some fighters in limbo. Has there been any update on Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic since the last time we talked? If there was, I would have already said it. You know what I mean? You know me. I like to keep all this stuff quiet because most of these MMA media guys, I don't fucking trust them at all.
Starting point is 00:09:32 And yeah, what happens is a bunch of bullshit. No matter what I say to you on this interview, there'll be 15 assholes from other MMA sites. This isn't even their interview. It's your interview. And they will take bits and pieces of your interview and completely spin what was said
Starting point is 00:09:56 into something different. And yes. It's fair enough. It makes me fucking crazy. I've seen that happen before. Before we totally move past UFC London. I might do one of these. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:10 I mean, it does. Yeah, you're a polarizing guy with the MMA media. Before we totally move past. Yeah, you. Oh, it's me. Any other fighters on that card that really impressed you with the performances? I know Nathaniel Wood had a very good one as well. You know I have a fight on Saturday, right?
Starting point is 00:10:32 I know that. Are we going to talk about that fight? We are. That's my next question. Why are we in the past for like the first 20 minutes? Because you didn't do a no post-fight presser. You couldn't make your way over there for our guy, Patty the Batty.
Starting point is 00:10:46 So I got to get him some good quotes. You talking up Patty, you talking up Molly. Come on. Yeah. I mean, really, if you had to, if you had to think about the card, I mean, those two were the highlight of the card. But yes, the whole main card delivered, really did deliver. Thank God. We needed them to deliver after. of the card um but yes the whole main card delivered really did deliver thank god we needed
Starting point is 00:11:05 we needed them to deliver after and especially with the main event going down again in the first couple seconds of the fight and that might be the kiss of death i was there for long island i was there for london i might be causing these main event things yeah you're bad luck kid aspinall was landing some good shots. Blades was landing some good shots. I mean, those two were getting into it. That was heating up and starting to look like a good fight, just like the Ortega-Yair fight. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:35 And like you said, you've got fights this Saturday on UFC 277. But you've also got fights tonight. The Dana White's Contender Series is back as well. Is it coming back with fans? Are we going to have fans in the building for this? Shit, I don't even know if we're going to have fans. I don't think so. We're going to have, this fight will have, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:53 some family members and people that are, you know, associated with the teams, but not open to the public. And yes, it's season six, episode one of the Contender Series tonight on ESPN+. I'm very excited about that. You know, these fights are always insane. You've got to be stoked. Yeah. How much do you know about the fighters when they actually come in?
Starting point is 00:12:15 Nothing. You get like a rundown, you know nothing. I don't know their names. I don't know who they are. I don't know where they're from. I don't know anything. So what I like to do is I like to go in there. I sit down. There's a one sheet that tells me a little bit about them and then i watch their
Starting point is 00:12:30 feature and then i watch them fight so who is it that finds them is it the matchmakers or a totally separate team yeah sean no sean and mick put put this whole fight together and then i walk in without knowing anything or seeing any of them. I don't know whose team they're from, what camp they're out of, any of that shit. I don't want to know anything about these guys. I want to go in there with a blank canvas and have no, what's the word I'm looking for? I don't want to favor anybody. Like preconceived notions? I just want to see them fight right there.
Starting point is 00:13:06 It's literally right here, right now. I don't give a shit what you did the last four years of your career. Obviously, you're here because these guys think you're fucking good enough to possibly be here. Right here, right now, show me who you are and what you got. Is there any part of the Contender series that you actually enjoy more than like a UFC event with a sold out crowd? Just because it's such a different thing for you. I love the contender series.
Starting point is 00:13:32 We talk about it all the time. I could literally do that every Tuesday for the rest of my life. I love it. Wow. That's awesome. And it's going down tonight. Obviously. Lorenzo's coming for the first episode.
Starting point is 00:13:45 Oh, nice. Has he ever come for one of those or no? Yeah, I think he's been to one before. I get to watch him. I'd like to come to one. I've never been to the Contender Series. That's like one of the fight environments that I'm missing out on. You should do it before the end of this season. I would love to. We'll have to find a good week where I could make it out there.
Starting point is 00:14:04 Yeah, I would love that. Yeah, you should do it. All right. Now talking about this weekend, UFC 277, Juliana Pena, Amanda Nunez, too. We're talking about Nunez as the goat in the lead up to this fight, women's MMA, because that's she's earned that title at this point. Do you think if Juliana beats her in the same fashion she did the first time? We have to take that title away from her, start talking about is Juliana the goat because she did the first time. We have to take that title away from her, start talking about, is Juliana the GOAT? Because she beat the GOAT twice. It doesn't change the fact that Amanda Nunes is the GOAT.
Starting point is 00:14:30 I mean, she's going to go down. That's her legacy. She'll go down as the GOAT. Juliana winning on Saturday solidifies her with fans, fighters, and media that the first one wasn't a fluke. And then she will be on her own journey and create her own legacy after this. Yeah. And there's a ton of great names on that card.
Starting point is 00:14:53 Volkanovski had to fight Holloway. Fact three in a row, right? Well, not in a row, but you know, three fights. Yeah. There's other great names on this card too. I mean, Brandon Moreno versus Kaikara friends to Paul Acosta, Derek Lewis, Anthony Smith. What else are you really looking forward to on this card? I mean, it's really hard not to be excited and think about the main event. You know, what Amanda is going to show up. You know what Juliana is showing up, the crazy, fired up, total belief in herself, Juliana Pena is going to show up.
Starting point is 00:15:31 And if the real Amanda Nunes shows up, this should be an awesome fight. What have you thought of Juliana's just total championship mindset? Since she won the title, she's been doing a ton of media, right? She's been out there for the UFC, representing the brand I think the day I met her she walked my kids were little they were doing a jiu-jitsu tournament at some gym here in Vegas she literally walked into the gym rolled right up to me put her hand out and said I'm Juliana Pena I'm gonna be your women's female champion or your women's world champion someday. The fucking day I met her.
Starting point is 00:16:09 You love stories like that. I know you do. Yeah. I love people that think like that. I love people that have that kind of drive and people who manifest stuff like that to happen. And she did it. Not only did she do that that she won the ultimate fighter and you know and every time juliana shows up man you you have better have done your shit because she's showing up to fight yeah if you had a ufc self-belief wing of the hall of fame she would go right into it i
Starting point is 00:16:38 mean after ufc 200 she called out amanda nunez and was like i'm gonna be the one to beat you everyone and their mothers was like is this girl crazy for calling out amanda yeahz and was like, I'm going to be the one to beat you. And everyone and their mothers was like, is this girl crazy for calling out Amanda Nunez? Yeah, they, I was one of them. I was like, she's out of her mind for calling out Nunez. And then she went and did what she did to her. Um, so that's this weekend. I can't wait for the whole card. It's going to be a good one. Um, a news item from today that I saw just before we went on Dustin Poirier's representative said that it appears Chandler will be next for him. He said the UFC has not offered that fight, but he just thinks that's the one that makes sense next. He said Chandler's looking for a whoop and he's going to get it. Is that a fight that you're interested in? Yeah, I'd make that fight. I think that's, I mean, a fan favorite fight for sure.
Starting point is 00:17:21 And then talk to me about a fight that you finally made. Nate Diaz versus Hamzat Chumayev. We've heard about this one for a long time. It's a five round title fight. This one has everyone talking right now. Yeah. I mean, listen, it's a fight that people want to see. It's going to be exciting. It's going to be fun.
Starting point is 00:17:38 And imagine the energy and the place when those two walk. Is there going to be plans to do like a press conference with those two? Because I really want to see that as a fan. That I don't know off the top of my head. I'll have to talk to this one up there about that one. But, you know, you got a Diaz brother and a guy from frigging Russia. I don't know about how easy it will be to pull off a press conference, but we'll see.
Starting point is 00:18:08 I would love to see it. Just the fan bases on both sides as well are crazy. It reminds me almost of the Diaz-Masvidal, like when you guys ran it up with the BMF title run and all that, did the press conference, New York Pier 17. I loved all that. I love when, especially for a non-title fight main event, you kind of like make it up to be like a bigger event that's just personally as a fan love that stuff and then
Starting point is 00:18:29 getting a huge step up in competition against peter yan he was out in london he did the press conference with michael bisping as well looking forward to this step up in competition there talk to me about this matchup because another one where i feel like everyone is just talking about this i can't believe sugar sean's jumping up yeah well that fight island abu dhabi card is badass yeah it is yes I agree O'Malley was ready he wanted this fight he wanted Peter Yan you know we we kicked it around battled with it a little bit back and forth. Jan wanted the fight. Made all the sense in the world. So you got Oliver,
Starting point is 00:19:09 you got Sterling and Dillashaw, Jan and O'Malley, Darius and Gamrot. Did we announce that yet? I believe you did. Yeah. It's going to be a badass card. It is, and I want to ask about
Starting point is 00:19:23 one more fight on that card. It is the Mokachev versus Olive It is. And I want to ask about one more fight on that card. It is the versus Olivera. No, I won't be an Abu Robbie will not be making another appearance there. But Makachev versus Olivera, Olivera said today, he's just looking at this as another title defense in his mind. He is the champ.
Starting point is 00:19:38 Do you feel the same way? Listen, this is a big fight. If you look at what Olivera has accomplished in his career, you know, if you look at what olivera has accomplished in his career you know and you look at the uh trajectory that islam makachev has been but this is this is a big test for islam too yeah of course of course i mean i was looking at olivera's records today he's got like the most wins the most finishes or whatever he's got the most finishes in his division the most submissions in his division.
Starting point is 00:20:07 He's up in all the record books. It's crazy the stats that he's put up over the years. But I assume you would look at this as kind of like another title defense for him because even though he's not the champ, he feels like the champ, right? That's what he does to me. Yeah, I mean, technically, he's not the champ, but he's the champ. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:27 Any update on the annual Madison Square Garden card this year? It's still happening in November. Mm-hmm. Okay, good. It's happening. I got no updates on it yet, though. And then this one, I don't know if you saw, I assume you did, Vince McMahon retired after a long time.
Starting point is 00:20:43 I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Obviously, he's an iconic promoter, not in your business, but in a similar business. I have a lot of respect for Vince. Vince and I have battled over the years. Vince has stuck the old fucking butcher knife in my back a couple times. He has. There's the famous stories of him paying someone not to show up or whatever. How did that smooth over?
Starting point is 00:21:07 He has purposely gone out of his way to stick the hatchet in my bag when he didn't even need to stick the hatchet in my bag. Vince McMahon is a killer, man. He's a killer. What he built that business into and what he's done is unbelievable. And I hope that whatever he goes on to next, you know, he's happy. That's his thing. What he's accomplished in his life is amazing. Of course. Do you know Triple H or Stephanie McMahon or Nick Com, the new team that's going to be running the business?
Starting point is 00:21:38 I know all those guys. I was just curious. Yeah, I know some of them appeared at the last UFC pay-per-view, actually, while Adesanya was doing his Undertaker entrance. They were all front row for it. hits me up and she's like, I want you to come to my first wrestling match. It's so important. I want you to be there. I said, Ronda, I wouldn't miss it for the world. It's in New Orleans, right? So she tells the McMahons that I'm coming
Starting point is 00:22:16 so they're going to have tickets for me, right? So I show up in the New Orleans arena. I go to the you know, they don't have me come in the back or anything. I go to the fucking you know, they don't have me come in the back or anything. I go to the fucking box. I get my tickets. They're like, yeah, there's no tickets here for you.
Starting point is 00:22:31 I have to call a couple people. They're going around. My fucking seats. We're in the motherfucking raffle. Okay. This is so no bullshit. My seats were so fucking bad. It WWE, the first rotted thing. People that were sitting around me were saying, why are you sitting in these seats?
Starting point is 00:22:53 Hey, these are the fucking seats Vince gave me. I'm going to fucking sit in them right here. This is it. They eventually brought you to the front, though, right? Because I remember seeing you on camera. No. Remember when they showed me on camera yeah yeah the fucking cameraman had to climb over fucking people you know and get in there and ask some guy to get this fucking seat so that he could shoot that
Starting point is 00:23:21 oh shit that's funny what a what a power move from Vince. You think he knew? They're vicious. They're fucking vicious. I'm shocked that you and Vince seemingly have a good relationship after all the backstabbing and whatnot. You seem like a grudge guy, no? What are you going to do? I guess you just have to respect it at that point.
Starting point is 00:23:41 When you're dealing with a fucking killer, you know you're dealing with a killer. It's not like, oh, I think Vince is Mr. Nice Guy and he's going to do this and that for me. You know what I mean? Yeah. All right. Well, I appreciate the time. That's the only time I've fucking told that story.
Starting point is 00:23:56 I've never told that story. Well, I appreciate it. I got a laundry list. A laundry list. I'm going to pull them out of you one by one. I'm going to get all the Vince stories one day. Yeah. I appreciate the time contender series tonight.
Starting point is 00:24:11 It's going to be a great card. And then obviously UFC two 77 on Saturday, the arena is going to be going nuts. I don't know if they'll be going London nuts, but Oh, maybe they'll try. Thanks buddy. All right. Really appreciate Dana White for joining the show. Now, Thanks, buddy. AEW, UFC, whatever you can buy tickets to, they will help you out and guarantee the lowest price
Starting point is 00:24:47 on it. 2022 is a massive concert year. So many tours going on and Game Time is reporting that they are seeing some of the biggest last minute ticket deals ever. Tickets for artists like Halsey as low as $9. Machine Gun Kelly, $8. That's crazy. I went to that tour and it was fantastic. I would recommend it. Backstreet Boys, $20. Jack White, $25. I'd love to see Jack White again. All of these artists are under $40. Rufus Dussault, Kenny Chesney, The Killers, Zach Brown Band, and more.
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Starting point is 00:25:35 So you can all get into the game or event, whatever you're going to seamlessly. Skip the hassle, enjoy the moment. The best part, you'll get $20 off your first purchase. If you go to the Game Time app, go to the account tab and create a login and then redeem code MMB for My Mom's Basement for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, download Game Time, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Now let's get into this interview with Brian Danielson.
Starting point is 00:26:03 Welcome back to My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox. I am here with Brian Danielson ahead of Fight for the Fallen. It'll be his in-ring return versus Daniel Garcia. Brian, thanks for being here, especially on show day ahead of your big return. How are you? How are you feeling? Doing great. I just ran three miles and doing great. Just ran three miles. Is that normal for you on show day uh yeah kind of a lot of times um i would get to the building early with william regal and uh and
Starting point is 00:26:33 work with some people uh train with some people and that sort of thing so if i'm we're getting there like sometimes we get there as early as 10 uh or 11 but uh if that's the case, I probably am not getting in my run. But But yeah, I'm, I'm training for something. So So yeah, but today was a today was a light day. An easy, an easy three miler. Yeah, that doesn't exist for me an easy three miler. I envy that. I actually heard about you and William Regal going to the arena early on show day and working with young talent and stuff. And I wanted to ask you about that because the last time we spoke was, I believe, April of 2021. And we kind of talked about how you didn't love the seminar process or the coaching process. So how are you liking that experience?
Starting point is 00:27:21 So I like it a lot. So I like, I really like working with individuals, right? I think that's where, like, it's hard with big groups. And I think that's because you're not, if you work with individuals, you're working on what they need to work on versus, okay, everybody, let's learn how to do a hip toss, right? You know what I mean? And like, everybody has different things that they need to work on. And so like class settings are good if you don't have any other options, but working with people and kind of, I, I prefer a mix of like three people working with three people at a time, because then like you get different body types, but you're all kind of working on, you can really get deep into stuff. Do you have any favorites to work with or people that you've
Starting point is 00:28:05 seen a lot of improvement from? Yeah, but a lot of people, or I don't want to say a lot of people, a couple people, but I don't want to point some people out because then it makes other people feel bad. That's fair enough. That's, you know what, that's the dad in you. You have multiple kids. You're like, I can't pick between my children here. Yeah. Right. And the last time we spoke was actually your final, I believe it was your final interview before you left WWE. We were promoting the final match against Roman Reigns and you kind of talked about how you were losing some joy in wrestling.
Starting point is 00:28:35 Is it safe to say that that joy has come back? Yeah. Well, and it was really weird because it wasn't losing joy in wrestling. It was the one unique experience at WrestleMania where it it was just like whoa this feels empty and it's crazy because it was like the first time in front of fans in over a year you know what i mean and it was just like uh but it was ironically my last match in wwe with roman i was pumped for i loved it it's in the thunderdome it's just a bunch of screens and canned crowd noise and stuff. And I was just like, this is great. I love this. You know, and like and I honestly thought like, oh, that's a perfect that's a perfect way to go out.
Starting point is 00:29:13 Because I was also wasn't sure if I was even going to sign with AEW or I was debating back and forth. But I was also debating on just kind of I don't want to say hanging it up, but just stop doing it full time and focus more on being a dad. So. I remember that was something you actually spoke about in the interview, like that process of going back and forth. Obviously you've eventually decided on AEW. Was there anything when you came into the company that was like completely different than you had imagined? The, the,
Starting point is 00:29:43 the lack of people telling you what to do. That sounds nice. Yeah, it is, you know, and it really is right. Um, except when you're not used to it. Like if you haven't, if you haven't done that and I hadn't done that in like 12 years, right. As far as like, there was this, uh uh there was this one interview segment I forget what it was like okay yeah uh what do you want me to say whatever you want what do you mean whatever you want I can't say whatever I want because that's probably not appropriate for television you know so you know it's uh that was like and also and I've said this before i i actually enjoy working with the writers right but it doesn't mean it doesn't need to be writers like for example if i'm doing
Starting point is 00:30:33 something with uh with mox or with uh with kenny or something like that that stuff i like collaborating i think that's one of the things that I love the most about wrestling is collaborating with people. So, uh, so yeah, so that's my first experience really kind of not doing that or just us coming up with it on our own. I was like, Oh, like this is, this is unique. The Blackpool combat club is like my favorite thing in pro wrestling right now. Claudio, obviously a fantastic new addition is the current iteration and how it's grown kind of how you envisioned it when it started? Or is that all an organic thing and adding new members like that? It's all just kind of been organic. It wasn't like when it wasn't like we even knew we were going to be a group. Like when we first, when I first wrestled Moxley at the pay-per-view it wasn't like okay now we're
Starting point is 00:31:25 going to form a group right it was like we just batted things around and things evolved naturally and then wheeler uh adding that evolved naturally and it could have honestly from uh if it weren't for a couple injuries that happened it might might've been somebody else in Wheeler's spot, but Wheeler was put into that position and stepped up to the plate huge. And he's been a great addition. I mean, same thing with Claudio. Like if I hadn't gotten hurt, I don't know if Claudio would have been in the Blackpool Combat Club per se, you know? But yeah, now I really like the dynamic.
Starting point is 00:32:02 One of my favorite clips ever is from your match with William Regal in 2011, where they play the real man's man theme and he gets to crack on television. Where does that rank in your proudest moments? Like getting William Regal to even not be able to hide his smile under that scowl. Yeah, pretty high. Right. But do you know what, do you know what? So, you know, I really, you know, I really enjoy that. And I, you know, I'm thrilled he's here too, because obviously getting to see him every week is just a real, real treasure for me.
Starting point is 00:32:36 So like, because for a long time, we didn't get to see each other hardly at all. Right. And so, so now we get to see each other on a nearly weekly basis and uh and work with people and joke and laugh and everything so yeah it's been a blast did the idea to go early to tv and help the young talent come from you or him or both of you was it like just something you've decided to do one day well no so uh tony asked me tony khan asked me to work with Jade Cargill. And so and so I was like, OK, Jade, when when works best for you? And the women a lot of times have a training session at 12 with Dustin Rhodes, like a lot of the women going and do like a class setting with Dustin. So it'd be better. So she was saying like oh maybe one and then somebody uh and then somebody else asked me um so anthony agogo who is is doing great right um he asked me if we could start working together
Starting point is 00:33:34 and i was like yeah but we'll have to go in at 11 because the girls start at 12 and then i trained with jade at one and so so then and then it just started, you know, once you start, but you know what, to me it's fun. So it's like, uh, I would rather do that than sit in my hotel room. Right. So, uh, yeah. And I, I also too, I feel like, uh, I'm giving back, which is is part of my this portion of my career is to me feels like mostly one having fun and two giving back. So that's awesome. One match I would love to ask about is the anarchy in the arena match, because that was one of the most chaotic matches I've ever seen. I feel like it might be my favorite match of the year. I listened to some interviews with you right beforehand where you spoke about loving the improv of pro wrestling and loving that you could show up to the arena that day, see a staircase and be like, Oh,
Starting point is 00:34:32 maybe I could do something on that. Maybe we could, you know, figure something out there. What was the actual experience of being in the match? Like, It was wonderful. Right. It was I, and I love the music playing for so long, right? Like it just felt chaotic. Like part of what I really love about wrestling is it really makes you feel alive.
Starting point is 00:34:53 Like if you're in that moment, it just like, you just get this energy coursing through your body. And that specific night, it was crazy. It was like, it was awesome because it's just like, you're in amongst the people. And it's like being that close, that kind of intimate with them, but in such a large arena, like I loved it.
Starting point is 00:35:16 I was just as disappointed as the fans when the music stopped playing. When Jericho was the thing, I was like, oh. I was really into that, like I was, I was getting, I was really into that. You know what I mean? But yeah, it was fun. You wanted the full match New Jack style. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:34 For sure. For sure. Claudio is the new Ring of Honor world champion. Does him working in Ring of Honor and, you know, Samoa Joe being down there and so many other ring of honor legends being down there maybe make you want to work there at all does that interest you yeah yeah i mean everything wrestling interests me the only the the uh the only thing is is like scheduling wise
Starting point is 00:36:00 like okay it's it's it's wrestling versus spending time with the family right and so that's like because like too i still want to do new japan i still you know and i want to do ring of honor and you know like all these different things and there's tons of people that i'd love to wrestle and all that kind of stuff but uh you know part of choosing how you live your life is being able to say no to things and even saying no to things that you want to do. Like, I want to do that, but I'm sorry, I have to say no. And so that's like, when you're looking at your priorities, it's crazy to me because, you know, we have this finite life, right? And you have to make choices about what you're going to do with the finite time that you have here. And there's
Starting point is 00:36:43 lots of things that you could do that would be a lot of fun that you'd like to do but there's a certain sense of freedom and say no i'm not going to do that because i'm focusing on this these are more important so for me like i love being able to wrestle every week uh traveling out but doing too much more than that clashes with my other priorities which is my family. That's some good life advice right there. I hope people were taking notes right there. I like that.
Starting point is 00:37:12 Maybe I'll be a life coach. Yeah, you could be. Yeah, that's what I picture you closing your 11 a.m. lesson with, you know? Yeah. I recently heard that the orchestral version of your theme that was just released was actually like made for you at the beginning of your AEW journey. Did you listen to that and Born for Greatness and choose one over the other? No. So I didn't know about music. So I reached out to a friend of mine to to to and I just, all I had was an idea.
Starting point is 00:37:45 I was like, Hey, I don't know if we could just kind of something with, um, right. The Valkyries or something with the, you're going to get your effing head kicked in chant or something final countdown ish. And, uh, my friend Elliot, he was like, dude dude i'll get on it right away and what he sent me i was just like whoa that's great and then the first iteration of what so i sent that to tony tony listened to the first iteration of what they had done and um liked born for Greatness better. But I think Born for Greatness and the finalized version of what they came up with was really, really good.
Starting point is 00:38:31 Both of them are good. Yeah, no, I think it's a great theme as well. I was just curious about that. Speaking of entrances, do you have a favorite walk to the ring ever? You're not necessarily someone known for the big over the top, like theatrical entrances,
Starting point is 00:38:44 but do you have like one where as you were walking to the ring you're like this feels great uh so it wasn't walking to the ring it was a match with um morishima for ring of honor and i think it was uh the fight without honor the last match that we did final countdown was playing and they do the lights down music and all these things. But then I come up from out of the ring from behind him, springboard drop kick right into the crowd. And it just happened to be perfect timing. I dove into the crowd on more schema whammo.
Starting point is 00:39:17 And then I stand up right on the guardrail, right. As the final count, it's the final. Everyone doing it at the same time. Yeah. It was just, it was just bad-ass. And the same time yeah yeah it was just it was just badass and i didn't time it that way it was just it was luck so yeah it's not that i had this impeccable timing i was just doing my stuff and then i stood up on the guardrail at the final countdown but i was like oh that worked out perfect so it was just meant to be yeah no that is an
Starting point is 00:39:41 awesome one there's some unbelievable clips if you dive into the crowd back then where you just land on those hard looking chairs in the most awkward positions. Yeah. But when I'm wrestling, I'm invincible. So it's only after the match. It appears that way, honestly, because always, you know, you stand up, you know, put on a mean face and it's like, all right, I guess that didn't hurt him. Even though it looked like the most painful thing I've ever seen in my life.
Starting point is 00:40:07 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I honestly like and I joke about it with people. And my my wife gets really upset when I say it, when I say that I'm invincible. But like it's because clearly it's not true. I've been hurt multiple times. But but like when I'm out there, i don't i don't feel much you know what i mean um yeah so uh so yeah that's you know in my head i also in my mind i wrestle with the idea that i'm invincible because i don't want to wrestle like worried about oh what if what if i hurt my neck or what if you know this or whatever it is right like those are things that I prepare for while I'm training right like I do I still do all my neck exercises that they had me doing
Starting point is 00:40:51 post neck surgery in 2014 so that's been eight years of me doing daily neck exercises and my wife just like rolls her eyes because we're like before bed, she's wanting to watch a show together. And I'm on the ground, like doing this chin tucks and like all this stuff. But that's the, I like to think of that as the fee. That's the fee that I pay for doing this thing that I love. Yeah, no, I respect that. You're keeping yourself in shape.
Starting point is 00:41:24 You're keeping your in shape. You're keeping your neck strong and everything. I saw a dark match from 2001 Raw resurface on Reddit the other day. It was you versus Jerry Lynn. Pretty surreal given the setting, the time. What was that like for you so early in your career? Oh, I was super nervous. I mean, Jerry Lynn. Um, so also Jerry Lynn, the ECW, um, when he was in ECW, like that had a lot of impact on people of my generation who were watching that stuff. And they were doing some really cool lightning fast stuff. And wrestling didn't have as many cool spots as it does today you know what i
Starting point is 00:42:06 mean and so like yeah jerry was doing all that all this amazing stuff and so uh so i was really i was really nervous but jerry then now forever is uh is uh is a he's a real he's a real pro and like also just the kindest man you know what i mean so he he wasn't like uh some people in that situation would be like i'm just gonna this is just a squash match i'm just gonna eat you up kid and no jerry wanted to go out and wrestle and it was you know it was uh it was a great experience um another clip that resurfaced on reddit recently was your old imperial march walk to the ring with like the black velvet cape yeah that was one of the most ridiculous things i've ever seen i just had to
Starting point is 00:42:50 ask was that your idea cloaks.com is where i got that i still remember because i was like you know it's yeah i don't know you know what year it's like 2005 and you know the internet's not nearly as fast as it is now. And I was just like, where do I get a cloak? Let me, let me look on the internet. And they're popped up custom cloaks.com. Oh, here's one made of crushed velvet. Yeah. Yeah. It was a weird looking cloak for sure. Weird looking cloak. Yeah. It was, that was, that was,
Starting point is 00:43:21 I did a lot of experimenting in my younger days. Was that entrance all your idea though? Oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah for sure um and like uh it was when i was playing around with like um so i was going to japan a lot i was going to uh europe a lot and england and stuff and i was playing around like everybody was doing um like uh the i was wanting more like orchestral music and uh and i was playing around with that and i never liked star star wars i wasn't a star wars guy ever right like i didn't even see behind me yeah yeah yeah i didn't see i didn't even see any of the star Wars until like the new ones came out with who's the Jar Jar Binks and stuff.
Starting point is 00:44:11 Right. Like, yeah. So like when that stuff came out, I got goaded it into my friends, but going to watch the first one, I was like, what is this?
Starting point is 00:44:20 I don't, I don't even know. We weren't star Wars people, but anyways, I liked the imperial march style getting brian danielson to talk about star wars on this podcast that's a win you just said jar jar banks that was nobody expected that on well i also worked at kb toys at the time and so everybody was you know whenever whenever um or not at that time,
Starting point is 00:44:45 when I was in high school or when I went to first see that first star Wars. So, so, and everybody would, I don't want to say everybody, these collectors would come in. So they would wait outside KB toys at like 7. AM. We didn't open up until 10. You have to think this is a small KB toys in a mall in Aberdeen, Washington, that is eventually it's pretty much closed down now. And so it's like, but people would show up at 7am and wait till 10 just so they could get like, oh, this first edition Jar Jar Binks or whoever. Watch your tone, Brian.
Starting point is 00:45:25 Look behind me. Come on. I'm that guy at 7 a.m., you know? Right. Yeah. But I don't. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:31 Like I said, you know, I read this. But I get it. You know, I read this wonderful book called 4000 Weeks. And it's talking about how essentially on average we we only, we only have about 4,000 weeks to live. It's like, man, I don't know if I want to waste that time getting up at 7am to go get a plastic doll. That's not my deal. Action figure. To each their own. Everybody, you know,
Starting point is 00:46:00 everybody gets joy from different things. I got a Daniel Bryan one up there. How about that? I'm pointing to it right there. Yeah, that makes me feel nothing. Now we got to get a Bryan Danielson one, though. A.W. You know? That's an old one. That's a Daniel Bryan.
Starting point is 00:46:19 Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I see people with those at the airport a lot. Oh, you get the airport people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not one of those people though. Those aren't. Yeah. Well, yeah, no, but I see, I see the, the bobbleheads. Yeah. I have the bobbleheads a lot. They're huge.
Starting point is 00:46:36 Big, big collectors on the bobbleheads. I keep up with the trends. Yeah. Yeah, you do. I saw you post about it on tout recently do you have any response to the recent allegations made against you by paul white that you are a backstage bully to giants uh so i think he he initially tries to bully me and i just stand up for myself. Now I do bully other people, but not giants. Sometimes giants only occasionally giants, but I will have to say this. I come, I come in hot.
Starting point is 00:47:15 When I come into the locker room, I come in hot. I don't, I don't, I'm not, you know, I'm not, I'm not coming in there to be soft on these guys. Right.
Starting point is 00:47:23 I come in and everybody's on their phone. I'm going to yell at them all, right? Like, hey, hey, guys, come on. That's what he says. I mean, this quote says when you walk by Brian Danielson, he just grits his teeth and his eyes get all crazy and you can tell he's trying to dismantle you. That creepy little monster is trying to run up behind me and choke me out. It makes my life in AEW a little bit nerve wracking. That's not entirely true. that creepy little monster is trying to run up behind me and choke me out. It makes my life a little bit nerve wracking.
Starting point is 00:47:48 That's not entirely true. Sometimes like I'll be on the training table or something like that. And Paul will come up and like, grab me in some sort of way and I'll immediately as fast as I can try to arm bar. So that does, that does happen. I do not that he's a giant, but I do, not that he's a giant, but I do, I am constantly trying to take down Jake Hager.
Starting point is 00:48:11 Because he's got a background. He's got a background. Like, it's not like I'm, I don't know. I don't know who, who, it's not like I'm trying to single leg Brandon Cutler all the time. Not that he, I don't know anything about his single leg defense, but it's not like I see him. He's walking by in the hall and I'm just going to double leg this guy. Right. That's, that's, that's not my deal. Right. I'm, I'm, I'm going for the, I'm going for the big guy. Have you ever been successful with Jake? I, I, I, I'm not going to say anything. Okay. not say anything. All right. Respect it. You don't kiss and tell.
Starting point is 00:48:47 Who do you think the funniest person backstage at AEW is? Oh, gosh. It's so hard because people have different senses of humor. Like, he's never, like, cracking jokes. But I find mocks to be hilarious, right? He always has, has like that great like he doesn't talk a whole lot i wish i was more like that you know those guys who like yeah you know they talk without talking like he can just look at you and just like but he he always
Starting point is 00:49:21 has these little things that just they they pop me a lot so yeah so him do you know who's also really funny that i really enjoy is austin gunn like oh yeah yeah yeah yeah he he's he's a lot of fun you know i like even though i'm gonna kick his head in tonight i think daniel garcia's funny i uh oh oh god uh angelo parker and and and matt menard are both are both i mean we have so many i just have to say this people in wrestling are funny not everybody yeah but like you you decide to dedicate your life to pretending to fight people and you're just a little weird right and most of us and most of us aren't just like doing it because it's a good paying job most of it are doing it are doing it because we love it especially like in aew right so it's like you have all these people who love pretending to fight
Starting point is 00:50:18 and we're just weirdos and it's fun do you you know who I really missed? I actually got to see, he came to my house after he did the Steve Austin podcast with Sami Zayn. Oh, really? Yeah, I love being around. I love me a good Sami Zayn hangout. So yeah, so I miss being able to see him. But yeah, there's lots of really fun guys to be around. I love that.
Starting point is 00:50:47 I feel like people are going to be thrilled to hear you guys reunited. Yeah. All right. Finally, on our previous chat, we spoke a lot about your proudest moments of your career. I want to know, what is the proudest moment you've had in AEW so far? The hour draw with Hangman Page. I mean, so i think and especially so i i don't think he'd done a singles match over 30 minutes and um i hadn't done an hour long match in many many years and many moons it's been many moons
Starting point is 00:51:20 since i've done an hour draw or since an hour an hour hour long match. And I also wasn't convinced with the way that wrestling had evolved that people would enjoy it. And because it's a, you know, it's not ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It's a little, you know, you have to be patient with it. And patient isn't necessarily something everybody, everybody has in bundles these days, but, uh, but I was, I was really pleased. I was really pleased with it. It was also like the first time hangman and I had ever wrestled. So it was like, you know, like, uh, that's a bit of a daunting task, like, Hey, you guys have never wrestled before. He's never gone over 30 minutes in a singles match. Why don't you guys go do it?
Starting point is 00:52:04 Why don't you guys go do an hour? And it was kind of my idea. It was daunting, but you pitched it. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was,
Starting point is 00:52:15 yeah, it was, it was my idea, but, but yeah, but that was, that was something I was very, very proud of.
Starting point is 00:52:21 I was, I'm, I've also been really proud of the it's not just my stuff with him it's also mox's stuff with him but i'm proud of everything that's happened with wheeler yuda right like and and his his performances in those things right because we didn't know we when we started we didn't know that that's where we were going right but like i i think we were doing a tag match or something like that and i did something and he fired up and like in that moment you're like oh there's something here and then we do the singles and oh there's more here then he does then he does the mat it was on rampage with mox
Starting point is 00:53:05 and it was it was beautiful it was i think my maybe my favorite match i've seen this year um just because you there was a guy that literally like a month before not many people really knew about him or were talking about him and he had a whole arena and you know just going nuts and you have to think that like rampage is taped after dynamite right so it's like it's been a long day for that crowd right and so uh i i i've been really really really proud of proud of all that but that's not like proud of what i've done it's been a collective effort including like tony because a lot of times it's not easy to see somebody who doesn't necessarily have a name or you hadn't planned on pushing to that degree tony just went with it and like and saw it and he saw
Starting point is 00:53:59 it too and it was like dude this is working this is working so i like i was just really proud of wheeler's performance i really proud of Wheeler's performance. I'm proud of being a part of it. I'm proud that, you know, I'm proud to be in a company where you see that and then like, okay, let's, yeah, let's, let's, let's let them run with it. So, so that and the hour jar are the two things I'm proud of stuff. Those are some great answers. Brian, I really appreciate the time, especially on show day. Thank you so much for doing the show and best of luck in your in-ring return tonight. Yep.
Starting point is 00:54:27 Thank you very much.

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