My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 51 - LITA FROM THE TOP ROPE!

Episode Date: March 9, 2020

My Mom’s Basement is completely taken over by From The Top Rope this week, featuring a State of the Wrestling World segment with Brandon Walker and Jared Carrabis discussing AEW’s Revolution pay-per-view and the Dynamite that followed (as well as a little WWE Road to WrestleMania talk), and later on - AMY DUMAS aka LITA joins the boys to discuss her new project: ‘KAYFABE’ and tells some fantastic stories from her career!You 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 a play on words. Oh, it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, it was. Revolution was AEW's most recent pay-per-view this Saturday night. I was actually, or it was actually now last Saturday night, being this will come out on Monday. I was in Norfolk, Virginia. I had to catch up. Brandon Walker, you watched it live. You were texting me during it. You were DMing me during it.

I did. I saw your tweets. You were over the moon about it. You wanted to talk about it, and I am glad you wanted to talk about it because, man, I caught up, and it was a hell of a show. It's a hell of a show. It's the best show I've seen in a long time. It's the best show this year.

It will be hard to beat for this year unless AEW itself beats it. It's just AEW has reignited a part of my wrestling fandom I thought was gone. I thought I had kind of resigned myself into the nostalgia slash I'll check on WrestleMania part of my fandom. I thought that's how I'd be a fan from now on. But AEW has me waiting for their live show. It's a lot like back in the 90s in the Attitude Era. You remember how it felt Monday night at 6.57 or 7.57,

three minutes before Raw came on? That feeling? You get fired up. I've got it again. I've got it again with AEW. It's that good. Every Wednesday night, AEW is your show. You're watching AEW over NXT? If I get home, I watch AEW. It's that good. Every Wednesday night, AEW is your show. You're watching AEW over NXT?

If I get home, I watch AEW live. I DVR both, and I go back. Because the ending in NXT this week was electric. It was awesome. It was fantastic. Yeah, really good. Locking Adam Cole and Fortuna McCain together. Oh, it was brilliant.

And I'm a big Velveteen Dream guy. You know that. But yes, AEW is the only one I will sit and watch live. So the number one thing I want to talk about from AEW, other than Moxley won the title over Jericho. I don't even know if you knew that, Jared. I haven't seen it yet. I'm okay with spoilers because I think it's still going to be good going back

and watch it anyway. But I think it was time. I think it was time. The fact that if you're not totally plugged into AEW, if you don't know that Jericho is still the champion like all right it's time to keep it moving yeah what do you you're a huge jericho guy brandon yourself are you cool with when they made the title swap yeah i am because and if you watch dynamite the next the next night or wednesday night they keep the story going with jericho and mox so they're not moving on from chris jericho they're

just changing the story from him being the champion to now chasing the champion, which is still interesting. And Jericho's still going to be at the top of the card. I'm not a huge Moxley fan, but what AEW needed this early was you don't want to get in that rut of this is the champion, he's going to be the champion, he's going to win, he's going to win by interference, the old Triple H 2003 conundrum where he's a fine champion

but if nobody ever challenges him what's the point changing it now tells me that if you buy an aew pay-per-view something's going to happen true and that's a big problem with the competition right now i you you watch their pay-per-views or their specials you're not guaranteed something's going to happen right yeah what what about um the title change did you not like? Did you think that it should have been a situation where Jericho gives the rub to maybe someone that casual wrestling fans aren't familiar with? Because everyone knows Jericho. Everyone knows Moxley slash Ambrose. Do you think that it should have been someone that's like, hey, I have no idea who that guy is, but now I'm paying attention to him because he just... No, because what's happening underneath those top guys is giving you those new guys.

Like if you watch the whole pay-per-view, there's a guy, Hangman Page is getting over scary levels of over right now, and he's doing that in a captivating feud with Kenny Omega and the Elite and just all these little tentacles are intertwined there. They've got a strong enough undercard. They're going to be able to elevate and pluck guys from that. these little tentacles are intertwined there. They've got a strong enough undercard. They're going to be able to elevate and pluck guys from that. But Jon Moxley is, outside of Jericho, he is their biggest star right now.

And he is a big deal. And he is, frankly, probably at the peak of his career. He's right there where his career has built, built, built. And this is peak Moxley. I think you pull the trigger on that guy. I'm always a guy that says pull the trigger more often than not. Yeah, I enjoyed the title one. I enjoyed the whole way they did it where Moxley, like the feud, I mean, where he went through all the members of the inner circle.

It felt like Jericho was the final boss that that sort of heel should be. It was an old school build. The way he took the eye patch off. Exactly. Super old school. The entire eye patch angle is like kind of a Cowboy Bob Orton with the with the cast but like you mentioned adam page i wanted to talk about this tag match it was kenny omega and adam page versus the young bucks and this was fucking amazing one of the best tag matches i've seen in years you said one of the best tag matches you've ever seen i think it's the best tag match in north american history i think it was that it was that good i geez and no it was that good is this like is this something that you do normally like where you

like throw out claims like that or when's the last time that you said that like something was the best that you've ever seen man i um the last time i said it was probably a couple years ago and and these two guys haven't aged that well or one of them hasn't but it was uh andrade against johnny wrestling i think they were in philly that was like i was like wow that's the best one of the best matches i've seen in a long long time and then johnny the problem with johnny is he just keeps getting to that level right it kind of gets old hat but this was legitimately if you just the storylines coming in will hangman page will he turn on him well the young butts will they go shades of gray the storylines they built into thisman page will he turn on him well the young butts will they go shades of gray the storylines they built into this 30 minute match because the young bucks

progressively got darker and darker especially uh the dark haired one which one's he met matt got darker and darker as the match went along and hangman page and he there was hatred between them and then kenny comes in and he's just fighting for his friend he's just fighting for honor like there's all these little subtle things going on yeah the the feuds leading up the promo is leading up to this in the feud where they were friendly but there was also like a tinge of i don't know hangman's drinking too much and all the bucks were also dicks to him in that last promo going in and in the match nick kind of hangs together he holds together matt just comes full heel he's full heel in the match and then at the end after it's over the bucks and kenny are shaky but they get

together and hangman page uh teases turning on there's everybody teased turning on everybody finisher that like slingshot clothesline thing and he teased it on kenny omega and everyone kind of went crazy and even on commentary excalibur was saying, Tony Schiavone, oh, did you see what I saw? And everyone sees that the turn is there. But the fact that they didn't do it, someone tweeted, and I agree with this wholeheartedly, the turn not happening was better than if the turn had happened. But it's amazing because now anything can happen. I mean, Kenny, the announcers acknowledge it. So it's out there in the AEW universe.

Kenny could go back and see it. Maybe Kenny turns on Paige. Maybe the Bucks get tired of this bullshit and turn on both of them. I don't know. It can go anywhere. This is not over. It's one of the best stories I've seen in a while. And no, I'm really not a guy who says this is the best I've ever seen,

but I can't describe to you that tag match. It's a must-watch. It was an emotional roller coaster, and, I'm not really emotionally invested in. Yeah, and the fact that they had that so early on in the show, it was one of the first matches on the show, and were able to put on a good show after that speaks to, once again, how good the show actually was. I thought there were three real standouts of standout matches.

Okay. And I think the first one was Darbyby allen and sammy guevara yeah then and they they had a match where you guys like you were talking about from that you could plug into the main event at pretty much any point it was just it was just the very first move of the match was a suicide dive and it was it was balls to the wall 12 minutes they just went at each other the second was the tag match and then the third was orange cassidy i was hoping you would say yeah how can you not yeah because you got pat playing a tremendous asshole yeah just a just an ass kicking one of the best

in wrestling and here comes uh orange cassidy what's it gonna look like is he gonna do the the gimmick singles match in aw this was for orange cassidy okay you didn't know how much he would do the gimmick with the hands in the pocket and the whatever you know all that and then he turns it on and this guy can fucking turn it on he can he realized that for a long time under he was actually under a hoodie he's like a fire ant fire ant yeah so i knew that from that and the fact that the whole storyline of this was like well orange cassidy's gonna try right like aew just offers that variety where we had that bucks match with with the most intricate storyline we've had in AEW thus far. And then we have this where the entire storyline of the match is Pac is one of the best wrestlers they've got.

Orange Cassidy is going to try against him. He's going to try. He's going to try. That was it. That was the whole story, but it was perfect. You didn't need anything else. You had the best friends out being his managers, kind of like the Bucks serve to Kenny sometimes. That was amazing.

And the Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara thing. Sammy Guevara at one point did a 630 off the top rope through a table on the outside that looked like it defied physics. And he also, as he made impact, rolled right onto his feet. Insane. It was one of the most beautiful 630s. Both of these guys, you could see why he was in the first AEW match ever against Cody. You could see why Cody chose a guy like that and then Darby Allen on the flip side who was even in the

AEW Dynamite main event. He's next level over. I think when the inner circle runs its course and Sammy eventually probably makes a babyface run out of it. Maybe the inner circle turns on him. Whatever. This could be a year or two years down the road. I think Sammy Guevara is going to be a huge, gigantic babyface.

Yeah, I think so too. I thinkmy and darby can pretty much be that uh pete dunn tyler bait style where they could feud forever the young guys on they'll come up and everyone will always be down so you you watch dynamite let me ask you about the formation of the next threesome yeah and it happened um i guess after one of the matches i can't remember the scu match right no no i think it was uh which one of the best friends fought Pac. Oh, it was Chuck Taylor. Yeah. Yeah.

So Pac's out there and Orange Cassidy, they're facing off again. And here comes Pentagon and- And Phoenix. And the other one. Yes. Thank you very much. Death Triangle is their name. That's a great name.

Really good name. And they had him say it in Spanish. It sounded much better. It sounded awesome in Spanish, which is great, because that's what you need for the merch they're like lulz in gurnables whatever um but death triangle is really cool we all we had that formation and then we had another formation which is jake the snake is back on television jared did you see this promo no he caught this fucking so let me let me set let me set this let me set this for you. So Cody comes out. Cody lost MJF and then, okay, the match wasn't great.

It was very that style match. Yeah, so Cody loses that match and then he comes out on Dynamite and he's telling his eyes he's defeated, he's frustrated. And he starts to go into that defeated, frustrated promo. But then music hits and it's not very recognizable. It sounded like Jake Music. I remember being like, is this like hits and it's not very recognizable. It sounded like Jake Music. I remember being like, is this like Jake the Snake's music? It sounded like his old music. They did rip it off, but it ripped it off very... It's like a

WCW style rip off. That's exactly what it sounds like. That's exactly what it sounds like. And you're like, that can't be. And then you see the words Jake and here comes Jake the fucking Snake Roberts. What? In the middle of a Cody promo. By himself. He didn't sound good.

His voice is bad. He looked really good for what he's been through. Yeah. But his promo, if you can get past the voice, which I can, was incredible. It was really good. Really? It was really. How long has he been sober for?

I mean, it's been a few years now. Years now. Yeah. He came back. He stayed sober even after the induction and everything? Yeah. He talked to me. He mentioned it. He mentioned it. He said, I've been through everything and everything? Yeah, he mentioned it. He mentioned it.

He said, I've been through everything and I'm still here and all that. And he said, I'm not coming for the entire share of the pie. I'm just coming for your slice, said to Cody. So he's going to be bringing someone in. Is he going to have a fucking match with Cody? No, he's managing someone. He's got a client. He's the client.

People seem to think online that it's going to be Luke Harper. Luke Harper is set to debut, I think, on March 18th or something later on this month. I think that would work really well just look-wise, visually. And my favorite line of the promo is his last line when he said, never turn your back on a man that you're afraid of or respect. A wise man once told me, never turn your back on someone you respect or someone you're afraid of. And he immediately dropped the mic and turned his back to Cody.

And just left the ring. And everyone is just like, holy. And Cody had a great tweet afterwards. Cody just tweeted, WTF? I was like, what the fuck is that? But Jake is now in AEW, potentially managing Luke Harper or someone else.

What was Harper's name in the indies? Was it like Brody? Brody Lee. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He'll probably go back to that because he trademarked it. He took shots at Barstool, weirdly. Who did? Yeah, he made no fucking sense when he did.

You know how you can quote tweet a video and you share it? Yeah. He thought that we ripped a video. Spitting Chicklets, I think, did that to a random hockey vid. Okay. Yeah, and he came after us. He came over the top rope being being like those fucking misogynistic fucks this that the next thing and i really did yeah and i was like jesus christ this is years

ago so i dm'd him right before the first saudi show and i said have fun in saudi arabia oh wow um yeah that that's basically the aew side i think we've touched on a lot of that uh wwe has some things going on that are interesting one thing in particular that has been amazing is can i just interject here real quick after like that sigh over there because like i'm in the same boat where i after watching the royal rumble i really i was thinking about this today this morning all right when i because you and i went to wrestlemania yep i it didn't i didn't hang on after that. I came back for the Rumble, and I was thinking to myself,

why do you watch the Rumble? And for me, the Royal Rumble itself, yes, it's entertaining. The second part is, it's almost like at this point, because we're so checked out on WWE, that you're watching the Rumble in hope that the Rumble introduces someone from the past or someone new that's like, give me a reason to watch on Monday. To stick around. Yeah.

Because I'm going to watch the Rumble regardless. Give me a reason to watch past the Rumble. This Rumble didn't do it for me. For me, it did. And that thing brought Edge back. Yeah. Edge came back. And that storyline's been awesome. Awesome. I think two things came out of the Rumble. Yeah, like Edge came back and that storyline's been awesome. I think two things

came out of the Rumble. A, the Edge-Ordon storyline is very good. Drew McIntyre-Brock Lesnar storyline is also pretty dang good. Drew's still over. It's working. Drew's over. Drew left him laying on Monday night. I saw it later. But he left him laying. If you're going to create

hype with Brock Lesnar, you've got to get the best of him in the lead up to it. Which all that means to me is that Brock's going to create hype with Brock Lesnar, you've got to get the best of him in the lead-up to it. Which all that means to me is that Brock's going to go over. If you're kicking Brock's ass leading up to the match... I hope not. I think they've really built something for Drew. They're not building adversity for Drew. They're building it for Brock.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I think Brock's going to go over. Other than that, though, the fact that they came out of the Rumble and then a couple of weeks later, they take this fiend who they built up and made interesting and just killed him. Yeah. They just killed him. Killed him dead. They did it twice.

Two minutes. Goldberg, couple spears. 53-year-old Goldberg who can no longer do his signature move. Which is why you bring him back. We want to see the jackhammer. Bring him back. This is the ideal Goldberg scenario. I don't want to see him at all.

Is have like Heath Slater go to the ring, cut a promo about like, I hate all these old timers coming back. Have Goldberg's music hit. The place would go wild. Everyone would love it. That's the place. A spear, a jackhammer on a tiny guy. You're all good. We don't need a buildup.

We especially don't need his promo to have the fucking title on it no now our our title programs for wrestlemania is goldberg and brock lesnar again like goddamn guys it's 2020 it's 2020 a great great feud that i want to talk about before you have to get out of here brandon is the edge versus randy orton feud yeah this has been one sided and that edge hasn't been on tv since the night after the rumble but it doesn't need to be but when he shows up yeah when randy orton is motivated when randy orton wants to cut a good promo god fucking damn that promo with beth phoenix this past week was amazing but it's rare that a heel gives a good explanation for why he did what he did they're going to get it to a point though in this build- buildup where Randy's going to – he's gone through Beth Phoenix. He's gone through Matt Hardy.

They're going to go through somebody else, I assume. And they're going to get it to that point where, well, somebody please shut this motherfucker up. And that's when You Think You Know Me hits. And it's going to blow the roof off. I thought it was going to happen on Monday. I was convinced that it was going to happen on Monday. I felt when they entered Beth Phoenix, it felt like the Stephanie McMahon, Triple H build a couple years ago when Randy Orton kissed Stephanie McMahon. You had to do something to the wife.

So I felt like he was going to do something to Beth Phoenix. I definitely thought she was going to take an RKO as soon as she came to the ring. But I thought because he interrupted her before she gave his medical update or whatever. So I was thinking in my head she was gonna say he's fine he's ready to come back this week but he interrupted her they didn't do that they flipped it oh that would have been good too i i think this is going to have to be a street fight no dq or something at mania yeah not only to excuse like give edge a little smoke and mirrors to fall back on if he has any ring rust but because yeah it's a grudge for you well you know what that that makes a lot

of sense because randy orton i feel like is one of those guys who has had awesome builds before that fall apart as soon as the bell rings that triple h build for 2009 was incredible and then the bell rang and the match was just a match and what was the match before that that took this theme out but even still i think they opened that match with like a collar and elbow tie up and it's like okay that but that just doesn't match everything that happened. He had punted Vince McMahon. He had punted Stephanie. I know he kissed Stephanie.

I think he did. I think he had punted Shane. I think he had punted Vince. And he had kissed Stephanie in front of a handcuffed Triple H. He had gone to the house, right? Yeah, yeah. He went to his home. They threw him through the window.

Yeah, so it's, all right, to test his strength. We'll see what you got, buddy. What are we even doing there? Other than that for Mania, I don't know what else is exciting. Obviously the Kevin Owens stuff with Seth Rollins is over. Is Matt Hardy a free agent right now? Yeah, he is. He'll be showing up soon in AEW.

You think so? I think so, yeah. There's a spate of debuts coming. Lance Archer's going to debut soon. Could potentially be, I guess, Jace Plant. Could be. I think people Jace Plant. Could be. I think people would be disappointed. And then they've been teasing this Dark Order chosen one.

And people think that's going to be Matt Hardy. I don't know. Dark Order really doesn't do it for me. It's the only thing in AEW that doesn't do it for me. But if they brought in Matt Hardy. If you want to add a little flavor to it. If you brought Matt Hardy to be that guy, now you might have something. Yeah.

The Kevin Owens stuff on Monday was very over. He came out and helped the Street Profits win the tag team titles. Yeah. So it was very reminiscent of, actually, for me, Daniel Bryan and the Big Show helping the Brotherhood win the titles leading into that program. It's all very similar. Looks like they're leading to Owens and Rollins at Mania there. What else is on Mania that is exciting?

I wish that they would throw a clusterfuck ladder match on there. I know they're doing it at TakeOver the night before. I think Becky Lynch, Shayna Baszler. True. Shayna seems to be getting nice steam behind her. So that's interesting. The other one, Charlotte. They did the weird vampire thing.

Who's Charlotte going up against? Rhea Ripley, which I'm interested in. I think that's going to be a hell of a match. I'm just over Charlotte. I other one, Charlotte. They did the weird vampire thing. Who's Charlotte going up against? Rhea Ripley, which I'm interested in. I think that's going to be a hell of a match. I'm just over Charlotte. I'm done with Charlotte. I know she's going to go over. It's Mania. They put her over at every big show.

Oh, I don't think she'll go over. I think she will. You think she'll go over and defend the NXT title? If you ever think Charlotte's not going over, that's when Charlotte goes over. She goes over. I can't think of a big match she hasn't gone over. It's a decent point. In fact, last year at WrestleMania, she had no business even in that of a big match she hasn't gone over in fact last year

wrestlemania she had no business even in that match i know she didn't go over but she got put over just by being in that match you're probably right too because she's not gonna lose twice at mania she did she take the fall at mania no no no ronda did remember it was that uh was that weird yeah it was a crucifix or it was that i it was it was something it was yeah man that match stunk i i match stunk i was walking thank you for saying that match, man. That match stunk. That match stunk. Thank you for saying that because I was walking out of there and everyone was like, well, you know. No, no, no. Just because it was the first women's main event at WrestleMania does not mean that you have to praise it.

A lot of it wasn't their fault. You can applaud the fact that it was an accomplishment that was well-deserved, but the match itself stunk. I was very disappointed. What was going against them was it was the last match on a 22-hour show. It was after midnight it started. And they gave Charlotte that whole, you know, that Ric Flair coming in on the helicopter entrance. And Joan Jett came out for Ronda, which was cool. But like, holy fuck.

At the same time, the match wasn't any good. That was a nightmare. And it was three good wrestlers. It's three good wrestlers. Yeah. I wanted to like it. I really Yeah. I wanted to like it. I really did. I wanted to like it.

I wanted to have my doors blown off. It didn't happen. That show should have closed with Kofi Kingston holding the belt. Yeah, exactly. That's how that show should have closed. You could not have topped that moment. No. They didn't top it all year.

That was the best wrestling moment WWE had all year. Yeah. And once Kofi held that belt and his kids came in the ring and you still had two more hours of show, those two hours were doomed. It was like more than two hours. I might go to Mania. Really? Yeah, I might go to Mania. I'm going to be in Atlanta for the Final Four for some stuff we got going on with the gambling.

So it's a quick flight over. It's a $92 flight. And I'm like, you know, Final Four is Saturday, Monday. Yeah. And Mania's on Sunday. So I'm really thinking about going. I've never been. If you can make it work, I think you should go. I is Saturday Monday and mania is on Sunday so I'm really thinking about going I've never been

if you can make it work you've never been to mania I've never been to mania wow mania is a must even with the card that it is it's the one thing

I haven't done the closest I ever came was 30 it was in New Orleans I was in Florida that's a great mania it's top five mania but I was just

financially I wasn't there at the time I couldn't spare anything so I couldn't go. It hurt. And look at you now. Look at me now. But now, I think I'm probably going to go.

You should go. You should. Well, we'll have to link up because I don't know what I'm doing yet. I'm trying to get down there. I'm trying to go to the Performance Center and all that. So we'll see. And of course, they'll have NXT. Can we just briefly talk about NXT?

Yeah, let's talk NXT as well. We're on your time as long as you don't have to get out of here uh 40 40 is the number i'm looking at so um it's 33 right now yeah the ending to that match and i have been a velveteen dream fan since he came out since he started doing this character a couple of years ago and i'm a big adam cole fan as well and i've always wondered why Velveteen hasn't gotten through to that level. NXT has been a logjam, especially the Gargano- Ciampa. Ciampa storyline kind of ate NXT for a couple years because that just drug on so far in the main event.

And now they're going to fight again, it looks like. With the flip dynamic, yeah. Great dynamic, too. I like it. Johnny seems to be going crazy. But Velveteen Dream has had this feud. I don't know if you've been watching. Has had this feud with Roderick Strong.

And it needed a cage match to settle it last Wednesday night. So they're in the cage. And at the end of the match, Cole is – the match is still going on. Cole has gotten into the ring. Adam Cole. He's got his belt with him. And Roderick Strong moseys over towards the door. Velveteen Dream sneaks up behind him and grabs him to keep him from going out the door looks back at adam cole in the belt chucks roger strong out throws him out

roddy strong wins the match ding ding ding he velveteen dream looks back at the belt one more time grabs the door pulls it locks it and goes and beats the fuck out of adam locked himself in the cage with adam it was brilliant the crowd went crazy it was a really good when people realized when he looked back at that belt and looked at Rodney and looked at the belt, he was like, the crowd went crazy. That's a moment that would never happen on the main roster, too. The way they shot it, the way the crowd all picked up on it organically, that would just never happen. It was a very, very good moment. Although at the same time, I kind of wish it was somewhere other than Full Sail because Full Sail crowd kind of used to everything right now.

Full Sail's jumping the shark, too, in that they're starting to not smell their own shit. Well, they see the show every week. Yeah. They see the show every week, so nothing really – you take it to Denver. These AEW crowds, these Dynamite crowds are smoking hot. They are. Every week they're singing Jericho's theme. Every week.

They're going on when it stops even. Yeah. It's really – and I know we shit on WWE. It's a fucking great time to be a wrestling fan. It really is. I tweeted it on Wednesday night. Flipping back and forth on Wednesday night, having the dual TV set up, like, it's so much fun.

That was the 90s. That was for the 90s kids, flipping back and forth. It's two good wrestling shows. That was 96 to 2001. What's on this show? Ooh, it's hard deciding between these two wrestling shows. That's so much fun. I used to get, you got excited for commercials in the 90s you got excited because you could check on the other guys you could you check on the other guys

and it was just it was it that was incredible time and this is you know it's a bargain basement version of it it's different yeah but but it's still great beggars can't be choosers you know they no they can't one good wrestling show and now we have to decide between two i just i really think aew's onto something big i think so too i i think aw's got a chance to to do some real damage what's their next big one double or nothing are they doing uh yeah i think it's around memorial day no we'll see they're doing the um they're doing the madison square not madison square garden they're doing the new york show march 25th yes they're going to do one of their like they kind of do pay-per-views on tv so they're building to

that show they're going to do war games in New York. Which is smart. I love that as well. I love their pay-per-view dynamic. It's the old school wrestling where they feel bigger because there's less of them. We don't need 13 pay-per-views. It's almost like a Clash of Champions, the WCW series. So they're going to build to that.

I figure they'll blow that off, and the next week they'll start building to the real pay-per-view. I don't know how it will work. I'm assuming you'll have the inner circle in Hell in a Cell or in War Games against Mox and maybe a hodgepodge of the other guys. I don't know. Yeah, probably, which some of the best War Games matches are kind of a hodgepodge match. Yeah, absolutely. I would say the majority of them. You have the horsemen on one side.

It's always the horsemen. Then you have a group of four guys individually that have problems with the horsemen. And that's what I think is going to happen here. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Like we said, it's a great time to be a wrestling fan. It's a great time to be flipping back and forth. And we're not really picking sides, but we sort of are picking sides. There's one more thing I want to talk about AEW.

The renaissance of Shivani and Jim Ross. Yeah, good stuff. Is great. And give credit to Excalibur because he's also very – He's good, but he's certainly not having a renaissance because he – No, but I mean he's helping them create their renaissance. He is. It's a strong commentary crew, and they know how to not talk, and they know how to talk.

Their best call the other night was exactly what you said. When Hangman Page grabbed the rope to set up his – because that's how he grabs it, to set up his buckshot lariat. And Tony Schiavone, he just kind of whispered it. He's like, did you see that? Yeah. And Excalibur says,

I think I saw that. Yeah. And they left it at that. They left it at that. It was brilliant. And the commentary crew, and especially, especially Tony Schiavone.

Yeah. He took a lot of shit after WCW went down. Yeah. Best night in the history of our sport and all that shit. He's really good. He's so good.

And not only in commentary, in interviews too. I love that they got him going into the ring doing those interviews. He's really good. I have a new one last thing. What do you think about the neck tattoo? Did you see it? Yeah. It's interesting. I like the

placement. I don't know. I understand what he was going for. He wears suits all the time. He wanted to have one of his brands out there but you know i kind of you know why i like it it just shows that he's fucking all in true to his character to his company to his roads brand he's just all in and you know if it looks weird to so much room on the body he's got so much room you know he's got a clear palette but he said no i want it right here fuck it yeah it's not my body so it's not mine either i kind of i kind of respect it because this motherfucker everything he is doing right now is about building this this thing and and i'm i'm with it i wouldn't do it but a good point that he's just all in he should all get

like we should have like a artist come in and draw like fake ones on us it's a gigantic tattoo it goes on to like his face it's big he was wearing a suit of dynamite and it was still We should have an artist come in and draw fake ones on us. It's a gigantic neck tattoo. It goes onto his face a little bit. It's big. He was wearing a suit of dynamite, and it was still out there. It's huge, yeah. Yeah, the neck tattoo is something. That's about it for this week's From the Top Rope edition. We'll be back soon, hopefully, in more of a longer, less rushed version of this show.

For Brandon Walker and Jared Karabas, I'm Robbie Fox. The pronunciation of my last name has just really evolved and made great strides of progression in the past 20 years. Yes. Okay, everyone used to say Dumas. It had come from the third grade. We took it from Dumbass

to Dumas to Dumas, and here we are right here in 2020 with just a clean Dumas. Yeah. Just like I like it. All those people I called you dumbass. Look at them now. Look at you now. Who's a dumbass now?

Dumbass now. You're here promoting something very interesting. Something called Kayfabe that you're doing with Christy Hemme and Gail Kim. Why don't you tell us about this? Because it's a crowdfunded show about wrestling. Right. There's so many platforms for wrestling now

and for just TV consumption, right? It can be streaming and on the web and on networks. And we've got so many shows already. And everyone keeps saying, oh, this is going to be something new. And while it's always fresh to watch a new project, it's ultimately we're kind of looking at the same thing with some rearranging shell games of wrestlers. So I think the interesting thing, first and foremost, that we want to do is wrestling has never been told through the lens of a woman. So there's three of us with three very different journeys of inspiration and very different

like friends and generations that we've talked to to just kind of pull in like, what's it like to be a woman in this business? Number one. And then we're always used to shooting our what they call in our business like pre-tapes so like the story threads that you see in between the ring are shot with like all right we've got 45 seconds till john cena's entrance music hits you've got one take go ahead and talk about how mad you are at this person and that you're going to get him at this pay-per-view right and you're just're just like, yeah, I'm really mad and I'm going to get you the pay-per-view and I'm jealous about what you, who you are and got it. And they're

like, great, moving on. Right. And so it doesn't leave a lot of time to tell these like layered stories and realistic stories. And stories that like fans understand, right? Like diehard fans love the politics of the business. Totally. And then even people that aren't wrestling fans or haven't grown up loving wrestling that they could relate to in their own life. So we want to take the time to do the wrestling is wrestling. We love it. We don't have a problem. There's nothing that we want to change with wrestling. We want the entrance music to hit that bell to ring and two girls for however many are in the ring at that time to go for it and have killer athletic matches. But the difference is we want to take the time to have closed sets and time for people to prepare their lines, have layered stories that kind of mirror society and real people.

And they go through that curtain and they're superheroes and they're unstoppable and they're badasses and they're scrappy. But then when you're in your real life and the music cuts off and you go back, it's like, I'm feeling weak. I'm feeling vulnerable sometimes. I'm hurt after my match. My personal life isn't where I want it to be. And all of these things that you kind of got to power through

and go, well, that's my music. Time to go be a superhero. And then we interact with fans and they're like, you're so strong. You're a badass. You're so inspirational. I'm like, cool. But guess we interact with fans and they're like, you're so strong. You're a badass. Like, you're so inspirational. I'm like, cool. But guess what?

All the things that you feel, I feel those things too. And we want to show that there's layers to people and they're not a 24-7 badass. They are 24-7 badass, but those 24-7 hour badasses feel weak and vulnerable

and sad and depressed. At the end of the day. Right. That's how you sum that up. They're humans. Yeah, they're human. I've always wanted to ask a wrestler this, and I feel like I've never gotten the chance. Here's your chance.

Well, this is because this is the topic, too, because I'm a baby. I get sick all the time. How many times did you go out there and perform with a fever or just like you felt? Oh, yeah, true. Something that you would have called out of a 9-to-5 five but it's like there's no off season wrestling this is live television i'm in an active storyline like i have to go out there and perform i feel like every wrestler doesn't even have their sick story they have their food poisoning story okay because shout out catering yeah or just like you know we we get finished traveling all 11 p.m and you're just

pulling over where the quick is the only place that's open to get to your next gig. And that food poisoning, I feel like it struck everybody. And it's like literally the worst thing to wrestle with. Yeah, because you're taking bumps in every bump. And I'm like, please don't come out of anything. Yeah, exactly. So it's like that. I mean, that just goes with the physical of

trying to power through something and and when you know mentally it's like we can wrestle with our mind and go okay game time i gotta go but if your body is like yeah you can say that but like we're gonna do what we want to do projectile vomit i can't guarantee that's not gonna happen i forget who it was but i do remember somebody telling me they're like i literally rolled out of the wing ring lifted up the the ring skirt puked and came right back in and started fighting and it was like like i couldn't do that like if you just told me like go do that but like something where there's there's the crowd and the red lights on and you're just gonna i don't like whoa how did i do that i remember having that moment after i retired at the end of 2006 i feel like i slept for three days straight yeah and then i woke up and i

was like oh my god how did i do that like i was walking my dog just being like a normal ass human for the first time in like my adult life really and i was like whoa that was like it was that was very challenging i powered through so many things and to me like that's the story right there i never would have been able to do that but like you know we're like reality tv saturated so this isn't a reality show it's like we want to do the dramatized the beautiful cinematic version we want to have the wrestling look like an underground female fight club we want this to just have like this slick yet gritty vibe that we haven't seen that feels current and racy and kind of mirrors like everything that's going on society and just like somebody that could not be a wrestler

and that's what i always love just relating to humans so they're like oh my job my boss said this and i'll go i get it my boss said, you know, it just happens to be a totally different scenario, but we can just relate as humans. Yeah, you brought it down. I'm trying to say 35 words. You're like, you mean humans? Yeah, we want to show that these people that are also wrestlers and badasses are humans. Where did you get the idea from this?

Where did it come from where, or maybe it wasn't your idea, but how did this all come about where you decided, let's take the steps to making this a reality? Yeah. So Christy and Gail came to me. Christy and Gail had both been working on separate wrestling projects, and they were longtime very tight friends. Oh, yeah. And then they kind of hashed things out going, wait a minute. Why don't we marry my project with your project and just kind of evolved that and came to me just about two years

ago and they're like we have this idea development yeah yeah definitely because it is a new concept and it's taken on even new forms as as we've been hashing it out because we want it to be we want to be new and we want to be cutting edge but we also kind of can't alienate everything not only have we ever known but everything that our fan base has ever known, too. So it's like, how do we find that good balance in that marriage where we show you something new and cool, but it's also like, I need that comfort of what I love, too, which is like, I want to... So are you going back? Are you watching things now? Are you watching TV shows for inspiration? Are you watching wrestling for inspiration? Are you watching new wrestling, old wrestling? Yes. Everything. So yeah my favorite thing that I've done recently which has really helped me like

fall back in love with wrestling or and not that I was out but it's like this new like whoa because I'm just looking through a new lens is like the small like I'm on YouTube looking at the smallest wrestling shows from the weirdest, like the crappiest camera angles, but you can still feel that raw inspiration or charisma or like,

Ooh, there's something there. Maybe they're not all the way ready for, but we could help them or maybe have this person who is really new in the business in a smaller role where they're protected and I'm not putting them out there and a, you know, like an hour Broadway,

like ladder match, but we put them in these small roles and let them develop because I can see that little raw charisma. And I love if I'll see like a wrestler mentioned me or say something. And like, I love secretly be like, I already got my eye on you girl. You know, like you don't even know. Yeah. I'm watching all your stuff. Yeah. The show is called kayfabe. And I have a question that kind of ties into that a little bit where, you know,

you are a legend in women's wrestling, but now it's like you have social media where the, the active roster women now are using like their real names on Instagram and they're posting their real lives. If social media existed back, like when you first broke in, do you think that you would have just stuck with Lita? When I was hired in 2000, if we had social media, I would have been fired before it was 2001. I admire and feel the pain and struggle of those girls so much because i will watch them just have a week or a bad day or this

one comment be that straw that broke the camel's back that day and they're just like they go off or they retaliate or they quote tweet and i'm like girl like i feel you but like don't give them power it's just perpetuating it um but i totally understand why people just have to go out and defend themselves because again it's a human thing it's like a fight or flight right don't say that about me you don't even know you just acted like an authority on my life or you had or you said a really mean thing and i'm not just gonna sit here and take it so i totally understand but like if i hate you you'll never know because like the last thing i'm gonna do is like go out and say that because to me like you're dead to me yeah it is um more powerful

than so that's been my it's probably more of a survival technique for me you mute them on twitter so they don't know that they're yelling into an open voice you don't even block them don't give them the satisfaction oh hell no don't block them because then they know. Yeah. It's like, oh, I'm sorry. Was someone talking? If you mute them, you'll never see them again. They won't even know. They'll be yelling out into a void. Yeah.

So do you have any moments, and I'm sure you do, but that you're already in your mind thinking, this whole arc of my career could be placed into this show. We could plug this in, or maybe Gail is saying it, or maybe Christy is saying it. Your own personal experiences that you're putting into the show or are you trying to keep them two separate things? So I have a million experiences, but that's another movie entirely. Okay. That's a whole other show.

Yeah, so for Kayfabe, we've got a team of writers and we're just doing fictionalized amalgamation so that way we can make it the best and the most compelling stories and we're actually trying to keep our you know like our personal thoughts and because we want broad overarching topics that relate to people um and we got that a lot especially in the beginning before like making it more clear of people you know trying to go okay so you're telling your story through that and i was like no you could play a game where you try to guess who the characters are and who this is supposed to be.

And that might be fun, but you're going to be wrong or it's just going to be happenstance because we want to create these stories from scratch and make them fit in with the whole arc of our show. And like a pilot, sorry, with the season, we want to shoot these in seasons, not weekly episodic, so that there's a beginning and then there's a payoff at the end of the season.

We need to know where we're going with that cool um so another question about this whole thing with those big moments in your career that could be made into a movie a separate movie yeah and you're thinking i don't want to waste these in and not waste them i don't want to place them well yeah it's just like apples to oranges kind of thing yeah what are those that come to mind for you where you look back at your career now and you're like, that was looking back, that's something out of a movie? Oh, my gosh. Well, I mean, my origin story is kind of my favorite. When talking about just relating to people on a human level, my origin story is my favorite

story. Like coming up through Mexico, you're saying? Yeah. All that kind of stuff that you talked about in your Hall of Fame speech, right? Yeah. So just coming up through Mexico, you're saying all that stuff. Yeah. Hall of Fame speech, right? Yeah. So just coming up through Mexico and not having the Internet and when people are like, how do I get into wrestling? I'm like, you Google it and there's a performance center with a public address and you just send your tapes there until they see you. And you just keep practicing at all the wrestling schools that are in the Yelp.

You know, that's how you do that. But I didn't have that when I when I started. And so, I mean, it's like when I think about it now, it's like it's absurd. Like to think that like that wasn't supposed to work. Yeah. How did how did everything come about? How did everything happen? You know? wrestling it was more i was drawn more to the lucha libre style of wrestling which i didn't even realize i'm like oh it's for real from mexico because you know i'm like oh you know how like wrestling's fake so they just put these dudes in masks and they're supposed to be the luchadors they're like no they really are from mexico like you know and and i was competing in judo at the time and i was playing in bands and i was like oh look it's like being a rock star and an athlete in one gig i love it it. It's true.

So I just – Wow. I don't think I've ever thought about that before. Right, though? But that's wrestling. Like a rock star and an athlete. That's pretty dead on. Yeah. And I've used that to just like complete layman's terms when I'm speaking to my other real human friends that have no interest in wrestling.

And they don't even know that there's – who Lita is or anything about that, which usually I end up having an awkward moment like a year or six months after I've met somebody and they're like, I saw this video and you were like jumping and then like your legs were like wrapping and then you just like threw someone on the ground. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. That was a day at the office for me. Exactly. It was very regular. So, yeah, I mean, just I love the naivety and just the just, I call it like kid power of just being like, I'm going to be a wrestler. I'm going to go down to Mexico and figure out how to be a wrestler.

And just all of the, you know, I was saying like now, like there had to have been like kidnappers that were like tripping on the concrete, like right as they were going to kidnap me. The piano was falling out the apartment window right as i was like walking with my smoothie and just just didn't know the i didn't know i wasn't supposed to be down there trying to figure out how to do this and i it's like i cherish that story so much because that nobody will ever have that because they will google it and you should google it you should google how to do what you want to do instead of just blindly walk out and hit the pavement in a foreign country. So I really cherish that story so much.

And I cherish that experience about who – it kind of – it is also a summary and kind of embodies me, who I am. It's like you have a goal, right? Our goal is to make the show. I don't know exactly how that's going to happen and what that looks like. But I do know it's going to happen and what that looks like but I do know it's going to happen and so that's how I felt like with trying to wrestle is like okay I want to be a wrestler I'm going to say it out loud as many

times as anybody will hear me just so I can hear myself say it I'm going to figure out how to do it there's going to be a lot of weird roadblocks and I don't know how that's going to look in the end but I know I'm going to be a wrestler and so that's how I feel now 20 years later with kayfabe right you know we're introducing as a kickstarter i don't know how it's gonna happen

exactly but i do know it's gonna happen yeah i'm gonna be back here again and we're gonna be like how great was that right yeah can't wait if if your life were a movie would the neck injury be the biggest adversity point or right that's what like the second chapter right what do they call that like the what do they call that it's like in the act would you pinpoint that as your like if it were all like dramatized would that be the biggest point of adversity or was there something else that you overcame that you think was greater? That was it because I lost my kid power. I lost my sense of invincibility when that happened to me. I felt like I could do anything.

And not that that meant it was going to be easy, but I was like, I can figure out how to do anything. And I can figure out how to work around it. And it's almost even going back to the food poisoning. It's like, no, your body does rule over you at some point, no matter how bad you want it and how you want to do it. It was like, I remember laying there going, I physically can't get up. And it was during a stunt, practicing a stunt. I was on the set of Dark Angel,

and we were doing a stunt, like a practice for the, like we were going to shoot the scene in a couple of days. So it was a practice and the stunt woman dropped me on my head and I was laying there and so we stopped what we were doing and I'm laying there and they're like, you all right? And I said, I can wiggle my fingers and my toes, but I can't get up. And they're like, okay, you guys, just give her some space. She'll be all right. And I wanted to believe that, too.

I was like, yeah, I'm going to be all right. But I – Did it feel different than a regular – Oh, my God. I felt like nothing I'd ever felt. And it wasn't the pain. I was just like – There's nothing.

I'm just laying there. I'm like nothing. If I was – if there was a fire in the building, I could not move. It's like it didn't matter horrifying is that that's gotta get petrifying like were you was it part denial or part like realization holy shit half and half exactly so when they're they're going it's okay guys she probably just got a stinger she can get up you know she'll be she'll be all right and and you know just give her some space and i'm just like yeah yeah just give me some space i'm gonna be

all right you know i i'd love that that was the case but then the other part was like oh my god like I literally cannot get get up and then finally after about five minutes so meanwhile everyone's just just just like yeah yeah yeah craft services yeah when are we gonna have catering blah blah did you see this you know and I'm like and I'm literally laying there on the ground haven't moved since the second I crumpled into a pile and then they're like after five minutes someone's like so are you thinking to try getting up now and i was like like i'm just willingly like i was just like cool now that i've had this rest here i'll just go ahead and keep practicing and i said um well um are you supposed to move somebody because it's also i'm like denying and i don't want it to be as serious as the protocol that you know.

You don't want people to freak out because then it's going to freak you out. Yeah. It's like the little baby that like hits their head. It's like how hurt am I? I'm going to cry. So I'm like you're okay, buddy. And then I'm like I think if maybe someone pushes me to a sitting position, I could pull myself up. And so that's me like because I want to be able to,

but I know for a fact that I can't sit up right now. So maybe if I got to a sitting position, and they're like, okay, and they just pushed me to a seat. And I remember thinking it was my arm, because my arm was dead from like the where it hurt. So I was like, Oh, maybe I landed on my shoulder. Maybe my maybe my collarbones broken. That wouldn't be so bad yeah you know easiest bone to break great it's gonna be all right it's just a little collarbone fracture so i was holding my with my one hand holding my elbow trying to kind of wiggle myself up and um and i remember my we had the weekend off my mom was coming to visit and i remember that being like one of my first thoughts. Oh, no.

Like I don't want my mom to be bored. I'm going to have to – I got to try to – it's like all these other people. I don't want everybody here on this fight scene to have to – like I've got to try to figure out how to go on. But I was like, I know I can't. Like it was definitely felt so different. It was halting. So, yes, for sure that would be the second act because not only was it yes it kind of it hurt and it took me out of action for 15 months and but it it it forced me to change my

perspective to go sometimes no matter how bad you want it it's just not going to happen right then right and so i had to retrain and like retrain my brain but and the thing with the neck injury rest is your rehab whereas my acl it's like you can push stronger and go to rehab and increase your weights and do all this stuff where it's like you gotta rest yeah you can't work out your neck oh my god so like they're like your rehab is to rest. And so I had to really force myself to reevaluate everything. And like I had to just be patient. And for someone who's a go-getter, you don't want to be patient. So while I think it's like it gave me more tools to cope, to be patient and to go, okay, this isn't your time.

But it's going to – it doesn't mean it can't still be your time, but you have to be patient. So it gave me perspective. And I also feel that again, 20 years later, like, okay, like I can't snap my fingers and go, I want this season made. We're starting tomorrow. I know it's going to happen, but it might, it might end up taking more time than I want. And I just have to be patient with that and trust it. Yeah. At any point where you told you're done or you might be done, or was it just like like here's what the recovery time is for this specific injury? Yeah, I was told I was done. Flat out done.

I was told I was done. How many opinions did you get? So it was three weeks I was walking around going to different doctors because I was still on the road. And I just thought I would shoot down my neck and I would just it was terrible I mean I can't like that was one of the moments I look back on when I said I slept for three days after I retired and was like how did you do that yeah you know um so I somehow oh I I remember actually it's coming back to me I had a technique where I would stick my thumb in my belt loop to act as support for my arm that was dead.

Got it. And then I would just carry, and I had a technique where I would pull my roller bag, use my knee and pop it up and try to put it up in the overhead compartment to try to keep the left side of my body, which was highly, like, nerve-shooting, you know, stationary. Jesus. That's just insane. Yeah. Jesus. That's just insane. So I had an autograph session booked. And so I had an appointment with a doctor.

And so they're like, before your autograph session, we'll go get you another x-ray. I had the x-ray. Because the first x-ray I had, they were like, okay, took an x-ray of my neck. And then they said, okay, tilt your head back so we can see the flexion of it. And I said, I can't do that. And they're like, okay like okay well this this one is fine and so they didn't see the break so the the second time when i went to the doctor when i they said okay so then they had people like hold my head but try to get a little bit of tilt on it and then they saw my bones went like that you know it looked like a like a crack. They're like, oh, OK. Yeah, that shouldn't happen.

Put me in a hard collar immediately. They're like, we need to get you to the hospital. We recommend an ambulance so that there's no bumps or anything along the way. And I was like, OK, well, that's not going to happen because I got to go to an autograph session. But after that, I'll go stop by. Just give me an address of where to go. Yeah. And it was the hospital. And they're like, here's your bedpan.

Do not move until the surgeon comes in here. And they're like, you're done. We need to have emergency surgery immediately. We got to do all this stuff and blah, blah, blah. And do you know what my response was? What? It was in my hall. You're like, no way.

I got to. I said, OK. I know that you're an experienced surgeon. but I've just got to talk to somebody first before I do that. And they're like, okay. Was it Vince or Stone Cold? It was Stone Cold. Yeah.

And then the glass broke and he came in and he's like, all right, you're coming with me to San Antonio. You're getting the guy that did my neck and we're getting you back in the ring. And I was like, hell yeah. And that's what we did. That's what you did. I mean, like, cause he, I mean, he was legitimately like paralyzed for a second there. Like that's like.

So he had that in the ring. What I basically had when people were talking about craft service and then. And he had to get like a, what a small package. Yeah. And that match. Yeah. It's crazy that he even finished that match. Yeah.

Like think about like if that, cause first first of all was there any frustration for you knowing that that happened not in a ring where it's like if i mean if my career is going to end like it's going to be like a freak accident that happens like in the ring versus side work or whatever like that honestly yeah like on a on a separate human topic You know, it doesn't serve you to like hold hate. Yeah, or like resentment. It didn't happen on purpose. But I was so specific on what to do not only to protect me and what to do if you're feeling unclear and what to do if you're not okay to take the bump, how to still protect me,

and then we can get up and try it again. And the stunt person did exactly what I said. Whatever you do, just don't go to your knees. And she went straight to her knees, and that happened. And then I later found out she was a very new stunt person. I was going to say, how are you telling a stunt person how to do the stunt? Right. And so knowing all that stuff stuff it was very hard and very

also very important that i figured out how to release that anger because i'd wake up i'd wake up angry at her i'd wait i don't even know her name i never even you know like i knew her first name at the time you know but i mean i was just like i was wishing ill on her because i knew how much pain i was feeling like, even way more than physically. And then I would conversely get upset with myself for feeling that about anybody. And so it was... Well, for fans that want to understand the anger part, the way that the WWE contracts were constructed back then, were you still getting paid while you were out? Or is it like you have to...

It's pay to play. I don't even remember that that time but i know the overall um at that time was it's like whatever your downside of is it's divided into weekly installments so you're still getting something it's not like you have to go work but it did cost you but it cost me so much money and momentum sure um so in that wasn't even yeah so it was like gosh i was like on, I was still on the beginnings of my rise, when that happened. And then I had to just just screech to a to a halt, and due to something that like, should have never happened. Right. And so it was really hard for me to reconcile with and but also really important, because I knew it was eating me alive. And I it was impeding me from just like moving forward and being like okay like now that you've worked through that focus on like what's next in your career like i couldn't get there because i was mad and one of the like great things in professional wrestling obviously you hope it's not an injury

that causes it the time away yeah is awesome because a you get to recharge b that return it's like holy fuck like i didn't realize how much i love lita how much i miss lita like this return is awesome and when you come back you can almost reinvent your character and for the same like you're saying from the fans going i forgot how much i love lita and roher lita is also just like oh my god like I knew this was great, but it's really great. And I've really been feeling that with this inception of Kayfabe.

We were at a Joey Ryan's bar wrestling show filming some footage for it. And I am directing shots. That's a great place to film too. It's a nice tiny underground. Right. And so to have our main character leading this female underground fight house, like looking, you know, this gritty thing, it's like, tiny underground right and so to have our main character leading this female underground

fight house like looking you know this gritty thing it's like oh perfect like this is where she's scouting talent obviously or wrestling right and so i'm i'm directing shots and like we get the one and they're waiting go to go okay what's the next thing not realizing they're waiting on me because i'm caught up watching a match and i'm rooting and I'm like, oh, hell yeah. And I'm so excited. And I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. Are we working? But then getting so stoked at that feeling, I'm like, yes, this is that feeling, loving wrestling so much, knowing we're going to create something new in the industry, which is the only industry I've ever known in my adult career, to be able to add something new to it i'm like whoa this is really really exciting and a cool opportunity to have wait and i got to watch badass wrestling all the time sign me up

what was your i was just gonna say like on that last note about the injury like what was your confidence level at because some some like like the guys were i remember that i think triple h talked about it when he was out and he made the return at MSG. Yeah. And he talks about like what if I go out there and like nothing happens. Like no one cares. Like no one – it was like guys that are like awesome. Like they have these insecurity issues.

Did you have any insecurity being like what if I come back and like I come through the curtain and I don't hear anything? Or did you know they were like, lead us back. Like let's go. Okay. So mine was a little were like, lead us back? Like, let's go. Okay. So mine was a little bit different. And I remember actually talking to him about that. Was it the quad we were talking? I didn't talk the first one,

but I remember him saying that, um, because I felt that when I was laying there and he's used that, I actually used the example early, but he's like, yeah, if the building was on fire, I knew that I couldn't run out because that's how,

like how shredded my quads were, you know, even even even as they were building strength, my confidence wasn't there to know that. And that's how I felt there. I was like, I can't like physically done. But so mine wasn't not thinking the fans would welcome me back. Mine was so they said it's about a year injury. I was out for 15 months because right as it was coming up on 11 months i was just starting to feel like almost the old the new version of the old me and i was like and i told them i was like i'm not there yet like i i know i'm gonna get there but i'm just starting to get the thes of confidence. I need to have it back before I get there. And that was just in my ability, not are the fans going to accept me.

I was like I need to feel ready and I need to feel good. So I was so thankful. Not only did they give me – they said, yeah, take what you need, but also to get those extra three months and come in. I was probably only needed maybe one extra month, but we just went ahead to like just take those extra few months i mean i was like especially a wrestler with your style where you kind of like throw caution to the wind you don't want to come back and be trepidatious and then so that's the funny thing too and people talk about about this they're like oh you know she never really did stuff the same but it was the office that was like you know what in this 2.0 still do your stuff but you're not doing it at

every house show every night you got to make it special totally okay probably i will admit that was the right mentality that is the right mentality but i loved going out there doing it every night and i always felt comfortable doing it and especially that is where the benefit of getting hurt not in the ring i didn't have any trepidation. I'm like, these people know how to take my moves. I know what I'm doing in this ring. It didn't happen in the ring. So, and I probably only needed an extra month.

So by the time I came back at 15 months, I was like, let me the fuck out there. You know, like get me in that ring. So I did feel like super ready to go do every single move i had ever done but the office was like that's great and all but we're gonna wait till this next pay-per-view until we see you finally unleash those moves and let people have that doubt or really want to see you do those old moves again so um all right thank you thank you for putting this limitation you know you've had so many great returns since your retirement to the WWE. Surprises where your music hits, nobody knows it's hitting, people go fucking crazy.

The Royal Rumble comes to mind immediately. Which one is your favorite? Your favorite return to the WWE? Oh, my God. The Heath Slater one. Yeah. Leading up to Raw 1000. Yeah, Raw 1000.

Because, first of all, I love – so as we're talking about in kayfabe, we want to have these human and more realistic and gray stories where humans can relate to them. I love a boogeyman. I love a Heath Slater. I love somebody that is absurd that can only exist in wrestling. I'm like – Joey Ryan is a perfect example. Perfect example. His dick flip, everyone, every wrestling fan in the world loves it.

Everyone that doesn't know wrestling is like, yes, what is he doing? But also, can you do that again? It's great. So I love it. And I just threw that out on a whim when they asked to come back for Raw 1000 and they're like, oh, you pitched that? Yeah, they're like, that's not a bad idea and i was like what i mean yeah yeah

it's not a bad idea that's why that's why it's gonna happen great ideas all right yeah so it was one of those and it was so fun because he just plays right into exactly what the crowd wants the bad guy to do. Just so, you know, it was like, so it was so fun because it was just like, and my favorite thing that I've seen from that Raw 1000 appearance, just to catch anybody up who doesn't know every single episode from the past 15 years of wrestling. Heath Slater was on this kick where he just kept going, anyone, if anyone did come out,

I swear I'm going to beat them. And then he would get his ass kicked every week, always, right? I remember Big Van Vader came out one night. I mean, anyway, it was just like that gig, it's like that, besides his body from getting beat up, has as much longevity as a Ron Simmons. Damn. Yeah. Right. You're just like, I can see it every week. It's great.

It's hilarious. Who's going to come out. So my favorite thing that I've seen from those appearance are people in the arena with their cell phone and then going, it's like somebody is having a seizure while watching me come out because you just didn't expect that. Yeah. Right.

And also, so feeling that, so it was so unexpected. So cool. And then going behind the curtain, right? while watching me come out because you just didn't expect that yeah right and and also so feeling that so it was so unexpected so cool and then going behind the curtain right if you're knowing it's about to happen now just to see me heath slater's gonna do every single thing he can to maximize like to play right into that audience like i'm in the moonsault yeah yeah yeah so so that that was just like fun because it was like embodied the perfect great things about wrestling. And you had been away for a while. I'd been away for a while. I hadn't been physical.

It was just fun. Is that the best feeling ever too when you get that pop that you wanted? It's just – to me the best feeling for me is like when you can just have fun because it's like it takes all of the best things about wrestling. There's like when I have a killer match, like Solo will take my main event with Trish. That feeling of feeling really great and feeling like wrestling is awesome is a totally different feeling from the Raw 1000 fun thing with Heath Slater. And they're both great. Right. But like different intensity, totally different intensity and totally different mindset going in there.

The thing with Heath Slater, it's like you can be even more over the top because it's like it calls for it. And then when I was in the main event with Trish, we wanted to just be like, all right, get ready for this shit. Here we go. Right? So it's just kind of two different mentalities and they're both great. And wrestling is just one of those industries. It's like so many facets rolled into one. And it's funny how many it's like guilty pleasure that people are with wrestling. And they're like, I kind of like wrestling. It's like, yeah, because there's something for you to relate to.

And it's great. And people that you wouldn't think would be wrestling fans are wrestling fans. We're introducing like one of our friends to wrestling now, sort of. And we just basically put wrestling on. We're like, watch this. We'll leave it on in the background. Yeah, my boyfriend is an outsider. He's a non-wrestling person, so all he knows is either what people send him

or I had a no Googling rule for a while. I was like, I want you to know me from us interacting, and then after you know me, you can Google and see whatever because you already know who I am. Interesting. But I don't want you to know me through outside eyes. Like that's not real life. Especially your point of character. Right?

Yeah. You know? But anyway, so now that he's – so his perception is only from that. And so now I'll be like, oh, that's cool and kind of start to make wrong. It's great when people use the terminology wrong. It's my favorite. You're still a mark. But he's hooked a little bit, right?

Yeah. The guy that we're teaching wrestling, he's fascinated with blading. Oh, yeah. He wants to do it. He's like, I would love a wrestler showing me how to blade. He wants to understand the science behind it. Putting it in the wrist tape. That's what he's like.

Blading is very fascinating the concept is just like his favorite he's like on reddit like some threads and he's just like does he slice their foreheads open

yeah we'll like watch like old wrestling matches and like we'll show him like where to look for like the handoff or like the wrist tape or whatever back to your life

about being a movie though if it were a movie the closing scene is it in your wrestling career or as lita or is it something that happens post-retirement as amy what i would love how we send in the crowd home yeah this is how we're sending the crowd home happy i feel like we got to go beyond the wrestling career yeah because so much what was always important to me when I was wrestling it's always a um it's a lot of when you're in you're like in you're in a bubble right

and so many of us are only referred to by our gimmick names because you just become that person and it was even a conscious effort constantly like people would always go oh look there's Lita always introduced I'm Amy I'm Amy I'm Amy and and it was to be like I need to also maintain who I am so that's why in my movie we also have to kind of show a little beyond and I right after wrestling actually right at the tail end I took my first surf lesson but so surfing is why I kind of like like I feel really zen if I feel stressed or anything like I don't only do when I'm stressed but I'm not stressed if I'm in the water you know yeah it just feels very like oh this is where i'm supposed to be but surfing are either of you surfers no but i've been invited okay that's a start yeah you're

pretty much if you've been invited it's gonna have no way next next off season that's gonna be my thing yeah it's totally clearly um but it's really hard it's so hard and it looks so hard it's so hard and the thing is like no two waves are ever the same so you can't if you caught one you can't go oh cool i got it now and then you just do it so it's so hard so i've surfed for a long time but i'm not good at all you know and so at the end um after like the dust has settled all of the the third the second i overcame this and there and then and then and then i just have my board and then i paddle out and then i get barreled there's a full barrel and i'm and i'm there and i'm just shredding but like i wasn't a good surfer in the movie you might have had like a quick interlude where like i caught a

little bit of a wave but like i got wiped out but like you just know i'm like dude i gotta recharge and then like you see me but then at the very end i get barreled and they're like oh she's got it yeah and scene and scene done that's pretty fucking dope yeah credits directed by so-and-so i need to get into who's your director last question who's you who's your director? Last question. Who's your director? Robert Rodriguez. Directing the movie of your life. Oh, shit. Boom. Boom. There's rumors that he's doing something in season two of The Mandalorian, so we're hoping Robert Rodriguez baby Yoda stuff.

On his off time from directing my movie. Right. Of course. With availability. Availability.