My Mom's Basement - QUARANTINE MINI-POD: ALEXA BLISS

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

Alexa Bliss joins the From The Top Rope boys in the Basement to discuss her new podcast, 'Uncool', as well as her career in the WWE, dream WrestleMania opponents, and more. 3Chi: Use code BASEMENT at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.comYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. We've got Alexa Bliss on the program, former WWE Women's Champion, Raw Women's Champion, SmackDown Women's Champion, Tag Team Women's Champion. She's held all the belts that there is to hold for a woman in the WWE. Before we get into that interview, let me talk about our sponsor. Each and every week, our presenting sponsor. The people that are keeping the lights on and making sure that this podcast is coming out, I guess, multiple times a week for you now. Usually, it's more than one time a week since quarantine, at least.

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going to want to eat the whole bag, but you probably shouldn't. Not all in one sitting at least. Again, go to 3chi.com, the number three, chi.com, and use the promo code BASEMENT for 5% off your order basement at checkout now let's get into this interview with wwe superstar alexa bliss all right welcome back to the show ladies and gentlemen it's my mom's basement and a special from the top rope edition of my mom's basement robbie fox jared karabas and alexa bliss alexa bliss is debuting a new podcast first ever podcast each Tuesday. She's going to sit down with WWE superstars and celebrity guests to celebrate

all things uncool. That's the title of the podcast. So I'm going to start right here. This podcast is called my mom's basement. We kind of lean into, you know, the people saying, Oh, go back to your mom's basement. You're leaning into the uncool thing, but I feel like people would look at you and say, you're a super cool WWE superstar. What about you is uncool? Alexa I feel like people would look at you and say you're a super cool WWE superstar what about you is uncool Alexa Bliss good question oh man um anything that anyone knows about me as a person I would say is pretty uncool um yeah I just I so my whole thing was like I grew up not cool at all and you know we look up to these people that we see on tv or artists and you always

think man they probably had like a really easy high school really easy middle school and so i wanted to dig deep into that and come to find out that everyone you know has their uncool moments everyone was just like me growing up and i think it's a lot of fun to explore that and to find out who people were before they were either ww superstars or artists or actors. Yeah. I feel like that's going to be very easy to find, uh, with, with the WWE roster, because I mean, Robbie and I obviously grew up wrestling fans and like, that wasn't cool. Like that just wasn't cool.

Like there was definitely like the period where it's like middle school, everyone loved wrestling and then you get to high school and it's like, oh no, it's like my secret shame. And then you kind of get to like this phase of adulthood where everyone's like, yeah, no, I, I do love wrestling. So it's, it's, it's like oh now it's like my secret shame and then you kind of get to like this phase of adulthood where everyone's like yeah no i i do love wrestling so it's yeah it's a cool thing especially when you have people that are spending their lives on getting to the wwe so you're gonna have no shortage of stories from people that were viewed as uncool so i want to know who someone that you haven't yet talked to about coming on who's like your your white whale guest

um i really want to get more comedians on there so i would say um like nick swardson or sebastian maniscalco someone like that who you know a lot of comedians they use their upbringing as material so i think it'd be a lot of fun to actually interview some comedians and see you know what their lives were like growing up and uh yeah I mean WWE wise um who did I not interview that I would really like to um I mean maybe like John Cena so I feel like he would have a very interesting childhood story, especially being as successful as he is now. Definitely. And even John Cena is, you know, going and doing suicide squad and stuff like that.

Now you could just talk to him about superheroes. Cause that as a superhero fan myself, also an uncool thing to a lot of people, but now it's kind of the mainstream thing, right? The adventures. Yeah. It's kind of socially accepted now. Yeah.

So did you listen to podcasts before you wanted to do this yourself? Like, do you have favorite podcasts? What made you want to hop into the game, you know, to begin with? Um, so it's WWE approached me about doing the podcast, I think, because, you know, I do moment of bliss and people that know me, you know, I like to talk to people and like to just talk in general. So, um, I think it was more of that approach, um, because they approached me and they were like, Hey, would you want to do a podcast and I was like sure about what you know and uh they were like whatever you want and so it was it was a bunch of different things at first it was at first they were going to keep it more towards the WWE character persona it was going to be about like coffee and games and stuff like that and then

it turned into um something that was a little like between two ferns-ish. And then we did a few test episodes with people, with WWE superstars. We did a couple test episodes with Tyler Breeze. And we just found that the funniest things to talk about was your awkward moments growing up. And so after that, we were like, you know, let's go that route. And I didn't really know what all went into doing podcasts because I, before this, I hadn't really listened to podcasts, um, because I love music and whenever we drive, I just, I have to have like music recently. I just went on a road trip this weekend and we listened to a podcast.

Um, was it in your own backyard? I'm slipping in your own backyard. And that's a terrifying podcast. And I've never listened to like a very serious podcast so that was very different and I'm really getting into listening to podcasts and I love it and um yeah it's just been so much fun and that's kind of how it really came about we've been working on it for over a year because of COVID we filmed like our first one with Tyler, I think maybe October, September, October last year. And because of COVID and everything, we had to stop. And then, you know, we had to try to get

guests that we could get from home. And so it was a whole thing, but it's finally here and it's finally debuted and it's, I think it's going pretty well. Awesome. I'm looking forward to it. So transitioning a bit to wrestling and your career in wrestling, you've seen so many different iterations of your own character, just in your short time in the WWE, really your overall career, compared to a lot of other people. Do you enjoy getting the chance to reinvent yourself or do you like kind of

getting to settle and develop a character as it is? Oh, I love changing. I love changing, evolving, anything that's different out of the box. That's a hundred percent me. Because there's been times, you know, even when I was recently, I was like, I need to do something different. Like this is doing the same. Like, I feel like I'm the same and I feel boring. And so I I'm that person. I constantly have to be working on the next thing or what if I add this to my character? What if I do that? What if I change this, change that? Um, you know, that along with all my many hairstyles and outfits and stuff like that, I just like change. And I like doing things different and changing your

mindset to reflect another character and how they would think. Yeah. That's, that's kind of like, I mean, I'm so, when we're doing these interviews with like WWE superstars, I'm fascinated by how you balance like life as Lexi. And then you have Alexa bliss. and then like for at barstool like we we kind of do the same thing where like the characters are just an extension of our personalities so for you like how much of alexa bliss is lexi well right now a few months ago let's just say six months ago okay six months ago with

Nikki Cross as we'll just go like with when we were tag team champions right um that's pretty much me so when I first also when I first debuted in NXT with the glitter and the tutu and the whole deal that was just me like that was that was like, I love Disney. I love all things sparkly, glittery, whatever. I'm like the most not girly girl, girly girl you'll ever meet kind of a thing. Like I love anything sparkly, but I can't get myself to get out of yoga pants. You know what I mean? Like I won't like, you know what I mean? I don't put, I mean, I'm wearing a sweatshirt and this is me dressed up, you know? But that was my character. That was me turned up to a million. And then I realized that it was not relatable. Like no one can relate to that kind of character or that person.

And so when I changed and joined Blake and Murphy, I kind of just channeled every girl I went to high school with and, and became that girl. You know what I mean? That girl that, you know, all the guys, you know, thought she was mean, but still like wanted to be with her and the girls, like she was, the girls hated her, but still wanted to be her friend and, you know, stuff like that. So I just kind of, I took, you know, stuff from my real life experiences you know because I grew up with not so nice girls and um my but I'll never like say their names so I never want to give

them like that gratification that they've made me who I am today but they have you know and so that I'd say the last year of Alexa Bliss character the mean version is a complete opposite of who I am. And I love that because I get to portray a character and go into a different mindset. And now with what we're doing, it's so different because it is hard to balance, especially on social media and everything like that. But, you know, people have to realize, you know, there's a fine line between what we portray on TV and who we are as people. And I think that it's very important that people know that there is a line there, um, that we're not just, I'm not always walking around just being mean to people. Yeah. Do you like, do you have people from your past that were mean to you? Like in high school

that reach out now they're like, Oh my God, so great to see how well you're doing and like they're oh 100 are you kidding me yeah 100 so i actually um okay so i had one instance where a girl who i had gotten into a fight with she her and her friends had jumped me in high school yeah it was a whole thing yeah in ohio um i actually had to move schools um i got bullied really bad in uh high school uh the beginning of high school and um she ended up like after the fact asking me to post like do you remember when like tiktok was musically back in the day she asked me to like repost her daughters on my page and like i was just like it's just funny we're fine now we're fine now but it's just funny that i was just like that's weird you're like you

jumped me yeah yeah remember that like yeah it is kind of nice for her, though, as a heel. Like, you're like, thanks for the material, girl. Yeah, you know what I mean? I mean, I guess I owe it to her. I mean, but no, it's definitely different. Or, like, people will reach out, and they'll know another WWE superstar. Like, oh, my God, I know this person. I know that person. And they'll be like, I know Alexa.

And I'm like, you aren't nice to me. Why are you sure? But I'm always that person. Like, I believe in second know Alexa. And I'm like, you aren't nice to me. Why are you sure? But I'm, I'm always that person. Like I believe in second chances and giving people benefit of the doubt. And the last time I was in Ohio, I actually met up with that girl and, uh, we got along great and everything was fine. And I just don't like having like bad blood with people. You know what I mean? It really bothers me. Cause I'm like a firm believer in karma and, you know, all that fun stuff. I don't think that that's like karma against you though. Like if they treated you poorly and you were the bigger person and you like i feel like you can just like shut that door and be like i understand that you want to make amends now because i became

somebody but at the end of the day you're a bad person you know that you're a bad person so you're reaching out as sort of like a guilt trip type deal and i'm just not interested in i feel like you don't owe them the the luxury of you being nice in return. See, I like to, I'm really weird about this. Like I don't believe that, you know, I feel like some people, they're not bad people. They just made bad decisions when they were young. Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's kind of how I approach it. I'm like, you know what? It's been like 10, 12 years. Like I am not the same person I was 10 12 years ago I was walking around with a Jar Jar Binks mask on thinking it was cool when my other friends were you know going to fallout boy concerts like you know what I mean like I was

because I was young for my lightsaber tatted on my arm I'm with you yeah the most uncool thing ever yeah like I wasn't you know I wasn't that person and i was just because i was so much younger than everyone else in my grade so i matured a lot younger and like a lot slower so like when the girls were out doing their girl things like i was i was playing with pokemon cards with my neighbor and just you know it was what it was you ever get like a holograph uh charizard i did have a holographic charizard yeah my grandma connie got that for me and i remember i was in her because she had a hair salon i was in her hair salon and she gave it to me and i thought it was the coolest thing ever but in fairness i only collected pokemon

cards because my neighbor cory collected pokemon cards and i really liked cory that's what my sister did my sister steph had a whole book of Pokemon cards and she told me recently, she was like, oh yeah, I liked some guy. I thought he was cute. I wanted to trade with him. It's like, all right, you don't have to tell me that. You're married now. I don't want to hear about your eighth grade crush. Yeah, I know. I had the same one. I had like a blue book and it had a Pokeball on the front and it clipped and then you just had like all your cards in there and it was merely just so I could go trade Pokemon cards with Coreyory that's hysterical that's literally my sister's same story robbie just brought up his tattoo so he has the

lightsaber tattoo he's got a whole sleeve of um things that he likes so you have tattoos but they're all like in white ink so you can't see yeah do you see them you can see them but like in the ring you probably can't yeah but that's that's on purpose yeah so like do you envision yourself ever getting a tattoo that's like visible probably not i mean i mean they're pretty like i'll show you they're kind of i mean now that i've got them lasered here's a little trick too so i just got them lasered and so they're actually like brighter now after i got them lasered. And because a lot of times with white inks, they'll turn different colors. If you're in the sun, like if you tan too much, they'll turn brown or yellow.

So like now they're all pretty visible. Now they're like pretty bright. If you like, look, that's my power line. That's my space and power line tattoo. But they're all pretty bright, but I just like them how they are. And I like that you can't see them unless you're like a couple inches from me. So I don't think I would ever go over them or get dark tattoos or anything like that. Just because I like that I'm like, I know it's there.

It is unique for sure. You had just mentioned Nikki Cross and the whole tag team run. I thought that was a great run. And for a long time in women's wrestling, you guys were asking for tag team titles. That was like the thing. And before that, it was pay-per-view main events. Before that, it was, you know, just more time on television.

What do you think is next for the women's evolution? Because obviously it's still going. Things are still needing to be done to make things even. What is next in your mind? What would you like to see next? I would like to see another wrestlemania main event you know if i just happen to be in it that'd be great too but i would like to see another women's match main event wrestlemania because i feel like that was such an awesome thing for our women that i i you know i think it should happen again i mean obviously

not like back to back to back to back um but you know, I think it'd be cool if we, we keep main eventing stuff. I think it'd be awesome. So putting you on the spot, like if you could main event WrestleMania, who's your opponent? So I've always said I would like to have a triple threat tag team match with the Bellas, Trish and Lita and me, and either like Nikki Cross or Nia Jax or Mickey James. Cause those have been like my tag partners in my career.

So I'd like to have a triple threat tag team match. Love that. I was actually, I was at Hell in a Cell in Boston. I believe it was Sasha and Charlotte that had the Hell in a Cell match. If you could pick one sort of gimmick match to be in, what would it be? Like, what's your, what's your, like what's your what's your like would you be i could see you in like i don't know like like uh like like women have done a bunch of like the gimmick matches now but like the first ever women's inferno match like i don't know do you

well so i really liked the elimination chamber match i loved being in the chamber which was a lot of fun and the stipulation matches are actually my specialties because there are not many of those that i've lost um majority of my matches that i've won have been stipulation matches so i mean i i loved the elimination chamber i would love to do that again um being in the chamber and in the pods it was a lot of fun but yeah any any stipulation match mean, there's nothing really I would ever say no to, cause I'm like a big fan of like taking advantage of every opportunity. So, I mean, as long as it's not like, I don't know, Larry Steve on a pole match or something on a pole match. Yeah.

Yeah. It's something on a pole match. I'm a little short, but you know, I think it'd be fun. Well, you mentioned Larry Steve um that's your best instagram content i always like i specifically comment on larry steve content exclusively but i want to know because like you when you got larry steve he was supposed to be a little guy did you know that he was going to become as big as he has become like did they warn you about this and for those that don't know he's a pig he's a pig yeah he's a pig he's a 200 pound pig i knew 200 pounds yeah he's 200 pounds he's a big boy get out of here big boy big belly um so he when i got him he was four pounds but i knew how big he was going to

be you could hold him in one hand at one point and i knew how big he was going to be because when i got him i saw his parents and his grandparents on the pig farm. And so I knew, I knew, I knew how big he was going to be. Um, and you know, pigs are only as big really as you feed them. So some people, they try to keep their pigs small, but that means they're not feeding them properly, which I fully disagree with, obviously. I mean, hence Larry's 200 pounds. But he's very spoiled. He's very happy. And now he's getting kind of freaked out because we have an English bulldog now named Sir Stanley Storm.

And Stanley is now getting up there in size. So when we first got him, he was 10 pounds. And this was two months ago, And he's already 30 pounds. So he's growing really quickly. And all my other animals are really small. So Larry's not sure what to think about Stanley. Because Frank and Ted are both small. Izzy's small. I know my animals have people names too.

And so they're all small. And Stanley's big. So it'll be very interesting to see their dynamic when Stanley's done growing. When you're on the road so much, like, I mean, I don't have a dog, like I want a dog. I live by myself. So like, I want to like get a dog, but it's like, you have to like give it to your parents to take care of when you're on the road. Like how, like how do you hand off a 200 pound pig when you're on the road? So my aunt lives with me um my aunt lives with me and her she loves the animals so much and she basically takes care of them when i'm on the road or anywhere else

and then murphy and i still share our three dogs that we have together so there's there's a lot of trade-off obviously we can't trade off a pig but you know larry actually likes it too when the uh the other dogs go and stay with murphy because he gets the house to himself you know, Larry actually likes it too when the other dogs go and stay with Murphy because he gets the house to himself. You know what I mean? He gets to – He's the king. He gets to – yeah, he gets to roam the house without Izzy bothering him because Izzy and Larry, they have a little feud. The other dogs are really chill.

But he gets to, like, chill. He gets all the attention. He gets all the belly rubs, you know. So he's pretty happy when they go um because they'll go for like a week at a time but my aunt lives with me and she takes care of the animals and then my oops i just clicked something and then my parents live eight houses down from me look at that that's awesome it's very convenient that's like the dream set up just go over to your mom's have her cook you dinner every night that's what i would do that's what i'm doing never make it

dinner yeah that's what he does every night yeah yeah um so we got the wwe draft coming up as well this is obviously a huge thing and after this one you won't you still won't be traveling like you used to in the past i know in the past right draft has disrupted like travel groups and whatnot have you ever had your travel group split up by the draft where you didn't know it was coming and then all of a sudden you're on a different team you're like all right i guess we're taking different cars tonight oh yeah um i used to ride all the time with ember moon we'd always were really close friends and we used to travel together 24 7 um naya jackson we were traded to different brands and um nikki and i i mean we're not traveling now but if something happened you know if we were to unfortunately be drafted to

different brands um I mean but right now we're not traveling so it's kind of it's a little different yeah it's a little different but yeah there's it definitely happens it always happens we you know you just gotta adapt it's like the WWE version of being like all right you're in this class and having no friends in that class being like damn I need to meet new people now um do you have a favorite draft moment it could be like your own it could be just in the general for instance like i feel like the one that comes to mind for a lot of people is john cena going to raw back in the day that was such a shock um right do you have a favorite um i mean obviously there's i feel like it would be weird if I didn't say my own. So mine would be when I got drafted to SmackDown for the first time from NXT because I wasn't expecting it. It was a genuine reaction and genuine shock because I was a very underwhelming draft pick.

Because in NXT, I wasn't really doing much. So, um, I think it was, that was my favorite because it was, it was meaningful. And, um, and then last year, I think, you know, having a woman be the top draft draft pick with Becky Lynch was really cool too. Do you remember not, not like when you first got into wrestling, but do you remember the first time that you came across wrestling? Oh God, I was so young. My, my mom's side of the family are die hard, die hard WWE fans like die hard. Um, you know, my grandma always thought she was going to marry dusty roads. My aunt Kim always thought she was going to marry stone cold.

And I grew up with my cousins in a blow up pool out back that had no water in was going to marry dusty roads my aunt kim always thought she was going to marry stone cold and i grew up with my cousins in a blow-up pool out back that had no water in it pretending to be a wrestling ring and they were acting like the hardys and so it's it's i maybe four five six age range i don't know i mean is it like as cool to perform for them as it is for all of the fans around the world like for me like talking to people uh that my brother is interested in I'm like do you see how cool this is like we grew up together we know this so when you're like doing cool stuff do you just think of your family and you're like they must think this is awesome like I want to make them proud um you know I've never thought about that I've always just I don't know like my I I try to

separate I try not to talk too much about WWE with my family um because they are such big fans of it you know and I I'd never want to like my grandma I remember my grandma called me not too long ago and she goes did you see Lana left Rusev for Bobby with Ashley and I was like yeah I sure did you know what I mean like I mean it's really cool like you forget about how cool it is and I think like but yeah there was a moment too though when when Dusty was still alive he I asked him to send my grandma a happy birthday video because she was like such a big fan of his and he did and it was great and it was awesome and he did so well and uh I think that was like my this is cool moment you know what i mean because you know

especially for my grandma and she and my grandpa they love dusty so much who doesn't that's really awesome yeah dusty's yeah dusty's the man uh like obvi i will go out on a limb right now and say that your career defining moment like when when you hang up the boot someday like that moment has yet to happen like you've got like 20 years to go but if you were to say right now okay i'm walking away i want to go into podcasting full time so i'm leaving wrestling behind what would you say has been your career defining moment to this point oh man i think career defining moment to this point oh man I think honestly I think it was my career defining moment I think was my first match back in the

Royal Rumble after my concussions because I wasn't sure if I was gonna have a career after that that. Um, so for me, that was a big moment, um, to prove myself wrong and to show like, Hey, like, especially when you're forced, when you're forced to sit out and take time out, you really reflect on your career and what's important. And, you know, sometimes you take those moments for granted and because you're so busy, you on to the next thing on to the next city on to the next pay-per-view so i think for me that was one and you know i think nothing ever nothing ever takes away from your first title win too so i would say my first title win because you know i i was never expecting to ever win a title let alone five and a tag you know what i mean like that was never expecting to ever win a title, let alone five in a tag. You know what I mean? Like that was never, that was never a thing for me.

My first WrestleMania on the roster, my mom asked, she was like, should, should I buy WrestleMania tickets? And I'm like, no, it's going to be years until if I'm on WrestleMania ever, you know what I mean? And then that WrestleMania walked in SmackDown Women's Champion. So it was just very like, I don't know, crazy. Yeah. Crazy, crazy.

I think that, and I'm definitely not alone in this opinion, I think that you're one of the best talkers in the company, not just, like, the women's division. So I'm curious, like, is there someone that you drew inspiration from, like, watching their promos and also are you like cognizant of not watching other people too much because you don't want to like sound exactly like them like who who is your inspiration like who do you still watch people now you know I don't because I don't my whole thing was you have to be first the first better or different and I don't, my whole thing was you have to be first, the first better or different. And

I don't want to be the next someone I want to be the first and best Alexa bliss I can be. And so for me, you know, obviously I grew up watching Trish Stratus and Ray Mysterio, but I'm not going to be that person that, you know, mimics what they do because that's them. That's their career. That's what they're famous for. You know what I mean? That's their iconic things that they do. So I'm going to try to do things completely different. And for me, I just, I don't know. I, it was a lot of practice because my first promo class in NXT, I cried because I don't like talking in front of people never have oh my god what a what a transformation like oh then to now yeah even in college like when we would have to read our papers I would

just not read my paper I would just sit in the back and just I'm good you know I mean like I never could do it and I guess it was just a learning phase and I try not to watch other people because why would I want to mimic what they do when I can do something myself? That's just me, though. Yeah. I mean, like, there's definitely like a psychology to it. Like, just talking to you now, like, you can tell that, like, the person that you are in your everyday life is not the person that goes out to the ring and, like, cuts a promo that, like, makes people feel it in their hearts. Yeah.

So, yeah, like like it's very different. And, and yeah, I mean like, I guess that's, um, I mean that's all, that's a tip of the cap to like the, the NXT, like, like training that they have down there when they have like promo schools. So was Dusty like a big influence for you down there in terms of like cutting promos? Yeah, he, he, he helped me out a lot. Dusty was an amazing promo teacher and promo coach. He was always, he allowed us to be so just creative and open with that, whatever we wanted to try, because he would always say you have to be a total body of work. because some people will come into class and do the same thing every week because they think that's what that he wanted to see but no like it's it's something different every week and then um I remember William Regal came into our promo class and he would say put yourself in your most uncomfortable situation and try it and so that's kind of how I got over the whole talking in front

of people thing, because I mean, it's a very uncomfortable thing to do, especially like hosting WrestleMania, right? Being in a ring in front of 80,000 people is a lot different than speaking in front of 80,000 people with them all just staring at you on stage. Completely different because the ring is the same size, no matter how big the arena is. But when you're on the stage and all those people are just staring at you to

wait to open WrestleMania, a little different. Yeah, I can't imagine that. Oh my God, I would be an anxious mess. Alexa, this has been an honor. Thank you. It's been a great time talking to you. Her podcast, Uncool, comes out every Tuesday. So check it out.

And of course, look out for where she'll be placed in the upcoming WWE draft.