My Mom's Basement - QUARANTINE MINI-POD: BIG E

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

Big E of The New Day joins the From The Top Rope boys (Robbie, Jared Carrabis, and Brandon Walker) to discuss wrestling without crowds present, his newly rediscovered excitement in the Bucs, his feelings on those who want The New Day to break up, if he currently has singles aspirations, and more!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 members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. With Brandon Walker, Jared Karabas, and of course, as you've seen in the title already, Big E of the Nude Day. Before we get into that interview, let me remind you guys once again of our sponsor this week, Fleischman Salon. I've been getting my hair cut there for a few years now. It's been a game changer for my hair. Erica has been cutting my hair, a bunch of the other guys at Barstool as well. She knows men's hair better than anyone. And I am very excited to share with you that Fleischmann just launched their new damn good hair product line with everything you need to keep your hair healthy,

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You'll get 20% off. You'll support your own hair as well. Now let's get into this interview with Big E. And I am here with the From the Top Rope Boys, Jared Karabas and Brandon fucking Walker. We are also here with Big E. He is joining us to talk SmackDown on USA Network tonight, Friday. And of course, you're wearing the Tampa Bay hat.

I got to ask right off the bat, how are you feeling about Gronk? How are you feeling about Brady? Are you giving Kofi shit already? Of course I am. How could I not? It's a new day in Tampa Bay. Yes. That was actually, there was a, this is when I was a kid.

I can't remember. I was looking for the commercial, but they used to run this like ads. These like, it's a new, I can't remember the jingle, but there was a jingle. It's a new day in Tampa Bay. You're supposed to get people excited about the bucks because they were horrible for years uh when they were playing in the old sombrero um but anyways how can you not be excited we got brady and gronk and i just want a circus that's that's what i want i'm not like

whether they get to the playoffs or make a super bowl run that's whatever but i'm i'm here for the for the circus um what are your actual expectations? Like, do you think – like, what record are you kind of like – what's the floor, what's the ceiling for you? I think 11 wins is very possible. That's like I'd be happy with 11 wins. I think the defense needs some showing up. But, man, with Mike Evans now, with Gronk uh their receivers uh they got some weapons uh on offense so uh I don't know I think it's hard to say I'm intrigued to see what

they do with the draft and what pieces they have some pieces to fill I think on the offensive line uh they can use a pass rusher but we'll see I'm excited to uh to see where that goes how's that offensive line I don't even know. If I'm being honest, I just re-jumped on the Bucs bandwagon. I need some time to catch up. And don't blame me. For the last decade,

did you want me to sit down and watch every single Buccaneers game? It's painful, man. It's painful. I'm actually a big college guy. College football is my I'm actually I'm a big college guy so college football is my baby uh and I I'm a bit of a lapsed uh Bucs fan but I'll I'll admit to being back on the bandwagon I'm a bandwagon Bucs fan but I grew up in Tampa uh so and I live here now so I'm allowed that are you are you completely an Iowa fan when it comes to college football or do you still have

some childhood connections to Florida um I grew up a Florida State fan but who wants to be a Seminole fan these days? It's horrible. So I'm definitely an Iowa guy and the cool thing for me is Coach Ferentz has been there since 1999. So I got there in 04. It's the same head coach, the same strength coach and Coach Doyle. We have there's like four or five coaches that I played for 15 years ago that are still there. So there's a lot of continuity. They show me a lot of love. I was back there a couple of years ago and got to see the new facilities.

So I'm definitely an Iowa fan, but I've also like college football was my first love and I, I love the big 10. So I watched big 10 games. I'll watch, I'll always try to catch the big games though. Like I watch everything. I'll try to watch the big games, though. Like, I watch everything. I'll try to watch the big games.

So I'm just a college football junkie, and I'm really intrigued to see what happens with the season. Obviously, I hope they do the safest thing, but the talk of doing a spring or a winter season is interesting. I don't know how that would work, especially with a turnaround. Like, if you were to play games up until May, are you expecting guys to have a couple months off and then jump right back into another season? I don't know.

Well, that's going on with athletes in every sport. I know you guys are no different. I'm sure you're just waiting at home, waiting for the call to go back to work. I know you guys are still, you know, you got SmackDown coming out tonight, and you got SmackDown coming out every Friday night. But how anxious are you to get back out on the road? Yeah, man. Obviously, safety is the most important thing but I miss being in front of fans man it's it's not the same I I will say I'm I'm glad we have an outlet I know

people feel different ways about why we're still performing but um I I'm very thankful to to still be performing um and uh but it's just not nearly the same as being in front of a crowd and obviously I was excited to have Wrestlemania here in Tampa it's down the street that's a huge that's huge for me you know to be able to perform and like I had a high school all-star game when I was 17 and Raymond James uh we played when I was at Iowa I was hurt that year but we played uh we played Florida in 2005 or the Outback Bowl in the Outback Bowl yeah I think it was uh January 1 of 2006 but it was like I have like I played in that stadium before um it means a lot to us like as a fellow Tampanian so that was a bummer obviously to not be there but uh it's not i feel like a lot of sports can still go on and it's not the same without fans but i feel like what we do requires fans more than any other sport or live entertainment um but

i think also you know i feel like we're making the best of it of the situation obviously we we should not and can't perform in front of fans right now and i'm so grateful for that but uh obviously you know fans play such a huge role in the production so it's a very strange time you mentioned fans you mentioned wrestlemania uh robbie and i were at wrestlemania uh in new york a couple years ago uh when kofi wins the title and that was the biggest crowd pop i i want to say i've ever been a part of um do you think do you think that that match should have ended the show because like obviously like the main event was like the first women's wrestlemania main event of all time and it was it was historic but in terms of like sending the crowd home happy with the best possible finish that you could have do you think that that match

should have gone on last uh i think as far as the best story i think for sure but i completely understand like i i feel like i have an understanding of the scope of Ronda's star power, of the kind of year that Becky had, and of course, Charlotte. So from a company standpoint, and also from, like, if you're looking for a clip to put on NBC the next morning, or Good Morning America, and it has Ronda Rousey and Becky and Charlotte, I understand there are soccer moms, there are people who don't watch wrestling who will know Ronda's name, who will understand her star power. So I completely get that from a business standpoint. I think from a more hardcore wrestling fan standpoint, and what had the better build-up, what had more momentum, I would say Kofi and Brian, I think the whole, you know, what deserves, like,

I don't know if deserves even means anything in entertainment because there are a lot of people who are extremely talented and hardworking who never get opportunities. But I think if that went on on last I think it would have closed the show with a lot of people very happy perfect if they would have done that two night Wrestlemania one year before maybe that would have played a different factor you know the crowd being as tired as they were by the end if night one would have ended with Kofi and Brian night two ends with triple threat maybe it could be something for the future, but something that I think made that moment so amazing was your reaction and Xavier's reaction to Kofi winning.

It was as if you guys all won that title together. And that's what the new day has felt like the, your entire career is pretty much since you guys have been together. So I wanted to ask you as a guy, that's a massive fan of the new day and wants you guys to stay together until you all retire. Basically, has it ever been close to you guys actually breaking up?

Has it been pitched where it's like, I think tonight's the night? Yeah, we've had some. We've had a couple times. I've heard rumors in the past. And then I'm trying to think of how to say this without getting myself in trouble. We've also had a conversation with a very important person who said, all right, this is the idea.

But we've been adamant about it because I feel like – I understand why fans want a breakup. I get it because it's something new. But if you look at the history of breakups, at least since I've been on the main roster, tell me one besides the Shield, which was, to me, always designed to be a super group, and they were always designed to break off and be individual stars i can't think of a single breakup that benefited all members if you look at uh

rusev day was so hot especially when we were working them i think around 2017 ish uh they we worked them and they were so they were getting great reactions on a nightly basis super over uh and then you have them break up Aiden turns on Rusev and I think Aiden is off tv like two or three weeks later they don't even get like a big I don't think they even had a pay-per-view match or a big blow off there uh and then I don't think Rusev's career benefited from it either uh you could say the same thing about the Wyatts where they were great together and Bray's had Bray's had a different run and he's gone on you can argue that Bray's had another level of success afterwards but I think it's very rare I think the chances that all three of us would be we break up and all three of us would

have great runs I find that to be very slim also we're having so much fun as a group we have so many opportunities that if you split us, the podcast is out the window. There are so many things that happen outside of the confines of a 20 by 20 ring as far as media, as far as appearances, as far as TV cameos. There's so many. Merch. Yeah, there's so many things that we can do. And we're still this unique entity.

There's not like we had Enzo zone cast years ago that were fun. But I don't think you really have anyone filling that void. If you break us up, what are we gonna do? I'm gonna go back to being serious. I'm gonna turn on Kofi. And now like what kind of dynamic do we have? We're gonna have a triple threat. It just to me, I don't see a feasible way to do it.

And I always thought man, we pitched ourselves as a faction we wanted to be a faction from the beginning where Kofi can have a singles me and Woods can have a tag or I can have a singles run the other two can do a tag we wanted to be this this dynamic group where we could pair off and leave each other and and still be together and pursue these different goals and it just we kind of got I don't want to say stuck in the tag role, because I love tag team wrestling, especially like I've kind of been in 2015-ish, that's kind of where we were forced into, and I never really did a ton of it. But I've really grown to love tag wrestling.

But I just really think there's so much we can do that we've only scratched the surface on what we can do, because we can do things. Not only can we have our own programs but i'm open to turning heel or like we we came out doing that pseudo nation of domination stuff and we never really got to have a run doing that so this there's just so many more levels of what we can do without breaking stuff to me that's a lazy fix is break us up and then what yeah? Yeah, that's comforting. That's so comforting as a New Day fan for me to hear as a guy that has a box of booty

that was unopened from the original release. I appreciate that. I also think like there's a dynamic where you can have your cake and eat it too. Because I think of like when DX was a heel faction and it's like Hunter is the champion. Like he's still doing single stuff. Like, do you miss um

like the powerhouse days when you were in nxt as a singles competitor and like you were viewed as like a main event guy and that's like well when you get stuck in a faction it's like we're doing a lot of mixed tag we're doing a lot of tag team stuff we're doing a lot of like ringside when kofi's doing single stuff i feel like you uh you could definitely be a singles competitor that's a main eventer threatening for a major title while not having to separate from the new day yeah man i'd love to do more single stuff especially uh the last couple years you know i i get when people say like oh you guys are getting stale or stuck in a rut there are times where i feel like we could use a change too but i mean you know how it works if you cover wrestling enough and you cover wwe

you know how it works we're like people people sometimes reach out to me like i write the show we acknowledge this entertainment you know i don't write the show you know what i mean like i do the best to we have a certain level of creative freedom in that i can tweak a promo and you might give me something like but i still have to hit the bullet points. But I can't rewrite the show. I don't write my own programs and feuds. Like that's not something, we don't do that. So to me, it's always been about trying to do the best I can with what I'm given. And that's always been something in my mind.

There's never a moment where I feel like I've made it and I can coast and I can just show up to work and collect the check. I'm just not wired that way. Because even 11, I'm almost at 11 years of being under contract with a company, and I still love what I do, like legitimately. There are times, like I get it's not always easy, and I might moan and complain, but when you're out there and the lights are on, I love performing more than just about anything. And there's a lot more I'd like to do with my career,

and I still think we can stay together as a faction. i'd like to do with my career and i still think we can stay together as a faction i'd love to do single stuff um when you talk about like my nxt run i love that was phenomenal and there are elements of that that i do miss being a powerhouse and getting to have something unique like the five count but i tried and i tried when i came up and that wasn't something that we were going to do on the main roster despite having this theme when i heard my theme song and it was three and enough i thought oh that's a good theme man i going to do on the main roster despite having this theme when I heard my theme song and it was three and enough I thought oh okay I'm doing this on the main roster let's go this is happening but there's no explanation whatsoever I didn't do it and I thought I came up in a good spot you know a spot where with Dolph and AJ where I could then branch off and do my own

stuff but it didn't really work that way you know I ended up turning on Dolph and I was with AJ and then I was just kind of a valet for a while. And then I think I was off TV for a little bit. And then I got to have the IC title run, which I always give credit to Punk because like he pretty much saved my career by putting in a good word for me at that moment. And I got to work Punk and then won the IC title. And then I was kind of established then.

But yeah, man, there's a lot more I'd like to do in my career, but I don't stay up at night worrying about it or stressing about it either. I show up and I try to prove that I'm main event caliber with the way I perform. And man, sometimes you only have like that triple threat we had. I think in total it was probably a four minute five minute match on tv if that like you know we work within these confines and you have to do your best to deliver within those and that's all i can do so it's been cool i feel like there's a good amount of people that give me feedback that say hey man you you can be a world champion um and i i believe that as well like i believe

i can as well and i'm prepared for it but uh to me i've never never have i felt like i need to turn on kofi and woods and leave new day behind to to accomplish that goal yeah i think i think one of the cool things too is that like when I first discovered you, it was on social media. Like it wasn't even like you were in NXT and you were making these like almost like skits on social media. And I was like, this dude's hilarious. Like I can't wait for him to get on like the main roster. And I thought you were going to be doing like more comedy stuff. And then like when you debut on the main roster, it's more serious and you're the badass guy.

And now we're getting to see like the comedic side in recent years. Do you have any itch to sort of get into more of that stuff? Like outside of wrestling where you're doing like sketch comedy, like you could be you could be doing movies where you're basically like Kevin Hart. But like, you're just way bigger. Yeah, no, man. I love it, man. It's my favorite thing is it sounds cliche and corny. We talk all the time about like putting smiles on faces. But legitimately, man, especially on live events, we have a little bit more freedom. I love it, man. It's my favorite thing is, and it sounds cliche and corny. We talk all the time about like putting smiles on faces, but legitimately, man, especially on live events, we have a little bit more freedom. I love being able to look around and see that whatever nonsense I'm doing is making someone laugh or smile.

And I got into wrestling because I missed, like I had a void. When I stopped playing college football because of my injuries, like football was my dream. And I had this void because I didn't have that physical outlet anymore and that was why I got into wrestling but then over the last like five six years it's been it's been entertaining the entertainment side that I really enjoy that's what's really fulfilling and I've gotten the chance to do some cool things like I have this adult swim show I'm on called Laser Wolf. We've recorded a second season. I love doing voice work.

I'm trying to do more of that. I don't know if I, like, want to be a serious actor. I don't know if that's something I want to do. But I think, like, doing sketch comedy would be fun, making people laugh. And I think there are other avenues in entertainment that I'd like to pursue. But, I mean, that's easier said than done. Like, hey, I want to show up in Hollywood and someone give me a ton of money to do comedies you know but the cool thing is we have a nice track record of so many guys who come from this business

with Rock, Cena, Batista we have so many guys who have had like really good uh careers in Hollywood so uh who knows man sometimes I worry that maybe I'm not ambitious enough. Like I'm not a workaholic. I'm not the type to like be knocking on every single door, politicking to get where I need to be in Hollywood. I like- You should hire me as your manager. I'll be more than happy to- Yeah, the three of us will just talk you up.

Yeah. I appreciate that. That might be the route. I have a question about football. You keep coming back to college football. Is there like a kinship behind the scenes of WWE of the former football guys like you Roman Reigns Baron Corbin you ever you guys ever just talk football you ever just want to get competitive about it yeah I mean

there's an element of that I'm less into like the back in my day I would have knocked you on your ass because I played one season of college football as a backup I had a bunch of injuries like who am I to talk you know we had guys like uh like Stabby who started for the Bucks for years um we've had some guys who have had like better careers than me so I don't like talking in that aspect but I love college football and a lot of guys that I like talking to who didn't necessarily play like Tom Phillips is a huge Penn state guy and he loves just getting in my ass whenever Penn state plays Iowa. So there are guys like that. I talked to Corbin too about college ball.

We talk ball. So it's for me, it's less of that like chirping about like what I would have done back in my day. And, and there's just, there's a few guys who are just college football fans and we'll watch games together.

Cause you know, it's a traveling circus, man. We spend so many days on the road together each year. So yeah, there's definitely an element of guys. And I've talked to like three or four guys I've worked with already today about the draft and how excited they are about that. All right, we're looking forward to it too.

Biggie, thank you so much for your time. Check them out on SmackDown USA at 8 p.m. on Fridays. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thanks, boys.