Nightcap - LIVE from Las Vegas Part 1: Shawn Michaels, Triple H, The Undertaker, Charlotte Flair | Canelo vs Crawford Radio Row

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson are live from Las Vegas to preview Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez with special guests including: Shawn Michaels, Triple H, The Undertaker, Charlotte Flair and more!   3:17 - Shawn Michaels joins the show! 24:50 - Stan Verrett joins 28:48 - Triple H joins  47:30 - The Undertaker joins 1:04:30 - Charlotte Flair joins   (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) #Club See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my.

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If you haven't, try it. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Please go follow my media company page on all of its platform. Shea, Media, and my clothing company, 84, with 84 being spelled out. That link is also pinned in the chat. We got a very jam-packed show for you this early this morning. We got Sean Michaels joining us. He'll be our first guest up.

We got Triple A's joining us. We got The Undertaker joining us. We're going to try to get Bud's trainer, a Beaumach, to join us also. But this morning, the show is really wrestling heavy. We got a lot of heavy weights coming in. Many believe he's the greatest wrestler of all time, a many-time champion. Here he is joining the stage right now, the legendary Sean Michaels. You want him to sit here?

No, you go. Right there. It's a pleasure. Baby, it's the honor. Sean, how you doing, bro? I'm doing good. I already know it's coming up now. Thank you very much.

How you been? I am wonderful. Appreciate it. So let me ask you this. What's been one of your biggest challenges? Now you've kind of transitioned, running the NXT. What's been the biggest transition for you? Tying a tie.

Putting on the suit looking like a corporate head. No, look, I will say this. I don't know. You guys know probably better than, me you play the game but then trying to I don't know help coach it or teach it right is not always an easy transition um so when you're as great as you were the patience that you need to have because things that probably came easy to you might not come easy to someone else well for thank you i mean first of all but again it's the same thing right and and that was i will say that's been the

most challenging part was some things, I don't know, I was given a gift and when you're doing it and you're in the moment of it, you're not thinking about that. And then afterwards, so many things you go back and you try to teach and they ask you like, well, how this, how that, how did this happen? And I don't know, it was just there. It was just there. But again, that's been the part where I've had to learn how to convey that in the best possible message that I can and I was fortunate to be able to have some time as a trainer and a coach

before I was in the role that I'm in now and now again as they I'm able to meet them where they're at over the years I've learned how to do that as understanding that not all of them are the same and being able to again try to understand where they're at and not to be teaching for 10 years down the road, but meet them where they're at currently. Right. And that's been the biggest help for me going forward. And again, one of the things that's also an advantage

to us is we teach and then they move on. And so I at least get enough reps because you have a new group come in. And you kind of have to, it's sort of rinse and repeat, so to speak, with the exception of small little detail things here and there,

but for the most part, you end up covering the gambit and you at least get enough reps at it, that it becomes a little bit easier, the more you do it. And that's the biggest thing. When you talk to great, grace in any particular sport, any particular thing, what came easy is hard, those that can do, those that can't teach, you did because you could do. Now, how do you show patience, show grace, and says, what came so easy to Sean Michael, what was a God-given gift?

how do I convey that because they're asking you well how you're like I just did it and now you got to like well you have to do it like this when no one really had to explain it to you you just had that God-given gift well again that's where I go back to making them or doing my best to have them really define and delineate and detail what it is they're looking for and asking about the hardest thing for us is a very natural feel. And also, as you gentlemen know, you almost can't teach timing. Right, correct. Timing is something that our business as yours sort of hangs on. Through reps, you can get close to it,

but a lot of it is a feel and a timing thing. And trying to get them to understand that, And the biggest thing with that, because that may not always get perfectly in sync, but the closer they can get to it, the better chance they have. So a lot of it is teaching them patience in that respect and knowing that nothing is going to happen easy, but when everything is said and done, more reps is going to give you the better results. You're certainly not going to get worse if you're continuing to hit it time and time and time again. And, again, that comes down to work ethic.

And then when you get into the conversations of wanting to be great, as you guys know, a word that gets tossed around way too freely now. Yes, absolutely. And, again, trying to really help them understand what it means to try and be that. It's one thing to say it. It's another thing to put it into practice attaining. It becomes great. Did you always want to be a wrestler?

Did you have any idea when you got started many, many years ago? that wrestling would be what has become, or as we say in the South, wrestling, did you have any idea? Because, you know, wrestling, and I know you know this, but a lot of people at home, wrestling, wrestling used to just be regional. You had the South, you had the Northeast, you had the Mid-Atlantic, you had to be, that's where wrestling was. And then somehow Vince McMahon, he merged all this together.

They had the NWA, and they merged all this together, and it became one. Did you have, did you want to be a wrestler? and when you started, did you have any idea it would take you to the places that is taking you and it would become what it's become? I'm 60. So when I started, it was Southwest Championship Wrestling. I knew it 12 years old.

I saw it one time. I got to stay up late and all of a sudden this montage comes on. Again, grainy, again, the production quality was horrible, but you don't know it at the time. And it was the most mesmerizing thing. I had ever seen and I was like oh my goodness that's it it was the perfect display of athleticism but theatrics and I just thought to myself that's what I want to do and I can

remember telling my mom at 12 years old mama I'm gonna be a pro wrestling when I grew up that's nice honey but but in my mind by the time I was 19 and got an opportunity to do it being the southwest heavyweight champion and having a one-bedroom apartment and my own car was going to be the greatest thing in the world. Right. And in 1985, I had been, I had just started wrestling. And that was when Vince McMahon first began to go kind of global. Right.

The first WrestleMania was in Madison Square Garden. I was wrestling in Oklahoma City while WrestleMania was being shown on closed circuit TV. at the arena. Wow. But I was wrestling while that show was going on. And all we did was hear about it. We heard about it, but then you thought to yourself like, wow, that's cool. But at that time, all those guys in the territory were telling you, he's going to ruin the business,

he's going to kill it. He's ruining everything. Two years later, I'm in Minnesota wrestling, but we're on ESPN now. Wow. It was now on cable television. They're trying to compete with Vince. but now everybody knew that New York New York was the place you wanted to be

so that's the time again it was probably 1986 that you started realizing that what he's got going on there is big but again had no idea that it will become what it is now so no I was somebody that got into it I guess to answer your question

you knew early on this I knew this what I wanted to do but a one bedroom apartment and my own car seemed like the greatest thing in the world. And now we have a life unlike I'd have never possibly imagined. I had a sat down with Rick Flair, a 16-time champ, sat down with John Sina. We had Uso.

I've had many wrestlers and talked to. Many said the greatest wrestler ever is Sean Michaels. Rick Flair says your understanding of the moment and the timing and the theatrics of it, what goes into it, there's nobody even, I said, well, what about you? I said, he says, there's no one close to Sean Michaels. He's the greatest. He says, and that's no disrespect to Hogan. That's no disrespect to anyone, Dusty Rose, all those guys.

There's no disrespect to them. He said, but Sean Michaels is the greatest wrestler. When you hear someone is established and it's as well thought of as the nature boy himself, say that Sean Michaels is the greatest, how does that make you feel? it's the greatest compliment a guy could have to even be in the conversation and I always I don't know for me

whether it was Rick I always tried to our business is what it is right it's entertainment yes but you can still love that again I was still even though because I went through my ups and and downs, you know, trials and tribulations.

But when I was in there, I was the most romantic guy there was about this job. Yeah. I was still the 12-year-old kid in there every time, especially when I was in there with Rick or some of these guys, but being at a WrestleMania with John or I don't know. I was so enamored. I never fell out of love with the opportunity of being able to go in there and do that. and so I think if there was anything that might have been able to set me apart from everybody is that I fully grasp and engaged with that love and that passion and that again that romance again you know again we say there's a certain about you know

the old saying you know there's a certain role you know who can't be romantic about baseball who can't be romantic about football I always I guess how wrestling was for me right um it was it was my lifeblood and so i always allowed myself to be in there in those moments and i think that came across to people i think they could see that i was so enamored with what i was doing in there and i gave myself over to that in a way that made them buy into it was real to me while it was going on in there um because every ounce of it was for me um and it was it was an opportunity to be able to, I don't know, to convey my love for this unbelievable job that I had. So I don't know. I hope that answers your question and then I have to hope that kind of gets

it there. You know what? I have one question that always happens. It happens to all of us that have played a sport with regards to what respect to crap that it is you do. Once you transition and you no longer can play said sport, have you been able to find something else that you're passionate about and that you love? Yeah. That you can pour into the same way you did. Rastin that made you one of the greatest? I'll say this. For me, it's obviously my family, but it's also this. Again, it is now, because again, I had a wonderful change in my life with my faith and

my wife and our children. Now I'm able to do this job, but I'm able to pass it forward. I feel like I'm fulfilling my purpose. I do one thing well in this lifetime, and it's Russell. And I'm able to use that. gift to give other young men and women that come through the doors of the performance center in Orlando, Florida, the opportunity to have the amazing life that I've been given through this line of work. And so, um, and hopefully have an influence on them to live that in a positive

and, uh, you know, successful way, but still be intact. Yes. When they're done with it. You know, again, whether it's, you know, the NFL, the NBA, or wrestling, the W.E. We have good stories and we have very sad and tragic stories. I want theirs to be a story that it ends with joy and happiness and peace. And so that's something, again, that Hunter put into the Performance Center when he started it. 14 years ago was a culture that was going to be unlike the business that we broke into. And that is something that we, yes, we want to pass the tools of professional wrestling forward But at the same time, we want the culture of our business to be different and to be more positive than it was when we got into it.

We want to leave it better off than the way we came into it. And that's one of the things that we're trying to do, obviously, you know, from a culture perspective as well. You know when you devote so much of your life and your time to something, when you give so much to something, it takes a little from you also. When you travel and you do what you do because people think, well, well, Sean's only rapid. once a year because he's only doing the main event he's only doing you know a summer festival summer slam that's not the case you guys are on the road sometimes 250 300 days a year and yes it's entertainment but you're actually falling you're falling on that mat you're falling on those chairs you're falling on that and so it's it you play the game of football you play the game

of baseball basketball long enough your body it takes a toll on your body how have your body how did your body feel now at 60 that you look back of it like you know you know know what? Because people ask Ocho and I all the time. Knowing what you know now about the concussions and the toll is going to take on your body, would you do it again? Yep. I probably would have started earlier. If knowing what you know now and how your body feel, Sean, would you do it again? Hell yes. I have had my back fused. I've had my shoulder replaced. I got two knees that I'm getting replaced in probably a month and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world um again it's i knew that going in as you guys did yep um i knew the price it was going to come

along with it when i worked on the road we did 286 days when i got a part-time schedule it was 150 days and i enjoyed every minute i'm fortunate uh again especially later in my career to have a wife and children that understood that they still support me now as you know that's so important to have Absolutely. But, again, it's a part of who I am and who I've always been, and they recognize that. So, yeah, I'm with you guys. I, you know, if they had given me a chance to start earlier, I would have.

But, again, you had to wait until you were 19 to get a license in Texas to be a wrestler. So I waited until I was 19. You are a part of many, many blockbuster wrestling events. This one, we have, Canello v. Crawford. It's probably the biggest event that we've had in the boxing arena in a very, very long time. because you've got two champions, undisputed champions, Bud in the four-bed era, he's the first male to be an undisputed champion, two weight classes.

Canelo has dominated the 168 division for the longest time. When you look at this fight, you look at it from a distance, an outside guy that loves fighting, what do you think? How do you think this thing is going to play out? So I guess for me, the biggest thing for me is that I'm happy to see boxing back to where, where I guess I'll say at least for me and I hope that comes across well back to where it once was yeah you know what I mean I think that's the most positive thing coming out of all of this

what everything said and done um I would just say I'm not the most educated but for me it's hard to go you know against Canelo right and I guess you know what I mean that's just there's so much there a dominance there and I guess it in my life Every time there's been a dominance like that in boxing, yes, it's got to end sometime. But I'm one of those people who just think that it's not yet. Well, I was going to ask you, but since you've got to get both knees replaced, I guess there ain't no chance of you getting back in the ring. Not a chance. Not a chance.

Look, even if they were, I'm so blessed and so fortunate to have done what I've done. but it is I am so overjoyed to be doing what I do now and helping the future of the WW and to be a part of that NXT is just thriving on Tuesday nights on the CW network and to help these young men and women you know again to achieve their their passions and their dreams is something that I did know I had no idea I had enjoyed this much but it is so great

because I think the business is in just tremendous hands for the future when did you know it was over when did you know when did shan michaels know i can't do anymore if i won another title it's not going to change anything when did you know it was time to step away so my body still felt great um i still had plenty of left in the tank yeah but i had a match again it was the one with undertaker ressomania 25 um in houston That made me feel so peaceful in a way that I'd never felt after a match in my entire life. I can remember driving home because that's when we lived, we still lived in Texas, and we were driving home from Houston, and I looked at my wife, and I said, honey,

that might be the one day I ended on. And she looked at me, she said, what? And I said, yeah. I said, I feel a peace over me that I've never felt after a match before. And that's when we began to have the conversation, and it was the next year. They wanted to go back with one more with The Undertaker, and we obviously put my career on the line

and all that kind of stuff. And I just, it was just, I had seen so many people struggle with it, leaving and walking away. Yeah, it's hard. Getting in is easy, Sean, is the getting out part of the hard. And I want so many guys struggle with that.

And I felt like here I was at this opportunity where that wasn't going to, be the case with me. That wasn't going to be you. Yeah. And I was still healthy. I was still able to go. I was able to leave, as I say, on a high note. Yes. And so I just couldn't picture it any, it couldn't picture it being any more perfect than that. And so made that decision and have never looked back and regretted it. Again, you know, I, I don't know, I just, it was something that I've had such peace with. And again, like I said, I feel very fortunate to have had that. because I know so many have struggled with it in the past.

Even though you have peace, do you miss it? I don't, not being in there. The physical aspect of it, I don't miss. The travel, I don't miss. I guess I'm able now to still kind of get that same charge when we're sitting there, I'm telling a story to these talents where I'm trying to convey this is what we're looking for out of this match and we're going to tell this story and this is going to happen.

and at the end, hopefully they come unglued. And when that happens and it all comes together, it's that feeling once again, but it's you watching the joy in that talent's heart. And again, when they're finally getting it. So it's in a different aspect that I received, kind of that charge that I used to have when I got in the ring. Yes, sir.

Last question. Is there anybody that's currently wrestling, be at WWE, been an NX, NXT, nonstop wrestling. Is there anybody that reminds Sean Michael, Sean, Michael, that you see? I'll say this. From an NXT standpoint, we have an unbelievable roster. I think somebody who you have to keep an eye on, he's 21 years old.

And his name is Javon Evans. He's unbelievably dynamic, unbelievably talented, gifted. He just turned 21, I believe. And the future is so bright for that young man. He's going to be somebody that's going to be very big in the WWE. And obviously, I think probably before long, he'll probably be a flag bearer in NXT. So I'm excited to see the trajectory of his career. Thanks for coming on.

Give us a few moments of your time. The great Sean Michaels, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Shannon. Appreciate it, John. Thank you.

Oh, man, this was amazing to really sit down. And like I said, I've been a wrestling fan. and my grandpa used to take my brother and I to wrestling matches. Savannah Civic Center. We used to go to Baxley. We used to go to Bidellia. You want to get it? Yeah.

Used to take my brother now, and we see all those, when it was Georgia Championship wrestling. And it was great. It was great. And to sit down and have a conversation, like I said, I've interviewed Rick Flair. I've interviewed John Sina, met a lot of wrestlers,

and to sit down with Sean Michaels. It's been great, and I'm glad we got an opportunity to catch up with it. Stan, what they do, baby? Man, listen, if I had your hands, I'll cut mine off, man. Give me some McDonald's, man, so you can get in shape. You know what I mean? We got legendary broadcast to Stanber Red joining us. Stan, how you doing?

Doing great, man, doing great. Nothing like the energy of Fight Night in Vegas, you know? There's nothing like a fight. Vegas was built on fighting. Absolutely. Yeah, we got the casinos, and we understand that. But there's something about a buzz, the electricity that's in the air when a big-time fight hits town in Vegas. And the funny thing about it is it took a fight like this to get that magic, to get that buzz back in Vegas.

There have been many fights, but nothing just like this that brings back that feeling of Manny Packia out Mayweather. Absolutely. I was here. We were here for eight days. I was with ESPN there. We were here for eight days for that fight. ESPN said we want to own this fight. So I was parked here the whole time.

and, you know, you could just feel it ramping up as the week went on, you know, and by the time we got to the fight, it was unbelievable. Yeah. So. You mentioned, you and Neil Leverett, you got the transition, you're going to try to recreate what you guys had on ESPN. If I'm not mistaken, I think I read you're going to Twitch. Yes. So you're taking your talents to Twitch.

Exactly. What was the thought process in doing that? So our producer, Jeff Anderson, is really in tune with the digital space. Yes. And so he saw that Twitch gave us a lot of functionality to do live. Because initially, it was mostly gamers on Twitch. Yes. And so, you know, exactly.

So they need a lot of functional capability to go live. You got to be able to see the gamers. You've got to be able to see the action on the screen. So we are sort of adapting that for sports. Now, it's already, Chad, you probably know, the European soccer guys are already on Twitch. And they're doing live. shows on Twitch already. There's a bunch of radio stations that are that are

streaming their shows on Twitch. So it's um, you know, we think we found something, something really, really good in that platform that helps us go live, interact with, um, fans who are listening to the show, watching the show, they can, they can ask questions, they can comment, and we can deal with them in real time, and then we take the show later, we put it on YouTube and all the traditional platforms. I like it, so, I like it. We're going to get you out here on this one, prediction. What do you think is going to happen? Canello, Crawford,

Crawford taking a big risk going up, basically Polvoct in three weight classes. Canello is, you know. Yeah. It's Canello? The thing is, I think it's going to come down to, caninello handle Bud's ability to switch South Park Orthodox.

Which is why he had boots in camp. Exactly, exactly. Versus Buzz's ability to take a punch. Right. I don't know if sparring-wise he had anybody who's as big as Canello in camp, who hits with the power of Canelo. Because if you had somebody that big who hits that, he wouldn't be a sparring partner.

Right, exactly. He'd be wearing a belt. You know what I mean? So I think in the first couple of rounds, I mean, it's going to be interesting to see if Bud feels like I can fight him, I can stand in the middle and fight him. No. Or if he's going to box him. You know what I mean?

I don't think he can get lured into. trying to trade and trade with them some heavy hands. Right. So is it going to be a slug fest or is it going to be a boxing match? Slugfest, advantage canelo. If it's a boxing match, advantage bud. So we'll see.

Styles dictate fights. Yep. Always. Good luck to you and Neil on the endeavor on Twitch. Congratulations on the great success that you had the 25 years at ESPN. Thank you, man. Appreciate. Hey man, I'm trying to be like you guys.

You know what I mean? So if you have anybody with any more $100 million contract, you know, tell them you got some people. People are interested. All right. We'll do. Hey, man. Good seeing you guys.

All right. All right. Thank you. How you doing? I'm good. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero.

We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? It looks like something that should not be sold. Oh, my.

So that was my other big Colts take away. They sold that? Yes. Might want to go back to the... At the Colts Stadium. Yeah, I might want to go back to the drawing board on that. Yeah. I thought the shape we had with pretzels was working pretty well.

It's worked for generations. We're just here trying to enjoy it. We hope you all will join us throughout the year. And let's go. I hope I'm as youthful as Pete Carroll is at his age. He's a young 73. He is a young 73. He is Sprott.

I wouldn't fight him. I would. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player

development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the move the six. podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dan. He's Ty. Hello. And we're the solid verbal college football podcast. College football season is here.

And you know what that means. Your team is going to break your heart three times probably before Halloween. Uh-huh. But fear not. The solid verbal will be right there with you through every soul-crushing, loss, an impossible comeback. Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport.

Whether you're a die-heart fan or a casual observer, we'll help you make sense of all the chaos and, of course, celebrate the madness. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. We don't just love college football tie. We live it. Listen to the solid. verbal college football podcasts on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your

podcasts get fired up y'all season two of good game with sarah spain is underway we just welcomed one of my favorite people and an incomparable soccer icon megan ripino to the show and we had a blast we talked about her recent 40th birthday celebrations co-hosting a podcast with her fiance sue bird watching former teammates retire and more never a dull moment with Pino. Take a listen. What do you miss the most about being a pro athlete? The final, the final, and the locker room. I really, really, like, you just, you can't replicate, you can't get back, showing up to locker room every morning just to shit talk. We've got more incredible guests like the legendary Candace Parker and college superstar AZ Fudd. I mean, seriously, y'all. The guest list

is absolutely stacked for season two. And, you know, we're always going to keep you up to speed on all the news and happenings around the women's sports world as well. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Fantasy season is here, and the question is, are you ready to dominate your league?

Because if you're not locked in with us, the NFL Fantasy Football Podcasts, You're already playing from behind. Every episode, we're breaking down the biggest fantasy headlines. Injury updates you need before kickoff. And matchups you can exploit to bury your competition. We're talking sleeper picks, breakout stars, and the players you can't afford to bench. Whether it's rookies making noise or veterans keeping their value, we cover it all. Whether you're drafting for the first time or chasing another championship.

We'll give you the edge, the insight, and the confidence to make every move count. Weekly analysis, hot takes, and insider knowledge all in one place. So what's it going to be? Another just okay season? Or total fantasy domination? Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Good, man. How are you?

We're doing amazing. Thanks for having me on. We hear there's like a, like you got something big that you want to announce. Is there any hint, you know, you want to like DeVille, you want to let us see it on right now? I don't want to be the worst secret keeper on the planet, you know what I mean? Yeah, we got some big news today about the future and how things are happening with WWE, but it's going to be exciting, and I'm thrilled we get to do it here today in the shadow of Canello Crawford. It's nice.

Because if I'm not mistaken, W.W.E and UFC, now you guys are under the same umbrella, TKO. Yes, absolutely. TKO. It's WWE, UFC, PBR, Pro Bull riding in there. You know, the few other random things. But, yeah, it's great to be partnered with him. It's great. Dana's a genius.

Thrilled to work with him. And so far, it's a wonderful collaboration. Is this secret anything to do with WrestleMania 2027? I mean, could it possibly be anything headed in that direction? You are in the ballpark. I'm in the ballpark. You are in the ballpark. For sure.

Yeah. I'm just going to say sometimes secrets are hard to keep around here. So there might be rumors floating around. I don't know. to get into sport of wrestling, I mean, obviously, you know, obviously, you know, your father-in-law and you guys, you're running, and you're doing a great job of this right now, Triple H, doing what you do. But as a kid, did you always want to wrestle?

Did you do other things? Or how did you get into the sport of wrestling? Yeah, so it's a funny thing is as you grow up, especially then, and it's one of the reasons why I did what I did within the company of creating what we call NXT, that's our developmental system. Yes. because there was never a pathway to get into pro wrestling. If you want to be a WWE superstars, like trying to be a trapeze artist.

Where do you start? Right, right. And I grew up a huge fan. Really in the back of my mind, you know, man, if you would say to me as a kid, what's the one thing you'd want to do would be a WWE superstar? I did all the other sports, started bodybuilding and lifting weights when I was 14 with the mindset of if I want to be. the WWE. So you got to go to the shows to see these guys are huge. I got to get bigger.

I got to, you know, I got to get there. So, you know, you had to find a way. I was lucky in that. Somebody pointed me in the right direction. I had met a world strongest man, Ted R.C. at the time. First guy to bench, 700 pounds. First guy to bench press 700 pounds. And had a brief stint in the wrestling business. Yeah. Parlayed that into business for himself. Very smart guy. You know, I had met him. him and asked him, how do I get in the business? And he would always try to discourage me from it. And then eventually, when I bugged him enough, he gave me a number. I went trained with Kila Kowalski.

And yeah, fortunately for me, it took off. But now we've changed that game. We've tried to make the pathway. So we recruit heavily in colleges. We have an NIL program. We call it next in line. We have NIL kids across the country that have an interest in WWE that are part of promoting us to all these events that they go to and then we work with all those kids

that have an interest in this or maybe didn't know they had an interest but you know you know better than anybody right like the NFL it's it's such a small percentage of folks that get in there you can be the best of the best and all of that but then there's this moment in time where you have a whatever the slightest you know difference and you're not going to make it and this is a career choice for them where you know they come to Orlando Florida they see our facilities they think wow this is like being in a D1 college I have that level of professionalism let me give this a shot and it's performance so it's athletic performance and if they can make it work for them then then the sky's the limit just like any other any other sport you guys are based that training center is in

Orlando right it's in Orlando we're in the process of building a new one now in Orlando it'll be even bigger and better. Okay. Our main officers are in Connecticut and L.A., but Orlando's the developmental. When I think about all you've accomplished, your thought growing up as a kid, always wanting to wrestle, everything that you poured into the sport, it's pouring back into you now. Are you able to have a life outside of wrestling at all where you can have other hobbies, other passions that you actually enjoy?

Yeah, though, you know, I'm going to get to go on a limb and say probably like both of you. I enjoy fitness. I enjoy being in the gym. That's my, that's my solitude, that's my church, that's my place. I go to ground and have that foundation for me is training and all of that. But then other than that, it's my wife and my kids. You know, my family, you know, it's not like my wife wasn't in the business as well, my family, all of that. So sometimes it's hard to get away from.

I say this to people all the time, and I think you two will get this. people talk about work-life balance it's bullshit there is no such thing you know what you want to be great or something there ain't no and and all you can really do is your best at whatever it is you're doing in that moment so when I'm at work

I try to be at work when I'm with my kids I try to put work aside and dedicate that time to my kids or my wife or whatever that's whatever that is that we're doing and not sort of be oh yeah I'm at my kids my kids game or or with them

but I'm on my phone the whole time I'm trying to do business, right? I tell people, I'm going to be off for an hour or two. I'll pick back up in a little bit. Now I'm with them. And, you know, that's, it's hard. It's easy to say that, harder to do it. But that's the goal for me.

And, you know, I'm thrilled that at this point in my life, I still get to do what I love. You know, a lot of people, when they finish football, they finish basketball, they finish wrestling, whatever it is, it all just stops. Right. And that's hard to handle. For me, it's never stopped.

When I couldn't do this anymore, I was already plugged in maybe deeper than I even wanted to be and everything else. So, you know, for me, I've been fortunate that that passion that I have for it still continues to this day. And I say this a lot for me, it's almost like now as I get to help these other kids grow and find success in this business, it's almost like watching your kids do it. You know, your own career is fabulous. your own achievements are incredible when your kids do it when your kids reach their goal when they have that moment you know it's it's a different level of of pride and i think that's where i'm at with it now is watching these kids succeed and do what they do to me is almost more than my career was age how hard is it because and i was you had sean michael before you came on and he was so gifted you were so gifted at what you did and it came natural to you and when you try to you try to tell someone else how to do it and it's said, well, how? He was like, why can't you pick that up because it was so easy to you.

How is it that you, because I think the greater the athlete is probably the hard it is for him to do it because a lot of things would God give it. And he doesn't understand, he or she doesn't understand how they did it. They just did it. It just came natural. I find that all the time. Look, I like to think for myself, you know, I think to some degree I was gifted for it, but to some degree I wasn't.

Sean is one of the most incredible athletes I've ever seen. right and can do stuff and and um you know one of my favorite opponents i've said it all the time i think he's the greatest in-ring performer of all time his athletic ability second to none i didn't have that i had to learn the other aspect of you know to me i don't know this is reference to my childhood but to me i was much more larry bird than i was right anybody else yeah because he wasn't the most athletic guy couldn't jump the highest couldn't run the fastest but his his knowledge is all that stuff right so i had to put in the work on the other side um but i i have seen that a million times over where you see guys that are incredible at what we do and then they try to tell to somebody else and i'm

like what are you talking about that's totally wrong like you don't even know why you what you do work right you know and um it's tough for people to get but it's um i'm a big collaborator for stuff so if i'm trying to explain things to somebody or try to get them to a certain place is not working let somebody else take a stab at it yeah it just takes that one sometimes buzzword or the right perspective for somebody to go like, oh, he told me I didn't get it at all. What you just said, I get that. You know, and that's a different, it's a different take.

And sometimes they just got to figure it out for themselves. For themselves. Yeah. No, but when growing up and I know, you came into the sport, so how long have you been in this thing? 30 years? Oh, yeah. I started 92, 93.

Okay. Yeah. So by that time, Vince had already kind of like taken it from WWF to WWE. But we were talking to Sean, and I grew up in the South. And so it was Georgia Championship Wrestling, with Gordon Solin. Yes. And wrestling was regional. You had to Mid-Atlantic.

You had to Midwest. You had the Southwest. And so now what Vince was able to do was bring all of that under one umbrella. And so now you didn't have, you had the NWA also. So I remember all the ball. A-WA. Yeah. And it was all over the place.

Yeah. So my grandfather used to take my brother and I to all these little, you know, to see Bobo Brazil and Crusher Blackwell and Andre the Giants. So we saw all Dusty Rose, all these guys coming up. And I remember like, man, man, I want to be a wrestler. But then football kind of like captivated me. Was it like that for you? When you saw it for the first time, did you understand?

Like, man, I kind of like that. I kind of dig that. I think I could do that. I did. I did. I was a kid and very young. But, man, it was for me. And I was fortunate, I grew up in, I'm born and raised in New Hampshire, right?

So Boston sports for me, I grew up in the Larry Bird era, the parish and all those guys, Michael and all that. I also grew up in the Carl Yostremski and the Red Sox era, right? Like everybody, that Boston sports scene was incredible. But for me, I was aware of all that, and I'd go to some of that. But the thing that resonated for me was wrestling. And like you, I was fortunate when Cable came in where I, I lived, I got the WWE, but I got the NWA, I got Georgia Championship, I got Florida, I got Texas, I got the AWA. So I had this, this well-rounded sort of view of what the business was because they were all slightly different.

Vince was a genius that saw cable coming and the regional going away and national becoming the thing and eventually global. To some degree for the talent, that time frame was almost better because the guys that you saw. saw that were successful at the highest of levels, like in WWE, had been places for years, honing their craft. Yes, yes. Right? You just read about them in magazines, but maybe you

hadn't seen them. You used to have a wrestler magazine. I don't know if they still have to do. They still have a wrestling. They do, but, you know, who reads magazines in now? You know what I'm saying? Everybody, everything's on the phone. Yeah, it's a click. Yeah, it's a click. And you're there and you get all the information. But, yeah, the time was different and that ability

to go all those different places. Now we get these kids, they come in from college in a couple of years. If they start doing this and they start training, hopefully within a couple of years, they're on NXT. They've got national exposure on the CW that, you know, people could have only dreamed of years ago. And it's changed. And, you know, it's an interesting thing is like you talk about football. If you go slightly back just before my generation of it, football wasn't the money-making thing that it is now. So you had guys like Wahoo McDaniel, Big Catter.

Ernie Ladd, who were wrestling in the offseason. Why, who played for the Broncos. Ernie Ladd played for the Kansas City Chiefs. Absolutely. And for a lot of them, they would play if they, you know, unless they were top guys, like the money was better year-round in wrestling than it was for the short season of football. Correct. And a lot of them gravitated out of football and into wrestling full-time.

Some of them had to get part-time jobs because you're right. Absolutely. There was not, I mean, we look at it now. You see guys making $50 and $60 million. Even it wasn't like that. No, there were very few guys. making six figures yeah right like very very few very few basically basically only your quarterbacks you know when I got in the league unite your quarterbacks and then you had the

top defensive line like Reggie White and Bruce Smith yeah but for the most part there were not a whole lot of guys making 500,000 dollars or a million dollars that was just unheard of money back there unless you were the top top top guys um what do you think is the ideal so because you have to be obviously you have to be able to be able to entertain but you have to be athletic, you have to be able to skill, be skilled. And people don't realize that, okay, yes, entertainment, but you hit the mat. Oh, without a doubt. You hit the table.

You're running to the turn vocals. Accumulation of that, it adds up, H. Absolutely. You know, our business is like getting in a car crash every day. It is. You know, and it's day after day, and there's no offseason. And so it's a tough, very physical business. It's not for everybody.

Because people think, you know, they think, H. people think because they only see the summer slam and they only see the big events that that's all they do no that thing is like and uh um sean michael's saying he traveled in the beginning 286 days yeah yeah we all did then now it's different now right it's much more a weekly you know you're wrestling once twice a week um it's a it's a lot better family life for people right right we We have brought that into a place. When you're trying to build a business, you've got to do it differently. Absolutely. And now it's in a different place, and the money is different, and everybody's living different.

But the physicality is still there. It's still the same. It's not there. And, you know, I say this to everybody. The casualty rates 100%. No one walks away unscathed in our business. Is you're going to get injured? It's going to happen.

It's just about a win. Yeah. And you've got to deal with that. And then if you're at the right mindset and you're driven, you come back better. and you come back harder. But the thing in our business that's interesting is it's not always the most athletic. And you said it a little bit ago

that sometimes the most athletic guys, it comes easy to them. And when shit gets hard, they don't push as hard. In our business, sometimes I can make you a list of the guys, you know, Hulk Hogan, love him to death, biggest star of all time, not the most athletic guy on the planet.

Correct. You know, John Sina, not the most athletic guys to play in. You know, a lot of those guys, the list of people who are incredibly, they have incredible charisma, incredible crowd presence, incredible ability to control a crowd and tell a story. That's more important. Charisma is king in our business. Absolutely.

So the athleticism, doesn't matter how fast you can run. Doesn't matter how much you can bench press. It just matters if you look like you can, right? So it's a different mindset, right? That's what made Rick special. Rick could talk. Rick could talk. Dusty Role, guys that can talk and can, like, limousy ride.

When you talk about those folks in that time frame, when people can still quote their promos from that generation. After all these years. Like, you know, half the kids today that are running around doing the limousine ride, jet flying, you know, alligated shoe wearing Rolex, They're doing all that stuff. I don't even know if they've ever seen Rick Russell. Probably not.

And the same, you know, with Hogan, people can still repeat that. His catchphrases and his moments, the rock, you know, Stone Cold, all those people. But Dusty Rhodes, people still talk about his hard times promo. Yeah. Right? Like, those things are iconic. That is what we do, right? We are, I say this a lot of times when people don't understand, like if we're talking to network executives,

they're trying to figure out what we are. I say, we are less boxing and more Rocky. Right. We're not the sport. We're a movie about the sport. And Rocky is really a love story. Yes. Right?

Just happens to have boxing as a background and the metaphor for all the things he has to overcome and do. Our business, when you talk about that emotion, you talk about the storytelling, you talk about all those things, that's really where it resonates. Yes.

And those are things, it's why our business is Evergreen. Very few people, unless you're an incredible, you know, student of the technical aspects of it. Nobody goes back and watches the Super Bowl from five years ago. People will go back and watch WrestleMania 3 to this day. Yep. You know, 40 years later, they still watch Hogan and Andre.

Yeah, 40 years later, they're still watching it, right? It's the story. It's the spectacle. It's all those things. That's where we're different. We're spectacle and storytelling. The athleticism is a huge factor of it. I don't want to negate it.

The in-ring product. all that stuff but that ability to speak that ability to control the crowd that innate charisma you know that in in other sports um if Connor McGregor comes back and fights in UFC tomorrow he's the biggest draw they have because he can he can sell it and he hasn't won a fight in what 10 years and he hasn't fought probably in almost 10 years right like it's incredible Mike Tyson Mike Tyson announces he's going to do something here. Everybody pays attention because he has that charisma, that innate ability to make you want to pay attention.

Thank you, man. Thank you. Appreciate you coming in. Thank you for having me, man. Thank you, very much. It's a good to you, man. Anytime you need it, you know how to get in touch with. I appreciate it, man.

Appreciate you, bro. Thank you. Hopefully we'll see you at a show soon. Appreciate you. I can wrestle if you need me. Let me know. I don't know guys. Good to see H.

That was he actually he runs the took over for his father-in-law. Undertaker. Yeah. Undertaker. That's Triple H.

Hey, holy shit. The Undertaker. Dome. What's up, bro? I'm good. Good to see you. Undertaker.

What's up, you're good. What's up? You're good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. Good to see you.

Good side over here. Yeah. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this. is NFL cover zero. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get.

We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Looks like something that should not be sold. Oh, my. So that was my other big Colts takeaway. They sold that?

Yes. At the Colts Stadium. Yeah, I might want to go back to the drawing board on that. Yeah. I thought the shape we had with pretzels was working pretty well. Bart for generations. We're just here trying to enjoy it. We hope you all will join us throughout the year.

And let's go. I hope I'm as youthful as Pete Carroll is at his age. He's a young 73. He is a young 73. He is Sprott. I wouldn't fight him. I would. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't

find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level,

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College Football Podcast. College football season is here, and you know what that means. Your team is going to break your heart three times, probably before Halloween. Uh-huh, but fear not. The Solid Verbal will be right there with you through every soul-crushing loss and impossible comeback. Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport. Whether you're a die-heart fan or a casual observer, We'll help you make sense of all the chaos and, of course, celebrate the madness.

Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. We don't just love college football, tie. We live it. Listen to the Solid Verbal College Football Podcasts on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get fired up, y'all. Season two of Good Game with Sarah Spain is.

is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people and an incomparable soccer icon, Megan Rapino, to the show, and we had a blast. We talked about her recent 40th birthday celebrations, co-hosting a podcast with her fiancé Sue Bird, watching former teammates retire and more. Never a dull moment with Pino. Take a listen. What do you miss the most about being a pro athlete? The final. The final. And the locker room. I really, really, like, you just, you can't replicate, Kate, you can't get back, showing up to locker room every morning just to shit talk. We've got more incredible guests like the legendary Candace Parker and college superstar AZ Fudd. I mean, seriously, y'all.

The guest list is absolutely stacked for season two. And, you know, we're always going to keep you up to speed on all the news and happenings around the women's sports world as well. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Fantasy season is here, and the question is, are you ready to dominate your league? Because if you're not locked in with us, the NFL fantasy football podcast, you're already playing from behind.

Every episode, we're breaking down the biggest fantasy headlines. Injury updates you need before kickoff. and matchups you can exploit to bury your competition. We're talking sleeper picks, breakout stars, and the players you can't afford to bench. Whether it's rookies making noise or veterans keeping their value, we cover it all. Whether you're drafting for the first time or chasing another championship. We'll give you the edge, the insight, and the confidence to make every move count. Weekly analysis, hot takes, and insider knowledge all in one place.

So what's it going to be? Another just okay season? or total fantasy domination. Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And how you, how you been? I've been good, man. I'm busy, but we're good.

Yeah. Busy is a good thing. Busy is a good thing. Ben, you know that meme. Everybody should, that mean. I got more memes than I don't know what to do with, man. Is that when you know you made it when you got memes? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you've actually made it. You have officially arrived once you have memes. So how you been? I've been good, man. Really busy. A lot of things happening with WWE. And, yeah, just trying to lend a hand where I can. Yeah.

When you got into the sport, do you have any idea that the WWE would be this? No. Would grow to what it's become? Absolutely not, man. We were just trying to fill up arenas, make a little money. money. And maybe still, you know, back then when I started, there were four pay-per-views, right? There was the big four. And, you know, that was, that was it. We were trying to sell pay-per-views, sell some T-shirts, and no clue, no clue that Netflix was going to come along and the kind of money that, you know, these deals are,

it's crazy. You can't imagine, you know, back in 1990, what, what 2025 is going to like. And talking to Rick, Rick was talking about how he used to wrestle in high school gymnasium, and he would wrestle three or four or five times in a single day in order to, you know, because there was no money. I mean, you guys making $50. We're guys making just enough money to put gas in their car and go to the next locale, and here we are guys are making real, real, real money. They got families, you know, they got wives, they got kids, they have nice homes now.

It's a different era now for wrestlers. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, those, we call that paying you do. right when you come up you and it's not even like there's so many times where I would have to go and help set up the ring just to just to get on the card right and maybe even have to you know sometimes chip in for some you know not make any money right that's just how important ring time was and we didn't have a you know you didn't have a PC or all the all the you know the ways to prepare as we do now and I was telling a story.

earlier about the first time that I went to I went to like an HR block paid my like my I'm one year in the business right and I got this bag full of receipts right that I'm giving this guy and he says uh and he's reading it like I wrote it down wrong he said you drove in eight months you drove 45,000 miles and I was like yes sir and he says and you and you made 12,000 226. And a guy was serious, he was the old-timer, right? And he pulls his glasses down, and he looks over his glass, and he goes, son, can I give you some advice? He said, you might want to find a different line of work.

But, I mean, that was paying your dues, and now here we are, right? And speaking of the line of work, growing up as a kid, did you actually know you wanted to wrestle from jump, or would there something else you want to do? For me, I wanted to be a marine biologist. I wanted to be a veterinarian because I was in animals. I was in the killer whales and dogs of that nature. And then football came on. Right.

And that's what happened. Right. No, I was a big, big fan as a kid of wrestling. But again, I thought I was going to play football. Right. Right. And, you know, that was always, I thought that was my dream. That was your way out.

That was my way out. I ended up playing basketball. And then wrestling kind of came back around. You know, I was training at this gym. Jim, between, I think it was between my junior and senior year of college, and this guy's working out, and he's like, hey, man, you ought to go through this wrestling school with me. Man, I think, you know, I'm going to try and play some pro ball overseas, right? Right. And every day I'd come in, he'd hit me up, and then I started kind of catching up

with the product again. And it was a lot different even then than what it was when I was a kid. Right. And I've always kind of been very, like a pretty practical, and I know what my abilities are. what my abilities aren't. And then, you know, I start thinking about it. Like, do I want to be the 12th man on a bench in Lithuania at 21 or 22 years old? Right. And then, you know, I'm kind of like, well, damn, there's not a lot of big athletic guys in wrestling at the time. And that's kind of how it started.

And once I started training, then it was like, okay, yeah, this is it. This is what I want to do. But you mentioned this is a lot different now that it is. They got NXT, where they got the training program. just H was on, Triple H was on, and he's saying they're building an even bigger down in Orlando. That's where they send all the guys that, you know, people want to pass through and think they can make it into the WWE.

That's where they go through. You guys didn't have that. So these guys not have an advantage that you guys didn't. Right. And they have guys that come like yourself and they have Sean Michael, who's the director of that, to go back there and help them guys out. Have you found it difficult to be able to share what you know with kids? Because those that can do, those that can't teach, you could do, but now sometimes they ask you to teach.

Yeah. No, and that's a great question. But I think the biggest thing for me is that we have so many athletes now, like we recruit. Like, we will have people at the combine. You go to colleges. Yeah, we go to, we go to, you know, we'll go to the Combine. We'll go to Pro Days. And we got people there.

Yeah. Because we have to continue feed the system. Okay. Yes. Right? When I came up, either you had it, like, this is, I was a fan, I want to do this. You have a certain understanding of the business, right? Even as a fan.

Right. But we're getting people that have never been. Y'all like the army now. Y'all looking for a few good men. You're good women. But not understand. We're taking them from ground zero. So they're not even, they don't understand the business or any concept.

Right. So trying to, the way that I come up and the way that my process was, yeah, sometimes I get some blank stares, like, I have no idea what this man's talking about. And then you have to continue to break it down, and hopefully they feel. We talk, let me ask you, H was saying the big, the most important thing is an athleticism, it's charisma.

Yeah. It's being able to hold this microphone and do what a Rick Fleur could do. Do what a Dusty Rose can do. Do what a rock can do. Do what a John Cena could do. Captivate that audience. Hold that audience. They're hanging on everything that you say.

People still can recite that Rick Flair. Jet set. Limousine drive. Rolex wear. Alligator. He's wasted more liquor in a weird that you made in the life. They know that. Yeah.

Would you say, what do you think is the most important thing that a wrestler needs to have in order to be what you become, what Sean Michael was, what Rick? You have to have the ability to make somebody care, right? Bar none. There's been a lot of guys that have made a lot of money. They can wrestle a lick. I mean, if I'm being honest, right? Yeah.

But, again, you put this in their hand? Yeah. You're on your edge of your seat, like, oh, shit. Right? Right. That's number one. You have to make, and they don't have to love you. They can hate you.

Right. It doesn't matter. Right. They just have to have, you. You have to be able to make people feel a certain way. Yes. And if you got that, then everything else can take care of itself. You don't need to be, we always say Luthet.

Luthez is an old-timer that could really wrestle. He could do it all, right? So you don't have to be Lutthes, but man, if you can make somebody feel a certain way, then you've got a really good chance of being successful. That's dope. If I ask you, give me your mouth rush more wrestlers. If you get more heads to put on there, the greatest wrestlers of all time, who would you put up there? So, again, I go back to who were the most, I guess, instrumental in the history of wrestling.

And I put Andre the Giant on there. Holcogne. Okay. Stone Cold. And the fourth, Rick Flair. I think those guys are synonymous with the history of our industry. Right. Now, there's been guys that are better talkers. Yes.

The other guys have been better wrestlers. Yes. For guys that had impact, those are my four. And a lot of people don't, really, Andre was at the very, very beginning because Andre started out. I remember him. I saw him in Baxley, Georgia. It went with Georgia championship wrestling because it was, you know, South.

You had Mid-Atlantic. You had the Midwest. You had Georgia, Florida. You had Southwest. And so I got an opportunity to see him. And I just remember as a kid looking, like, there ain't nobody, there's no man in the world ever been this big. You're right. Yeah.

Well, people didn't understand with Andre. And this is what he was doing back then. He was in a different place every day, right? He would be down in mid-south. And then he would be in California. And then he would go to Japan. He was the international superstar long before anybody else. Right.

He was the first guy that was on Johnny Carson and all of those shows. And he didn't, he didn't talk, but people were in all of his size. Nobody had ever seen a man that big. They had never seen a man with his hand that wore a size 23 ring, and whatever size he was, he weighed 500 pounds, he was seven, over seven feet tall. So, like, am I ever going to see somebody that size again in my life? I better, I better enjoy this.

Yeah, and it's just, I remember going, I grew up in Houston, and I remember him coming to Houston Wrestling, to Sam Houston Coliseum there. I think I might have been 10 or 12 years old and got close enough, you know, to shake his hand, and it was just like... It was like my catch was me. Oh, my hand was lost, right?

But then 10 years later, I'm in the same dressing room with Andre the Giant. That's dope. That's dope. Now, that's a full circle moment. Yes. Yeah, and... I remember with him and Big John Studd fought. Dude, I just say this about Andre.

If he won't be alone, he can be alone. Yes. I mean, Rick was telling stories like, if he liked you, he liked you. If he didn't like you, he didn't like you, and there was nothing nobody could say or do, and the match was going to go how he said it was going to come. Absolutely. And what are you going to do?

What are you going to do with Andre? Whenever he says, that's exactly what you're going to do. Now that we see the UFC all the, this is under one umbrella. UFC you know the boxing and PBR I mean

and you see the crossover peeling you see this big because I guess this is like I mean this fight here is as big the buzz the electricity that you have like Pachial and flowing yes

this is common because the way you guys put on a summer slam and you summer fest and the way you guys do that this is kind of like similar to the buzz that this is creating is very similar to what you guys do yeah well this is a this make very well be the fight of the decade right yeah yeah these kind of fights just don't come along no not often and there's just something different about this caliber of fight right i mean i was

at i was at day la hoya and trinidad and tyson and lenox yeah like it's just a different kind of buzz. And then when you put the machine of TKO and you got Netflix behind you. You got your guy turkey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's excellent. Yeah. I mean, and he is such

a huge sports fan. Yeah. It's just, it's this crazy. The buzz and the, in the attention that's going to be on this fight this weekend. Yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited. Do you see any, when when you watch, when you watch today, and I know you

still a fan of the sport when you watch today do you see anybody any young undertakers coming up um it's it's hard i mean i see a lot of people that are coming up that are going to be that have potential to be stars now whether they're their their characters or what are they are similar to my like well i guess the closest within the past few years obviously was bray white yeah we lost uh you know we lost him last year but he was in that category of Undertaker-esque. Yeah, I don't know that anybody's really honed in there, but we have a lot of young talent coming up.

And it'll probably be debuting really soon because the machine, again, you've got to keep it fresh, yeah. Did you pick the name Undertaker or did he give you that name? That name was given to me by Vince. He had this envisioned in his mind, this character. And basically he needed a big guy with very limited personality. I'm your guy. Yeah, so again, but it was something that resonated with me.

You know, when he was showing, you know, everything was on these big storyboards. And I'm in his office and he's showing me this. And immediately my brain is like, oh, this is. Yeah, I knew. Like I knew. I didn't know what it was going to become. but I knew it was different and I knew it was special. And, yeah, I was like, yeah, this is pretty cool.

How many people over the last 15 years have called you by your real name or everybody just called you Undertaker? Most people call me Taker. Taker or Dead Man, right? Dead man was my nickname. And yeah, sometimes people, you know, they'll say Mark and I don't even turn around. Right. But I hear Taker, I know, hey, what's up? Or dead man.

Right. But it's kind of funny. like when you're in public places and, you know, somebody, hey, dead man. And everybody's kind of looking around. Like, what the hell's wrong with him? What do you think the number one story that resonate with wrestling fans? The number one, they have to, again, it goes back to that connection that I was talking about. If they're invested in you and they care about, so one of the things that a lot of their,

guys, it takes them a while to figure out because they're so athletic now. that that's what they want to put, that's what they want to display. They want to display their athleticism. And that's great. Right. But at the end of the day, your audience will get desensitized. Or you have to continue to push the envelope. Right?

Like, okay, I've seen you do a double backflip off the top rope onto the floor to somebody. And I've seen that a couple of times. Now what do you got for me? Right. Right. But if you can get them invested in the character and if somebody does that character wrong, now you got them right because that's what it's all about if you love somebody you're going to pay money to see that dude kick the other dude's ass right or if you don't like that guy for a reason i want this guy to whoop his right

i'm going to go whether he wins whether i want somebody to beat it or i want him to win but i'm going to go see it that's the gist of what we do oh yeah we storytell and we try to get people invested in in the characters wrestling isn't and i tell people this a lot especially the young guys when you're you're asking me earlier wrestling isn't about wrestling moves wrestling's about telling stories we use the moves to help tell the story but it's all on a connection

and that's the biggest thing once that light bulb goes off then you then you got a good chance to look doing well I like that you got anything you want to add don't you? No that was it that was good man it's been amazing I mean to sit down and and to watch like growing up like I said I've been a fan

and know the wrestling and to see you in age and to see, you know, Sean Michaels and I sat down with Rick and I sat down with John Sina and to like, like you said, to watch guys on television and all of a sudden, through this job,

allowed me to sit it out and I sort of crossed with you, man. It is indeed an honor. Yes, thank you, man. I appreciate you guys making time for me. This is, I enjoy, I enjoy y'all. I love y'all's banter. I've been big fans of y'all's career.

Thank you. that other career you guys I appreciate it I appreciate it thank you for having thank you boss it's a pleasure baby how you doing

I'm better now I'm with you too I like it I like it I like it welcome to night well day cap so have you been good yeah yeah

I'm here instead of Smackdown so get the night off yeah everybody knows your famous father who's that the nature boy the legend growing up watching your father is this what you always wanted to do

no no um i don't think growing up in the air that my dad wrestled and being an athlete and seeing like what the women were doing at that time i wasn't like oh i could be like that right they were just so glamorous and sometimes like in bikinis right but whipped cream bikinis It just was hit, like, I don't know. It wasn't a dream of mine, but my little brother wanted to be just like my dad. Yes. Yeah. And he had a really bad drug addiction.

So I thought if I started wrestling, that we could wrestle together. And he ended up passing away. But now it's like I'm living both our dreams. Right. So I just thank him for having the guts to do it. Right. So if wrestling wasn't your dream and it was a dream of your brothers, what would you have done if you didn't transition into wrestling?

I don't know. I think personal training or something within the sports realm. That's a good one. That's what I always played sports. Right, right. Something there. That's dope. You received a lot of online hate because you came back from an injury

and you immediately got a title shot. Yes. And look, because everybody probably said you got fast track because you was Rick Flair's daughter. And so you probably always had to deal with hate because of your famous father and you probably were able to deal with it a lot better than others, not in the beginning, but as you got older because you had to deal with it for so long. Kind of.

Well, playing sports growing up, like, no one cared what you looked like. And, like, also, if you were the best player, you were the best player, or team captain or hardest worker in the room, like, no one gave a shit, excuse me, no one cared, like, who your dad was. Like, they might have wooed at me, so, like, I was used to that. But being in the entertainment industry, that also, you know, it is, it's sports and entertainment. I just wasn't prepared for the online hate dealing with like, why does she look like her dad? I don't know.

I'm his daughter. Like, I'm like, why is that like such a big deal? But I definitely obviously got in the door easy because of my dad. But there's, I mean, you don't do what I do. You got to do it. Yeah, you got to put it in. Oh, I did everything. You put the book in.

Like, I've carved out my own path. But I still have that chip on my shoulder. Because it's like, no matter what you do, no matter how many first you've had or how many awards, accolades or best match of the night, it's still like, oh, Rick Flair. So, but it's okay. Like, you need haters in this world, right? You don't have haters. You got a problem. Have you been able to deal with that and navigate having the haters regardless of the work and understanding that?

No, I have. When I first started, it was hard. It was bothering you. But I think it also propelled me to where I am today. Right, right. Like, it made me, like, I think, work that much harder. You mentioned, like, when you was growing up and your dad, the women, it's not like now, you and Tori Wilson. Yeah.

No, and the women definitely paved the way. They just weren't given the opportunity or the platform to show the world what they could do. So, I mean, they had to do all of that so we could do all of this. And I'm definitely aware of that. The women, I grew up watching your dad, very young age, you know, basically they were the fabulous mover. Yes. That was really the only thing. And, you know, they would, you would see one woman's match a month.

If that. If that. If that. They were just eye candy. That was it. But now you guys, you know, you and Bianca Bel Air and all these in Sky, you guys get center stage. You guys get main event. When you think about it like, man, I got 20,000 people cheering.

Oh, I've had like 101,000 people in AT&T, so I don't know what you're talking about. That was not talking about, Charlotte. I was the first main event at MetLife. No, I think for me, what's still like, I still can't believe I'm here is I can remember sitting front row when my dad wrestled Sean in Orlando when he retired. And I was a fan of wrestling. Like, I was a fan of my dad, but I didn't really follow it. I didn't have a favorite superstar. I was like, oh, Sting, he's, like, super sexy or, like, you know, like, Triple H or Andy Orden.

But I didn't really follow it. So to be sitting front row and then seeing all these grown men crying over my dad retiring and all these woo signs, I was like, oh, my dad, like, means a lot to this business. Like, I had no idea. I think I was a little sheltered from it. So to know that that little girl who sat, well, I wasn't little, I was in my early 20s, who sat and watched her father retire, I have now been on more manias. I'm main event mania. He didn't.

Like, I have surpassed the things that he's done in the industry, but also to be a part of the industry that he helped create, not knowing that this was like the path for me. Right. So that's what's like crazy. And it's all happened in 10 years. Yeah, it's dope. So, like, you can just change the course of your life. like if you put your mind to it

like I truly believe that when I had him on my show I talked to him and I asked him did he want you to do it he said no he tried to talk to you out of it he did because it's a hard life I mean it's a lot different now

but it's just like the traveling it's nonstop we don't have an off season you're away from your family you're away from your kids it's like it takes a different kind of breed

to do what we do that's what he told me he said he said Shannon if you're single is perfect you got no you know you don't have you don't have a wife you don't have a girlfriend you don't have kids you know you just trade you just the work out he said for me i just work out wrestle on to the next wrestle work out on to the next he says but when you get a family you have kids it's a little hard with the travel that you have to do it's not like it was when he originally

started because he was telling me there are some days that it was harder then than it is yeah it was a lot harder he said but he was wrestling two three four times in a day now you guys You know, you might wrestle once, maybe twice a week. It is definitely more family-oriented. Yes, I will say. Right. But it's still hard. Yeah.

It's the travel. It's being gone. It's the travel. Yeah. You know, the fact that you guys are so busy, your schedule is so hectic. Yeah. You travel so many days out. We don't have an off-season.

Unless you're injured, you don't have an off-season. So when I tore my knee, that was the first injury in eight years. Right. So now I'm thinking about outside of football, I have other interests. I have other hobbies that I really in like. When do you ever have time to enjoy things that you like outside of wrestling? Well, the business has evolved. So where before we were on the road four to five days a week

and now we don't have as many live event shows that aren't televised on the weekends. So really we just have Smackdown Raw, and if we're overseas, we have like the bigger televised events like Russell Palooza coming up, September 20th. So we do have more time, but I think you just have to, if there's something that you're you're really passionate about. You have to set time aside for it. Okay. Oh, like Seth Rollins now being on the NFL network.

Like, that's so great for him. Like, he loves football. Right. He's able to find something else that he loves to do with wrestling. I know wrestling is his passion. But to see him doing that is really awesome. That's dope. Being reported, WrestleMania 43 is going to be in Saudi.

Crazy, right? Whoa. I don't know what's more crazy that it's in Saudi or that it's out of the United States. Right. That's what I mean by that. Like, it's always been. our Super Bowl it's been in the United States since what

1985 so now that it is overseas that's what makes it like how global we are well I think that for for WWE we've had so many shows there now for the last couple years

I feel like it is I can't I don't want to say home but it is you know we we wrestle there three or four times so to have a wrestling WrestleMania there, I could see it being a big deal because we've had Crown Jewel. We're going to have the Royal Rumble. But again, WrestleMania has been in the United States.

Right. So that's, I think, the, wow, that's how big the company has become or World Wrestling Entertainment. When you, when you, you've been around this sport for a while now and you see what Bianca Belair, what she's been able to accomplish. I mean, when you see what she's done, how does that make you feel? proud of you over? Oh, when I saw her sitting at the press conference, I had no idea she had wrestled in Saudi nine times. So when she came up to the main

roster, she really, when I thought about it, I was like, oh, she's right. Like, she's been in almost every big show there. No, she's the EST for a reason, and she really is a role model inside and outside of the ring. Yeah, I was

like, just proud sister sitting there watching her. That's dope. Do you like, you like, you like, tag team, you like a partner, or you like solo? Oh, personally, I like solo. Yeah. I don't like sharing the spotlight, but I am in a tag team with the one person I don't mind sharing the spotlight with. And that's Alexa Bliss.

And I'm having so much fun. She's great. She brings out definitely a different side of my character for TV, so it's great. Oh, yeah. So how much longer? I mean, your dad, if your dad still had, if his body would hold up, your dad would still be wrestling. Yeah. Is this something that you're like, okay, I got another three years, I got another five years.

How much long do you want to go with this, Charlotte? I don't know. I want kids one day. That's the thing. I can do both, but it just depends on the time. Like, I don't know. Right now, it's, what do I have coming up? NXT Homecoming Tuesday, we've got Russell, Royal Rumble, WrestleMania.

So, like, the shows keep going. It's just whatever happens between now and five years. If you were to have kids, are you coming back or once you start that family, you're done? I think wrestling's in my blood. I don't know any different. Like, I love it. But I do want to be a mom. Right.

But I think Trish Stratis coming back and having all these one-offs and she's 50 looks better than half the roster. Right. She's killing it. So I don't think that door will ever close. It's just I do know I want to step away to have children. right and when that time is so that's um i just saw how i just saw some uh uh wrestling couple uh she's stepping away because she's having a baby i forget who it was um yeah i forget oh my girl yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes oh yes i'm so happy for her so she had the championship

yes and then she had to relinquish she had yes um but she'll definitely definitely come back and win the title again. Right. Or take her title back that she never lost. Right. So, I mean, that means you'd have to be off at least a year, and you're going to need to probably, you know. I couldn't manage on the side with a little baby bump.

I like that. I like that. That's dope. So in other words, you're going to be a lifer. You're a wrestling lifer. You'll do with Sean Michaels, duh. You'll go down to NST and then you'll teach the women. to do what you do.

So here's a thing. Just, I do believe when you are good at something, it doesn't mean that you're going to be a good coach. Yes. Wait, I'm not saying that I couldn't be a good coach because I do love it. But right now what I like more is helping the girls inside the ring. My mind isn't there yet to be like, oh, I have to be on the side lights helping. Right, right.

Like I feel like right now it's more like, all right, you got to keep up with me. Right. Let me see what you got. Right. Like, that's the mentality, so I haven't, like, switched off yet to where what that looks like. Like, Triple H has done an incredible job, like, going from what he meant in the ring to what he means now. And I'm just not there yet if that's something that I want to do. How difficult is it?

Because, you know, like, you know, this is entertainment, and you got to script, and you got to follow the script. And sometimes you might get injured, but, hey, it calls for 30 minutes. We got to give it 30 minutes, even if my back is hurting, my knee is hurting, my elbow. elbow on my shoulder. That's life. Yeah. It's life. You just got to do it. Yeah. I don't, yeah. Have you ever been hurt early in a match and like, damn, I still got 30 minutes to kill? So I've only been injured one time. Yes. But when I tore my ACL MCL meniscus, I finished the match. I didn't stop. But I think I injured myself more because my ego wouldn't let me stop. So I got injured like in the first two minutes and I kept going and I finished the 10 minute match. And I was still losing the match.

But I still had to finish it I was like, I'm not stopping this match But it was in front of the troops So I was a tribute to the troops show And I was like These people give their lives for us And I can't finish a silly wrestling match So like I'm out there going

Like you just have to finish it But if you go back and watch that match Like I landed on my head I landed on my, like it was an Ouch It was brutal to watch Like I needed to be stopped Right did you know when you injured yourself

Did you know you were injured? by the end of it I was like I can't walk I could not walk I couldn't move so you understood how severe it was I did well when I like the first ding I was like oh that don't feel right right and then when I fell off the top rope one of my neck I was like oh my god did I break my neck and then

like 20 seconds later I could move kept going and then I did another signature move that I had and it like I don't know I started the move and the next thing you know I was like flat on my face but all the other things that I had to finish the match I could use on one leg

But I was like, oh, this is not good. This is not good. Some are not right. Because I've never like. You've never been injured before. Never been injured. Like broken noses, teeth knocked out, things like that. exterior things, but not like interior.

Damn, Charlotte. You mean to tell me you was like at the end of a match? You was like a jack-a-latter? I was in Germany. Yes, and Carmella knocked my teeth out. And I'm like walking back. Actually, the referee Charles actually handed me two of the teeth. I was like, put-d-

To see the excitement on your face, even though through the torn knee and the knocked-out teeth, you can see the passion that you have for what you do. And that's why you're so good at what you do because you don't look at this as an occupation. You don't look at this as a job. You enjoy doing what you do so you don't see this as work. I wake up every day, grateful. Yeah, like, you know how somebody you're like, oh, I got to go to work today. I'm like, oh, I don't work. Right.

I love my job. Right. Yeah. I love it. Charlotte Blair, ladies and gentlemen, wrestling royalties. Oh, yeah. And she's on nightcap or daycap. Charlotte, thank you so much.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game.

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