THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Natalya Neidhart - Living Your Destiny

Episode Date: November 28, 2018

With a combination of beauty, talent and untamed desire, Natalya Neidhart is proudly carrying on the WWE legacy and truly living her destiny. She is the SmackDown Women's Champion, 2-time title holder, daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, AND the first third-generation female wrestler in the world! Her presence out of the ring is almost as formidable. Starring on E!’s Total Divas reality series and working as an active supporter of WWE along with a long list of charitable partnerships, it is easy to see that Natalya is a powerhouse of strength, passion, and determination. In this exclusive interview, Natalya pulls back the curtain and shares her life experiences including her relationship with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and the struggles she and her family faced battling Alzheimer's. For the first time since the tragic passing of her legendary father, Natalya opens up about her loss and how she is able to live up to the legendary legacy of the pink and black.

Welcome to the Ed Milo Show, the place for leaders, dreams and champions. Welcome back to Max out, everybody. This is Ed Milo, I have a special one for you today. We're going to break some ground as a team here today. So this beautiful lady sitting next to me is WWE Superstar Natalia. So thank you for being here today. Thank you so much for having me and thank you

for the great. We're having some damn good wine. You know, by the way, you know it's a good show where we're in the wine room everybody. You know what the wine room means. So, but I'm gonna call you Nadi throughout the show. That's everybody going to do. And WWE, they call me Natalia, but on my regular everyday life, which is, you know, I mean,

they actually call me Nadi on TV too. So, total diva is my, you know, you can just call me Nadi. All right, that's what we're going with. And we have so many mutual friends, so this has been great for me today. Yeah, no, I'm so excited to do this. Me too. I'm like legitimately fired up for this one, you guys. So, but let's talk about your real life.

Let's start there since you brought that up for a minute. So, you grew up, it's almost, you're like bred to be doing almost what you do. So, there's two types of fans watching this today. So, we need to bridge the gap. There's my audience who, many of WEE fans, but not all of them, right? And so, they need to become familiar with you.

And then there's the WWE Universe, which knows many of W.W.E. fans, but not all of them, right? And so they need to become familiar with you. And then there's the W.W.E. universe, which knows many of these things too. So we're gonna kind of bridge those two families together today. And so you grew up, your dad, it's Jim the Anvil, Nine Heart, right? You got Bret Hart, Owen Hart, even your grandfather was in the rest of it. So tell us about your family.

So my dad is Jim Knighthart. My mom is part of the heart family. So my mom, it's coincidental that my dad's last name is Knighthart, but my mom is part of the famous heart family. So my mom's brothers are Owen Hart and Bret Hart. And then my uncles, Davy Boy Smith and the dynamite kid, they married into the heart family because the Hart family, it's a complicated family tree, but the Hart family has,

you know, my grandfather's stewart, who's a WWE Hall famer, he had 12 kids. So his daughter married wrestlers, so we ended up... You literally were bred for this, like legitimately. The British Bulldogs, my dad, my uncles, you uncles you know Owen and Brett and then my grandfather um stew heart ran a wrestling promotion called Stampede Wrestling yes and so some of the greatest wrestlers of all time trained with my grandfather including Muhammad Ali and yes and um so I mean Jack Dempsey are you serious Rocky

Marciano, it's funny looking back at those old pictures and I'll post them on Instagram. I'm like, now more than ever, I just appreciate my family. I appreciate my grandfather, I appreciate my lineage. Like I don't take it for granted, they were just really cool. Like my dad, I always say, you know,

I said this at my dad's funeral, my dad was really cool. Like my dad was just a badass. He, my dad, like, let dad was really cool. Like my dad was just a badass. He's my dad. Like, let me just cut to the chase. My dad would show up to our PTA meetings on an Inja motorcycle with Zuba's on Rayban sunglasses, Goatee, you know, sometimes no shirt on.

And it's like, no wonder he never came back to those PTA meetings. That's so cool. Your dad struck me like, I know the business there's characters, but your dad was like a little real life character, right? Yes, my dad was so cool. Yeah. He was, you know, growing up, my dad would always talk about his old days.

And, you know, my sisters, I have two sisters, Jenny and Muffy, and we would grow one year apart. So we were literally like one year apart in age. And growing up like my dad would always want us to be like throwing a shot put in the middle of our lawn. And my sister's like, we don't want to throw the shot put and who cares about shot putting? Nobody knows what shot putting is.

And my whole life my dad would talk about shot putting and like we didn't know or care about shot putting but my dad really wanted us to do it. And he would always talk about this track and field meet and this guy named Du Bois and something. And it's funny when my dad passed away, the LA Times tweeted to me an article of my dad and this track meet that he talked about.

And he talked about, in this track meet, the LA Times, they had covered it. And they did an interview and it was like, oh my gosh, this was the track meet that my dad talked about his whole life. And now the LA Times is tweeting me about it a day later. Oh my gosh. And my dad when he was 18 was the second best shot putter in the US.

And what do you see LA to? Yeah, what do you see LA? And I was like, oh my god, he wasn't making that up about the track. I was wondering. And I was like, you know, looking, I laugh about those times that my dad was just super cool. He was, you know, he was in track and field.

And he played football. He played with the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders and went to UCLA on a full scholarship. Super good athlete. Very gifted athlete and very, just like a prodigy. Yeah. And so I think my dad always had the reputation, especially in WWE and out of WWE, is kind of being a little bit of a bad boy. The rebel.

But I also think it was because he was so good in sports, he was so gifted. Later after this interview was done, I'll show you my phone, this picture of my dad, he was snatching like 400 pounds. And bench pressing 670 pounds. Oh my gosh. 700 pounds.

And it's funny because I was telling Vince McMahon that my dad was working out with Hulk Hogan two weeks before he died. And Hulk Hogan, you know, is so sweet. He called me, I still call him Hulk Hogan because that's what I remember him as when I was growing up. Terry and real life.

Terry, he was a really good friend of my dads and they were very close. And when my dad passed away, Hulk called me that night. And he just said, you know, he said to me, he's like, he shared a story with me that he's like, your dad would never want me telling you the story, but he shared a story with me that his dad would never want me telling you this story, but he shared a couple stories with me,

and he said, two weeks ago, before your dad passed away, your dad was trying to squat 600 pounds with me. And I was telling Vince McMahon, after my dad passed away, I was joking with Vince because Vince Arboss, he's like an avid fitness fanatic. Oh, he's an unbelievable shape. I don't even admire him so much for those reasons. Not just business, every area. Vince is just like a freak of nature when it comes to lifting.

And Vince is like, wow, that's incredible. And like, I was showing him, you know, pictures and stuff, but people wouldn't believe it unless you had a photo of it. Yeah. And my dad, these pictures of him workout out. He's 63 years old. He's doing that kind of stuff. That's it. And it was funny because I didn't even know he and he and Hogan were working out two weeks prior to him passing away. Wow. And it was just ingrained in't even know he and he and Hogan were working out two weeks prior to him passing away. And it was just ingrained in my dad, that physical fitness, that strength, that, you know, like-

It seems like it did you too. I think throughout the conversation, your dad's the central figure in your life and obviously with recent events, it's something that we're going to talk a whole lot about today. But like, here's what I didn't know, by the way, I'm a WWE fan, but I did not know the heart foundation when he was partners with Brett.

I thought, we thought, it's odd, they don't look like brothers. So they weren't brothers, right? No, Brett was my mom's brother. Yeah, brother, right? Yeah, I understand that now. And my dad married into the family, but like, just because he happened to coincidentally have that last name.

That's crazy, yeah. And so did you, are you the first ever, I'm just curious? Are you the first third generation? Female, yep, first, that's amazing. and so did you are you the first ever I'm just curious are you the first third generation female yep first amazing the first ever third generation female wrestler in the world yeah and Wow, yeah, did you always know you're gonna do it like was it you're 12 years old where you think I know your shop putting in the front With your dad, but like we it wasn't until I was like 16 or 17 Then I started to kind of get an itch for it because my dad this is a kind of a cool backstory

My dad didn't want me wrestling because my dad didn't feel like it was a good place for girls Okay, and it's funny because I you know and talking to staff and being close to staff her dad and like we have so much in common I I know she could relate to this so much, but like my dad really didn't, my dad felt like because there weren't very many women involved in WWE back then, there was just maybe, you know, when I was growing up, there was just like misalysip and sensational cherry. And then as I was in my teens,

there was Tristratus and Lita and, you know, it started to kind of take off and evolve. But one of our great friends, by the way, I didn't tell this to Steph or the twins, but one of our great friends, by the way, I didn't tell this to Steph or the twins, but one of our great friends is the glow of ladies wrestling. She was shy and share. And so when I tell them after I meet you guys, the progression of women in the sport of wrestling and how you just become the stars, it reminds me almost like in tennis years ago, there

was sort of the now the women are almost better known in the tennis circuit than they are some of the biggest stars in the world of tennis. The serenity of women is the biggest tennis star in the world, right? And now the tennis circuit than they are some of the biggest stars in the world tennis the serene waves is the biggest tennis star in the world right in the rest of the you guys are like these there's the reality shows about you and the girls have really taken off it gets right now or in the middle of this women's evolution yes it's cool because you know for the last ten years like i feel like i've been waiting for the

revolution when it wasn't when the revolution wasn't quite ready for me and now i'm like i'm just might as a dollar ready to do, I'm ready to do this. You are ready to do this. I was born to do this. And I watched, and I just walked, like you're, I told you this off camera, like you're the pros pro, like you're outstanding,

you're incredible in every aspect of it, you're incredible on the divas, you're incredible on your cuts where they do the shots where you get heat, you're incredible in the ring strategically. You're just, and the other ladies acknowledge that too. When I interviewed Bri and Nikki, you know, they told me the person that they've learned the most from, in terms of how to execute is you. Obviously, they love you.

And the twins and I, we started out in WWE the same week. And nobody ever thought that they would make it because they were too pretty and too, they were in like what you ended up, you know, that's the funny thing is not judging a book by its cover, but they were so tough and so feisty they could survive each other So they think it would survive each other. They can sure as hell survive WWE They love you and I love them. We're very very close and we just have this connection We no matter how far apart in the world we are and I can be in Germany and they could be in San Diego We always just we always keep in touch and we just have this special bond because we

started out and WWE together and our backgrounds are so different. When I started out in WWE, I came from Calgary, where my family is from, with one suitcase full of clothes. That was it. I thought I'd go back, so I said, I'll just pack the suitcase and I'll come back for everything else. I never went back. But you had years of wrestling before that though. Yeah, I had years of wrestling and I couldn't get hired with WWE

I just couldn't do it and I think and this is actually the first time I've said this to you. So this is groundbreaking This might be the one give it give it more wine I think one of the I feel like because my family had at the time I was trying to get hired in 2002, 2003, 2004. I started, I had my first professional match in 2002. And my uncle Brett Hart, there was tension with him and WWE for many years because he, there was something called this screwdriver. And it was very infamous conflict, which now is actually really cool because it really launched the character of Mr. McMahon.

It launched the Attitude Era. That's right, that's good point really cool because it really launched the character of Mr. McMahon. It launched the attitude era. That's right. That's good for you. See, it comes from everything. It was like Brett and Vince McMahon having this tension in this fight where Brett and Vince had a physical altercation. And anybody that knows the screwdriver knows what happened. I think it was just... Tell them what happened because my audience may not know. So, in a nutshell, there was a discrepancy

over this match that Brett and Shawn Michaels were having. And Shawn Michaels during the match, they were in, you know, Brett was put in the sharpshooter, which is his own submission move. And it's what Brett uses to win matches. And Shawn Michaels put him in it, and then the bell rang, and Brett was, Brett never tapped out.

And it was just this very tumultuous time where Brett, like, you know, because Brett looked at Vince McMahon, like Vince was his dad, like in a fatherly role. That Vince and Brett were very, very close. And a lot of the talent in WWE, like, because Vince isn't your normal boss, he's an extraordinary boss, he's like, he becomes kind of like a dad to a lot of us.

You know, when I hear that. When my dad passed away, it's crazy to say this, but the first person I called was Vince. He was the first person I talked to because I was scheduled to have a match that night. And I had to call him and tell him I can't show up to the show because I have to go home. But I have that, that's the kind of relationship that Vince has. He's not your regular boss. He's like It's just a very unique dynamic with him. That's why so many of us are Able to do what we do 365 days a year because our boss is so unique and so different this is like he's accessible If you need to talk to him about something you can seriously, I can't like you can get the phone if you'll get this if I

Well, not not all of us, you know, this phone number, right? But I've been there for 10 years. So I have a great relationship with Vince, but I can always talk to Vince if I needed to ask him about something important or not going to store and say Vince, I think that's cool for the world to hear because of the character too, right? I think it's cool for people to know that. His door is always open. And it's funny because he's always, you know, like like at raw if I don't like to go to him

I don't like to bother him unless it's really important, but I I like that I can talk to him And he's he becomes like a father figure to so many of us and so in getting back to that with Brett Brett, you know Brett and Vince had this close close relationship and Brent or Brett really looked up to Vince like in a fatherly way So but Vince is still the boss. He has to make tough decisions. He has to run his business. He has to run a business with thousands of employees. And he had, you know, this controversy happened. The bell rang and there was this conflict between Vince and Brett and Sean and it had imploded. And there was a physical altercation. And again, it became very famous as the Montreal

screwdriver job. WWE's done documentaries. Yeah, so she meant, you know, Sean and Brett have spoken about it. Vince is spoken about it. And it was just, it was a crazy time. And I, I felt like there was a lot of tension with, with Brett and WWE because of what happened. So when I was first starting out and wrestling, I was worried about that because I was like, I don't want what happened with Brad, to like affect me getting hired and lo and behold, fast forward. I've been with WWE for over 10 years. I've had more matches than any woman in the history of WWE.

I have competed in more survivor series, more than any other woman in WWE. I've done groundbreaking things in the company. I've had so many first ever matches and- Smackdown champion, divas champion. Yeah, and just been the first ever third generation female superstar in WWE. And just been a part of such a cool, it's a dream job. It's like it's sometimes it doesn't feel like work.

I get so spoiled, I don't even know how to explain it. I think when you're making history too, I don't think you know you're doing it. But you've ushered in a historic change in the sport in the company. And you're in the midst of it. Someday you'll look back, like for me as an outsider having met you and talk with stuff about it and bringing Nikki and Nikki, like it's lit, you have literally been part of a pioneering revolution in this company that 20, 30, 40 years from now, they'll be women that owe you a debt for this. It's really incredible. Now you've been honored

to do it. You're together. All of you have one thing to common. You're so, so much humility. But these women, these people, by the way, that are in WWB, are some of the most extraordinary athletes and performers in the world, the combination of your performance skills on camera and your athletic skills and the precision the way they execute is like, I think you all are just absolutely incredible. But you, for me, are kind of at the top of that list. I think, for me, because I have that pedigree, when you look at my grandfather, is it a

WWE Hall of Famer, shoe heart? My grandfather was given the highest order of Canada, which is called the Order of Canada, which is something like getting knighted by the Queen. Because most people didn't know, including our own family, that my grandfather ended up getting this order of Canada after he passed away. We found out that he donated almost all his money to charities. And he never shared that with anyone. Until when we passed away, we started finding out all this extraordinary stuff. My grandfather was super unsound. But my grandfather got into wrestling.

My grandfather was the amateur wrestling champion of Canada. Growing up, my grandfather in the summer would have a wrestling ring on our yard. So instead of having a sandbox, we had a wrestling ring. Okay, so all this was completely predetermined. Even though you didn't know it at the time.

If you did something else, it would be very bizarre, right? And it's just destiny. Yeah, it's absolutely. You can't help. How cool is it though to be, I'm curious, how cool is it to kind of, you're like living your destiny? Yeah. I mean, you're making history, you're living your destiny.

Do you sense that? Do you seem like a really grateful person to me. I am so grateful. And I always say, like, I always ask myself before I walk through the curtain in WWE, like it's this room we have called gorilla. And it's like where, you know, everybody's right there before they walk out to the audience before their match.

And before I walk out, before every match, I always ask myself, like, what's my motivation? Why am I doing this? Why am I, like, like, what's my motivation? Why am I doing this? Why am I getting body slammed? Why am I putting myself through this? And what is my motivation? Why am I here? And for so long, my motivation was, I love my family so much,

I just want to make sure they're taken care of. And that was my motivation was my family, because I wanted to be able to give to my mom and dad what they had given to me growing up. And so that became my motivation and it made me I feel like it maybe that motivation of family made me very successful. Yeah. Because it wasn't just like I want to buy a nice purse or I want to buy it like I wanted to take care of my family. I wanted to create memories and moments and magic with them and that like even just doing that on Total Divas.

Like so many people saw my mom and dad on Total Divas because I just wanted them included in everything. I wanted everyone to see my dad and see what cool he was. See my mom, like I just wanted them to be a part of it. Yeah, and your whole face changes, by the way, when you start talking about your family. And it's like, I listen to people almost every question with you ends up coming back to family.

Almost everything. My family is extremely family. Almost every one of you. My family is extremely important. Yeah, your face changes. And by the way, everybody, the finale of Total Divises tonight. So today's November 20th, if you're listening to day, the finale was tonight, you're going to want to make sure that you watch that. There's going to be something we're going to get into here

in a minute that's pretty incredible. So let me ask you a couple of things. I want to complete the family, but I really want to talk about your dad. And so, but there's another part of your family. Yeah. Maybe the most significant part of your family right now, which is your husband, which is TJ.

Right. So, I met TJ when I was young and TJ was 12, but I was 10. And I, TJ claims I told him off. Yes, he does. I don't really remember doing that, but he claims I did. So I'll let him have that. So all of a sudden TJ is this like scrawny Little kid and he ain't scrant anymore. If you say no, he was a scrawny little kid that was hanging out at the hardhouse And then I was having like in walks of Bret Hart who's now who at the time Brett was the world heavyweight champion of WWE Yeah, Owen Hart the British bulldog Jim Mayer and today's like, Teddy's family is so cool, they have a wrestling ring in their yard.

And it was divine intervention, I feel like TJ meeting our family because TJ, once he met our family, once he met Brett and Owen and my uncle's debut, my uncle, David Boy actually, he was a British Bulldog. He actually, like, just came close to adopting TJ, not legally, but TJ lived with him and became like his son. And Davey Boy, you know, also passed away, but we have a lot of, you know, people that took TJ under his wing like Davey and like my uncle Owen and like Brett and like my family. So TJ, all of a sudden sudden became part of the heart family

where he like literally just became part of the family. Everybody fell in love with TJ. To the point where my uncle Owen heart invited TJ to WrestleMania. And I think it was WrestleMania 13, but TJ will probably correct me on the date. But Owen invited TJ to WrestleMania, put him in first class.

And TJ was like this scrawny like a hundred pound kid that was like, he's like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm going to WrestleMania. As Owen's guest, Owen's putting me in first class. And I remember being so pissed off, I was like, how dare you. So you're not even a part of this family and you're going to WrestleMania. So in that time, everybody fell in love with him except you. I was annoyed. You're still annoyed about. So in that time, everybody fell in love with him except you. I was annoyed. You're still annoyed about it.

Because at the time, TJ was like this little jerk. And he was like, he just always wanted to act cool. And he just wanted to act like the tough guy. And it's like, no, you're only going to part of our family. And you're going to WrestleMania and sitting in first class. But Owen just like, Bell and Love with TJ and wanted him in first class. And TJ was like, I'm going to wrestling. He was all excited about it.

But TJ Bell and Love with wrestling and he knew from that point on, from meeting my cousin Teddy to being at the hardhouse. And we even had our own kids wrestling promotion when we were growing up in our backyard called the Kids Wrestling Association. Shhh! We had our own belt and our champion chip

and our own like, I was a bell ringer, I was a manager, I was, we just look, we, there, our entire life we've been surrounded by this. So, TJ knew from a very young age he was going to do this. Yeah. It was his destiny. Your story's bananas. Yeah, I mean, the story of all of this convergence of circumstances and you guys, like, we're doing it some justice here today.

Like, it would be one of the most amazing documentaries if we had longer time, but just your family because as many of you know, then there was the passing of Owen and that was tragic for your family and there's just been all of this good and bad that's sort of galvanized your family together and then it leads to kind of recently, right? And bring all those hardships,

though, what's crazy about it all is that it's brought us together and it's made us stronger. And you look at TJ and TJ, like I said, he was first matched 15 years old, you know, superior wrestler. He was so good because he was so small. He knew that being that small, he had to be exceptional because in WWE, you have to be really good on the mic. You have to look exceptional or you have to be able to go in the ring like nobody's business. You have to have one of those things. And TJ knew that he needed to be the best, the best wrestler that you could possibly be.

And he, TJ wrestled for 20 years, and then there was an unfortunate injury that he had, and he couldn't wrestle anymore. He broke his neck at the base of his brain. And so it was the same injury that Christopher Reeves had where it was like the C1 C2 vertebrae. It was a real life. And it was just, it was a really unfortunate accident. And he took this tough situation, which, you know,

as stuff happens. And he took this tough night, this tough situation, and he never let it stop him. He never said, I'm gonna get out of shape. He basically made it like his mantra to get into the best shape of his life. And he is now in the best shape of his life. He works out as crazy as this sounds

because I'm like, take a day off. He works out seven days a week. And he's in, like he's just, he, everything he puts in his body, his fitness routine, the people that he hangs out with, the ideas that he has. He wants to make all these incredible changes within the industry to help make WWE even better

than it's ever been. I love that. And I think Vince, our boss, he loves that too because he loves that fresh young energy that TJ brings. I'm like, TJ, this is your destiny. That's exactly right. And that's why I bring it up because it's like, yes, it was a hard situation

because nobody wants to get injured. Of course. It's a horrible thing. But he has taken it and it's been like almost like a blessing. It's been like one of the best things that's ever happened to us because it's made us look at the world differently. I believe that and I have this weird theory.

I don't think actually I think it's weird anymore. I really believe everything in your life happens for you and not to you. Really, really difficult when the really bad stuff happens. Like what we're going to talk about in a minute, how did that happen for me or for good? I mean, it's my dad right now has cancer. He's sick. He's doing well, everybody, by the way.

But I say, I even believe that extreme event happened for me and not to me. And for our family, not to our family. And the reason is little things are better about it. For example, I'm, I'm, my time with my dad's more precious. Right. My time with my own kids is more precious. Other things that used to be really important to me aren't quite as important. It's like change my perspective on things.

So it's not the events of your life that happen to you. Yeah. It's the meaning you attach to those events and then what you do with them. And so that's what TJ's done. And that's what your family's done. Pretty much consistently through an unbelievable journey of all the different tragedies and good and bad things that have happened. And when you look back at it, it's funny. When you make those right decisions, it is destiny. It is part of your destiny. And so I want to make sure that we talk a little bit about your dad. So I love talking about my dad. I know that. And so your dad was this world-class athlete that we

talked about, right? And I just tell that, and I think all daughters are probably this way, but but his love for you and his affection or attention really is a big deal to you when he was here, right? And so talk about for a minute because we're gonna talk about his passing in a minute too, but I, just what was your relationship like with your dad? Oh good, good in the bad, and leaving. Well my dad and I, like we're just super close.

I still talk about him now, like it's only been three months since he's passed away, but I still talk about him now, like I keep catching myself, talking about him like he's still here. But we were super close, and we were very similar. Like, my mom would always say that. My dad, my dad and I had so much in common.

We talked to like, we looked to like, you know, I didn't have the go-tie. But we were very, very similar. And I had that, my sisters were more like my mom, and I was just like my dad. And that's probably why I got into wrestling, got into WWE, because I was more of a ham. I wore my heart on my sleeve, and I was theatrical and athletic,

and it was just this perfect blend for what I do in WWE today. And my dad cared more about relationships than even being successful. I know that sounds crazy, but somebody approached me about writing a book on my dad. And I said, this is about six months ago. And I told my dad, I go, I think it's going to be great for you.

You could talk about your stories. And I thought, maybe this will be my dad's last chance to try to recount some of these memories memories because my dad had Alzheimer's. And most people didn't know that except for close family, but my dad was battling Alzheimer's for many years. And I really just wanted my dad before things got crazy. I wanted him to try to get these memories together because your memories are the pages of your life. And when you don't have those anymore, it's like, what the hell do you have?

And so I thought, if this guy wants, this amazing journalist wants to write this book of my dad, and be good for my dad to talk about his memories, long story short, this gentleman came down, met with my dad, and my dad was like, I don't wanna talk to this guy because I'm not telling him the secrets of what happened in the locker room.

And my dad wanted to protect his relationships. And he didn't, what happened in the trenches, stayed in the trenches. And my dad was like, I can't tell them what happened between me and Brett and Tokyo that night. And like, the guy, I was like, I'm so sorry. I think he's just a little shy right now.

I hear Daddy have a shot of Jack. And like my dad was like,, I was like, I'm so sorry. I think he's just a little shy right now. I hear daddy having a shot on a jack. And like my dad was like, nope, even after like five shots of jack, he was like, I'm not talking to this guy about anything. But it's like in those relationships. His relationships, him were just everything. And my dad's like, no, no, no, no. I don't, there's no amount of money that's going to make me throw someone under the bus to share my story.

And so I look back at that. And I respected my dad for those things. He's all my dad cared those things, because all my dad cared about where his relationships and my dad and I just had such a journey together. We had such a, Tomas, Barry. When we first started to figure out that he had Alzheimer's, when we first started

to identify that my dad had this condition. How did you know? But I think we should teach, let's help some people here. What did you notice and what did you do? My dad started having these seizures. And let me start this off with, my dad's mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's the same age as my dad.

And my dad's grandma had Alzheimer's. So it was something that ran in my dad's family. And so as this condition that, we didn't know my dad would get it, but he was diagnosed the same year that his mom was. And he started having these seizures, and obviously things were changing inside of him. And we didn't quite know what was wrong,

and one of the seizures that my dad had, it was called a grand mall seizure, and it lasted for about 15 minutes. And we actually thought that night that my dad was gonna die. And I've never seen anything like it and my dad was in a coma after and we didn't know what was gonna happen to my dad and this is the first time I've ever shared this story but my dad woke up and like the first thing he was like saying was like my daughter, she's a wrestler, she's amazing. And it made me sad because my sisters were there and I didn't want my

sisters to feel like my dad didn't care about them. And so I was just like, I never like wanted to bring that up, but my dad like was talking about me when he woke up and he was like my daughter, she's so incredible. And so it was because we had that connection with wrestling. And my dad like his office, you know, where after he passed away, we put everything in my dad's office. Cause I told my mom, I go, we're not getting rid of anything.

We're just gonna put it into this one room. So that way everything is just in the office. So anytime we wanna go see Daddy, we just go in the office. And his office is just this shrived like the two of us. It's like our wrestling dolls and our pictures and like all these never-eat. I'm so sorry that you lost him. I know, it's just for me it's like and I, it's hard to even talk about him without

because it's just still very fresh but like he and I just had this special connection. And that's why I love doing Doodle Deepers with him because my dad, I just, even though he wasn't in WWE anymore, and he wasn't wrestling, because, you know, he can't wrestle at 63 years old. I sure don't want him to, right? Really didn't want him running on big sandblast. I said, no, I'm sorry.

But my dad, I wanted him to shine. And I just, like I said, before I walk out through the curtain, before I go to the ring, I think, what's my motivation? And it's like, I'm so happy that I got to help him to try. Because he, I made sure he was included in everything. The boy where my dad became a really big character on Toe Devas. And there was just so many incredible moments.

One of my favorite stories on Toe Devas was, there's a cast member named Lana. And she and I have had a very tumultuous relationship. I think I've filled her off like 30 times. But we have had a lot of fights, but I love her like a sister. That's the relationship that we have. But my dad loved her because she was beautiful and blonde

and just like, I think Lana reminded my dad of when he was growing up in California. Like this beautiful blonde, vivacious girl, and she was kind of like, ditzy, but like she knew what she was doing, and she just loved that energy. And every time Lana would come over to film, and I'd always be like, come to my house,

because I would want my mom and dad included. My dad would get so excited about Lana, and he's like, she's a great girl. And like, he just put her over, and I said, but daddy, she's not prettier than me. And he goes, oh, yes, she is. And I was like, all right. But we had this story. And my dad is funny as a situation that happened

because my dad was trying to teach me how to shop put. So I thought, this will be funny for Total Divas. We'll go on the long, the neighbors, by the way, my neighbor still have not talked to me since this night. But my dad was trying to teach me how to shop put. And Lana came over. And somehow Lana being a complete, you know, being a goofball through the shop put into the windshield

of my car. And my dad got really scared. And he was like, this is crazy. Like, why did she do that? And Lana was like crying on the grass. The alarm was going off on the car. And I was trying to call my dad down. I was like, you know, daddy, it's okay.

Like, and my dad was like, she's, I can't believe she did this. Your car is ruined. And like, I go, daddy, it's okay. Like, my dad was like, she's so, I can't believe she did this. Your car is ruined. Like, I go, daddy, go in the house. Lana's crying. My dad's like in this, you know, like, and we're fun storming into the house. And I had to go down and I had to go into my house to calm my dad down and to get him to calm down, I told him my go, daddy, and I, you know, I had to make this up to get him to calm down. I go, daddy, it wasn't even, it wasn't real. It was just for the show. Okay, Lana didn't even, like, don't worry about it. It's all just, my dad goes, Maddie,

you gotta let the boys in on these spots. Like, almost like it was a wrestling match. She's like, you know, if we're running a spot, you gotta let the boys in on the spot that you're gonna run. And it was just so cute, because like, he was like, we're relating that accident with the shot put back

to like wrestling in a match. She's like, you gotta let me in on these, like, I didn't know it was in there. It doesn't don't worry, and I'm like, Lana, get, please leave my back to like wrestling in a match. You go to let me in on these like. I don't worry. And I'm like, long I get please leave my love for you. You're having a killer. I was like, yeah. But yeah, my dad and I just had a super special connection.

And and you know, we always, you can't ever prepare yourself for a loss like that. To me, it was a humongous, you know, huge. It was just still such a huge void. And but I just, I also feel like what has helped me get through this tough time is being around my friends, talking about it, sharing what I loved about my dad. And also what was cool when it's going to be in the finale was I didn't even know, like I didn't know when my dad passed away, I was actually getting ready to go to work.

And I got a phone call from my sister. And she just, you know, it was like seven o'clock in the morning. I had this advertised match that I was supposed to have with Alexa Bliss that night. Fast forward. I can't do the match. I go home. I fly home, take care of everything. Well, Vince, being Vince, being the person that he is and being just like, again, like a

father figure, he called my husband. And he said to TJ a couple of days after my dad passed away, he said, I really want Nadi at SummerSlam. I really think it'd be good for Nadi to come to SummerSlam. And TJ was like, I'm not sure if she'll be able to because you know, they haven't had the funeral yet, the funeral's on Friday and SummerSlam was on Sunday. So my dad died Monday, SummerSlam,, yeah, SummerSlam is six days later.

So I told TJ, I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can be around everybody right now. I'm still planning these funeral arrangements and we have to make sure this cremation is taken care of and I wanna make sure everything runs smoothly and just, I wanna give him the best send off. I can't think about Summer runs smoothly and just, I want to give them the best send-off. I can't think about Summer's Lamb. Well, looking back to that time, I was thinking like, oh my God, I'm so happy that Vince asked

me to come because once the funeral happened on Friday, Saturday rolled around and I was like, I said, the T.J. go, I'm ready to go because all my work with my dad has done now. You don't probably want me to be there. My dad would want me to be there, and it was like my dad was speaking to Vince, and saying, call Nadia and ask her to come. And I was like, this is my dad's doing. With my dad is all about this.

So I said to TJ, I go, you know what? I'm gonna do, I'm gonna get more eyes on my dad. I love this. I am gonna wear the jacket that my dad wore in 1991 with my uncle Brett the Hitman Heart. They walked out at Madison Square Garden won the tag team championship with this jacket on. And I'm gonna wear my dad's jacket

that he won the titles in at MSG. And I'm gonna wear, I know it's huge, but I don't care. I'm gonna put it on and I'm gonna walk down that ramp and everybody is gonna, they're not gonna think about me, they're gonna think about my dad. And so I remember walking out through that curtain at the Barclays Center in New York City,

which is how I ran like New York, my dad, 91, you know, destiny chasing. And I walked out wearing my dad's jacket and I thought like the entire audience sold out Barclay Center, everybody understood the jacket. And nobody had to say anything. I didn't have to explain it, I had to treat about it. I had to like talk about it on Instagram.

Everybody knew about the jacket. And it was my dad's like, I was like, we're gonna get, my dad's gonna have the best said off. I'm gonna get everybody thinking about my dad. And that was like, that's just the best feeling. Again. And the place went bananas.'s just the best feeling. Again. And the place went bananas. Before I walked through, they just...

Crazy. The love for you and him that night, and we're gonna show this on the YouTube, but it's just such an amazing moment. And it goes back to, which I didn't know, I didn't even think about this until now, but it goes back to before I walk out through that curtain, what's my motivation.

And it's like, my motivation is my family, because that is what's real. The rest of it, if everything else flows up in flames, like your family and your relationships and your bond, that is what's real. You know, I'd love a good leave of Don Perce. Don't get me wrong, but that's not what's real. What's real is like this incredible connection

with people that you love, and Vince understood that connection. And it was like my dad was speaking to Vince. Vince knew to bring me. It was like everything was coming full circle. My dad was saying like, in my mom and I before my dad passed away, we had a lot of talks about like this all-time work stuff. We're like, we don't know about all this stuff.

Like we haven't experienced this before. We're like going into these uncharted territories with like, we started to see the changes in my dad, but we didn't know, we didn't know, like we were just scared about what was unfolding because it was my dad gonna know in a year from now who I was. Was he gonna try to, you know, attack us because he thought we were a burglar

because he didn't recognize us. And you hear about those stories with people who have Alzheimer's and they just don't't like and they start acting crazy and doing crazy things And I was sitting my mom and like the last thing I ever want to do is put you know daddy in a home And I'm so grateful that we never had yeah, and I feel like my dad left on top He left on his terms he left on top. He left squatting 600 pounds with all Cogan And he left on top and he left squatting 600 pounds with Hulk Hogan, and he left on top, and he left being a badass.

Yeah, he left, and you, you know, like, I watch the show, and so you've always honored your dad. Yeah. And I think it's such a beautiful relationship. I just think it's, I think life's amazing. And I just think that this little girl who's in the children's wrestling league in the backyard there, that to think that someday when you're back there playing there, TJ's there too, that somehow someday you're gonna walk out in New York with your dad's jacket

on honoring him. It's just the convergence of circumstances your life is so magical and everybody's life can be magical, but it's interesting what you said. I told you that I think things happen for us and not to us. And I wanna commend you for the courageous act Because this is really one of the first times you've ever discussed this people knew your dad passed But they did know how or why right and so and it's courageous because you're honoring him by doing that

But also millions of people can be helped by this right because there's there's you know There's one of the great quotes about Ronald Reagan had Alzheimer's. And he wrote this great letter when he found out he got it, he talked about, I'm now in the sunset of my life. And Nancy Reagan said, the hardest thing about watching, when someone, his Alzheimer's advance, she said, the hardest thing about watching someone you love, forget they love you. And so at least in your situation, you're right. That happened.

There's a lot of people listening to this that understand it, that relate to that, that there'll be cuttings a point where someone that you love may forget that they love you. This disease is something we need to cure. It's something that I'm really passionate about too. It doesn't need to happen, and there's progress being made towards it, but that's helped some people with like, the Alzheimer's topic. And there's so much we can do to prevent it, and that's,

you know, I ended up getting to know Maria Schreiber through my dad, you know, because my dad had Alzheimer's and she has a whole organization for women. And, you know, she's, she spearheaded all this stuff for Alzheimer's and research and just prevention. And like, by living a healthy life, working out, eating good food, writing, reading, you know, I write a weekly call them every week for a national newspaper and it started getting picked up by the National Post.

And it's just, I literally get on a plane and instead of reading a people magazine or playing on Instagram, I'll write an essay, a 600 word essay. And I gotta use pictures, I've done it for almost two years. I think, how do they get it? How do they get it? It's, you can just go online.

It's on, the newspaper is the Calgary Sun, but it's now, like, now the National Post is picking it up, people are picking it up. And on my Instagram there's always a link to it. But I write that column because when one of the things Maria Schreiber talked about is using your brain, we just need to exercise our brains. We need to do things we can do to prevent Alzheimer's.

There's stuff they're actually showing proof that you can, in your youth start to prevent it. And that's what reading, writing, doing, having stimulating conversations with people, you know, talking, doing different things, reading, programming your brain, different foods you eat, like getting your omegas, you know, eating like, you know, avocados can help you,

salmon, things that, you know, have certain bats in them. There's just things you can do to prevent Alzheimer's. And so I'm very curious to know and grow with, you know, the just things you can do to prevent Alzheimer's. And so I'm very curious to know and grow with, you know, the different things we can do to prevent it. Because- So one of the things you're dead that you acknowledge that it's important, this first off, that it can be genetic,

so that if you have a predisposition of that in your family, these are things you need to be really vigilant about, okay? And then there's also some things I just want everyone to hear because in honor of your dad, I just want to talk about this just for a few minutes because people say, well, how do I know what are the signs? So, I'm gonna give you seven signs that you should be looking for, okay?

Is there any memory loss that disrupts your daily life? Okay, so not just, you know, as we age, we lose a little bit of memory, but does it disrupt your daily life? Do you end up, do you observe in somebody that I'm having challenges in planning or solving problems? Do they have difficulty completing familiar tasks at home or in their leisure?

Do they have any confusion about time or place? These are just tips that I want you all to have. Make sure I don't lose the other ones here. New problems with words or speaking or writing. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retaste their steps. Decrease your poor judgment and withdraw from work or social activities. And one other thing everyone is motor skill changes. If you see somebody or use, personally, start to experience some motor skill changes

or a fall, for example, these are signs of Alzheimer's or could be potentially signs of Alzheimer's. The most important thing you do is go get looked at by a doctor, go get the appropriate scan. So I just want to make sure that I mention that to everybody in advance. Yeah, there was, you know, with my dad, like he was good at hiding it. And so that was the fun thing about like, it was weird how like my dad became even more, I don't know how to say this, but he just became a little bit more childlike. But I also got to see a side of him and I never got to see growing up because he was always

gone so much, traveling with WWE and like it was in some ways again, I don't like to look at Alzheimer's as like a curse. I also think of it as a way that brought our family closer together because we got to spend more time with my dad and see a different side of him and he was very sweet, very, very sweet towards the end of his life and I just, I'm so glad and grateful I got to spend as much time with him as I did. And I hope you always stay this emotional about it. By the way, I want to say one other thing

because you love him so much, right? And I've observed it with Cristiana with my wife. Her father's been gone a long time now. But I don't think, I think there's just something special between a daddy and his little girl. That's just, it's unexplainable in the world. There are even times now, it's years later, I'll walk in, it's random. She'll be in the closet and I can hear her in the closet crying, you know, and I'll say,

what's going on, babe? So I'm just miss my daddy, you know, it's randomly. There's nothing. And I think it's wonderful because she just still loves him so much, right? It's incredible. It's just, it's a connection. Yeah. And it's more than, it's just more special than anything.

And it's just things that, you know, I love, I love looking back at old photos. And, you know, I'm probably, probably drive everybody crazy on Instagram with all the pictures I post of my dad. He did it today. I love it. He did it at ENTJ today. Yeah, I was like, oh my god, I love that picture. My dad was wearing Big Show's shirt. Oh yeah, okay.

Big Show had given me a shirt of his. And my dad was so big and like, Big Show's like, this is one of my shirts. Give it to your dad, my dad loved it because it was like three XL. But. I love that this is like a look because everyone sees this. I mean, you forget because you're so, so nice.

And you, you love other people so much. It's really easy to quickly forget which I love about you. It's like, and maybe you got some of this from your dad. Your dad struck me as like, he's just a dude. Right? Like, he's love people. He's a dude. I bet, I bet you, I wouldn't want to go on the wrong side of your dad.

Either by the way, I'd look like, you know, he probably let you know what was up. I would imagine, right? But, probably like to have a good time. But you just forget that this woman's famous. You just forget that millions of people look to her. And so because you have such humility, like really like success suits you.

And I don't like to think of myself as famous. I really don't. Other than like, I don't want a boil bunny sent to my door. But sometimes we get weird things from fans that like bless their hearts. Sometimes it's too much. But I don't like to look at myself as famous because like fame is fleeting, you know what I mean?

Like it's like you can be off TV for three weeks and feel like no one knows who you are Like it's to me especially when people run into us I like think about when somebody runs a Jew and they recognize you if you're rude to them or you're not nice to them It's the one time that they met you that's a hundred percent and it's like I remember in gosh I shouldn't even say his name but Richard here. He was I was doing AOL build and he was doing it He was on before me and so I was a guest gone after him and I love Pretty I mean I guess when my you know great movie. It's well in his name in that movie's Edward everybody to see you

I My favorite movies all time and I ran into him and I got really star struck. I was like, oh, there's like, you know, I don't want a band girl, but like. It's Richard Gear. It was like, oh my God, this is crazy. So I walked up to when I found Girl's Hard. And I was like, I'm so sorry, but I just,

can I get a picture and he was in a rush. Didn't give it to you. He did, but he was like hurry up. And he kind of got rude and I was like, hold on. Like don't ruin my dreams. It's true. He got really, like, was like hurry up. And he kind of got rude and I was like hold on. Like don't ruin my dreams. He's true. He got really like snippy with me. And I always like, well shit, I don't want to get

the picture then. Yeah, right. I was like, and he will never forget it. And I think he was just in a rush and he was just in a hurry. And who knows? You know, somebody might have been helping out him or you don't know what people's days are like. But he was a little snippy and he's like, just make it fast.

And I was like, oh, you know, never mind. Because I felt like I was getting on his nerves. But then I think now, like my like TJ and my husband, we're going through airports and like, it's five o'clock in the morning and somebody throws their child in front of me. And they're like, sign 18 cards, just like, Nadi. Be nice.

I'm like, yeah, I know what we're gonna miss our flight. And it's like, signing in as fast as I can because I don't want to be that person where they go, well, Nadi was so rude to our flight. And it's like signing in as fast as I can because I don't wanna be that person where they go, well, Nadi was so rude to us. That's their one time that they might meet you. And they, I don't want them writing a blog about me and reading their life. No, and it's even more of that

because I know you know, it's like you're also just kind. And so like, I'm the same way like I've had, I was fortunate before all of this to be around some pretty well-known good friends of ours. And I'd watch some of them treat people great. And I'd watch the just gracious response for people. And I watched a few of my friends, not treat people so great.

And how some of the looks of disappointment on people's faces when they meet a hero. And it's not what they expected to be. And so that when I did start to get some notoriety, I am conscious of that too. Because I'm sort of an impatient person. And so I'm conscious of that all the time. I think that overall though, the people in the WWE

that I've met all the way from the top people, like Steph, all the way to, you know, all of the acts that I've met, the performers, like overall, you're talking about a wonderful group of people. I heard you say they're sort of like, we've talked about your actual family, WWE is kind of like a family for you now, right? It is, and you look at, you know, Vince and Steph,

they're always like, no matter how busy the day is, like it could be the craziest day ever, and it could be WrestleMania. Vince and Steph are always busy, but like they always talk to you like they have all day long. Like Stephanie, you know, she actually, and I'll never forget this, she had an appearance. The day of my dad's funeral,

she had a autograph signing for a charity that she was doing, and she was scheduled to be back in New York City at 6 p.m. That night she was advertised for this signing and she flew to Tampa and Literally had like minutes to make her appearance, but she flew to my dad's funeral And she stayed after she talked to everyone she never I kept saying Steph you have to go you have the signing you have to get out of here She stayed for the entire thing, and she just gave so much of her time and energy,

and it's a reminder of, in WWE, we really are a family. Like, she wasn't my boss, a funeral. She was just somebody that was holding my mom's hand. And made us feel really good that we know that we had the support. Something really hard happened, and when bad things happen, it's okay to be sad and it's good to have support

and people holding your hand. And in WWE, everybody, everybody was just so there and so wonderful. And we look at Roman Reigns and it's like, he's giving this speech about like, none of us ever even knew he had leukemia. Like, he, he, he had hidden it from all of us. It was only like a couple of people,

like maybe Vince and Hunter knew that he had leukemia. And it was like, again, he and hid in it from all of us. Only like a couple of people like maybe Vince and Hunter knew that he had leukemia. And it was like, again, it just goes back to us being a family. Like he wasn't like a star. He was like our friend. He was like a brother. He was like a family member that was sick. And we were all like crying backstage

and everybody was just so upset thinking like, oh my God. Like I said, millions and millions of prayers, you know, from around around the world from both the company and from the WW universe I mean you can see it. You just like you know and you just think like he goes from being larger than life to all of a sudden being like wow he's like fighting for his life you know. Yeah what is that done for you I'm curious you know in interest of helping people too so you've had a tremendous loss and by the way I again I tell you it's so courageous that you're helping people with this loss. But like, what is the, how is it affected you personally? Like, I'm curious because there's a lot of people listening to this who have experienced loss. They lost a parent or a loved one. Some of us have

a child even, right? Like, how has this affected you losing your dad? Is it changed any of your outlooks on things? Is it? What's it done? It, um, I feel like we just have to learn how to, like, we have to create a new normal. We have to try to create a new normal and we're just trying to figure out what that normal is. And I truly believe, like, when you're sad, you gotta just go through it. You can't go over it, you can't go under it,

you can't go around it, you just have to go through it. You gotta cry when you need to cry, you gotta laugh, when you need to laugh, you gotta talk about, I call my mom like, I mean, my mom and I talk way more than we need to. We talk about the same thing every day, but we just wanna talk about it. And my mom will tell me,

she'll keep going through what happened because my mom was there when my dad died. And she just, she saw everything happened. And so she keeps on explaining it to me. And I just listen. And we talk about it. And again, we she saw everything happened. And so she keeps on explaining it to me. And I just listen. And we talk about it. And again, we just go through it. And for me, it's made me more cognizant

of what's real and what's important. And I'm at work. And you know, granted, we all get caught up and trivial little things. Like, gosh, I want to be in this cool storyline. Gosh, I want to be the women's champion. Gosh, I want my wrestle around the rouse. I got like, and then it started putting it. For me, I just to be the women's champion. Gosh, I want my wrestle rather than I was a guy. And then it started putting it.

For me, I just started putting everything into perspective and I was like, gosh, I want people to have, like, if I pass away, I want to make sure that, like, my relationships are strong. It's made my life a lot deeper. And like, when my dad died, I didn't care about what storyline I was going to be in, or whether I had the title, or whether I,

you know, whether the stock market was doing great, or like, I just was like, I don't care about what storyline I was gonna be in or whether I had the title or whether I, you know, whether the stock market was doing great or like I just was like, I don't care. I care about like, I wanna look at old pictures of my dad. I wanna think about those funny times. I wanna go through my phones and look at the text messages that he sent me and like, I wanna remember him. I wanna give him a great send off.

I wanna like honor him. You know, and so he, my dad helped me put things into perspective but I also don't wanna to hide his disease anymore, because we were hiding his disease for a long time, because we, I don't even think we were embarrassed about it, but we didn't want my dad to be embarrassed. We didn't want my dad, who people got as larger than life. We didn't want him looking weak, but he wasn't weak.

He just had something that way he inherited. That's right. And his mom and his grandma. It was something he just, he was unfortunately, you know, inherited that genetic disposition to getting that. And I want to make sure that my dad's legacy lives on. So that's become a different focus for me, whether my dad gets into the WWE Hall of Fame, which I really want my dad to,

because he talked about that before he died. He wanted to get into the Hall of Fame. He said, more than being a shot-putter, a world-class shot-putter, more than playing in the NFL, my dad was a wrestler in WWE, a superstar. And my dad was the most proud of his accomplishments in WWE. And I want to one day see him get honored.

So by spreading the message about, you know, Alzheimer's awareness and like how we can help others and people that are going through the same thing. And like, I don't want to be ashamed of my dad's disease. I want to be able to help other people that are going through the same thing. And that's why I love Total Divas because that show, it's fun to watch

because it's, you know, there's a lot of fun like hard and stuff. We go on these cool vacations and we do fun things, but when you can share a powerful story where people can tune in and relate and go, oh my god, I'm going through that same thing. Like to lose a parent is an incredible loss to, you know, my dad and I, we were so close but like so many people are going through this and my dad was so lucky that he got to live a rich life in a colorful life and he didn't have to go into a nursing home.

And he didn't have to forget who we were. And I said to my mom, I go, I didn't want daddy to keep living. I didn't want my dad to keep, I didn't want my dad to be alive and not on his terms. Yeah. Because that, all my worries is a really ugly disease. And I kept hearing about it from people.

Even when I was doing this work with Maria Shriver and I was meeting different people from her organization that were talking about, like, oh my dad had it and he did this and our grandma had it and I was like, oh my God, this is going to be so hard on my mom. She's such a strong woman, but I don't want my mom to not be able to live her life because my dad doesn't have his, so it's put my life into a different perspective, but... You do a few things though, I want to tell you that you do it unconsciously because you're great. So I'll take that all day. No, I'm serious.

And I want everyone listening to this because what we always want to do is we want to help people with these incredible stories. And typically people that are humble and also great, they are unconsciously really good at things. So it's natural for you to do, but I want to hit everybody right between the eyes and something right now. Every time we've been talking about your dad's illness in his situation, you keep going back to wanting to honor him. And you're doing that. And by the way, you're honoring him mainly with the caliber of woman you are.

And it's just true. Like even on camera, like your goodness just kind of comes through. I believe that about you. I've always believed that when I've watched you. But I want to ask those of you that have parents that are living or gone. Are you honoring them with your life? Are you honoring them with your effort?

Are you honoring them with getting better? Are you honoring them with helping other people? Because of all the problems you've got in your life right now. At the end of the day, it's the meaning you take away from events and what should override anything you're going through right now is you're desired to honor the people who always believed and loved you. And I think as a woman, you're doing an amazing job of that. You're listening and watching an example of somebody who's honoring her father and her mother,

and Elizabeth, right? Right. He's honoring them. Are you doing that in your life right now or are you sort of wallowing and self-pity? Are you focusing on your problems all the time, right? Are you just sort of getting through this life rather than honoring your family and honoring yourself

with changing your life and making it better? So you're doing that automatically, but I wanted people to hear an example of this today. And this is what you're listening to on her. And in terms of that, I'm asking some stuff. You got to brag about yourself for a second. We're going to shift this for a second. Look, you're on a TV show. You're one of the WD-WE superstars. One of them, and you're also just great at it, right? You're financially pretty successful. You're in a good marriage. You have all these great things going on. You have

a person, what are you great at? Like how, obviously, yeah, you had this pedigree and all that. But like, everyone just so you know, we started recording here at almost 7 p.m. on a Saturday evening, where we are. So this lady and I could be anywhere in the world right now that we would like to be. And you chose to come all the way down here after a full day on a Saturday,

you're wrestling tomorrow night on television. Okay, you take this for granted, the type of schedule, the type of effort, the type of work that people that win put in. We both do. So talk a little bit about, like, be brag a little bit, why are you so successful? And you are, by the way, so just admit it.

Thank you. So what do you think it is about you? I think the biggest thing for me, and this is two things, repetition, reps, reps, reps, reps, reps, getting repetition at anything, just getting, you guys gotta keep doing it. I think consistency.

I don't look for perfection in people, and I don't look for perfection in myself. I just look for being consistent, and I look for it in my friends. When you're my friend, you're my friend forever. Like I don't, like, you know, if you get fired from WWE or it's not like, oh, I don't want to be friends with her, she's not important. Or like, no, when you're my friend, we're, we got a bond.

But I look for consistency in people. I don't let a lot of people in, but when you're in, you're in. And I think, like, I don't need a ton of friends. But I want good friends. I want good people in my life. I want to lead by example, and I just think that's about being consistent. I might not be able to do a triple moon south off the top of a cage, but every time you see me in the ring, I'm going to be consistent.

I'm going to be consistently good. I'm going to give you consistently good matches in the gym. There's some days I don't feel like working out. There's some days I feel strong as hell, but I go in the gym and I'm consistent. I keep trekking away at it. Sometimes I have terrible form on my clean and jerk. Sometimes I'm like, oh my God, I'm so strong. Like get your ass in the gym and work out. You know, same thing with eating. Same thing with like everything is just being consistent. Some days, you know, I want to have that chocolate cake.

But you got to stay on track. You got to be consistent. It's with what you eat, with what you do, with the people that you hang out with. It's like, that is a great answer by the way. You're consistent. And it's like, it's also what you do on the days you don't feel like it.

So it's like your habits and rituals override how you feel about things. Working out is like an appointment. And I say that to my mom. I'm like, and that's what's helping my mom really get through my dad's passing is like, we got her into working out. My mom's lost 10 pounds and

three months and I'm like she's so excited we do these little workout classes together And I'm in there. I'm getting trouble in every class by the way the coach is like that He stopped talking and I'm going off my mom like long as rather be crazy like we're chatting But my mom was lost 10 pounds. I probably put on three But It's wonderful. It's all in the squats, I guess. But it's just about being consistent, and that's, I think, just, you gotta just keep on keeping on.

What you do, by the way, that is a separator of all the people I've interviewed, they're more consistent people. They just, by the way, I just tell you straight up, they're just, they work so hard, they're not even aware of how hard they were. It becomes a routine. Yeah, it's what you do, but the other thing is,

we just went back to family again. I just want to point this out there, but no, no, no. It always comes back to family with you this time. No, it's massively important. There's so many lessons. You, almost if anybody I've ever had on, you do all kinds of things unconsciously great. So I just want to point them out for the audience

because you just do it. Like, you just take forget, oh yeah, I'm on the show. I'm wrestling tomorrow night. I got a good husband. I'm oh yeah, I'm on the show. I'm wrestling tomorrow night. I got a good husband. I'm making money. I'm honoring my dad. It's like, you're in great shape. It's like, come on, girl.

Like, it's amazing. And one of the reasons is, is that you have big reasons. The other thing successful people do, is they have big reasons. You know that you could have easily hidden in your family. So one of the people go, well, what an advantage, have in this. You could have hidden in that family.

You could have said, I'm the daughter of. I'm the granddaughter of the people go, well, what an advantage have in this. You could have hidden in that family. You could have said, I'm the daughter of, I'm the granddaughter of lived your whole life hiding in that story. Instead, you created your own story. And a lot of you listening, listen to me on this everybody. Don't hide in your family. You say you love your family like she loves her dad. Prove it. Go do something great in your life. Honor them. Get off your tail and go do something. If you really love these people, don't hide behind them,

don't use them as excuses. Okay, she could have used this as an excuse to cool it for a year and a half of her life. And so she's mourning, it's on your face, but you're doing something about it too. So I think you just have huge reasons. This is one of the other reasons you're successful. And forward is forward.

Like even if we just move slowly forward, you just gotta keep moving. You gotta, you know, and especially after my dad passed away, like I, for the first few days, I was like, I don't even know how I'm gonna go to work. And then I was like, what am I gonna do on Sunday? Am I gonna go to summer slam? Or am I gonna sit on my couch and cry?

And I was like, I'd rather be at summer slam crying with my friends. And so, you know, just moving forward and setting goals. And for me, like, I never wanna stop. And it's funny, I'd rather be at Summerslam crying with my friends. And so, you know, just moving forward and setting goals. And for me, like, I never want to stop. And it's funny, I look at Vince McMahon. He's in his 70s. He works out at two o'clock in the morning.

He literally finishes raw. And his trainer is waiting for him at the hotel. He's a maniac. He's shredded. And he is the work he will not take time off. And he sets the example, like, and none of us can take time off because Vince won't take time off. And he sets the example, and none of us can take time off because Vince won't take time off.

That's what the leader does. So, and he just sets such an example that, you just have this incredible work ethic, and it becomes routine where I told my mom, I was like, I don't want to retire from anything. Like, I don't want to wrestle forever, but. Sure. I also have never retiring from wrestling.

There's never going to be a day where I go, I'm not doing this ever. Like, no, no, I'm never retiring from anything that I love I might not put the boots back on but it's gonna be in my heart Yeah, you know, I hope you keep going a while though because you have so many things It's the other thing about you. I want to point out one more thing about this woman Okay, and that is that people that I measure that that are winning you can't buy their will to win in other words There's no price to get you to stop completely, what you just said.

Some people can be bought with success. In other words, they make enough money, they get enough accolades, they stop making it, they're will to win to make progress, gets bought with success. Also, people can be bought with failure. Like, it's just too big a price. It's just, I just can't go through it.

I don't want to do it. My, I've got illness in my family. Someone passed away. I got rejected and their will to win gets bought. The people that win are consistent. They have big reasons and their will to win campy. But she just named all three of the things right out of my damn book without even knowing it. So I completely totally agree with you on that. But also you want to do it. It makes you happy. When you do what makes you happy, you don't feel like you go to like I don't feel like other than the early morning flights, which I can't stand on the back of a Southwest plane.

Get it, yet. I'm working on it. Okay. But it's like, I love what I do. When you love what you do, you don't feel like you go to work. So that's the one, like, other great thing about what I do is like, I feel motivated because I like it.

When you find what you like, you really don't feel like you're working. Yeah. I get to have so much fun. Yeah, you, you, you, you, another element I just want to say to this find what you like, you really don't feel like you're working. I get to have so much fun. Yeah. You, you, you, you, another element I just want to say to everybody is like we've talked a lot about destiny on the show today. And when you're using natural gifts you have to pursue your destiny, you're ultimately happy and it's not work. And that's what you're doing. Like I had no idea how much I read about you. We have some mutual friends, but I didn't,

I don't think I understood the depth of your love for your family, nor did I understand the depth of you. And I really, really, really like you a lot. I really think today was incredible. And I'm so happy I came in. Yeah, well, we just, we just changed a whole lot of other people's lives. Is there anything else you want to let anybody know about your dad or Alzheimer's, anything like that before we wrap up? Anything you'd want to add to this.

No, I mean, I hope everybody, you know, if you get a chance to tune in and watch the finale, it's just so powerful because, you know, we have such an incredible cast. You know, our total diva's cast, whether it's Nia, Nikki, Bre, Naomi, Lana, our cast is so strong and page, you know, you look at her, she's overcome so much. And I think everybody has a story.

And you have to sometimes take, you got to take lemons and make the best damn bonk lemonade you can make out of it. And you got to take something, take a negative and turn it into a massive positive. And that's one of the great things about Total Divas, and especially this finale that, like, I'm just so proud of this finale, maybe more than any other episode in the history of the show, because it's not sad.

You don't feel sad afterwards. You just feel like, wow, like, we can do anything we want to do. We can overcome anything. We can do this with a positive attitude and we can take something sad and we can make it amazing. We can make it the most incredible thing you've ever, and that's why I feel like my dad is like, my dad is riding high right now.

He is like, every wrestler always wants to have, I said this to Stephanie the other day. I said, my dad's getting one last run. And every wrestler wants that one last run. And my dad's getting that one last run. And right now, he's champion of the world. Oh, man. I just love today.

You dad is so proud of you. I don't know I just want to tell you, I know your dad's so proud of you. You know? I can't even tell you how much I miss him, so. Well, by the way, I can't do lemons and telemetry, but I did do grapes and to wine. You did hope it's won.

So I just want to say cheers to you and to your dad. Thank you so much. Cheers to your dad. Thank you so much. Today was amazing. Oh, thank you so much. I'm glad we talked. It's like a therapy.

Today rock. I'm here for you. Anytime. Listen everybody, did you enjoy today? I told you we were going on a run. I told you this would be an experience. Everyone around this is crying, so you were probably crying at home too. Michael, the camera guy is even a little tearier eyes. I know I'm like well I'm not gonna stop it. It was

awesome. So you got to follow this lady on social media tune into the series finale tonight at the Total Divas and remember everybody every single day on social media on Instagram I run the two-minute drill that means when I make a post if you make a comment within the first two-minute hashtag max out I pick a daily winner you get coaching with me, coaching my guests, my books, gear, so stay engaged there with us everyone and continue to max out your life. God bless you. This is the Ed Milage Show. Complete lead and kick-ass. leading kick ass.