However, I'm standing by right now. There's no one to me there,
Sean, the moody moody. Everybody's got a price for the million dollar man.
After you throw him off through the announced table, take her climbs back
down, he gets in the ring and he goes see if he's breathing.
Right before I called nine one one, I thought she'd falling asleep. Kind
of shipp her a little bit to wake her up, and she did not
respond. And I'll go down to my go to my grave testifying or whatever,
swearing that Davy was not on drugs. If he was on drugs the
way Bratt says, how does I mean? How great does that make?
Davy? Are you laughing? Sean? I get off the track here all
the time. Did you just laugh? Sean? You go ahead and chop
me, give me a big chop ill. So I'll give you my whole
chest and everything, and then I'll look at you like this, and then
I'll punch you right in the mouth as far as I attention, Sean,
Come you slime you macause there's no further questions. You're dismissed. Carry on,
Margot, Hello everybody, and welcome once again to another edition of Primetime
with Sean Mooney. I hope you've had a fabulous week so far. We're
coming off our episode with Mick Carsh. I'm glad that you guys finally got
a chance to listen to that great conversation that we had. You know,
MC known as the voice of Minnesota wrestling, but also and whether he had
planned it or not, has become a great historian of Minnesota wrestling over the
years. Fascinating stories he had to tell about. So many greats that were
part of the glory days of the AWA and Burringana, so many greats to
come out of there. Nick Bockwinkle, of course, he was a huge
fan of Nick Backwinkle actually started his fan club and just had so much to
talk about with him. But you know, so many others. You know,
Bobby Heenan was you know, really came to prominence as a manager traveling
through that territory. Also Gene Oakland, you know, of course, whole
Cogan and when the Hulkster went to the WWF at the time, he knew
that he had to have his wingman by him, and that was Gene Oakland.
And you know, the rest is history. What happened with those two
long remembered as legends in this business. And the Hulkster back and he's been
quite busy too, And of course we missed Gene Oakland every day. He
was the best of the best. No one was ever better than Gene Oakland
with a microphone in their hand. A lot of people remember that era.
It was just a really special time, you know, a really big part
of what shaped the business in the future, because if you'll recall, that
was when you know, they had all the territories and the NWA was really
what it was, had set out to be a National Wrestling Alliance where you
had all these territories who had you know, this organization really and all the
promoters cooperated with each other, they exchange talent, they respected each other as
territories. And then it all went to hell when they all started to see
the development of cable and how that would affect the world, you know,
how you could sell you could have your products seen by millions of people across
the country, and just a really fascinating time. Of course, everybody knows
what Vince McMahon did from that point and kind of took everything over, but
really just fascinating, fascinating time and just an incredible conversation with Mick. And
I'm just so glad, Like I said, I'm glad you had a chance
to hear from Mick. Let's get to this conversation the main event today.
You know, the first time I heard Sam Roberts because people told me,
yeah, he got to listen to this guy who does all these interviews with
the wrestling personalities. And I heard his voice, I'm like, oh my
goodness, man, what the heck? But and we talk about it in
our conversation, but I have to, you know, to tell you honestly,
is that, you know, I kept listening because he had great guests
on He has great guests on his his podcast, and he is an excellent
interviewer, you know, he he is. He's just curious and those uh,
those kind of people make the best interviewers because they asked the questions that
you're thinking of. And uh, you know, he tells the story of
how he got started in this because he you know, his his backgrounds and
radio. He was, you know, a producer with the Opie and Anthony
Show, which was this kind of you know, shock jock radio program for
years and not only just a producer but also a talent and he's now on
He also besides everything else the guy does. I don't know when he finds
time, but he has a show that he does daily on Serious XM.
So let's get to this conversation with Sam Roberts. Ding Ding Ding, my
guest this week, is well known in the world of professional wrestling. He
is the host of the Not Sam podcast. Everybody Knows That podcast millions around
the world listening, and he has made several and continues to make appearances on
various WWE programming. But he's also note around the world as the host of
the Sirius XM show Jim Norton and Sam Roberts. Folks, Basically, he
never stops talking. He's just all day long. Sam Roberts, Welcome to
Primetime. How are you, good man? That was an amazing introduction,
especially coming from you. How are you? I'm great. I'm great.
I'm out in Arizona. The weather is perfect this time of year, so
and I'm talking to Sam Roberts, So what could be better? And it
doesn't sound like it could possibly get any better to absolutely, Hey, is
it weird for you to be interviewed. I mean, you've done thousands of
interviews and then like they turned the mic and you're being interviewed. Is it
Is it strange to you or no? So it's not necessarily weird to be
interviewed because I've always I mean because I've always done like talk radio and interviews
and everything as conversations, so you know, it's not so much one side
or the other. But it is like if I'm not really trying to wrap
my head around who's interviewing me right now because it's somebody that I grew up
watching interview people, the idea that it's Sean Mooney now interviewing me, that's
a head trip. The premise of interviewing I can handle. I don't know.
I'll tell you that I was. I was trying to figure out,
like, when is this guy gonna fit me into his schedule here, because
I can't even imagine what your date is like unless it just seems like it.
Maybe you create this but between you know, the podcast you do during
the week just for wrestling, and then you've got this other gig on Sirius
XM. I mean, give me a typical week, because I know what
one day would not be enough. So give me a typical week in your
life. Yeah, I mean it's definitely definitely go by the week because some
days are heavier than others for sure, And I fit in like one or
two nights that will be my sleep nights, so like I kind of like
look forward to those nights, like, Okay, if I could just keep
pushing through until this night, I'll be able to sleep like seven or eight
hours and it will be fine. So it helped a lot. I built
a studio in my house, so the stuff that don't do on Sirius,
I cut down a lot on transportation and everything. So that and so like
when people like you reach out, I don't need to figure out, like
Okay, when can I get to a studio? So it sounds right and
blah blah blah, I just go, okay, I can. I can
do podcasts like yours and my wrestling podcasts and all that stuff out of my
home, which made a world of difference. But I mean I'm up every
morning during the week at four forty because I go into the city and do
the morning show with Jim on Sirius XM. And that's every that's you know,
those are my mornings every single weekday I get home. The wrestling podcast
now comes out twice a week because of all the content. We just started
going twice a week, which is probably stupid idea on my part. I
don't think I have that kind of time, but there's just so much to
cover. So that is every Monday morning, so that's Sunday evening. I
tape that, and then Thursday afternoon, as soon as I get home from
the show, I do kind of a recap podcast of the whole week.
Try to sneak in two or three visits to the gym a week, and
then you know, every four to six weeks or so, there's another WWE
gig that I'm lucky enough to get to travel for. So I'm out there
doing that kind of constantly, on the hunt for interviews that I can air
on the podcast every week, looking for bonus. A YouTube show every Friday
night, which is just like a topical YouTube talk show called Sam Robert.
Now, um, there's a monthly sneaker show that I do for the YouTube
channel as well. Uh, and I have two kids, so yeah,
yeah, and you see them when um, whenever, whenever I bring my
head up from the basement, studio and I go like, Okay, you
got me for an hour. Take a good look. Take a look at
this face. It's gonna change by the time you see it next time.
Exactly. Yeah. It's not like me going, oh my god, you
guys have gotten so bigger. I see the kids, Oh god, dad,
you're you're older. You're so much older. The gray haircut from Yeah,
yeah, that that is an amazing schedule. And most of the podcasting
is you do in studio with a lot of the guys, right, So
that's I try to line those up. Yeah, I mean, I try
to uh get them when I can. We were talking a little bit before
we went on the air about it's a little easier being in New York.
So if somebody's around U during the week in the morning and maybe they're on
a press tour or whatever they're coming up to sirius, I can line up
a podcast interview there. Or I've gone to WWE live events where I can
go early before the show and line up an interview with somebody that I can
tape there, or you know, whenever they have press conferences or events like
that, or you know, two K had a launch last week for their
video game, and they had a bunch of interviews there. So I try
to take advantage of every single press interview opportunity that I can because it's all
content that I can use for the podcast. And then and then you know,
if need be, if nothing lines up in a given week, we
can do phoners and skype interviews from the studio as well. Yeah, and
that that is the thing. You know, people don't realize that, especially
when you make that commitment to do guests every week. That is one thing.
And I mean when I started this, you know, he did the
first twenty episodes and then uh you know, when he decided that, you
know, I wanted to do something actually made money. Uh you know,
he I was thinking, Okay, I really like doing this. But and
I had originally thought of an idea when we started this. I wanted to
do like an event center when they first approached me, and then have guests
every week. But I'm thinking, how the hell am I gonna get people?
And the people that were involved in the show are like, you know,
we'll just just take you know, take it one week at a time.
I literally did that, but uh, you know, to get people
after while, like some days some weeks. You get three people, then
I just bank them and then i'm you know, think I'm riding a little
bit. And then it's all saying, oh great, we got one left
in the can. And uh. You're always constantly, you know, thinking
about that. And now I mean I'm two two and a half years into
this and over one hundred and something episodes, but it's still and I'm thinking,
Okay, I'm gonna have to start maybe you know, broadening that scope,
getting some of the new guys. You know, he watched the w
he watched the WWFP and he was a kid then tie and I hope that
they've heard of me somewhere along the line. But it is, it's it's
a it's a lot of work. So I always think about like what you
do and uh and doing the XM stuff. Can you do that from home
to I mean, since studio is that all they always have? They have
cameras on you too. Yeah, there are cameras. You got to be
in the studio, Yeah, I have, I have. I we just
recently set up my studio to be able to patch into the serious studio if
need be. But that's it. There's like a blizzard or if there's some
reason I can't get out of my house other than that I drive into the
city every morning just because I mean, I like, I like being in
the serious studio. I like being there with Jim. I like if we
have guests coming in, and we have guests in all my day, so
like, you know, I like being there with the staff and with the
guests and you know, kind of creating this world. Yeah, that interaction
is yeah, different than than just from a mic, for sure, very
true. But it is amazing today what you can do because not too long
ago, it would sound like we were on a phone. There was no
way to help like that, Crisp, like we're in the studio together.
Now you can, you know, with Skype and these other different kinds of
technology you can do it. But yes, it's made everything. It's made
everything possible to do multiple things like for instance, when NXT premiered as a
two hour show on the USA network, they brought myself, Pat McAfee and
Charlie in to do a pre show for the WWE network just to celebrate that
NXT was going to be live for two hours. And that's the middle of
the week. But because the Performance center has all the technology in the world,
and Serious has figured out all the technology in the world. I was
actually able to do the Wednesday and Thursday show that week live from the WWE
Performance Center. So it's like I was able to still be on Sirious in
the morning and then go and do the network show Wednesday night, and then
wake up first thing Thursday morning and be back on Sirius and then fly back
to New York. But it really is wild the way technology is kind of
eliminated excuses, you know what I mean. Yeah, No, you can
broadcast from anywhere. I mean I've done stuff from a car before, you
know, and it's not a bad tom booth actually, but you know it
is. It's it's it's where you can do that now with a hot spot
and just get on the internet. Um. And you know, uh,
Stem, you're you're a very unique talent. And you remind me, you
know, like a Rosenberg is kind of along the same way. You guys
have, uh you know, not only done so well with you know,
like a like a one focused thing, like somebody would be happy to do
one of your jobs, but you guys have like five and uh, I
want to want to talk about them, but I first want to begin,
like where this all started with you, because I think about like what you
what kind of a kid you must have been? Like uh, and I'm
gonna let you explain that too. I mean, then I'm gonna give you
what my theory was. I don't know before or maybe before maybe you want
to hear it first. I don't know. I mean, yeah, no,
I don't know. I mean, I'll tell you that was. Oh.
I've always been obsessive, Like I was a very obsessive kid. I'm
at of adult, like I'm just an obsessive person. So like you know,
as a kid, I was super, super super into wrestling, like
from the time I was really that was your first love before before anything,
and it always has been and they're never it's never dipped, it's never done
anything. Like the toys that I wanted as a kid were wrestling toys.
I bought every wrestling magazine, I recorded everything on vhs, you know,
everything everything. And then as I got older, like I started my doing
like a wrestling tape trading business, and I was making like custom accessories for
wrestling action figures and kind of the wrestling hobby was evolving along with my life.
And it was just it never went down. It just changed and matched
my life. At the same time, I listened to a lot of radio,
you know, when I was growing up, I would listen to Howard
Stern in the morning. I listened to high school Opie and Anthony in the
afternoon. And so I just kind of really became obsessed with that radio as
a medium, and just before podcast obviously, because it was this sort of
free format way of entertainment. You know, I always liked TV talk shows
and everything like that, but everything was so tightly choreographed and they were clearly
so many hands at play, and everything had to line up and you had
to have this whole operation working, whereas radio it sounded like you could just
be a guy and if you had your wits about as you go and create
this world. And I think that's what I was really into. So,
you know, as I went to college, still obsessed with wrestling, still
obsessed with radio, started doing college radio, and YadA, YadA, YadA.
Yeah, but you mentioned Howard Stern, and you know somebody would like
would go to war with later, I mean, when you're working with the
opiate anthy that but was he someone and I imagine you still must admire him
for what he did with that format because prior to that, it was,
you know, kind of that they still had the happy talk new morning radio
teams, and he just blew that out of the ocean. Yeah, I
mean, I always liked and still do like that. Howard has always had
a tremendous ambition, and not even just an ambition for himself, but an
ambition that he wants the art form to match his ambition, if that makes
sense. Like, you know, radio, I think had this ceiling and
Howard had this other ceiling. Howard had these great ambitions to be respected the
same way the biggest celebrities in the world are respected, but radio didn't get
that respect. So it was up to him to kind of redefine the genre.
And that's what happened. And you saw a lot of the people that
you know, we're kind of his rivals, especially in the late eighties into
the nineties, we're kind of trying to follow his model because they felt like,
oh, radio is evolving, so I'll just follow the way radio is
evolving. But I mean, he never really followed that evolution. It was
his ambition that I think the genre kind of followed and that's really what I
always liked about him. Yeah, and the risks that he took, I
mean along the way that you know that nobody else was would dare do.
I mean they felt they had to keep feeding their families, I guess,
but you know, but Howard was one of those people and I and I
was living back east when he was really rising, you know, king of
all media, and I just remember listening and going like, oh my god,
like nobody has done this and nobody has dared to. And then you
had others come along who you know, who did it their their way,
but they borrowed a lot from Howard. And did you ever did you have
you gotten to know him over the years. Did you have a relationship with
him? No? No, I mean I've said hello. No, yeah,
I've never I've never gone past saying hello. We we both you know,
do our shows up. It's serious and if we if we pass,
you know, like ships in the night, either on the way into the
studio or on the way out, we'll say hello. But beyond that,
no, I've never I've never actually had a conversation with him, but I
would love to sometime. Yeah, you know, and I think that,
you know, people kind of remember him as this shock jockey still pushes the
envelope even to this day. But I don't think people really appreciate that he's
he's a great interviewer, and uh, you know, if you just listen
to his interviews, he's one of the best, you know, And I
don't know if you've ever you know, appreciated that with him, but I've
always felt that nobody's really given that guy credit for that. He's a really
great interviewer. Yeah, I mean, I also think that I think people
are starting to come around on that, especially with the book that he just
came out with, and and that's kind of He's He's always been very good
at, uh, redefining the way he's perceived too. I think that perception
of him is a good interviewer. It took so much work, but he's
finally starting to get there. I think he's pretty unappreciated for his ability to
tell stories. You know. I think that so many people think that they
can get on the air and just talk about mundane things and it will be
entertaining, but it's not. It's just because you know, you hear a
guy like Howard or there are a few others, but there's a very small
handful of people that can take the mundane and turn it into something interesting.
I mean, I remember growing up. I was always just interested in when
he would come on and be in there and describe his day, what did
he do yesterday? And he would just talk about these sort of daily life
activities, but he would do it in such a way where it's like,
I'm I'm interested, I'm hooked in this thing that you know, this guy
is doing that I don't even know who he is. Yeah. And the
reason I brought that up because you were kind of came from kind of that
part of that that world of entertainment and when you got involved with you know,
the show with the opiate Anthony, and was that kind of your your
focus? Like when you when you were a girl going up and you went
to Syracuse which was known for as a great broadcasting school, I think,
would you get a sociology degree? You did? Like? How did that
happen? So that's really good research because most people just assume that I went
to New House, yeah and kind a degree in broadcasting, and I let
them believe that that's the whole point about story. I just oh, you
told the truth, and I I mean, I like my story better than
had I just gone and gotten a degree. So so I went to Syracuse,
UH, and I wanted to go to film school. Actually, like
I was, I was super interested in making uh films. But I also
like broadcasting. So I said, you know, Syracuse would be amazing because
they have you know, they have a film school, but they also have
this this sea of amazing broadcasters that have come out of Syracuse. And it's
like, Okay, this is perfect. So I got into Syracuse, but
I didn't get into New House, you know, because my grades weren't good
enough I got in to But I did get into the College of Arts and
Sciences, which is just kind of the the basic sort of here you go
undergrads, figure out what you're gonna do. This is the College of Arts
and Sciences. And my parents shocked that I got into the College of Arts
and Scientists. But we figure, I don't know, maybe they made a
mistake, but we'll we'll check yes on the box and we'll go. So
UM. When I got there, the first thing I did was go like,
okay, how do you transfer into New House. That's the school,
but that's the best broadcasting school in the country, and they said, all
you have to do is have a three point five GPA. If you have
a three point five GPA, you transfer into new house, no problem.
And I go, perfect, that's what I'll do then, except I'm not
a like a school person, like I'm not. I'm not I didn't fail
anything, but I'm like, you know, I have so much going on.
I'm obsessive, but unfortunately I'm not obsessive about book learning as it's known.
So so I didn't get a three point five GPA. So I said,
okay, what plan b here? And in my second year I went
over to the School of Visual and Performing Arts and they had a film program
in the Visual and Performing Art school that was really more about the art of
filmmaking and all this stuff, but it was still a film degree and we
got to make films and the whole deal. So I said, okay,
and you don't need a three point five GPA to get in there. So
I said, perfect, that's where I'll go then, and I'll learn how
to make films. So I went in over there, and I was a
year behind. So they said, okay, you can come in, but
you're gonna have to stay in Syracuse for a fifth year to make up for
that first year of you putzing around trying to figure out what you were doing.
And I said, okay, no problem, and that was the plan.
And then right before right after my third year of school, I got
an internship with Opie and Anthony, and I spent the summer between my third
and fourth years at Syracuse as an Opie and Anthony intern in New York City.
And I mean, how did that happen? I so I was doing
college radio at Syracuse because I was still very, very interested in radio,
and I was still you know, I Opie and Anthony had been my favorite
show in high school. They had gotten thrown off the air, but that
year they were yeah, yeah, exactly that year they were returning to satellite
radio, to XM satellite radio. And this was before Howard was still onto
restrial radio. There was really satellite radio was more of a concept. There
were no big personalities radio, so and you know, it's fairly untested and
everything. But I was like, yeah, I'll get XM because I want
to hear what Opie and Anthony are doing. But I got XM. I
was listening to Opie and Anthony and I was listening to Howard. I was
doing my college radio show, you know, once a week at like four
o'clock in the morning on the college station. And I started sending out packages
in September to every radio station in New York in preparation for the next summer,
so saying like, I'm in Syricus right now, I just got back
here, but this summer I'll be out of my you know, I'll be
at home for the summer, and I want to intern at a radio station.
So I had a big package with my resume and my cover letter and
a CD with all my bits that I had done on the radio and everything
and all this stuff, and I sent a list of radio stations in New
York and I sent a whole batch of the Mountain in September, and then
I did it again in November, and then in like February, and then
like throughout the year. So they would go, Okay, you know,
somebody's going to get back to me, and nobody did. And finally,
I mean in May. I started this process in September. In May,
right before I was going to get out, I got one callback from the
whole process, and it was from Opie and Anthony, which was like a
dream come true because, like I said, it was my favorite radio show
before I got thrown off the air, as you know, a high kid
listening to Opie and Anthony the best. So I was like, okay,
this is amazing. So I got the internet and so I went and I
interviewed with them and they were like, okay, sounds good. And I
was in that internship class for that summer, so I fell in love with
it. I did pretty well as an intern. I kind of started to
be woven into the fabric of the show a very little bit as much as
an intern can be, and just really got along with Open and Anthony and
really got along with their crew, and you know, I was just this
is I immediately knew this, this is what I want to do. I
want to be here. I never want to leave. And they said,
well, we can keep you on another semester, but you're in Syracuse,
and I went, oh no, because it was also, like I said,
they've been back on the air for a few months, which meant,
you know, they're a new show. There might be openings, there could
change, right. So right before I went back to Syracuse that August I
was like, Okay, maybe I'll drop out of school. My dad said,
you can drop out of school if you want, but you're gonna have
to pay rent to live in my house. I'm not going to just put
you up. And I said, okay, well, Opie and Anthony,
internships don't pay right now, so you know, I'm not going to be
able to afford my dad's rent. I'm gonna have to go back to school.
But what I did was I said I can't be there for two years,
and I went through the course catalog and I went through every class that
I had already taken, and just figured out, based on the classes I
had already taken, what classes could I take within one year, two semesters
and get a degree, a degree AD degree just to graduate and I have
a degree. And I went, oh, like I'd been interested in sociology
this whole time. And I was like, if I, yes, I
could take two semesters and then maybe a couple of online classes and I could
put together the basic requirements for a sociology degree and I could graduate Syracuse in
one year. And so so that's what I did. I went and you
know, I didn't talk to an Advisor or anything. I just real quick,
like, I mean a week before I went back to school, switched
out of every film class, went into every sociology class, and kind of
under everybody's nose, just switched over and got out of Syracuse within a year.
Whole time I was in Syracuse, going back and forth to New York
City as much as possible to kind of just show my face at Opie and
Anthony. And then I worked for free for a while after I got out
of Syracuse and eventually got hired there. Wow, and were you writing bits
for them? And like how did you start to get woven into the creative
aspect of that and actually get to get on the air. Yeah, I
mean I tried to provide as much value as I could based on what the
show needed. So, I mean it was really just about material and content,
content content, So it was just finding like I would. I would
obviously I'd be there listening to the show, and if there was any sort
of topic that the guys seemed super interested in or they just really got on
a roll on, I would say, Okay, how can I expand this?
Like is there some kind of audio clippers, there's some kind of bit
I could make ers there's something we could do to expand this topic because the
guy's obviously like this topic. Or I would go home and watch TV and
I go, is there something we can goof on on the radio? Here
is there's something we can do? Like, you know, one weekend,
I was in my room all weekend and I recorded the Basic Cable version of
Fast Times at Ridgemont High. And then I got my DVD of Fast Times
at Ridgemont High, and I took every curse word that was edited to something
else on Basic Cable and compared it with the actual curse word and then handed
that as like a disk, like listen to the ridiculous things that they replaced
curse words with. And you know, and that made the air and it
made my day that that made the air. Or if there was some event
going on in New York, whatever it was, I would grab a microphone
and go out and try to get some kind of man on the street audio,
some find some angle while I was out there, and or find some
character or something that I could bring back to the show. Or you know,
really whatever the show need, it just develop as much material as I
possibly could. And uh, you know, initially because somebody here, here's
your voice. They don't say, man, that guy's got a set of
pipes on him. So so yeah, so initially, I mean, was
that a big obstacle for you? I mean, yeah, it was ridiculous
because that's what you do on the air, that's what they hear, that's
your your product. Yeah, especially when I was younger, I think,
you know, my voice is matured a little bit, but it still doesn't
sound like a broadcaster, a traditional broadcaster anyway. And and yeah, it
never has it sounded even less like a broadcaster before. And that's it was
kind of an ongoing joke. It worked fine on Opie and Anthony because the
first bit they had about me was how you know, ridiculous my voice sounded
and words I would say and everything. But yeah, I mean, like
up until it was years ago, but you know, there was a Entertainment
Weekly was was gonna have a channel on Sirius XM. And at that point
I was kind of trying to graduate on from being a producer on Opie and
Anthony and find my own thing. And I went through auditions to be a
host on the Entertainment weekly channel and everything was good and the content was right,
and I had, you know, at that point, I was I
was a grizzled veteran, so I knew how to handle anything. And I
went through all these auditions and everything was looking good and the guy was gonna
run. It was like, yeah, you're gonna it's really like compromising.
Yeah, the boss that serious likes you. Yeah, everybody likes you.
And then at the very last minute they were like, look, I shouldn't
be telling you this, but the guy that works at the magazine he doesn't
like the sound of your voice. I was like, what, he don't
like the sound of your voice? It's not you know, I'm sorry man
there, and I go out, well, there's nothing I can do about
the sound of my voice. All I can do is create content that's worth
hearing regardless. But yeah, so, I mean I always kind of knew
that I wasn't destined for the sort of like a Ryan Seacrest kind of broadcastery
thing where you like, I knew I couldn't be a presenter, you know.
I think that that's a whole separate art, and I have a profound
respect for it, but I don't have the natural gifts. I can't be
a football player. I can't be a pro wrestler, I can't be a
presenter, but there are other things that I can do with my voice that
I think somebody with a great basic broadcastere voice probably couldn't get away with.
Yeah, and you know the whole thing. And this is why I felt
my my entire life. I mean, I always hated the announcer voice guy,
you know, and now it's time for another edition of Prime Time was
you know? I hated the people had voices like that. The reason I
think, the reason I have pipes now still is the events center. You
know, when you sit in a chair for you know, five days and
eight nine hours a week and Howard Finkel calls you and tells you got to
do twenty markets over because the Berserker got hurt. You know, it just
got seasoned. You know that, you just But I've always fought against that.
And the reason I say that is because it's to me, it's always
been about personality, Like talk to me and your personality. So it doesn't
matter what your voice sounds like. People become if they like you, it
becomes an endearing part of you, you know. So I like that my
voice, like most of me, is not very conventional. It's not something
I don't I've never been insecure about it. Like I think that it actually
kind of develops a connection with people a little bit easier than if you just
you know, the voice of the narrator or the voice of the announcer.
I don't think people really develop a connection with it. It's just like any
other piece of this machine that's being presented to you, and you're waiting for
the thing that you can relate to. And I feel like when when you
hear somebody like me or a lot of the people that I've worked with,
you hear the voice of a human being, and that's the voice that you
would hear if you were hanging out with this human being socially. You'd be
like, Yeah, that's what it would sound like. And I think that
that that has its own merits absolutely. And and so when you're you're on
this journey back then and you're an associate producer, I think that was one
of the first things you did with them, probably not making much money,
but it sounds like you had a vision here and and uh, you know
there's people out there that I you hear I'm sure all the time that tell
me like, how do I get into you know, I'm like, you
just don't give up? I mean, yes, whatever? And And was
that what it was like for you as as other opportunities came along, because
nobody's gonna come up to you and say, hey, uh, you know,
let's see, you're an associate prouser here on the on this show here
you ever thought about get in front of the mic yourself or doing a show?
You know, so all this time, are you, you know,
thinking about doing more and not being behind the mic? Literally? I mean
on the other side, was that always the focus? You know? I
always thinking that you wanted to be that one of those personalities. Oh,
absolutely, yes, definitely. And it was one of those things of just
never giving up. And I always thought, you know, like I thought
that, Okay, I'm an associate producer on this show, and then a
producer and then executive producer, and it's like this is you know, to
get the opportunity to be a character a personality on a show as big as
Opie and Anthony. It was always important to me to provide value in the
position that I'm in, Like, I never really wanted to overstep the position
that I was in. I never really wanted to feel like it was a
stepping stone, but I was always very clear that I wanted to be the
host of a show. I wanted to develop my own material and be my
own host. At the same time, very happy, you know, you
know, to be a part of this big show that provided me this incredible
exposure very very early in my career. Like you know, there's no substitute
for having that level of exposure. But I think that you also have to
realize that, you know, you're not here to be the star, You're
here to put the stars up on a pedestal. That said, when I
would do bits for Opie and Anthony, absolutely if I could figure out a
way that I would be included in on that bit. If I was going
to present them audio, I would present them audio that maybe I could be
an expert on so I could explain to them the audio that was being presented.
Maybe I you know, use my voice to develop characters and and you
know, create characters and pre produced bits. At the same time, while
I was doing Opie and Anthony, I was doing other shows. They had
a channel to themselves at the time on XM. So you know, me
and another guy that I worked with started doing a show, you know,
one Saturday a month from midnight to three am. It was like, Okay,
now I've established that this is also something I do. And then eventually
it was two Saturdays a month, and then it was nine pm to midnight,
and then it was this thing that I mean, over years, it
just kind of rolled and rolled and rolled, until you know, eventually I
started getting opportunities and finally started to get seen in a light where people thought
at Sirious and elsewhere, thought that I was ready to kind of stand out
on my own. Yeah, and you know along the way, you have
this love for wrestling. Yeah, when did that start to become a part
of it? When you were still doing all this stuff with Sirius XM.
Yeah, were you doing any I don't know, radio shows or anything that
had to do with wrestling. There were things. Yeah, it was first
when I realized that WWE would hold press conferences, and at the time they
would do it like the WrestleMania Press Conference would be at the hard Rock Cafe
in Times Square or whatever, you know what I mean. They would have
events like that, and it was like a couple of years into being on
Opie and Anthony that I was like, oh, I could go to the
press conferences and get interviews Like it was like blowing my mind, Like yeah,
and that's a legitimate thing, Like I work on a radio show.
If the interviews are good, will play the audio on the air, Like
this is actually what they're designed for. Start, Yeah it is. Yeah,
I don't have to sneak in. I don't have to like like,
oh you work for who have to put on? You don't have to wear
a hat with a little card and that says press. Yeah. It was
blowing. So I started doing stuff like that, and that's where I really
started getting wrestling interviews right and incorporating it into what I was doing, you
know, with o Anda and with Serious XM, and very early on,
I would do you know, kind of bits like the first one of the
earlier bits that I did with Opie and Anthony that was recurring was when Vince
McMahon's limo blew up on Monday Night Raw, and they treated it so seriously,
and it was, you know, it was all a little bit tongue
in cheek, but clearly as a storyline they were taking it seriously. So
I went in on the air and you know, like Opie and Anthony,
they'd be like, Sam, what's this thing that happened on Monday night Raw
last night? And I was like, guys, it's not really funny,
but Vince passed away and they were like, what Vince unfortunately passed away and
his limo blew up and they are looking for the culprit, and like just
played it completely straight the entire time, you know, throughout the week,
like WWE dot com was getting updated with storyline updates. So I would go
in on the radio show that was not a wrestling radio show and presented as,
hey, guys, there's good news. There is some information that's being
leaked out right now. The investigation is ongoing. But and so you know,
at that point, you know, the audience started to get really familiar
with the fact that I was I was, you know, wrestling obsessed,
and yeah, it allowed me to start to incre bread my passion for wrestling
into my job. Yeah, and start growing an audience, yes, exactly,
and and yeah, and that's always been kind of a big thing.
Like as as I got older, like as I entered into adulthood, it
was like, you know, it's okay to still have these obsessions that you
had when you were a kid, but they really have to fit into what
you do, like they have to fit into what you do for a living,
like they can't. Yeah, I've never liked the idea of being one
of those sort of you know, weekend warrior guys where I'm stuck at this
dead end job and i just watch wrestling and I feel like I've got to
incorporated all together into one thing, and and and that's just how I figured
it out. But when did it start to really get serious though that this
was going to be another major part of your life as far as you know,
as a job really, I mean it would be come that as well.
Yeah, I think for me it was so when I started going to
the WWE press conferences, I would kind of be asking half wacky questions that
I was trying to get on the air on Opie and Anthony's show because that
was the intent and then for them right right, which is again not a
wrestling show. But I was like, at one point, I was like,
well what if I just and I brought one of the guys with me
to video and I just did Really, I asked these guys questions that I
wanted to know, like, as a wrestling fan, what if I just
did some wrestling interviews with these guys, and if I happen to get some
audio for O and A, I'll get some audio for O Anda, or
maybe I'll go like, okay, like one guy over here, I'll get
some stuff for the radio show. But while I'm here, what if I
just interviewed everybody I had access to and and I got them on camera and
everything, and I just uploaded. And this was before podcasts were I don't
even know if podcasts were around, but it was definitely before they were big,
and it was before people were really doing a lot of wrestling interviews on
YouTube as well. And it started to catch on with wrestling fans. It
started to develop into a thing where it wasn't radio fans watching this, it
was wrestling fans that were watching. And I'd go up and I'd ask all
the wrestlers, what's the HAPs and then and then I'd asked them a couple
of wrestling questions, and it was like people were really starting to dig that
content. And so I did that for a while. And then when I
was doing my own shows outside of Opie and Anthony on Sirius XM. I
would try to get you know, wrestlers here and there to maybe do an
interview on my show with me, and I got to do that here and
there, and then eventually, yeah, like five years ago, I was
like, okay, I'm doing all these interviews for YouTube, because that's where
it got to like I was like, Okay, I'm doing all these wrestling
interviews for YouTube and seeing if there's spots to sneak in on the radio.
What if I'd added a wrestling podcast and these and these interviews that I keep
doing, what if I just made them a little bit more frequent and I
put them out as a podcast every week? And and that's why I did
that. Were you getting big numbers on YouTube at that time? With the
yeah, yeah, I was doing Yeah, I was doing well on YouTube,
especially for the time. You know, I don't know if you went
back and go and go and by today's standards, you know, are they
earth shattering? I don't know about that, But for the time and for
me, they were really good, and people were and they were really resonating.
And I remember actually the first person that I recall from within the business
to acknowledge what I was doing on social media was Paul Hayman. And this
was Paul Hayman was not at WWE at the time. This was, you
know, one of the times where he was outside of WWS before he'd come
back. And I had put up a montage of me asking what's the HAPs
to a bunch of WWE guys at one of the WrestleMania press count princes,
and Paul Hayman, you know, put it up on his Twitter. I
didn't know him. He just somebody had it alerted him to the video,
I guess, and he thought it was funny and he posted it and I
was like, oh my' like I was it, Oh my god? Right
and yeah, and and that was one of the early sort of first things.
So when did the WWE ever, what was like the first recognition you
got from them? Um, So, you know, the more stuff I
was doing, the more it was like the publicists knew who I was,
the superstars knew who I was because I'd be at everything, I mean,
everything I could get to. I would be there. If they were doing
a radio row, I would travel to it. If they were doing a
press conference, I would be there everything, everything, everything, And I
mean it's not that different now. But but everything I could be at I
would be. And you had another job too, They're expecting you to show
up too, right, right, So it would be like and again,
luckily I was in New York. Yeah, there was a lot of to
do both. And yeah, and I wouldn't. I was never missing my
day job obviously for it, but any opportunity I could possibly get, I
would do it. And also I was getting the content out there, and
the guys were starting to become aware of the content there. At the time,
there weren't that many people working in radio that we're also wrestling fans.
So when the guys would come in and do interviews, I would actually we
would be able to talk about wrestling in a real way. And I'm sure
you know you're aware from doing the podcast. The guys who do media a
lot, they would tend to, especially then, get really relieved when it
was like, oh, I don't have to like do the sort of schlocky
morning show where they have no idea who I am or what I'm talking about.
Like, actually, just sit here and talk wrestling. This is great.
So that stuff started to happen, and then I started to make friends,
you know, within the wrestling industry, and I started popping in to
do various things on like independent shows, and you know, do commentary on
this show, do a little stick on that show, just to I just
started emailing independent promoters, just because I wanted to do stuff, not wrestle,
but just do stuff on shows and go and be a part of the
world in whatever way I could be. Um. Yeah, and then and
you know, I had made some friends at WWE two. Eventually I did
a broadcaster audition in Stanford at WWE, which I got zero callback from no
no callback whatsoever, no interest room. Yeah, no, yeah, yeah,
yeah. I realized. I realized that I had gotten the audition I
think as a favor to somebody who liked me, because I don't I don't,
you know, I just don't think that that was ever. But whatever,
All things happen in the right time for the right reason. Really,
Yeah, you look at this, Look at this, say I'm this timeline
on this, and uh, you know, you worked your ass off for
a good decade there and then I mean things really start to happen with twenty
fourteen, twenty fifteen, and look we're talking four years that, Uh,
this all just has blown up. I mean in terms of uh, you
know, like the king of all media here for when it comes to uh
wrestling and with the podcast, I mean you start that about then, right,
and it's I think it's initially Sam Roberts Wrestling podcast now not Sam.
But yeah, it's not like I guess, an overnight success in a lot
of ways. But was that like all of a sudden it just started the
snowball. I mean, all this work and then it just started a roll?
Um, I don't A lot has happened over the last four years for
you, Yes, and a lot started clicking. But I also feel like
it's not like I worked my ass off for the first ten and then in
the last four I've been able to kind of just enjoy that. It's like,
you know, I've been working even harder in the last four What the
results are there? And like the last few years as the results of just
like yeah, man, you know, yes, and I'm getting to live
you know, all these things that I dreamed about, you know, I
was doing. You know, I think at this point four years ago and
four and a half to five years ago, I got the opportunity to launch
my own solo show on Sirius XM. Sam Roberts Show, and I did
that for about a year and a half and it was like one of the
greatest times in my life. You know. I was on from nine to
midnight every night, you know, and just figuring it out, just on
an island by myself, making it work, and you know, created this
little monster of a show, and I just loved it. And it got
to the point where Sirius came to me and they were like, look,
you know, we want to do a morning show. We want to keep
Jim Norton on board. Do you like Jim, you know, we want
to do more with you. What do you think of doing a show with
Jim? And I was like, I love Jim. I've known Jim forever
and you know, he's one of the funniest, if not the funniest Blue
radio So yeah, I mean that's that's a no brainer. So you know,
serious, we talk about it, you know, we figure things out,
and they put myself and Jim Norton on the air in the mornings three
years ago. And right around the same time, I get a phone call
from Michael Cole who says, hey, Sam, uh, you know I've
been working on doing something like this for a long time, but we want
to get an outsider's perspective on some of these kickoff shows that we do.
Uh, would you want to come by and do a kickoff show for one
of the next few pay per views? And I was like, yeah,
if you fall down and pick the phone back up, yeah exactly. It
was like, yes, yes, I want to come by and do one
of the next give me a sec yes, yes, yes I do.
Um yeah, And that's kind of where this sort of most recent chapter really
began. Yeah, you know it's there. There are a ton of god
who can even count how many wrestling podcasts are out there. And when I
first listen to your podcast, I had no idea about you. I didn't
know anything about your background. And I told like, initially I hear you
and I hear your voice. I'm like, oh boy, but I'm I
listen, you know, I mean, I listen and you got me.
And I'll tell you the thing that I enjoy the most. Uh. You
know, I know that the guys like to come on because not you can
you can talk wrestling. They talk wrestling all the time, but you have
that way about you. You can call it a gift or whatever. But
it is a conversation and you learn about them as people. And I'm telling
that's what even though you know, you get the latest of what their angle
is, their storyline, whatever's going on. But I am always in when
you learn more about a person, because that's what intrigues you, and then
it certainly intrigues me. And I don't I don't imagine that's anything you've worked
on. I just have a feeling that's kind of just the way you are.
Yeah, man, Yeah, I really appreciate you saying that. Yeah,
I think it just comes from my really natural curiosity. I'm really interested
in people, especially when they're doing something that I admire or that is something
that they've been working on for years, or I think, you know,
I'm endlessly interested in people's stories and their thought processes. And I mean,
you know, wrestling is such a strange world that you know, I could
I could talk and hear every single professional wrestler's story for the rest of my
life and never be bored. Like I just I'm interested in them. I
have a very natural curiosity, and I think about that, what am I
curious about? And you know, if I didn't have access to interview this
person, what would I want me to be asking about right now and so
And that's kind of you know, that's that's kind of where I come from,
like the kind I mean, if you were to say, that's the
philosophy of the show, and you know, that's the same thing with my
podcast and I you know, I don't know if I was fifty episodes in,
but I'd always have people you know, email me or you know,
send me a message about you know, I just never knew that much about
them. They're just really learning about their lives and so inspiring. And then
I kind of realized, you know what, that's what this is about.
It's not even so much learning about their careers, which of course we cover
and talk about, but if you think about it, and even too,
it's true to this day, no matter how they travel this road, this
is one of the toughest businesses ever. Yeah, you know, next entertainment,
but it is a part of it. But these guys, you know
too, pretty much to a person, women too, that they come from
these places where it wasn't easy and it wasn't an easy path. You come
into this thing with everybody telling you what are you kidding? You'll never make
it, and they have to somehow get past that. And then along the
way from people that are their peers, their professionals telling them you aren't good
enough, and they're just really inspirational and uh, you know, and learning
about their lives is uh, you know, it's fascinating. And I think
that today even more so because the business has changed so much. It kind
of reminds me of uh, you know, say from the Major League Baseball
players back in the day. These guys are riding the subway to the ballpark,
and now it's that's whare wrestling was. I mean, these guys were,
you know, driving around cars and beat up old you know, making
fifty bucks some weeks, you know, getting gas and now it's gone into
now it's it's rockstar and it's uh, it's it's really it's just so fascinating
to hear about people's lives from from both sides of that. Yeah, I
really agree, And I think too, like the thing about wrestling is that
there is so much coverage of it now, you know, people giving the
scoops and talking about what's really going on in the motivations and blah blah blah.
I think it is so much more endlessly interesting to just get the perspective
of somebody who's living it. What is your life like living it, you
know, and what do you do when you're not living it? And what
do you do day to day? And how do you handle the fact that
I don't think people realize how mentally taxing this thing is. How do you
handle that part of it? You know? How do you eat enough to
keep the calories that you need to work out properly to gain the muscle mass?
Like, there is so many different angles to hit this from. And
I mean I also think that even today, with as much visibility as pro
wrestling has and as as as smart as people are in general to what the
business is, I still think that that pro wrestlers are treated so unfairly when
it comes to the basic understanding of what they do. And I think there
is still such a condescension to the industry as a whole from people that are
outside of it that, you know, if I can have some kind of
record of anybody getting to know these superstars as the human beings that they are
and just a little bit of you know, because they have to be amazing
people to pull it off on any kind of long term basis. Oh my
god. Yes, you know, if you can get any sort of inkling
of that, then I feel like that's a good thing. Yeah. Well,
and you look at them like you just said, all the things you
have to have. Not only do you have to be an incredible physical specimen
these days, I mean it's rare that you can be, you know,
like are Dusty Rhodes, you know, and make it. You have to
be an incredible physical specimen. You have to be incredibly athletic. I can't
even believe what these guys do today in the ring, uh and still are
able to do it night after night. And then you have to be able
to get You have to be really good in front of a camera and a
mic, you know. And then on top of all that, then you
have to somehow be the The final thing is just be received by an audience
that likes you. And that is that is the Nobody knows what that is.
You know what it is. You just know when it happens. But
thank god there are people like Dwayne Johnson and Steve Austin and these other guys
that have gone on. Uh. You know, I mentioned the rock because
you know, look where he is, he's the most famous entertainer in the
world now. But I think people are starting to see in many ways what
these how what incredible into entertainers these guys are, because you know, these
guys will show up on a set and somebody would hand him a script and
they've been in there what trailer for ten minutes, say okay, let's go.
Yeah, you know, I mean, you know what I mean,
because they're so used to going out and doing a five minute monologue and nailing
it live in front of you know, twenty five thirty thousand people. So
they really are the ones that you know that have been really successful at this
have all of that. But at the same time, even to be at
a level like NXT or you know, SmackDown or even aw now You've got
you are really among the elite entertainers with it with with that much of a
package. Absolutely right, Yeah, I mean it's it's it's incredible. Yeah,
it's just so um, you know, interview just about everybody, I
imagine at this point, who are some of your favorites that really stand out?
Maybe a particular interview or a guy you just like having come back like
the miss Um. Yeah, I enjoy the repertoire or the rapport. I
should say that that the Mizzen I have we can never get on the same
page. But it's great though. The banters, you know, yeah,
we always end up as this close to walking right right, which I like,
which I liked m but you know, I actually just very recently on
the podcast did an interview with Baron Corbyn that I really really enjoyed. I've
done a couple of interviews with Daniel Bryan that I've really really enjoyed. Adam
Cole from NXT is somebody that I love having on the podcast. I had
Jeff Jared on a little while back and I thought he was absolutely phenomenal and
we kind of went in depth his entire first WWE run and in detail and
it was just awesome. Um So guys like that have all been really pretty
uh spectacular. I did you know. One of the ones that surprised me
was, luckily before he passed, I did an interview with the Ultimate Warrior
that was about I don't know, it ended up being about eleven minutes,
but it was at one of the video game things and I found out about
it at the last minute. I knew it was in New York and I
was like, oh my god, but it was that day. It was
that afternoon. So I'm with my friend Roland, who works at Sirious as
a talent booker, and I'm like, rolland can you find out who the
publicist is running this thing. Let's go down there, Let's get an inter
let's see what we could do. Let's get there. And so he ended
up making some calls. I was sending some emails to people that I knew,
and we found out okay, yeah, come on down, you can
interview the video game creator or whatever. I was like, whatever, just
to get in the door, let's do it. And so we got in
there and the Warrior was there and he really wasn't doing interviews and I was
like, I just I will plug whatever game you want me to plug,
wherever you want me to plug it. I'll do it on the radio.
Whatever you need, you will get. I will make sure your information gets
out there. I just need fifteen seconds with the Ultimate Warrior. All I
want to do is ask him what's the HAPs? I just need his reaction
to I swear to God, that's the only question. Hey, what's the
HAPs? And that's it all. Right, let me talk to Okay,
all right, you can go and you can ask him one question, and
I go, great, okay, fabulous, And I went in and I
asked him what's the halves? And he was kind of annoyed, which is
okay, you know, I done will be annoyed, and I was like,
you know, it was annoyed at me several times, and we had
this quick back and forth, but I looked around and nobody was wrapping me.
There was nobody there, a sign or anything. So I just kind
of started throwing questions at him and we ended up having this great conversation for
ten to twelve minutes before I was like, okay, like this was supposed
to be fifteen seconds and we've now gotte ten to twelve minutes. And I
actually really enjoyed the conversation. I thanked him. He thanked me the whole
thing like, and that was like, I don't know, that was probably
May maybe I think it was right around the beginning of the summer. That
August, the video game company had a media event around SummerSlam that I went
to, and one of the things you could do was meet the Ultimate Warrior.
They let the press meet the Ultimate Warrior and I'd gotten my interview all
those months before. It was, you know, just ten to twelve minutes
with the Warrior. I thought that was cool. And I was with my
wife and I was like, Jess, like, let's get online to meet
the Warrior. And it was really like I had already had my interaction with
him, but I thought it would be funny to have a picture of my
wife and the Ultimate Warrior together. I was like, it would be great.
And so we wait on this line and again I haven't spoken to him,
and I spoke to him for ten to twelve minutes months ago, and
that's it. That's the only interaction we've ever had. And that's it.
And so we're waiting on this line. He's taking pictures. He's taking pictures,
he's taking pictures. You know, you've heard all these things about the
Warrior, especially at that time, not easy to deal with this and that.
And so the line comes up and I go hello, as if it's
the first time we're meeting, because I don't want to embarrass him, and
go like yeah, and he looks to me and he goes, hey,
what's the halves? And I was like, oh my god, and he
was like, I know what that was, but my daughter told me it
was great, Bo, how are you Bob? And I was like the
interview along with that interaction is really one of my favorite, one of my
favorite things that has ever happened around the podcast. I mean, I don't,
I don't I think, you know, for a lot of people,
it was just like cool attend an interview with the warrior. But all things
considered and you know where they came from and everything, that's probably my favorite
interaction, you know, And that's that was the thing about him though,
And even when you work with him, it just you didn't know who you
were going to get that day. You know that he wouldn't. I mean
really I had some really great times with him. I mean we had great
conversations, and then next time you see him, he wouldn't look up from
the table. You know. It's like, but uh, I don't know
how long that was before his before he passed, But that's really awesome that,
you know. And I think he was a very misunderstood guy, especially
you know, coming into the WWF when he did. And Sam, if
you, I'm sure you know your history of what it was like back then,
Like when I came in. It was still these two worlds were colliding.
We you know, people like me from the outside world. And then
it was still old school and you walk into a locker room and they're talking
Carney, you know, like the whole first year I was there. So
you had somebody like the Warrior come in who was totally from another world like
bodybuilding, and you know, he hated him from the second he arrived.
He was just great looking, unbelievably the buff guy, and he was skyrocketing
to fame. So you gotta, you know, take it from that point
of view that they didn't make it easy for him either, so you can
understand his resistance to you know, to you know, getting part of being
part of that world too. Yeah, I would imagine that he probably has
people in his ear saying like, look, you know, you're gonna be
a star, you need to act like a star. And then you've got
other people that are going like, who's this guy? Think he is walking
around here like he's like he's a star all of a sudden, and you
know, mixed signals happen that way, I think really quickly. Yeah,
and that's you know, that's that's the way it was for him. But
I think that you bring up the point though, you know, like a
lot of these interviews, sometimes you really get surprised by people that you're thinking,
oh, I don't know if this interview is going to be that great,
and then they just blow the doors off, you know, And I've
I've found that in many cases, especially when you interview guys that have you
know, from my era and beyond who you know, done twenty shoot interviews.
So I know they've got you know that they've got these stories and they
can't help it. It's not like they want to tell the same story the
exact same way, but they've told it so many times and that's what people
want to hear. And so when I get them, I'm asking questions that
they've I'm trying that they haven't really been asked, or take it from a
different point of view. But there's a lot of a lot of them out
there. They had great careers that they haven't done that many interviews. And
it's slock on a month or so ago, and it was just a wonderful
conversation with him because I know we talked about things that he hadn't talked about
for you know, twenty five years and he just loved thinking back and we
ended up I think we did two and a half hours. We also have
such a great perspective, right, like you, It's one thing to do
an interview with somebody that's watched wrestling, like you know, I all I
can do is come from a fan perspective, So I can sit there and
I can talk to people about what I assume it would have been like at
that time and what my experience was watching it on TV and everything. But
you, as a person who was there, you have a very unique perspective
in terms of not only what to ask about, but what to expand on
and kind of what things were really like. Yeah, and you know what
else has been really fun for me because when it's happening, and you know,
I hope that you are aware of this at this point in your career,
you know, you don't really take it in and there were you know,
I didn't know a lot about these guys lives until now just from having
these conversations with them, and you're just trying to keep up, you know,
you're peddling, and to get that at that whole different perspective now and
like I'll go back, you know they want we do with these watch alongs,
and I don't you know, I was like Tony, I don't remember
that people ask you about these pay per views, But when I watched them,
this stuff comes back and I think about, you know, something funny
that happened backstage, or Jean did this, or you know. And so
it's been a it's it's been a great journey, uh doing this. I've
gotten as a much kick out of this as I hope that people listening have,
because that's it's just been fun. And like I said, there's there's
these conversations you have, you know, like with Coco Beware, you know,
and and him telling the story you know about the the the big brawl
and Brussels and and uh, you know that I never had a chance to
talk to him about. So it's just like if I were at a bar
with him, I would be talking about the stuff to him. And and
because I was there too, and not not at that event, but I
mean I was there at the time when all this was going on. So
it's it's it's been a blast. And and I just you know, as
you go along this way, I just hope if you take it in because
I hope you're not doing a podcast in thirty years, but right, yeah,
no, I like, I mean, that's one thing, and that's
when I when I when I did my first thing, when I did my
first kickoff show with WWE, and when I did my last kickoff show with
WWE. Most recently, every single time, it's like I can't believe I'm
here. This is everything, Like this is incredible. You know, nobody
thought this would happen, and you're doing it and if it ends today,
it can never be taken away and sit there and soak this all in.
It's like when I first found out I could go to the press conferences.
The fact that like I am invited and I am there backstage with the other
announcers, and I am eating and catering, and I am supposed to be
there sitting there going like who let this kid in? And somebody throw him
out and he's snuck back here. None of it. It's like cookies,
yeah, exactly exactly. You know, I go in, you know,
as soon as I get there, I'm there, you know, on the
early side, and I put my bags down and I watch I just go
into the arena and I watch the ring being constructed, and I look at
this big empty arena and I kind of just every single time I'm making effort
to take it all in and never never take any of it for granted.
And that's sometimes tougher than other times. And you know, as human beings
tend to do, you find yourself slipping into unhealthy patterns of wanting more,
no matter how much you're getting, like there's just more, just more is
better, more and more, and like I work really diligently to not have
that mindset and to sit there and go, this is today, and this
is unbelievable. Oh say, this has been been great. It's a up
to somebody, what what's next? I mean, what bore? What bore?
Do you want? Young man? I just you know, I want
to do everything. I'm just so And it's all because, you know,
I find myself like there is no level of depth in a thing that I
love that I don't want to go to. You know what I mean.
If I were an underwater explorer, explorer, I would want to be like
James Cameron getting to the bottom of the ocean. Like I want to be
as ingrained in the worlds of the things that I'm interested in as I possibly
can be, and I want to, you know, kind of surround myself
with the smartest and the most interesting and most successful people that I can possibly
surround myself from and learn surround myself with and learn from. You know.
I think that that's that's what it's all about for me, and and just
doing more of that and to me is like all that it is. I
don't know if there's one specific thing that I can tell you, well,
here's my goal, you know, I'm you know, at this point,
it'd be ridiculous. I'm doing a morning shown series XM, and I get
to be on the WWE pay per view kickoff shows and the NXT pre shows,
which are some of my favorite things to do. Like for me to
tell you I want to do this would come across as egotistical and insane.
But whatever you think this is, I want to do it, you know,
so so it's never ending. Yeah, Well, I think that what
shines through those you love what you're doing. That's that's the way way you
should live. And it's fantastic anything folks could look out for this it's upcoming
so they can be more entertained by you. Yeah, I mean, I'm
always uploading stuff to the YouTube channel, YouTube dot com, slash not Sam
and it's got tons of wrestling content but also non wrestling content. I was
telling you, every Friday night we go live after SmackDown to do Sam Roberts.
Now it's a non wrestling show, but it's a super fun show.
You could listen every morning on Sirius XM to Jim Norton Sam Roberts on channel
one h three. Every Monday and Thursday. We dropped Not Sam Wrestling on
iTunes and Spotify and Stitcher and not Sam dot com and everywhere else. And
you know, look, if you want content from Sam Roberts, you would
have to be trying pretty hard not to be able to find any of this,
So it shouldn't do. Are you are the king of media? You've
taken over. Sorry Howard, I'm working on it all right, my friend.
Thank you, it's been awesome. Thanks for coming on pri time.
Thank you, man, I really appreciate it.