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Speaker 1: Aero dot net. It's more than just a podcast. It's

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a choice of podcasts. In other words, it is a

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podcast network of choices. I don't know about you, but

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when it comes to listening to a podcast, I'm not

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always in the mood for the latest news. I need

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something that's going to be fun, you know, like foody Paradise,

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cooking food, being with chefs I can relate with, or

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people that just really like to do the right thing

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when it comes to putting protein inside of you. Foody

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Paradise on ero dot net, a R r Oe dot net.

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Enjoy your exploration. How are you doing today, sir?

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Speaker 2: How you doing it?

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Speaker 3: Friend?

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Speaker 1: Fantastic, good man. I'll tell you.

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Speaker 2: Any party animal? Yes, I was party as a party

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animal last night, my friend.

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Speaker 1: Well were you doing last Sunner party animal?

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Speaker 2: Oh?

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Speaker 3: I was working on some videos and I to have

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a couple of cocktails on working on videos.

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Speaker 2: They're making more creative.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: I like working at night because there's no phone calls,

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There no distraction. This is no emails that are popping up,

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so you can just focus on creativity.

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Speaker 1: That's so funny you say that, because my time in

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the studio, I will arrive in here you're at five

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to six o'clock in the morning, because you're right, you're

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all by yourself and your imagination is wide open and

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it wants to play like a child.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so it seems like you're a creative person as well.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you're creative.

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Speaker 3: You just want to be distracted once you're in that size.

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Don't distractions take you right out of that?

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Speaker 2: They do?

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Speaker 1: Don't you think it's an addiction. We've got to feed

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that monster. I mean, if we're gonna make it to lunch,

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we've got to have something that said I did something today.

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Speaker 2: Well it's that. Yes, I also like creating things, So

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what are my problems if I don't.

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Speaker 3: I'm the laptop after midnight and say I'm longer just

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found like a half an hour working on a package.

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I actually know it's five o'clock in the morning. Yeah,

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because once I saw it, I can't stop. So it

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is an addiction in that way, but it's a it's

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a fun addiction. It's an adrenaline rush you becase you're

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creating something, you don't want to stop, and time just

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flies back so quickly at that time of night.

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Speaker 1: Well, you were onto something when you came up with

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with backstage pass. I mean, it's tales from beyond the

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squared circle. The very fact that you said squared circle,

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you took me back to Billings, Montana, when Brett Hart

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was just a punk ass little teenager and we were

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all sitting there just calling him the greatest wrestler on

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the planet.

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Speaker 3: He was a great wrestler. I don't like, I have

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a question for you. Why do we call it the

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square circle?

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Speaker 1: You know, I want to know that. I just figured

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it was just wrestling's wrestling's way of saying that, you know,

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this was our place, our signature, our brand, and nobody's

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ever told me that. So I hope you've got an answer.

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Speaker 2: I think I do.

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Speaker 3: It's a hypothesis, it's a theory, but I never knew

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until recently.

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Speaker 2: I work for a real American freestyle right now with Eric.

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Speaker 3: Bischoff, Yes, who is my direct boss and collaborator. I

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say collaborator because he likes to think of that way.

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He's my boss, but he likes to think that we

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know we work together. He's very respectful and in the

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Olympic freestyle wrestling, it is a circle.

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Speaker 2: The wrestling and when you get pushed outside that circle.

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Speaker 3: You get points for that, you know, you get points

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for takedowns and body signs as well. But that circle

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is in a square box that's around it, So that

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really is a circle inside the score. That really is

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a square circle. So I think that came into be

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from like the original solid wrestling back, you know, going

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back thousands of years, and I think about that time

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I was looking at the set, I'm like, wow, that's

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a circle within a square, you know, real American freestyle

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in the circle and the stars and there's a square.

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I guess that's where it's came from. Nobody knows, but

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we say it all the time. Yeah, because a wrestling

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ring is like a boxing ring. It's four sides, it's ropes.

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You know, why is that a circle? Why think it's

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square up like that? So I really think it came

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from freestyle wrestling way back in the diocee.

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Speaker 1: I always thought it was hardly raised because there was

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one time Harley came to town and they didn't have

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the entire ring there. So Harley said, we're gonna put

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this squared circle on the floor, and they did and

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that and so from that point forward, in my mind,

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it was always the squared circle.

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Speaker 2: But it was still a square. There's a circle and

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that square was there?

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Speaker 1: So true? That is so damn true. What is this

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gonna be?

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Speaker 3: Way?

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Speaker 2: You might have been a portion that brought out to

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pro wrestling. Maybe the term came from him, Oh when

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you said that.

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Speaker 1: Wow? And see now, I would be so afraid to

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go to a chat GPT to put that in there

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or ask Alexa because everything that they do is bent

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on somebody else's story. So I'm going with your word,

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and I'm going with your book because I mean, you

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give us such an inst First of all, I want

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to know how you got permission to even do this book,

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because you you are letting us see the wizard behind

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the curtain.

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Speaker 3: I think it's because it happened decades ago, you know,

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watch it C and ASF hop recently.

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Speaker 2: But I'm not doing anything that's like giving Way company secrets, okay.

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Speaker 3: And the publisher made sure that nothing I said in

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there is litigious because the already gets sued as well.

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Because when I first showed him my five semple chapters

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before they get a contract for the book, he goes,

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are you sure you want to do this? And I said, why.

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He goes, well, you need burning some bridges. I said,

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can I get sued? He goes, never want let me

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get suited, not know, liligious here because we'll get sued too.

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But you're burning some bridges that you won't go to

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cross back again. And I said, I don't care, because

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the bridges I'm burning, I don't want to cross back.

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I don't want to go back to w B. I

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don't want to ever be friends at the walk again.

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Because he was jerked to me and my father towards

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end there. You know, Hollywood got to him and it

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was sad to see that because some people had no success.

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Well others don't. But yeah, there's you know, most people

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don't write books of production.

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Speaker 2: I think actually nobody has.

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Speaker 3: I think I'm the first one to be honest with

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you because they are afraid of losing their jobs.

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Speaker 2: Yes, but I'm not afraid to lose my jobs. I

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have security with Eric.

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Speaker 3: I had security at TNA when I was writing this

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book a year ago. So I wasn't afraid to lose

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my job. Because when you're.

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Speaker 2: When you're good, and I think I'm gonna get it

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what I did.

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Speaker 3: That sound egotistical, but you know, you have a certain

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sense of creative freedom and liberty that you can say

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certain things as long as you're not giving away finishes

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and secrets and proprietary things that you shouldn't be saying there.

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Speaker 2: And none of that is a book. It's all after

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the fact, not before the fact.

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Speaker 1: See, and I've always looked at it as being wrestling

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is a transparency with their fans. That that's one of

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the reasons why so many people, including myself, are so

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connected to pro wrestling, because you're not afraid to tell

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me the truth. And with a book like this, I'm going,

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this is exactly what I wanted when I would be

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watching Nip Bockwinkle or if I'd be watching vern Ganya.

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But I'm getting it now when I've got wrestlers, and

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it's like, then, I'm going, do these people even know

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the early stages? And you know what they do when

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I sit down and talk to these modern day wrestlers,

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for the love of God, David, they know the history

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of this sport.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they have my pride and the wrestlers they really

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care about about the genre, about the sport before I

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call that, about the performance, and about.

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Speaker 2: The history of it. They all know the history of it.

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Speaker 3: But here's one thing that I learned in the book,

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because it doesn't talk much about that, just talks about

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moments behind the cameras, you know, when nobody's really watching.

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Speaker 2: But every superstory legend.

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Speaker 3: And this is odd, but it's not up when we

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hear it, they all share the same common fear, and

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that's the fear becoming irrelevance.

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Speaker 2: Yep, it's the even nature of it.

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Speaker 3: Even the biggest stars fear that one day they will

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no longer matter. And that's why they're going to capture

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that book too.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: It's like how there are stars that get a spotlight

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and they handle it really well. Others, like you know,

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the Rocket Lake gets through his head and he just says,

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you know, he becomes you know, typical classical Hollywood guy

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where he's too big for everybody else, he's too good

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for everybody else. And then those guys, I'd never change

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the spotlight. They never get it, you know, a glimpse

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of that, and some handle it well and some don't,

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but they're all into their emotional human side. So the

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book is that really tell humanity as well, not just wrestling,

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just played out through the lens of wrestling and myself

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as well too. I learned a lot about myself as

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I was writing this book, how it changed how much

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I put into the business and how much of a

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business took academy, because it really does take a toll

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on you, on everybody on every level, especially production, because

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the athletes is with their bodies, but production, it's with

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the eighty hours a week that you're working and the

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mental and the creative drain that you get. And a

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lot of people don't realize that, but it really is

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taxing on your mind.

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Speaker 1: Not so much you value I love your connection to

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basically putting us behind the scenes because many of us

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that are in the radio industry, because every every town

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has their own little wrestling community. And here's the thing.

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Even even though Rick fl It has gone on to

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big national and global fame, he still came into my

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studio to produce commercials. And to this day I have

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those sessions and it's like, but to sit down with

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these wrestlers to see them as real fricking people. They're

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fresh off the road. They were in their cars, they

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were coming in to drop a track for for just

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something that was very small, but it doesn't matter. It

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was them in their real, honest to God and that

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And that's that's what I love about your book, Backstage Past.

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It is so authentic to those of us who love

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the sport.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well I'm authentic too, and I want to keep

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it authentic. Is important thing to keep it authentic. Yeah,

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you know, put hyping there, But just the reality of

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the things I experienced that when we weren't on TV,

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you know, that was not you know, tell lies that

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fans and never saw in the reality of it was so compelling.

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It was just amazing. It's like sometimes the stories behind

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the scenes are more more fun and interests, and there's

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nothing about wrestling in the production world and had the

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actual wrestles themselves. It's one of the most political environments

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I've ever worked in. And I've worked at NBC and

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working at Real American Freestyle right now, and Real American

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Freestyle is such a breath fresh hair. It's all these

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athletes work with each other. Nobody's vying for somebody's spot.

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They're trying to compete and beat them professionally to get

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that spot, to get that RIF title or whatever.

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Speaker 2: But when they're not competing, they're helping each other.

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Speaker 3: It's such an authentic bleed of athlete and it's the

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first company I've been in there where there's zero politics whatsoever.

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Speaker 2: NBC had them, but there's nothing here in RIF.

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Speaker 3: And it's like, this is to be true, but it

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is true at least seven months and it's true. And

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I think it's going to say that when a great

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foundation for people who really care. We all feel as

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over like a family in this together because we started something.

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Speaker 2: That nobody thought would work and now did it work.

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Speaker 3: But we're setting like record numbers right now for a

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promotion that's only six months old.

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Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with David Sahati coming

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up next. The name of the book Backstage Pass Tales

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from Beyond the Squared Circle with author and sports fanatic

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David Sahati. Do you think I ain't that mean? Jean

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Oakland and Tony Schiavanni, they were trying their absolute best

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to give us that backstage action, but as the sport

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continued to grow into the decades, it's like, no, it

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needed to be more than just something that was set up.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. It's something about mean Gene.

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Speaker 3: I liked because he's believable and he's a salesman and

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I love the mean gene days. Yeah, I think it

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was great when we went behind the curtains for the

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first time, Jim the attachear because it was real, like

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there were times when we hadn't fight that would be

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happened backstage. And also it's going a cater and you'd

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see baby faces, you know, sitting next to.

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Speaker 2: Heels or whatever, and they didn't know what the hell

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was going on. A lot of people don't know what

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the hell was going on because K favoring a lot

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of it.

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Speaker 3: So I thought would beginning the attitude or in the

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attear itself was fascinating because we were pushing beyond boundaries

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and personally, I have an interesting thing. I was, you know,

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inspired by both the man I was working for, Vince McMahon.

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Speaker 2: He taught me everything's about emotion.

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Speaker 3: And also my competitor, Eric Bischoff, I work with right

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now because we're trying to beat him, and Vince hated Eric.

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He wanted Abody in Troubles to hate Eric. Wwe you

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want all the rest to hate Eric Bischoff and they

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did because he was beating our asses at one point,

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you know, for eighty three weeks, not eight three consecutive,

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but eighty three weeks.

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Speaker 2: And I didn't hate that Eric.

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Speaker 3: I actually respected the guy. I'm like, damn, I wish

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we were doing that stuff because he was a erent

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before we were. In a lot of ways, you can

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say he started the Attitude Era, not WWE. And actually

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here's the story for you.

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Speaker 2: It's in the book.

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Speaker 3: There is no real person who started Attitude Era. It

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wasn't like a plan, let's go this direction, let's do this,

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and it's all with the.

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Speaker 2: Spot that I did. And you might remember the spot

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just by the opening lines.

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Speaker 3: It goes, I know what you're thinking, I'm not really Natalte,

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I'm just the wrestler.

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Speaker 2: Well I did this, I did that, blah blah blah.

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And I just tagged that spot with the word attitude

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at the bottom of it. That's all.

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Speaker 3: We're losing one and at Wars this time and that

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world resonated with everybody attitude. It wasn't the Attitude Era.

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I just put that word there, and it became the

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Editude Era. Because production is cutting edge your packages, we

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get the rights use commercial music like the Biscuit. The

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creative team started running edge or storylines and then every

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week we're just pushing you know, one another inside W

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and pushing the companies of pushing each other too. So

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it's a real legitimate war that was going on back then.

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I think what happened once WCW got killed off is

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that we kind of started to lose our edge because

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we didn't have a competitor, so they have to try

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so hard, and I loved trying hard. It's just like

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to me, there was a time about a year after

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where it became funt and pacete television.

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Speaker 2: We were longly doing that, like you know, Shock TV.

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Speaker 3: There was a moment for a wow that I've never

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seen that before, and I think the lack of competition

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during that time kind of hurt the product. And that's

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where we started use interest in that because we were

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also becoming PG since we were in corporate.

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Speaker 2: And I love the edgy stuff, and when they were.

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Speaker 3: Raining back my create motion, I can't, like, you know,

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push things there and say all right, it's just like

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I felt like I was back at NBC again, where

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you see one of everything done in conservative and everything

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did in Vanilla.

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Speaker 2: And I'm sorry that I don't like Vanilla.

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Speaker 3: Nothing wrong with it. But if I meet Vanilla, gon

321
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be giving you a chocolate swirled vanilla. But I like flavors,

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I like color, I like things that are spicy. I

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don't like vanilla. And it sort of comes sanitized and

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cleansed and like everything we were not during the Attitude there,

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and that's what it became. And it's almost the point

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where couldn't watch anymore. And actually I don't watch it

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that much anymore. WWE that is, I like some of

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the smaller promotions because when you're part of a.

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Speaker 2: Legitimate revolution, when you're losing your butts.

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Speaker 3: Of WCW and you start the app, you like to

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fuse the Attitude era and the one that war was

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beginning me and it's like that's a real pivotal time

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when the entire industry changed, when the genre changed, how

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you presented the characters, how do you do a television?

335
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Everything changed, and we became number one on us and

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them for ten years. There was a point, Rick said

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a meeting last week at Real American Freestyle.

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Speaker 2: Where we were a threat to money in a football.

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Think about that on Monday nights.

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Speaker 3: Combined, I think WCW and WWE, we're getting a better

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rating than when that football was And that just tells

342
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you how popular we were back then. When we were

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red hot and losing that edge, we lost our competition.

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I think really hurt the product for a while. Now

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it's great. Now it's back, and now it's all glossy,

346
00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:12,279
but you know, that edge is gone. I think even

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00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,159
today it looks great. It's great presentation, don't get me wrong,

348
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but while it is, I think a million dollar budget

349
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just produce that show every single week. And I'm just

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talking about the production values, not the talent. But gee,

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here's it interestingly for you, do you know what it's

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00:14:27,919 --> 00:14:28,399
called raw?

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Speaker 1: I just assumed it was raw because we wanted to

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see things live. We were addicted to live. We got

355
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Monday night football live. So therefore, if it was going

356
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to be raw, it was going to give us that

357
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edge where you know, we were going to get hard

358
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hits in football, but not like professional wrestling. It was raw.

359
00:14:43,679 --> 00:14:45,039
It was gonna hit hard.

360
00:14:45,679 --> 00:14:46,039
Speaker 2: Oh.

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Speaker 3: I did the promotions for that. So those are the

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00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,480
words you said you brought into my promotions. But the

363
00:14:50,559 --> 00:14:51,440
real reason is this.

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Speaker 2: They had a.

365
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Speaker 3: Sunday night show on for two hours on whatever network

366
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around think as you was a network and they're getting

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rid of that Sunday night show.

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Speaker 2: It's like a live talk show or something. And raw

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was a youth missum for low budgets. They couldn't afford

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to do a live show really well, so we stripped down.

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Speaker 3: You didn't have the entrances that you had on Superstars

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at the time that was on the show or or challenge.

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Speaker 2: It was just stripped down. It was raw.

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Speaker 3: There were no special lighting effects, there was no great

375
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entrances except the Undertaker.

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Speaker 2: It was just raw. It was just wrestling.

377
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Speaker 3: If you go back and look at the early year

378
00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:28,840
in the Manhattan Center, there's no like lighting cues, there's

379
00:15:28,879 --> 00:15:31,519
no pilot, there's nothing, just to come up a little

380
00:15:31,559 --> 00:15:33,440
hallway with like, you know, the world raw around it,

381
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not even neon lights or early DS.

382
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Speaker 2: Yes, it was. It was a low budget.

383
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Speaker 3: It was a youth mism for we're doing the show

384
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cheap because we can't afford to do it right, and.

385
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Speaker 2: So we spun it that way. It's like raw. I

386
00:15:43,759 --> 00:15:45,679
think one of those lines I had that I think

387
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:46,720
I'm trying to remember.

388
00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:52,639
Speaker 3: Was Marchman saying, it's raw, it's unedited on it's raw,

389
00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,919
it's unedited on something uncooked and they're like uncooked.

390
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:57,879
Speaker 2: Yes, it's raw.

391
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:00,159
Speaker 3: So we were putting spin on it that you know,

392
00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:04,080
this kura in your face, but it's just like a

393
00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,039
high looking show like it is today.

394
00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:08,600
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I totally and I and

395
00:16:08,639 --> 00:16:11,120
I apologize for this, but I totally swiped that idea

396
00:16:11,159 --> 00:16:14,000
from one of my podcasts, unplugged and totally uncut, because

397
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:15,759
that's what I was trying to create, was that raw

398
00:16:15,759 --> 00:16:18,440
effect that I could screw up. I could sit there

399
00:16:18,559 --> 00:16:20,840
and I could give people that that that feeling of

400
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,240
oh my god, this must be what it's really like

401
00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,279
to be in an interview. Yeah it's unplugged and totally uncut,

402
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,519
and you know darn good and well that's bullshit because

403
00:16:28,519 --> 00:16:31,320
I I edit everything. But but I but I don't

404
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:32,919
want my listeners to know that.

405
00:16:32,799 --> 00:16:36,039
Speaker 2: Though, But you better cut this pot out.

406
00:16:36,159 --> 00:16:37,879
Speaker 1: I will. I'll put something in there.

407
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,440
Speaker 3: Shots that I do as well too. You know, you

408
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:44,720
have a lot of takes there, and you have some

409
00:16:44,879 --> 00:16:47,279
takes that stings. So I do writing as well. Except

410
00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,799
when you direct a lot to the then you are

411
00:16:49,919 --> 00:16:52,120
live and when you call a camera and it's not

412
00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,240
the camera, it's like the whole world sees.

413
00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:55,559
Speaker 2: That you missed a spot, but you missed a shot.

414
00:16:55,679 --> 00:16:57,840
So that happened early in my career, didn't happen later

415
00:16:57,879 --> 00:16:58,159
in my career.

416
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,120
Speaker 3: But that's how you're learned. You learned by the mistakes. Wow,

417
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,080
and then you make those mistakes anymore.

418
00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,720
Speaker 1: Well, you got to tell me who t TK is

419
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:07,680
because I don't want to assume. I mean, I mean,

420
00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,559
I just I just because you dedicate the book. And

421
00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:12,920
I'm one of those people. I'm a sucker for dedications

422
00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,319
because I want to know who, what, where, why, when

423
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,680
and how? And man, let's give them the kudos they

424
00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:20,839
deserve because they're in the book.

425
00:17:22,559 --> 00:17:27,000
Speaker 2: Well, the dedications to my father. My father author authored

426
00:17:27,039 --> 00:17:29,960
thirty one books, and uh, yeah, you didn't get me

427
00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:33,599
a little sentimental right now, And I wrote five. I

428
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,880
won't say authored. My dad always had to say that

429
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:36,759
he authored thirty one books.

430
00:17:36,759 --> 00:17:40,519
Speaker 3: They also published magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Pro Wrestling Scene,

431
00:17:40,559 --> 00:17:42,599
Boxing Scene, Pro Football Scene. But you don't the thirty

432
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,839
one books. And you know, he was my best friend,

433
00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:49,200
of my mentor. I loved them more than anybody in life.

434
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:50,759
Speaker 2: And it's tough to see him pass.

435
00:17:50,799 --> 00:17:52,039
Speaker 3: And I was there for the last few months of

436
00:17:52,079 --> 00:17:54,799
his life, and he died in my arms with my

437
00:17:54,839 --> 00:17:57,079
sister you know there like that side.

438
00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,759
Speaker 2: And it was just so sad. But yeah, give me

439
00:17:59,759 --> 00:18:02,480
a con sid clogsent on. I do, but sure you

440
00:18:02,519 --> 00:18:06,160
want me to cry. Uh So, It's like there are

441
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:06,920
two things he wanted.

442
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:08,960
Speaker 3: He wanted me to get one of my books officially published,

443
00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:11,519
you know, and I finally did. And he wanted me

444
00:18:11,559 --> 00:18:13,200
to get back into real sports, and I am with

445
00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:16,880
a little American freestyle and I did write Popoline and

446
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,119
the book is dead. Kid Dune the greatest mayor ever lived,

447
00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:20,599
in my opinion, the greatest father one could have.

448
00:18:20,799 --> 00:18:23,200
Speaker 2: But he just couldn't make it long.

449
00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,559
Speaker 3: Enough to see it happened to see suddenly have his

450
00:18:25,599 --> 00:18:27,720
first book published, and his very personal for me for

451
00:18:27,759 --> 00:18:30,119
that reason, more sudden than be a person inside stories.

452
00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,000
Speaker 2: You know that you know Dad, yet I know you're.

453
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,079
Speaker 1: Proud of God. You could do an entire book just

454
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,240
on that man. And if you if you go to

455
00:18:37,319 --> 00:18:40,599
Netflix or Hulu with his entire project Backstage Past, you've

456
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,720
got to do a story, one two hour episode on

457
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,559
just your dad, because there's a lot of us out

458
00:18:46,599 --> 00:18:49,559
here that want to have that vibration that you had

459
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:51,200
and still they.

460
00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:53,200
Speaker 2: Were talking about wrestling. Thank you, go ahead.

461
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,279
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, but you've got we've got to do

462
00:18:56,319 --> 00:18:58,839
a story on you, because obviously you're one of the

463
00:18:58,839 --> 00:19:01,279
story makers as well, and that you are, I would

464
00:19:01,279 --> 00:19:03,240
love to see your life behind scenes.

465
00:19:04,039 --> 00:19:07,200
Speaker 3: Well, my life was inspired by my father. And my

466
00:19:07,319 --> 00:19:09,319
father was a rock star. And I realize at the

467
00:19:09,319 --> 00:19:11,440
time I'm growing up by his son. But I went

468
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:13,400
to like thirty Super Bowls with him, and everywhere he

469
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,200
went people would know him, you know, the the executives,

470
00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,119
the players, I met so many celemnities.

471
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,319
Speaker 2: For to me, that was like normal life. But my

472
00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,640
dad was a rock star. I mean, offering thirty.

473
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,359
Speaker 3: One books, publishing book the magazines for thirty years, four

474
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,200
different magazines a month, and writing five or six articles

475
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:31,200
in each of those magazines.

476
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:33,680
Speaker 2: I mean, he worked his butt off for his kids, and.

477
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,920
Speaker 3: That's the reason why he didn't like do excess on himself.

478
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:37,559
He was sitting for children.

479
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:39,079
Speaker 1: Wow and man.

480
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:40,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, But to me it was just my dad.

481
00:19:40,319 --> 00:19:42,119
Speaker 3: I didn't realize until I wrote my first book, which

482
00:19:42,559 --> 00:19:43,359
I still published.

483
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:44,400
Speaker 2: My dad my dying son.

484
00:19:44,519 --> 00:19:46,400
Speaker 3: So about the sue and what a start he was

485
00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:49,759
and he was humble, and I carried myself that way

486
00:19:49,759 --> 00:19:52,240
throughout my career as well. I think we had the

487
00:19:52,279 --> 00:19:53,480
time cues up or something.

488
00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:55,880
Speaker 1: Wow, man, I'll tell you what. We got to get

489
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:57,920
back together again, and let's talk. And I want to

490
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,240
please man, because I love where your heart is and

491
00:20:00,279 --> 00:20:01,839
the world needs to know more about you.

492
00:20:02,799 --> 00:20:04,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, the world things well, good people like you as well,

493
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,000
and kindness is free sprinkled shit everywhere.

494
00:20:07,079 --> 00:20:09,519
Speaker 2: Let's talk against a longer time. I'd love to anytime

495
00:20:09,519 --> 00:20:10,839
you want to talk to you, that'd be great. Okay.

496
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:12,200
Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?

497
00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,160
Speaker 2: Okay, sir, I will, and you have a wonderful, blessed day.

498
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:16,079
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you,

