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John,Cena,The,Interview,December,12th 2025
JohnCena,TheInterview,December12th 2025
JohnCenaTheInterview,December12th2025
I'm sher WhatsApp. Channel WWE live
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDo8X81dAwC6AML9Q2M
JohnCena,TheInterview,December12th 2025
JohnCenaTheInterview,December12th2025
I'm sher WhatsApp. Channel WWE live
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDo8X81dAwC6AML9Q2M
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00:00You
00:00:03Hey guys, hello, how are you?
00:00:08Yes
00:00:10How's everybody? Hey, you know what the problem is?
00:00:12Great to see you. Thank you for your time today. Thank you for doing this. You got it.
00:00:18You're coming from
00:00:20Signing on the grass
00:00:25This is riveting watching me again. It's riveting.
00:00:30He's gonna make the movie
00:00:34How is everybody today good good good
00:00:40Yeah, I really appreciate you doing this job
00:00:43Oh, okay, I mean for all we are gonna do it. Thank you. I appreciate it. I
00:00:48Have the world's greatest gig and having a chance to have
00:00:53Conversations like this is a really prime feature of it. Yes. We might be tied for first place. I don't know
00:00:58Yeah, your digs pretty good, too
00:01:01But um, John, I'll pop around some of it will be about your life your journey a lot of it will be some of it will be about your career
00:01:09Et cetera, so
00:01:11Ask whatever you want, okay
00:01:13I think
00:01:15I've asked this question to people John who are really accomplished in what they do and achieve a
00:01:22profile and a degree of success
00:01:25Through a passion through something that they love which you have done
00:01:29What is the difference between what you do and who you are?
00:01:39Uh, I'm trying to think of the best way to answer this
00:01:46One might say or a school of thought might be we are defined through our actions
00:01:51But
00:01:55There's no possible way
00:01:58Or even the most intimate connection to see all my actions
00:02:03So it's weird. I am defined by my actions
00:02:07But your question i'm taking for i'm taking your question as your question of hey in the lane of fluency that you have professionally
00:02:16What is the difference between that and who you are?
00:02:20And what I do
00:02:22Does not
00:02:24Define me in totality
00:02:26What challenge john if any is there in
00:02:30Maintaining and understanding that difference
00:02:33Especially as a profile and a character grows and becomes
00:02:39As iconic
00:02:41As the character that you've created
00:02:43So I I actually think it's not difficult. I think once you realize it
00:02:49It's quite easy once you realize that what I do does not define me
00:02:56The perspective someone has of any effort I put out there is theirs. It's not mine
00:03:01so
00:03:03As long as I know who I am
00:03:06When I look in the mirror
00:03:08I don't need to be
00:03:10Pigeon-holed
00:03:12Or held down or defined by simply just this or
00:03:17A successful acting role or a funny joke i've told or it
00:03:23Sure, it is a facet of what i'm capable of but it's not me in totality
00:03:26So I think it's actually quite easy when you realize
00:03:30Like oh, this isn't this isn't me. So if that if someone else's perspective, which I can't control
00:03:37Changes
00:03:39That's it's also okay
00:03:42What is success as you define it?
00:03:46As you sit here now?
00:03:47Okay, that's a good question. Uh, I want to answer all these questions with questions, but I don't want to waste your time
00:03:52Not at all
00:03:55What would be yours?
00:03:57For me?
00:04:00It's to know that i'll give you a micro and a macro that's great
00:04:04The micro john would be
00:04:08And to know that I fail at this a great deal
00:04:12Did I
00:04:14Get the most out of
00:04:15What god gave me that day?
00:04:19Meaning that I fill
00:04:21Others up the way that I had the opportunity to and that I also
00:04:25Empty my cup of time for that day in ways that matter to me and that add to others
00:04:31And I fail at doing that a lot macro
00:04:34Um
00:04:36I think it's not only to to feel like I led a full and a varied life
00:04:42But it's that I maximize the curiosity
00:04:46That I carried as a boy
00:04:49Because life does its best to really limit that curiosity
00:04:54It in so many ways
00:04:57I thought what was really interesting
00:04:59Was you outlined?
00:05:02What is successful for you?
00:05:04And then when you put forth your guidelines you followed it up with I fail a lot at that, right?
00:05:11Because I share a lot of the same track that you put down
00:05:15To me success is simply just
00:05:19Fulfillment that you did the best with life
00:05:21Uh
00:05:24And and however that's gonna that's gonna be different for anyone
00:05:28I know what what my lane is that I use the term earn the sunset a lot. Yeah
00:05:35But that
00:05:36That also doesn't mean
00:05:38Be this nuclear reaction of productivity
00:05:42If we look at uh analytics
00:05:44Uh, the way we the way we grade people
00:05:46Fail is 59 and below
00:05:50Success is 60 and up
00:05:53That's success below average success starts at 60 and works its way to 100 which is exceptional
00:06:01To say you fail a lot
00:06:03I think you you probably have a couple c minuses in there maybe a few d pluses
00:06:09Me trying to earn the sunset
00:06:11There's a whole lot of d minus days
00:06:14There's some d plus days there's some c minus days. There's a lot of b days. There's very very few a plus days
00:06:20But when you get an a plus it means something and it sets a standard and maybe you're like oh man
00:06:25Maybe I can try to to push a little further than that. What would an a plus day be for you john?
00:06:34Those those moments
00:06:36Where you're feel filled with
00:06:38With the euphoria that is life it's like indescribably that's the best way I can describe it that lasting for 24 hours
00:06:48Or that lasting as long as I can until exhaustion that I have to close my eyes
00:06:53Gosh like like my my wedding
00:06:55Is is a day that I can say like a plus day
00:06:59But that also came with
00:07:02Tremendous preparation
00:07:04I haven't had too many
00:07:06A plus days spontaneously
00:07:10You know i've had tons of spontaneous a plus moments
00:07:15Uh, even in like the worst of times
00:07:18But those a plus days usually have to come with a lot of work
00:07:22So it's like um, you don't realize
00:07:26The work you're doing now to one define your values
00:07:29To try to walk the talk, which is extremely tough. Yeah, and then three
00:07:34Reflect on and be like, well
00:07:37Am I living that way?
00:07:38Are these values really important to me?
00:07:39Or did I just get them out of a grab bag or from somebody else's motivational quotes like
00:07:44That all takes work, man. So I think success to me is just um
00:07:49earning the sunset
00:07:51Feeling fulfilled and I
00:07:55Being uh gracious enough to grade yourself where a failure is a 59 and down
00:08:02Why do you think
00:08:04For so long people have rooted for you?
00:08:09Uh, are you are we watching the same thing?
00:08:13Has he not seen
00:08:16Has he not seen the thing like
00:08:17Um, would would you dispute that characterization? I would john? I would strongly dispute that I think why?
00:08:27Uh, because i've been in front of
00:08:30What the wwe calls polarizing audiences?
00:08:33So, um
00:08:36I don't have a good answer for why anyone is interested in what I do
00:08:41Because I would streamline it to give
00:08:43People more of that
00:08:46Uh, I wish I had a great answer for it
00:08:49And
00:08:50I'm glad I don't think about it
00:08:53Because I think we can get lost in trying to give
00:08:57A consumer what they'd want instead of
00:08:59Just swinging big and being authentic
00:09:03Which I think taps into
00:09:06I mean a potentially deep vein john, which I think is pretty fascinating again
00:09:11This is a weakness of mine without doubt
00:09:17Whose approval matters to you?
00:09:21So, uh
00:09:24The answer would change over the years
00:09:27Whose approval matters to me today?
00:09:29Certainly got it running by my wife because she's my partner
00:09:32She's she is the one person that we we run a three-legged race
00:09:36So
00:09:39Her and that's it and and me like I have to be
00:09:45Okay with what i'm doing and I think the the biggest most troublesome patches in my life are when I have
00:09:53Given my approval
00:09:55To other folks and still executed the deed anyway and been like man
00:10:01But those are great learning experiences what's an example if you're willing to share of that john
00:10:06Uh
00:10:08I just think man, it could be um
00:10:11Something as simple whereas in like
00:10:14When I was a sophomore in high school, a bunch of kids were
00:10:17Making fun of a a bunch of kids and I had just come off getting my ass kicked every day and been made fun of
00:10:24I didn't want to be that guy, but I started being the cool kid
00:10:28So I said something just to join the group and it like it wasn't within me to say it
00:10:33And as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I wanted to take him back
00:10:37And thank goodness
00:10:39That there was a grown-up involved just passing through who happened to be a disciplinarian of the institution. I went
00:10:45I was actually a junior
00:10:47It's like you office now
00:10:50Sat me down. He's like tell me why I don't kick you out of school
00:10:54And I said sir, I can't give you a good answer for that. He said what I saw wasn't you
00:10:59Wow, let's not let that happen again
00:11:01And it was like serendipitous, but it's that's an example of it. I just tried to
00:11:07Fit in with the group because for the first time in my life
00:11:09I was getting some social acceptance and that feels good and rewarding and I did something against my values
00:11:16And somebody called me on it. Thank goodness they called me on it
00:11:19But in a you know early on I was like all right. I didn't want to do that anyway
00:11:23These kids will probably still hang out with me for being mean if they don't hang out with me for being me then forget it
00:11:30There are turning points john in any anyone's journey and you've had obviously multiple turning points
00:11:36I just wanted to pick a few that have either heard you mention or that i've read about sure sure
00:11:44One that I heard you mention which was really striking to me
00:11:48There was a point where
00:11:54You believed you were going to join the military yeah, you're going to join the marines
00:11:58What happened? I got lucky and I don't say that as a career in the military is a bad thing
00:12:04I think I would have been great. I'm basically
00:12:08So, uh, I grew up in a small town the very short story
00:12:12Uh, I got an opportunity a lucky opportunity to go to a preparatory school which widened my scope it ignited my curiosity
00:12:20From there they encouraged me to go to university which was a larger pool where my curiosity was even wider
00:12:26Then in my four years of discovering myself as a completely formed brain
00:12:30I was like man. I should travel more
00:12:32I should go out to the west coast and try to apply my degree because it was in health and fitness and at the time
00:12:38This is 1999 everything went through los angeles
00:12:43So I went out there to try to apply the piece of paper
00:12:45I got and like failed at every corner. I just wasn't a good fit
00:12:50So then I began to like evaluate myself of like what are my skills? What do I feel i'm strong at?
00:12:56I do like uniformity. I
00:12:58Loved being an athlete because it was like schedule. I love discipline. I love the value system tried being a cop failed the test
00:13:04So the military seems like a great answer because uh, the marine corps base was in san diego
00:13:13And I could drive down there and get in you know, but man that they probably won't turn me away. I was
00:13:1922 I was
00:13:21235 pounds and I
00:13:23I could move I felt good like
00:13:26And I loved everything they stood for
00:13:29I
00:13:30I knew I would be fed I knew I would be paid I knew it would be an adventure, but I also knew I would train
00:13:36I'd always have a place to work out
00:13:38Uh, I wouldn't have to worry about being stylish like there were so many things that lined up with
00:13:43What I?
00:13:45Envisioned myself as being proficient at at the time
00:13:48And the weekend I was going to join a friend was like man, you seem to talk a lot about wrestling
00:13:54We trained down in orange county that same weekend the weekend I was going to join
00:13:58He's like would you would you ever think about doing it?
00:14:02and
00:14:03I
00:14:04Delayed my trip. I said I want to i'll check it out
00:14:08And I remember when we pulled into la boxing in orange county. I saw the ring through the glass
00:14:12And I was like man, i'm
00:14:14I will work any bull job
00:14:16I need to to make this my weekend hobby like it became my boat
00:14:20I use that reference because my my brother loves to spend weekends on the boat
00:14:23That became my boat of like, okay, the the suck is
00:14:29working nine to five
00:14:31It's something I don't want to do so I can be my own boss and be this superhero on the weekends and so I started
00:14:39In the business very lucky like it found me in the last seconds of
00:14:44decision making and
00:14:47I did it as my boat as my hobby not like oh, you're a big dude
00:14:52You're gonna make a killing in this business. I just liked working flea markets and barbecues
00:14:57It was fun
00:14:59What was it about looking through that window seeing that ring john?
00:15:03I think it was the same feeling I got the first time
00:15:07I got handed my first helmet at 15 years old to play football. It's like this is possible
00:15:13There was no youth football in west newberry. Yeah, I didn't
00:15:16Touch a football like to play until I was 15
00:15:18But at 15 when you get your first pads your jersey and your helmet
00:15:24Of like the pintucket green with the white face masks. This is real
00:15:29And when I saw the ring it was like i'm gonna walk through that door and this is attainable
00:15:34It became real. It was not a sort of fantasy and and wwe does a great job of pointing people in the right direction nowadays
00:15:4226 years ago. It was a very protected carnival business of like
00:15:48I'm not telling you how to do this
00:15:51Because i'm gonna protect what I have and it was very secret and there was still
00:15:57The business is kind of based off of fraternity
00:16:00So it held the secrecy of a fraternity and
00:16:04Nowadays, it's it's great because we can get the best of people
00:16:07But then I really wish it would I will
00:16:12Everything happened for a reason, but it would have been so easy for me to find the place
00:16:17Because the school that triple h was trained at yeah, it was like 25 minutes from my house
00:16:23Growing up and I never knew it was there
00:16:27The killer kowalski the kowalski school was like 25 minutes from where I grew up and I never knew it was there
00:16:32I'm gonna get to the next turning point, but i'm a fan of points again in anyone's journey john
00:16:41What would you say was your lowest point?
00:16:44Uh, man
00:16:46I think when I just those moments
00:16:49That there are that I emotionally don't feel not only not good enough like I feel worthless
00:16:55uh
00:16:57And those have happened
00:17:00This is not too often. That's great
00:17:03but man anytime
00:17:06Like I can't I just can't get out of my own way
00:17:09uh
00:17:11Those are probably my lowest points and and that has nothing to do with um
00:17:19Economic success or
00:17:21fictitious title or anything
00:17:23Uh, those moments have happened to me along my journey in
00:17:28every chapter of the book
00:17:30But they've been a paragraph and i'm very very fortunate for that what's one you'd be willing to share man
00:17:41I I think those gotta remain for me uh
00:17:48Yeah, I think those gotta remain for me
00:17:49I understand yeah
00:17:53Another point
00:17:56Stephanie mcmahon yeah hearing you
00:18:00on the bus yeah yeah
00:18:03What happened?
00:18:04uh, so um, we all
00:18:09we all tell our own story like uh
00:18:12very smart very smart disclaimer so but um, you know her view of that
00:18:19It will be different than mine sure anybody who I was rapping on the back of the bus with it'll be different for them
00:18:25But for you for me, I was supposed to be fired from the wwe
00:18:30Um, they would do cuts like every
00:18:33Christmas time and every spring every year no matter what and I knew uh
00:18:38The holiday cuts were coming up and they debuted me on tv is like the poster boy for ruthless aggression
00:18:43And it I just didn't connect with the audience because I wasn't authentic you asked about a time
00:18:49Where I let someone else curate my experience that was tough for me. This is what I can share with you
00:18:57As a young performer in the business when I I was always me
00:19:01Even when I was the stupid half robot half man gimmick it was me out there
00:19:07And when I moved to kentucky
00:19:09I was courageous enough to be me even in the face of
00:19:13People who didn't like where I came from
00:19:15Uh, but I earned their trust through being authentic
00:19:19And then all the skills that got me to the grand stage
00:19:23I put them away and just fell in line and did what I was told
00:19:28Mm-hmm
00:19:29And that caused me to almost get fired and
00:19:35I
00:19:36One of the things I was told
00:19:38Was open your ears and shut your mouth great advice
00:19:41Especially when you're not the smartest guy in the room, and I hope to never be the smartest guy in the room, but great advice
00:19:47Have the patience to listen
00:19:49So I did that
00:19:51But that's all I did
00:19:54Was just observe and I was never bold enough to show who I was and you don't necessarily have to prove your worth your co-workers
00:20:03But our co-workers are all creatives. They're all performers
00:20:06So maybe they see you do something and they're like hey
00:20:09You should try that on tv and I know that that's true because I can't tell you how many times I've done that to performers like
00:20:17Where's that guy?
00:20:20I'm entertained you're holding my attention put that guy on tv. I don't know
00:20:25I've seen it. I've seen myself through the other lens
00:20:29So in that moment, where were you and what was happening?
00:20:32So we were on a european tour would be my final tour before I was let go and the wwe was like they're so great about it
00:20:38They kind of let me know like hey, this isn't working, right? Yeah, it's kind of not working
00:20:42Your name is on the list
00:20:46Uh of people were thinking about putting on the cut list
00:20:48I just want you to know true to that last little dig of like hey, man
00:20:51Show me something like it like a good coach would
00:20:55And this I thought this was kind of it so I don't have to
00:20:59Mind my p's and q's and the back of the bus
00:21:02That's the only time we all travel together. So again serendipity of like the only time
00:21:07When we go overseas is the only time we travel together
00:21:10Other than that you're like with the person you ride across the country with or you travel yourself or whatever
00:21:16So we're in a rare instance where we're all together
00:21:19We're even more rare incidents where it's we're all together and we're filming a tv show
00:21:23Because back then we used to go overseas for like 20 days and 18 of those would be non-televised events
00:21:30So the math is even thinner that like it's a tv day
00:21:32And the boys start rapping in the back of the bus and in the front of the bus is the head of creatives for tv
00:21:40So i'm sitting there and i'm listening i'm like man, I could
00:21:42That's something I used to do in college and high school
00:21:44I know you were getting a big hip-hop fan a lot. I could just uh, I could just get in there right now
00:21:50My god, nah, and then finally I was like
00:21:53Shove my laptop went back just stuck my head in the circle
00:21:57It came right around to me and I just
00:21:59Kind of said what was on my mind
00:22:01And it went for like four minutes
00:22:05And everybody was like man, I like ripped on everybody on the bus
00:22:10And when we got off the ride stephanie was like, how did you memorize all that?
00:22:14I'm like, no, no, you don't understand. It's freestyle you
00:22:17You try to just come up with something quick. That's why some guys only go for you know
00:22:21A rhyme or two and that's why some guys can go longer and some guys are creative
00:22:24She's like would you mind doing that on tv? And you know, of course that's a moment where
00:22:31Be bold
00:22:32So of course I said like yes, this is it. This is a chance for me to be authentically myself
00:22:38Because going back to your question about what I what I do doesn't define me
00:22:43I was a fan of hip-hop and I still love like my era of hip-hop
00:22:47But that isn't totally me as a human being, but that's the one facet
00:22:51That's the way I could connect with the audience
00:22:54The program was very hip-hop deficient
00:22:58I figured people would hate the a gangster from west newberry massachusetts
00:23:04Try to come out and and be this character. So i'm like, okay, if I would hate that
00:23:09I think it would get people to hate that like man things are lining up. I think I can connect with people
00:23:15And then the courage to
00:23:17Whenever I was paired with an opponent
00:23:19Uh, hey, you have like 10 minutes and you're gonna win
00:23:23Okay, you can do whatever you want. Is it okay if I talk at the beginning?
00:23:27How long you need two and a half minutes?
00:23:29And then you'll let me beat you up for seven minutes seven and the wind
00:23:33Yeah, is that okay? It sure is
00:23:36I knew I could connect with the audience like that and that would be at least something to keep me around
00:23:41but it was like in that moment of serendipity that
00:23:44I shook the regret of
00:23:49Listening to someone else and began to be more authentic
00:23:54Just to put a cap on that john when it when you weren't connecting or resonating with audiences
00:24:01How did you feel that how did you know that and recognize and and I know you're gonna say tom?
00:24:07Have you ever watched don't you see what goes on etc. But?
00:24:09There's also people who who move through things with their own mission and they have blind spots and blinders etc
00:24:16Is there a moment that indicated to you wow?
00:24:19This is not working
00:24:21Uh, so I think once you
00:24:24Once you hit a good golf shot, you know what a bad one feels like
00:24:29So bingo
00:24:30They uh, they brought me out in chicago with kurt angle
00:24:36Kurt angle was is a hall of famer incredible superstar and he issued like an open challenge and I answered it
00:24:44ruthless
00:24:46aggression
00:24:54Chicago is always a hot crowd and like we really have a hard working match I guess I could say
00:25:00My takeaway from that was I got to hear what the noise sounded like my first time out I hit a good golf shot
00:25:06So anything that didn't match that
00:25:09Wasn't exactly a good golf shot and you don't really need to be
00:25:13An expert
00:25:14To know that oh these this isn't the noise that I heard the first time I went out
00:25:19And there's just as many people here and I used to watch all the matches
00:25:24So like I would stay around for the main event and you can hear the noise
00:25:28Like oh, it's not
00:25:29People dressed as empty chairs. They just don't care about me
00:25:33You know, so um being humble enough
00:25:36To understand that like
00:25:38There's not cheering for this. There's not buying it
00:25:41So I tried everything to stay within the lane of my
00:25:45character so to speak
00:25:47But I just needed a reset and stephanie was gracious enough to be like
00:25:51I had to try that the old man's got a plan and he's chilling in the building that I tell you
00:25:56I'm like light beer. I taste great and I'm less feeling
00:26:00And in a very risk-free environment. I started with a small vignette on smackdown
00:26:05And this is what people don't understand. I was moved to a saturday broadcast we have
00:26:10or had it's called velocity which is like a
00:26:14Just a show a content show with very it's not loose. It's not through lines like raw or smackdown. It's just like here's wwe
00:26:22I went out there saying like this is my show i'm running it like I took ownership of the brand like man
00:26:27I'm gonna build this brand through the lyrics I was saying and like
00:26:31instead of
00:26:32Begrudgingly saying like oh i'm on
00:26:35Velocity or i'm on the entry-level show or the weekend show. I was like man, let's go saturday night's my night
00:26:42and
00:26:42That started to spread because I
00:26:45I didn't believe it like if if i'm only staying around and they're only gonna give me saturdays
00:26:50I will take absolutely that this is gonna be a good run
00:26:53It's been more than a good run
00:26:56It's yes
00:26:58Yeah, yeah
00:26:59A quarter century in essence. Yeah
00:27:03How long does it feel like john?
00:27:06There are moments where it
00:27:08Every second feels like a month
00:27:10And there are moments where it
00:27:1325 years feels like a second
00:27:16Yeah
00:27:19The latter what is a moment
00:27:21Where the decades feel like a flash
00:27:26When you ask like hey, it's been a quarter century. How long does it feel like?
00:27:29And now i'm forced to reflect on all of those memories
00:27:34And like there are just gaps that I can't even like I mean, I don't know what happened in 2006
00:27:40You know like uh
00:27:42But if I have some time and if I have a little bit of guidance of like hey in 2006 you had a man. Oh, I remember that
00:27:49That's where like the decades feel like seconds
00:27:52Why do you think john you were able to be that face and endure?
00:27:58The way that you had in in what is a rapidly shrinking attention span where everybody loves the new or everybody hates it?
00:28:06Whatever it might be
00:28:07Why have you endured?
00:28:12I want to try to get your question correct, uh
00:28:16I'm kind of aging out now
00:28:19As our attention span gets smaller, so I uh
00:28:22Uh, do you really believe you're aging out?
00:28:26Listen, I chose to retire. Yeah
00:28:28Like I
00:28:30Made a promise to the wwe that I would not
00:28:34Stick around when my skills can't match the product
00:28:39and
00:28:40They can't like i'm 48. I
00:28:44Don't my 40 yard time has gone like this like
00:28:47I can't match up
00:28:50With the products now and
00:28:52That's okay because what I do isn't who I am and
00:28:58The realization of that has helped me come to like no
00:29:02Let these guys have it now
00:29:04Because they're really good and all I would be doing is a disservice to the consumer if I go any point beyond this if there was a point at which you realized
00:29:14This is it. This is my last year
00:29:16What was it?
00:29:18Um
00:29:20The fact that I thought I was gonna have this year completely off
00:29:24And I was willing like
00:29:27So for the longest i've been kind of um
00:29:30A part-time piece
00:29:33And sometimes I come back just to deliver the opening monologue
00:29:37Like no kidding and it is
00:29:40That is the toughest spot
00:29:43In what we do to come out and for 50
00:29:46Into 20 minutes
00:29:48Tell the audience what they're gonna get
00:29:50And then not deliver any anything else else
00:29:53Like
00:29:54Not have a confrontational war of words not have any physicality just show up
00:30:00With the equity you've built
00:30:02Yeah
00:30:03Hoping they enjoy and have to go through like 16 talking points
00:30:08Somehow weaving in the energy of the crowd not killing the house for the matches about to follow you like
00:30:12It's a very tough spot
00:30:14So I could kind of see the writing on the wall with like
00:30:17Oh, we need you to come back and come back into this thing
00:30:20We want you to open the show
00:30:21Oh, of course
00:30:22Of course you do
00:30:23I will do it
00:30:24But okay
00:30:25You're right
00:30:27You're right
00:30:27And then um
00:30:29The situations where I can come back
00:30:33Is a lot more of a give back too
00:30:36I've been paired with new talent
00:30:38Yeah
00:30:39Since 2013
00:30:40So
00:30:42That's kind of the symbol of like man
00:30:44It you know
00:30:45And just looking at that calendar like me being 48
00:30:49So I thought I would have this year
00:30:52With minimal commitments
00:30:55And I began to throw around
00:30:58I began to say like something's either gonna happen this year
00:31:02Or I'm just gonna have to post on x that I retire
00:31:05And that either one's okay
00:31:09And
00:31:10When I was presented with oh we can do this and we can do this finally I just said
00:31:15It's either this year or we don't do it and I'd like to do it
00:31:19So
00:31:20Then my next hurdle was
00:31:22Selling this idea to the people who would buy it
00:31:25And that's not the ticket buyer that's the wwe
00:31:28So I had to sit down with them and present with them
00:31:30Hey, I know this is kind of catching you off guard
00:31:32But months in advance
00:31:37This is what I was thinking
00:31:39Do you think this is a viable business model?
00:31:41Is it something you'd want to do?
00:31:43And if so, how can I be useful?
00:31:46And they're like, hold
00:31:47Are you kidding me?
00:31:48This is this is great
00:31:50Yeah
00:31:52And
00:31:53We kind of went from there
00:31:55And I I know my lens through what wwe is
00:32:00Is like
00:32:01220 dates a year
00:32:03Five dates a week
00:32:04A different town every night
00:32:06The wwe in my lens
00:32:08I depend on who you ask
00:32:10I'll give you a different answer
00:32:11They have shifted from being a live event driven company
00:32:14To a content company
00:32:15Who does extremely great live events
00:32:18But it's all to produce content
00:32:21In doing that
00:32:21They've realized that they can keep their talent healthier
00:32:24If they work them less
00:32:26And if it ain't on media
00:32:29There's very little yield
00:32:32So let's do stuff like this
00:32:33And we can capture the moments
00:32:35And broadcast it to the world
00:32:37So when I was like
00:32:38Hey, I want the whole year off
00:32:40To do one last finale
00:32:43I want to do 200 dates
00:32:44I think I can manage that
00:32:45That face is what the
00:32:49What I got from when I pitched my idea to wwe
00:32:52I wanted to do 200 dates
00:32:53You wanted to do 200 dates
00:32:56Yeah, just to say goodbye to everybody
00:32:57Like I wanted to try to go everywhere
00:32:59From Perth, Australia
00:33:01To Mid Hudson Civic Center
00:33:03To like you name it
00:33:04I wanted to go everywhere I've been
00:33:06To just say thank you to everybody
00:33:08And the wwe came back
00:33:10It's like no, we only need 36
00:33:12And that's when I was like
00:33:14Oh man, I can kind of
00:33:15I think I can balance this and some other stuff
00:33:18Are you guys okay with me
00:33:20Doing a movie
00:33:21Running in two lanes
00:33:22Yeah
00:33:22I said we sure are
00:33:23We would just like you for
00:33:25This block of time
00:33:27So it worked out great
00:33:29And just
00:33:30It was also a great exercise
00:33:32And just because I think it's good
00:33:35Doesn't mean that's what we're doing
00:33:37I had this whole
00:33:38I mean I came to him with pitch decks and specs
00:33:41And like this is what I think
00:33:42The projected revenues are
00:33:43And like not just
00:33:45Talking wwe story out of my butt
00:33:47Like hey, I think this is a good business plan
00:33:49And they're like that's not our business
00:33:52Okay, I'm just going to torch that plan
00:33:55They said this is our business
00:33:57Would you like to do this?
00:33:58I said yeah, that'd be great
00:34:00Is it okay if I can balance some stuff?
00:34:02I said yeah, sure
00:34:03And what a great exercise
00:34:05And just because you think you have a good idea
00:34:08Doesn't mean it's a good idea
00:34:10It means you think it's a good idea
00:34:11But it got us to here
00:34:13And this is a pretty cool spot to be in
00:34:14What do you think will be the hardest part of stopping?
00:34:19You've said why you're stopping
00:34:20Yeah
00:34:21What do you believe will be the hardest part of stopping?
00:34:26I don't think they'll
00:34:27It presumes there is one
00:34:30I don't know I don't think so
00:34:34I don't think there is one
00:34:35Yeah
00:34:36I think once
00:34:38Like
00:34:42Man like
00:34:45We're all going to go
00:34:47You know
00:34:48And I think
00:34:50I address that all the time
00:34:52And I think once you address that
00:34:54Once you realize that you're mortal
00:34:57And you don't put yourself on some fictitious timeline
00:34:59That I'm going to try to do my best to live
00:35:02Not to go tomorrow
00:35:04But we're all going to go
00:35:05And I don't get to choose what time I go
00:35:08But the difference John
00:35:10Is
00:35:11Great artists
00:35:14And athletes
00:35:15And performers
00:35:17This is not my original thought
00:35:18Okay
00:35:19They die twice
00:35:22Okay
00:35:24They die
00:35:25When a career ends
00:35:28And then they die
00:35:29With the rest of us
00:35:31Okay
00:35:31So let's volley that around for a second
00:35:33What's your reaction to that thought?
00:35:34I think that's
00:35:36I think something like that might indeed happen
00:35:40If the creative
00:35:42Or the performer
00:35:43Or the athlete
00:35:45Thinks
00:35:46That is all that they are
00:35:48So if that is my
00:35:49If that is me in totality
00:35:51And I'm not allowed to be me anymore
00:35:54Yeah, sure
00:35:54That's your mortality
00:35:55I have to shed this skin
00:35:56And be someone else
00:35:57I love this
00:35:59I'm as passionate about this as anybody
00:36:02But this isn't me
00:36:03This isn't all of me
00:36:05I have tons of curiosity in my life
00:36:07Like without this
00:36:08Without economic satisfaction
00:36:11I'm not going to go
00:36:12If the phone doesn't ring tomorrow
00:36:14I still have so much curiosity in my life
00:36:16And I have so much joy
00:36:17And so much love
00:36:18And so many things to be grateful for
00:36:20So I'll just start doing that
00:36:21Like that will be me
00:36:23Never
00:36:24Is a big ass word, John
00:36:27It sure is
00:36:28It's a big word
00:36:29It is
00:36:30So sitting here right now
00:36:33The year ends
00:36:35Never
00:36:37Come back
00:36:37Never be a part of it
00:36:40Never be in the ring
00:36:41So the last part
00:36:44Is the true part
00:36:45I will be an ambassador to the WWE
00:36:48I'm already signed on for another five years
00:36:51Of which I was like
00:36:53Please as long as you can do it
00:36:55I would like to be in this family
00:36:56As an employee
00:36:58As a contributing part
00:36:59For as long as I can
00:37:00But the ring
00:37:02Physical activity
00:37:04100%
00:37:04And I very rarely speak in absolutes
00:37:07Because you never know
00:37:09I do know in this case
00:37:12This is why I can speak in absolutes
00:37:14Because I don't want to let the people
00:37:16That I made a promise to down
00:37:18And I think by setting the standard
00:37:21That this can be something successful
00:37:25It also can help superstars face their mortality
00:37:27To not have to die twice
00:37:30Like hey if you have some time to think about it
00:37:33You have to plan this long lead
00:37:35So I'm planning this nine months before
00:37:38The first show in Intuit Dome
00:37:41Which means I have nine months to think about all this
00:37:43And everybody's asking like
00:37:44Ah what's it feel like
00:37:45Like I'm good
00:37:45I'm good
00:37:46Because I've had nine months to plan the idea to pitch it
00:37:50I have nine months to think about it
00:37:54You don't have to die twice
00:37:57And since I got here
00:37:59Since I started performing at a high level
00:38:01I promised everybody that like
00:38:04Man when I miss a step I'm gone
00:38:07So if I break that promise
00:38:12You can like me or hate me as a performer
00:38:16But that I would do that more for me
00:38:18Than anybody else
00:38:21Never again
00:38:21And another thing is
00:38:25There are people spending hard-earned money on these events
00:38:29And I do not fault multiple farewell tours of musicians
00:38:35I do not fault that
00:38:36That's their choice
00:38:38I'm not gonna head fake somebody like that
00:38:44And and that's that's just my lane that I walk in
00:38:46Neither one of them is wrong
00:38:47That's my recipe for chicken soup
00:38:49I'm okay with it
00:38:50But I want somebody to be like
00:38:52Man this was the last time he was in London
00:38:54And that's it
00:38:56And I I I like that
00:39:01The heel turn
00:39:02Okay
00:39:05When did it first begin to take shame?
00:39:11Okay so what I'm hearing with this question is
00:39:13Hey you're in the middle of a really suspenseful tv show right now
00:39:16Can I have some spoilers?
00:39:19You won't get them from me man
00:39:21Will I this is what I promise you
00:39:23And I try to be a man of my word so we can shake on it
00:39:26I would love to sit down with you
00:39:28Again when all this is over
00:39:30Because we have talked for a majority of the time
00:39:33About cool philosophical stuff
00:39:34Which I I could talk for hours about
00:39:37And I will answer that question
00:39:39But not in the middle of the season
00:39:41How's that?
00:39:43More than fair
00:39:44More than fair
00:39:46We love dynasties
00:39:49We also love rivalry
00:39:51Oh go ahead
00:39:52I don't know man
00:39:53I'll I'll let you finish the thought
00:39:55No no please
00:39:56Do we?
00:39:58I think
00:39:58What's your thought on dynasties?
00:40:01So I think if it's your team
00:40:05Or if it's your person
00:40:08There's not a better time
00:40:09But that is a small segment of the greater audience
00:40:14In the national football league there's a lot of teams
00:40:18But there's one team that wins all the time
00:40:22And everybody else is pissed off
00:40:23What value does dynasties bring to an overall franchise or endeavor?
00:40:28A league?
00:40:32That's hard to say
00:40:33Okay
00:40:33It's hard to say if it's good or it's bad
00:40:36And I think that's just long-term data
00:40:40Okay
00:40:40I'd also
00:40:41It's hard to say
00:40:42Okay
00:40:42I'd also suggest
00:40:44Rivalry is a very powerful engine
00:40:47In anything we see where performers or athletes compete
00:40:51Right
00:40:52Whether it's drake and and lamar or whether it's you know the dodgers and the yankees
00:40:57Sure
00:40:58Surprised you didn't say red sauce and yankees
00:41:00I'm so old
00:41:01Who would you define as your rival?
00:41:07I want to word this in the right way
00:41:12The entity
00:41:13Because therein lies the challenge
00:41:21You use your performers and the matchups to create something interesting
00:41:27That's where I think wwe has an advantage over pure sport
00:41:33Because one team plays well against one team doesn't make one team hate one team
00:41:37There's a lot more into the boston new york rivalry than just teams winning and losing
00:41:46You begin to hate the culture of new york or the culture of boston how they drive how how they talk
00:41:52They eat their hot dogs like this we eat our hot dogs like that like it becomes much more
00:41:59We just continue to try and try again to
00:42:04Get our audience
00:42:05Invested
00:42:08In
00:42:10I'm going to compete against you
00:42:12We know that
00:42:13Here's why I don't like you
00:42:16And and here's why I need to do this
00:42:19And uh, we pull a lot from sport, but we also pull a lot from drama and we have all those tools
00:42:28So my biggest my biggest rivalry uh in in
00:42:32In kind of paraphrasing and using the word challenge is the entity that the the arena the
00:42:40They're they're the biggest superstar we have
00:42:42This is not a even though i'm going to ask you mention this name next it's not presumptive in any way
00:42:48How would you describe your relationship with the rock?
00:42:54That that is timeline dependent?
00:42:57That's a great way for me to describe it
00:43:00uh, but honestly, so
00:43:02I'll dive into that too
00:43:04The fact that it's been such a long timeline
00:43:08So, uh, the first moment I saw the rock was when I was working the front desk at gold's gym in venice in
00:43:162000
00:43:18Because the wrestlers used to come in and work out at gold's venice
00:43:21So I just asked him for a picture
00:43:25And somewhere I have a picture of me with a blonde flat top
00:43:29And me and the rock arm in arm like me and my nutrition club stores polo
00:43:34Like hey and rocky and his sunglasses like hey
00:43:37That's my the start of my timeline with the rock
00:43:41And it goes up until now
00:43:43So when I say it's timeline dependent
00:43:46I think that's great
00:43:49Yes, we have had rough roads and man. We have had some beautiful scenics
00:43:54I'm grateful for the fact that we've been connected for 25 years
00:43:58Because that means there's there's a valuable connection there if it was just a
00:44:03picture and move on
00:44:05Manny gave me a great moment. I'm sure it wouldn't be one that he'd remember
00:44:09But it's so much more than that
00:44:11and regardless of
00:44:13My perspective or his perspective of our relationship
00:44:16We each have one and it spans a long period of time and I think that that's important in describing that connection
00:44:21What's one thing you learned from him and perhaps he learned from you?
00:44:28So
00:44:31I will answer them both
00:44:33In me describing how I made someone better
00:44:36That's up to them
00:44:38Understood
00:44:39What I learned
00:44:40That's a great one. I can't tell you what he learned
00:44:44Because that's up to him
00:44:46I learned excellence
00:44:49Absolute
00:44:51Excellence
00:44:52I learned what a good golf shot feels like when you go out and make 60 of them and hand in your scorecard
00:44:58That's what I learned
00:45:00I learned the noise every time
00:45:03Three to go
00:45:06It is thunderous
00:45:08Inside sunlight
00:45:09Even when in your heart of hearts maybe he thought he could have given more
00:45:16The noise
00:45:17The noise is still there
00:45:23There's not a moment
00:45:25We shared
00:45:27Without the noise
00:45:28And that's very rare when you get paired with somebody that you always have that
00:45:34There's usually always some dead air
00:45:37Not with him
00:45:37If you weren't doing this
00:45:40John
00:45:42What do you think you'd be doing?
00:45:44Probably be in a
00:45:46Installation in Germany in a uniform
00:45:49Right now
00:45:50Either
00:45:51Doing push-ups under somebody's command or having a nice office
00:45:56One of those things
00:45:57I honestly think that
00:45:59I was built pretty good for military life
00:46:01I
00:46:01I
00:46:03And
00:46:03The good thing is
00:46:04I got to discover that on my own terms
00:46:07Of like hey these are my strengths
00:46:08And I still do
00:46:10Love uniformity
00:46:11I love schedule
00:46:12I love early rise and get after it
00:46:15I love to still work out
00:46:18I still
00:46:19Model a lot of my values
00:46:22From what they preach
00:46:26I think I would have done okay over there
00:46:28Okay enough
00:46:29So them not to send me packing
00:46:31And that's that's an institution where you can do a few and get out
00:46:34Or if you're really passionate about it
00:46:37They'll have you as long as as you'll be in there
00:46:39So I think I would have
00:46:41I think I would have done that
00:46:43I love asking this question to again accomplish people
00:46:46And I've had the chance to ask it to everybody from
00:46:49Serena to Tiger to Sabin to
00:46:51I've been fortunate to do that
00:46:53I know and I'll come down and pick them back up
00:46:55Encina will be one of the name drops that I now include
00:46:58Um, what's a piece of criticism
00:47:02That stayed with you
00:47:06Huh
00:47:07That's a really good question
00:47:09Uh
00:47:15So to be nonspecific and more general because I just went through the rolodex of everything
00:47:19Um, hold on
00:47:21I just went through the rolodex of everything. What does that mean?
00:47:26So to try to I always search for takeaways, right?
00:47:30Uh, because a lot of people don't know how to articulate what they're really trying to say
00:47:33Um, a lot of times you get feedback in this industry
00:47:39We have we have what we call rules
00:47:42And those rules exist
00:47:44Simply so you can just be your best
00:47:47But a lot of them are taken as bureaucratic rules
00:47:52And I'm the only one to be like i'm not doing that
00:47:55Because I know why it's in place
00:47:57This is why it's in place
00:47:59You want me to be my best out there?
00:48:02That doesn't make sense to me right now. You're just reading off of a statement
00:48:06I'm going out there to do something else
00:48:09So in trying to
00:48:11Sift through all the collective feedback that i've been given over the years a piece of criticism a piece of criticism or a lasting through line
00:48:22Is that the best you can do?
00:48:25I think it sums up
00:48:26I think it sums up every piece of criticism every through line from
00:48:33Criticism I have on screen to playing football to getting chastised by that academic
00:48:41Counselor who brought me to their office
00:48:43Like is that the best you can do?
00:48:46And when the answer was yes, it wasn't criticism. It was acceptance
00:48:52But it's almost like I could answer my own question
00:48:56And it was asked to either say there have been some great moments
00:49:01When is that the best you can do?
00:49:03Yes, then then let it go
00:49:06Lighten your backpack
00:49:07You don't have to carry it with you because all I can ask for is all you got
00:49:12But there's also been some some defining moments where that's been asked where it's like nah
00:49:18I got more in the tank and I can I gotta be better
00:49:22One that you would share beyond the high school story
00:49:25Yeah, man, uh, the audience
00:49:32Their feedback and the cool thing is you don't have to go fishing around to get somebody to to pull this out of you
00:49:39The you can't wrestle chance
00:49:42Because I would do the same five moves every night
00:49:46and win all the time
00:49:48And what I hear from the audience is i'm seeing other performers do these fantastic things
00:49:53And then at the end of the night, I see you do five moves and win
00:49:58Because i'm in the through line of the story setting up a dynasty
00:50:03And if it ain't your guy
00:50:06Dynasties are tough
00:50:08So I've learned that
00:50:10And that was the biggest criticism from the audience
00:50:14Of if you're my guy like no dude this guy gets his ass kicked he never stops like he gets thrashed out there
00:50:21And somehow manages to find another way
00:50:26Yeah, but I see this performer and this performer and this performer and their moves are better and they look better and so
00:50:33in hearing that a lot
00:50:36I just began to do more stuff and it looked janky and unorthodox as we would say
00:50:43But I listened and I went back to the wrestling school halfway through my career
00:50:48You know went to newer performers. It's like what?
00:50:51What do you think i'll be good at?
00:50:53Can you can you teach me some stuff?
00:50:56And newer performers like sammy zane like kevin owens like aj styles when he first came
00:51:02Um when you were at the top you did this cm punk like of course
00:51:08Teach me some stuff. What can I do better? How can I make you look great? That's always my lead
00:51:15uh
00:51:16And and what can you teach me?
00:51:19So and that's from the audience
00:51:21chanting at the top of their lungs you can't wrestle
00:51:24and
00:51:25I know it was just a what like our audience will continue to lean in and until they get you
00:51:32And uh, it didn't get me
00:51:34Like I didn't come back man. Who do they know I can wrestle? No, I i'll try to be better and i'll try to be better and not
00:51:41Make it be a hard reset. I'll try to be better and be my authentic self
00:51:45So a vehicle to do that
00:51:48Was like the united states open challenge
00:51:51When I won the u.s title
00:51:54Right after I think two years after main eventing with the rock in metlife
00:51:59And then two years later. I have the united states championship and a lot of
00:52:04This is another through line in my career
00:52:06Nothing is a demotion. It is simply an opportunity
00:52:10and
00:52:12I don't know how many performers after
00:52:15Being at such a standard
00:52:17Would look at i'm not i'm not doing the u.s title. It's beneath me
00:52:21I was like, let me have that I can I can do something with this
00:52:24And then when I get it i'm like, well, what are your plans? Nothing. That's great
00:52:29Because now I can make something with it and I used it as a way to try to get high profile matches on tv
00:52:36Yeah
00:52:37Longer matches on tv because at that time we were looking for action and less talk
00:52:41And profile new superstars
00:52:43So every time I came out who's it gonna be so I got all this new talent
00:52:48Talent that could teach me so i'm learning
00:52:51We're giving these guys a chance
00:52:54And they get a chance to hear the noise to hit that one good golf shot see what it feels like
00:52:58So now they know when they go forward if they missed or if they hit
00:53:01And i'm continuing my education as a a seasoned performer
00:53:05But that was just one of the instances where I could go to people and and learn
00:53:09Your actions speak louder than your words. Um, you've granted more wishes than anyone in history
00:53:16In make a wish
00:53:18What have those experiences taught you?
00:53:22About the human spirit and about mortality
00:53:28well, uh
00:53:33I I can't
00:53:36Um, I can't conceptualize
00:53:42Someone learning the concept of what make-a-wish is
00:53:46And not
00:53:47Doing the things that i've had the opportunity to do
00:53:51That's why I don't
00:53:54Look at that
00:53:55As any sort of accolade or achievement. I think if you were in the same spot, you do the same thing
00:53:59I think anybody here if they learned
00:54:02What make-a-wish is of like there's someone
00:54:05Fighting some circumstances
00:54:07And the one thing they'd like to do is hang out with you. Do you have time for that?
00:54:12Uh, there comes a tipping point obviously
00:54:16But man if we can do that 100 we're gonna do that so
00:54:21I guess that's why I
00:54:25Don't like
00:54:27Uh dwelling in the pool of that as an accolade because i'd like to think it's common practice
00:54:33That's just my lens. That's not everybody's truth and people may have a different opinion. We all have our our things
00:54:40Uh
00:54:42It's shown me the
00:54:44Power of joy
00:54:46Escape the
00:54:48Energy of a much-needed day off where you can just kind of lighten your backpack and forget about what's going on
00:54:53Yeah
00:54:54Um
00:54:55The human spirit is only extinguished when
00:54:58It's gone
00:55:00Like even through the toughest of challenges it still lives and it's beautiful
00:55:05Um, that's another thing like
00:55:09It's
00:55:10Those moments even as subdued and sometimes um melancholy as they are they're still so beautiful
00:55:17Um
00:55:20It's it's just a reinforcement that we're we we all have the same end
00:55:24You know, we're all just renters. Um, and
00:55:30I think it also puts forth the reinforcement that I
00:55:34I now today and this this tipping point hit years ago
00:55:39I should wake up grateful every day that I do wake up
00:55:43Because I have at least had the opportunity to be in the statistical category of what you would call a full life
00:55:49And what has taught me about mortality are is loss is always tough
00:55:54For everybody
00:55:55But man that the
00:55:57The steepest hill there is when when we feel someone's taken from us too soon
00:56:03And uh
00:56:04To to be involved with a charity that allows
00:56:08Uh people who who fight every day until there are no more days
00:56:13To have a chance to have some fun
00:56:16Those are usually always folks that are taken from us too soon
00:56:19So, uh, it's taught me to
00:56:21Understand that I've lived a full life
00:56:25And like I said, I'm gonna do my best to live knowing I'm not going tomorrow
00:56:29But it's it's beyond my choice and if I do I'll I'll go peacefully
00:56:34I have something in my phone john called advice for living and I can tell you right now
00:56:40That answer
00:56:41Will be taken off the transcript and clipped and put in that and put in my phone because that answer
00:56:48Is amazing and something I need to
00:56:51Have in my life and not just in this moment
00:56:54But forward that was an amazing answer right on
00:56:58wwe champion
00:57:00platinum selling hip-hop artist
00:57:03That album is 20 years old this year
00:57:07Only only platinum artists never have a follow-up
00:57:11Is that right?
00:57:12Yeah
00:57:13Where's the follow-up?
00:57:14It is a young man's game and i'm not in it anymore
00:57:17No, uh, also a great exercise of what I do isn't just me
00:57:24And honestly at the time
00:57:27gosh, not only was like I
00:57:30My affinity for hip-hop came to me through teenage rebellion
00:57:35It was rap music back then and there was commercial rap and in like
00:57:40The late 80s. It started to be a voice
00:57:43of rebellion and
00:57:45Dude for a teenager or like a young adolescent to hear that
00:57:49It's not
00:57:50Regardless of what they were saying and there's no way I could go through
00:57:56The struggles of systematic racism in compton
00:58:00But when someone says the police
00:58:04My parents are the police them like it was exactly what I needed as a teenager. I loved the
00:58:11Rebellious nature of hip-hop and that's how I became an unlikely source connected to that
00:58:17I loved the bravado and the strength and the truth and the message and like
00:58:22Man, they weren't holding back with anything. They were saying
00:58:27The list as we say it and as you add on to
00:58:31wwe champion platinum so i try to duck you away from no, no, no
00:58:35hip-hop artist the best-selling author the
00:58:40really beautiful example of philanthropy and outreach
00:58:44And the movie and tv star
00:58:50What is next?
00:58:53Uh, that's probably a question you ask everybody and I don't know
00:58:57I don't know. I didn't that's um
00:59:00That's part of that curiosity
00:59:02I I couldn't there's not one of those things
00:59:06That I would have targeted as like i'm gonna craft my life to do this
00:59:09All of those things every single one is an accident
00:59:15Every single one was not
00:59:18Something that I was like, this is the path i'm taking with my life
00:59:22every single one of those things you just named from
00:59:26Success in sports entertainment to catching lightning in a bottle through music to
00:59:31Opportunity to be philanthropic to a second mountain that also involves a career
00:59:36Those all just came by
00:59:41Opportunity knocking at the door me cracking me like oh, yeah, come on in. Yeah, right on and all of them
00:59:48came through
00:59:50A lot of trying and failing
00:59:54You know, um
00:59:56Man, there's a ton of lanes of philanthropy
00:59:58And I've tried a bunch and the one I feel most at home with is the one that has most of my time effort and resource
01:00:06Sports entertainment was an accident
01:00:08I'm gonna go one way in my life and opportunities like just check this out first
01:00:12The rapping thing was an accident
01:00:15And the double accident is I listened to the music they played for me
01:00:19And i'm like man, I could do better than this wait, I could do better than this
01:00:23And this wasn't now where we have the technology of like you can mix on your iphone
01:00:28I had to go to a studio said i'm like, I think my cousin knows a guy
01:00:32Might be able to know a guy and then we recorded basic economics for like 10 grand
01:00:46I handed it to wwe like can you just play this and they're like this is you are yeah sure no problem
01:00:51And then I was like man the the accident the people dig it
01:00:55We gotta have a follow-up
01:00:57Do you want us to my cousin you want to start making music?
01:00:59Yeah, cool. All right, what's it gonna take? I don't know. We'll figure it out
01:01:03Fail fail fail just like
01:01:0670 lost tracks of the album that never made it out
01:01:0970 lost tracks
01:01:12Begs a follow-up. It does not
01:01:14I was able to
01:01:17Uh shave off the ones that shouldn't make it and give you the ones that should and i'm lucky to get that
01:01:23Um movies I got run out of the movie business in 2009
01:01:28For making bad straight to dvd movies
01:01:30Like I got run out of town like y'all never work in this town again kid and then started taking um
01:01:37Read the news on the today show so I was at the espies
01:01:41Um, did nickelodeon kids choice started just
01:01:44Okay, what do I like? I like live audience. I like to be in a room with people. I like conversation
01:01:49Um, I like, uh, you know hosting is something that's kind of like wwe. I kind of do the opening monologue anyway
01:01:55All right, let's go for that
01:01:56And then inch by inch like hey, man, I I saw you on the kids choice awards
01:02:00You want to be in this movie?
01:02:01I'm doing about a youtube character named fred you're gonna be parodying yourself
01:02:06Time under tension enough to take myself as a joke not take myself too serious
01:02:10So yeah, i'll live in a refrigerator and be fred's invisible dad. No problem
01:02:15And then hey, I saw you hosting the espies. Would you like to audition for this comedy that i'm doing?
01:02:19Sure, mr
01:02:20Apatow i'd like to come in and read for train wreck with amy schumer. That'd be pretty good
01:02:25And then when i'm on the set of train wreck, they're filming sisters in long island
01:02:28Which is right up the street and uh, tina faye calls judd and judd's like hey, man
01:02:32If you need this you see you need this drug dealer hire this kid we got
01:02:36It's all just accidents like I didn't plan any of it which is also cool
01:02:43Because it helps me
01:02:45Minimize the moments where the answer to the question is no of is that the best you got
01:02:52This is the best I got
01:02:54Like this hour i'm giving you. I don't know what else I could could give you and when we break
01:03:00I'm going to an autograph signing and that's the best I got and when we break
01:03:05I get a chance to to meet some some folks that i'm looking forward to meeting and when we break
01:03:10Time to do tv and no one gets slighted it is like what is the next hill in front of me
01:03:16I
01:03:17Prep the hell out of it i've been prepping for this for a long time so much so that i'm like you sure this is the right time to do this
01:03:23It is all right. How can I make it great?
01:03:25All I gotta do is duck the questions. He's gonna ask me about wrestling
01:03:29No problem. We can work with that
01:03:31So
01:03:32It's just
01:03:34Understand the opportunities put in front of you and
01:03:37If you really have your heart set on something and it doesn't work out
01:03:41I always believe good work finds a way
01:03:43Like if you're willing to do good work, there is a marketplace out there for you. Someone will take you it may not be in what you want
01:03:49or
01:03:51What you thought
01:03:53Only so many people are gonna get that bad at the majors, but baseball needs a lot of people
01:03:59So if you really love baseball good work finds a way
01:04:03And people want people on their team who are passionate about the team
01:04:07You know
01:04:08Which is okay. Well, it's
01:04:10Not my time to perform anymore
01:04:12But I got a bunch of talent strengths and gifts that I can pass on so i'm looking forward to the second mountain of being an ambassador
01:04:19Because maybe ambassadorship comes with letting more people know to watch this which was my goal in the first place
01:04:25and
01:04:26Maybe mentorship to talent that I wouldn't have time to spend time with where I can sit and be like
01:04:32Okay, who are you really? How do I get the rapping moment on the bus?
01:04:36Because I want that guy on tv or I want that girl on tv. How do I?
01:04:40I'm looking forward to that stuff, you know
01:04:43You might call it an accident john, but it is if it's not
01:04:47To me, it's serendipity. We'll call it serendipity. I have been saturated with it
01:04:54I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this you're absolutely I look forward to doing it again phenomenal where we can talk about
01:05:00Good guys and bad guys and pro wrestling stuff and yeah, I'll give you all the juicy deets
01:05:06But you got enough clickbait here to be fine. You'll be all right
01:05:08I think we have a lot more than that. I I I just
01:05:14You have so much going on and your ability
01:05:18And capacity to be open and reflective and earnest and engage with this guy from jersey with a bad haircut
01:05:26Who you've never met before i'm grateful
01:05:28Yeah, no, I really really am john. I appreciate the self-deprecation. That's an ace I lead with a lot
01:05:34I also appreciate the gratitude because that's one of my values. Yeah, awesome. Thanks, man. Okay, fantastic, man
01:05:40I'm just a little quick photo which we can sure yeah, right?
01:05:45I'm gonna get the label light real quick. Thank you
01:05:49Gotcha, perfect. Thank you. I will see you. I appreciate you so much john and uh, thanks for all you do for us
01:05:55you're uh
01:05:56you seriously and uh
01:05:58Clip it if you want but film it just so you know so it's on record
01:06:02uh you
01:06:03Dedicating your life to being uh fluid in your profession and then coming over and sprinkling your dust on the wrestling bullets
01:06:11It helps us make it helps make us more legitimate
01:06:14so your
01:06:15Your passion for what you do combined with your passion for this is super cool because you help us
01:06:21So if I can pay back a little bit of reciprocity by helping you that's great
01:06:26This was awesome. I look forward to doing it again. I just wanted to thank you for what you do. Thank you john. That's so helpful. Appreciate you. Thank you
01:06:33Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks
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