WWE SummerSlam Preview LIVE from Minneapolis

0:03Peter Rosenberg! Shout out to that guy.

0:09The major stick. Oh my goodness. It's professional wrestling. The major kick. 24 seconds. Stick your chair. 100%. Confirm. Not major. Stay mage and enjoy yourself.

0:27it's cheap heat with peter rosenberg featuring stat guy greg and dip ladies and gentlemen we are live the takeover at the minnesota convention center welcome to cheap heat live my name is peter rosenberg happy to be here in front of my favorite people fans of this thing that we call professional wrestling and i don't know if you guys are aware we have a weekend chock full of professional wrestling i'm so excited to be here on wwe radio for the first time ever the squad is here zach is here don't worry uh kelly is here emilio sparks is not here it's just the way it always is okay but everyone is where they need to be.

1:16I've even heard rumors that Dipperstein is out and about. I imagine he's going to be over there. Is that the Amo setup? That's the Amo situation, I think, for Seth and Becky's coffee. So I imagine Dip will be over there. Oh, Chuck is here. Are you kidding me? It's a who's who. I just want to get some delicious, cold, refreshing Amo coffee. So I can, you having some right now? Is it delightful? You want to give me your Amo? Why? Don't you want your delicious amo you have another amo thank you my god key lime pie oat latte this is seth's favorite flavor what's your name sir augie augie augie augie oink oink oink thank you dude this is amazing all right i'm gonna try the key lime pie amo now oh that's delightful that's delightful i can taste the oat milk i'm getting hints of of key lime This is fantastic.

2:16Now, Augie, seriously, thank you. I needed that. Welcome to the show, everyone. We have some guests joining us immediately, some virtually, some sitting right here. We're going to take you up until three o 'clock. That's four o 'clock Eastern time, back where we normally do the show in New York City. Very excited to break down the card into a fine powder. My brother texting me concerned that I'm taking drinks from strangers. First of all, two things. Two things. Three things. One, mind your business. Two, Augie's not a stranger. I've known him for the last 45 seconds. And three, it's a canned Ammo coffee.

2:58Even if Augie deeply wanted to harm me, I don't think he has the technology to do so through this Ammo coffee. But he doesn't seem like that kind of guy. And by the way, he's wearing a Becky Lynch the Man shirt. This is my kind of guy. No, me and Becky, we patch things up. we're good now i think i think becky and i are a-okay we're gonna find out though um let me get you guys set up for the weekend here for everybody listening the car i'm super stoked about this um we have so much stuff going on um today first of all we have a busted open after dark tonight after smackdown 10 p.m eastern time with justin lavar that's going down tomorrow morning you got a busted open uh back from the shop that's not here live but that's robin lumberg and raj they're going to be here not literally physically here but on the air now physically here from the convention center is busted open live at noon eastern tomorrow followed by not sam again live from here then we have the great dave lagreca doing a kickoff show live five to six eastern time from the stadium followed by and this is what i'm super psyched about play by play of the actual summer slam event right here on ww radio channel 156 my guys vick joseph and booker t on the call and then after that as if that's not enough you want to talk about it well guess what my boy robin lundberg hosting busted open after dark after night one and then we run back a whole different variation of that on sunday with uh jonathan and justin getting you started in the morning taking you all the way up through a busted open after dark right after the main event ends and again you get to hear seth rollins versus roman reigns here on the radio and for me as a wrestling nerd and a wrestling uh and a radio nerd and a wrestling nerd that is incredibly excited uh and then again monday still here in person going to be really really cool all weekend long all right so before we get to joe hendry here in a little bit who has found himself in the midst of many things we're going to talk to joe um we were talking about tomorrow um obviously i spent some time already on on how excited i am for gunther and nick aldis I think that's going to be just tremendous and I don't know what I like more if Nick Aldis legitimately could not contain himself and started crying when talking about the match or if he was working all of us because he's just that good I don't even know which I prefer either one is amazing but like I was already stoked and now we're even more excited and I wonder if we'll get anything good from nick tonight on smackdown from green bay um of course we have nikki bella back bella twins back together uh with page against fatal influence who have had a great emergence over the last several months and that's going to be a really fun matchup as well and then the and then you have the la night solo sokoa royce keys this sort of random group that's come together to take on the bloodline jacob jay and jimmy but man they have been making it fun solo sokoa is on fire again you know i remember when solo first developed his personality people were like solos had so many different iterations there was the first appearance of like the stone-faced killer solo sokoa who we all loved and it went crazy then solo developed the funny solo sekoa and that was great then i think we all would you know i think we'd be remiss if we didn't admit that there was a period here like up until several months ago you know where with the mfts where it was a little unclear where solo's character was and now we are just in the full comedy era of solo sekoa and it's fantastic um it's so funny that this guy has had just i did solo's first interview on cheap heat the first media he did was on cheap heat when he came up uh and joined roman and was doing the whole bloodline thing if you guys go on youtube later if you just take a moment and you look it up yo he's barely audible like he he was sitting like at a kitchen counter kind of hunched over like this and he's just so shy and like had clearly just not done a ton of talking yet.

7:41To see where that guy has gone to now that he is like outright hilarious to me is just an incredible thing to see. Also, guys, I got to tell you, I don't know how many of you are excited about it or super familiar, but I'm excited to see Royce Keys in a big spot. Like, this is a guy who debuts, I don't know if you guys remember, at the Royal Rumble. He jumped up, the Titan Tron said one name, then it went away, and then he kind of shows up, he isn't around immediately, and now he's been building up. And this past Monday, we really saw some of the power that he has. He's also a great character, a great dude, a grinder who has wanted to be in this spot for a long time, and I'm really, really excited.

8:27He was supposed to be here on the show today. It turns out he got called to SmackDown at the last minute, so we weren't able to have him here. But Royce is the man, so I'm excited for that. And then, you know, we'll handle Sunday after we talk to Joe Hendry. So we have to wrap up Saturday with CM Punk and Cody Rhodes. You know, this is a match that five years ago, if you were to say, imagine getting CM Punk and Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam in a world title match, it was impossible to imagine for a variety of reasons. And to me, the real, the beauty of Punk and Cody is, is that in some ways, not only are they competing against each other, but feel me on this.

9:20Aren't they both also competing against Seth and Roman the next night too? I'm sorry. I love these guys. You know, I'm a shill. I love everybody. I'm a fan, but there ain't one of those four guys, Cody, Punk, Seth, or Roman that doesn't think that they are the guy. So Punk and Cody, they will go on last, I'm sure, in that championship match tomorrow night. And they will put on a hell of a show. And they will also both be thinking, we should be on the last match on Sunday night. Because that's how competitive all of these people are. I saw a lot of talk this week about CM Punk and Cody Rhodes and their friendship.

10:07and I'm sure they have a lovely friendship. Well, guess what? I think their love of that friendship pales to how much they love being the top dog and being champion. The question I have is, is this, and I was having this conversation with my buddy Jonathan Zaslow earlier on his show. He does a great wrestling program. Is this just a beginning for CM Punk and Cody Rhodes? Is this sort of the beginning of whatever the story is going to be for these two? now this this week i gotta tell you guys i had not thought about this at all i i guess i had not been paying attention to like the rumor mill that much apparently there's a decent amount of online speculation and people suggesting that someone we haven't seen since wrestlemania could show up tomorrow the great randino randy orton um it is honestly not something that had crossed my mind which I know is crazy because like he just disappeared the man just punted Cody Rhodes and then disappeared into the night without any real explanation so there have been people speculating that we see Randy come back at some point this weekend again I have no idea someone said what about Drew McIntyre kevin owens i feel like that one's less likely i i really i i don't i just don't know that i ever expect i don't know if we'll ever see kevin wrestle again and again as as i speculated earlier guys again no nothing but i my i do not i listen i i hope i hope that would be so cool to get kevin owens again i can't imagine that would be an awesomely shocking moment drew mcintyre another person we have not um seen in a minute and and as as i just mentioned randy all of these people could factor in and by the way drew is someone who would always have an axe to grind in the in a cody roads match i mean it feels like drew has an axe to grind with everybody yeah oh andy hates cm punk i mean arguably i i i would argue i don't know how you guys feel i believe i believe drew McIntyre CM Punk was the highlight so far of Drew McIntyre's career I believe that was the best Drew McIntyre we've ever seen I believe that Hell in a Cell match is one of the great Hell in a Cell matches of modern lore I love Drew and Punk together so yeah I mean the reason here here's why I think you see speculation about what could happen in a punk Cody match because so far their story doesn't have they haven't had a lot of things happen they keep alluding to the friendship we know they have this friendship but the story points haven't all happened yet right I mean unless we're going back years and years so like I feel like that's the reason because people can't quite put their finger on what the beef actually is.

13:15So everyone goes, what else is there? And I try to never live in a what else is there scenario because here's the thing I don't like. I think we live in an era where when you're at a big event, a WrestleMania, a SummerSlam, and you're in the main event, and you tell me if you guys had this feeling recently and you see that ref count one two three when you hit three and nothing like crazy or outside interference has happened i kind of feel like everyone's like oh it was just a regular old wrestling match someone just pinned someone the way they're supposed to win wrestling matches so i try not to live in a world of of what ifs who could show up.

14:07And what I love about this card up and down is, is, you know, Liv and EO be a great match. Oba and Brock, forget about it. Punk and Cody, you know, are going to be a banger. The six-man tag is a lot of fun. Gunther and Nick, to me, is the match I'm most excited about for the whole weekend. Call me crazy, that's how I feel. And then I think the women's six-man tag is going to surprise people, too. I'm really excited for this spot for Fatal Influence and to see Nikki back. and that's before you even get to Sunday where I guarantee you Penta and Chad Gable are thinking we're going to have the best match all weekend and not to the end, Gable's going to have a lot of fan support here, right?

14:46I think a lot of people a lot of people if you know, you know that match is going to be a banger Dan Housen Dominic Mysterio, going to be a lot of fun Dan Housen, who I now refer to as one of the great stars in the history of ESPN because I could listen I said Oba Femi is the star of the ESPN era let's just be honest Dan Housen is the star of the ESPN era okay I'm sorry the man has forgot with all respect to Oba Dan Housen is when you look at the Mount Rushmore of ESPN in history alright it's like Chris Berman the late great Stuart Scott Scott Van Pelt Dan Housen that is that is the Mount Rushmore of ESPN at this point.

15:32But no, in all seriousness, that's going to be a lot of fun. Whatever they decide to do with Dan Housen and Dominic Mysterio, you're going to have a great time. Trick and Baron Corbin will be a good match. Another couple of guys who will think, who go into their match thinking, why am I not in the main event? And I don't just mean that in storyline. I mean, in real life, they think that. Sami Zayn and Finn Balor will put on a banger for that exact reason. that's a number one contenders match, but those are two guys who absolutely believe they should be in a bigger match, and they are going to show out, I'm sure.

16:08And then, yo, the ladder match? The women's ladder match, if you have Chelsea Green in a ladder match, something insane is going to happen. Tiffany Stratton in a ladder, you know she's going to do something crazy. And I'll just put it out here right now. I have no idea whether this could be a realistic thing to hope for or not. Can you imagine the reaction if Chelsea Green grabbed the interim women's championship? No, I'm not trying to be overdramatic, but that would be a forever moment because Chelsea over the last couple of years has become that person who all of us as fans have fallen in love with.

16:58If you watch Unreal, you love her more and more. So maybe Chelsea Green will have her moment. I think that as SummerSlam has approached, it sort of does that magical thing that PLEs recently have found a way to do, which is you're sitting a month out, five weeks out. You're not entirely sure where everything is going. And then somehow by the time you get to the weekend, you look up and go, my God, we have a we have a friggin card here. And that is exactly what's happened with SummerSlam this year. I just think when you look at it now, obviously, I'm going to be in the building. We're doing the countdown show there.

17:38And of course, as you know, guys, you can listen to SummerSlam this year right here on WWE radio. So I'm going to be in the building and I'm sure most everyone here will be in the building as well. but like from the standpoint of the fans listening to us at home and people who are all over the country and are just going to take in the event from home i just think it's absolutely stacked um this card has turned out to have so many different fun things all over it um and one of those things that has popped up and this one came out of nowhere it was not on my bingo card if you were going to tell me that trick williams was going to have a u.s championship match against Baron Corbin, I would have told you I'm not so sure that that's the case.

18:25But that's exactly what is happening. Paul, let me get your laptop. Mine's being a little spicy. Now, that being said, I'm very excited. This guy has become a staple of the PLEs. He's not able to be with us in person because he's in Green Bay at SmackDown. But ladies and gentlemen, joining the show, my friend, your favorite. Give it up for Trick Williams, ladies and gentlemen. reporting to you live the most entertaining superstar alive has finally arrived let's talk about it trick what's good my guy how are you i'm chilling man happy to be here have you gotten used to the fact like i was just having this conversation with my producer paul you you look up now at trick williams career of recent and you have become an absolute ple staple and obviously your ascent through WWE has been awesome for a variety of reasons, but are you surprised at all that like sitting at this point, you know, when PLEs come, Trick Williams is on that card or did you imagine it would happen this fast?

19:29I was hoping so, you know, I was hoping that I was going to be on all the PLEs. I was hoping that, you know, Trick Williams is going to be a household name and he's going to work that trick all around the world. And that's what we're doing. And the people love it. I love it. Let's talk about it. I love it. Do you get nervous for the PLEs? You always exude confidence. But between just me, you, our friends here at WWE World, and everyone listening on WWE Radio, do you get nervous at all for these things? Between me, yourself, and all at WWE World, no. Everything I've been through to get to this point, 20 years of football to make your way up the ranks to get cut by the Philadelphia Eagles, to deliver and doordash and substitute teaching to all the kids around the East Coast, doing everything I could to finally get an opportunity as a WWE superstar?

20:16You think I'm going to be nervous once I finally get my opportunity? Come on, man. Every single time they call my name, I'm ready to put on the show. But here's the thing. I hear what you're saying, and it's incredible. I can't fully identify with it to be that confident. But football was something that you'd been doing for so long, right? Like it went all the way back to childhood. It was in your family, like something you were doing at home. and wrestling has been this learned craft trait listen man i don't know if you're aware of this i have uh exactly one a wwe win in my career i won the 24 7 championship once okay i held it for nearly a full day all it required me to do was uh pardon my french one nut shot to our truth and after that all I had to do was pin him and go home and yet I found it to be the hardest thing ever man when when I realized the cameras were running and I was gonna be that's it like you don't do it right that moment it's it's ruined man I gotta tell you trick it gave me a whole different appreciation for what you guys do so given that this is a new thing for you what is the process like going into these matches you know how much conversation are you having uh how much preparation and and and what kind of and who do you utilize backstage to talk to before these matches to make sure you're in a great place yeah for sure i mean we're preparing all the time you know when it comes down to eating healthy you know i mean cutting out all the things that i might like you know the red velvet cakes and the key lime pies you know i gotta put all that to the side It's SummerSlam week You know what I mean You gotta look good You know what I mean When it comes to training You know what I mean Staying on top of your game Cause there's nothing worse Than being tired In front of You know An arena Or a stadium Full of people So you know Make sure that you're In great physical condition But as far as Turning it on When the red lights are on You see the thing about you Pete Even though It was your first time In the ring And your first time Winning the title And everything like that You're still a showman You still knew what to do Because when the red light is on You either got it Or you don't And the thing is you got it and trick will he got it too so that's the part i don't have to worry about the red light is on just do what you do baby just do what you do that is that is uh that is very generous i appreciate you putting us in any sort of category together whatsoever um what what can you say about this what can you say about this baron corbin situation this obviously kind of came out of nowhere you know i think a lot of us were thinking we're we're on a path towards trick williams and carmelo hayes at summer slam i think there were a lot of people who thought that might happen.

22:57I still believe one day we'll get that on a big stage, but apparently that day is not yet. How surprised were you by Baron Corbin coming along? And what do you know about this guy from your time watching wrestling and studying what he does? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I just put you and me in the same category and now I'm about to say some things and know that I'm not talking about you, but I say this big bald headed bum, Baron Corbin. I'm talking about Tommy Pickles. I'm talking about Mr. Clean, Mr. Monopoly, Dr. Evil looking Baron Corbin, thinks that he can just hop out of retirement and do what he does to get on a PLE with Trick Williams.

23:31Put himself in a sentence with the name next to Trick Williams. Who does he think he is? And he doesn't even love the business no more. I mean, he just wants a little bit of bonus on his 401K investments. You know, one more contract, he can hit his pension. I mean, one more contract, you know, he can hit his investments. But at SummerSlam in Minnesota, I would be fully invested into whooping his ass because Trick Willie don't play that. And yes, I was very surprised when he was the one that ran out and interrupted this great match that myself and Carmelo Hayes was having. You know, and delayed.

24:02You know, Melo from getting his opportunity that he's been working hard for. But it is what it is. I take care of business. Whoever's in front of me got to get it. business. You have to be a player you gotta get. How much do you want to be able to really have a proper situation with Carmelo Hayes on the main roster? Obviously, you guys have had your SmackDown matchups, but you guys have such a long history. Or is that the kind of thing that honestly is most suitable for something like WrestleMania? You know, honestly, it don't make me know never mind which way it go. I mean, Tripp Williams is worried about Tripp Williams.

24:40You know what I mean? I'm not worried about Carmelo Hayes and his career. If he's the guy and if he's ready, then that's cool. But if not, then the train must keep pushing. You know what I mean?

24:52Did you learn anything from Carmelo, who obviously was a bit ahead of you and obviously had his ascent to the top in NXT before you? What were you able to glean from Carmelo Hayes and watching his journey? Oh, man, I learned a lot from Carmelo Hayes. For a while there at NXT, I was able to be in the main event scene without actually having the main event pressure. When I was able to build that rapport with the audience, knowing that all I had to do was make sure that my brother looked good. Make sure that he won his match. So that means interfering for one little thing, like a low blow, like you had to do to win your 24-7 title.

25:27That's the type of stuff that Trey Williams was doing on the sidelines to support Carmelo Hayes. For years I did this, Pete. For years I did everything I could. fantastic intros, promos, all in an effort to make him look good, not even myself. Not even myself. For him to start hating and turn his back on me, you know, after years of being a true, dedicated, loyal friend, you know, right there for Carmelo Hayes in support of him, you know, by accident, by accident, he put me in a position where I was able to learn and get the experience that I needed to carry on with my own career. but when he realized that was what was happening you know he was no longer happy for your boy so that's why you know i look at it as it is what it is no hate you know i mean i wish him the best but tree really gotta do what tree really gotta do well yeah it's in spite of all of those things you still managed to take the most from the situation uh have you gotten a chance to properly celebrate your your wedding yet to your beautiful bride have y 'all had a moment to relax and like take this in like you can't tell me you've had honeymoon time yet you y 'all have been on tv every week so what is the plan for you and lash to really celebrate these nuptials properly well i can't say we've had a honeymoon but we definitely celebrated you know what i'm talking about god bless god bless but was there gonna be a trip like are we gonna get like a moment where you guys get to go to an island and chill out or right now did you just say hey let's just keep our eyes on the prize and when we get the time we'll get the time you know the funny thing about it is so as you know we travel you know we're always in what Europe, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Italy, all these different places.

27:10We get married in Jamaica and the first thing she says is let's have our honeymoon in Africa but she'll settle for Thailand. I said hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on. Let's put a little pause in it. Put a pin in that because if we do everything in year one, what are we going to do for anniversary? We got to save some places on the globe for us to go to later. But we'll see. She wants to hit the far. I just like that she said she would settle for Thailand. Thailand just as far as Africa. She'll settle for Thailand. I will tell you. Yeah, that's both are, by the way, wonderful trips.

27:54I've done safari in South Africa before. It was a highlight of my life. I've never been to Thailand. My wife, Natalie, loves Thailand, raves about it. So I hope at some point you guys get the opportunity because if you you can't just wait. Now, here's what you can't do trick. You will not get credit if you just wait for WWE to send you guys someplace and then you say, no, no, let's turn this into our honeymoon. You can't do that. You have to fully book a trip specifically for the honeymoon. You know that, right? Man, no. See, I'm mad you even said it on camera because that's exactly what I was waiting on.

28:29I was waiting for that African trip or that Thailand trip. I was going to settle for Japan. When we go to Japan, I was going to say, hey, this is for you and me. You know what I mean? But maybe we stay an extra day. This is our trip, baby. That's right. Maybe we stay an extra day. I'm here. Listen, I'm here to lead you the right direction, okay? I've been married twice. No one knows more about marriage than someone who's been married not once, but twice. Trust me. You need to plan this separately. Hey, but first things first, handle business. Defend that title. Beat Baron Corbin at SummerSlam.

29:00And we'll see you soon, man. Thank you for making time. I appreciate you, my dog. Give it up for Trick Williams, ladies and gentlemen. Whoop, that trick is right. That is what he will attempt to do this weekend. All right, ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado, let's just bring in a future Hall of Famer. one of my cohorts here at WWE Radio. Natalia is in the building. Thank you for the beautiful introduction. Natty! It's so good to see you. How are you? I'm good. This is a cool little setup. Like, listen, am I crazy for saying that, like, things were going good? Everything was going fine with everything, you know, Busted Open was doing, that Sam was doing, myself.

29:40But correct me if I'm wrong, Natty shows up. All of a sudden, a few months later, it's WWE Radio. We have a whole thing happening now. The low-key legend has that magic touch. Yeah, the low-key, the vibe has changed. So you look great. Thank you. How are you feeling? I feel good. I mean, I am so excited for SummerSlam. It's always been my favorite PLE of the year. Of course, you know, the hearts run SummerSlam. I mean, absolutely. It takes me all the way back to 1992, Wembley Stadium. I mean, it's that, when I think SummerSlam, I think of Bret Hart versus the British Bulldog. sold out Wembley Stadium.

30:16Iconic. It really is synonymous with SummerSlam, that match. Were you? What year were you? No, you don't ask. Let me phrase this differently. Were you of an age that you could have gone to that SummerSlam? I could have gone to it, but I didn't. I was 10. So I was 10 years old. I'm a 90s kid. There you go. But yeah, I mean, it was just one of those things that I just remember my family being so proud of that match and that story. Because at the end of the day, it's like, the reason why people still talk about that match 30 years later is because of the story. Yeah, that's so true. It's really good.

30:48I mean, the match is gorgeous, but it really is. It was the story that made that so meaningful. And it just was like when I think of Davey and I think of his legacy, I think of like, I love that he was able to really get his, have his moment. You know, it was like the, I think it was the most special match of Davey's career. And I love that Brett and Davey were able to do that together. You know, that is an interesting thing. Well, first of all, how, how, how close were you? We all know your relationship with Brett, obviously. How close were you with the British Bulldog? Very close. He was actually, like, Davey moved down to Florida where I lived with my family.

31:23Like, he was like a dad to us. Like, when my dad was not able to be home, Davey was like a second dad. We were extremely close to him. And, you know, TJ, Davey took TJ under his wing. TJ actually moved in with Davey and with Harry and Georgia and Diana. And, like, Davey was like a father figure to TJ. So he took TJ under his wing. He taught TJ how to work out. He wanted to show TJ what it would take to make it to the next level. Because listen, when you're a scrawny 15-year-old kid with no meat on your bones, you need somebody to mentor you. And so Davey was that mentor for TJ. I just always, when I was a little kid, I fell in love with basically Brett and Davey at the same time.

32:07Like they were kind of like whatever they were. And remember, they were rivals at the time. Right. And I'm a little kid. I do not understand that they're related. That's not an idea. I don't know about you guys out there, but when I was a little kid, I did not know that Davey Boy Smith and Bret Hart were brothers-in-law, okay? They were the British Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation. I didn't know anything about Calgary. I didn't know anything. So I just, but I find it interesting that what I did recognize as a kid was just how skilled and technical they were. I just loved the way they looked. There was something about the way they did wrestling that really drew me in.

32:45And I don't think that's unique to me. I think a lot of people of my age range were drawn in by the Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation. Somebody asked me the other day, what's your favorite tag teams? And of course I said I'm biased. Of course I'm going to say the Hart family, but here's the thing. It's, as Becky Lynch would say, it's not just me saying it. It's, you know, I think of like the Hart Foundation. I think of Brett. I think of my dad. It's like that dungeon style. And then I think of the Bulldogs. It's like Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, the magic that they made. And like, I know Dynamite Kid's daughter really wants to get her dad into the Hall of Fame.

33:21But I do think the Dynamite Kid should one day, hopefully soon and sooner than later, be in the WWE Hall of Fame. And I think that day is sooner than later. Yeah. I mean, the Dynamite Kid, obviously. How well do you know him at all? Yes. You knew him some too. I know Dynamite Kid is a complicated figure. And things were tough for him later on as life went on. But man, you talk about all time influence. Yes. And if Brett maybe is at the tippy top of influence, Dynamite Kid's right there. I mean, there are so many people whose career began because they watched Dynamite Kid. And my dad would always say Dynamite was his favorite person to wrestle.

33:58My dad loved wrestling Dynamite. He and Dynamite were very close. And Brett even says, you know, that Dynamite taught him probably the most of anyone in the industry of like just how to be the best. So, you know, yes, Dynamite was complicated. But here's the thing. I have yet to meet anybody who's at the very, very top of their game who hasn't been through ups and downs. And when I speak of ups and downs, one of my favorite people currently to talk about that with is Jacob Fatu. I love Jacob so much because I love his story. I think his story is so inspiring, and he's going to be in SummerSlam.

34:35Of course. Big six-man tag, Matt. Big six-man tag. But I love when people who are very rich in character have gone through a lot. And that's what makes them rich in character. Jacob's a really interesting example, though. and obviously, you know, Dinah, my kid's like an uncle to you. I didn't know him at all. It sounded like he was rough around the edges. Jacob's really interesting though because Jacob has gone through all this stuff and he is widely and accurately regarded as one of the nicest dudes in the locker room, right? Like he's just the sweetest, most lovely dude. I love him. When he's not in the squared circle and those eyes aren't bulging, he's not grabbing those ropes like the ultimate warrior.

35:15Yeah, he's just the sweetheart of a guy. And here's the thing. When the bell rings, Jacob is a killer. he's scary he's very scary but when like for example he fights every single week to come to the dungeon he drives two hours each way I always see him on Instagram he drives in two hours each way to get to the dungeon and trains for four hours at a time in a warehouse with no air conditioning but what he does there is magical and you know what else people don't know about with Jacob he actually takes on the role of a coach when he's at the dungeon he's talking to everybody about not just about how to be good in the ring, but how to be somebody that you can't take your eyes off of.

35:55So he's been privately... Right, he's got that in spades. Yeah, he's been privately coaching Tatanka's kids, and he's been teaching us how to cut promos. And everything Jacob does is from his heart. It's all from his heart. And so I will always be the biggest Jacob Fatu fan because I see what you guys don't always get a chance to see is Jacob giving back. Every single person has to find a way to pay it forward. So let me ask you a question. Now we're talking SummerSlam, And that six-man tag match, that has turned into a really fun thing, this Bloodline story. And its involvement with Solo and LA Knight and all that.

36:27It's very cool. Well, there was part of me, though, that wanted Jacob to still maintain his involvement with Roman leading up to this. What were your thoughts about him no longer being with Roman? Did you expect that he would be? And what are your thoughts on that generally? Because I was like, isn't there a world where Jacob could still be a part of his own thing? but he's still there watching the tribal chiefs back. Well, here's the thing about the Roman and the bloodline and all of that. It's, it's hotel California. You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave. And, and when it comes to the bloodline like that, they can fight.

37:03They can make up, they can fight again. They can get kicked out. They can come back. All it takes is Roman to shoot Jacob a text message. And you know, Jacob's, you know, they've got each other on speed dial. That's a, that's a great point. And of course, Saturday we'll have the six-man match and the main event Sunday. And of course, there are many main events this weekend. You could argue I think there are certainly four main events. But I think the final match we will watch this weekend is Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. Right. And that's a full 24 hours later. So you never know whether the Samoan werewolf ends up showing up to have the back of the Tribal Chiefs.

37:37You never know, and I wouldn't doubt it. But the one match that I'm the most excited about for Saturday is Liv Morgan versus Eoskai. So this is the thing that I think is fascinating. I would love your insight as one of the best to ever do it. On paper, EO is the wrestler's wrestler. Every wrestler I talk to, guy or girl, will say EO is one of the absolute best. Yes. Right? Liv, people don't always immediately, even though she's a great worker, people don't immediately throw her into the wrestler's wrestler conversation. But she's really found a way to stay at the top and put on really good matches.

38:13so A, what is it that makes Liv able to hang with everyone and B, how do you see this match playing out well I got goosebumps here talking about Liv because I've seen Liv in a different light in the same way that I look at Jacob, Liv has come down and she's trained with us in sweat, blood sweat and tears in the dungeon, she's been training with us since the dungeon started so I've seen a different side of Liv, I'm gonna tell you Liv is all dog, she's all dog, when it comes time to throw down she will work through anything she will i mean you see like the battle scars that live morgan has because she is very very passionate about this and so there was an incident uh a few months ago at the dungeon when live came down and and things we we had we were working together we were practicing we were training together and things got really really physical and i said to tj after the practice because there there was a little blood and there was some bruises after we we we we worked together and trained together.

39:10But I said, man, what I love about Liv is how she kept going. We're in the middle of a warehouse in the middle of nowhere with no air conditioning. And Liv Morgan has, she's, she's, she's got this cut on her and she's, you know, she, we got bruised up from this practice that we had. And I said, she still kept going. There's no, there's no air conditioning. There's no, there's no fans watching this. There's literally 15 people in this warehouse, no air conditioning and Liv was just all heart all passion and I said she will wrestle in the dungeon in front of nobody the same way that she'll wrestle at Wrestlemania this girl is all dog she will do whatever it takes it's totally true and I think at this point you have to have a great appreciation also she's done it so many different ways right like Liv came out and she was just like the little miss perfect and people rooted for her because she was little miss hard work then people have loved her and hated her because she's been on the exact opposite side of that So she has a very special quality that she can kind of do so many different things and have matches with so many different kinds of superstars.

40:10So I think Liv absolutely deserves her credit. Io is someone who really does get it in terms of credit. People really think she's amazing. Tell us, though, like we obviously know what Io can do physically in the ring, how aerially talented she is. When you guys, though, when wrestlers say she's one of the best, what are you talking about? What do you know about Io Sky and see from her that us who don't understand it might miss? Well, the thing about Io is that she really is, when I watch her as a fan, because I like to also step outside of the role of being a wrestler and watch. I like to watch as a fan, too, because at the end of the day, I'm a student of the game.

40:49The thing with Io is that when she's in the ring, you cannot take your eyes off of her. She's magical. but when she's in there this is a woman that spent i would i would say at least 10 15 years perfecting her craft and so she is just so technically sound i had a match with her in 2023 and i haven't had enough matches with eo and i would love to i would love to have a storyline with eo i'd love to have a storyline with her where we could really you know blend the low-key legend and eo and and that style because i think she's amazing i would i would love to have an underground match with you. But she's so good that she really brings the very, very best out of her opponent because there's nothing that she can't do.

41:30You want her to fly? She's gonna fly. You want her to be ground-based? This girl can go ground-based. You want her to show grit? She'll work through blood. You want her to, you know, get the crowd engaged in a way that transcends what we do in the ring? She can do that too. She's just somebody that I think you just can't take your eyes off of her but when the bell rings, she can go. And so I had this match with her. It was a queen of the ring tournament. And I said to TJ, I said, man, I said, I just want, I would love to have a real storyline with EO because she just makes me want to be better.

42:06And then this is coming from somebody that like, I'd like to argue it. I don't think any other woman has had more matches in WWE or in professional wrestling than me. And so when I say that EO is one of the very best women that I've ever wrestled, I mean it. Well, that is high praise coming from you. And I would love to see that play out as well. So across this card, and I was saying this before you got here, it really did sort of like creep up into turning into a special card. Like a month out, I wasn't exactly sure where we were going with a lot of things. And yet we get here now, and we have a lot of really fun stuff.

42:42One of the things that has grown and only gotten bigger this week after his interview with Chris Van Vliet where he showed his emotion, but frankly, I was already hooked, is the Nick Aldis story. And Nick Aldis and Gunther, to me, has the potential to really be that match that even though it's not billed in the top three or four on the two-day card, it could be the crowd is as locked into that as anything. What are your expectations? How much Nick Aldis stuff have you watched generally? Because as someone who's always known of him as this decorated wrestler, I have to tell you, I really haven't watched a ton of his work.

43:17Right. So I'm super excited to see him get a chance. Well, and I love the work that Nick Aldis did with the NWA. I mean, that's really like, he did some magical work with the NWA. And of course, I just did a show for Billy Corgan in the NWA last week at the ECW Arena. And like, if you go back and you research the stuff that he did, just go and watch the stuff alone, the stuff that he did in the NWA. I think Nick Aldis is excited because he knows he's going to shock the hell out of everyone. And I think like he is ready to be dialed in this. And I loved what he said with Chris in the interview with Chris Van Bleed.

43:51He said, this is my one shot. And you need those stakes to feel high. That's the thing is that SummerSlam is one of the biggest events in WWE all year. The stakes could never could not be higher. So this is Nick Aldis's shot. Can he rise to the occasion? Or is this the last time we're ever going to see him in the ring? And I think Gunther thrives off of poking and pushing and really pushing those buttons because Gunther knows. Look at Gunther's background. He's ended the careers. He ended John Tima's career. And AJ Styles' career. And so Gunther loves the idea of making sure that this is the last time that we see Nick Aldis.

44:28Gunther is salivating and hoping and praying that this is the last time we see of Nick Aldis. But I think that's the kind of energy and fuel that Nick Aldis needs to show everybody, hey, I got so much more left in the tank. And he's not like I think about Nick. He's not even 40. No, he's about he's 39. He's a baby. He's a baby. He's a baby. He's exactly 39 years young. And I've been I don't remember if I said it on cheap heat yet, but I have this really distinct memory of Elimination Chamber. It was the day Dan Housen debuted. I remember because that's what we were all talking about was we were like, oh, who's who's who's coming out of the thing.

45:06Right. We didn't know at that point it would be Dan Housen. And that day, for whatever reason, I saw Nick and I said, hey, yesterday on my pocket, I have this thing. If we on Cheap Pete like have a topic where we really get into it, like let's say one day I'm talking about you and you had a match and I'm like, oh, it was really good. But I think this could have been better and that could have been better. I'm rarely talking about anyone's in ring work, but story stuff. right if i see you the next day i have to bring it up right because otherwise you could hear it i'm just the biggest fraud so i see nick and i go hey yesterday on cheap heat i was talking about they had just named robert stone the new gm at nxt and i said i really hope because i you know i did commentary for nine months with stone i know how talented he is i said i really hope he gets a chance to be a character at gm and i said frankly and i told this all repeated it all to nick i said i think you and pierce could do so much more as gms like i just think that that role had been used a little generically right and yes you guys are these jacked up dudes who we know can wrestle but that's not like there's more there and when i brought this up uh nick you know him and i have generally chatted about things like uh how's mickey doing we never gotten into deep weeds on wrestling right he like lights up and is like dude i i want to do this i want to do I could do so much.

46:30And he's like, but he doesn't go around asking for it. He wants to do his job. He's a good employee. He's going to do his job. He's not there begging for his next chance. But he's staying in shape and he's ready to go. And he made it very clear that day that there was gas in the tank. Oh, yeah. And then we got teased last year at Mania. Could it have been Orton and him? They end up putting Joe Hendry in the spot at WrestleMania with Randy Orton. Man, you are on your game. Fast forward a year because I wanted it so bad. I love GM stories, and I love when people who are not seen as wrestlers wrestle.

47:05Like when Vince McMahon used to wrestle. I find that very exciting when you see people you're not used to. And then they teased us again this year when on the post show, I got scared half to death because we're standing there doing the show, and all of a sudden, Nick and Gunther get in the fight right behind us. And I was like, oh, my God, we're going to get a match. And then they didn't do it again. Right. So I really thought, and I'm sure he thought, it's never going to happen. So the fact that we're here now and Nick Aldis is getting this opportunity, oh, man, because who knows? Maybe it's great and he goes on a run as a wrestler for two years.

47:38We don't know. And you think about the matches. Now I'm like fantasy booking and thinking if Nick Aldis shows up, shows out, and gets the crowd emotionally engaged in the way that I think he can, man, I would want to see Nick against Randy. I would want to see Nick against Cody. I would want to see Nick against, I mean, Roman. Like there's, there's so many. And what I love about Nick Aldis is that he is a student of the game. He loves this. You know, he's been a fan. He's fought for this. And so I think it's, it's cool that, you know, he's always stayed ready. Like he's always been like, I'm the type of person and I do not leave my house for anything without bringing my wrestling gear.

48:15I bring my little amateur boots, my low key legend, you know, one piece, because you never know when you're going to get the call. I could be flying to LA to do something totally unrelated with wrestling, but you better believe I'm going to have my wrestling gear. In case they call. I might need to have a match outside on Facebook outside of the airport. I'm ready. And trust me, I'm so ready. If you need anyone body slammed, I'm so your girl. By the way, who else do you think I would call? Guys, make some noise for the low-key legend, Natalia. You can hear her every week. The heartbeat here on WWE Radio.

48:46Thank you for making time. We really appreciate it. Oh, this was so great. This was the highlight of my weekend. Oh, stop. Stop. All right. Thank you. We'll dig more into this card. We got Joe Hendry coming up in person in the next hour. Hang tight. It's GP Live right here on WWE Radio. WWF referees are trained to be impartial, maintain composure, and by all means, stay out of harm's way. Yeah, right. I have the power. Jesse the Body Ventura returns to the ring for an out-of-body experience. It's the body rules. It's my rules or the highway. WWF SummerSlam, presented live by Chef Boyardee. Sunday, August 22nd on Pay-Per-View.

49:26The world will get shot. Say his name and he appears. I believe in Joe Hendry. I believe in Joe Hendry. Because you love him in London. Welcome back to GP. Stay made and enjoy yourself.

49:49well you hear the music folks and hopefully you can hear the claps they believe in joe hendry and he joins us right now on cheap heat live welcome to show man pleasure to have you good to see you my friend thank you for saying my name i of course everyone says your name everyone loves your name um how does how does it feel to now be like fully settled in the first you probably don't remember this first time i ever met you was walking in a casino hey hey hey it was you know it was 3 a.m you know it was it was the night it was the night of you and randy yeah um i guess last i mean to be fair there was a lot going on that day there was a lot going i'll give you a pass no and and i was like oh look it's joe henry you were in the midst of it all happening yeah can you go back now that we're a year and a half from that and kind of take through what your mentality was even thinking about like at that time you you find out you're gonna have this moment at wrestlemania how did your brain even process it all well it exploded um so i remember when i found out that's what was going to happen i got a call from triple h and i'm in the airport and i'm going i look at the i don't go so i take the call thinking that okay i might get to do you know something like this uh you know might be a an interview or something like that at one of the fan events and i remember him saying to me well as you know we need an opponent for randy and i'm like no way no way and in wrestling you know how it is it it's not uh real until it's actually happened so i remember you know the days leading up to it thinking how far out is this call uh that was probably about uh maybe just under a week okay i think and at that point i was thinking okay there's a chance I'm a backup I can't get too attached to it I had you know many signings and matches I had to just try and get through but I got to the night before and I thought all right this is probably going to happen and it was an unbelievable experience it was like a wave of energy coming towards me it was genuinely it's one of the best moments in my life and I was so grateful to do it I was I was grateful for the fan response because it was like the the fans were with me that night and it just made it so special and yeah it was it was a dream come true i feel i felt like i achieved my dream that day i i was i was watching that moment i stopped by west side guns suite and i was with west side gun and smoke dizza and all these hardcore hip-hop and wrestling fans dude the pop it was just so awesome to watch you know i was lined up right at the 50 yard line it was the best because generally on you know mania nights i'm working and i'm backstage or I'm running around or I'm somewhere.

52:31I had a moment like your, that moment was really my only time that night to stop and watch. And every reaction, you know, when, when you did the camera gimmick and Randy did it, everything played out. So, so wonderfully, how long did you wait after that initial phone call to tell people, like, did you tell immediate people right away or did you fear if it goes away, it'll be such a disappointment for my family and stuff. So I got weight? I had to, I had to keep it very quiet. I didn't really want to tell anybody to be honest with you. Um, I, I only told the people very, very close to me. Um, and that was, that was it.

53:12You know, I just was, when there's things like this, part of this job is understanding that if you start telling a bunch of people, you know, it's good words going to get it very quickly. So I just, I kept it zipped. How old were you when you first started training? So I started training about, about 13 years ago now. So it was, it was New Year's Eve going into 2013. And I just made the decision that day. I was like, right, you're a pro wrestler now. That's it. And so I started training January 1st, 2013. And prior to that, you had just been a fan? Yeah. Yeah. Like a big fan. How big a fan are we talking?

53:48So I was not a fan of wrestling as a young kid. But when I got to about 13, 14, I really loved the video games first. And then through the video games, I remember I used to play SmackDown 2. I started with other games before. For me, it was the create a wrestler ability. So I had Warzone, then Attitude, then SmackDown. And SmackDown 2, that was it. They had the Hell in a Cell back then. Right, right. You know, I remember I just thought The Rock was, you know, the coolest guy in the game. You could do the people's elbow. The elbow pad came off. Yeah, you could do the whole thing. Yeah. And so then I started watching the product.

54:27And by about 15 years old, I said, I am going to do this. And my big plan was I'll get famous in music and then I'll pivot over into wrestling. And, you know, that didn't work out. So I was like, OK, I'm turning 25. I got to do this now. I got to just do this now. How hardcore were you with the music? Oh, yeah. I was doing it for like 10 years, and all I did was write songs. So that's why I have this ability to come up with songs quickly, because it's just all I did for 10 years. Now, speaking of which, you mentioned the music. Yeah. I rarely chase headlines, but let's give the people something to talk about.

55:02I can't imagine what you're going to bring up. You know, your name kept coming up this week. No, it was an interesting week. I'll tell you, it has been an interesting week. So let's just like go through it. Wrestling is an interesting world in terms of what you can keep it real about. But I think there's something we can keep it very real about, right? The internet panned Monday night. Like they made a decision. And by the way, I've been on the bad side of an internet decision before. When the internet decides something, it decides something. What was your feeling about the segment when you guys did it?

55:37And how long did it take for you to realize that there was a lot of conversation and it wasn't as positive as all the conversation that both you and Dan Houser are used to. Like, you guys are two very beloved figures over the last couple years, which in one sense is why I don't really feel bad for you because I know both of you will be fine. Like, if you guys were really... Oh, now, speak of the devil. A mini Houser just showing right up. Say his name and he appears. Wow. Did you know we were having this conversation? Good to see you. How are you? Great to see you. Thank you for joining us. So right on cue, how long did it take you to realize, and what were your thoughts about it?

56:15My thoughts are this, and I'll just be completely upfront and honest about this. We are all extremely passionate about what we do. And just to give you an idea here, when I signed with WWE, I made the decision that I was going to move to Orlando. I was going to not only commit 100 % to NXT, but I was going to move to Orlando. I was going to go to the classes. I was going to absorb as much knowledge as I could. I said, put me on all the local shows. I wanted to work all the shows that they do to contribute and to learn and to be a part of the system. And that is the attitude I've taken to WWE. And the reason I bring that up is because us as performers and everybody that works at the company, we are so passionate about this business.

56:59And the goal is and always has been for me to give the audience value. you, right? There's been times where I've been on the indies and I've made a music video making fun of my opponent. I remember there's one in Germany and there was like 300 people. And I'm like, man, I hope this joke lands. And I'm behind the curtain, like, come on. And you want it to land. And it's the best feeling in the world when you give the audience that moment, that laugh. And so I'll say this, we give absolutely everything that we've got. I give my absolute best efforts and we're going to try a lot of things and some things are going to land and some things won't, but we will always give our best efforts.

57:38Were you in my, in my, exactly. I feel you too. Now, in my other life, I literally do a show about validation addiction because I've got serious problems. And I think a lot of people in our industry do, whether you're someone who wrestles, someone who talks on a microphone, anyone who wants to get up and take that risk that you talked about of waiting for a joke to land. We've all got our own relationship with seeking validation, right? It's the poem, The Man in the Arena, right? Exactly. You're making a choice. When you step into that arena, you understand what you're doing. We make that choice.

58:18But it's a beautiful thing. Were you affected? Do you get affected negatively on a day like that when you see that the things people are saying are not that nice? Does it bother you?

58:32from the perspective of I just put it this way I feel the fans have put me in this position right so like we talked about Wrestlemania that was because of the fan reaction 100 % and Wrestlemania probably happened because of the reaction that I got at the Royal Rumble and the Royal Rumble probably happened because of the reactions that was getting with everything I was doing up to that point so the fans have been there for me and they've put me in this position. So I want to give them my absolute best. So if there's a situation where I haven't that hasn't happened, it can be painful. But that doesn't mean you didn't give your best just because it didn't land also, right?

59:12But you still did give your best. People are going to say things. My feeling on it is this. Here's what I think you really don't want to have happen. I think if you have a segment and it is going to, and it bricks, let it be the brick everyone's talking about i would rather that than you do a segment where like it's just sort of no one talks about it you did it you moved on like to me when you have something that's notable happen especially in wrestling it builds lore it adds to more there's an opportunity to revisit it in different ways i just feel like if you make an impact i know it doesn't always feel that way in the moment but if an impact is made listen i don't believe all press is good press.

59:53If you do something horrible and you get press for it, no, that's not good press. But assuming no one is hurt along the way, I just think any sort of moment that galvanizes people and creates a lot of attention in professional wrestling often leads to more good things. Well, I think it depends, doesn't it? It depends on how you move forward. And that's the real challenge. There's been moments in my career which felt tough at the time. I'll give you an example. I remember there was a time where it looked like I was going to be on a Raw in Glasgow, Scotland. And Scotland's where I'm from. So to do Raw at that time in Scotland would have been a dream come true for me.

1:00:32And I remember, you know, I was in TNA at the time. We just couldn't get it done for that show. And I remember it feeling painful and thinking, oh, and just thinking it was like the worst thing ever. And I was like, oh, man. and I just couldn't see the positive in it. But then four weeks later, I was on WrestleMania. Now, would I have been on WrestleMania had we done that? Maybe not, because it wouldn't have been the same job, right? Yes. So I think in your career, when you're talking about the Lord and things like that, it's how you respond and how you move forward with these. Because you never know what the next thing is going on, especially in this business.

1:01:09Yes, it comes down to what your next moves are. And I look at my goal is I just want to be as good as I can possibly be at this. So what I'm willing to do is have some fun with it. You know, I've seen some, I've been tagged in some amazing tweets over the last couple of days. You know, we've had some fun. But now I have to, like, this is the highest level. Like WWE is this at the highest level. And the standard that we have is so high. it takes so much to do this at this level. And now I look at other people on the roster who are in spots I want to be in and go, what do I have to do to get to that point?

1:01:49So for me, it's just the work continues and I just move forward and I will continue to give the audience the best I can. How do you, do you still make time? So, cause you mentioned you've been around for a while, but you haven't been around forever. I mean, 13 years is a good start, but like in the, in the process of someone becoming an all time great, you would look back at that and go, oh, I was still kind of figuring things out. I am not claiming to be an old time great. No, no, no. I just want to throw that in there. But if that ends up being the path that you hope to go on, right? That is the path long term that I would hope to go on.

1:02:18You'll look back at this time and go, oh, my God, I was just getting my feet wet. Like this was the beginning of your real big TV time. Do you still get time to like work on the craft and continue to get to work as a wrestler? And I was talking about this earlier with Trick. Do you bend people's ear? Who do you pull aside and ask questions to to get better? Great question. So believe it or not, because of the schedule, I can't do as much now. But when I'm free and classes on, I will go to the Performance Center and train with Teddy Taylor's class. Wow. Because I feel that that class was propelling me forward in areas that I was looking to work on.

1:02:58I had a really great conversation with William Regal. And the thing is, it's hard to single out names because there's so many people I talk to, right? But William Regal is a big one for me. When I first got into this business, I got a WWE tryout in my first year. And William Regal sat down with me for two hours and told me about what the business is. And I still can remember that conversation almost word for word because it really mapped out what I've done and where I've got to. And ultimately it boiled down to this business is about cultivating trust with the audience, with management, with your colleagues.

1:03:33that when the audience know when they turn on the TV and you're on there, they're going to get your best. It's going to be quality. And I was thankful to get that framework right at the start. You know, so Terry Taylor's one, William Regal's one. And again, there are so many guys I've talked to and I'm going to feel bad for missing out on a bunch of people. But another person I'd like to mention is Finn Balor as well. I met, yeah, I met him probably a year into my career, something like that. And I remember he gave me great advice. And it's interesting. I got really busy really quick in my career where I was doing a lot of indies.

1:04:09So I was like, oh, I guess, you know, I don't really need to train anymore because I'm doing three matches a week. And he told me never stop training, you know. And it's funny now, later in my career, 13 years on, I'm training more now than I was then. It's like, man, you know, that was great advice. And sometimes those nuggets of advice don't hit you until later on, you know. So Finn Balor is another great one. There's so many people that I speak to and get advice from. And that's an awesome thing about our locker room is we have so many people who have great advice. Like, again, I was talking to LA Knight at the moment because, you know, he's in fantastic shape.

1:04:48I'd like to take my physique to the next level. And he's got a lot of great advice. And I've been asking him about things. And, you know, I just ask around, you know. do you do you think about where the character joe hendry can go because it's you're in an interesting position you're very the fans have always connected with you all the little things have sort of worked right um first of all who came up with the original with the camera thing with the spin to camera yeah is that is that a you thing so that happened um organically that is one of the things that happened organically. The cool thing about my act is it evolved over time.

1:05:27Even since I think 2013-14 I was doing this, but the hand wave used to be and it was like too fast for the audience. We'd burn 100 calories by the time my entrance is done. So I learned to kind of if you slow it down, it gets a bigger reaction. To be honest with you, the audience helped me with it because I remember I was doing a show once and I was like, I'm going to go out there and the catchphrase is going to be I believe in Joe Hendry and the audience started going we believe we believe and i was like oh okay they want to chant we believe so it is we believe you know so same thing so same thing with trying the camera thing it was just something that the camera thing um i i can't actually pinpoint oh no no so again it started off when i first did the turn it was a very quiet it was like a sort of subtle turn to the camera and and actually i used to watch the uk office a lot and so my all-time favorite television Amazing, right?

1:06:22Perfect. The best. I just refuse to acknowledge the US version of the office. No, you can't do that. Save that for after this. Okay, we'll have another conversation later. But I thought that if he was a wrestler, that'd be something he would do. He would kind of turn to the camera like this. So in my original version of the music video, it was just a head tilt. And then it became more accentuated over time based on audience reaction. Now, it's funny that you bring up David Brent of the British office, right? Yeah. Because he is. I've never done this. let's have some wrestling terms conversation for the british office okay david brent by the way is the character that michael scott is based off in the in the u.s the office he doesn't recognize the most popular show in the history of american television no but david brent is a perfect he's he's really sort of a heel and a baby face at the same time right he makes terrible decisions he's completely selfish all of these things but he's so sad that you root for him and when he gets stepped on you you end up feeling terrible for him your character is sort of interesting in that you're the things that you do are so on the nose you know the look to camera yeah the song the hair it really does feel like the if there were to ever be a transition for that character there's only one place that makes sense well he did a he did a music video and he covered you know if you don't know me by now the best and i've always based my music videos on that so you know there's a lot of influence there wow that's what that's that's a lot it was basically a combination of that and tom cruise i was and i'm talking like jump up on the couch tom cruise got like like yeah cringy cringy i'm like what happens if those two guys meet so why so so why did you hold on who what kind of sicko openly decides i want to do a character and i want him to be pretty cringe because like it's end up not being that and that people love you but you're flirting with the line of cringe all the time why did you decide that's what you wanted to do um i just find it entertaining you know um but am i wrong that like there's a really blurry line where where you go from being the cheesy guy who's having a great time to the guy who turns around and you know i don't want to bring up sore things from this week but turns around and hits you in the back with a guitar like it's that's a very it's a very blurry line right i guess it is and i think that's the thing with um this is what i'll say about being successful in professional wrestling you know i've taken some giant swings in my career that have just paid off massively and i i can't uh you know there's so many things i could look back on when i was like you know am i really going to post this music video am i am i going to do it am i going to say this thing am i going to take this risk and you know that's part of it you have to take big creative risks and i'll continue to do so all right so let's get to the meat and potatoes here hi she you believe in joe hendry don't you i knew she did let's let's get to the real meat and potatoes why have you you're making a mistake that i i feared early on you're you're choosing to not acknowledge the american office because you love the British office so much.

1:09:36Yeah. But what if you make the leap or at least this would happen to me but now it's you know 20 years ago. Once you realize it's a different thing. It's a wonderful thing that's just different than the original. Why are you. Is it just you're such a fan that you can't help but want to fight for the original is because the original doesn't get the credit it deserves. So it's just maybe one day but right now it's just is too painful. You know who would argue that it does get the credit deserved when they go to the bank every week? I'd say Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. They'd say it's done.

1:10:12You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, because the... Yes, they didn't make the money they could have made, but it made them forever stars in the UK. Yeah. And really internationally, particularly in the case of Gervais. By the way, you want one of the biggest pops ever for me in the history of wrestling? Go for it. I was at TakeOver. I can guess. No, you can't. I can't. Steven Merchant was there and recognized you. Didn't recognize me. Okay. That would have been the next level. But yeah, you jumped right to it. I guess the setup was there. Because he's a big wrestling fan. And he was working on Paige's movie.

1:10:42Yeah. He directed Fighting With My Family, and I was at NXT TakeOver 10 years ago, whatever. And I'm like, oh my God. Yeah. It's the Og Monster. What's this guy doing? The Og Monster, that's it. Yeah, he did an Oink, Oink, Oink, Oink for me. Yeah. Well, how much camaraderie is there among you and Drew? We know the Irishmen in WWE are all so close. Yeah. Where does a Scott fit in with the Irishmen camaraderie? You know, Drew is someone that I look up to quite a bit. I always use this reference. When we were on the indies and Drew came back, he lifted the standard of independent professional wrestling.

1:11:26He was the guy that you talk to. He was our locker room leader. He was, I've always said this, he was our undertaker on the indies, you know. He gave me a lot of great advice. And I remember there was one time where, I think it was like 2015, 16, and me and him were going to wrestle for the first time. I'll tell you a couple stories about Drew. So one is, I remember him saying to me, he said, listen, you're really entertaining, you're talented, and you're over with the fans. But I'm the most physical wrestler in the world. and you better match me tonight. And I was like, all right, let's go. And we had...

1:12:00Was he that physical? Yes. Oh, absolutely. And I'll tell you exactly how physical he was. So we're in Northern Ireland and Drew's chops are infamous. If you ask Kurt Angle, well, the most painful thing in his entire career is it's Drew's chops. And I remember we were wrestling in Northern Ireland on a floor just like that. So the ring was there. There's some mats. We've spilled outside the ring and we're now on like concrete floor like this. And he chops me. And I knew if I stood standing, I'd be taking another chop. And I went, nah, do the bump. That was, yeah. Because you'd rather take the full back bump on the concrete than another chop.

1:12:39Yeah, correct. That said, the man is an animal. He is a true champion and a great person. Would you, how cool would it be for you to maybe one day get to do stuff on camera in WWE like in a real way with him? I would love to do that. I would love to do that. Hey, congratulations on the last couple of years. Thank you. Have fun. Take this all in. Really, really enjoy it and appreciate your work, man. Thank you so much, my friend. The great Joe Hendry. We're going to close things out. Talk some Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins next right here on She Pete Live WWE Radio. I'm here with Ravishing Rick Rudin, Bobby the Brain Heenan.

1:13:17Ravishing Rick. We know the ultimate warrior is king of the jungle. but what happens when you put an animal in a cage? Jesse, everybody knows a caged animal is a scared animal because a caged animal is out of its elements. You know, Ultimate Warrior, you may rule the wild kingdom as you know it, but inside of a 15-foot-high steel cage, ravishing Rick rules, and you're going to know it. That's right, Bobby, and it's not going to be a heavy action scene from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. It's going to be SummerSlam 1990, ravishing Rick Root and the Ultimate Warrior inside the steel cage. And yes, Ultimate Warrior, I will climb to the top of the 15-foot cage, but not to escape.

1:14:03I will come down 15 feet onto the Ultimate Warrior's head. You will be singed by the heat of my burning desire. I will become the new World Wrestling Federation champion. It is G. Pete Live on Pro WWE Radio. still getting used to that first time ever here on wwe radio and what a weekend we have my guy big chewy chewy come here and say hello real quick come on up my guy chewy martinez is here chewy's gonna come say what's up real quick man it's it's not summer slam weekend you go you come around this way we'll figure it out you're gonna find your way but yeah very excited to be here and as you guys know we have coverage all weekend long including after dark coming up tonight that you can listen to after SmackDown, including the live play-by-play tomorrow.

1:14:54We're going to give him a headset and hope it works out. My colleague here at WWE does a fantastic job. My guy. Chewie. How amazing is Rosenberg doing? Make some noise for my man. Make some noise. Thank you. Thank you. I'm not getting the Joe Hendry love. So what have they got you doing today? What are you running out here doing? Of course, I always do my merch recaps. I go around talking to the beautiful fans, to the beautiful families, talk to them about what they're buying, what they're most excited for, any predictions. It's a great time here. I love the Superstore experience. And then you just go ahead and sweat through your brand new cap, huh?

1:15:26That's exactly what I do. I sweat through everything from the shirt, the hat, everything. Yeah, bro. So people may not know, Chewie and I worked together at Evolve for a while for a year plus. Yes. And had a great time doing that. You're from the West Coast. All day in LA, baby. Los Angeles. That's right. West Coast, Los Angeles. You know what time it is. And you've been with the company now for? Two years. Almost two years? Something like that? Pretty cool. How cool are these SummerSlam weekends, man? You know, brother, I've never, you know, being a fan for so many years, you never quite know how big things are when you see things behind the scenes and the actual production and the work, the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into all these events.

1:16:07It's nuts the amount of people and the amount of work that it takes to pull this thing off. I know. It's really special. When you have like a call sheet, when you have like the call sheet with the numbers and the people that are going to be working the event, there's like 300 names. I know. Five, 600 names. I know. That's massive. And it makes you realize how useless we are. We're horrible human beings. Horrible. We don't deserve none of this. No, none of this. Because when you get to be talented, it's like you see all these people with early call times, so much work, and it's like, hey, just show up and talk about wrestling and have a good time with people.

1:16:38And have fun with all the beautiful people. I consider all of you family. I consider all the folks in this place family. It's a big WWE family, and I'm blessed to be a part of it. I love it. I love the experiences. I love the stories. I love seeing the kids here with their families, their moms and dads. It's just a beautiful thing. I love it. Real quick, I'm about to get into my Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins conversation. I just want your thoughts on that match and who you think is winning. I think Roman's taking it, baby. Yeah. Roman's going to take it. Are you a Roman guy in general? I'm a Roman guy.

1:17:08I think if you look, you know, I'm Mexican-Dominican, but I think I'm a cousin, bro. I think, like, I'm trying to get the hair going. No, I'm 100%. No. Well, I got, you know what? Look at the hair, bro. Look at the hair. No, you know what? I got to tell you, I thought you had no kick coming, but when I saw the hair, you may be a long distance Anaheim cousin. Chewy Uso. Yo, Chewy, good seeing you, buddy. I love you, brother. Enjoy the rest of the week. I'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, man. Chewy Martinez makes some noise, ladies and gentlemen. If you see him, go and say what's up to him. You might end up finding yourself on the countdown show.

1:17:39He's always running around here doing awesome stuff and killing it as a broadcaster. So we have like seven minutes left to dive into Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. And I'm very, listen, obviously it sounds redundant to say I'm excited for Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. But I really am excited for this matchup and I'll tell you why. I can make a great case for why either one of them winning makes sense and would be awesome. But I think, and I say this with some hesitation because, you know, I like eating the food that's at the table. I want to have a seat at the table. I respect the head of the table because I want to be able to enjoy my meal safely and soundly.

1:18:29But I really think that the Roman Reigns character benefits more. Hear me out, folks. And I talked about this last week. Hardcore Roman Reigns fans are crazy, okay? You people are nuts, and you never think he should lose ever, and you think that the Roman Reigns character is just a character that never loses. That's not, I don't think in 2026 that can be a long-term thing like i it's not 1985 anymore and i just think like having a bruno san martino or a hulk hogan who literally doesn't lose for five years but a roman did it once and it was absolutely an epic time that can never be duplicated i don't think he can run that back and do it the same way this iteration of the tribal chief the otc can't do the same thing that he did the first time.

1:19:25And so this may sound nuts, but I actually believe in my heart that the Roman Reigns character gains more from losing on Sunday than winning. And I know some of you people who walk around with your fingers permanently pointed in the air, and I do it when I see him. God bless. I love the man. I really do. I'm a fan. I've been interviewing Roman since the beginning of his career all right i've seen the glow up firsthand okay my man has done his thing he is an absolute icon but wins aren't the only thing that make a character go i mean in fact if you really look at the history of wrestling it's that's not usually how characters gain character i believe seth rollins sort of quote unquote owning roman reigns is kind of the most interesting wrinkle to Roman Reigns right now.

1:20:20The idea that Roman Reigns runs absolutely everything, but this one guy who I have this history with just has my number? Unless Roman Reigns is planning on retiring next month, which I do not think he is close to doing, don't you think it's more fascinating if the Seth Rollins thing stays out there? if Roman is eventually to get his big win on Seth Rollins and you are a Roman Reigns fan who always wants the best thing to happen for Roman Reigns it should be Roman Reigns beating Seth Rollins at their last WrestleMania that's how you do it again I'm not a booker I'm an idiot who's lucky enough to talk about this stuff but for me if Roman wins tomorrow it's over like my boy john zaslow said earlier today it's like the undertaker streak when it's done it's done so if roman now they could avoid it tomorrow by having or sunday i should say by having some sort of michigas happen but they can't do that because it's the main event of the whole weekend and i just don't see it ending with craziness i see it ending with you're doing an oba strut hope is not strutting it on sunday night i don't i don't buy it we're too far off even if we get the dream oba roman match that everybody wants for wrestlemania guys it's it's it's barely going to be into august we're not i don't think we're close to setting that thing up that's to me that that reeks of oba wins the royal rumble like that that to me is where we get to that if it happens i don't i mean it'll be neat but also you can't have too much too soon right like isn't oba beating brock lesnar if oba beats brock lesnar this weekend isn't that enough for Obafemi for this weekend.

1:22:13Like to me, that would be all he needs to do. So I think Roman and Seth do have a finish. Now, here's the question. If you want to talk about Mishigas, you know, nonsense, it's a Yiddish word, just whatever stuff happening, blah, blah, blah. Could, could stuff like that happen, helping Seth Rollins get the win on Roman Reigns, but Seth still gets the pin, now we're having a conversation. Listen, I get it. If Roman wins and they have a great match, it's all good. But for me, as someone who loves long-term storytelling and I'm a bit nostalgic, I'm not ready to say goodbye to the Seth Rollins-Roman Reigns thing yet.

1:22:59And I don't think it should end at SummerSlam. And I don't think it should end this weekend. And to me, if Roman Reigns beats Seth Rollins 1-2-3 this weekend, that's it. We move on. Seth and Roman are done. Whereas if Seth finds a way to steal a win from Roman Reigns again, to me, the story just keeps on rolling. And Roman gets to have this thing out there that is always sort of hovering. So that's whatever my leaning is this weekend. And again, I can't call it between Seth and Roman. I love them both. I think they're two of the best of all time. I'm just, because of that, I'm not ready to say goodbye to this whole thing.

1:23:43And to me, if there's a final blow-off for Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, SummerSlam is huge. But that should happen at WrestleMania. That, to me, is the main event of WrestleMania one year, hopefully a long time from now when they're both closer to calling it quits. So I've told you guys the lineup that we have. It continues tonight with Busted Open After Dark. And tomorrow and Sunday, live shows right back here at WWE World, starting at 12 noon with Busted Open, followed by Not Sam with Sam Roberts. So we will be here all weekend long. To everyone in person, thank you for hanging out. I appreciate you guys so much.

1:24:22Stay tuned to WWE Radio, channel 156. Happy SummerSlam.