Six Feet Under - Miz talks backstage bullies, Logan Paul stealing his gimmick & WrestleMania

4:28Steph McMahon:I do, too. That's a good time.

4:29The Undertaker:I do, too. It's so much fun.

4:31The Miz:The Topgolf here, the last time that I went, the bar, imagine me knowing something about a bar. the the bar at the at Topgolf was the most successful bar as far as selling drinks over the weekend and it was crazy what is it what an ingenious concept really right I mean I love it it doesn't matter your skill level you know and then you do you have a huge that bar was slammed it was big yeah and it was just yeah bay after bay of people who's the worst celebrity you've

5:07The Undertaker:played with the worst yeah like i am usually the worst well okay besides yourself like out of my group like usually it's like really bad but like who is like bad um i played with nick chubb once and we did really bad together um it was it was for uh somewhere in california but man we were terrible and then reggie bush was just amazing he was really good and uh we were really hurting our team like we're really causing a lot of trouble for our team you know that's the deal

5:41The Miz:though with other athletes you know other sports like they get half the year off that's all here's

5:46The Undertaker:another thing though with wwe like i'm the best golfer in wwe i go to play at like american century championship and i'll play with like travis kelsey or jason kelsey i'll play with all these like celebrities and they'll beat the holy hell out of me and i'll be like i don't know how it happens like i i don't know if it's because we're in a tournament and maybe i get nervous and you can't you got to learn how to use your nerves like in WWE I learned how to use my nerves inside a ring to where it doesn't affect me anymore with my nerves in golf it still affects me so I haven't figured out that I guess the the way to swing without with with the nerves I guess you can say but man I play with a lot of celebrities and most of them are really good and it's for the example that you just said they get an off season yeah what do they do there in the off season they just play golf every day all day yeah like reggie was like yeah i uh dropped my kid off at school and i go play golf i go every day he goes every day and i go wow maybe i should do that but then i'm like well i can't because i gotta i gotta make sure i work out i gotta train i gotta watch matches like i still do that to this day i don't know if you still do that no i didn't do it when i was

6:57The Miz:active really no i worked out on all that but i didn't it's funny but people ask me that a lot like once i got here like the only things that i watched and i watched it usually live was what what was going on within wwe like i wanted to know like i watched my own stuff back because i'm obviously my harshest critic and i always had to do that alone but like i always cognizant like one who's on top what are they doing and i kept up that way but to go back and look like uh you know go back to the old uh nwa stuff back in the you know or crockett stuff

7:35The Undertaker:and the eight no i i just never did um i watch like i try to watch as much as i possibly can just to see like it's different than it was five years ago oh yeah 10 years ago and then 20 years You look at it, when I first came in to where it is now, it's just, it's so different. It's a different pace. The style, I feel like, is still the same. You could still do the same style, but it's just, it's different. And I enjoy the critiquing myself. It's funny that you used to watch your matches alone. A lot of people don't even like watching their matches. I'll ask them, I'll be like, did you watch your match?

8:11The Undertaker:No, I don't watch my matches. I'm like, how are you going to learn if you're not watching your matches? I watch everything and nitpick. To this day, I'm 20, what, 23 years in, I will still look at my footing and go, you're taking extra steps there. You could have done this better. Oh, you didn't have to take that bump. You shouldn't have done that. But I feel like that's why you're still on top.

8:32Steph McMahon:I feel like that's why you're so good and have been here so long.

8:36The Miz:Oh, thanks. Because you care.

8:38Steph McMahon:Because that passion's there to keep learning.

8:40The Miz:Yeah, I could never, I can't watch, like, you know, they always, back in the day, they had it on at catering, right? The day after PLE, everybody's sat there and ooh and ah and whatever. I don't want people sitting there, oh, man, that was awesome. That was great. I don't want to hear that. I want to be sitting there watching with no noise and then same exact same thing. Like, man, one more punch right there. If I had taken a bump there, if I had went out, that's how you get better. I could have gotten the crowd better. Yes, exactly.

9:10The Undertaker:And then you're listening now. Like even now, like I always listen to a crowd and hear a crowd and Sino, whenever I'd be in the ring with him, he'd be like, dude, you got to listen. And I'm like, I'm listening. I hear him. I know. I know. I am listening. But it's like there's a difference of listening and really understanding what they want from you and what you need to do to get there. And now I can sit there and be like, I'll be in the ring and I'll be like, oh, I'll even think about it in the ring. I'll go, I wonder if I would have done that if that would have got him even better. I could have waited a little longer there.

9:42The Undertaker:But timing, we only have a minute left. I got to go, got to go.

9:46The Miz:Do you find it amazing from when you started to what your thought process was in a match to where you have the ability now, you're in the same match, the same pace and everything else, but now you're so comfortable and you've mastered your craft to such an extent that you can sit there and process in the moment. Yeah. You remember when you first started,

10:06The Undertaker:I was like, oh, oh, oh my God.

10:09The Miz:Do you remember our first match? I was thinking about that. I remember backstage you going, don't forget I'm left-handed. Yeah. Threw me off. I can't. I bet two or three in my career left-handed people. I always remember that was like, don't forget I'm left-handed. The punches come in from a different angle and everything.

10:30The Undertaker:I'll never forget we had a TV match we called nothing. Zero. Yeah. And this was a timed match where someone had to, like, we had to hit a time. Like, it's one of those matches where it's like you had to beat a certain amount of time in order to pin me. Right. To advance on. To advance on. And so I remember I was like, oh, my God. And you're like, I remember you asked me, do you drop kick? And I go, yeah, I can drop kick. In my head, I'm going, I haven't drop kicked in probably three years. Yep. Yes, sir. Because what do we say? What do we say, right? Whenever someone says, do you know how to do something?

11:04The Undertaker:Yep. No problem. 100%. Let's go get them. So you're like, do you do a dropkick? Yes. Yes, sir, I do. And I'll never forget, you called everything. And when I mean everything, he's covering me. Kick out. No kidding. Kick out. I've never had anyone, like, even, like, people that call everything, he'd be like, kick.

11:29Steph McMahon:Somebody might forget. Somebody might forget. We can talk about this now, by the way.

11:32The Undertaker:It's pretty cool because there's Unreal on Netflix, which gives the whole thing up. So I imagine this is probably rubbing you the wrong way of us talking like this.

11:45The Miz:I'm in therapy. Oh, wow. Yeah. I understand. I kind of like it. I figured you would.

11:54The Undertaker:Do you want to know the reason I like it, though? is people now understand how hard it is to do what we do and what we are actually doing inside a ring i understand the whole lore of it but i feel like the lores the lure of uh the number one question i got on the real world was is it real or fake right number one question i get in wwe is it real or fake right and and the fact is it it doesn't matter right it's entertainment it is if you're going to watch it you're going to watch it because you're entertained and it's fun and it's entertaining and the storylines and the larger-than-life characters.

12:29The Undertaker:And nowadays, I don't think people care as much as they used to.

12:33The Miz:Yeah. I don't really think – I did this discussion recently with people. I don't think even back in the – I don't think people like genuinely thought like, all right, this is all – it's all a shoot. I kind of thought you were dead. People genuinely –

12:49Steph McMahon:I kind of thought you were a dead guy. When you came out, I was scared as a child.

12:53The Undertaker:No, I mean, I get that. As a child, I was scared, yes. So I believed.

13:00The Miz:Well, I know, but as a child. Sure. But I'm talking about, again, our demographic now is, you know, it's a very wide demographic. I don't think anyone didn't understand what wrestling is, unless you are a child.

13:15Steph McMahon:I don't know. The whole McCool family thought.

13:17The Miz:Well, they still think.

13:18Steph McMahon:Okay. Okay. Okay.

13:20The Miz:I mean, they watched you work, right?

13:24Steph McMahon:But I legitimately thought the McMahon family, well, and then they might be, but like cuckoo. I thought they were cuckoo from watching them on TV. Like I believed everything that they were doing was actually who they were.

13:35The Undertaker:But also the 18 to 34-year-old men that are so-called like in the know, what's the number one question you guys get asked? Exactly. Is it real or is it fake? Hey, when that guy did this or when they did this, did it really happen? Yeah.

13:49The Miz:And that was always, like when I approached a match, and I get all the entertainment value, but my goal when I put a match together is have one moment. Have a moment within the match where all of that gets thrown out. Like I wanted one moment where that was real. And then you've got them hooked. if you have somebody that believes that, I don't care what you say. Take care you just smashed him. That's legit. Now what? That's my only problem. Everyone understands what we do. Again, I am notoriously old school, but it's not like I don't care for it in the sense like, oh, man, we gave up the business.

14:42The Miz:Come on. Everybody knows where that is. But there is. I don't want to know personally I don't want to know how the magician cuts the girl in half yeah

14:51The Undertaker:right I want to think about it magician like so like I've heard this analogy of like you know we're like magicians out there but like the magician there there's a lot that goes on into it but with us I feel like it's so much more like WWE has prepared me for everything I'm talking like going on podcasts, hosting, acting, improv, anything that comes my way, WWE has prepared me for that because of what we do inside the ring and people don't understand that. People look at it as like, I could do that. It's like, no, you couldn't.

15:27The Miz:Yeah, exactly. And all of us literally go,

15:30The Undertaker:it's a lot tougher than what you think and it's as simple as run the ropes. Tell me how you do. If you want to come back tomorrow after running the ropes. I remember Tough Enough. When we did Tough Enough, you guys did Diva Search. Your first day of, I remember a guy quit because we ran the ropes and took like 300 bumps. We took 300 bumps, got quit. And this guy was like an army ranger. It's just so different. The toughest of the tough. And all of us were looking at each other just drained. And the goal of back then, you were there, Deep South Wrestling. What was the goal? The goal was to get people to quit.

16:09The Undertaker:To absolutely destroy us. Absolutely. That's always been the mantra. If you really wanted it, if you really wanted it, you would make it. And by the way, we're going to put you through so much stuff down here that when you get up there, you're prepared for everything. That makes zero sense.

16:22Steph McMahon:Did y 'all like carry the logs in the parking lot and have to go around the whole mall, like a huge log on our shoulders and just go around the mall? We'd have to push the truck around. Push the truck around the thing. Push the truck around like a hell. Did y 'all have to stand on the top turnbuckle?

16:34The Undertaker:Yes, do squats.

16:35Steph McMahon:Had to do squats on the turnbuckle while people were hitting the bros. Criss-crossing.

16:38The Undertaker:While doing criss-crosses in the ring.

16:40Steph McMahon:And in my head, I'm going, I don't understand why. Just why. Why? And also saying, like, I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to get knocked down. I know what you're trying to do.

16:50The Undertaker:And you didn't want to sit on the bleachers with all the sick kids. Everyone was always sick. Everyone had a, I got to go sit on the bleachers. I prided myself. I was like, I will never sit on those freaking bleachers over there.

17:05Steph McMahon:And we would roll until, oh my gosh, and gosh forbid somebody come in with a hangover. We were rolling 500 times until somebody puked.

17:12The Undertaker:And then remember the 20-minute, we would have to, he'd come in, give a guy five hip tosses, five arm drags, five, and they would blow up drill. And then Bill would get in and lay on you.

17:22Steph McMahon:Just lay on top of you. Oh my God. Were you there when Khali came in? Because once Bill would lay on you, then he'd bring Khali to lay on you too. Mm-hmm. After you're completely blown up. Khali? Just because. Mm-hmm.

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19:25The Undertaker:I remember waking up every morning at Deep South going one more day. yep one more day you can do this one more day you can do this one more you did but it never got like the physicality got easier a little bit i guess when you come up here but mentally you are drained at all times because you're trying to get over you're trying to do your best trying to do everything you possibly can to show your worth and that you could put asses in seats right and then you're like you know you have one bad match or you have or someone doesn't believe in you or something happened there's so much stuff that goes involved that takes you every which way like when you were coming up like how did you get into that like what was your mindset because obviously you're tall you're big but then you have to so i had to weed my way through like

20:13The Miz:from from day one like i had to weed weed my way through the the old timers right the the guys that were on the way down that were a little bit disgruntled and having to put the kid over once they decided that they were going to go with me, then it's like, oh, man, we've got to put this guy over and do this and do that. There were a few, but those are the kind of things. And then dealing with some of the guys that were above me, the politics there, right, when I started to dabble into some main event stuff, man. Then that's when you get a whole other level of politicking. Because when you're at the top of the mountain, there's only one place to go.

20:55The Miz:Yeah, there's only one way to go, and ain't nobody want to give it up, right? I mean, so yeah, it's difficult. And you have to, you know, back then, anybody really give you advice, you really had to sit there and dissect it and discern, like, is this advice going to help me or is it intended to hurt me, right? Because you'll hear things sometimes, and you're like, that doesn't really sound right but this is this is you know this is a top top guy and then you have to then you have to play that game like oh okay yeah he's trying to he's trying to squash this a little bit right and then you have to deal with okay well now what are you going to do like you're not there on that rung yet but you're you you have to work with that guy and then you have to decipher how much juice does this guy have okay this is what he's telling me I'm not going to do that so I got put in a lot of situations early on in those first two three years of like like a lot of quiet moments of like I know I know this guy's trying to you know he's trying to do something to make you know derail my ascension here and I've got to figure out a way to not blatantly go against him, but also I can't do that.

22:28The Miz:It's difficult. Back to your point, once you kind of master it and you master the psychology of not in-ring psychology, but the dressing room psychology back then, then you're like, okay, right? Honestly, I'm glad that it happened because it helped me later on dealing when I was in that position. It was like, you know, it really left a bad taste in my mouth. And I didn't want to say that. I didn't want people coming up to have to deal with the same thing.

23:01The Undertaker:I'm the same exact way. Like when I was at Deep South, people are like, do you have any regrets or do you have anything? Like I'm proud of what I was able to do at Deep South. And I imagine you are too. Like when you had to go through that much pain and agony or whatever, it helped groom me into what I needed to be in WWE. And it prepared me for what I needed to do. So I know some people have gotten flack, you know, trainers like Bill have gotten flack. I'm happy that I was trained by Bill. I was happy that I was trained by Al Snow because they taught me what I needed to know to get to here, to this level.

23:36The Undertaker:and then working my way up. And I've had the opportunity to be in the ring with some of the greats. You, Shawn Michaels, you know, you look at all these people that I've been able to force, John Cena, Randy Orton, like gotten to like harness me. Like I've gotten to do live events with John Cena and Randy Orton for numerous times. Like that is unbelievable. Like the amount of stuff that you learn from those people because they've taken it from, you know, the Triple H's and you as well. and Kurt Angles and all those greats, they've taken those, and now they're passing it along and passing it along.

24:12The Undertaker:Now I feel like it's my turn to pass it along and make sure that what has been taught keeps getting taught. Right, yes.

24:20The Miz:You know, that whole, I think the Bill, DeMott, and Al Snow, I mean, that was just, that was always the process. It was a generation, right? Well, I mean, that was the way it was done for generations. And whether right or wrong, they're trying to weed out the weak, right? Because you can't come up here and be weak. The grind is too hard. It's too hard physically. It's too hard mentally. So that's where that came from. Now, I think the process obviously is way different now. Way different. Right? The locker room's different. Everything. I mean, the process, I mean, it makes me proud in an extent to know where I came from to where we are today.

25:02The Miz:where we're actively recruiting athletes and then they have this incredible facility to go to and be taught in a manner.

25:14The Undertaker:They're getting taught the right way.

25:15The Miz:They're getting taught the right way. There is, I got to walk this line. I know exactly where you're going. I got to walk this line. I know where you're going,

25:23The Undertaker:because there's a part of you that literally goes, I wish some people were still getting that a little bit.

25:28The Miz:You need a little something that gives you a little more edge, right? Right? That's the fine line. Does it need to be the extreme that I went through and you went through? No, no, absolutely not. But there is that sense of true struggle. Like for me, once I decided I left school, right? I left school. I had a basketball scholarship. I want to be a professional wrestler, right? This is my passion now, and everyone tells me, like, this is the stupidest thing. Are you crazy? Are you stupid? Starting with my parents. I'll never forget my dad's son. All you have to do is put a silly ball through a hoop and you are getting an education for free.

26:15I know, dad, but this is what I want to do.

26:18The Miz:Son, I understand that. You get you get to go to school for free to play a game. I understand, dad, but this is that's not I mean, I'm not there now. So it started there, which they both of them became obviously my biggest fans and very proud, but that was a tough conversation to have. Because everyone told me, you're stupid, you're making a mistake, then I refused any help whatsoever. After they realized. Put a chip on your shoulder. Yeah, I put a huge chip on my shoulder. And although they were like, all right, do you need anything? You know, you guys don't believe in what I'm doing. I don't want I don't want any help.

27:03The Miz:Right. So I end up, you know, there's times where I'm sleeping in my car and I'm, you know, I'm bouncing all these clubs and busting heads and doing all this stuff just to scrape up enough money to to go to wrestling school and go to these shows where you lose money. And that gave me an edge, though, because I had a struggle. I had a real, real struggle to get my foot in the door because I wasn't a legacy. We're talking late 80s here. It helped to be a legacy.

27:38The Undertaker:It wasn't even huge back then, right? Are we talking WrestleManias yet?

27:44The Miz:WrestleMania, I think they had WrestleMania 3. I started at 7. They were around WrestleMania 3.

27:51The Undertaker:So you saw what could become. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

27:55The Miz:Yeah. And to be completely honest, I was a WCW guy. Oh. It was real wrestling. Got it. Got it. Okay. Right? I just didn't care for the over-top characters. I was like, oh, man. I was a flair and a four-horseman guy. But back to, like, obviously we don't need that kind of struggle. but there is something that I think is missing with the edge of when people do get up here.

28:24Steph McMahon:Like a little grit.

28:24The Miz:A grit. That's a good, yeah, that's a good, grit is a good deal. And I don't know how you create that. Maybe you don't need to now in this day and age, but to me, a lot of times you can, you see it in the product, right? And just the little bit of struggle that you have to go through, it translates to what you do.

28:42The Undertaker:It's funny you say that because it's like you see boxers, right? when they're first coming in and they they get that and then they get to the championship once they get championship get a little notoriety get a little this they start falling off it's like you saw it with every popular you know boxer or ufc fighter when they start getting money and fame they kind of lose almost that edge where they're used to like used to fighting in like small circles and that kind of stuff i mean hell rocky did a whole rocky three or what is no rocky five russian yeah i mean the russian was in a facility and then rocky was like rocky four was like in he was like training in like the woods right i mean it's like that grit is what you're talking about

29:24The Miz:like i completely understand that i've always like with boxing that's a great deal like i don't know how if you've made i will just you you make a hundred million dollar payoff right like tyson How do you motivate yourself to go to camp for 16 weeks or however long your boxing can and starve yourself and go through the grind of that? And you know that, like, I don't have to do this. There has to be something really, really special. You have to be able to maintain that desire, which has got to be incredibly hard. I mean, even for us in our industry, I think sometimes it's like, you know what, I'm doing pretty good.

30:15The Miz:Big news, WWE and sports fans. The world's number one sports fan festival, Fanatics Fest, is making its return to New York City. Fanatics is bringing you closer to the leagues, teams, superstars, and athletes you love across four action-packed days in July. Meet your favorite WWE superstars. Get your hands on exclusive merch. Catch live podcasts and interact with the biggest names in sports. Tickets are on sale now. And fans of the podcast get a 10 % discount by using code TAKER10 at checkout. I didn't really put it over, but the fact that you still are watching, you know, watching tapes, you know, what are you in?

30:58The Miz:You're like 38th year now? Wow. Oh, sorry.

31:03The Undertaker:I think it's 20 years in WWE, but I've been doing wrestling for like 23, 24 years. Something like that. Believe it or not, I did do indies for like three years. I could see that. Yeah. I could see you as an indie guy. What is that supposed to mean? Huh? I mean.

31:20Steph McMahon:I'm just asking. What is that supposed to mean?

31:22The Undertaker:I mean, you were told earlier. When I was 21, I started at UPW, Ultimate Pro Wrestling. I won my first challenge off the real world. And the money I won, I invested in wrestling school, paid$2 ,500 to start wrestling school at UPW. And then I did acting classes, improv classes, got a nutritionist. I basically paid my rent. I used all the money for that just to invest in this. And then, you know, WWE didn't want any part of it because I was on the real world. And back then, when you're on a reality show, nobody wanted you. This was before Tough Enough, before all those shows. It was just real world survivor and I think big brother maybe.

32:07The Undertaker:And so we were like the redheaded stepchild. We were the no talent hacks that were on television just because we lived our lives in front of a camera. We really have talent. So I said, okay. So then I went to, did the challenge, won that, and I started wrestling. And like, I was in college. I was in Miami of Ohio. I was doing pretty well, business classes. and I just, I told my dad, I was like, yeah, I'm, I'm going to move to LA and become a wrestler. It's like, excuse me. Yeah. I'm just going to, I'm going to leave Cleveland, you know, my home that I've been living in. I'm going to leave Miami of Ohio and I'm going to go to California and I'm going to become a wrestler.

32:49The Undertaker:And it was just, it was not a good, it was not a good and like positive, like you can do it. I believe in you. It was like, that's the stupidest thing I've heard yeah that's dumb what are you kidding me you could be the king of my dad told me i could be the king of cleveland and i was like yeah he told me i could be mike don't you get it mike you could be the king of cleveland everyone knows who you are you're off the real world biggest show on cable television on mtv every time we walk out people are knowing exactly who you are be the king of cleveland and i was like i don't want to be the king of cleveland i want to I want to venture out.

33:22The Undertaker:I want to try to do this. And so I went to UPW, and I will never forget, this ring, the spring underneath would always go crooked. And so there was no give. So we'd always have to go underneath and just kick it.

33:38The Miz:Nice.

33:39The Undertaker:And kick the thing so it would do it. And then I learned from a ton of people actually stopped by there. Ballard Brothers, Tom Howard, Samoa Joe, Hardcore Kid, Frankie Kazarian, all came there. DDP, Diamond Dallas Page came there. I got to tag with him once at a Galaxy show in front of like 500 people. But I actually did some stuff for IZW in Arizona, and I would perform at festivals. or like you know there'd be like not festivals but like uh what is it what do they have the like fest uh carnivals you know there's like 200 people there most drunk and not really caring what we're doing or whatever but it was just it was learning yeah it was learning the art of professional wrestling until tough enough came along and i i wanted to try out they wouldn't let me because i was on mtv and tough enough was on mtv so they were like you can't be on two mtv shows i was like but i'm on the challenge in real world like yeah but those are sister shows this is not part of that all right fine i'll just keep doing it the right way and so i went on tough enough uh finally when it went to the cw and it was part of smackdown's actual show and so once i got into that i was like oh man but but before that uh before trying out i called uh simon dean do you remember simon dean yeah uh i called him because he was part of upw and i said hey i want respect in the business like you know and i know if i go on tough enough i won't get any respect like i didn't do it the right way and he goes it's for a million dollars like it's for a million dollar wwe contract you know how many how many opportunities do you think you're going to get right like to to get into this is your opportunity this is your time and so i said okay i'm gonna i'm going to try out i'm going to do it because i tried to go to japan they wouldn't take me like every time i tried going to zero one they would come in and they we would wrestle we'd do a match i think my match would go great it wasn't but i thought at the time i was really special you know and so but uh but yeah they never japan would never take me so i was like ah i mean this is the opportunity so tried out and then gave it full fourth and uh didn't win but got a contract to go to developmental.

35:58Steph McMahon:I don't think there's a better story, like literally, like a more beautiful story. Oh, come on.

36:02The Undertaker:Your story's great, isn't it?

36:03Steph McMahon:No, but I mean, everything you did from real world to now, like you literally did everything to get here. Like you, everything you, even on the show, you were cutting promos, right? Isn't that where Miz TV actually started?

36:17The Undertaker:Well, Miz TV was Paul Heyman.

36:19Steph McMahon:Okay.

36:19The Undertaker:That was at OVW.

36:20Steph McMahon:But you were cutting

36:22The Undertaker:promos of Miz.

36:23Steph McMahon:Yeah, all day long

36:24The Undertaker:on real world. The weird part with real world was there was never like my friends never called me miz like in high school right it was always mike right you know and so when i got onto the real world i just got uncomfortable i was in a new place new york melting pot like i was with seven strangers i never met before and no one liked me because i'm loud like believe it or not what believe it or not i'm loud i'm obnoxious really and yeah yeah believe it or not yeah people when i first meet people people don't like me

36:55Steph McMahon:come on shocking i know hey but the right one did yeah exactly exactly uh so i'm not sure if she liked me in the beginning okay fair enough i think i aggravated her the first time she came

37:07The Undertaker:on diva search i she started cutting a promo in front uh in english but she couldn't speak it i remember and so i just i said can you just not give us a cookie cutter answer and i didn't know that she practiced this speech for like days like she was like practicing in english days and i just went out there and it was just she started cutting it like i'm going to give a hundred and ten can you save us the cookie cutter answer and just give us a real answer and she didn't speak english so that was our first interaction and you can see it on uh on the diva search yeah it was it was fun but man you had a little digging to do right to get a little digging yeah but then the next one i said hey just cut a promo in french and she i don't know what she said but it worked oh my god it was the sexiest thing i believed everything she was very mad yeah whatever she said she was very angry with me but you're good with it you loved it i was very

38:05The Miz:good that's so funny yeah so in the beginning i think you were telling me that so who did someone actually tell you that you're never going to make it in this in this business i think everyone told

38:15The Undertaker:me i was never going to make it in this business were you not the one that told him you could have been you could have been the person hey you i never come on i don't i don't know if you actually told me verbatim that i was never gonna make it in this business never would i do that no i don't think you know you actually you actually didn't you were actually very uh you know it's weird a lot of people get a lot of uh like jbl gets a lot of flack for like bullying and like was an asshole or whatever i'm not sure if we're allowed to swear but he gets a lot of that it wasn't really him he was the person that would take me aside and go hey kid you're doing a good job you know what keep doing this keep doing this do this this this and this and this this but keep it up you know you you would be like we would have to have a hundred shots of jack but you know we would literally like sit there and you would you would educate me and i would just sit there and be like uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh like it was more the people around that weren't in the spots right yeah right You see what I'm saying?

39:16The Undertaker:Like, it was the people that didn't have, that weren't solidified, that were, like, trying to be like, hey, watch me get this real-world kid, right? I'm going to really stiff him tonight. Watch this. You know, that kind of stuff. But you guys were, like, if anything, it would push me more. Right? Yeah. Like, I mean, I still remember to this day our first match. I remember seeing your entrance. I remember I like I remember you throwing me through a table and me thinking please get up please get up please get up because your move right you know you know last ride you got to get up you got to and I was I never really did that right so I was like all right just gonna push off his legs and flip my thing up and I remember I almost didn't get up but you just muscled me up boom and boom and I was like in my head I'm going yes I did it bam oh

40:13The Miz:it was good going up the landings were a little rough sometimes but i'll take that all day and the chokes oh man what do you say the easier you go up the easier you come down yeah yeah that was i always told people that you had a lot did you

40:29Steph McMahon:get a lot of backlash just obviously just from being on reality tv because i know i mean god Even Marissa, I'm sure.

40:35The Undertaker:Yeah, I think it was, it's a couple things, right? So coming into WWE at the time, if you're off of a reality show or anything, people all think you're 15 Minutes of Fame, and you have to prove yourself. Not only do you have to, and it's understandable on why you have to prove yourself, right, in WWE, because if you don't prove yourself, we think you're just going to go to the top and leave. Right. But we need you. If you make it to the top, we need you because you're the person that everyone's relying on. you're that you you have all the pressure you have the ratings if you have the title on your shoulders like like i always told cody like when he first won i go you feel it yeah you feel that weight it's not the belt it's it's the pressure of the title and you've always had the pressure because even without the title you're still the undertaker right and you still have to put on amazing incredible uh storylines as well like you're very vital important you leave someone better be able to your you better have prepared someone to take that spot and if you don't then that and if that person's like you thought he was there and then he leaves how many times have we had people where they've invested yeah and they give them win after win and they just leave yeah and it's like wait a second we need we needed that like the whole team like as much as we're individuals fighting for we are a team it's a it's a valiant team effort to try to make it the best show possible from the front first show to life if the first match sucks guess what you've just set a tone for the entire show now that second match is like oh man that first match darn it i gotta get this and if they and if they build it build it build it and then by the main event you're like you guys just did everything like what are we supposed to do now you know it's like it's it's it's such an art form on what we do and how we do it and how the the matches are set up and how the superstars are created people are always like asking me like how do you know who's getting over i go listen and you go yeah but they cut a promo crowd seems pretty yeah but you start seeing the shirts you start seeing where the stuff you start seeing do the chants you start seeing you know people gravitate towards them nowadays you can look on the internet and you can see who's trending what's going on you can feel an energy i mean take jay usso for instance last year i mean we saw you know a rise yeah in a in a superstar like going from a tag team is so difficult that to being a single star and he has been not to be able to do it but propel himself to do it and now he's in that spot where he has to keep it because he doesn't he doesn't have the title.

43:19The Undertaker:It's, it's, it's, it's, you know, when you got the rocket and you got the title, it's cool. When you get the title off of you, you have to continue. And that's when my first time I had my first title I had, I didn't know how to keep it without the rocket.

43:32Steph McMahon:Yeah. You know what I mean?

43:33The Undertaker:I didn't know how to keep that steam. I didn't, I didn't know, like, I was like, wait, I don't have the title. I don't have the rocket underneath me anymore. And then I just started losing and losing and losing. And sometimes losing, losing matters, but you can make it to where it doesn't right and i didn't know how to make it to where it didn't and it took me a couple years to figure that all out yeah that makes sense no it makes total sense okay i don't know do you

43:57The Miz:remember our conversation at my hall of fame induction we had a we had a discussion where i really gave you i felt my props that i'd never really was on camera wasn't it wasn't i hope so

44:11Steph McMahon:i thought it was i thought i think he didn't remember in my head i was going i was going

44:17The Undertaker:is there camera around please god i'm gonna let you in on something too so about it's a solid

44:23Steph McMahon:six seven years ago six seven i thought you were gonna do it um we were down at the performance center it may have been longer than that yeah may have been longer than that but we were in front of all the kids he was talking to him and i was just kind of peeking around listening he said and he kind of stopped. He's like, he goes, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but

44:44The Miz:you don't have to give all the details. Please, give the details.

44:49Steph McMahon:And it's like he was struggling with it. And I'm thinking, what is he about to say? He goes, okay, I'm just going to say it. The Miz, he is the guy. Every last one of y 'all need to study what he is doing. He is the top hill. He is master. And he just gave you your flowers and it was beautiful, but he really struggled at first. Oh, wow.

45:07The Undertaker:I love to see you struggle talking great about me. She learned that Hall of Fame when we were talking. I was in awe. So he's done it a few times. He's done it a few times.

45:17The Miz:Well, I had to credit. I have said it. In the confines of the PC, I may have put you over a little bit. But I felt at that point, I didn't know how often I was going to be around. And I was all in my feels that day. And I saw you.

45:36Steph McMahon:He was not in his feels at the PC. He was just like, he gets people to hate him, and he gets people to hate him no matter what he's doing, whatever storyline is, whoever your tag partner is.

45:45The Miz:That is a true gift. Major props. It is a true gift. I mean, you can't teach what you have. Yeah. Oh, thanks. No, I mean, really, you embraced, I think you embraced being a bad guy, and it's difficult for people to do that. It really is. I don't know why. Everybody wants that adulation. But if you can tap into it and be comfortable with it, like you've met, and to her credit, Maurice as well. But you just said it can't be taught.

46:22Steph McMahon:Have you met his dad?

46:25The Miz:Yeah, that's where I get it from. And have you met Maurice's mom?

46:30Steph McMahon:And Marcia.

46:31The Miz:But I'm just saying, though. But when you get here, everybody kind of starts to want that. They want that. You get it. Obviously, you get it. It's just from a completely different perspective. And you've embraced it. And you don't try to. I've seen you on several occasions. Because in this day and age, the heels are cool. And people want to get with you. And I've seen you shut that down.

46:55The Undertaker:I don't want to be cool. No. If it's my job to get people. because my job is to get this this baby face over like this and if the baby face is brand new and they don't really know him and i have all the equity because i've been here for 20 years it is my job to make that audience absolutely despise me and i'm not going to do it so like now like sometimes i'll be like i'm not going to do anything cool in my match nothing cool because i don't want them to cheer a cool move i'm just going to do dirty stuff mean stuff and hopefully this crowd will start understanding oh wow i want this guy to win because that guy's such a jerk um and so now it's it's been tough this past couple like i would say past year uh because now i feel like the audience kind of knows me not just from wwe but all the other adventures ms and mrs dance with stars whatever it real world whatever it may be that now they just know the work ethic and they know what it takes to do that and what I'm doing.

47:58The Undertaker:And then I come on podcasts and I put everyone over and I'm like, ah, well, this is going to make my job really hard tonight. You know? Yeah.

48:05The Miz:I get that, but it is, it's, uh, I mean, it really is a testament to, to be, and I, to, to the, to the fan reaction now, I think it's just, it's simple appreciation really. Yeah. It's appreciation for your craft and what you've done with what, what you have and been able to tap in that way i just think it's the nature now of the business like they'd really truly appreciate like dang man especially when you come in plus years yeah and especially when

48:33Steph McMahon:you have a celebrity come in because your match with bad bunny i mean that whole card i that match was yeah oh thank you it was my favorite like it was i was blown away and that's kudos to you

48:47The Undertaker:I got a lot of credit for that. I don't think John Morrison, Damian Priest, as well as Bad Bunny get enough credit for it. Sure. Because I remember Bad Bunny training. And this was during like COVID times where we were at the baseball field in Tampa. And every time I would come to the show, he was there early in the ring.

49:10Steph McMahon:I love that.

49:11The Undertaker:And he would be practicing. Then he would go sing at the Grammys. He'd be right back in the ring. he'd go to SNL and he would have the title the 24-7 title that we as much as like it's a prestigious title whatever it was like a fun title right it was a haha title but he would have it and hold it and sing with on SNL with that title in his arm and I was like man this dude just loves what we do and gets it and he wanted to do something special he wanted to do something great I remember they were teaching him he wanted to learn like lockups and headlocks and I was like dude i'm not doing any of that and so and so when he was doing all that i was like you know what everyone out of the ring i just gave him heat for like 15 minutes and i go sell this because

49:58Steph McMahon:this is what you're going to be doing a lot of and he did so good and the thing is i also wanted i

50:02The Undertaker:feel like a lot of times celebrities we hide them you know we hide their flaws whatever i was like we're not hiding you if you are literally going to be doing the entire intro you're going to be involved in every aspect of this match because no one will expect it and everyone will expect you to just come and hit a clothesline and hit this and hit that it's boring right it's boring they want to see you the reason that this crowd is into it and we have developed this storyline he let us like spray paint his five hundred thousand dollar car real spray paint what i remember yes and it was his idea and i was like that's i was like bunny i was like man dude like i'm a little nervous and he goes no no you you spray paint it and i go dude you do he goes we'll have someone wash it afterwards i go it might not come off he goes it'll be all right i'll be like oh my god this guy this guy's in it's in so me and morrison spray painted this 500 000 i think it was like a a bugatti like it was yes it was like yes and we're like spray paint every week he'd come in that car and i was like oh my god spray paint it and then i remember ellis just being like like as soon as are you done he was standing on the side with like uh like before oh my god he was like waiting he's like three two one we're done like i mean he got it all off and everything but still that that's how into it bad bunny was and then like that bunny had the the happy feet right uh when we were doing we were rehearsing before the the day before i was like dude your feet are happy man just remember just relax think about how like is a person doing this you know when when they're strong and they're the and he's like no no and he's like okay good note so in the match he started creating stuff in there like he was like doing like he'd do something to be like awesome i'm like yes the in-betweens that's where you get the audience that's when the audience knows hey this guy this guy gets it this guy's part of us this is what it is i remember training logan and like as much as bad bunny trained logan trained as well but logan was the fastest i've ever seen anyone pick up wwe in my life i've never and i like i I know I've said this before, but it still blows my mind how good he is and how good he can be.

52:27The Undertaker:Right. Like, I do feel he's the future of this business. And I know. And the funny part is he's doing my gimmick. Oh, that's what I was about to ask. My freaking gimmick. That's what I was about to ask you. It's my gimmick. And he's doing it. And it's like, oh, it's, when he said, yeah, I'm an outsider, I was like, I wonder who the first outsider was. I was on the real world coming to WWE when it was hard to do that. Now you're a YouTuber and we applaud it. Oh, he's in here. But our audience won't. But everyone else is like, yeah. But I was like, oh man, this dude's stealing my gimmick. And he's doing a really good job of it too.

53:05The Undertaker:I don't know when he first started. He's like, man, I don't want to be a heel. I go, come on, dude. You don't have a choice. You don't have a choice, yeah. You are going to be a heel. And in this match, if you remember, it was me versus Logan. it was heel versus heel and uh we had to like almost not like flip it but in the match you know when you're feeling something yeah you know i could either lean it if one of us is getting cheered like in my mind they're going into this match with logan i was like if one of us is getting cheered we're going into that right because it'll be too hard to and this is a lot of things going on in your mind while you're doing a match well and this is it at summer slam like this is like a big big match right and it's in front of a huge crowd and a stadium and so i was like all right in this match what they're gonna cheer someone they're just going to and whoever it is that's what we're going with and i it was like they were cheering me in the beginning and i was like all right we're going with this but i bet i bet that they'll be cheering for you by the end and so he did the when he did the uh no one expected him to do the the splash off the the rope onto the table i actually asked him i was like do you think you could do that and he goes yeah i think so and then we rehearsed it up at stanford uh we didn't have the the the table but we had the crash pads we stacked up we put it really far away and i was like it's about this far he looked at it he goes i can do that and he did it and i went let me do it a little further away just in case and they did it again and i was like this dude is a superior athlete like he is unbelievable and he understands the psychology so cut to now looking at him when him telling me i want to be a baby face like guess what you're a heel dude and i was right and he is a heel and he's doing a phenomenal job at it and he can really i mean the world is his oyster yeah whatever this kid wants to do, he can do.

55:04The Undertaker:Because he's that good at it. At everything. All facets of it.

55:07The Miz:Yeah. That's why I hope he doesn't get in. And he loves this. Yeah. That's why I hope he doesn't get in his own way with the baby face wanting to be a good guy. No, that was in the beginning.

55:14The Undertaker:That was like first match. You know, like, I think it was me and, I think it was me and him versus Ray and Dom. And it's funny. Dom as a baby face now. Like, can you even see it? No. Can you even see that? Like, remember, he was cleanly shaven. short hair just a smile on his face so happy to be here now you look at him he's just eddie just like a dirt bag yeah talk about honing a craft wow and locking in and being able to utilize live events to find your character and develop your character and then be aligned with people like finn baller and and damian priest and and putting him in that judgment day where you can he can literally find his own way with these people that can really elevate him and teach him talk about like elevating even like the vision now and looking at braun breaker like it gives me goosebumps seeing like these these young guys getting put in the proper positions to succeed and really be able to hone it in and lock it in because it's to their credit you can be put in

56:19The Miz:the position but you can fail right really taking out that position yeah if you could put in that position too soon yeah it's a that second climb is a lot harder than the first one oh yeah especially

56:30The Undertaker:And then even the third and fourth and fifth climb, man.

56:34The Miz:Yes.

56:35The Undertaker:You know what I mean? No, absolutely. You know what I mean? It's like you get the title, that's a climb. And then you get the title taken off of you, that's a climb. Then it's like finding the climb back to getting the title again. Then you're like, okay, what I learned on my first title, how do I make it even better? It's just, it's a never-ending revolving evolution of your mind and your brain and trying to make this product the best you possibly can for the audience that we see out there.

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58:16The Undertaker:Can I ask you a question? Sure. When did you know you were done?

58:22Steph McMahon:18 different times.

58:24The Undertaker:No, no, no. And I'll ask you the same question. When did you know you were, and you're not really done yet. I don't know if you are.

58:30Steph McMahon:I mean, mine was a little different situation. I don't know.

58:33The Undertaker:Are you done or you're not, you're still abled and willing and ready to go?

58:39Steph McMahon:If they called me, I would feel comfortable saying yes, I can 1000 % do it. Yeah. Okay.

58:47The Undertaker:So we're not done. I could do that. Okay. Great.

58:49Steph McMahon:Phone call.

58:50The Undertaker:We're waiting for it.

58:51Steph McMahon:But hey. I'm done.

58:52The Undertaker:We know you're done. I'm done. We know you're done. When did you know?

58:57The Miz:So I knew. So those last few years for me were like a struggle. Can I ask your age?

59:07The Undertaker:Those last few years, how old were you?

59:09The Miz:I think I retired when I was 55, I think. Yeah. Okay. And I tell you, I really hadn't talked about this a whole lot, but I was so envious of Sean, right? When he retired, we did 25 and 26, WrestleMania 25 and 26. And he walked away at 26, the most content, at peace. He was at 25. He knew, like, what else is left, right? What's left for me to do? And then we came back with the retirement match. And seeing the peace that he was in, it was always in my head. Like, man, that's what, when my time comes, and we're the same age, when my time comes, that's how I want to walk away, right? And then, you know, as you get older, and at this point now, I'm only working two, three, four times a year.

1:00:11The Miz:And it's - Which might be harder. It is very much harder. The older that I got, it becomes extremely difficult. Yeah, you lose the calluses. You lose the calluses. You lose calluses. You lose timing. You lose, even although I wasn't taking trauma on my body, you still lose, just father time is undefeated. But my mind, my mind's eye had that envisioned that match that I want to go out on, right? I want to go out on a five-star, hang my six shooters up on the mantle, say, kiss my ass, follow that, I'm done. That's what I was looking for. And I don't think I was really honest with myself, knowing with the injuries and everything else that was going on that I wasn't going to be able to do that.

1:01:03The Miz:And I thought my best last shot was going to be with AJ. COVID hits, right? That match, the Boneyard match, is supposed to happen in the ring in a stadium. COVID hits. All that gets shut down. So, again, I'm having to think in my – and that camp that I always called, like those last few years that I was – I'm going into camp to get ready for mania, right? There was a strict regiment that we did. Always, you know, cardio had to be – that's the biggest thing is the cardio. Like when you're not getting reps. And it's a different cardio too.

1:01:40The Undertaker:It is a whole. It's not running on a treadmill. No, no, no, no. No, it's different. You cannot emulate it. No, you can't. You have to be in the ring.

1:01:47The Miz:Yes. And not having those reps, getting older, it just became increasingly difficult. Plus the injuries. You know, this is my knee injuries, my back injuries, everything else. And not giving myself any grace with that either. Yeah. Right? Because the people don't care. Because we need you. Well, yeah. Yeah. And the people don't care. Right? I mean, they expect when they pay money to see the underdog, they expect a certain quality. And so I'm trying to process all of those things, put that kind of pressure on myself, and still thinking I can get myself to where I need to be. I can do this. And it was well on my way when I started training for that match with AJ.

1:02:33The Miz:Everything was going, hey, I'm feeling good. Everything's moving around. Then COVID hits, everything shuts down. We get stuck in Florida. We spent, I don't know, a couple of months in Florida, right? But there's no, you know, now I'm away from my home gym and everything else. We're stuck in a condo on the beach in Florida. And, you know, the PC shut down. Everything is, you know, so I'm just like, oh, crap. So that, long story short, we get into the Boneyard match. And I think it's probably three or four in the morning. and we're still shooting, and it hit me. Really? Yeah.

1:03:18Steph McMahon:Which is weird because I remember you saying that. You did have clarity for some ungodly reason. You're like, I'm done. And I'd heard it a million times before.

1:03:26The Undertaker:So you've heard it many times. Many times. Did you believe him this time?

1:03:29Steph McMahon:I believed it that time.

1:03:30The Undertaker:What was it?

1:03:32Steph McMahon:I don't know. Was it the way he said it? When he said it, it was because when it happened, and I never really heard him say it, like how he said it, like how he delivered it. It was just I could tell that he meant like that he had peace about it. All the other times it was like I was like, okay.

1:03:49The Miz:I don't know that I had peace, but I knew what the reality was.

1:03:52Steph McMahon:But you were clear. I was clear.

1:03:53The Miz:Like, okay, you got everything out of this body that you could possibly get. My mind and my heart, man, I would still be doing it right now. but in that moment at three or four o 'clock in the morning it hit me it's like dude you you're done

1:04:11The Undertaker:and for what it's worth that was a five-star match in my book

1:04:16The Miz:cinematic matches i love them i know i'm very proud of that and obviously uh you know it's it's another part of the you know of the career and the in the you know the some of the really cool things that I got to do in my run. Um, but obviously I would have loved to also have had a match with AJ Styles in the ring. Right. That's why I came back that last time. That was the whole reason he taught me, you know, he called me and said, Hey man, come on. If you got one left in you, can it be me? And I was like, damn, he's going to do it. He's the one guy that I didn't, you know, and he is special. He is.

1:04:56The Miz:And so, but that's where it ended up. And that's how it, yeah i was just like it's over oh i still had another another hour and a half of filming to do but yeah but but i knew like i knew when i walked off that set or not the set but wherever the boneyard was at i was like yeah i'm done wow yeah that's crazy so that's amazing so you so you are now you're like the og bro no i'd say randy's the og both of you randy's there and then me i think it's randy than me right now for full-time superstars it's nice it's it's it's crazy i

1:05:32The Undertaker:didn't think i'd ever like when i first came into wwe did you think i would be one of the one of the last ones or did you think i was wanting to be gone in three months i i lost the money i lost the bet yeah to your credit yeah no but you let him back in the locker

1:05:47The Miz:room he did let me back in the locker room back in the locker room you know yeah i don't know i

1:05:54The Undertaker:second guess that decision wow that was one of the happiest moments of my career i would say because when you're kicked out of the locker room there's like there's some people that wanted people to see that i was kicked out of the locker room and would change like in front of i found my own like locker room which was usually in like a broom closet or like in the back or wherever but I didn't want anyone to see me. And it was like six months. I think it was even longer than that. Wow, really? Yeah, it was a long time.

1:06:30The Miz:Because I think at that time, I think the whole thing went down. And I don't know all the story, but it probably started in a live event. And I think at that particular.

1:06:39The Undertaker:It did start at a live event. I ate a piece of chicken over someone's bag. and the way it was brought to the attention was that I was in the locker room throwing chicken everywhere, right? And it was like, I remember, and I kind of dismissed it, I guess you can say, and it probably wasn't the wrong way to do, right? So the person walks in and goes, oh, you're eating chicken over my bag. Like, oh man, I'm sorry, you know? And then another person walks in, oh, you were eating chicken over his bag. Oh yeah, and I knew what was happening. So I literally got up and left because I saw the, oh, it's going to start going here to here to here, and it's going to go.

1:07:20The Undertaker:So let me get out of here. I apologized, walked out. And then I remember I was watching. We used to watch them on VHS tapes, our matches back. Remember that in those days? And so I was watching my match back, and I just hear, it wasn't you. And I got yelled at. Probably the worst I've ever been yelled at in my entire life. And I didn't get kicked out there. I was yelled at. And then that night I went to Chili's and got a gift card. And I gave it to the person. I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to, you know, eat chicken over your bag. Like, you know, oh, man, it's okay, blah, blah, blah.

1:08:03The Undertaker:The person that yelled at me goes, yeah, chewing on a straw. I think you need to be kicked out of the locker room just for live events. Okay, sure, no problem. let me get out of the locker room there we go and my heart sank right then uh the next day was tv i see the person chewing his thing hey you're kicked out of the locker room tv and uh this okay yes sir didn't have to go to uh court by the way which i was shocked i was read i was like oh man i had my jack daniels ready like like i was ready to go it may have behooved you to go to Oh, my God. I don't know. I don't know. But yeah, then I would find places to go.

1:08:42The Undertaker:And then the person told me, you can come in when I tell you you can come in. Something happened to that person. And that person went away. And so I had no way of getting back in. So I was like, oh, man. So I went to the person I ate the chicken over. I was like, how do I get back in the locker room? He goes, you're still in the locker room? I go, yeah. He goes, I had no idea, man. You should talk to Taker. I go, okay. I go, I've been kicked out of the locker room. Oh, you have? You knew, but you were like, oh, you have? What did you get kicked out for? I ate a piece of chicken over a person's leg.

1:09:16The Undertaker:Oh, you did? I'll get back to you on that. And then I was like, oh, man. So I waited until the end, and then I think you probably forgot, but I walked up and was like, do you think I could come into the locker room? And you were like, you're back in, kid. And I was like. i remember i remember driving with punk and it was like rider and brian myers and horn swoggle we we'd stack like a caravan oh man swoggle would be in the back did he ever drive we'd have no uh because he got that pedal thing no he would never drive he would always sit in the back because we had to fill bags right and he's the only one that can fit in the back and so we would put one two two, three, four, five people in, and we had five bags like that we'd have to, and we were like, we were literally, and we'd all stay in the same hotel.

1:10:08The Undertaker:We'd get like a, he would always take the cot, you know? And so it was always like way cheap. Like, honestly, I spent maybe a hundred bucks a weekend. Like that's how much we were able to split it up between all of us. But, uh, but yeah, I remember being in there and being guys, I'm back in, man. I'm back in. They're like,

1:10:26The Miz:yeah let's go let's go yeah so i probably knew that at one point you had been kicked out but i wasn't doing live events at the time i was only doing tv so so a lot of things you know people always are under this impression like oh he was locker room leader he knew everything it was like i'm don corleon like there's a lot of times things happened and then they get filtered to me later and then you find out too like a lot of times people would go oh taker's gonna be pissed and

1:10:55The Undertaker:I have no clue about whatever. But you've got to understand the mid card and under card was always like, like, it's Taker. But also, I don't think you understand your aura. When you walk into a place, your aura is even like, whether you still feel like Undertaker or Mark or whatever, when you walk into a room, your aura puts people towards you And it literally, you could either scare a person or you could like, like, or you could be the nicest person in the world. I try to tell him that at home. It's just, I don't think you, you probably don't know because most people with that kind of aura, they don't get it.

1:11:37Steph McMahon:Yeah. But I literally not trying to be funny. I tell him that at home too. I'm like.

1:11:40The Undertaker:Notice everyone in here going.

1:11:42Steph McMahon:Oh.

1:11:43The Undertaker:Yep. Yep. Everyone.

1:11:44Steph McMahon:See? I'm like, if you don't, if you don't say anything in the mornings, like it changes the whole mood of the house. And like, you don't even mean to do it, but it's just your. Is this a crack?

1:11:53The Miz:Like, what's he doing now? Made a lot of people uncomfortable. I'm eyeballing everybody right now. Everyone literally went, yep, he's absolutely correct.

1:12:03Steph McMahon:Yeah.

1:12:03The Miz:Man, I'm a teddy bear.

1:12:05Steph McMahon:And you can feel that sometimes. And then other times you can be like a... What? I don't know. The right word for it.

1:12:14The Miz:Well, you're going to bail on that one. Hey, don't be a coward. Ooh.

1:12:19The Undertaker:That's like, in WWE terms, that's when a person gets really angry.

1:12:22Steph McMahon:Is it? That's what I've heard. It's like I feel like we're in a thing.

1:12:24The Undertaker:It's weird. That's what I've heard. And it's like. Anybody ever called you a coward? Oh, my God. Every day. I mean, honestly, like in WWE, yes, many times. I mean, I feel like that's the standard.

1:12:37Steph McMahon:Like in particular, maybe Daniel Bryan?

1:12:38The Undertaker:Oh, you've called me a coward? Oh, Daniel Bryan. Oh, shoot. We're getting there. I know. You thought he was calling me a coward? You thought he was calling me a coward? So here's how I do that one, right? So I remember, so it's, I've been called a coward a million times, right? A hundred times. Okay. When he called me a coward, it was a different, it was different.

1:13:00The Miz:I would say so.

1:13:01The Undertaker:Oh, it was, I knew what he was saying.

1:13:05The Miz:And I was like, all right.

1:13:08The Undertaker:And so, yeah, I blacked out. I don't black out usually when I cut promos. that was in a moment where it's gonna sound so stupid but i was going through an acting phase where i read a book and it's like try to memorize like when you're happy try to think about it in the back of your head that you're happy and what your body is doing what you're feeling so whatever emotion that i was feeling if i was in an argument i was literally in the back of my head going all right you're an argument what's your body doing what are you feeling because i wanted to be a better actor if you will so every conversation that i would have like even right now now i'm doing it i'm like what am i doing what am i oh okay i'm doing this so whenever i would act i would be able to do that right so i remember when he called me a coward and i remember oh you're getting mad oh you're getting really angry and then i remember the words coming out and i went oh no and then he left and i didn't know what to do because i was like i i thought i thought he was going to hit me like i was like all right i'm going he's probably going to hit me what was the difference like i don't know the way around i thought you were going to hit him yeah you seemed really no no i was i was not in no i wasn't going to hit him i was going to let him know i think you did and and then i was waiting for him to hit me and he just left and when he left everything went everything went off like i i mean it literally i i couldn't make when i get really really mad i can't speak it's my brain is going so fast and so mad that i can't get words out so everyone's like oh it's the greatest promo ever oh my god blah blah blah and i was i watch and i go that is terrible i'm not getting my words out correctly i was so angry and i was not scared but like i've never lost it like that before in my life and so and i just cut it right to a camera because i found something and then left and you ever you ever when you black out i don't know if you guys have ever had this type of situation like you walk off and you're out of breath and you're like what just happened why did i just did i just do something bad did i like you know what i mean like did i not like hurt but like did i just say something that i didn't mean to say yeah or did i do something that's gonna you know retaliate and hurt the our our wwe am i gonna is I get into those moat I was there and afterwards everyone was like and I remember it was that the set was right in front of where everyone had to leave and it was back in the day when people actually waited till the end of the show to leave yeah and so people were waiting because we were filming and you couldn't so everyone was just like I remember seeing everyone just mouths dropped like holy cow I remember getting a bunch of texts and this was on a show by the way that no one watched and we were trying to get you know a little like going and i wasn't even supposed to be on the show that day the the long story short i was putting a dark match and i was very angry about it because it's the first match on a show and i wasn't on the show and i was the intercontinental champion and i was like you're gonna put me in the dark match like oh you're i'm not even on the show and then they're introducing two new titles and i was like what about this title like this title like meant i mean that title still means so much to me because it's it was the workhorse title like i remember always hearing oh you want to be the workhorse you're the workhorse title the workhorse title it's the title that gets you to elevate to the to the top and that's what i wanted it to do and all i was doing and in that era all that title was doing was you have the title and you just lose but you still have the title you're just gonna lose you still have the title you're just gonna lose now you're not even on tv right so i went up to i remember i went up to road dog and i was like put me on talking smack what do you want to be on talk smack for i was like uh he's a general manager i'll just let all my frustrations out on him and then when he called me a coward everything changed flip the script there yeah everything got it well i mean i mean daniel's and i mean he's an immense talent like we know that right like he is an incredible talent uh but we just we're like we're like this oil and water a little bit yeah man like you know we we get along but it's like we're not going to hang out with each other yeah right i remember watching that and honestly as a

1:17:33Steph McMahon:fan watching i was going is this real this i mean this or is this a word like you never know is this

1:17:38The Undertaker:part of the storyline exactly is it real or fake but i'll tell you when i knew like or when i had that real inkling of no this is like there's something there is by marise's reaction or non-reaction

1:17:51Steph McMahon:She wasn't reacting, and I knew she didn't kind of know what to do. She was like, oh, this is for real. He is hot. So I could tell by her that there was some underlying issues there.

1:18:07The Undertaker:I can get mad. It was good to see.

1:18:10The Miz:It was fun. Oh, thanks. I remember it happening. I didn't like the feeling. No, no, no. Obviously, you don't like that feeling, but, man, now you have that. You can tap into that. I can tap in.

1:18:19The Undertaker:So, you know, like going back, like I can tap into that now whenever I need it. Right. Like it's like, oh, I know where that is.

1:18:26Steph McMahon:Yep.

1:18:26The Undertaker:So it's all like there, but I don't like to unleash it never.

1:18:31The Miz:So I have a, I don't know. This is, it seems like an obvious question to me.

1:18:38The Miz:Like what's next, what's next for you? And, and, and before I get that, why are you not doing this?

1:18:47Steph McMahon:He's a wolf.

1:18:48The Undertaker:um time you don't have time uh i've tried to i'm trying to like you gotta like so with wwe being a full-time talent right but wwe allows you to do other things i'm doing i'm the host of american gladiators now which will be uh coming out in 2026 and so yeah it's it's in we filmed it and it's everything i thought it would be and more like it has the nostalgia of the old but also has new it's it's the the the people that are trying to beat our gladiators are their stories are unbelievable like it's life-changing money but also not just them the gladiators this is a moment for them to like really step up and they're fans of the show before right and now having that so that's on my back um also trying to be the best dad and husband i could possibly be you have to have time right like i'm like changing schedules my schedule so i can see my daughter sing in a play right like these are the important moments that i don't want to miss right um and as far as podcasting i've talked about it like i've talked about it with maurice and it's like i just know i know the work it takes this is not easy it's not easy to come in here maybe it is for you take but for us for us it would not be i would put way too much work into it and i'd have to like make sure it's the best and i'd have to do this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this you would just sit there and tell stories yeah well i mean you know but i feel for you i feel for you how much work do you put in for this

1:20:25Steph McMahon:all of it no puts in all the work and then none of it like comes to fruition because he's just It's like, it's fine. It's fine. Don't worry about it. Why are you worried about it? Do you feel my aura? Why are you worried about it? Do you feel my aura? I'm the undertaker. I'm a little type A. A little too type A for that.

1:20:41The Undertaker:You're going six feet under with the undertaker today. Grab your shovel. And guess what?

1:20:43The Miz:I'm going to tell a story and everyone's going to listen because that's what I do. Sit there and look pretty.

1:20:47Steph McMahon:Yep.

1:20:47The Miz:I'm a much better guest than I am a host. I can tell you that. You're doing great. Are you kidding me? No, I'm getting carried. But that's fine. That's why I have guests like you. All I got to do is sit here and look cool. Have my aura. You do look cool.

1:21:01Steph McMahon:Have your aura.

1:21:02The Miz:Normally, I would have some kind of boot on. That's what I was imagining. Right? It would go with the rest of the ensemble here.

1:21:07The Undertaker:Like when I was getting ready, I was like, what should I wear? I was like, oh, I'm wearing all black, 100%. Baker's probably going to wear all black. Got to do it.

1:21:16The Miz:You're the dead man. Hey, thanks for coming out, man. Thank you so much for having me.

1:21:20The Undertaker:It is an absolute honor to sit here with both of you guys. Oh, you're the best. Thank you. I really appreciate it. And I really appreciate everything that you have done, not just for me, but for the entire WWE, like watching, I'll like, I don't think anyone will ever forget where they were, what they were doing when the streak was over. You never will. And I also wanted to tell you this. You don't give yourself enough credit for the John Cena versus Undertaker match where John Cena just berates you for like seven weeks and you come in and just hit that, do the hits.

1:21:50Steph McMahon:And he was in the best shape of his life. By the way,

1:21:52The Undertaker:it's exactly what everyone wanted. Yep. And it was a, like, you can sit there and go like all these people, five-star that is a five-star match why because the crowd was on the edge of their seats the entire time i mean i remember watching that match going that was perfect that was exactly what i wanted and i imagine you would have you wanted to and i hear you say it on like i'm probably on this podcast like i wanted to do more i wanted to do this this if you would have done that like it wouldn't have mattered that was a five-star match right there that's what the crowd wanted i appreciate

1:22:25The Miz:that. But so that was one of those instances where I had really gotten myself because I was really unhappy with my physical condition against Roman. Right. Because I was I was really banged up and I didn't get in the shape and I don't feel like I did for Roman what I was supposed to do. He got his hand raised fine, but I had a real chip on my shoulder. I came back. I think I had one of my hips done and I really had something I wanted to prove. Right. Because I'm even at that point in my career, I'm always like, you know, I want to go out and steal the show. So I rehabbed the hip to get myself in shape.

1:23:02The Miz:I let the old man know, yep, I'm ready to do this. Let's go full steam. So I'm training like a freaking maniac. And then I get to, so I'm thinking that, right? I'm not thinking, I'm not thinking story. Yeah. I'm not thinking story as much of, I am redemption as far as my in-ring, right? And, yeah, I get there and Vince goes, yeah, three minutes. I'm like, what? Excuse me? I'm the Undertaker. Three minutes. That's John Cena. Yeah. I'm ready. Honestly, I was in shape. I could have done holding my breath. I bet I could have done 25 minutes.

1:23:42Steph McMahon:Didn't you bring John in with you thinking he had it back too? No, Vince goes, so I'm like, wait.

1:23:47The Miz:like I can't hear like I just can't because I'm so my whole motivation which it should have been you know what Undertaker and John Cena first time ever at Mania which should have been I'm thinking all I'm thinking is like the last time you were in the ring you stunk it up my opinion you stunk it up I'm going to go out and show people I still got the motor I can still do all that so that's what

1:24:11The Undertaker:the veteran in you didn't go hey kid

1:24:13The Miz:less is more no no no less is more no no no I'm not there. No, I'm in a whole different frame of mind. I get there. It was perfect.

1:24:24The Undertaker:The way Cena berated you for, it felt like months, and then literally comes out, and you just come out and just beat the holy hell. And the fact that it was Cena made it even that much more because it wasn't expected. Right. And it just, you had everything. So all that training, by the way, paid off because everything was perfect.

1:24:46The Miz:Well, thank you. Yes. We're going to have to have him back. Push you over. There it is. Let's go. Let's go. Push him over.

1:24:53The Undertaker:I didn't even get into her. I wanted to get into her career. Oh. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Divas generation. Yes. I was there. I know what you had to go through. I mean, it was like one minute. Get over. Go. Yeah.

1:25:08Steph McMahon:With entrances.

1:25:09The Undertaker:With entrances. With entrances.

1:25:11Steph McMahon:Yeah.

1:25:11The Miz:You guys were able to do it. Oh, man. We'll definitely, I'd love to have you back, man.

1:25:17Steph McMahon:How about we have he and Maurice back? Hey, game one. That'd be fun. Love it.

1:25:20The Miz:Yeah, that would be fun. Perfect. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

1:25:24Steph McMahon:Thank you.