Six Feet Under - R-Truth talks about WWE release/re-signing & John Cena

28:59I was in a halfway house when Jack Rocket saw me. How many people help you in a halfway house? Not many. You know? And I was asking, I won't forget, it's so funny, when I turned him down the first time, I was on the phone, I was like, man, I just want you to invest the money in my music career. All I wanted to do was invest my career. Jack Crockett from WCW, bro, you can invest some money in my career. He said, don't forget our special place I met you at. Oh, he dropped it back on you. He turned it around. Okay. All right. Nobody's just going to give you money because you say you have a dream or you're talented.

29:36I'm going to give you an opportunity to explore your dream and make it happen for yourself. He believed in you. You can invest in yourself. He believed in me. Like, oh, man, and then when I did the 24 thing and WWE found him and I saw him again, it just struck up all those old feelings of, like, being out of high school, getting with the wrong people, the wrong crowd, making those mistakes, not knowing what you want to do with your life, man. Like, that's – I know how it feels, so it's easy to reach people, or I can see it. I know how it looks and walks to not know what you want to do with your life, but you want to do something.

30:17I don't want to do that. I want to be this.

30:24Seeing Jack Crockett brought all those back up because I gave up on me. When I see Road Dogg, I gave up on me. Road Dogg, and stuff you don't even know. Like when I saw him, I don't even want to talk about it because it gets emotional, but when I saw him in Memphis. It's good for views. Go ahead. Wow. Jeez. He just said, you know. He's going to use me. He's using me. He's sitting here talking about, you know, it costs nothing to be kind to people. No, no, no, no, no. I'm invested in your story. I really am. But I need some views, too. You help me? Okay. I help you. You help me. Okay. Help me help.

31:03You help me help. Got you. I don't. But no, when I see Road Dogg, every time it's like to give up. Like, think about it. I met Jack Crockett. Coming from the streets, you know what I'm saying? And selling and doing this and that, but to believing something and believing yourself, it didn't happen. I got signed to a contract, and when I met Road Dogg in Memphis, my contract was done then. This was back when Kevin Kelly was there and all that stuff. You know what I'm saying? Wow, okay. My contract was coming up. I then already gave up because I was having issues in Charlotte at home, and my mind wasn't there in Memphis in developmental, I was like, I'm ready to quit, man.

31:41I'm not made for wrestling. I'm not. Man, the words that he spoke to me and just to have somebody believe in you means a lot. It didn't take a bunch of people. He believed in me and said, hey, man, you got what it takes. Womp, womp, womp, man. Just you got to hold on. You got to give me. Can you give me two months? I'll have you out of here. It's just it took me under his wing. To have somebody give a damn about me, it's just like that's powerful to me. I've heard a quote somebody say, people helping people is a powerful thing. And I've gotten to where I'm at in life by good energy and good people.

32:21And that's just something I've always instilled. That's awesome. I think that's – if you have one person, if you just have one that believes in you and has no ulterior motive, just believes in the person, I mean, that's all it takes. That's all it takes. Don't take a lot. Don't take a group. Just one. So you didn't have – so wrestling wasn't – were you a fan of wrestling or just – I was a fan of it. I was aware of it. I love Nikita Kolov, Ron Simmons, JYD, Ricky Steamboat, Magnum TA. I loved all of Dusty, but it wasn't like I want to be a professional wrestler. Right. Never was. Professional wrestling came about from Jack Crockett.

33:09And again, it goes back into me knowing how to tap and relate to those type of people. Not only not knowing those type of people that don't know what they want to do with their lives or they want to do something or this and that. It's just it never was my thing. But sometimes you have to take a different route to get where you want to go. And wrestling was my different route. It saved my life. It got me out of the streets. It taught me to come. It taught me how to be a man, how to be professional.

33:39People, I've toured around the world because of wrestling. Wrestling has suited me up for life. and there's people that that's all they want to do in this business is wrestle there's so many things that I want to do wrestling was an avenue and a tool that my higher power gave me to use for man when I see people and they say bro I grew up watching you you're my hero my mom hit me again you're good in case you missed it the first time yeah but it's wrestling man has brought so much to me by taking a different route that you never would expect sometimes the different route you take maybe the route you put have been taken a long time ago you don't even know that you won't know it until you take it and we always wonder like one thing I learned from Senor is like I sometimes will say I wonder what would happen every week he said well I wonder about it it's done, it's over, go here Go there.

34:45Go where you know. Don't go where it's been where you already know it's not going to be. We're about one heel at a time. Right, Cena?

34:57So, okay, so bring me up to speed. So how does Crockett, how does he find you? How does he? Now I'm invested in a story I don't know. We're in the halfway house, and I'm telling jokes. This is a corner over there where the inmates at. We got the way, got a little bench set. And I'm over there telling jokes and dancing. Crockett would come in every day at 6 o 'clock. He would be up for like a couple of hours, two, three hours. He would go to bed. He would wake up. At 5, he would be gone all day. So that was his work-a-league schedule. So he would come in not knowing he was watching me. This is a true story.

35:37the deputies they saw my pictures with Tupac Shakur and Eazy-E and all these rappers and they were like bro you're not supposed to be in here you're supposed to be out there doing something else with your life okay cool we're going to find somebody to invest in you that's where the investment thing comes from we're going to find somebody to invest in you and your music you become a big rap star and we can start working here and work for you damn dawg that sounds cool let's do this that sounds really good That sounds good. I'm with. So they're going through all the people's files. I come up with a couple of guys from Monday, Laundry, and this.

36:11We don't want nobody with that. You don't got in trouble. Jack Crockett, you ever heard of professional wrestling? Yeah. WCW. Well, this guy, the cameraman, he's over there. Maybe he could help you out. I'm like, you think he's going to invest? They talked to Crockett. Crockett wanted to talk to me because he thought I was athletic and I looked good and I was entertaining. So me and Crockett ended up talking. And we talked for maybe, he had four months left. We talked all those four months. He said, give me a call when you get out. I legit thought Crocker wanted me to cut his grass. I sure did.

36:47Come on. But I gave him a call. He came and picked me up, took me out to Bennegan's. That was the first time someone ever offered professional wrestling to me. Okay. I turned him down. I wasn't mature yet. I just wanted the money. Yeah. How old were you? 24, 25? Oh, yeah. Still mature. I would have asked that money up. I'm sorry. Wasn't there. So he turned me down. He said, when you're ready, give me a call. Two years later, within these two years, I'm back and forth in jail. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. So I also know those type of people, when you're sick and tired of being sick and tired.

37:29Called Crockett back and said, hey, man, whatever you need, whatever I need to do, I'll do it. he says it won't cost you enough but time and dedication and if you want it I'll know it came and picked me up flew me to Atlanta first time I've ever been on an airplane went to two WCW shows they had a back to back show and that was my first time at a wrestling event ever oh my goodness and he's sitting there he's not retired he's a cameraman he's ready he's done he's sitting there with me and Ric Flair music hits and I'm watching and I'm seeing and I'm feeling these just adrenaline and the people.

38:06And Ric Flair comes down and Crocker's like, see, that could be you. That could be you. Remember how you was dancing in jail? That could be you dancing. You're dancing to the ring and you can get in there. You can use all those dancing. I saw you do a split in jail. You could do that. He pretty much talked my character into existence. And this is like, it's a good thing, good feeling with me because nobody knows how it feels to have that, like, this is a freaking story, fairy tale. This is from the deputies to meeting Crockett to him telling me this to me going to developmental with George South, him training me, and Manny Fernandez, the Raging Bull training me to Rick Michaels' dad and meeting Bill Behrens and Rick Michaels' dad said, hey, man, you belong on TV.

38:55And this is three years into me being trained. Rick Michaels, I'm in Georgia. He said, me and AJ Styles before AJ was on TV. Wow. Before he was on TV. He said, you belong on TV, man. I said, bro, I'm just happy I'm not in jail and I can wrestle, man. They was paying me$15 and a couple hot dogs. You know what I'm saying? I'm good. You know what I'm saying? You don't even have a goal. You don't have division yet, right? Nothing. Yeah. Nothing. I'm so green. I was happy that different route was just peaceful. And they accepted me. I could dance. I would do country music after I would rap. Ask AJ.

39:33I would sing a country song. Whether it was Waylon Jennings. Yes. Some Digging Up Bones. Randy Travis. Randy Travis. I was singing that. You know what I'm saying? Going from there to sending a tape in. He said, send this tape in. Made me a tape. I sent it in. I got a call from Terry Taylor two weeks later. Two weeks? Dang. Two weeks later. So this is like, it's rolling and happening. I'm like, okay, this is crazy. This is too easy. Not easy, but I just wasn't believing it. You know what I'm saying? Two weeks I got called, and then they flew up the meat vets. This is the funny part right here. Imagine that, right?

40:11You know, I'm learning. I put that I was like 6 '3", 260. He didn't call you out on that, did he? As soon as he laid eyes on me. Hey, pal. Oh, yeah. So Terry Taylor looks at me, he's like, you're not 6 '3". I said, no, I'm actually 6 '1". He said, you're not 2 '6". I said, man, I've been trying to gain more weight. And he just, it's all right, come on. Took me away and Vince loved me. And two weeks after that, I was given my first contract. Jeez. And I was on the contract for maybe, you know how I would do it on your first time. Way back then, it was about seven months. And that didn't go nowhere.

40:59Just getting paid. Just getting paid. I called them.

41:06They're sending me this money, and I haven't gone to work yet. She said, don't worry about it. It's fine. It's okay. Oh, it's coming. Yeah, it's coming. It's coming. Don't worry. It's coming. I said, ma 'am, I don't want to get this money back. I can't pay it back. I can't. I can't pay it back. She said, it's fine. It's fine. Terry had to call me and tell me it's okay. just save some of that because we've got a thing called taxes now which I didn't, that's a whole different story I'll come back on the next podcast for that one everybody learns that lesson the hard way oh my gosh, yes Jenny Mack had to help me with that one too oh my gosh man 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.

42:02Meet 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. Y 'all have a special relationship too, huh? Oh, man, yes. and I'll never regardless of what circumstance or whatever he always got I fed my family I was able to like make a living for years I've been around this business I've been in people's households I've experienced I've been on submarines oh I don't want to go on a submarine very narrow very narrow I don't want to go.

42:55I don't want that Vince got stuck and I had to push him in the ass. Oh, no. Yeah. Give me this. Give me the story on that. How do you and Vince end up on a submarine where you have to push his ass up, up? So I did the shoulder thing and pushed him in the ass. All right. But that's the only way he got stuck. Going between, we had to crop these little hole things. The hatches. The hatches. Yeah. The submarine. But why were you all on the submarine? They would give us a tour of it. We were doing something with the military. Okay. He would always take me with him with the military. So it was, I'm going to go to the submarine.

43:27I'm like, yeah, Big Show couldn't go. No, no, he ain't getting on the submarine. He would not fit. Like, he could not go at all. And when Vince got stuck, we saw why Big Show couldn't go.

43:41I'm surprised. I'm surprised Vince didn't make Big Show go. Right. Right. That would have been Vince 101 to make Big Show go on there. Yes, that part. And then when he couldn't get through the hatch, then give him all kind of greed. But that's funny. Vince wouldn't fit. He would not fit. Wow. And it was like, he wasn't like overly big, but they're made just for those small guys. Oh, thank you. Now I'm curious. Was it a modern submarine or was it like an old, was it like a... It's a Pontiac. It was a Pontiac. It was an old one. I don't know. I don't know. My point to this is, my point, like the basketball player, David Robinson, they called him the admiral.

44:28When he came out of the Naval Academy, they put him on a submarine. He was six foot ten. Was he skinny? Seven foot. But that's long. I know, but still. Weed him up. I know. Plump. Still. Plump. It can't be easy to get juicy thick. Big boned it. Big boned. Anyway. I got a little distracted with that because I started thinking about 7 foot no he's tall but he's not like I said about this size right here no way, no thank you might be a little bigger I'm not even claustrophobic oh yeah, you're going to be tested you're going to be tested no thank you I've been on, what's the big aircraft carrier ships?

45:17Right. I've been on those. Those are huge. I've experienced more in this business, on Vince McMahon, than I've experienced in my life, and that people will only read about in history books. Did you realize in the moment, because I look back, sometimes it's hard to realize those things in the moment. You know what I mean? Because they kind of become normal, because you're doing so many crazy things that it's like, it becomes your normal, but it's not normal by any stretch of the imagination. None. And that's what those things, those words, phrases we hear of take time to smell the roses. You know what I'm saying?

45:48Like we never stopped to look and embark on what we're experiencing, witnessing, going through. And oh, man, like you can replay your, I can replay my life back and just, shit was good. Yeah. It's probably amazing to be in one situation wondering what tomorrow brings to where you're at now, the platform that you have, the experiences that you have. The life you've changed. Yeah. And the more we do this, the more I do this, it ain't for me. It's for every life that I've changed. You just said that a lot of things I've been thinking about for a long time. when fans come to me and tell me they saw me and they grew up with me it's a life I change I think that's what all this is about but you have that special quality that every person you talk to you make them feel so super special I mean people backstage, fans, everybody you just have that amazing trait that we all it's such a gift I know when I come around the shows you're like one of the people that I actually look out and seek one because obviously we worked together for so long.

47:04Right. Where's truth? I love your hugs. We've always heard like that since day one though, right? It's always been like that. It's always special because, again, there's been so much turnover already since I've been gone. A lot of people, I mean, I know who they are, but I don't know them. Some he doesn't know. You look for those. I look for the Rays and I look for the R-Truths. and the Randys. Me wearing Randys, but I don't know what's left, right? Which begs the question, I know you get it all the time, but you look the freaking exact same. How is that possible? Not even just looking the same, you move the same.

47:44You still do the splits. You still... I never stopped working out since high school, though. Neither have I, but I aged 58 years. What's the secret? He said you did stop.

48:00what did she stop you stopped what did she do it may be the people that she hangs up with well no I feel like you don't stop because you get old you get old because you stop that's very true I heard Billy Gunn say that look at Billy he is jacked still I'm a true believer in that I really I tell my son this too I still see you as the little kid cutting lawnmower in front of me like I don't know if I stop in my mind at a certain time frame or I just I just do it till I'm stopped you know what I'm saying when I say I'm a ride till the wheels fall off that's when I'm at I really feel when you stop using what you got you lose it oh that's true yeah that's true is there You do have such an incredible connection with your fans, and I want to get to something else a little bit later about that.

49:02But is there something that you – is there part of our truth that the fans, you wish they could see that maybe they don't?

49:16I wish you could see that I'm normal like everybody else. I never – Wait a minute. Well, in certain, I go through the same things that everybody else goes through. All right, now I'm with you. You got me back. Yeah. You got me back. I go through the same things that everybody goes through. I'm happy, sad, disappointed, depressed, angry. I have all those same emotions and feelings that everybody else has. I'm human. But I try to make it a habit. I try to make it my mission. When I'm outside of my, when I'm out in public, you won't ever see that on me. Because once I've been propelled to this position that I'm in, I'm looked upon as a different way.

50:06I'm looked upon as a light. And there's no need for you to see my lights dim because I got something personal going on because I'm out to be seen now. So when you see me, just know you never know. Right. You feel me? Yeah, I think that goes a long way because sometimes there are encounters when people are so invested in the people that they follow or their celebrities, you know, and then they come across these people sometimes and they're like, oh, man, he was a dick. Right. Right. Or, man, he was rude. And, you know, I don't think they, it's really good that you can carry that and suppress what's going on in your real life.

50:47Because a lot of times it's just sometimes it gets so overwhelming and the person comes up and there's a little too demanding. I think that's probably one of the biggest reasons. Sure, there's celebrities that are a-holes. Right. There just is. I mean, that's just, but I think for most bad interactions or encounters are a lot of times that very same thing that, you know what? We have real lives going on and we have to put this hat on. But, you know, I think, I like to think that anyway, that that's probably the main reason why bad encounters with celebrities happen. I would think, I would hope to too.

51:28Yeah. Because I don't think, I will hope that you're not a celebrity and will just have that bad, just be a bad person, you know what I'm saying? Just to be propelled like that. But, you know, you never know what somebody's going through, what they just went through, or who's seeking their family, who they just lost. There's so much going on. But I will always be that shining beacon of light because I know what it's like to not have one. bam there it is exclamation point man no that's great i tell you what and i think that's you know another thing i was talking about the fans a little bit ago um you know obviously you just went through a situation with the contract it's been like i say recently it's been it's been a few it's been a few months now yeah um you know a lot of speculation a lot of speculation online Was he released?

52:25Did this happen? All of that happened.

52:32How moved were you by your fan base rallying? They said, nope. They weren't having it. They said, nope, not today. They were not having it. And if you want to tell the story, I know you've probably talked about it before. I mean, please feel free to tell the whole story. But the gist of the question is basically, wow, your fans got your back, man. So, oh, man, that's, there's no way, there's no words. Webster Dictionary, what other dictionaries do we have? I think that's it. That's it. Webster's list. What's going on? There's no words in the dictionary to express how that felt. that was man my son was behind me when I got the call and when I did the tweet it was just like it was I couldn't be salty I'm not mad we say the beginning at the top of this thing Truth you've been here for a while you've experienced a lot like yes the ride I'm thinking about the ride my dad would always say enjoy the ride son the ride was phenomenal AJ it was great and I owe the thanks to wwe i owe thanks to the fans i owe thanks to the universe i owe thanks to everybody that enjoyed this ride and then when i tweet went out that was all it was meant to be right and it just i've never that's that's the first thing that ever happened in my life um most moving thing that ever happened in my life my son who was uh he's 25 and he's been i lived in tennessee that's who's with me that's who I had to take care of when I gave up that's who I thought I I you know I'm saying um kept going for I kept going for him you know I'm saying I was a single single father I was trying you know I'm saying before I met my wife it was just like for him to say dad it was worth it I just broke down that just that was deep to me he's when he saw he's like wow dad it was worth it so just a nigga knew everything in my mind like man I've lost I've missed anniversaries I've missed your school.

54:46I've missed, there's so many things, occasions, funerals. There's so many things I've missed in life that I never even get to accomplish. So many things, like, it was just because of this wrestling business, and I did it. I did the best I could. But my son said, Dad, it was worth it, man. It was like, oh, I just brought tears to my eyes. I just, and to see the fans, to hear them, man, like, I'm watching and I'm hearing, we want truth. y 'all don't know how that felt that's that's lightning in the bottle it never happens it was beautiful and it wasn't just the fans I mean it was your colleagues the reaction here in our house was the same I was like this can't be real we're like not truth we had this discussion right when we saw it I was like there's no way but then the colleagues too started speaking out goodness gracious Oh, my gosh.

55:42In a business. My peers at work, the ring crew, the camera crew, the crew in the truck, like every part of that machine that makes it work spoke up, again, for me. Like we always ask, are we worthy? And it brings like such joy. It almost makes me want to cry because it's like to feel that kind of love. It's like I want everybody to feel that at some point. That's an awesome feeling. You know what that says, though? You know what that says? What's that? It says you did it right. It's a testament to who you are, yeah. Because in our industry, to have your colleagues put themselves out there where they could, in a position where there could be reference, you know, it could come back a little bit, But that means that you've touched a lot of people's lives.

56:39And what you've done, you've done it the right way, man. So it was incredible. And for an old salty guy like me that's been around and seen so much, I was genuinely moved to like, dang, this guy has made an impression in people's lives. And when you can do that with your colleagues and the people that surround us, our production, like you said, the production crew. And that just says a whole lot about the human being right there. And if nothing else, nothing else ever great happened in your career, having that, having your fan base go to bat for you and your colleagues, man, good on you, brother.

57:24Yes, man. That's awesome. And of a good testament, too, of that many people, over 100 million on all social media. 100 million? Over a hundred million. Holy shnikes. Everybody all agreed on one thing. That was deep to me. That's so deep, yeah. In this world? In this world at this time. Yeah. In the wrestling community? A hundred million. Not even the wrestling community. Scratch that. Just in the world. In the world, in the life right now, to have that many people agreeing on one thing. you know on this show we talk a lot about the grind the history and what it took to build a legacy in this business guys like austin rock cena and obviously the women who completely revolutionized the division oh thanks babe nice of you to notice but um you're right the history of wwe is unmatched and for the fans who lived through those eras with us that nostalgia is incredibly powerful.

58:24It really is. And if you want to represent that history, WWE Shop and Fanatics have the ultimate collection of official WWE Legends merchandise. They really do. They have everything from classic graphic tees and hoodies to retro jackets and title belts. And honestly, the women's fits and styles they have now, they're amazing. I went on Fanatics the other day and the selection's massive. You can find gear for all the greats, including, of course, The Undertaker. Grab your Legends gear at WWE Shop and Fanatics today. Think about all the things on TV that you've done. And I want you to tell me what's your favorite funny moment.

59:03But think about that. I mean, you've touched us in so many ways. You've got, well, for crying out loud, you broke Brock down. You brought a ladder to a match that did not involve one. Who was the imaginary hot tag with in that one rumble? Dom? Was it Dom? Yes. Yeah. Seven second dance break. Little Jimmy. I mean, like the list goes on to how much you have entertained us. Like, do you come up with I mean, knowing you, you probably come up with most of that. No. Some of it, but a lot of it just happens, you know, organically on the fly. Yeah. Yeah. The Jimmy thing happened. That was great. Little Jimmy was supposed to be John Cena fans.

59:42But when I turned and started talking, oh, he's talking to the kid right there. He's talking to him right there. Little Jimmy was born. Little Jimmy had a hell of a run. Little Jimmy had a hell of a run. And people still ask about him. Grown people that drive cars and pay bills. Wait. Didn't you pitch for Little Jimmy to have his own action figure? I did. What would it be? Steph McMahon said we can't do that, Trude. We got to get to people something. What would it be? What would it be? An empty box? An empty box? An empty box? An empty box? An empty box? An empty box? An empty box? No, he don't get in the box with me.

1:00:17Just his own box. Just an empty box. People would buy it. I bet they'd buy it. They would buy it. They would buy Little Jimmy. In the wrestling community, yeah, they would definitely buy it. I'm going to ask Hunter, can I do it? Can we sell Little Jimmy? You need to bring Little Jimmy back. And just sell the action figure. Hashtag bring Little Jimmy back. There you go. Hashtag bring Little Jimmy back. Would you buy one? Yeah. I'd buy one. You'd buy one? I'd buy one. But if this takes off, I'm going to need 5%. Okay, if we take off, we'll split it off. Split it. Use it at the cookout. Nope. How do we get back to the cookout?

1:00:52We got the White Album Cookout is coming to you. We could do different towns. Oh, tour. The White Album Cookout coming to your town. I mean, I was going to ask, how'd you come up with the White Album? It's a country music album. Have you heard it?

1:01:12me and Jay Trax were just sitting around coming up with a title for the song he's my producer and he's like oh you gonna call it I'm like uh it's not rap this is just surprise people just call it the white out he said why have you heard it yet that's great oh I thought so oh that's so good brilliant so good If you see a white album, you'd be like, oh, I'm going to try this white album. Check it out. So good. It's the white album. Right? Makes perfect sense. Oh, I love it. Hey, Taker, remember, I was going to say, I got to say this. I don't want you to get hot. Remember when your pod caught on fire, your hair caught on fire before you got in the pod?

1:02:01Oh, were you? Yeah. Not just his hair. I was beside him. Oh, shit. beside him and I was trying to get his attention. He would not look at me. He was like on 12 levels of hot. Literally and figuratively. Right. Sizzling. Steaming. And I had my face up to the mirror. He was trying to look at him. And he was just he was not looking at me at all. He had one person on his mind and it was the pyro guy. Yeah, that was not the night to have my attention. Oof. After you didn't look, after I kept, he was still. Oh, yeah. He was focused, but he was thinking about the magic. He was thinking about killing somebody.

1:02:46Yes. Yes. Yeah. It was. Yeah. He came back. It potentially could have been. Yeah. On many different levels, that whole night could have been far worse. Yeah. Not only for me. He came back and the doctors were trying to throw wet towels on him. he was looking for one person oh my gosh I won't forget that one I mean you know I don't recommend being caught on fire you know it just it's not only it's not only my favorite list of things to do or have done to you yeah that was bad that was one of my early in pay per views too it was just I was like oh somebody in trouble oh he's mad He's steaming hot Yeah he's hot He's hot I mean yeah I don't think it's ever been more true Oh my gosh Yeah that guy was probably He was probably pulling one of your lines My bad That's on me Oh he's gone That message was relayed It looked like a ghost town When I got back there nobody would make eye contact with me there was tumbleweed rolling back through the pyro board back there because I walked all the way back through and you were looking for one person body going into shock still just trying to find oh my gosh so do you have a favorite funny moment I don't it's almost like people ask me do I have a favorite match I think every funny moment to me has his own unique little recipe that made it so funny or made it I got something from it that night.

1:04:40Even with the Brock thing. All the 24-7 stuff was very funny because it was like on the fly. Who does stuff on a tarmac? And I think we was in maybe Germany or Dubai or somewhere when we did that on the tarmac. Who was that overseas? We did them everywhere. And it was funny. New York, during Christmas. That was funny because, oh my gosh, it was so cold. And the dude, we had a horse, right? And we wanted the horse to run fast. But the guy was okie-dokieing us because he was speaking to the horse in Espanol. And telling the horse to slow down, but we didn't know it. There was no underlay. He's like, I don't know.

1:05:25My horse, it wants to run. It wants to run. And so I said, give him some more money. So he gave him some more money. He would speak Spanish to the horse, trot a little bit more faster. You know what I'm saying? So the more money we gave him, yeah, he worked as good. That's funny. Everybody got game, man. Everybody got a game. It's all the work. And you literally crashed James, yeah, his real wedding, right? Yes, that was funny. That was funny. I remember that. He was so committed with that. He was so committed. Everybody was committed. His wife's a trooper. Yeah. She was, right? Yeah. It did crazy numbers.

1:05:58Oh, I bet. Did you know Forbes magazine did a write-up about it? How did the John Cena being your childhood hero, how did that come about? Vince. Vince, really? That was a Vince write. Vince wrote that. And the first time I did a promo, I said that I grew up watching Cena. I would sit there and watch him do his Saturday morning challenges, and the people bought it. They bit hard. They bid hard, and they said, he grew up watching them. He grew up watching John Cena, and John Cena did his childhood era. They went with it, you know what I'm saying? They did. You can't tell. Did you have to call John and get permission to use his moves?

1:06:44I called John, asked him to use his shorts. John suggested I do the moves. He said, I think you should do everything. Yes. The shirt, the Ron Cena was John's idea. Oh, wow. He said, I think you do a shirt the same way I do mine, and you put your face there. I was like, are you serious? He's like, yeah, we're brothers, right? I said. Yes, we are. That is genius. So smart. He was smart with the whole thing with it, man, and I just ran with it. It works, right? Yeah. There's been a lot of guys in the business that are smart that would have said, he ain't going to make money off of me like that. But John's different.

1:07:20He didn't care. He didn't. No, no. John is. That's why John's John. John. Exactly. That's why John is John. I think about bringing my daddy into it, too. Oh, wait. Please do. Your dad like you? Tell me more. Yeah? Yeah. Mr. Cena took me in. See, my mom was doing an indie show. She went to an indie show, right? Mom was doing an indie show, okay. She went to an indie show, and she met this guy, Steve.

1:07:56And then what happened? One thing led to another.

1:08:04We'll leave that. Okay. One thing led to another. We'll leave that story line right there. Oh, no, that's great. That's funny. The seven-second dance break. That one just hit me. That was fun, too. That was Vince. That was Vince. The seven-second dance break. He would say, just out of nowhere, just do a dance break. I'd say, in the middle of the promo, just stop and just start dancing. I said, all right. It worked. It worked. There was people doing it on TV. I think I saw somebody doing it on one of those big major talk shows. They started doing seven-second dance break. Called on. I think it helps.

1:08:47You know what I'm saying? Like some people say, when you're mad or you're upset, take a minute to just like calm down, think about it before you make a decision to talk. A seven-second dance break, dog, would like stop you from - Yeah, stop you doing something bad, right? When you got burnt, when you were looking for a dude, if you were to take a seven-second dance break - Should have been wiggling in there. Nah. Nah. Mm-mm. I don't think so. I don't think it would have helped that time. Most times, yeah, maybe. It would have helped. Not that night. No, I don't think there was much help. I don't know.

1:09:20Look, he hit some dance move in the kitchen the other night, and I said, please don't ever do that again. Did he? He did. Okay, okay. And those new knees. And those new knees, and those new hips, bro. I'll break it down at the cookout. Y 'all see that, right? He said it. At the cookout, me take, he's going to be dancing to the Whiteout. Mm-hmm.

1:09:41That'll get some views. Huh? Yeah, that'll get some views. That'll get some views. Yeah, I don't know if those are the views I need, though. That might kill me off for real real.

1:09:53Oh, I can't. Oh, that's good. You and Cena, no prep time in a wrap-off. Oh. Who wins? I don't know, man. I'm not really a freestyle. I don't freestyle. You got to sit back and create. Yes. I'm a deep thinker, a talker. I like writing about experiences, tell stories, give knowledge, give insight. I think anybody can freestyle and just say some cool words. I want to pull and push and raise. Mark can freestyle. Mark who? Henry? Well, I did rap one time. Mark Henry? Yeah. Was it good? Don't bring it up, though. Oh, no. No, never. Yeah, I told you that. If I told you if I said anything about it, he's going to keep it away.

1:10:51Nobody watches. And Mark, I didn't bring it up. Mark said he was going to keep it if I told one more person about that. Oof. One more person? So you did tell somebody. I just told y 'all. Oh, that's it. Oh, that was it. Okay. I just told Taker and Mitch. That's it. Okay. And we don't even know what it's all about. He ain't going to see this, is it? No. Yeah, I wouldn't want... We just play this for ourselves. I'm going to take tomorrow again. When I see you, I'm going to strangle you. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Take made me do it, dog. I call Tate. There it is. Boom. I'm out. Damn, Dad.

1:11:37Come on, man. How I come up on that, dude. Yeah. I told him not to talk about that. Oh, Mark. I said, man, that's one thing he said. He said, I want to talk about this. Yeah, just go cut that out. That's cut. Cut. It's not cut. Cut. Done. Done. Done. Nobody heard that. Nobody heard it. What about the haircut, man?

1:12:08I want to look like my dad.

1:12:15It was time, man. It was time. And I love how everything happened right through the whole caboose of, you know, the contract, me getting released, all this and that. Then me cutting the hair. I found a moment. I've been around this business long enough. You find moments to make. To evolve. Yeah. One of my songs on the White Album. White album. Check it out. Well, I love how people was like, oh, man, you cut your hair. That's your essence. Or you cut your hair, you lost your power. Or which statement are you making? It was time. Yeah. I was joining dreads together, and my hair was getting thin and thinner and thinner.

1:12:59I've fried and dyed and laid my hair to the side for many years. I gotta use that one. If you go back and look at pictures of me with blonde hair, like you don't see too many dark skin people with blonde hair. I had blonde hair. I had straightened hair. I had permed hair, relaxed hair. All of it. All of them. Takes a toll. The hair took a hell of a toll. So you laugh. No, no, no, no. I'm sympathizing. He's laughing at recognition. That is the laugh of recognition. You've been there, right? That is the laugh of recognition. Okay, gotcha. I am 100%. I'm on your team on this. It was time. So I did an interview with Chris VV, right?

1:13:38And they had the camera shine down on me. And I'm not talking. And I went back and watched the tick. I'm like, what the hell? I could see my scalp. I could see my brain. I could see what I was thinking. You know what I'm saying? So it was like, nah, dog. I can't be going out like that. You know what I'm saying? And I kept the dreads for my wife and for my producer. I kind of was like ready to get rid of them anyway. It took two DMs that I saw. One girl said, hey, boo-boo. She said, you got three, maybe four dreads joint together and they're holding strong. She said, we're going to love you. We love you.

1:14:23But it's time to let it go. So I'm like, I'm going to see that. Second DM. Hey, Unc, dog, we're going to always root for you, but it's time to let him go. That one stung. That one, take a look at that one. No, I got you. So with everything happening and I just had the big comeback and I was already talking about it. And I asked Hunter, I said, can I cut my hair? He's like, why? I said, man, I want to cut my hair. I said, I want to check. I said, it's thinning out, Hunter. I want a new look. He said, all right, let's figure out what I said. Now, this is a good time, perfect time. I can, wow, it's a new me.

1:15:11You know, and it's like, all right. If you want to do it tonight, we'll do it tonight. And so it was just me. It was time. I felt like it was the end of a new beginning. It gave me so much more mileage. I felt like I reinvented myself with it. and I've always been that one that we live, we create, we adapt, we evolve, and we have to like go on with the time. I wasn't going to hold on to it forever. Were you looking forward to being a hill? Like did you want to use that to go completely? I'm easy to go like that, but I think those hundreds of millions of people, they wanted all truth. Oh, yeah.

1:15:50They wanted the guy that made them feel, you know what I'm saying, laugh, and that's what I wanted. It wasn't the mean guy or not the mean guy. Well, Ron Killings was the guy that he just wasn't a nice R-Truth. Yeah. You know, he felt like he was owed something. He felt like they took advantage of him. He felt like he was overlooked. You know, it's R-Truth. He can't be overlooked. No, and you're the best to ever. I mean, the comedic relief that I don't think there's anybody better at the comedic relief than you. I mean, I don't even think it's close. Thank you. want that yeah because that's special you get there with with the the amount of time that you've been there too like they they tried like there's a certain you get to a certain point when you have runs like you've had there your fan your audience is not going to accept going from one thing i i don't want to i don't want to this guy i want to be entertained by this guy i don't there's there's nothing else that you're going to give me a hard ass is not going to that's not what i want right when i turned heel as as when i was the american badass when i turned heel i think our audience kind of played along with it right they didn't want they didn't want to they didn't want to they didn't want to hate me they wanted you know they wanted me to kick in people's ass the same thing with austin we tried to make austin to heal there late in his run i was like no no that that's That's not what we want.

1:17:20And you're in that same position. Well, it runs in his family. It runs in the family with you, John. Yes, exactly. It's genetic. Once you get to that ultimate respect and appreciation from your fan base, they're just not going to accept it. Unless you come at them from a different way, I don't think you can work yourself into changing. there's certain things that you can do outside that will make you yeah yeah they will turn on you but that ain't the heat that you want right we've experienced and seen that too but yeah once you get to that that level of of of people and entertaining them in a certain way that yeah they know that's not that's not what i want right from i want from that character totally agree Yeah, and that's exactly.

1:18:13I think that's exactly. You could have punched babies in the crowd, right? Well, that might be a bit extreme, but my point to that is it didn't matter what you were going to do. They were not. They're not going to buy. No, they ain't going to buy that. That's true. You're right. And then you end up in a situation where you're doing all this crazy stuff to try to get heat, and they just cheer you more. Right? That's what happened when I turned to you the first time. They would cheer it and feel like it's not going to work. Yeah. It's cool for you to do things that should be booed. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

1:18:48So what's next for R-Truth, man? Cookout. The cookout. Well, I mean, not priority-wise. I'm just talking about, in general, like work. At work, me and Damien are going to hold a tag title as long as we can. I'm there, man, to like, I want to leave that place better than when I came there. I want to help those guys, man. They got, oh, my God, phenomenal talent there now. Like, you know what I'm saying? With the guys coming in, I want to work with them and help them out in any way I can. And then let the universe take me where it takes me. I'll always be around as far as creative. Anytime WWE needs me, I'm there.

1:19:27You know what I'm saying? But for me, man, like with the music, with the acting, I got a movie I'm filming in September. Nice. Yeah, so the sky's the limit, man. I just, I'm here. And wherever the universe takes me, I just go. So now we might get you on the big screen again, too. Yeah, yeah. Hey, man. The world is your oyster. It's our oyster. Our oyster. Yes. Are we going to have those at the cookout? Oh, they're a little slimy for me. I really eat snots. I don't like snotty. Yeah, eat snots. You think it's funny, but it's snots. It's snots. Yeah, but it's snots. I see what you did there. Hey, man, I can't thank you enough for making some time for us.

1:20:10I know you're busy. You are an entertainment mogul now. You're doing a little bit of everything. But I'd love for you to come back. I mean, not just the barbecue, not the cookout, but I'd like for you to come back sometime, man, and stay healthy and just keep doing our true things, man. you're making a difference and an impact on people's lives and it's always good to see an old friend we love you thank you I love y 'all too thank you brother thank you