Six Feet Under - X-Pac talks epic bar fight, backstage pranks & his amazing recovery

27:35Yeah, I made it, but I was... Yeah, I mean, you know, SummerSlam, man. Mark didn't just call me kid. Sometimes he called me Kidrick. Kidrick, yeah. Kidrick. Kidrick. you're Kidrick and Edge I call Edge Edric sometimes and he calls you Dedric yeah that's his retaliation man so when I'm one two three kid and I had this like real tight like on on the sides and like spike top mullet mullet I'm sitting in the locker room across from Mark Mark looks at me and he goes Kidrick your head looks like a Tylenol gel cap wait Tylenol gel cap And I just started tweaking. I was like, he's right. That's pretty good.

28:25Because my eyebrows were just coming back in too at the same time. I looked like a crazy man. Call him on Joe Cap. What happened to the eyebrows? What happened to the eyebrows? Well, you know, I thought it was Billy and Bart. it was that it was my first my first road trip in and and california and i ended up with at billy billy gunn's mom's house wait wait wait wait wait rewind yeah yeah let's add context to that yes we all ended up at billy gunn's parents house yeah and i you know i was i was all excited you know i'm a big deal now i'm on the road i'm a big tv star man and i'm like hey roundy yagy's for everybody i'm like you know big shot in it and i got the cigar and i put it in my mouth backwards and burned myself oh oh i'm just in just a mess i threw up in the back of the car and i woke up and i go to the bathroom and i look in the mirror and they're gone i wasn't expecting that yeah that back that was pretty prevalent back in the day that was a calling card and kurt's thing was like you know if I did it there'd only be one so you'd have to shave the other one off yourself.

29:40Yes. And I told this story a few times but oh and I don't know if you remember this but I came in like the next day or something and I think it was Kurt who was like show him and I had sunglasses on I took my glasses off and he just started dying.

30:00Usually that was kind of let you know like you might need to pump the brakes a little bit back in the night. I'm not advocating. Yeah, but I didn't take it that way, Mark. I was like, uh-uh. I'm not letting this go. No. And so I had Kurt. We had another show in Las Cruces, New Mexico. And I had Kurt stop at the hardware store. And I picked up some two-tube epoxy resin. Oh, no. And Billy and Bart, they were like first match or something. And they would always sit their hats right before you go out. Their hats are sitting there. I'm like, where are you going? I put that epoxy resin on the inside of their hat.

30:39They go to the ring. All of a sudden, they're going to take their hats off. Get their hats off. That's great. Oh, you're good. I'm just like. Oh, yeah. There's no way we could get away with that in this day and age. It was probably a good thing. But, man, there was always. If you didn't retaliate. I felt like I had to. Yeah. Even if I got my butt kicked. Yeah, and that might have been, you know, there's cases where that might have been, but if you didn't retaliate, man, or if you sold it, if you sold it too much and, you know, complained too much about it, you're setting yourself up. It was just, it was a different culture.

31:20I didn't find out it was Kurt until 25 years later. Billy Gunn on my podcast, and so I brought it up, and he finally told me Kurt did it. Kurt did it. I'm like, dude, you just wouldn't stooge him off? like well man because like i mean what's worse being accused of doing the rib or being a stooge right you don't want to be a stooge back then man you get labeled a stooge you're done that's it's again yeah this those are those are things that i don't think are exist do they even know like does that terminology still exist i don't know i mean i'm not i'm not around enough the talent to you know i mean i i hear i hear it dropped but not in the sense with context or or a story yeah Like, oh, don't be a stooge, but not to have a story that would back anything up.

32:06Like, only thing worse than a stooge in the locker room was a thief, right? Oh, don't be a thief. Yeah. Yeah. A stooge and a thief. You're not going to. Good times. What's that? Good times. They were great times. Those were good times. Like, seriously, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there were a lot of times we suffered and didn't make a lot of money, but the times we had. Mark, and man, things were so tough back then. And we needed you, man, on top, Mark. And you were hurt really bad, man. And you just kept on going. And kept on going, man. I remember at one point, correct me if I'm wrong, you had a crushed orbital socket, and I think you had a torn groin that was bothering you for like a year.

32:51Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, we were hanging on. Like, as a company, we were hanging on. And, you know, Sean, Brett, Yoko, you, those guys that stayed and hung around, like, we were fighting for our lives. And I think that's why we have such a great camaraderie because the times were, you know, times were so difficult. And I tell people this sometimes, like, you know, from that time period moving forward, I've made more money in one night than I did in a year. Yeah. Right? That's how bad it was. Yeah. Right? I mean, you could go out into an arena sometimes and you could take a handful of rocks and throw them out and not be able to hit anybody.

33:49So Chief J Strong, though, when it was like that, he would come in and go, oh, they got us outnumbered tonight. That was great. And back then they had us outnumbered quite a bit. But I knew, and I think we all kind of had this sense of that we're going to turn it around. We just have to keep, we had to keep oaring across the lake. We're going to get to the other side and it's going to be rough. But I think everybody had that sense that we're going to get this ship righted and it's going to be good and it's going to be great. And the guys that are here and part of it are going to reap the benefits of what the other side looks like.

34:36And I thought, man, we fought and we struggled. And I remember. And we spent all our time in Europe because, like, the business was going over there, but it wasn't here. That just brought a whole other thing up, being in Europe. We would be in Europe, what, 17 days? Yeah. Different city every day somewhere in Europe. We're on the buses. Yeah. I never, I never, why were you always so late getting on the bus, man? Oh. I was, it was, we were talking about this earlier, me being late all the time. Well, it had something to do with the fact that I was messed up a lot. Oh. So, let me put, again, a little context.

35:17So, the first half of the show, which you were usually on at this point, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. You were second match, usually second or third match. So that first group of matches before intermission got on the first bus and got to go back to the hotel. And you were always on the second bus. Still in my gear. We were always waiting on you. We were always waiting on you on the second bus. And you would come in like we're trying to, where is kid? Right? And then you would come in with your wrestling gear. Still in my gear, yeah. Tell me if I'm wrong. This gimmick lasted. This lasted for a few years.

35:52You had the leather motorcycle jacket. the captain's hat that captain's hat was only one tour it was one of those Shawn Michaels merchandise hats it was awesome though the captain's hat and the anchor oh the anchor cross the anchor chain that you had it was like a sailor's crucifix it was huge but that's how you got on the bus late every night we're all waiting to go back to the hotel and go to the bar and hang out all night anyway I think I might showed up to the bar in my gear still a couple of times. I don't know. I'm pretty sure you did. Yeah, because a lot of times we'd move off the bus and go right into the bar and talk about what we were going to do the next day.

36:37Yeah. We're going to do it again. We're going to do this all over again. The best nights, I think, were when we didn't get off the bus. We would roll up to the hotel. Just stay on the bus. And stay on the bus. There's that really cool book. Do you have a copy of that picture? I do. That's awesome, man. That picture is so significant in the course of time in our business. There was so much about to happen. I got goosebumps. Right? You know, Kevin and Scott were about to leave, and Steve's about to go meteoric, and just all the guys that are in there, man. That's such a cool picture. It is. We need to blow that thing up because that really is a special picture.

37:21I have one of the original copies, because I can't remember who took the picture. I don't remember either. A bunch of us got original copies of it, right? Yeah. And mine, I have a Halliburton briefcase that's like a time capsule. Oh, yeah. They're still, remember how the old plane tickets? Oh, yeah. You could still use, they were worth money. Oh, yeah. There's like 15 grand worth of plane tickets in that thing that I never used. Yeah. To Kuwait and stuff like that. I never went to Kuwait. Yeah. And just anyways, that picture's in there, and you open that thing up. It's like, you know, you're going back in time.

37:52That's awesome. Yeah. Although tickets, like, so when we would go to TV, like this is back then we'd go every three weeks. This is back before Raw, I think, right? Did you come in? No, you came in after Raw. But we still did our tickets that way. I remember Captain Lou running up and down the hallway. Oh, yeah. Get your tickets. Get your money. Art in Scotland. Get your money. Get your tickets. Get your money. Get your tickets. So we would get our whole loop of airline tickets in a booklet. like we didn't you know we didn't do anything digitally back then so we had physical tickets and then what's the best fair why why fair exactly dude that was the first thing that you looked at when you got your tickets because none of us was flying first class back then and you look there dude i got y fares all the way through right why fares mean you could change them without any penalty like you didn't have to pay anything a y fare was like a full fare so it was like as good as cash it was good as good as cash and then you know a lot of times we would go different places or if we didn't go home you could use these tickets or if you wanted to change your flight you would just oh let me go in my tickets and i didn't use that ticket like i can use this and this and i can go there and i can do this it was a great that was a great system but i had sometimes you could turn them in and get something called an mco yeah you get money yeah yeah yeah That was great.

39:13It was like paper. It was like gold. I would get my tickets and it'd be K-Fair. K-Fair is awful. K and P. A couple of Z-Fairs. You know, it's funny because when I came back, when I was negotiating my deal, when Eric fired me, come back for DX, they were like, you know, that was a sticking point. The first class, they just weren't going to give it to me. So, I mean, they eventually gave it to me. Right. At first, I'm like, okay, then, full Y fares. Because I could upgrade for free on everything. You had enough miles from your day. And the full Ys ended up costing almost as much as the first class.

39:57Yeah, you could change them. You could do it. Yeah, that makes sense. I remember they ended up giving Road Dogg first class, and I called Jim Ross. I'm like, can you give Road Dogg first class? Yeah, I get it. He's like, all right. yeah that's what they always wanted to keep all the all the all the negotiating they knew the boys are going to talk with you know they didn't want to tell him what you're the one guy i couldn't believe they hadn't first had in coat still i mean he i think he even had the world title for a second was was glenn with kane oh yeah yeah and i remember he was so mad one time he busted the damn the armrest.

40:33He was like, boom. Because Cain was a load there for a while. Yeah, he was such a huge man. I remember back in the day, before you came in, I remember being on a flight and earthquake and tugboat, that's when they were together. They had them on an aisle and a window. How is that even possible? Oh, with nobody in the middle? Oh, yeah, but there was a lady that had to sit in the middle. Oh, yeah. And they were shoulder to shoulder. How did she? I don't remember what they did, but it became a really big issue, especially on that particular flight. Oh, my gosh. It took them forever to get that figured out.

41:18But, yeah, those guys, both of them were enormous. And back then, you know, the only people that rode first was Hulk, Warrior, and DiBiase. Those were the only ones that had first-class seats. Yeah, and then eventually that became the big bargaining chip too. Absolutely. Yeah, that was worth its weight in gold, being able to fly first. They were playing hardball on the money too, and so I'm like, in the number of days, and there was like 180 days, I'm like, okay. I learned this from being in WCW, and Eric had me on the road. Scott was having some rough times, and so he had me on the road looking after Scott, even on my days off.

42:01And I was like, man, it's like 20-some days in a row. I've been on the road. And he's like, I could run you 180 days straight if I wanted to because that's what's in your contract. And I never forgot that. So when I came back here, I was like, okay, 180 days, but break that down into no more than 15 days a month. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's my family and half. As rough as it was for us here when guys started going to WCDA, And it did change how contracts and everything were done. It was, you know, if nothing else, even not accounting their careers, but the stuff that Kevin and Scott, you know, the doors that they opened because of, you know, going down there and, you know, Turner had an open checkbook.

42:51But it helped everybody. And I don't think a lot of people think about it that way. Not really. You know, but they did because when it started to turn, now guys had a little bit more, you know, they had a little bit more bargaining power to, okay, well, I want this, you know, because they were doing the guaranteed days down there. They like, you know, I think that was, it ended up being a problem, right? Because the top guys didn't do any live events. Well, back then, like, there was no stings. There was no, like, Hulk or. That's what I'm saying. You never saw Macho Man on any house shows. It was like when I was there, the main events were usually Scott Cavanaugh versus like maybe a handicap versus Big Show and Lex.

43:35Right. Yeah. That was what we did everywhere. Yeah. So. But that did. That changed a lot in the industry with those guys going down there. 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 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. It really is. And if you want to represent that history, WWE Shop and Fanatics have the ultimate collection of official WWE Legends merchandise.

44:22They 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. Chat GPT can do more than answer questions. It can help you get real work done. Chat GPT work is built for bigger projects with multiple steps. You bring the goal along with the information it needs, like briefs, notes, files, feedback, calendars, data sets, or project plans.

45:01Then ChatGPT can help turn all of that into something useful. An analysis, a tracker, a deck outline, a prototype, or a workflow you can keep shaping. It can also use approved apps, connected tools, files, and browser contexts to help move the work forward. And you stay in control. You give direction, review drafts, approve actions, redirect the work, and choose the final output. So you spend less time sorting through busy work and more time making progress on the work that matters. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode.

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46:55Check out grandappliance.com for full details. This is Tony Ayo from The Real Report with Tony Ayo and Uncle Murda. You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rent's going up? Streaming services are going up? Even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the will it go up soon game because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk, text, and data plan at a price that'll never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for life, meaning you're set to never worry about your bill increasing again for as long as you're on the plan.

47:27While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you, Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life. Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s and when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement. Some things never change. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up, only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay$25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan. Earlier, Craig said that Kane told him that he was his favorite tag partner.

48:05What? Oh, he's mine too. Yeah. I don't know. You know, I don't blame. I would, I would, if I was Kane, I would, you'd be my favorite tag team partner too. Yeah. Because, well, you knew, because Kane knew when he tagged with me. He was going to get the one. I was getting the comeback. I was getting the comeback. He was going to take the heat. Fair enough. Fair enough. I knew, I always knew my role when it came to that kind of stuff, man. And I was happy to, well, the role was obvious whether I knew it or not. Well, I mean, it only makes sense. It's like if you got something like Kane in the corner, yeah, the more you sell and the more that you – Yeah, that's all they want to see is like, oh, man, if he ever can get to his corner, Kane's going to annihilate everybody that's in this.

48:49It's a psychology, but yeah. That was my reward. I felt like that was my reward because I had this big match with Shane at WrestleMania 15. Right. And, you know, like Vince was asking me, like, you know, to have the match with him. I'm like, okay, and I had these conditions. You've got to have conditions. You have to have conditions. I said, okay. I said, but he has to listen to me. Because he was brand, he didn't have a match yet. I think maybe he had one match. And I said, and I'm going over. And he agreed to all of it. Did he listen?

49:23At least the ideas he had were good and we used them all. And the match was really good. Anyways, driving down the road with Paul. And, you know, we're in DX and he goes, oh, yeah, I'm going to turn heel at Mania. So, like, basically, DX is breaking up, right? Right. And then in my mind, I'm going, well, if he doesn't turn heel on me, that heel turn's going to be, you know? Yeah. So I knew I'm getting beat. I'm getting beat. Like, this is how it has to be, you know? Well, yeah. And it was the way it needed to be, and I got rewarded for it with that really cool run with Glenn. Yep. Yeah. Tag team run.

50:03He said he, you know, Glenn is so much, he's so versatile. And it's such a unique, because, you know, obviously our history and then our characters were so dark. But when he got to, he really got to broaden, you know, his scope of everything that he had in the toolbox when you guys tagged. You get to see more so. I think he had more range than I had. He did without even talking. Yes. Just tilted a head sometimes. I mean, he had really great body language that he communicated with. Yeah. I mean, obviously, it's really difficult to get people to feel for you if you have a mask on and you're seven foot tall and 330 pounds of rock-solid muscle.

50:53But he was able to do that, and y 'all together, that was always fun to watch. And then when I turned on him, Mark, who we, I mean, Oh, well, first I turned on him in a match with the Dudleys and then I stole his girlfriend. Yeah. You know, people, you don't mess with them. People still hate me for that. I swear to God, they know, they know it was a work and it messed with their emotions so bad. They still feel a certain kind of way about it. Oh, well. I believe that. Tell me. That's what we do. That's what we're supposed to do. But, yeah, I think they kind of, I think they felt like Kane might have been a little touched back, you know.

51:39A little touched. It's like, I mean, yeah, he's this incredible physical specimen, but, you know, he was a little, like you said, he's a little off. And you took advantage of him. and then like having as a heel working with the baby base that is like yourself every time you get knocked down you just sit right back up like gotta have the gas tank brother uh more than more than just the gas tank you gotta have some really cool ways of getting getting one of you guys to stop yourselves yeah well you got to be able to do that and then it then it's you know and i and i I talk about this. It's a storytelling.

52:18I loved working with little guys. Like Sean. Yeah. You know, and I never really, I never looked at Sean as like a little guy, but like I used to love, and Eddie, I used to love working with those guys because they were tenacious. Like once you create that window, once you open that window for them, that you knew like it was going to be, if you went on your back, if you went down, dude, they were not going to let you up. and that's how you have to tell that story. And if you realize that and they're good at it, a smaller heel working with a gigantic baby face, I think that's the only way you can do it is you just got to be ferocious.

53:02I had a couple things in my arsenal that were things that could get one of you guys off your feet. I had a spin kick, you know, and you all were nice enough. to sell it up. Y 'all were nice enough to sell it up for me. It's all about storytelling, man. You, I think you were the first person, correct me if I'm wrong here, you were the first person that went into the Hall of Fame back-to-back years? Oh, yeah. I mean, you used the same tux, same suit? Should have. Why wouldn't you? No, I didn't. No, I didn't because there was a member, like it was technically back to back, but they had COVID. And so we didn't actually get inducted until, was it 21?

53:53Oh, okay. 2021. Okay. And I needed, look, I didn't fit into that other tuck. Did you need a bigger one or a smaller one? I needed a bigger one. You were living well off that first holiday ring. I was. Yeah. It happens. So which one are you more proud of? Oh, wow. I was more excited for the first one. Yeah. Because I was just like blown away by it, you know. Because like for someone like me, and like you too, Mark, you know, this is our dream, right? Yes. It's the only thing we ever wanted to do. Right. And it's like, it's that acknowledgement that what you did was special. Like you left a mark.

54:39Yeah. You know? Yeah, what you did mattered. Yeah. Yeah, that's really cool. How young were you when you were like, this is what I'm going to do? 10 years old. 10. Yeah. I went to the matches at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg. And it was Flair and Dusty. Oh, geez. Yeah. That'll hook you up. I think there's a lot of people that wanted to become wrestlers after Flair and Dusty. And then, like, after that, like, because I knew somebody that worked at the Bayfront Center, so I'd always go down early and I'd help Gordon Nelson set the ring up. So I was part of the ring crew and I'm about 10 or 11 years old.

55:13And I would go to other cities in Florida. That literally gave me chills. Yeah, I'd go to Laughlin, help set up there, go to Tampa, help set up there. Hey, did you ever go to Palacca? No. Oh, no. Have you heard of it? Those were spot shows. I think they did Palacca. He's heard of it, though. Yeah, but it was like the high school. The armory, yes. Yeah. The armory. The armory. Armory. Armory. Armory. Armory? Armory. Okay, so you're a two-time Hall of Famer. You got your ring? I only have one. You only got one? Either way. But, okay, have you seen? Can we talk about these rings? Can you look? Look.

55:52No, no, no, no, no, no. Look at this thing. This is not my fault. Huh? This is Paul's fault. Hey, coincidentally, the year Paul gets inducted, they upgrade the Hall of Fame rings. Look at this monstrosity. Look at that thing. We got Balfour class rings. We got high school graduation rings. And she's got something that looks like it belongs to the Dallas Cowboys World Championship. You want to know I'm only wearing one? Because the gold fell out of one of them. I'm just saying that right on here. So maybe we can get an upgrade. We need to get upgrades, right? And you know what Paul told me when he gave it to me?

56:26He said, those are real diamonds. I was like, be too afraid to wear it. Put them back up there. Look at that. Bro. People already hate me. I'm hot. I'm hot. I'm hot about it. And she leaves it in our bedroom where she keeps all her. It just stays up there on the top. And mine is like in a sock somewhere in my old Halliburton. He's lying. I'm like, I ain't wearing mine when she's got that big thing. Yeah. That's not right. I didn't do it. Huh? That was not my fault. I'm really so proud of those rings. Every time I left the house, I would put these things on. I want everybody to know I'm in the Hall of Famer.

57:12Twice. Absolutely. And twice. Yeah, man. And so I want these things to look nice. I'm representing the company. Come on. You deserve it, man. Booker wears both his, doesn't he? Yes, unapologetically. And the ring he stole from Paul Bosch? I think. Yeah. Booker ended up with one of those. He did. That's not true. That's for all the grief. That's for all the grief he gave me on LFG. How are the two rings? Does Bruce Pritchard still have one? Because he was like one of the other guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, book wars both. I think Bruce took his off of Paul's finger. At his funeral? Out of the casket?

57:55When this airs, I'm going to get a phone call. They're like, really? I was like, I don't know, man. I love how that happened. Oh, wow. That's funny. Oh, man. Chat GPT can do more than answer questions. It can help you get real work done. Chat GPT work is built for bigger projects with multiple steps. You bring the goal along with the information it needs, like briefs, notes, files, feedback, calendars, data sets, or project plans. Then Chat GPT can help turn all of that into something useful, an analysis. a tracker, a deck outline, a prototype, or a workflow you can keep shaping. It can also use approved apps, connected tools, files, and browser contexts to help move the work forward.

58:43And you stay in control. You give direction, review drafts, approve actions, redirect the work, and choose the final output. So you spend less time sorting through busy work and more time making progress on the work that matters. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode. Available on Plus and Pro plans.

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1:00:10Hello, appliance fans. I'm here at Grand Appliance where Bill just bought a premium Bosch Benchmark dishwasher. Talk about your experience, Bill. My salesperson was an appliance genius. She told me about their free install offer on Benchmark appliances, and it was a done deal for me. Wow, free install from the pros at Grand? That's a no-brainer. Agreed. They make it so easy. There you have it. Grand for the win. Check out grandappliance.com for full details. This is Tony Ayo from The Real Report with Tony Ayo and Uncle Murda. You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rent's going up. Streaming services are going up.

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1:01:24Some things never change. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up, only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay$25 a month as long as they remain active on a Boost Unlimited plan. So, you know, we didn't really talk much before we started filming today, but you've had a couple of comebacks. You've had professional comebacks and you've had your personal comebacks.

1:02:00It's amazing to me because I know where you're at and I see you today and it's the kid that I knew back in the day, man. I don't know if you feel like it. If you don't feel like it, just tell me, shut up. I just want you share a little bit of that because I think a lot of people think when they get that monkey on their back that it's a it's a death sentence or you can't come back or you can't you can't um you can't have a a a new and complete life and you are the proof yeah that you can go to the to the darkest places and there's still a path back I don't know if you if you you know I'm happy to talk about all that stuff because it helps other people it does help everything and i think i i'm i think we're both firm believers i think things happen in our lives so that we can share those experiences and then pay it forward to people that might be in that same situation so um yeah i mean you i i know and i'll let you i'll let you talk but i i know that uh i'm incredibly proud because we're friends um you know and people in our industry don't always make it back and uh i'm really happy that you did me too man i didn't think it was gonna happen for a while there man mark you know because poof when you when you think you're trying well you're doing the best you can sometimes right in those places but like like i remember there was one point where i called Paul for help.

1:03:42And he came out to LA and, you know, first of all, they couldn't find me for a while. Paul put me up in a hotel until he could come out there and then they couldn't find me at the hotel. You know, he came out and flew me to Atlanta and put me in a rehab place. Him and Vince paid for it out of their own pocket. You know, and I just took a big giant crap on that help they gave me. I got high in the rehab place they kicked me out of the rehab place you know hold that thought and I've heard this and that's wonderful that they did all that but until you want until an addict or somebody wants that help it's not going to matter even once you want it or you think you want it or whatever like even that man it's just sometimes you just got to go out and suffer some more.

1:04:39You know? Because, I mean, there was no, there was, just when you think you hit the bottom, like, you'll find out there's some more floors underneath of that, you know? It works both ways, right? Like, when you're on the way up, you think, okay, I want to get to there, and then you get to there, and then you go, oh, yeah, it's the same way. It's the same way on the way down, too. I'm sorry, go ahead. No. But yeah, I just, you know, it culminated, like, you know, not to just get too drawn out with this, but it culminated in me being in Mexico. After I left here, I ended up living in Mexico, worked for AAA for four years.

1:05:23I hear a lot of good things about that place. Yeah, and I loved it back then too, but oh my God, you know. No, I'm just, yeah. Yeah, I had some issues. But I ended up in a big fight with my girlfriend. We lived on a penthouse apartment, and there was a rooftop garden. And I went onto the rooftop garden, and I found a garden hose, and I hung myself from the roof of the building.

1:05:56I usually don't, like, tear up when I talk about this. I don't know why I'm so emotional about it now because I've talked about it so much. But I was like, I was, she saved me. You know, but like I was, I was without oxygen for a while and they had to put me in, induce me into a coma to protect my brain. They thought my brain was done, you know, my too much brain damage. And so I was in a coma for three days. I come up out of it and I'm strapped. I'm strapped to the table and I'm freaking. I'm like, what the hell is going on here? You know, and finally they, you know, and I'm strapped, but I also have a tube down my throat.

1:06:36I'm intubated.

1:06:41And, yeah, so like, and then, you know, I got told what happened and things started coming back, you know, and the memories started coming back. And, yeah, Big Cav came down, flew down and flew me to Houston. and there's a great place in Houston called Menninger Clinic. It's a three-month stay. And I'm not going to say I begged, but I was like, please let me stay longer. It was great. And I got so much out of it. But then I left there and I went right back to Mexico into the same apartment that I... My girl, she had left, by the way. And so I was there alone in this apartment that I hung myself.

1:07:27on the roof of it was like really crazy like stupid thing to do put myself back in there yeah so i like ended up back you know getting messed up again using drinking doing whatever you know for a while and then um i was like big meth head too by the way and so like it's one of the like worst things you can do uh and i started doing meth a little bit down in mexico again and then And I got a call to go do TNA when Hulk and Kevin, you know, Eric went down there. They called me to come do that. And I left Mexico. I left all my stuff in Mexico and I never came back. I've never been back to Mexico since.

1:08:12So all your stuff's in a room somewhere? Yeah. I'm afraid to think about whoever went into that room after me, what they found in that room, Mark. Wow. probably good that it's what how long that's when what 15 how long how many years ago that was like 20 oh my god doesn't matter it's been a long time ago it's been a while no no no no man but yeah but then like you know like i said you know like debt manager clinic was great but like i still need to go out and suffer a little bit more yeah you just and finally like fast forward i i I moved back here, back to L.A. Maria Menounos and her husband Kevin, they took me in and, like, you know, supported me and, like, let me be a part of their world.

1:09:10And around all the people that they're around. You know, some amazing people, right? Right. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I told him you were into biohacking. This all makes sense because she's super into biohacking. Yeah, and they, like, hooked me up with the hypnotherapist and just like, just all the right people to be around. We hide the stupidest stuff out of shame. And for you to share all that, my gosh, I'm grateful for that. My brother struggled the same way and also tried to kill himself twice and walked in on one of them. And it was just like something that you can't. And when I, you know, and also, so when they brought me to Menninger, my eyes were solid red.

1:09:48I looked like the devil because all the blood vessels. Just the blood vessels were buffed, yeah. That's kind of how he was. I had to put sunglasses on because nobody wanted to look at me. Yeah. I freaked him out too much. That's, yeah. That's, yeah. That's a scary thing. It's scary for the people around you. Yeah, and then having to tell family members. Yeah. They're already worried about you anyways because they know you're out there in the wilderness, so to speak. But it's so true because that's how my brother was. It's like, how much further can you hit rock bottom before you, God, it took years and years and years and finally.

1:10:29Oh, man. I've heard of that place, though, and I'm trying to think where I've heard of it from, the place in Houston. It's everything. They have everything there. Like, you know, they're sharing all these resources with me, and one of them is the hypnotherapist. The first session was like, boom. It was like I couldn't believe it, you know. So he hypnotized you? Yeah. No, it's a she. Her name is Ida. A she. Yeah. But no, I'm just asking. I don't know why she just looked at me like that. Well, it's not like those hypnosis shows with the mentalists. No. Where you're like, huh? Yeah. Like, I'm still kind of awake, but you're kind of in a trance.

1:11:07And they record it. And then I would also play it back when I would go to sleep. You know how they do that kind of stuff? anyways all that to say i finally like i had been punishing myself like because you know i left my kids and my wife and hurt a lot of people like not meaning to but cause a lot of pain and so i was ashamed of myself for that and i just thought i just deserved to suffer you deserve to suffer and i finally felt like i paid in full like you know you you you do a crime you get put in jail you know when you're getting out right like you get that sentence i felt like okay my sentence is up you know i'm painful with karma however you want to do that and like it's i feel like i'm like i don't have to you know you don't have to beat yourself yeah man and like ever since i've been it's been great and how long ago was this 2017 wow that's amazing yeah and you know and and it was kind of gradual like i'd still have a drink or like a beer or something back then every now again and that, but I just quit doing all that.

1:12:19I still use cannabis. Yeah, yeah. And with the pain and everything. But I have a totally different relationship with cannabis now than just being the Cheech and Chong stoner.

1:12:34Yeah. You know, it's funny, but when you have guilt and regret. Yeah. you have to get to a point where you can forgive yourself you can't take it back and you can't change it you can only learn from it and move forward but it's incredibly difficult to get to that point because you there's more than one way to get to that point too you know absolutely And I think if you're a good human being before, I think it makes it even more difficult, because then you add that pressure. Like, I'm so much better than this, or I'm so much better than that, to get myself there. So it starts to compound. And then, man, I just want you to know, as your friend, how incredibly proud I am.

1:13:36because I know how dark it was. And to see you now on the other side, it's really impressive and amazing. And, you know, I feel like it's my, I owe it. Like, I feel an obligation to pass it on and, like, help people I see struggling with those things. Right. Yeah. And, like, I work as a person now. Like, a friend of mine's name's Chris Dreisbeck. I'm going to give him a shout out. You know, it's Blueprints for Recovery in Pennsylvania. And, like, I work with him. Like, some of the people in the industry that have problems, like, I'll get them into his rehab, even if they don't have insurance. You know?

1:14:23Oh, good for you. Yeah, he's great like that. And just, it's, and even the people I mentor in the IED program, their kid oh my god like y 'all had y 'all had me as a kid in the locker room right and it was like these are kids like you know they're older than i was but they're like it's different now it's different it is yeah yeah it's different there's a lot i think there's a lot less street savvy yeah and that going on but it it's really cool that you're that you're giving that back because that that all happened to you. Like, I know it sucks and it may sound cliche, but it happened to you for a reason.

1:15:06Right. And you can, you can let it be an anchor that, that holds you, holds you down. Or you, again, like you're doing, you can take those experiences and like, and give them and pass it forward to, and cut people off before they ever get there. Yeah. And I'm so grateful that you shared all that. Like, and like, it's like your testimony, you know, it's totally your testimony. And like, I mean, we hide things, guilt and shame of the smallest little things. And for you to be vulnerable enough to the platform that you have, you're, I can't imagine the amount of people you've already helped. And the amount of people that you're going to continue to help is just such a blessing.

1:15:46And there's some people like that'll not, they're not going to, you know, for whatever, like things they think I did in the past or whatever, they're never going to mess with me again. You know what? That's their problem. Yeah. That's their, yeah. That's a them issue. Some of the things they think I did didn't happen, but either way. Well, that's a problem in our business. The lore sometimes and the story gets bigger than what actually happened in so many different aspects of what we do. But, yeah, again, that's just part of, there's nothing you can do about that. You can only be the best Sean you can be and keep moving forward and helping the people that want to help.

1:16:26I feel like this is the best version of myself that's ever been on this earth. Love that. Well, you have to, yeah. I mean, you've achieved incredible highs within your profession, and you've suffered the lows. And you can tell you're just being raw and honest. You're not trying to be, like, nothing bugs me more than somebody that's inauthentic or tries to be somebody. And don't own their stuff. Accountability. Yeah, you're accountable. We all mess up. I think that's the biggest thing. We all mess up to some degree. And you can either try and cover it up or you can own it and move on and learn from it or you can let it define you.

1:17:07And the big reward for all this, besides getting my relationship back with my kids and having a four-year-old grandson, my marriage. I have the happiest marriage. I can't imagine. I'm sure you guys are. She's blissful. But oh my God, I didn't think it was possible. For me to be blissful? No. To have a happy marriage like this. Yeah, crazy, huh? Yeah, and like, oh wow, we don't fight. We have our arguments, like the thermostat, or different things like that. But it's amazing. And I just, I never, so I took three years off. Of dating, no hookup, no Tinder, no nothing. No of that nightclub boxing thing?

1:18:00None of that crap. And then I started dating my wife. And that three years, I kind of helped me reset. I dated myself for three years and got to like myself first. I don't need any details. Yeah. I'm good. You're not right in the head. What? No, you're just. It's called being the boys. We're still the boys, man. So what are you doing? You're mentoring too now? Some talent? Coaching, mentoring. Because, you know, the original gig was, hey, you know, I'm like, hey, can I help out with the ID? And Paul's like, yeah. Like the original thing was, yeah, you can like review tapes for six hours a week and, you know.

1:18:51it ended up not being just that yeah because like they need way more than just you know skull sessions yeah man like they need like just yeah you need to watch you gotta i think you have to you have to watch film you have to dissect it and then you have to go and apply it yeah and also there's just things that they that come up and you know that they have to deal with and they're just you know and the mistakes that I made I can help them learn you know learn from those and

1:19:24you know what I do I go back and watch my old matches and I look at all the mistakes I made and that's what I used to help teach them yeah I made plenty well we all do yeah yeah and like you go back and watch right and like everyone thinks these matches are great and I'm not gonna argue with you but I see the things that I didn't do right or I failed to do. Missed opportunities. Oh, yeah. That's the key. Yeah, that was always. I think I've talked about this recently is I always watched myself or watched my stuff back by myself so I could dissect it. I didn't want somebody next to me going, oh, that was great, man, the way you did that.

1:20:02I was like, okay, I know what I did right. I want to sit down. And a lot of times with young guys, they don't understand what they did. they think they did something that was really good and you're over there scratching your head like oh that was the shits that was you know yeah for sure I do those skulls like I don't call them skulls I just do one on one zoom sessions it was like I want to I have a hard time like just ripping somebody to shreds in front of the rest of the room these days these days it was not thought about. Yeah, it was not fun sitting there like getting, you know, told everything you just did wrong in front of everybody else in the room, right?

1:20:48But that was what happened today at the tryouts. That's what I've always said. I could not imagine being down at NXT performing in front of Sean and the guys that come in, like, I'd be a nervous wreck. So we had that skull and then, like, you know, everybody kind of got ripped a little bit in front of everybody else. And it's like, I guess there's some value in that. No, there is still. We were just talking about a stroke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got to be able to, I mean, it's still, I mean, the business has changed, but it's still a tough business. And you don't get better. Like, you know, you can sugarcoat things and say, well, you know, you might have done this.

1:21:20But if you don't sometimes put a little grit on it, then they don't understand that what they're doing is. I'm down there. Sorry to interrupt you. No, I'm good. I'm sorry. I'm down at all tapings, you know, the other week. And I'm not going to mention names. But there was a talent down there. and he's really like got a lot of promise, does some amazing stuff, looks great. Had a match with one of the other guys and it was not good. And when I told him it was not good, you would have thought I like, you went and told somebody else, why is he so mean? Oh, oh goodness gracious. I'm like, what?

1:22:02Just trying to help, right? Yeah, like imagine when he, Like, if he ever moves up to the main roster, like, you know, somebody's a little bit blunt with him. I don't know. Like, dude, toughen up, man. Yeah. I mean, that is a part of it that, you know, they don't really realize. And if there is somebody that takes the time and invests in them and gives it to them straight. I'm like, dude, you want me to lie to you? It's not going to do you any good. it's not going to do me any good, you know, and it's not going to do the company any good. Well, I love doing, I love this. Yeah. Working with all of them.

1:22:42I mean, it's so fulfilling. And it's just like, light was already great because I go hiking with my dog in the mountains like almost every day during the week. But now having that, it's important to have purposeful life, right? Yes. Meaningful things to do. And so now I have a grandson. I got my dog I love to go hiking with. I'm digging into rescuing dogs and things like that. You want to rescue ours? He's a mess. I just love dogs. I'm just joking. But I have that and helping those kids down at the PC. You're at peace. It's amazing. I love that. I'm as happy as anybody I know. I'm not going to say I'm happier because I don't know, but I can't imagine.

1:23:32If somebody's happier than me, then I'm, that's great. I love that. That's awesome. But, like, it's hard for me to imagine somebody being happier than this. Wow. You're winning, bro. Yeah. Yeah, you are. Like, seriously. Well, man, I really thank you. It's always good catching up with you. Thank you. We see each other about twice a year. It's always nice. I'm glad we got to sit down. I'm glad you made time for us, man. Yes, thank you. I kept like, when am I going to be on Six Feet Under? Oh, wow. Okay. As you can see, there's a long line of people out there waiting to come on Six Feet Under. Thank you, though.

1:24:14When I got asked to do this, I'm like, oh, thank God. There's so much we could talk about. We could just keep talking. I don't think we talked about anything we planned on talking about. No, no. Which is great. I think we talked about what we really needed to talk about. And that's why you're sitting in that chair with a big smile on your face, man. It makes me happy. And, again, it's always nice for me to have somebody from back in the day to sit down and cut it up with, man. Hey, Mark, you remember that? Because you just ended on such a nice note. And I'm thinking about this time. Remember we had that real quick singles match?

1:24:51And you came in and I think I jumped out of your way in a corner. I jumped up and spin kicked you and like busted your lip. Do you remember that? And you grabbed me and you threw me like I almost, like you threw me in the corner, almost went over to the floor and you boom, man, you got that receipt right away. We won't come back and he's got a bloody lip and I got a black eye. It was great. No, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Is this the way things were done? I'm sorry I busted your lip though. That's fine. It healed. It's all good. Your eye looks all right. And then one time, oh, that was Kane that did that.

1:25:30He shot me with the fireball. He tried to shoot you, and you moved it. Him and fire. What is it with him and fire? Anyway, I just messed up such a nice, beautiful ending. No, bro. No, no, no, please. No, I like it. That's old school, man. I can't let you go out like that. Mark, I love you, man. Well, I appreciate it. I love you too, brother. And I can't be more happy. No, thank you. I'm so grateful for what you shared. Like that's what you're a blessing. You're such a blessing brother. And all that, all the negative happened for a reason. And now you just pay it forward and I'm just happy to see you and keep walking, keep walking the dog and playing with that grandbaby.

1:26:08And I look forward to the times we get to, we get to hang out. It's always great. Right. Like just to see run into people. Like that's one of the biggest joys in life these days is running, you know, running into, running into the guys from back in the day. Yeah. That are still here. It's like, oh man. Yeah. Even the guys you don't like, it's like, oh, it's good to see you. Good to see you. I was worried about you. Good stuff. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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