What Do You Wanna Talk About? - Fallon Henley

29:09If you had a new horse, I mean, this is an on-the-spot question. Obviously, your horse is going to probably inspire something differently. But this future goal horse of yours, what would you name it? Well, here's my whole thing as I ask you this question. I'm playing this game, Ghost of Tsushima, on PlayStation. I've played it like 60 ,000 times. Nothing pisses me off more than you can't name your horse. You have to pick from the names. And the names all suck. Oh. And my horse is named Nobu, and he's cool, and I respect Nobu. But it's like, come on. Yeah. I want to put my own spin on this, right?

29:43I want to put my own spin. All right. All right. Hmm. I don't know. Because I feel like when you pick a name, it goes with the personality. It goes with the look of the horse. So to just pull something out, I would just be making something up. Your horse knowledge. Do you know all the different breeds of horses? Let me. Hold up. Hold up. So I had to read this thing when I was younger because my dad was so into horses. Okay. And all this color, the different color and the dapple was a word you kept seeing. And the only time I ever thought, I'm glad I knew any of this was, again, when I played Red Dead Redemption, of all things.

30:20Because it's like, oh, that's a good horse. You want that Arabian. That's a good horse. It's a really strange outlook on it. But okay, you knew these horses. You knew them all. Yes. I mean, all the markings have different names. The markings on the face, the markings on the legs. Yeah. You're not the only cowgirl in the wrestling space. You Mickie James? Absolutely. Yeah. Tell me about it. One of the nicest humans I think I've ever met. Yeah. Just always so sweet, always so helpful. Like she was coming to NXT for a while when she was doing the LFG show. Yeah. And every time I saw her, it was just tons of hugs, lots of advice, complimenting everything.

31:01like she is just sweet as pie. Yeah. Like it's sickening how sweet she is. I like that can be, you know, some people it's too much, but I, she was the same way at OVW. Yeah. And she was actually just breaking in. This is like post the moment with her and Trish happening and all that, post that, but she was still just young herself and she was incredibly helpful. Because I think that's the thing is like, you said it can be too much sometimes, but I think it's too much when it's not genuine. And for her, she's just a straight up genuine person, no matter what she's doing, where she is. Yeah. Is there a current locker room leader in the I mean, again, you're coming in a group of three.

31:40Yes. Going to be a little heat on you naturally, which is a good thing, as Michael Hayes told me many years ago. Too much heat is not good, though, apparently. But yes, you've got each other. Is there someone in our current locker room or on SmackDown that you look to at least look to or model anything after or like what they've presented? You named a bunch of people off the top. All people that you're going to mix up and be in the ring with already are. Yes. Is there someone who leads that gang? I've seen and I feel like, again, Pam Bailey is incredibly – she seems to have that same thing that Mickey has.

32:14It's all about leading to the next, the next generation and what she's doing with her camps and all that. Who you got? For SmackDown, it's really hard for me to name one person when it comes to these things because I feel like everybody plays their part in guiding everybody through this because at the end of the day, we all work together. And we're all a team as much as we're not. We're all in competition, but we all work together. So I think the locker room has been really great. Everybody's been super nice, super supportive. Obviously, they have to watch their backs, but I think collectively, it's just incredible.

32:55and it's really insane because I think about when I first got into wrestling because I was never somebody who watched it growing up I didn't have friends that watched it my family didn't watch it it's something I found when I was in college I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do with my life I ended up getting a degree in criminology and business what I was going to do with that I don't know um but when I was you know lost trying to find what I wanted to do I found wrestling and And during that time, you know, black and gold was really big. So, um, man, it was, you have the, the Bailey's, the Alexa's, the Charlotte's, like seeing all of those people.

33:35And then now being on the same roster as them, it's, it's insane. So it's just, it's just incredible. Cause I never would have thought that when I decided I wanted to wrestle, I really didn't think I was going to make it this far. Yeah. When you're, when you're across from somebody that you felt you were a fan of or watched, do you where are you at in at all I know that for me personally I have now I'm in a lot of rooms where I'm impressed with someone in that room but I'm also 40 and I that point in my career I always have to remind myself and sometimes I literally have to say it under my breath hey I'm meant to be here yeah I'm meant to be here I you're yeah you're my favorite wrestler ever I just had a conversation with Jimmy Hart primary yeah all that but also uh what can I do for you and it seems like the energy you guys have brought is very uh you're not starstruck by anybody again these are all people you admire but that's the greatest thing in wrestling is is the real you mentioned we're a team but it's a competition and if that if you I don't know what the word is for whether it's collaborative or, but my biggest competitors at WWE are, I'm huge fans of theirs, but I'm not giving them that.

34:51I'm not conceding that to them. Not in these moments, at least, you know, like you, what are you doing for me? What am I doing for you? I don't know. It's a whole, it seems like you guys, you guys very much are not starstruck by anybody there. If that makes sense. I think yes and no. I think when it's game time, It doesn't matter who's standing in front of me. Like you're the target. Yeah. But at the end of the day, when you go home, it's like, okay, it's cool. Cool moment. Yeah. Big news. WWE and sports fans, the world's number one sports fan festival. Fanatics fest is making its return to New York city.

35:29Fanatics is bringing you closer to the leagues, teams, superstars, and athletes. You love across four action packed days in July. Meet your favorite WWE superstars. superstars, get your hands on exclusive merch, and interact with the biggest names in sports. Tickets are on sale now, and fans of the podcast can use code CODY10 at checkout for 10 % discount. Head to fanaticsfest.com to get your tickets today. You're talking about watching black and gold. Did you have a favorite wrestler? And a lot of times, I found this with OVW when I went there. Everyone assumed, oh, it's Dusty's kid, so Dusty's his favorite wrestler.

36:06or he's already been trained, which I hadn't been trained at all. I was in love with wrestling, but I fell deeper in love with wrestling when I first started doing it myself and figuring these things out and moments were happening for me. And, oh, they told me to do this and I did it and it worked. And that felt good. And, oh, I can do this. And my favorite wrestlers would change and evolve. Did you have one as you were training and as you were coming up or through all that extra work? Was there someone, a guiding light for you or just someone that is your favorite? I think because I was able to meet her, it was like, I think it was, I had just started wrestling, like just started at the wrestling school, maybe like a few months.

36:46And it was the Dallas WrestleMania. I think it was 2016, 2017, somewhere around there. But I met Bailey. And she came to one of the shows that we were working at. And again, same, just like Mickey, so nice so genuine so i think because i had that little bit of time to connect with her when i got to then watch her again on tv she was just somebody that always stuck with me also sasha banks watching them i grow amazing yes yes i mean what they did in nxt was huge for women, just huge. So to be able like, cause obviously I didn't know much about wrestling before then, but when you would hear the people talk about it and you would see the crowd and you would see the way they were able to connect, it just blossomed and because of them and because of every, you know, all the women before them, it's led us to be able to do what we're doing now.

37:53yeah so for me sasha and bailey were two really big people that just ignited that fire it's a very common what's your favorite wrestling match of all time at least at the nightmare factory it's a very common with our female trainees that's the one yep that's a great one to choose from yep can the because that's as arn anderson would say that's a very high-tech match uh which just meant there was athleticism in it i'm not sure but he would always say they do the high-tech stuff too but are you able to watch old old wrestling yes yeah does it hold up for you it's just different yeah it's just evolved but like terry we'd watch stuff in terry's class this is terry taylor yes terry shout out to terry taylor but like he'd pull up old clips and stuff and it's different yes but there's always something that you can take from it yeah and i think you know sometimes people who newer people coming in can't necessarily see it because now everything is so fast especially in NXT it's go go go go go yeah so much is happening but there's still so much you can take because the devil's in the details and a lot of the old stuff yeah has a lot of those details that we might pass over or maybe don't think about going into a match and so I think that no matter what kind of style, what era, there's always something you can take from it.

39:18I think you're uniquely positioned to answer this question more than maybe anybody who's come on this podcast. No, I do because I fall into a different category of the type of wrestling I like and the type of wrestler I am and definitely the type of wrestler I'm becoming. But I hate when the old timers, I don't even know if old timers, OGs, luminaries, Hall of Famers. I don't like when they explain it as if there's only one way to do it. And this isn't all that, but they really push the moments and the cinema and that. They push the moments. And then it seems like there's almost this punk rock rallying cry against it amongst the really young.

40:02Where they're not saying, hey, screw your moments. But we're just going to do these really awesome moves that you can't do. And they're going to blow the crowd's mind. And I have said, I think it's in the middle. Yes. Right? And you have the same thought that it's in the middle? Okay. Because if you have all of this cool, awesome stuff happening, but you have no emotional moments that somebody can connect to, then it was just a bunch of really cool stuff. If we're always doing really cool stuff, what makes it different than the last match that went on before you? The gentleman who trained me, he always used to say, it was like fireworks.

40:43He's like, you go see fireworks. It's awesome. But you just go see fireworks once, twice a year maybe. Or you're impressed when they come up, but you're not seeking actively fireworks. It's a bonus. And that's how I used to describe overly high spot filled shows, overly dream match filled shows. Because after a while, the crowd can only do so much. And it's almost where your position on that card can be beneficial to you. Whereas when you're in the beautiful spot of being last, but also sometimes the burden of being last of what is there left? And do I have enough of a connection with them? At that moment, that's when you want to have that connection the most because that's what will get you to the finish line.

41:26But yeah, he used to say fireworks. Right now, a lot of discussion in general about your psychology at a young age in terms of in the ring. Is this something that innately, some people just have it. Other people can learn it and other people can take forever to learn it. Speaking to NXT and coming from under Shawn Michaels and everyone else there, is that something you picked up from Shawn being one of the greatest in the ring ever and to many the greatest ever and my favorite wrestler growing up? Is that something that comes from Shawn Michaels? Is that something that you felt you had in your bones already?

42:05No, I think it definitely comes from my time in NXT and learning under Sean. Because whenever we're having rehearsals, you know, we do them a little bit more thorough than on main roster. I noticed. But with that comes the ability for us to learn like the why. Yeah. The why's for everything. Because you can tell me to do something all day long, but if you don't tell me the why, it's not going to stick in my brain. Sure. And I think that's something Sean really takes the time to do is, especially when there's stories in the matches, why we're doing what we're doing. And because if you don't know the why, it just is not going to click.

42:46So I think that's something that he was really able to help me and the girls kind of grab on to is the why and the how and the how to show it. Sure. So, no, Sean is an unbelievable bottle of knowledge. Yeah. So to be able to have learned under him for so long, it has helped propel me in my career tremendously. Well, there's this famous class years ago from OVW, which is Brock and Cena, Batista, someone else, I feel like I'm, Randy, oh, my God, this is an unbelievable class. I was just thinking the other day, I'm thinking we re-entered one of these amazing classes because we got Fatal Influence.

43:31We got Oba. We got Trick. Ethan is on his way. Crybaby Ricky Saints is doing stuff. You know what I mean? And they're all hitting at once, which is you don't get, I feel like as a wrestling company, you don't get that lucky that often that this all happens at once. We talked about Black and Gold. We talked about Sasha and Bayley and that specific match. is Barkley's and tearing the house down and being a lot of people's favorite matches. There's setting a table, and then previously to that, you had the divas generation who was working their tails off, the natties and the bellas, and they're trying to create a, you know, Mickey, they're trying to set it, and it's building upon building, and I think unfairly building slower, but it's here now, and it's at this apex that you're coming into.

44:21twofold in terms of how do you feel being part of that now but also have you noticed that the wrestling audience is very female very I mean that and what does that mean to you it's really exciting um a little bit intimidating yeah because you know the groundwork was laid for to be all the way up here and it's up here and now that's where I'm coming in at yeah so a little bit intimidating but very motivating to keep it going because without everything that's been done before yeah I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing now and I want the people coming in after me to be able to continue to do it yeah and I think the women all together have just been killing it across the board across all brands like in NXT the women were main eventing yeah so often it was incredible.

45:17Like I, I was able to have so many main event matches. I think it was 2025. Um, and that was awesome. So it's, it's really cool. And to be able to do it alongside with the people that I watched is even cooler. And again, it's one of those things that's just very surreal. Like if you would have told me when I first started watching wrestling, Hey, one day you'll, you'll be in the ring with Rubella and Paige and Charlotte and Alexa and all these people. I would have said no. And I am. Yeah. So it's just really cool. And I'm very grateful to be able to do it because they have so much knowledge that I can learn from.

45:58Yeah. So to just suck all the knowledge out of everybody and continue to pass it along, like, it's pretty freaking cool. I, uh, you, you mentioned main eventing and, uh, particularly the Royal rumble this past year, the Royal rumble this past year, I watched, uh, backstage in Saudi and I was just watching the rumble go on. And I knew again, the Royal rumble is not entirely dependent on you, I guess, unless you're winning the thing, or if you're in there the whole time, you've got your block in it. You've got your moments. Some people pretty long, you know, they're, they're basically the spine of the book on it but i knew it would be very difficult for the men to follow and i could see as they got to the deeper water of it and they got down to live and they got down to it that this is hitting hard you know and i feel like taking it on the chin and and executing on some pretty difficult stuff which kind of shuts up the uh the old timey type oh they can't pull it off in those settings and then they could pull it off in those settings but so really this year was a prime example also anytime io's been in the ring or on like there's big there are cards we have that i'll look and be very thankful for some of the names and io's one that i'm always of it was incredible incredible and it it in a way uh it lightens things like all right if i blow it they're gonna be fine io's going out there and putting in a shift already she's she's killed it And I noticed, and that's why I asked you about it, with a lot of the different meet and greets and signings and just appearances that were out, all of us doing, very, very large female audience.

47:42Yes. Very large. And I think that number's gone up from years ago when they finally, you know, touted, hey, it's 30 % or whatever. And I actually this week did the Disney upfronts and ESPN and everything. And that was a big talking point. It was, oh, we didn't realize how many. yeah I do you this is crazy maybe this might be a misogynistic question I might not know it so call me on it if it is do women watching do you what do you think they want are you do you think they're looking for women made eventing women on top of the card at Wrestlemania or do you think I'm curious what the women fans watching I mean I think they would all love to see it yeah like Absolutely.

48:24But I think that's kind of the beautiful thing is like, no matter where you put us, we're going to kill it. But it would definitely be cool to see us in those spots. Oh, no, for sure. And I feel the conversation every year becomes, and somebody said it two years ago, the fact that it's a discussion, and it's always a discussion, men and women discussion, what could be it? what could be the one that's really great problem to have a really and hunter being really honest with us always about it's the best story the best story is going to be and to your point about nxt you'll see that because it was happening down there and now down there is coming not to say up but coming to smackdown coming to raw coming to them so you'll see it transfer in real time which is a really beautiful thing and again it's a competition but it's also a collaborative effort This is awesome.

49:18Yeah. You mentioned running it all. Running it all. Are there any girls on the raw side that you feel you want to step into the ring with? I mean, there's so many. Yeah. Bailey for one. Yeah. Bailey's a big one. Bailey's a, we had Bailey on the pod before. I feel like we got to get Bailey back. Bailey's been up to a lot of stuff, huh? What's Bailey's camp called? It has a unique name. I just say her camp. I always say it. Load. Lodestone. Lodestone, right? Like Cold Stone. Lodestone. Yes. Do we know why? I don't actually know why. Yeah, no, I kind of was counting on you to know why. I just know that she - I feel like, I'm sure she said it, but you should probably bring her on to explain it.

49:59Deep, insightful reason why, but that camp is amazing. But that's like the amazing thing is just like watching all the women help each other and bring each other up and share the knowledge and want everybody to succeed and do well. And like, no, it's amazing that she's doing that. It's incredible. not to mention how busy her schedule is and she's still making time for all of that talking about that camp and I feel like you you having just been you know you've been with WWE for some time but coming up is there anyone out there that we don't know about I mean there always is but there anyone you have your eye on that's not signed to WWE yet oh that's a hard one yeah that's a real hard one I feel like I've been in my own bubble since oh yeah coming up here I'm gonna have to you gotta get out of the bubble you know what it feels good to be in the bubble it does feel good to be in the bubble but I feel one of the biggest things I found when I was away from here was oh gotta get out because other places have bubbles too I remember wrestling in Japan their bubble was the only thing nothing else exists and I thought yeah here and then I thought you know what the best thing would be is just not be in any bubble not be in any bubble and then again when you go do all these things you're doing and going to be doing with all of ESPN, doing our PLEs and all these, you know, Fanatics Fest coming up and the fact that we're there with the sports elite.

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52:10gear, or other items used during the featured match. So, which moment will you collect? With each card only available for a limited time, you won't want to wait to begin your Tops Now journey. Be sure to subscribe to the WWE Tops Now mailing list on tops.com and follow Tops on all social media platforms so you never miss a single moment. Fallon, do you have a fun fact? Well, yes. Okay. But it's about your wife. Okay, hit me. I don't think I've ever told you this, but it was one of the first few times I came to work elsewhere. I was just chatting up with her. I think I was getting ready for my match or something, and we were just talking.

52:56And the ice rink that I had my first job at when I was in high school was where she taught ice skating lessons. That's actually wild. Isn't that insane? Yes. What did you do at this ice rink? um i had like three different jobs i was scorekeeper for like our younger youth yeah um hockey teams yeah office staff and then i did the barista at our coffee shop so you're doing everything yeah what what are you gonna do with this criminology and this business degrees what are we gonna do i don't know what my plan was i went through a lot of different things my dad was very, my dad was air force spent 35 years in the airline industry after that.

53:40Okay. Um, and he was just one airline, uh, essentially. Yes. They just got bought out. So it was Northwest and then they got bought out by Delta. Delta. Your dad, right? Yes. He's in the air force. My first opportunity to do a major movie and that's a guile and guile is air force. Uh, and depending on when you are looking in 1994, you know, is he, is he Colonel? Is he captain? Whatever it may be, but please just let me know when the movie comes out, how I did. Yeah. Cause I had a lot of facts. I only had these facts loaded up in case somebody called for knowledge of the military schematics in 1992 or what I had.

54:17Basically, I didn't want to get caught. There's a lot of fun people on this movie. Eric Andre is on this movie, Katow, the director. There's a lot of improv. So I was basically ready wrestling style. I want one. I want one person to try and ask me about, you know, the before. I want one person. I never needed any of this. It's in there in a way, but yes. All right. Well, at least you were ready. I flew planes for a while because I was going to be a pilot. That didn't work out either. What kind of plane were you flying? A little Cessna. Yeah. Yeah. Did you feel good about it? Yeah. Were you a good pilot?

54:49I was actually really good. Yeah. I was just really scared because the thought of flying a metal object full of people and they're my responsibility. I mentally could not get past that. So I was like, I'm not going to go through all of this training and do all of this to then back out later. Do you still have your pilot's license? But you did have a pilot's license. I did not. I stopped. Okay, listen. We got to the solo flying. Terrified. I was going to be up there by myself. What if something went wrong? You know how many of those little planes crash? Yes, yes. I do. And here's my question. We take a lot of charters as a group.

55:26worst case scenario, right? Something happens. Pilots both pass out. We don't know. Can you get that plane safely back? I will sure do my darndest. I think, yeah. I, I, I, who else? Do you know anyone else who flew planes or knew someone who flew planes? It's you. You're the, you're the one in that regard. Although Jordan Grace just started taking flying lessons. I saw that. Really? Yeah, she did. Trying to catch up, huh? I guess so. Trying to catch up to you. If I find that you We have a bunch of female pilots in the locker room. It's going to be a unique. I don't think there's going to be many.

55:58Yeah. It's you without your license. So unofficial. Unofficial. You're unofficial. Unofficial pilot for single engine aircrafts. Single engine, unofficial pilot. Yes. Here's where I think this degree is going to help. How much time have you spent with Mr. Heyman? How much time have you talked to Mr. Heyman? A good chunk. Yeah. That type of life experience is the type of thing he really relies on and leans on and finds things that you didn't even realize. Okay. Yeah, so he's a special one to have. Okay. You know, I don't know if Fatal Influence is in the Heyman girl slot, you know, if you're there, but you'll know.

56:37Okay. But he's a good one to have. But you don't need him. You've got your two homies. You're going to run it. And we will bring them on the pod to make them feel as they should. We'll have to regroup in the near future, have all three of us come out. I was still a little bitter because I gave JC my only mask I still had left. And then like two weeks later, I don't know what she did with it. I think she forgot. We even, oh, it's here. It's right there. Well, we got it back. So what are you complaining for? I'm not. I'm not. Why are you coming after her? She's wonderful. There you go. We like that answer better.

57:11Thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having me. And this is, I very much look forward to everything. And thank you for being on SmackDown. Honored. ladies and gentlemen what do you want to talk about Fallon Henley