# The Big Show: My 537lbs Fight, Wrestling ICONS & Lessons from WWE

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** High Performance
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q
- **Дата:** 10.05.2026
- **Длительность:** 1:42:02
- **Просмотры:** 14,880

## Описание

Paul Wight, known to millions as “The Big Show,” is one of the most recognisable figures in sports entertainment history. In this episode, Paul reveals the stark reality of a life lived under a terminal diagnosis, opening up about the decades he spent assuming he wouldn't grow old and the grueling work he is now doing to rebuild a body he never expected to still be using at 53.

He discusses the radical selflessness that defined his thirty-year career, where he viewed himself as the "wall" for others to break through rather than the destination. Paul shares his unique three-step formula for success and explores the hidden psychological weight of consistently prioritising his opponents' glory over his own world-title ambitions.

Paul also reflects on a profound emotional breakthrough that arrived uninvited on a film set, shattering a lifetime of performed toughness. 

This is a rare, intimate look at a man finally pursuing a path entirely for himself, trading the wrestling ring for Shakespeare and discovering who he is when he no longer has to make someone else look good.

Paul Wight will be returning to London for All Elite Wrestling’s record breaking show AEW All In: London - taking place over the bank holiday weekend on Sunday 30th August, live from Wembley Stadium. https://www.livenation.co.uk/

Widely regarded as one of professional wrestling’s greatest “big men” of all time, the iconic Paul Wight has done it all in and out of the ring, holding 23 total championships, headlining the world’s biggest shows and appearing in dozens of films and television shows over his 30-year career.

Wight shocked the wrestling world in February 2021 by signing with All Elite Wrestling, and has since served as a coach, mentor, commentator and wrestler in AEW, as well as an on-screen authority figure for AEW’s sister promotion, Ring of Honor. Standing in at 7’0”, Wight is one of the most recognisable figures in wrestling history and has brought decades of knowledge and experience to the blooming AEW roster.

In limited AEW action, Wight has defeated QT Marshall at AEW All Out in 2021, and was a key figure in AEW’s cross-branded Yakuza: Like a Dragon Street Fight in November 2023, where he took a body slam onto a car from Powerhouse Hobbs.

On the silver screen, Wight is known for performances including the legendary Captain Insano in The Waterboy, as well as appearances in Jingle All The Way, episodes of Saturday Night Live, MADtv, Hollywood Squares, The Weakest Link, Psych, Conan and headlined Netflix’s The Big Show Show.

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#HighPerformance #wwe #aew #wrestling #thebigshow #johncena #hulkhogan 

Chapters 📕
00:00 Intro
02:31 UK Wrestling fans
07:54 Paul Wight vs The Big Show
13:28 Acromegaly
17:10 Dead by 45?
21:43 Traumatic childhood
28:44 Opening up
34:11 Fan interactions
40:16 Self-worth
47:15 Depression
50:18 Calories a day?
55:41 Stone Cold
1:08:09 John Cena
1:13:35 WWE Salaries
1:16:07 Vince McMahon
1:18:29 AEW
1:26:51 Coaching?
1:30:40 Wrestling at Wembley
1:36:51 Quickfire questions

## Содержание

### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q) Intro

Hey guys, right here. — Let's do it. — Feel like Gandalf walking into Froto's house, right? — Are you sure you're comfy enough for a — Oh yeah, I'm great. This is awesome. — I wear spandex. I entertain people occasionally. I make people laugh if I can get a good joke. That was your chance to laugh. I work on my material. I mean, I was 6'2 at 12. I was 6'8 at 14. They were like, "Well, if you don't get this surgery, you'll probably be dead by the time you're 45. " I've always had people stare. I'm not going to let them determine who I am and how I'm going to interact with someone else. — How do you learn to do that? — A lot of pain. I didn't expect to live a long time. You don't see old giants. I've had a major surgery the past 7 years every freaking year. Back was bad. Knees were bad. I was 537 lbs. I think didn't want to wrestle anymore. I was just I was miserable. — What was your calorie intake in your wrestling peak? — Over 10 12,000 calories a day. Easy. When I look back now, I'm like, God, I used to eat that much. Like, why? I keep myself right at 26 2700 calories a day. Got into shape and lost some weight and cleaned my act up and fell in love with wrestling again. I'm in people's living rooms. They've grown up watching me. It takes 30 seconds to be nice, take a selfie, say hello. You don't know what someone else is going through. I see you. You matter. — We'd love him back in the ring. — Is there any chance? — It's not that I want to go out some big retirement thing or tell my story or some other kind of horseshit like that. That's I just want to have fun. That's all. — Never fear a storm. Be ready to adapt. The skill is staying true to ourselves. — Welcome to the show. — Thank you guys for having me. This is awesome. Thank you for the tiny chair. — It's our pleasure. — This is great. Was this a side bet? Say, how big of an ass can we fit and how small of a chair? Is there a side pool bet somewhere? Oh, there's no way he'll fit in that. — Listen, YouTube viewers hate these chairs. So, uh, guarantee the comments will — Oh, do they hate the chairs? Yeah. — Well, as a guest, I'm very happy to be here. However, I am slightly terrified I'm going to go home with this chair. You know, one sneeze and it's permanently going to be mine. — Well, you might as well stay here cuz AW allin is anyway in a few months. — You know what? Yesterday, you could have talked me into it. Yesterday, I came over here and it was beautiful and sunshine and London was majestical with the sun out and I was like, "Wow, I'm not used to this. It's so pretty. " And so, then I got up today, I was like, "Oh, yeah. Here's a London. " I remember. — Yeah. There you go. — Shame on me for having a positive attitude about the weather. I should have known better.

### [2:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=151s) UK Wrestling fans

— What are the uh what are the London wrestling fans like? — What are they like? Uh rabbid, I guess, is a good word. It's amazing. You know, if you have two opponents and a referee, there's three people and then you have the fourth player, which is the fans. And you know, you guys have your songs, the Olay Olay, Ole Olay, which is great in the matches. And uh you know I think uh — Sweet Caroline. Uh my favorite chant was you fat wanker. That was one of my favorites. — That's nice. — Yeah. — Who was that at? — Uh that was in O2 Arena in London. One year it was like you fat wanker. And I of course my characters on the inside I'm like yes I love you guys. And then uh I came back a year later and they're like you still got it. I'm like yes I love you guys. You know it's just a great relationship. I think that's why I wanted our talent to experience that because if you I had to do it harder like and I of course I had to walk uphill both days in the snow and all that other stuff being an old-timer but you didn't have all the digital media to help your exposure as a talent. So my first trip over here — um with WWF at the time I came over with a rock a couple weeks in WWE. They didn't know who I was even though I was a champion in WCW. We had TV in Germany, but we didn't have TV in the UK. WCW wasn't there wasn't a real presence. So, everyone's like, "Are you the Rock's body guy? Are you the Rock Body God? " You know, and it's like, "No, I'm I just signed with WWF. I don't even think I was the big I think I was still Paul White. " And, uh, and then over the years, uh, I developed that relationship. I earned it with him. And I think it's a great uh invention uh tool for the talent now with social media and everything and all the platforms between the like the uh all AEW and places where fans can see the events that uh they can learn the characters cuz you guys know the ring music, you know the signature moves, uh you know the sayings and that really builds a talents confidence and and sense of what they're Cuz sometimes it's hard when nobody knows who you are and you're trying to do these things and everybody's like, "Yeah, mate. You want to hurry up and do something? Uh, we're not impressed. " You know, you had to I think you had to work a little bit harder for it back in the day. But that might be just me being older and better that the kids have all them new fangled tools. It's one of the first conversations I have with Tony. Um, we were when I became a part of AW, signed my contract. Literally minutes after inking the deal, we were talking about his ideas for AW and how I can contribute. I says, "Man, we've got to get to London. O2 Arena. It's going to be great for our talent to experience that kind of crowd. Uh the energy, uh we need to do some tours over here. Um hit all the places, Birmingham, Sheffield, London, uh all those places that I've hit over the years. " And uh he took my advice and went right around O2 and went right to Wembley Stadium. So there you go. Wembley Stadium. — Yeah. I mean, I didn't even think that was a possibility when I was given my sales pitch of what? Yeah, we can do O2 Arena. He's like, "Yes, I'm a billionaire. We'll go to Wembley Stadium. " All right. Well, there you go. Rock on, sir. Rock on. — Brilliant. So, what what's the most fans you've ever performed in front of? — Um I think uh Dallas and something thousand, — right? — Yeah. I think that was one of the bigger ones. — My son was depressed the other day cuz he's 10 and loves football. So assumes Wembley is the biggest stadium on the planet. And then he said, "I'm going to find out the biggest stadiums in the world. " And like eight of the top 10 are all in the US, aren't they? They're all football stadiums in the United States. — Yeah, they're huge. It's Well, that's very exciting, too. The World Cup coming over. That ought to be great, too. — Fill those big stadiums up. Um, yeah, it's a You guys spend a lot of money on sports over here in footballers and stuff, you know, like it's massive how it's done. But the NFL now has just gone insane with some of these stadiums. Like uh just even the service for the people in the seats, you know, some of these stadiums uh you know, they have the digital pads there to order stuff. They don't have to leave their seat. Like it's starting to get — you know follow the money. There's money being made somewhere because there's money being spent. So it's there. — But when you perform in front of big crowds like you're going to do at Wembley, like does it like — how do you prepare for that? Do you do anything differently? — It is different. It's uh it's a difference between being on a nice lake or being in an ocean. You can feel a nice lake in a big arena. You can feel the people. When you're in a stadium show, it's an ocean of people. It's the reactions are a little slower coming back because we're very intuitive of what we're doing in the ring and communicating with the crowd. when you're in those big stadium shows, I think personally you want to slow things down a little bit, let things because you've got people so far away and yes, I can see on Titantrons and stuff like that, but you want to feel the eb and flow and they have different rhythms. — Um, this is a really interesting area that we love to talk about on this show. Great. — We've often had people who sit in the chair you're sitting in or squeezing into — who — smaller people generally. — Yeah. — Who spent their lives having to be somebody else, — right? Yet what we love is a conversation with a real person. So do you like having conversations where you're Paul White rather than the

### [7:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=474s) Paul Wight vs The Big Show

big show? — Oh, you're talking to me now. — Yeah. — I mean, uh, my character on TV, I mean, God knows if you've watched wrestling, I've had more turns than NASCAR. You know, I used to confuse myself. Am I a good guy or a bad guy? Am I smiling or frowning when I go down the ramp? What am I doing? Am I angry or am I happy? Am I high-fiving or am I ignoring everybody? Um, I think over time I've learned to let that character go. Uh, once I'm done, once I leave the building, I'm not that character anymore. When I go home, I you know, I'll change the occasional litter box occasionally. Um, it's not my duties. I don't bend. Tall. It's too tall. Um, you have to find a happy balance. Um, my character is what I do for a living. It's not who I am. — But you said you've had to learn that. — I had to learn that because it was a different industry when I started. When I started, uh, Hulk Hogan was Hulk Hogan all the time. Randy Savage was Randy Savage all the time. Uh, you know, these guys were their characters in public because just like social media today, back then those guys did a lot of word of mouth. So like Hulk Hogan would go out with yellow boots and Hulkster tights on and all these things like he his he had a Viper with Hulkster on it. Like everywhere he went he was that gimmick. Randy Savage ran around all the time with Macho Man t-shirts on and I mean these guys are always on that uh self-promoting level and they were always uh in character. Um, it was too much work for me. And I'm glad the business is involved because my character's been a bad guy a lot of times in my career. I'm not a bad guy. I like people, you know. I mean, sure, I have days where I don't want to be socialable. Yeah, I grab a book. I grab my basketball shorts. I got a cat. I chill that day. You know, I'm human, too. But most of the time, uh, I try to take advantage of the success that I've had and just be nice to people, interact with them because I like people. Um, I tell the younger talent now in a kind way cuz with social media, you you start to judge your worth on likes and tweets and all the other garbage that I probably should know and don't know. My go back to the adage is you can't believe everything you read, good or bad, about you. Cuz there no matter what you do, people are going to have an opinion. You have to know who you are as a talent and as a person. You can be a character on TV and play that character and do that character. After that character is done, who are you as an individual? And uh I think that's important to carry forward because you want to give people I think a positive experience. It's a great — I it's not like Spider-Man, but it's a responsibility. Sure. — You know, like I'm in people's living rooms. They've grown up watching me. They grew up watching with their parents or they're watching with their kids now. They run across me. It takes 30 seconds, 45 seconds to be nice, take a selfie, say hello, be kind. You might be the only person they meet in their entire life. To me, it's every day. It happens hundreds of times a day. Um, I'm grateful for it because of that same fact that I have a chance to maybe have someone make a good experience. One, you're building your brand because you build a fan for life. Two, you don't know what someone else is going through. kind of day they've had. just you acknowledge them. I see you. You matter. Uh I'm engaged in talking to you. Even sometimes when I get hit with some I bet I can take you. Take me where? Out to dinner. Like come on. We don't want to fight. Like what are we doing? But people are just looking for interaction. They want to have a moment. that memory. And I think especially with wrestling, it's okay to give them a real moment and be a real person. — One of the things you said was that it became too hard for you to be the big show all the time rather than be yourself. Can you tell us more about that? — When I came in, I was build as a son of Andre the Giant because that's the way the business was done then. You even to get into wrestling when I started, there wasn't the internet. There wasn't you had to know someone to vouch for you that would someone then would train you. Um it was like a closed club to get into. Um it it's not the spectacle that is now with the opportunities that a lot of younger people have now to get into the industry. It was very hard to get in and uh they were very protective of the gimmick. So my thing was is like yeah my dad was a mechanic. My mom was a cop like you know like I love watching your dad. I'm like yeah he could work on a car buddy. I'm telling you he was a good mechanic but they were talking about Andre and I always hated that in the back of my mind cuz like you know cuz they come at you with such sincerity and such heartfelt uh it means something to them. you know, that character does. And I just I never like that part of calling myself Andre. And it's no disrespect to Andre in any way, shape, or form. I wanted a better relationship with my fans. So, yeah, I say a lot of goofy things when I do interviews and I poke fun at myself, but I'm that way anyway. I'm a guy that — self-deprecating humor is I love it. I'll pick on myself all day long. I love it. I love making people be comfortable. I like making people laugh. Um, so that for me is more natural to do that. And I'm happy now that with our fans being smarter and having more access to things, they can uh they can definitely differentiate between me as a character and me as a person.

### [13:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=808s) Acromegaly

— And so few people know what it's like to live with acromegia because very few people. — That's a weird one. — Could you explain for us what it is like daily? — Um, well, I had the tumor fixed. Um the only thing now that's tough is just uh — um time the bones I mean you know like it's — um a lot of the thing that gives you your gifts and your strength when you're younger the amazing athleticism and power and all that stuff you know in time you can't carry that size and mass around. So you have to find a way to make yourself healthier. And for me I'm at 383 now 350 340 looks really healthy for me now. you know, another 30, 40 pounds off. It's easier to move, walk more, do things like, yeah, I want to be able to uh, you know, say I will make people laugh that know me. I'd love to be able to go on a hike through the mountains. Like, you hike. I'd love to know that I could if I wanted to, — you know. Um, I'm lucky in the fact that because of the Acromega, I didn't have any other real bad side effects. My heart is good. Uh, everything is good that way. I mean, the joints are fine now. I've had two knee replacements. Both knees are done. Both hips are done. So joints are fine. I don't have joint pain anymore. Don't have any joints. So they don't hurt. Uh imagine that. Um you know uh I don't have any of the sinus problems cuz the pituitary gland controls a lot of your sinuses and tear ducts and there's a lot of important things that are done with the pituitary gland that I don't have problems with. So I'm very lucky in that aspect at this stage. But I think it's just the being able to deal with the freakiness like gloves. You know, it's very hard for me to find gloves that fit. Yeah. — You know, it's like, "Oh, we've got 4 XL gloves. Okay, great. I order them. — Yeah, they don't fit. " You know, watches. Like, I'm running around with an Apple Watch now. That's like two watch bands put together to go around, — you know? Like, I have a beautiful, beautiful Panerai watch that I absolutely love. I ordered the biggest band they could get for it. It's still about that far from being able to work. So, I have this beautiful 8day Panerai. — I can't get a band to fit it. So, it looks good in the case. Can't wear it. So, now we're stuck with an Apple Watch. — How old were you when you were told you had this condition? — I was uh 19, — right? — I went my whole life. — But you must have been wondering. — No, I just thought I was, you know, it's funny. I thought I was just gifted cuz I had incredible endurance and I ate whatever I wanted and I could run all day and strong and all that. And then I went to uh Witaw State and uh the doctor there had worked at the male clinic and was familiar with he looked at my hands and there's different things like the roof of my mouth is very high and jawline and uh sinuses and stuff like that. He says I think you have acromeglia. I'm like what? You know and then within a week I was at the Mayo Clinic you know and they're telling me they got to do this pituitary surgery and like but I had a tumor. This is why I'm this way. — I mean, that's scary, right? — Yeah. I mean, I probably would have been a I probably where I'm lucky is I would have been big anyway. probably 67 68 anyway cuz my family's big. So, I didn't I got the benefits of it, but I didn't have a lot of the trauma that a lot of people that get acrogulated that go through because they weren't made to be bigger people. So they really got the bad end of the deal for the uh for the bone growth and other problems. — And was it at that age where they said that life expectancy was — that was just uh that was just a figure that I was told because I almost

### [17:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=1030s) Dead by 45?

didn't get the surgery and they were telling me they were like well if you don't get this surgery you'll probably be dead by the time you're 45 because this will shut down this will happen. This will happen you know and I remember thinking like ah 45 is a long time away. I don't know. I mean, you know, I'm going to start my sophomore season at Witaw State. I don't know. Maybe I should just, you know, not get the surgery. And I remember my sister was very adamant at the time. No, you're getting the surgery. — So, which was a funny rib because I had the surgery done and they go through the front of your nose to do the surgery. But if you intersect through the ear and through the front of the nose and where they intersect under the front lobe of the brain is the pituitary glands in a little pocket. Well, they go in there, chip the bone out, they laser out the pituitary gland, and they pack it with a little bit of fat to the bone grows back. But you have this big bandage on your nose and your sinuses are packed with gauze and they tell you no bending over, no straining. Uh if you suddenly get a really wet nose bleed, try to call 911 because the synovial fluid just dumped out of your brain. and it's going to ground out. So then you have like, okay, thanks. So you're like this, but I couldn't taste anything. And the only thing I could taste at the time was the mushroom and Swiss burgers from Hardies. I could kind of taste it if I move, you know. So I sent my sister, she says, "What do you want? " I said, "Uh, four mushroom and Swiss burgers from Hardies. " And my sister at the time was really heavy. And she goes, "Can you please order something else cuz I've gone in there for five days in a row and ordered four mushrooms and whiskers. " She I know I'm fat, but now they're starting to look at me like she's so judged. — Yeah. She was like, "We know why you're fat, lady. " You know what I mean? And she was eating good and trying to She was on her own program to lose weight. Can you please just order somewhere else, please? — Well, make sure you stay where you are because in a moment, Paul's going to explain to us why Steve Austin changed his career. This is a paid advertisement by BetterHelp. We have raised men to keep things in, to not complain, to not show weakness, to just get on with it. And suddenly we're asking men to open up, but no one's ever taught them how. And what happens then? Well, it builds stress, it builds pressure, it creates anxiety, and it comes out in ways that we don't want it to. You know, 60% of UK men signing up for Better Help online therapy site anxiety is the reason. 60%. That is why I know therapy matters. Not because something's wrong with you, but because it just gives you the space to actually put words to what's happening in your head. And for a lot of men, me included, when I first went to therapy, it was the first time I'd ever been able to do that. And that's why I'm so proud to be working with BetterHelp to kick off an initiative that I am personally very excited about. We want to encourage men to say it louder and get comfortable opening up. Society taught you not to and now society asks you to do it. So, it's time we learn to lean on each other, to open up and measurably change the future of men's mental health. This is about taking that first step in a way that fits into your life. So, when life feels overwhelming, I know therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp. com/performance. That's betterh lp. com/performance. And stay tuned for the next 3 months as we talk more about say it louder. What's one habit that's made a real difference to you? For me, it was just changing my alarm to 15 minutes earlier in the morning. It means I can just get my head straight and really attack the day in the way that I want. I've also added to my routine drinking AG1. One scoop mixed with water in the morning just sets me up for the day because it contains vitamins, minerals, whole food sourced ingredients, plus good bacteria all in one go. And for me, focus is the big win. It makes such a difference. AG1 is also rigorously tested. They've updated the formula over 50 times based on the latest research and it's informed sports certified so even athletes take it. To try it, head to drinkag1. com/highperformance. And there's an offer right now. £59 instead of £79 for your first month, plus a free welcome kit and travel packs. And you can try it completely risk-free. If it's not for you, contact AG1 within 30 days, and they will give you your money back. What's not to love? But some of those qualities you're describing about being kind and being empathetic and giving people that special moment, it sounds like it might have come from your own circumstances. Anyway, — 100%. I've had in a good way. I mean, I was 6'2 at 12.

### [21:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=1303s) Traumatic childhood

I was 6'8 at 14. I mean, I was 7 foot as a senior. I've always had people stare and uh take pictures and oh my god, you're so I'm tall. I never knew that. Thank you for telling me. Like yeah, I early in my teens, of course, as most teenagers when they're younger, you're angry and bitter about it and everything's in a front. It took time to understand uh to get out of your own headsp space and it's not all about you. These are just natural interactions for other people that haven't seen anything like you. And when you get a platform and a blessing to like, you know, be a part of AEW or the other companies that I've worked for, that was a blessing to use the size and use um the spectacle that I am to also um be kind, you know, and I'm not out trying to save the world and anything. That's not it. I can control the three feet around me. And I try to make anyone that has interaction with me have a good interaction. I mean, I get it. I'm sure I failed. I'm human. I'm sure sometimes I've been a grumpy jackass. I don't remember it off hand, but I'm sure there's someone out there say that one time in Louisiana and I tried to stop you and you were getting on the plane. I mean, I don't know. Could have happened. But uh my general rule is kind of like a doctor, do no harm. Mine's just uh just be kind. — But I find that remarkable when you talk about like the height you were at that young adolescent stage. — It was brutal. — Yeah. because it makes you an object of curiosity. And at that age, nobody wants to stand out for the wrong reasons. — Well, it you don't want to stand out for the wrong reasons. And I didn't grow up with a lot of like I got in a lot of fights when I was a kid. A lot of fights. And I wasn't fighting kids my age. I was fighting older kids and adults. — Um why? Um — I didn't older kids mainly because uh they picked on me. I didn't I mean I remember going to school with one blue shoe and one green shoe in the winter time cuz my feet were growing so big I was blowing my shoes out faster than my parents could buy them. But there were only two shoes that didn't have holes in them. — So then I told everybody I was color blind. So I didn't know I'm color blind. Then they made fun of me for being color blind. I wasn't color blind. I just didn't want to tell them I was poor. — So then I went to that school for a year and it was like oh it's color what color is this? And then I had to learn about being color blind of what colors you can't see and what you can't see so I could fake it. And I was like, you know, uh those are the things you go through as a youth where you put this pressure on yourself and um you think everyone's coming after you and you get wrapped up in your own bubble. um in time I was gracious uh enough uh to be to have grace from other people to explain to me that I'm human too and is to give other people patience. I think the biggest thing is I learn to adjust what affects me, you know, because everything that comes at you, whether it's uh love or anger or uh humiliation, all those things that come at you, it's how you take it in. You have to know your own value and your own worth. You know, they can call me a freak. They could say I'm ugly. dumb. Whatever those things were, it's how I feel about me. I'm not going to let them determine who I am and how I'm going to interact with someone else. — That's a remarkable level of of awareness and emotional control. Like, how do you learn to do that? — A lot of pain. Um, you would think with that size and athletic ability and whatnot that uh the world would be my oyster. And this is not a pity me thing, but I can remember even being a young teenager trying to date, okay? You know, we're 14, 15, you know, you get freshman high school or eighth grade, there's the dance, there's the girl you really like, you have a crush on. It's natural. Okay. Yeah. But when you're 68, 240 lbs, you've got hair on your chest and shaving, it doesn't work. Girls that age look at you like you're a freak. they'll call you or figure, hey, why are you talking to me? Those are things you had to adjust and learn. Um, you know, you would get summer jobs. A lot of times I would get summer jobs and some of the jobs are available. Like, I'm not going to bag groceries, you know, I get construction jobs that paid better. Well, then I'm on construction jobs with grown men and I'm 16. I'm 610. And then you got grown men that these guys drink and they smoke and they've got bad marriages and they're angry and they're, you know, and then they would ride you to a certain point, but you're young and you're humble and you're trying to be nice and you have respect and they lip off and then you end up beating the 11 tar out of the whole work crew and you know you're 16 and there's your whole work crew in the ditch beat up, you know. So, — were you unhappy at this time? — Yes and no. I think I masked a lot. Wow, this is a damn therapy session. I think I masked a lot of my unhappiness by um going overboard the other way to be funny, to be witty, to be uh I think uh approachable and safe. Cuz if I'm not outgoing, if I'm just me, I know I'm scary. Like people say, "Oh my god, I hate to meet you in a dark alley. " My reply to that is, "Why? I might know the way out. And it disarms people. It It's cuz it you can't expect people and I had to learn this in wrestling, too. Like when I first started wrestling, there were a lot of guys that didn't know how to work with someone my size, — you know? So, it was up to me to learn how to uh help them work with me because I was doing things I shouldn't have been doing in my career. And the other old-timers were like, "Oh, you shouldn't do this and you shouldn't do that. " And like, "I'm just trying. I'm trying. " Oh, be a giant. Well, what does that mean? You know, What does that mean? I had to learn how in my career to understand that a lot of guys that are great talents are used to working with guys their size. They're not someone my size. So, how do I uh make myself valuable by being able to tell a story in the ring, working with them where it looks like they legitimately have a chance to beat me or legitimately do beat me and and tell that story, the David and Goliath story, if I'm a bad guy, or how do I create a situation if I'm a good guy, where they have to beat me up? How do I get myself in situations where I could have uh had something happen to my knee or if they poked me in the eye or or like the Princess Bride when Carrie Ules choked Andre, you know, how do I create those scenarios where it's believable? Um, you know, those were things that I had to learn along the way um to tell that story to understand that it's not their fault, they don't know.

### [28:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=1724s) Opening up

— But I love that line that you used before about I learned grace. I'm interested in who helped you learn it and what were the specific lessons that — uh just reflection. Uh I didn't have like I lost I played basketball. I lost my grandfather, my father, and my coach. My coach that recruited me for Witaw State, Coach Cohen, he lost his job. So, three men that had real positive influences on me. And you know, my father was older and he wasn't a uh you know, give you a hug cookie kind of guy. He was a hardworking man that I learned respect from and you know if you're going to do a job you do it your words your bond you know that kind of grief call it grief now but he was a stickler um I lost access to those guys you know and it was a tough time where's my place in the world cuz when you have this immense size everybody's got an opinion on what you should do oh you should play football you should play basketball you should do this you should do that why aren't you doing Why are you a door man at this club? You should be doing this. — Well, that's great. Those opportunities aren't there. Like I I'd love to. How do I make that happen? Um I think just over the constant barrage of stuff, I had two choices I could make. I could have became uh very bitter and um I don't want to say violent because I don't think that's in my nature, but surely there's potential for that with enough or I could learn to manage it or I could live with it. And there's a funny saying even when I'm in a grumpy mood because I'm human too, fake it till you make it. And I learned that on days where I am grumpy and I don't want to see anybody. I don't want to talk to any comments on my height. I don't want to hear how big I am. Uh like now I'm older. Yeah. I just had a surgery. I don't want to be asked why I'm limping, you know. But people don't know. — So you have to understand I'm letting them wind me up expecting other people to know everything that bothers me and I expect them to know about it though they don't know me. — You're supposed to know what makes me upset. it's your fault because no, it's my fault for how I'm reacting to it. You know, if there's a way to explain it away so they understand, good. If there's not, it's how I take it in. What am I taking in? You know, and I think that's just over time I learned to not be offended by uh people that were, you know, sometimes rude. There's uh there's another one like people come up to me all the time and they're fans, but when you think about it, when I say this, you're going to laugh. They'll ask for a picture, then they'll say, "Hey, can you grab me by the neck? " I'm like, "No, that's your kink. I'm not grabbing strange men I don't know by the neck is not my kink, dude. " Like, "Oh, oh, yeah. " Cuz they don't they're just excited. They don't mean to be rude about it. — They're just excited for an experience. Well, I'm not comfortable grabbing people I don't know by the neck. Not my thing. You know what I mean? So, how do we work around that where I'm not offended by it? I don't I'm not unnecessarily mean to them and how do we have a good interaction and everybody has a better day because when you put yourself in a bad mood because someone else made you upset it messes your day up too. — Yeah. — So why are you doing that? Why are you letting someone It's not that you have to be arrogant and live in your own world and oh I'm bulletproof. No, I have feelings too. Sure. And I have even uh those situations you pull back out of and go, what's going on here? You know, what's really happening? Am I upset at them or is there something else that's bugging me? — Let's figure this out. You know, cuz I like being happy. You know, I get mad about things in life. Here's my reset. my reset. I'll get pissed off about opportunities, parts I've read for, I didn't get, uh, matches I didn't get that I wanted, angles I like those things that as a competitive professional, things that you want, they don't happen. That's life. Not everything goes your way, princess. Sorry. I'll get mad. I'll go in the pantry. I'll open the pantry. Food. I'll open the fridge. Food. I'll turn the lights on and off. They work. I'll open the garage. Nice car. You're all right. What are you bitching about? You got a roof over your head. You know, a lot of people don't have that. You have food in the fridge. A lot of people don't have that. You've got nothing to be upset about. Stop. And that's the mental check that I do to myself when [ __ ] starts bothering me cuz the rest of it's immaterial. It doesn't matter. So that's why like people ask me, and I know this is kind of leading on and sorry, but I don't have a lot of wrestling stuff up in my house. — Okay? I mean, I have a storage unit full of stuff, you know, but I don't have I have one title up in my house. I have one AEW chair in my office, folding chair. That's pretty cool. And I have one picture on my desk and that's all I have because I don't live in yesterday. I'm in what's today, what's tomorrow. I can't go back in time and live in those great moments where I was on top of the world. I can't go back in time and change the mistakes that I made. — It's gone. But I can control what I do today and what I'm going to do tomorrow. That's where I'm at. Those are my black and white options right here. And

### [34:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=2051s) Fan interactions

I try to control that. I don't try to control how you think, how you think. I can control my interaction with you. I can defend myself. I can protect myself as far as my boundaries and all that, but it's not up to me to blame or get mad at you because of what you're doing. You want an interaction. Okay. Well, we'll calm it down and we'll have a good interaction. You know, if you can't, well, then, you know, I'm going to move on, do my own thing. Plus, breaking a guy's jaw in New York in your 20s and, you know, spending a couple hundred grand attorneys fees teaches you to be calm. — We'll just throw that in there. — Would you please tell us the story? — It's on the internet. You can find it. — Come on. I had a fan years ago that got really u obnoxious in a hotel and um there was no security there and it was a lobby full of people and he was just being a complete jackass. And I went over to say, "Look, dude, calm down. Wrestling's not real. Slow your roll. " And I was wound up too because it's embarrassing. This guy's yelling and screaming. It's And I've done some bouncing and bars and been in some situations. So, you always have to keep your situational awareness going. And uh he made a move and I honestly thought with my peripheral vision down low, I thought he was going to stab me in the stomach with something. I didn't know if he had a knife or pen. I he was making a flinch move. — Yeah. — But at the time, I thought he was going to stab me. So, I cracked him in the jaw. It's fine. Not really. Um because it took me, you know, a lot of money to go to court and defend myself and all that. And it was just like, you know, being older, I could have prevented that whole situation. You know how I get involved? — Yeah. — What does it matter if he's screaming? You want to scream obscenities at me and Okay. Knock yourself out. I'm going to get my free pint of ice cream at the front desk and go to my room and, you know, have my little fat party and enjoy my ice cream and feel sorry for myself. I'm kidding. I don't do that. But, you know, with what say youth is wasted on the young. I think with wisdom comes those things where you learn to budget a lot of that stuff. I have friends now that are older, they're still grumpy that they get hot really quick cuz when you're a bigger guy, like people want to come up and slap you on the back really hard to say hello. Okay, I don't like it, but I'm not going to react as aggressively as other people. I'm like, "Oh, you slap everybody you don't know like that. " like we'll have fun with it. You know, I try to because that's an easier mechanism for me, you know. Now, if you came up and slapped my kid or my cats or my family, something like that, well, we're going to have you're going to get a different interaction. I promise you, you know, but me, I'm fine. I have one of my friends if you did that to him, he'd rip the skin off of you, you know, Mark Henry, — right? — Mark Henry. And I've seen people do it and I've been there. I'm like, why in the world would you come up and slap Mark Henry on the back and you don't know him? Like, Mark Henry is literally the world's strongest man. Like, what in your brain made you think? And I've done I said, "What in your mind told you that was a good idea? " Cuz Mark gets mad. He doesn't like that. And that's his thing. And Mark's a sweetheart. He's beautiful guy from Ssby, Texas. Beautiful human being. But I've seen guys come up and slap Mark Henry real hard on the back. Hey, Mark doesn't know you. Like, where did you think? Well, this is a good idea. You know, obviously people don't think, — but it's a reminder, I think, that people see the size. They just see the size. And what's really interesting about the, you know, the conversation that we're having is you there's a few things that leap out to me. For a start, you're a stoic, right? — Secondly, you're an empath. So, I only think you become empathetic if you had the experiences that you've had when you're young and they are painful and they're horrible and you wouldn't wish them on anyone else. — But there's also a moment in your life where you have to look back on those experiences and be grateful for them because they've made you% everything that is uncomfortable or annoying. Again, that's why we go to the pantry. That's why we turn the light on and off. That's why we look at the fridge because of all those things that aggravate me. I have all these blessings. I'm a small town kid from South Carolina. Okay. I'm not a great student. You know, I'm not going to do anything worthwhile to help mankind. I I've got none of those things to offer. I wear spandex. I entertain people. Occasionally, I make people laugh if I can get a good joke. That was your chance to laugh. Okay. I work on my material. There you go. Gratuitous laugh. There you go. I guess edited in and no one will ever know. — Magic of editing. Um you go through those things and you have to learn um to handle it. Uh the pain and the insults and the gawking and the staring and the comments where people talk just loud enough that you can hear them, but they can't help themselves. Oh my god, look at the size of him. It's like, yeah, that's frustrating, but also I have all these blessings. I've been everywhere in the world. I've been fortunate enough to stand at the great pyramids in Egypt, you know. I've been through UK, London, England. I've been all the world. Japan, China, South America, South Africa, Australia. I've got to see all these places that with my upbringing and educational background I'd only ever seen in magazines or books or on TV, but I've been given this wonderful gift and opportunity because of my size. Certainly not because of my talent, but because of my size to travel the world and to do all these amazing things and meet people that are heroes and people that I grew up watching on television or movies or wrestling or music even. And I get to meet these people and it's like, you know, I we got a pretty good gig. I've got nothing to be upset about.

### [40:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=2416s) Self-worth

— But I've noticed in like even in our interaction here, Paul, that there's an element of self-deprecation that you engage in. — 100%. — So, how do you do that? And I get why I think you do it to put people at ease. — Put And also keep myself humble. — But how do you do that without making yourself feel diminished by doing it? I keep a good uh that's a good question. That's really inside. Jesus, I feel like I'm going through therapy here. Um I do it to keep myself I keep the monster in check cuz you don't know how hard it is to not be a monster with the amount of success that I attained early in life. You know, it's tough. I think when you throw a lot of success on someone, they're in their teens and 20s and expect them to be uh put together. You know what I mean? You're going to make bad decisions. You're going to do uh things that aren't good for you. You're going to make bad interactions with you're going to make mistakes. Um I don't know if your brain hasn't grown up yet or mine hadn't grown up yet. Um, the self-deprecating humor for me, if I don't take myself so seriously and I don't put myself on a pedestal, then I'm never going to be upset if somebody else doesn't. I know my value, I know my worth. If someone doesn't see my worth, okay, they don't see it is then either my work needs to improve so they can see my worth or they're not going to see my worth. And that's okay, too. You know, I've read for some parts for some movies that I knew I can do this. I didn't get the part. Now, that's if I was an actor and had to make money on being an actor, I'd be starving. — I'm lucky enough that I had the opportunity to read for parts, have the opportunity to try and improve at that craft. But there's a lot of rejection. They don't care how many followers I have on social media. They don't care about how many shows I've already done. What are they looking at? They're looking for the right fit for this character. performance. Now, I can get mad and say, "Oh, well, it's cuz of this and what's the line everyone, oh, it's politics. " It's not politics. It's one thing I've learned. Yes, being in the right place at the right time is very important. Agreed. But also, there's a thing called talent. You know, if you have talent, you put the right performance out there, it's going to get noticed. How many people do we know that came out of nowhere, stars overnight, impressed people with a song or a performance in a film is because they hit that groove and had that talent to make that work. You can't be jealous of that or mad about it. You have to look and say, "Okay, they found a way. I can find a way, too. " You know, so that's the Kool-Aid that I'm sipping now. So, you know, talk to me in 10 years. If things didn't work out, I might be bitter as hell. But, uh, right now, I think that's just what I keep rolling. I mean, keeping my own peace is what's important now. And not let not letting anything else destroy that peace and being honest with yourself. Cuz if you have people telling you how great you are all the time. Oh, you're amazing. You're great. You're a legend. You're this. You're that. You suck that up all the time. Where's your perspective? Where's your perspective on what's going on? — Yeah. — You know, some of those things may have been true at one time. Some of those things are great. Where are we now? What are we doing today? Where are we at today? How's our body feeling today? How are we doing? Uh where's our head at for our productivity? What do we got going on? What's our goals? What's our ambitions? How do we stay uh motivated? Cuz yeah, right now I'm at the stage I could sit on my ass and never leave my house again and be fine. Is that the person that I want to be? No. I want new challenges. I want new goals. And these goals are attainable. Some of them will take a lot of hard work. Some of them might not be possible. Um, you know, and those are things we have to accept. But in the meantime, I can get up every day, lace my shoes up tight, and move forward onward and upward. — I'm interested in the moment where the condition that could have killed you if it wasn't treated. Uh well, I would have been — it would have caused long-term health issues like I probably wouldn't have made it to my age now because with acromegalia and the uh growth hormone, the puitary gland, it will enlarge the heart. It will grow the bones uh to where joints stop moving, fusing them, organs will grow uh your liver, your intestines, all that stuff will overgrow and you'll probably be dead by, you know, I think late 40s is a probably a good estimate. Andre. — Yeah. Andre, God bless Andre, he he had it rougher than I did because when Andre was Andre, you didn't have the people couldn't see social media and see pictures of all these uh different kinds of people, these tall people, these big people. You know, Andre was literally that spectacle, which made him one of the most impressive draws in the world. when Andre the Giant was on a card, you got off your butt, you went down, you bought a ticket, you went to the show because you had to see this thing. And I think Andre um dealt a lot of that. like he drank a lot, you know, and I think that was the thing that really got to Andre by the end was just the pain of having the acromeglia, the joint pain and stuff like that, which comes um you know, I think that he didn't do the right things to take care of himself. And I didn't when I was younger either. I didn't expect, you know, and it sounds morbid, but I didn't expect to live a long time. You don't see old giants. You know, my 20s, I smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. you know, I would drink, you know, a bottle of Jack Daniels in a setting, you know, like I didn't play around. Like I drank, I smoked, I ran hard and I had a lot of friends that would get mad at me like, you know, well, don't say that. It's so morbid. Don't say that. I'm like, "Dude, I'm not here. " Say what? — Uh, no. Cuz I say I wouldn't I wasn't going to live long. I said, "I'm not here for a long time. I'm here for a good time. " That was my line, right? — And I meant it. And then as I started getting old, like, you know, you got responsibility. You got people that count on you. they're being uh very selfish, I guess, is a way to put it. And there were times like, hey, this the time's kind of flying by. Maybe I ought to straighten up and, you know, lose some weight, not be 530 lbs, not smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, you know, not eat 10 hot dogs at a setting. Maybe you ought to eat better and take care of yourself because, you know, uh, life is pretty good. — What was the catalyst for that? Um just uh obviously there was a lot of depression involved with it uh as far as just not happy with myself, not happy with way things were going. I need to make a change and um that was around 2006. I was hurt really bad. I just come off a run as an ECW champion. Um back

### [47:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=2835s) Depression

was bad, knees were bad. I was 5 537 lbs I think and my contract had ended with WWE. I didn't want to sign anyone. wrestle anymore. I was just I was miserable. I didn't like traveling. I was too big for planes. cars. I just nothing. My career was going nowhere at the time. I was still being used as a talent, but I knew there wasn't any opportunities for me because I was stuck in a spot. And I took that year off and got into shape and lost some weight and quit smoking and cleaned my act up. Um and uh fell in love with wrestling again. uh it's fun again. I'm healthy. I'm able to breathe in the ring. I'm able to move. I'm able to get in there and uh earn the respect of my peers and stuff. And that I think that 2008 when I came back was when things really I think took a real positive turn for my career. Did you have a moment, you know, like when you're being told that 45 is a lifely a likely life expectancy, did you have a moment when you did start to approach that age where it had an impact on you? — I think I really started paying attention stuff around 35, you know, 34, 35. I was like, "Wow, 40 is getting there kind of quick. " I think Andre died at 46. I think that's how old Andre was. So, you start looking around these things. just like, you know, I need to get my stuff together, you know, and uh that was just one of those kind of things like I had some really close friends that I would make the jokes, hey, I'm not here for a long time, just a good time. And you know, and they would get upset, you know, and not because the joke was bad, is because they were really sad that was my attitude on things, you know. Um, and uh I started reflecting on that a little bit. was like, "Yeah, you know, you're being an idiot. Like, maybe you should take some accountability and grow the f up, you know. " So, then we started doing it. It's not an easy process. It was a battle. You know, even dieting now, I make the joke on dieting. The first three letters in the word diet is die. You know what I mean? When you like food, it's tough to get through that uh that precursor, that hang-up that, you know, food's your escape. And I think that was a lot of stuff too with everything that happened that food became like an emotional outlet because you know it's a reward. There's dopamine that drops in your brain when you eat health food that you want and stuff like that and then even a while after you've eaten clean and done well you'll see all the commercials for the foods on TV. — Then you're like ah sneak off and get it. Then you get God this tastes like crap because — it's your brain playing with you. you know, you don't really need it. And you got to get to a point where you realize that that's not who you are or what you need. You can still have good foods. I mean, I do my thing now is I just watch my calories. You know, I mean, I eat sensibly, but hey, if I want a meatball sub, I'm going to get one. Know that that's my calories for the day. — You in a deficit because you're trying to keep myself in a deficit. Right now, I'm burning, according to Mr. Fitbit. I

### [50:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=3018s) Calories a day?

run about 3,400 calories a day doing nothing cuz I was sick one day and I had this on and I took less than 500 steps and didn't move all day and I burned 3,400 calories existing. — Wow. — So I'm like, "Okay, well that's our bottom end. So how do we what do we go from there? " So then I try to keep myself and I give room for error cuz who knows with my size how accurate it is. Um, so I keep myself right at 26 2700 calories a day and try to give myself between 3500 and 5,000 calories deficit at the end of the week um, for every seven days. And that runs about a pound a week right now. And I've lost a lot of weight faster before. Um, but those were I was a lot more active. I was doing, you know, 15 20 miles a day on a bike. I was going to the gym. I didn't have two fake knees and two fake hips. And I was, you know, 11 years younger. What was your calorie intake in your wrestling peak? — Oh, dude, it was over 10 12,000 calories a day, easy. — What were you eating to get that amount of calories? — Name it. I ate whatever I want. Like uh I It was nothing for me to do like two double meat uh meatball foot long Subways. I'd eat two of them, you know, right there. Not — What was breakfast? — Pancakes, chicken fried steak. just it's absurd. When I look back now, there's no way right now I could come close to eating some of the foods that I used to eat. I'm like, God, I used to eat that much. Like, why? You know what I mean? Now it's like, you know, I run pretty good now. I My thing is now uh I pretty much got into a rhythm. I know what I'm eating during the day and how much to eat. Yeah, — sometimes things don't work out, so I'll have to eat something that's not very scoch, you know? I'm like, okay, well, that's going to be a big hit on the calories today, so we'll be trimming the rest of the day, you know, but uh most of the time right now, it's just uh just roll with the punches and roll with the flow. — Stay where you are, cuz in a moment we're going to go deep into the world of wrestling. What was the behavior from John Cena that left Paul openmouthed? Stay where you are. There's a stat I keep coming back to. Postcode lottery players have collectively raised over 1. 7 billion pounds for charities and good causes. Now, that's kind of a number that's hard to grasp, right? You can't really picture 1. 7 billion, but you can picture a breakfast club making sure that kids start their day ready to learn, a mental health service being there for someone when they need it most, or a youth program building confidence in the next generation. That's what 1. 7 billion really is. It's not just a number. It's thousands of moments where someone got the help they needed because of funding raised by Postcode Lottery players. It's consistent. It's long-term. And it's all driven by players. Together, you are creating real impact. So, if you want to see more about how this funding is making a difference in communities, click the link in the description to learn more about powering hope together. Postcode Lottery manages lotteryies for 20 charities. A minimum of 30% of each ticket price goes to charity. 18 plus. Conditions apply. not available in Northern Ireland. — You know, becoming a parent changes how you think about so many things, including money. When you're younger, it's so much about the next opportunity, isn't it? The next project, the next adventure. But I found that once I had kids, I'm starting to think longer term. How do I make smarter decisions? How do I help the future look a bit more secure for me and for my children? And one of the things that I've been exploring recently is how to make my money work harder in the background. Well, XTB have launched a cash ISA and stocks and shares ISO where new customers can currently earn 6% interest, which includes a 2% boost for the first 90 days. It also gives you taxfree growth, daily interest, flexible withdrawals, and no account management fees. And if you open an account and make your first deposit within 7 days, you'll receive a free stock to help you start your investment journey. If you want to find out more, go to xtb. com/en/join/highperformance. Capital at risk investment values can rise or fall. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and ISA regulations which may change. Limited free stock available. 2% ISO rate boost for 90 days. New clients only. T's and C's apply. — Right. We're going to talk wrestling. — I would like I love the therapy session though. Nice trick. — That's great. — Come on over to London and have therapy. Like jeez. Okay. — Um, it still might be slightly therapyish. You never know. Um, when was the moment that you did something as a wrestler and thought, "Hold on, the thing that I thought was going to be the bane of my life when I was younger is going to give me the greatest gifts that I could ever have imagined. " — Um, h, in wrestling, that's an interesting context to try to put that into play. I don't think I've had any of those kind of hits. I've had some moments where I've been like, "Wow, I can't believe I'm here doing this. " Like, "Wow, this is pretty amazing. " I've had some moments in the ring with some opponents, whether it's Hogan or Savage or um even Undertaker. Uh some of those moments where I've been in the ring and realized like, "Wow, I'm really doing this. This is pretty awesome. " What was the turning point from just being another wrestler to actually having like what you think was a key moment in your career?

### [55:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=3341s) Stone Cold

career? — Um, I think a good one was there's an event where I figured out my character and what I brought to the table was working with Stone Cold uh actually over here on a UK tour and uh earlier in my career every be a giant be what does that mean? — Cuz if you work strong and you no sell, it just looks like you don't know how to sell and the other guy doesn't know how to punch. And I had a match with Stone Cold. We had a dark match after a Raw TV over here and um they wanted Vince wanted me to beat Steve and I remember Steve um had his little dip cup and uh Vince goes uh we'd uh like you to put show over tonight. Want to get him up and running. And Steve goes, "Damn, Vince, these people pay a lot of money to see Stone Cold, hit a few stunners, drink a few beers, not do a job to the big show. " And I'm standing there and I'm like, "Hey, you know this is fake, right? " Like, I can sling your guts all over the place. In my brain, I never do that because I have respect for Steve, but in my brain, I'm like, — "Dude, it ain't real. Like, what's the problem? I'm such a POS that you can't put me. " And Steve was right. I did not have uh the talent or the presence at that particular time to beat him. Looking back now with — wisdom so in front of you to say that. — Well, yeah, but it was business. That's the thing about wrestling that uh you got to learn not to be uh so sensitive about your feelings, you know, cuz you're going to hear a lot of stuff you don't want to hear cuz it's business, you know. That's the entertainment world anyway. you guys are entertainment, you know, you hear a lot of things like you would never say that to anyone else, but you've heard it, you know. So Vince goes over to talk to Steve. They have a conversation, they come back. Steve's got a point. Well, yeah, he does. He's one of the top merchandise sellers at the time. He's one of the biggest stars. I'm sure he does make a good point. So, we go out and wrestle and I had bumped Steve out to the floor. I went out to get him. I went to throw him back in the ring and I pulled his shorts up his butt by accident. I didn't do it on purpose. I wasn't being a smartass. I just mistimed it. I got in the ring, he was like bang bang. Hit me three times right in the chin hard. It's got big burly knuckles on him, too. He goes off the tights, you big son of a [ __ ] Like he was mad and I got mad and I grabbed him by the face and I ran him over in the corner. I was like, like I got mad. And him being the wy veteran that he is, he goes, "There you go, kid. Way to fire up. " So everything he did after that, I beat the snot out in a working way, in a safe way, but I worked like my size and uh he hit me with a stunner and I'm like, "Okay, well match is over. That's his finish. " He covers me. He goes, "Kick out. " And now I'm thinking he's trying to get me fired cuz no one kicks someone call with stunner. No one does. — But all this is all happening while the three count's going down, right? I'm like, "Okay, well the referee heard it and I know that the ring posts are microphoned. Okay, I'll do what he says. " So, I kicked out the arena went. No one kicked out of the stunner. No one. And granted, he wouldn't have done this if this was on TV, and I understand that, but this is a live event kind of thing. This is just for the crowd. This is after TV. Get up. Hit me with another stunner. Covers me. Kick out. He hit me with seven of them. Right. — The last one he goes, "All right, I'm blow it up. Let's go home. " So he covered me and every stunner got louder and louder and something clicked in my brain about what everybody was trying to do because there wasn't anybody like me. I wasn't as good as Undertaker. Kane. I wasn't Andre. I was a weird hybrid of the three, you know. So, how do I work and maintain a career and work with other talent and become uh a legitimate, dependable talent, not just something that you get featured, you make some money off of, but you can't really do anything else with a talent you can rely on. Then I got it. I can sell anything. It's how I respond. — And that changed my career as far as the way I approached my matches, what I would do with other guys, what I could do, what I wouldn't do. It really helped me come into my own on that one. And that moment was I attribute 100% to Stone Cold. He was great for doing that. — See, what stands out for me when I'm listening to you, Paul, is that one, you seem like a sponge. You're open to new ideas and — I'm a sponge. It goes in one ear and right out the other. Kind of like a civ. — See, again, there's the self-deprecation, but I also think that you spoke about being in a entertainment industry where some of the conversations are pretty brutal about you. So that interaction with Steve, that fight sounds like it's somebody that's taking you under their wing and showing you how to utilize what you've got. — Oh, 100%. He Here's the thing. Stone Cold was Let me explain this. Steve was 100% right because in our business, you have to really earn through work presentation to be in certain positions. You'll get opportunities. Whether you stay in that position or go past that position or succeed in that position is on you. There's no politic. Oh, it's polit. No, that's not it. It's your work rate. If your work rate is there, you'll get opportunities on your looks. Sure, you'll get that opportunity because of size or a look that you have or charisma that you have. Sure, you'll get but you stay there. It's how you perform and you're given the opportunity. And if you succeed and come through that opportunity, you'll get more opportunities. What Steve's point was, I hadn't done anything up to that point really to be competitive in that league at that time. I wasn't the draw that I should have been. I wasn't drawn like Andre. I wasn't as talented as Undertaker had the respect that Undertaker had. I wasn't a reliable worker as Kane is. You know what I mean? So, who am I? Yeah, I'm just another big guy. Why in the hell would I put him over? Why did I diminish what he brought to the company and what he delivered to the fan base? why he would diminish that on the hope that oh maybe I'll do better maybe I'll get my act together once I proved I could well then we had a great relationship cuz that was the thing about Steve we were great friends before that we laughed we BS we talked about watches and cars and trucks and guns like we that way in the ring working with him he treated me like I was a poss because I didn't step up and take care of myself and give him. It wasn't for him to work down. It was for me to work up. — That was the thing. And that was the thing when I finally stepped up and worked up to it. Yeah. He's Yeah, we're rocking and rolling, kid. Now we're making money. Now we're Now you're doing what you should do. Now you're being who you should be. — So there's very much a bit a before and after moment. So what were you doing differently after that moment? Like mentally, what was the adjustment you made? In my career, I was always trying to be safe and I was always waiting for other people to do things. I was waiting for them to attack me and then I would react, you know. Um, and a lot of times there's dead space. So, it doesn't look like they don't know what they're doing. It looks like I'm not aggressive enough and I don't know what I'm doing, you know. Or I was trying to be too fancy or too careful with things and a lot of stuff I did was sloppy and slow and I wasn't crisp with a lot of the things that I did. And then I can it's hard for me to watch some of my older stuff — cuz I just want to gouge my eyes out and stab myself in the forehead with like you know uh that moment for me. Um and I'll steal a line from Glengary Glenn Ross ABC always be closing after that night. If they weren't closing I was. — Okay. — If they weren't coming after me I could give it right back to them. Like if they had that they weren't coming boom. Cut them off. Throw them pick them up. Drop down. Clip me in the knee. I could give it right back to him, but we kept the flow going so there wasn't this massive dead spot where this big guy who's standing there looking at you and not doing anything and the other guy looking at you like I don't know what to do with him either. He's huge. That was the mistiming on a lot of things. I think that was wrong. The way I approached things. Uh now it was like I can sell anything. I can register. I can sell. My head can snap. I can do all that then I can come right back and get you. That was what changed for me. If that makes any sense. it. — It's a real intricate part of the business to try to explain, but that was the thing that clicked in my business in my brain was if they're not closing, I am. And I think that was the what made a difference in my ability to work with other talent and get because let's face it, my character is not to be a champion. You don't want a giant as a champion. Like, okay, well, who's going to beat him? What am I good at? Is being an attraction and also being an obstacle for someone that you're trying to build that should be a champion. You know, the obstacle they have to overcome. I needed to be that respected um feared talent that like if they uh got past me, they were on their way to something else. You know what? I mean, I was that hurdle that they had to cross in their career. And if they got to me and didn't get past me, then they had to reboot and start over again. So, uh, I think that was the ability that was able to earn that position, have a career for a long time. — You don't still believe that you shouldn't have been a champion, though, do you? — Um, honestly, yeah. I don't think it it's um uh and it's not a self-deprecating human thing. I don't think I think it's good to be a transition champion, which I was in a lot of things. I would take the title off in someone — uh take it off in one baby face and then put it on another baby face a month later. You know, that that's fine. That's good. But as far as being like a champion holding the title for 360 days or four years or whatever the thing is that everybody talk, no, that's not the thing. Cuz I don't need it. Some people need a championship to help them — where they're at in the card and how they're perceived. And some people are treated as champions even though they have talent and all that stuff. Ric Flair's a great example. Ric Flair is an amazing talent. Amazing promos. Best promos of all time. worked with everybody and everybody in the world. But you always look at Ric Flair as being a champion, — right? — Not that Ric Flair isn't amazing without being a champion, but Ric Flair is icing on the cake being a champion. I'm fine being a giant. It's cool if I'm a champion, but it doesn't really change anything. Whereas myself is my character, my gimmick, my attraction, what I bring to the table, me alone is just as good. Does that make sense? — Yeah. I think it's so interesting because I think again it comes back to the fact that you said at the very start of this conversation in your own words, but you kind of made the point that you're not a wrestler. You're a human being who wrestles. Your selfworth wasn't wrapped up in what you did in the ring. — No, no. I think I didn't want it to be. I think there were chances where it could have been cuz it's a slippery slope, but I was very conscious of not sliding down that road of being in character a gimmick all the time cuz you know there's a lot of those guys when I started that they were in character all the time. — But you also saw people who became so much more than just being a wrestler which I think is I mean like a really great example is The Rock or John Cena. They've transcended that sport. How do you think they've done that? — Um, talent. I mean, here's the thing. Rocks has always, and I'll say this about Dwayne, always had amazing talent, an amazing gravitational pull of character. When he walks into a room, it's a magnet. Everybody can't help but he that's his gift. — Did you feel that when you first met him? — Uh, no. No, I'm kidding. Of course I did. Yeah. I thought I was like, "Wow, this guy's got a thing. " You know, he's got that uh welcoming personality and charisma. Like, he's entertaining to watch. You want to watch him talk to you. what he does. He's uh engaging. Uh John seen John's seen as the same way in also different way. As talented as John is, and John is charismatic, John's also very disciplined. I mean, I have not met

### [1:08:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=4089s) John Cena

anyone in my entire career as disciplined as he is. I mean, here's a guy that literally if he says he's going to do something, it. — Could you give us an example? — Um, we would fly to Australia and those are 15 hours flights. Like we do a Monday night raw in LA and we would fly straight into Australia and we'd land at 11:00 in the morning. Um, by the time you get a baggage and customs and everything, it's a little after 12:00. 45minute bus ride to the hotel. By the time you get in your room, it's at 1:00. You got to leave for the building at 400 p. m. cuz the shows are earlier. So, you've got about 2 and 1 half hours to, you know, uh, go to the bathroom, take a shower, get ready to rock and roll for the show. John would pay for his own van to pick him up at the airport to take him to the gym because then you had to get a workout in even on that flight. and we're and we've already been on the road for 7 8 nine days before we've gone on this tour. — He always made the gym. He always treated everybody with respect. He knew everybody's name. He talked to everybody from cameramen to sound people to uh the t-shirt guys. Like John acknowledged everybody and outworked everybody. And he never was confrontational about it. He never lost his cool. He never got into, oh yeah, that's not John's MO. John's MO is literally like a giant snowplow. He puts his head down and he does the work and he doesn't seek accolades. He doesn't seek praise. He just works and he's just one of the only people I've ever and he's solid. Prime example, uh I was fortunate enough when I put the US title on John Vince came to me, I was the US champion. Somebody screwed up somewhere and they end up putting the US title on me cuz somebody else got in trouble. So I was the US champion for a while and uh he comes to me, Vince comes to me, he says, "Uh, we're going to take the US title off, man. Who do you want to work with? " And I'm like, "Uh, I work with Cena. " And he goes, "Uh, how's he going to beat you? " I said, "He's strong. He'll beat me with his finish. " I think he called it the FU then. I said, "He'll beat me with his FU. " He goes, "He can't pick you up. " I said, "The hell he can't. " So, we went to the ring and I got out a crash pad and I had John hit me with his finish — and everybody was freaked out because nobody picked me up back then, you know, and John's like a machine. And uh so I put John over for that and John had I just thought it was good business because I saw how hard John was working. Like John stayed on the road 60 70 days in a row. Like guys were flying home. John didn't have a family. John stayed on the road. He'd take the rental car to the next town. and he would do local radio, local TV, promote the shows coming up. He just stayed on the road. Like they had to tell him, "No, you need to go home. " He had that kind of work because he wanted to be successful. He had a vision. This is what he wanted to do. This is all he wanted to do was be a pro wrestler. He had the opportunity. He literally maximized every opportunity that they gave him. He took in a very voracious uh way that I've never seen any talent ever do. And uh so I was, "Yeah, I'm happy to put the title on him. Good for him. Let him rock and roll. " Years later, um we're in Peru and Wrestlemania's coming up. I think we were there in January and uh we got off the plane and we're on the bus going to the hotel. I said, "Hey, I don't know if you know, John, but uh I don't have an opponent for WrestleMania. I'm pretty good at taking finishes, you know, so uh you know, if you need an opponent. " and uh he looked at me and smiled and uh just gave me the nod. We got back on the bus that night to go to the arena. He says, "Uh, hey, it's going to be me, you, and Edge at Wrestlemania. It's going to be a triple threat. And thank you for what you did for me at Wrestlemania 20 when you put the US title. " He remembered me like that's class. — Yeah. — You know, he put a really good payday in my pocket for Wrestlemania that he didn't have to do that. nor was I expecting a return on that investment or favor. But that just shows the kind of character and duty he was. He he remember that. The only thing he did is he did break my balls a little bit. He says, "Listen, I'm going to aa you and Edge at the same time. " He says, "I need you to be under 450. Can you get under 450 for me cuz Edge can't lose any more weight? " And I'm like, "For you? Yes. " And I came in that day at 446. He says, "Okay, we're good. I can do both of you then. " That was He had worked it out in the gym what the weight was to do both of us. than I had to be under 450. — I love the intricacy of sort of these conversations that are — cuz you imagine in your head as a wrestling fan, you're sitting watching it and you think, man, this must have been like multiple production meetings and loads of conversations and contract negotiations and all this drama. And the reality is you did something for him years before and said one word to him and it ended up impacting what happened. — Nor did I say that. I was making a joke. — Yeah. Exactly. — You know what I mean? Cuz he at the time was Johnson, the biggest star in the company. like, "Hey, you know, hey buddy, you know, let me just throw my name in the hat, you know, and then it did the whole angle with Edge and Vicki and all that. " And it was great t and I had nothing going on. — on and that gave me an opportunity to be on TV, shot some life in my character, and I got a great Wrestlemania main event.

### [1:13:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=4415s) WWE Salaries

— Would you earn more if you were more central to — main event at WrestleMania? Yeah, that's a pretty good payday. Yeah. And no, I'm not giving you numbers, so don't ask. But it was good, — was it? — Yeah, that's good. Well, that's what you competed for back then. I think things have changed on how pay scales are done, but you you would get paid uh for your live events. You didn't get paid to do Raw or Smackdown. — What? — No. With TV, you got an opportunity cuz if you were on TV, then you got booked for the live event. — Someone's making money from Raw and Smackdown. — Sure. But also there's a television production cost anyway. That's the There you go. — Yeah. So, — okay. — Um, but if you're on TV and you had an angle, then you would be on the live events. And then where you are on the card live events is how you made money. And then if you were on a pay-per-view, then you made money on the pay-per-view. Where you were on the pay-per-view, depending on SummerSlam, Survivor Series, or then you made more money on that depending on where you were on the card in there. So there back then there was always a lot of jostling to be on a big pay-per-view to have a good match on a pay-per-view. Like it was very — And how would that jostling happen? Was it people going up to Vince and having — quite people pitching ideas to writers? Vince. — Uh yeah, it was a very competitive cycle. Yeah, that's why I always love Chris Jericho as my favorite tag team partner because Chris Jericho was relentless when we were tagging together on all the minute details. — Okay. — Like oh Chris was a Chris Jericho is should be esquire. He should be a lawyer. Like Chris does not let anything slide. He got every minor detail. This is what we're doing. This is what's going on. You know, and like it was great for me as a partner because all I had to do was like, "What do you want me to do? " Okay, got it. And that's all I just whatever Chris said. That was it. — Well, it's business as well, right? As well. — Very much a business. No, things have evolved and changed now and I know that contracts have changed over time and sponsors are different and uh you know there's a lot more things to be done uh a lot more opportunities to be made. But yeah, that was the business back then. It was very cutthroat and very sharky. — Can I ask you about Vince cuz you've referenced him a couple. — Sure. I'd rather talk about AEW and Tony Khan, but sure, let's talk about Vince. — No, we want to come back and talk about that. But I'm interested in in the character he was. You wor with him. You've referenced some of those meetings where Steve was there or when he's come and questioned whether you're going to hand over the title to John. — What so what was he like to work with — um business? I had no I never had any problems with Vince. Um I always knew

### [1:16:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=4567s) Vince McMahon

Here's the thing about Vince. I never got confused. I never thought Vince was my friend. I knew Vince was my boss, — right? — I never was disillusioning myself and thought that we were friends. Um I knew he was my boss. I know he was running a company and going to make the decision that he thought was best for the company. Um, I know I would pitch him ideas on stuff sometimes and I knew when to stop pitching when he said I'll take it under advisement which means I've heard your stupid idea. Stop bothering me. Go away. — Got it, boss. You know, but he would take your when he asked for your opinion, he generally wanted your opinion. — Okay. — What do you think about this? What are you thinking? Other times he didn't ask for your opinion. This is what you're going to do. He's my boss. I understood that. I never got uh to the point of uh oh, I'm here for life. I got it made. I never took that for granted. I always knew that, yeah, we'll clown around and joke and I've done a lot of trips overseas and, you know, Vince has busted my balls and we've had some laughs and had dinners and that's our but I always knew for a fact he was my boss, you know, and it kept things very very straightforward and simple for me because I could pitch my ideas. I could um uh vive for things. Uh can I do this, can I do that? Um you know, and he was my boss and that was the final say and I rolled on for I signed a contract. I work for my boss. Prime example, uh Nick Cage years ago had me had a chance for me to be in Gladiator with Russell Crowe and I just come to the WWE and uh no one knew that Russell Crow was going to be Academy Award-winning actor and all this other stuff. And Nick Cage was cool. His son at the time was a fan and mine says, "Hey man, my buddy's doing this movie. You'd be great in it. " So I go to Vince said, "Hey, I got a chance to be in this movie, but I got to be in Spain for 6 weeks. " And Vince looked at and I just signed an amazing contract with WWE. He says, "Here's your choice. I'm paying you to be a wrestler. Do you want to be a wrestler or an actor? You choose. " And he walked off. And I went, "Okay, well, sorry, Mr. Cage. I'm fortunately I'm going to stay right where I am. " Because at the time, it was I was very fortunate to have the deal that I had, and it was a lot longer term, it was the uh egg in hand, bird, what? Bird in hand, bird in the bush. Like, I took the bird in hand. So, there you go. I'm a coward. It's

### [1:18:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=4709s) AEW

okay. — How does that leadership compare to Tony Khan in AW? — Um, Tony Khan is much more open. Tony Khan has a vision for what he likes for AEW. He is super collaborative on ideas, but at the same time, he's also someone that really encourages the talent to come from more of an authentic place. — Yeah. — He's not going to micromanage the talent like a lot of things were done. You know, where I came from, they were very micro. You're going to walk down the ramp here. You're gonna make your entrance here. You're gonna pose to this camera. You're gonna talk to this. Like, it was very structured, you know, and I think that was a product of the environment because, you know, they had dealt with a lot of lunatics in the past, the Hogans, the Warriors, and all those guys. So, they had to have a structured environment with a massive amount of egos that were going on. Business has evolved since then, you know, and Tony has evolved with it. And I think that's the one thing about working with Tony. He's very collaborative on these. He's very excited. He's very pro positive for the talent. Treats the talent amazing. Um, you know, but he also gives the talent to really express themselves. Like when a talent has a promo in AEW, that's a talent doing that. There wasn't a writer that wrote it for him. Okay? — It wasn't an overall uh this is an idea of what your character should be from a company standpoint. No, you're a talent. I trust you as a talent. um it's up to you. Go out there and get it done, succeed. And I think that's a really cool thing which helps me because then I get a chance to help some of these kids on the way. So there's actually like I have value uh inadvertently to some of these talents because I can help them navigate some pitfalls and mistakes that I've made in the past. I can help them not make the same ones hopefully. — And I get that's valuable to young wrestlers, but what's valuable to the audience is still seeing you in the ring. And I was on the train in the ring. — Yes. I was on — Hey, if you're in the big guys in spandex, we've got another show for you. — Let's talk about that though because on the train down here today — Mhm. — Um a couple of guys were like, "Oh, you do that podcast, High Performance? " "Yeah, who are you interviewing? " I told them, and the first thing they said is, "We'd love him back in the ring. — Is there any chance? " — 100%. I, you know, I've been through hell the past seven years. I've had a major surgery the past seven years every freaking year. You know it's like to rehabs, oh something else breaks. — Yeah. — Like literally I equate myself to like an old farm truck. Once you get me started, I'll run like hell, but don't shut me off when you go to lunch cuz I ain't starting till tomorrow. Yeah. I've had both knees done. I've had to um have both hips done. This first hip was the first one I had done. I had five operations on the first hip. Uh I broke the device. There was other complications. Um part of being an acromegaliac is my bones are very strong, — right? So my doctor told me we had to cut the old device out. He says once these bone heals says you can jump out of an airplane with your implants. I don't care. He says you've got the hardest bones I've ever seen. Took him 3 and 1/2 hours and over,00 hammer hits to cut the old receptacle out of my hip cuz my bones are that hard. — Serious. — So that's means you can wrestle — 100%. The biggest thing is uh been uh getting in shape for it and also getting uh healing up from all the surgeries and the uh the rehabs cuz you know some of these like you know a knee replacement is you know 6 to9 months. — I've had two of those hip replacements you know uh you know 6 7 months all this takes time and rehab and getting stuff together. I was doing really good last year something started going wrong in my back. Oh, great. My spine's good. I don't have disc problems, which is amazing. But I had a little piece of bone that was growing right into the spinal cord. So, they had to go in and trim the bone out. — So, that being done, uh I'm surgery out. We're working hard. I'm working with uh Cena's trainer, Rob McIntyre, uh who's a great knowledgeable guy, and we're pushing pretty hard. We did uh over 3 and 1/2 hours last week of sled time, which is pushing a sled and pulling a sled. — Uh we're doing our weight training. We're not trying to be uh 500 lb anymore. We're working for functional strength uh and mobility, and we're getting all that back. It's been a slow process, but uh I gotta say this much, you know, uh God bless Tony Khan for letting me uh have that dream of being a like I could sit at the commentary desk, but Tony and I both are passionate that we want to get me in the ring and get me working. And believe me, it's not to steal any spotlight from the other talent because that's not my gig, — you know. I've had my runs. I've had my time. I want to get in there and have some fun with the talent, you know. um mix it up a little bit and just have some fun. Um you know, with these surgeries and stuff, I do feel like part of my career got robbed from me a little bit. — Yeah. — Um so yeah, and it's not that I want to go out some big retirement thing or tell my story or some other kind of horseshit like that. That's I just want to have fun. That's all. Just have fun. Uh there's things I can teach some of the kids being in the ring with them and working with them. Some intricate things with timing. You can talk to him on the outside and you can explain and you can watch videotape, but there's a much better way to educate in a live audience in the crowd for feeling and that kind of experience I definitely want to give to these kids before it's over. — What sort of stuff would you say in the ring then? Are you saying like wait or you giving them — none of your business? You lace up boots. I'll tell you until then tough luck. — Let's go. — Um it's it's too I don't mean to be insulting by any means. It's it's more of you have to be in the fire and know what we're doing to understand the timing and stuff that I'm talking about — because again I can talk about it out here and you can think you can understand but there's a difference in the ring and there's a different feel to it. A lot of what we do is feeling in that relationship with the audience and a lot of times you can't teach that or coach that uh you have to experience it if that makes any sense. — But you also said that you talked to them about avoiding pitfalls in their career. What are the major pitfalls that you — biggest thing I tell them all the time is said don't believe everything you read good or bad about yourself — right — that's the biggest lesson I can give you cuz if you only listen to your followers on social media that tell you how amazing you are that's not a good perspective if you only listen to the haters on social media that tell you how terrible you are that's not a good perspective find an honest perspective somewhere in the south of who you are what do you bring to the company how am I an asset am I good at interviews public relations am I good as an in ring talent working with other talent. Am I a good draw? Am I interraction? What do I bring to the company? Not what can you know it's a JFK ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. It's the same thing. What can AEW do for me? What can I do for AEW? If you have that attitude, here's my attitude on this is ABC's besides always be closing. A get the match over. B get your opponent over. C will happen. You'll get yourself over. You take care of the first two things, the third thing is automatically going to happen. It's that simple. And there you go. If you were a wrestler, you just got coached. — Thank you. I imagine it's a hard world to walk away from and not want to go back to. — No. — Is it not? — No. It's a beautiful thing to be a part of, but like everything in life, there's a time when you have to step aside and you have to give others opportunity because that's a change in the guard. There's new audiences, there's new fans, — you know, you have to let them have their experiences. Sure. Is it nice? Do I want to still have fun with that? Do I love experiencing that? Absolutely. But at the same time, I'm also very cognizant of it also being their time to grow. I want to be on those sidelines and nudge them. Like, there you go. Nudge them. Get them off the training wheels. All right. There you go. Downhill, no helmet, bike ramp, go for it. You know what I mean? That's I want to see them because I want them to have the joy and the fun that I have. — I want them to walk through an airport and have everybody go crazy. I want them to know what that's like. You know what I and they have the ability to do that even more so now with social media and all the avenues they have now. They have such a great opportunity to build an incredible platform to have a beautiful successful career.

### [1:26:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=5211s) Coaching?

career. — I can imagine though with all the things we've spoken about here, your ability to empathize, you to see the world from somebody else's perspective and your desire to help and add value that makes you an incredible coach. — Yes and no. Uh, thank you for the compliment as I'm trying to make sure I don't fall out of your tiny hobbit chair. Um, to me, a good coach is someone like Billy Gun. I think Billy Gun's one of the best coaches I've ever met in my life. He understands every mechanical dynamic of what needs to be done and also what they're trying to do mechanically. He's so brilliant and so patient and he's beautiful to watch coach. Uh, and I say that in a very loving way. I can tell you what to do to work with a giant or to be a giant, — right? — Some of the other intricacies or specializations, if you will. You know, I'm not going to tell you how to do a 450. You know what I mean? like, you know, um some of the holds, there's a lot of guys, uh William Regal, Fit Finley, uh um uh Tyson Kid. I mean, those guys, they know all the holes and stuff. I mean, yeah, I know a headlock, I know a hammerlock, no wrist lock. Probably know a couple of more, but that's not my okay — thing. And I would not try to step in and teach someone the proper way to take this or do that. You know, some guys are very good at that, understand that very mechanically, and they're very good at translating that. I work more on the other side of trying to find out who you are and what you bring to the table because they're all the same moves in my brain. moves. Everybody steals stuff from everybody. No one thing is going to make you amazing. It's how you connect with your audience is more important to me. How do you become authentic? Are you out there being your character or pretending to be your character? Because the audience sees through it, you know, don't go out there and tell the, "Oh, you guys suck, so they boo you. " Okay, that's cheap heat. — Yeah. — You know what I mean? Okay. Yeah. You insult somebody. Yeah. They're going to boo you. Go out there with your work and attack your opponent in such a way that they hate you because you're a miserable piece of crap because of what you're doing in the ring. No, then we can talk cuz that's better. And people throw stuff at you and they throw rocks through your rental cars and cut the tires on your bus and stuff like that, then you know they don't like you. — Yeah. Then you're doing your job. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Bricks through windows. Yeah. — You know they're mad. When you get them that mad, it's like, "Yeah, I got you. " — Yeah. You know, you won. — I know I won. Yeah. — Do you think we've seen the end of uh Brock Lesnar in wrestling? — I don't know. Um that's a whole another company, a whole another guy. I love him. Uh we had some incredible matches together. Um, always had a great relationship, but for me to try to analyze that is beyond my depth. So, you know, I know who we will see at Wembley. You know, who are we going to see? — Will Osprey, come on. He's from London. You guys came to promote your own guy. Will — we should get him on? Actually, — you should. What? Have you met him yet? — No. — What a lovely, lovely human. — It's cuz he's British. It's lies. How — I've been a couple of you guys. No, I'm kidding. No, he's just a tremendous energy and a great asset for AW. I'm so glad we have him. So excited for him for this Wembley show. Like I keep making the joke like I just want to walk to the ring with you, kid. Just, you know, just so I can hear that pot for him and kind of pretend it's for me. Like, yeah, I'm Will's bodyguard. Yeah. — No, I think you'd get a similar reaction. — Yeah. — Well, we'll see. — You know that you would. You know, you would. — Well, we're we'll be humbly grateful if we do get it. Can you give us any other

### [1:30:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=5440s) Wrestling at Wembley

little secret tip bits about what we can expect at Wembley come the summer? — Well, it's obviously it's one of our biggest global events, so they're not gonna they're not going to hold anything back from AW. You're going to have championship titles on the line. the biggest stars we have in AEW. — There's probably going to be Angles that'll end and angles that will start. So, if you're a fan of all elite wrestling, uh that is definitely the night to show up to see it, especially here cuz I want to I mean, I'm a very big proponent about building our international market over here. I want to see us just from a talent perspective. do the tours over here and hit the different towns from Sheffield, Birmingham, you know, Glasgow, Dublin, hit all over here and hit all those great talents because it's good for the talent to experience that and get that feel from the crowd and the energy. — I also think an AW event is a brilliant mix of like hardcore wrestling fans, but also if you've got kids and they've never been to a wrestling — night before or a day, like it's a great thing to bring. — It's also not you know, um, pick and fights are causing problems, but also you're going to get more bang for the buck. — Yeah. — You know, this is more it's more reasonable ticket pricing considering what you're getting. You're getting a lot of show for a much more reasonable ticket pricing. Um, you know, it's a if you're a wrestling fan, you're going to see great quality wrestling. um you know all the stunts and all the things that go with it and all the uh the pizzazz so to speak. At the same time, it's going to be a good value for the family and everybody get out and have a good time. — It's great. Well, — and you might get to see, you know, a skinny giant and spandex. So, there you go. — Hey, that's enough of a reason. — There's always a win. Like, who doesn't want to see that? — Well, we definitely do. Um, well, look, thank you to Tony for bringing it to the UK, for choosing Wembley, and for you guys for coming over and bringing us a great show. We can't wait to see. — Thank you very, very much for having us. I thank you for the therapy session. — How was that? — I don't know. I'll tell you later when I see it. So, — you're very comfy to I read somewhere. It was on another podcast actually. I heard you talking about on the set of the film Knuckle when you broke down and you said, "I cried for the first time in my adult life. " — I did. Like, — that's not true. That you've just been empathetic, caring on. — Yeah. This is after knucklehead. — This is after the movie. — So what happened that calls up? I I think as an actor, of course, you always try to They're very eloquent. Oh, you broke this channel. You open this. I What happened? I know that like I was thinking about traumatic things to try to get in the right character mindset. — Yeah. I didn't quite I feel as though hit it honestly because and then all of a sudden when I got back to my bus it was just like hyperventilating snot bubbles. I haven't cried like that since I was a kid. I thought I broke something. I really did. I called Mark Forest. I was like I don't know what's wrong with me. You know it was like one of those and it I didn't understand why I really was why I was that upset and crying. And Mark told me, he says, "That's sometimes as an actor, you break through those channels. " Like, yes, anger is a great channel for me. I can do angry. Bang. — Yeah, — that's a channel I've had because I've been competitive. I'm in sports. I understand adrenaline. — That's a great channel for me. But the — the vulnerability side of it, I wasn't used to being vulnerable or having access to that vulnerability. You know, that vulnerability was always things we do in private or we do alone. Of course, we're vulnerable. But to do that in a performance standpoint, I didn't have a channel for that until that moment. And then that then it was like, okay, well, you know, if we're in a movie where we need to be sad, we can get there. — But you've also said that you do an awful lot of reflection. So, having reflected on that experience of breaking through that channel, — what have you learned about yourself? — Oh, I'm batshit nuts. I'm crazy. No. Um, I think it's just uh it's an interesting talent um for acting or for performing to be able to be in touch with those emotions because I've done some films and some TV and I really understand now what they're talking about between um uh what's your motivation? You know what I mean? It sounds like such a you hear that line, oh what what's my character's motivation? Well, yeah. What do you need out of the scene? What does the scene need out of you? What are your goals in the scene? Where are you coming from? Where were you before? Where are you going after? All those things didn't make sense to me years ago. Now, I'm really starting to understand what's going on. And it's um if you find out where you are as a character, um the words fall into place and it makes sense. You're not uh you're not pretending to be the part. You are what you're doing. And I think that was one of those little tools that you learn in acting. I mean, acting is a completely different skill set. You know, in wrestling, a lot of things are bigger. They're more dramatic. And there's instant gratification because you get a response from the audience. You don't know when you're acting because you got different takes, different moods. What camera shot are they going to use? Where are your head? Like the real pros that consistently can do that and do that well. Um, it's a whole skill set. Just like we look at some of our talents like Kenny Omega, you know, Will Osprey, how amazing they are to watch them do what they do. And then, you know, you can look at the same thing with great actors, how they have that skill set. So, yes, is it challenging? 100%. Have I read for a lot of roles that I shouldn't be casted for? 100%. But at the same time, it's still part of it's just like learning how to take uh suplexes and uh hip tosses in wrestling school. You know, you would think as a giant I'd never take them, but there were points in my career I learned how to take them. I used to take Goldbergs, you know what I mean? So, uh it's the same kind of thing. It's just a skill set and I enjoy it. As far as uh the emotional, uh lesson from it, um I think it's just part of uh maturing along the way and giving yourself grace to evolve.

### [1:36:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKxXe_hU4Q&t=5811s) Quickfire questions

— Amazing. We've got some quickfire questions to wrap up the conversation with. — Sure. The three non-negotiable behaviors that you think are most important in life. — Non-negotiable like this or nothing. — Yeah. — Ignorantly rude people is non-negotiable. There's no reason to be ignorant. — Yeah. — I have a zero tolerance for ignorance. I've had young boys come and say, "Hey, give me an autograph. " And I'll say, "Hey, f you say please. " I'll check them real quick hard. And then they usually get home training and they can kind of please say that's better, right? you know, uh I think that's the thing. Um poor hygiene is non-negotiable. There was no reason to have bad breath or smell bad. Um that's just you're disrespectful to yourself and everybody else around you. Um that's a that's a big thing. Um three is tough. I guess I'm not really that demanding a person. I don't know. You can have two. — I think two is just my thing. Just ignorantly rude. I mean, — for no reason other than to be rude. — You're in a bad mood, so you're going to inflict your ill will on everyone. You're so miserable. Like, look, everybody's got problems, dude. — Get over yourself. — You know what's the greatest piece of advice you've ever received and why? — My grandfather. I was uh 13, 14 years old. told me the best way to get a second kiss is never tell anybody you got the first. — What's your biggest strength? — My biggest strength um forgiveness. I'm able to forgive a lot of people and myself for a lot of things. — Lovely — forgiveness I think is a good one. — Your greatest weakness. — Greatest weakness. Um animals. Yeah, I love animals. I Yeah, cats, dogs, ferrets, squirrels. I love animals. Animals are great. I love animals, especially animals that we take care of as pets. There's such a great relationship where they give nothing but love back and all you have to do is feed them and take care of them and love them. I think it's a — they have no idea how much they do for our souls. Uh, you know, I know they look at us as everything, but uh, yeah, animals are great — and they have no idea how great they are. — They have no idea how amazing they are. Even Fat Maui. — Yeah, definitely Fat Maui. Um, and finally, your one golden rule that you'd like to leave people thinking about to live a high performance life. — Um, that's a good question. Why you guys hand me some good questions? Um, I don't know. I have trouble with that saying high performance life. What is a high performance life? It's subjective. — It is. — You know, your high performance life, you could be a great woodworker and build great cabinets. — Correct. — That could be your high performance life. I would say — find something uh s find something that gives you joy. Um whatever that is and um find something to do that because you need an outlet. Okay? If you have a job you have to do because you have to live but that's not your dream. Okay? and find something else that gives you joy. But bring some joy into your life in some shape or form. Whether it's friends, people, relationships, um you know, find something that gives you joy that that you make a priority in your life. — Amazing. — I guess that's the only thing. Um you know, we're you know, life is precious and life is uh all those beautiful things and also so many horrible things, but really life is what you make of it, you know. So, so find some time to find yourself some joy. — Listen, Paul, um, all of the links so people can get tickets and come and see you wrestle are going to be in the description to this podcast. — Yes. Live Nation UK, awtix. com, and uh I think uh something all AEW I think is another one. — That's right. Um, but beyond the event in the summer, thank you so much for coming on the show. — Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm going to go out in the car and have a nice cry now. So, thanks. Appreciate it. — But you know what? you went through in 2010. I'm kind of glad cuz I think if we'd have had this conversation before that moment of breakdown on the movie set, it might have been a very — Oh, yeah. I was a grizzly bastard. Let's talk about wrestling. No, I'm kidding. I don't know. — I You know, it's the thing, too. I think um doing interviews like this, sure, we're here to talk about promote AEW and stuff like this, but at the same time, — you know, this is good, too. — So much value for people. — I think so. Yeah. And what are you trying to do? Yes. We're trying to put on a wrestling show and we're also trying to give them value and you know and what's my mission in life anyway? What gives me joy? That's you know making people happy either through my entertainment work or maybe my little [ __ ] philosophy. So there you go. — Thank you man. Give Fat Maui our love. — Fat Maui. Fat Maui gets all the treats. Well, — thanks Paul guys. Brilliant. Really enjoyed that.

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*Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/50375*