Timothée Chalamet

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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to What Do You Want to Talk About? Timothy Chalabay. Appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me, man. Oh my gosh. I'm a big fan, man, so thanks for having me. Oh my gosh. Well, now I feel good. We like to get real vulnerable on this thing. Okay. And unnecessarily vulnerable for a podcast done by a wrestler with other wrestlers. But right out of the gate. So this might be the first time I've ever been nervous introducing somebody on the podcast. Fuck yeah. Just because of what you're doing right now is incredible. I got to see the movie last night. Thank you for the sneak peek of the movie. It's a very special situation, but it made me think of, because you're sitting here at this bar and I got a little nervous introducing you. And I'm so glad you came to the podcast. My dad, wrestler, only time I ever saw him nervous. Legend, Dusty. Only time I ever saw him nervous was meeting Johnny Cash on, I believe, the set of Gunsmoke. Wow. And it's a very similar energy, which I got a good like deja vu, even though I wasn't there for that. But basically they tell him like, hey, go meet Johnny. And I watched my dad like walk around. He was just a guest there on the set. I don't even know what it was, but he like takes his hat off and I have never seen him nervous. Was he a huge Johnny fan? Oh my gosh, a huge. But he was also of the thought entertainment and we're the wrestler and, you know, make it seem like you've been to the end zone before all he's trying to bring an energy to it. But it's the only time I think I saw him drop it all just to get a no way with the man in black with Johnny. Dusty's one of the greatest ever do it. Yeah, no. Yeah. But you and you and Johnny, you make the Rose Boys nervous. And I'm a big, big Johnny fan from from doing the Bob Dylan movie last year. And I can't believe that. Well, you know, I don't think in 2025, wrestling is downstream from pop culture. And I think it is pop culture right there. I remember growing up in near Times Square, they had the WWF store, I think at the time. Yeah. Was huge, you know, and just growing up on on wrestling and sports entertainment. And this movie really falls, I think, in a category of sports entertainment, Marty Supreme, because it's as much about the individual pursuit of athletic greatness. In this case, table tennis. Yeah. As it is, you know, a popcorn crunch movie, you know, that's accessible. You play ping pong or no? I do not play ping pong. I think I've I've played for sure. The level of play that's in the movie is is next level. And I ask the question, this is you. That's me. You train for and you did. You have trained many years. But what you see in the movie, a lot of it is CGI. But as our director, Josh would say, it's almost harder to do so many things. Like the best table tennis players in the world couldn't execute a 12 point sequence that's pre memorized just by nature of the sport. I was going to say maybe like what you do with it. I'm like, no, it's exactly what you guys are totally sequenced out. But but I know it took a lot of training and but super proud of the finished product, you know, of course. You know what I really loved about again? We got a sneak peek of the movie last night, which thank you, by the way. One of my favorite things is when you leave something like that and everyone wants to talk about it and everyone wants to talk about things you saw. Well, you know, and I don't want to drop any spoilers for the movies. But like, oh, the orange balls. What what did you get? What did you get from the orange balls of the dog? Oh, I'm so glad that there's there's these elements of the movie. One of them, a big one that was discussed, was one of your partners in this in this film, that being Kevin O'Leary. No, we just were blown away. Yeah, we because I also did one of the. This is shark tank like like I did. I was your passively watched shark tank. Are you an active? I watched a couple seasons of shark tank. So just the idea that he was in it and how phenomenal he was. Like what a just I feel I got so much from watching the movie. There's a lot of choices. Who's making the right choices? What leads you to making the right choices? And this is just me personally watching it. No, the movie is about being an idiot in your 20s. That's a great. Yeah. And then and then what's that final choice someone makes and then changing. Right. A confrontation with adulthood, fatherhood, manhood and but we don't know. We don't know if Marty will cross that bridge or if he'll be continue to be a degenerate fuck up. I I kind of wanted to ask and again, no spoilers on the movie. Everyone should see this movie. It was incredible. Again, thank you for letting us see it. Thank you, man. What do you leave it open? I mean, obviously we're based. On a real life individual here where we've taken this, but you leave it open on the final part of this movie. Will the decisions he's made there at the end? Is it still open ended on he'll continue to make bad decisions? Maybe he's making all good decisions. Maybe the life is driven. It just felt like it was left in a way that I needed to know more in a good way, you know, and I thought that was really, really special. Yeah, I feel like it's a morally ambiguous ending and you don't know. I don't know. I don't know if I could if you have a personal relation to it and you pursue your wrestling career, but in your early 20s or mid 20s and you'll stop at no. Yeah. You'll do anything to achieve your dream. Like, I don't know when you met your wife, but when did you meet your wife? I met her. We've been together 12 years now. So yeah, I was I was 28. You're 28. So that's you met someone at a later stage. I'm like, probably you were more settled and mature and with Martin and the character Rachel played beautifully by Odessa Asian. You know, he's not he's not an upstanding guy with her. Yeah. I can't stretch the imagination. So we'll see where the movie goes. And and I thought Kevin O'Leary was fantastic in it. He's a bit of a wrestling villain in real life. He's sort of archetypally like an asshole. Sure. Publicly, you know, like that's his thing. Yeah. And I feel like though, but put put behind the cameras in a situation where his real life, I felt like he really just settled right in. It didn't feel like I was. It was amazing. Yeah, I didn't know the level of confidence was. Yeah. Something of a whole like he did not flinch. He does from a wrestling perspective, have a little bit of a Mr. Heyman. Like you said, that type of villain. He fit in really well, but even his choices in the film. I love the I love Paul Heyman. Do I like that? I like that he's on all the broadcasts. I think he brings like such a I want to say level of authenticity, but he just seems like the real and also he was away from WWE for a long time. Right. Oh my gosh. I was like 10 years or something. That's my favorite paper view ever is ECW one night stand in New York, Hammerstein, Hammerstein. That was Sabur Ray Mysterio. Sabur Ray, John Cena. John walking out with the belt high up. They wanted to murder him. RVD. Yeah. RVD. That's an RVD push. God, God, God canceled it. A lot happens there for a weed violation or something. This is the classic John throws the shirt. The shirt comes back. But that crowd was electric, man. And JBL talking shit from the stands. I think they did two one night stands. They did. The one with the one you're talking about where they all get into it and they're talking, they're yelling each other. That's also where. But that's like a mask. That's like a mask. Talk about acting and Paul's Paul's like that's. And also it's like what he's saying is from the gut. Obviously he's been hired by WWE on that occasion. I'm thinking, but his animosity is so real for what are the corporate big dogs, you know, in a sense. So this is, this is I for a wrestling fan or someone who sees him only as Mr. Heyman, Paul Heyman, the wise man, the Oracle, all these wonderful names he has. What they'll, what they'll never see. And obviously on this show, we let it fly. Well, people can know. And what they'll never see is that he sits in the corner of gorilla position. He's got his own little spot right over there. And really one of, we call him super geniuses, you know, where you've got like a Scorsese in the film. Well, he's a super genius, but this is the thing that people don't know. When you talk about your segment for that night, hey, I feel like I should have something. I should be smart to this. I feel like I should empty the pockets on this. I feel there's, there's more. When you talk about it, he does not go with wrestling parallels. He's not going to show you a clip of Jake Roberts and Rick Root. He could, but what he does is it's lately, hey, check out this Gary Oldman clip. Check out this Billy Bob Thornton. It's those are where he likes to go. But that's something that people will never know. And I always liked it because you said it and thank you so much for the compliment to our business. Yeah. That it's not far from pop culture. It's, it's, it didn't know it is. And I feel like even when you see these massive pop stars or streaming stars, this is where we all want to be like myself include. I mean, I grew up on this stuff and it's, to me, as a big sports fan, big Knicks fan, all that, but also a huge fan of acting and Hollywood, this was the intersection growing up. And that is for charismatic on the Mike guys, like the Rock, you know, Stone Cold, but also like Marty Wright, the boogeyman, like Freaky, like out of left field shit. You know, boogey's real man. No, no, he's shoot name. No, he was, he was, he was a tough enough contestant. Yeah. And he's sort of like one of the most underrated. I feel like they didn't realize how big he was at the time kind of thing. We have guys that we call and I don't know. Sorry. Sorry. I mean, I'm speaking out of turn. No, my gosh. Yeah. You never, as a fan of our business. Someone who was a writer on that 10 years ago, we're going to see that and go, fuck that. We, you know, we wrote them perfectly. No, this is actually a lot of what the writers will say is we have guys that we call proper lighting guys actually heard this term yesterday. Okay. I grew up in the business. This is the first time I've ever heard it. And proper lighting guys are the spooky mystical characters. Okay. And the toughest thing is to translate them sometimes to undertake or was the master of it. Nobody was better than being able to be backstage and be out in the ring and do it all. Sometimes would be mystical. What do you mean by be backstage? Like in the promo backstage? He could do a backstage pre-take. Okay. Okay. He could talk to a civilian. He could merge them. Whereas Boogie was, you needed the lights. You needed the worms. Even when John Cena opens the door on SmackDown or something and he's a red light. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks to question. What was he doing back there with the red light on? Right, right, right. It's a very tricky week. I just heard it yesterday. I was like, well, he's a proper lighting guy. And I thought, what is, he can't be in a backstage. Oh, I got it. Because some can't do it and some can, but Boogie was great. Right. Boogie was great. And the worms, I mean, he was really pushing it. He also still comes to the show. These guys actually do it. Really? Boogie still gets brought out to just scare talent from time to time. Really? Boogie appears again. Because he's got trouble about lying about his age on Tough Enough. I'm not reading about that. He was 40, right? And he said he was like, well, who cares? Yeah. Look at the guy at break. I mean, he looked awesome. His body was in insane shape. That was an era of, there was these specifics. It's got to be six foot and up. Got to be. Right. Now it's so nice. All the specifics are gone. Which old school wrestling, territory wrestling, carnival stuff, all of that was how it used to be. I've thought a lot about that. And that's where I've admired Triple H, Paul, and I don't know what you're supposed to say. But how he's modernized the business. Because when I watch WWE, it reminds me a little bit. Like I've done Saturday Night Live a couple of times. And it's these things that are these traditional forms. And they're as rich and iconic and productive as they are because of the forms. But inevitably you kind of have to break them or upend them. And I feel the product now doing that at risk or at reward of opening up the curtain too much. Yeah. You know, I don't know if that's something you guys think about. No, the beauty in it is it's risk and it's reward. And sometimes you'll know when it was all risk. And yeah. But when you pull the curtain back, Netflix is the unreal series, for example. That's exactly what I'm talking about. So when you pull the curtain back, here's like the opportunity for someone in my position is, okay, great. They see this. Is there something we can put work under the work? Which now I'm exposing that. Yeah, I know it's not going to go work, work, work. It's not going to go work under the work. But that to me is, hey, look over here. And this is real. You are seeing something authentic. But sometimes the most authentic and personal stories make for great money, you know, ticket selling in terms of general revenue. I love how, I don't want to use the word shameless, but I love how it's just something so like American about like, oh yeah. It's just like, I think about the lead-up at Hardy Edge. It's right there. Yeah, it's like, yeah. Hey, there's a situation here. But in that kind of situation, in the ring, there's still a level of trust between the two guys that the blows aren't lethal. I think the coolest thing about what we do is you're really bonded by battle. One of the coolest things about what we do, you're bonded by battle. So even someone you do not like, even someone that you don't have a speaking relationship with, you might have full rivalry with, full angle. And in there more than ever, that's when there's no, nothing slipped in there. You're as trusting with one another. And wrestling, you'll see if you come backstage at like the garden or Barclays or anything. Everyone's just overly shaking hands, overly shaking hands. And I asked my trainer years ago, I'm like, what's the thought? Why are we doing this? And I remember him, well, you tell me. And I thought, oh, it's a respect thing. We respect each other, right? And yes, but what it actually is, I need you. So if you're going to pick me up and slam me on this table, you can level with trust. I need you to do it in a way that that segment ends and I can walk away and I can go back to my family. And that's consistently, people will never know how real wrestling is in different aspects than just what they see in the canon and the narrative. That's the most beautiful thing. I hate using him as an example, but my greatest rival in this company, I don't even have to say his name. It says real as it could possibly get. It says real as it could possibly get. You would like to be QB1. I would like to be QB1. It's every piece of it, but it's also when we get in there, that's probably my favorite guy to make music with. I don't know what that is. But it just takes a little time and you having been around your world and the medium that you're in, I think it's really easy for you to spot the beauty that's under it. Yeah, absolutely. When it's done great, it's hot. It's high up there. And when it's done bad, though, wrestling is some of the worst it can possibly be. When it's done bad. All right, sports fans, this is the tag team you've been waiting for. Affirm and Fanatics just joined forces. So you can grab your fan gear today and pay over time. With Affirm, you get simple monthly payment options. No late fees, no hidden charges, no surprises, just flexible plans that fit your budget. So whatever gear helps you be the fan you want to be, like a New Jersey, the latest collectible are a classic throwback. Affirm can help you make it yours with a payment plan that works for you. Because being a fan isn't about spending more. It's about backing your team, your heroes, and your story, your way. Visit affirm.com slash wwe to get started or download the Affirm app. It's free on iOS and Android with Affirm and Fanatics. Now every fan can own their moment. Subject to eligibility, terms apply. Wheatley American vodka is for hardworking people with true American spirit. People who never can smell it in. Oh, a thing of beauty. People who rise to the occasion. Here we go! Boom! Men and women who know how to get the job done. From the top! And when the day is over, nothing's better than celebrating with something truly American. Wheatley's so good I'm drinking the tea. I want to ask you about, because you mentioned Bob Dylan. Yeah. Michael Hayes, Dusty Rhodes, massive, they were Bob Dylan people. Who is the wrestling Bob Dylan? A wrestling Bob Dylan? It's not hockey talk, man. No, because hockey's that facsimile. Gosh, that's actually, that's, I mean. I don't know, somebody's like idiosyncratic, kind of like mysterious, doesn't say too much, but really fucking good. Maybe Jake Roberts. Okay. Maybe. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. Saying things that bold in his wording and the vernacular in his verb, but also somehow relates that to, I'm going to beat up Rick Martel. Yeah. It's somehow all right in there. Kind of spooky. I feel like anyone who's listening or watching, there's definitely a Bob Dylan of wrestling. Yeah, I wonder who that would be. Who's the Marty Mauser of wrestling? Oh my gosh. In terms of without giving anything away in the movie, just bad decision, self-sabotage, bad decision. Bad decision, self-sabotage, and then do the ambitious, ambition driven. Wanting something so bad, stopping it, nothing to get it, and kind of finding out their ultimate. No, it is I'm not. No, younger, younger, me. Yeah. I felt though that's one of the things that's super, I remember when I left WB, all it was, was about getting to this in spot, but I didn't know what the in spot was. Again, the pursuit of greatness, which is something I wanted to ask you about. I didn't know, and I did make a mini bad decision and disruptor like decisions to get there. Now I get to a place where I regret. Do you actually think those were bad decisions? I don't regret them. Right. I don't regret them. And I don't think in terms of things I would say in a promo, how I left the company, any of that thing, I don't regret them, but today I can't see myself doing. Which is something from watching the movie, it's the thought of, and I think for me, my child being born. Now I've got two children now. People say, oh, it changes your life. And what I liked about what I saw in the film is it's not just that it changes your life. The big thing about having children for me was it changes your perspective on life. Like it's not, oh, it just changes your life and everything is different. It changes why you do it. For me, it changes why. And we all make bad decisions and we continue to make bad decisions. Disruptor people and people with ambition and with drive and who are leveling up and don't even know why they're leveling up or what their purpose is to level up. I just noticed for me it became, it's the same, but with a different reason behind. Yeah, and that you're not living for yourself anymore. Yeah. Yeah, you're living for people that are depending on you. Yeah. In fact, they're here because of you. The movie has a lot of really shocking moments just out of nowhere, shocking. Uh-huh. Yeah. Like don't get comfortable. Yes. Type moments. I, did you have a favorite part of filming them? No, because those, no matter how much you want to talk about them, I know they'll have more impact. In that, in the actual. Yeah, and being surprising, that's what's wonderful about Josh, the director of the movie, I don't know if you saw Uncut Gems with Sandler at the time. Oh yeah. They, they, they kind of throw every rule out the window of script writing and they'll be very much, it can take on the structure of okay, and then this happens, which is unrelated to this, and then this happens, which is unrelated to this, and then this happens, which is, and you know, typically in a, in a screenwriting class, they would say, you know, you plant a thought here that happens, and I really admired that, you know, like approaching a script sometimes as an actor, you'll have act one, you'll have act two, and you'll have act three, and you know, the lowest moment of act two happens at the end of act two, and you kind of rise, and I would try to frame things like that sometimes with Josh and Ronnie, the writer, and they would go, we don't, they would say with humility, like we don't know what that is, you know, like we don't know if you've written the worst thing ever, the best thing ever, because that's just not how we write, they write about what excites them. We have an actor in the movie, named Abel Ferrara, who directed King of New York. Abel's movies are a little bit like a 12 year old boy's fantasy come to life, and Josh, I say this with like mad admiration, the movies are a little bit of that quality, where it's like, it's almost like a fever dream from a kid, as opposed to, which I'm really proud of, some intellectual, boring affair, that's why I'm trying to push this out as much as possible, and reach new audiences with it, because this isn't Hollywood pretentious, fair, I don't think, maybe you could correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm saying, the pacing of it doesn't take on a thing of like, okay, we're going to educate you as to why this is good and slow and boring, and if you don't like it, that means you're dumb and blah, blah, blah, blah, it's like, no, this, I saw a movie the other day without saying anything, it was an indie movie, but I was thinking, if you were a Marvel fan and you only saw Marvel movies, and then this was the indie you clicked on, you went, all right, I'm going to give an indie a try, and it was this slow plotting thing, and you watch award shows, and you haven't heard of anything, and then I'm so proud of Murray Supreme, because the pacing is engaging, and but also it has a really artful quality to it, I mean, it looks like 1950s New York's telling this story as a degenerate kid who is looking out for himself, making terrible decisions, and inadvertently getting people pregnant, and pursuing his dream of table tennis, I think that qualifies as the best, I mean, if you know. Well, you said artful quality, certainly has that, but then also in the beginning of the conversation, you mentioned that there's some popcorn to this, there's an element, and I think that there's a big parallel with wrestling in that, as far as some of the best wrestlers in the world, you never made it, if that makes any sense. In terms of your wrestlers' favorite wrestler, and I never wanted to be, at least in my personal shoes, or the type of wrestlers I liked, I never wanted to be a wrestler's favorite wrestler, I wanted to see if I could get it all, and merge what's that artistic success, which when I was in LA, I went to Howard Fiennes' acting studio, and maybe one of the only things I picked up was the door to commercial success is rather large, the door to the artistic successes, you'd always do this, and I feel like with wrestling, I like trying to find both. Hell, I'm not afraid to do some crazy high spots and take some silly risks, and break the wheel of psychology that's been rooted in this since it started, but also, I do like the traditional things that a Hulk Hogan did at John Cena, because their number one thing was about engaging an audience. This performance wasn't for just them, it was very particularly a live audience, which again, Marty Supreme is... No, but I love framing what I do through these lenses, and that's where being a WWE fan has been so helpful, honestly, because the archetypes are so clear of what you're saying, let's say a Hulk Hogan and a John Cena being a company man versus an Undertaker or a Kane whoever speaks, but is perhaps just as popular, and one can apply them to their own career, but I love that framing. This message is sponsored by Raycon. Keep your ears open and your holiday playlist rolling with Raycon's essential open earbuds. 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These early deals won't last long, shop now before they're gone, just click the link in the description or go to buyraycon.com slash roads open to save on Raycon audio products site-wide. Wheatley American vodka is for hardworking people with true American spirit. People who never could smell it in. People who rise to the occasion. Men and women who know how to get the job done. And when the day is over, nothing's better than celebrating with something truly American. Filming in New York, doing this in New York, and New York is clearly part of your life. I asked my sister, she's a big fan of yours, and I said, what was your asking? And she was just saying, that guy's the prince of New York City. She described it. And I thought, yeah, I mean, at the Knicks, Game 6, the next Bad Bunny, which we have to talk about. Yeah, oh yeah. Bad Bunny got into our world. Big WWE. And his whole, I don't know what you call it, story's been perfect and very well received, because I think it felt very organic. I mean, he had one of the biggest pops of the world rumble that year. He also put, I don't want to say put me to shame, but one of my, like, oh man, this is the new role type moments was the backlash in Puerto Rico. He wrestles Damian Priest, this Puerto Rico street fight. That's what they came to see. They didn't come to see me versus Brock Lesnar. However, it was me and Brock Lesnar on the poster, and we went last. And there's, I never, this is the only moment I'd ever be like, yeah, because in that moment, I'm like, yeah, it's all right. You know, I'm going on last, I got it. But I, he kind of put us to shame. Because half the arena was filling out by the time you got out. Well, just, no, I mean, they stayed and they enjoyed it because they actually set a good frame for us where they didn't want the excitement to stay. But that would have been a great way to end the night because they had toys, they had wrestling, they had gimmicks, they had chairs. Right, right, right. Plus, it wasn't Brock Lesnar, Goldberg at WrestleMania at the Garden. Do you have an opinion on Brock Lesnar versus Goldberg at the Garden? No, but grew up on the modern WWE product. And because there was an NBA lockout, it gave me a chance to go back and see all this. I'd never heard of Goldberg and I don't have anything physically aligned with Goldberg. I got nothing to relate to him to really. But I just thought it was the most epic push, I guess, is the insider word. But from a fan perspective, like, just the greatest run ever. And the Hogan Goldberg at Georgia Dome. Oh, yeah. Like, it's just, it was just so fucking inspiring, man. There's certain places New York where the first match happens, where the crowd kind of turns on and takes it on its own. The Lesnar Goldberg one? Yeah, that was bad. In retrospect, it's not fair, man, because it's like, you know, these two wonderful guys at their peak, or, yeah, pre-peak, even if you say for Lesnar. Not fair. But anyway, yeah. That's what I was going to say before about archetypes and stuff that's right. I lost my train of thought. I can do and shield myself from the internet and stuff. But what I admire with you guys so much is the live feed, live reaction. Even I was watching Raw the other night and Sina goes, who wants to see three on three Mysterio, Shameless, and most of the crowd that's on TV, and the front row of a guy goes, no, no, no. I couldn't believe it. There's a great picture of me. I brought like the Wayne Deagle back. I think it's a Saturday Night's main event. There's a great picture of me glad-handing coming down on the crowd. And the lady behind me is just holding a giant overrated sign and a whole smile. And now I try to kind of peek for them. But that's fun in terms of what we do in a sense. I appreciate saying it's not fair, but it's also one of the things I like the most. And back to New York, and you being this being so much part of who you are, New York is the market for a wrestler to come to and see if I got it. Interesting. They don't. If they're not with me, Philly too. Philly sounds worse. Yeah, if they're not with me, then I don't got it. I need to work harder. And sometimes they also, the fun thing about them, Hammerstein, I wrestled Hammerstein. I want to go see a show on Hammerstein. Tell WWE to go show on Hammerstein. Well, I told them, I talked to him, I said, he said it's basically impossible to make money there. He said there's one elevator you have to load everything in and out of him. He's right. And I appreciate that he gave you logistics. At least he was thinking about it. The other thing is it's the worst back of house ever. God bless Manhattan Center and Hammerstein. It's open windows, freezing. There's no room for anything. But there's a hidden little gym to Hammerstein wrestling in there other than the beauty of the fans being right on top of you. One of the things is at the end of the night, you can walk out front and they're all there. And it's a fun moment. But this is also me growing up in the suburbs of Georgia, just starting to learn to navigate some places that never been. I would, there's a little side door. It's right there. And I'd always, whether I was in the main event against Jay Lethal that night or whatever it was, I'd always wait a little while and everyone would be going on the front. And I just go out the little side door. And that's the first time I ever had the New York experience of waving down a cab. And it was this little skate. And I always thought, I always look for it whenever I'm at Hammerstein. It's right there. That's the exit. Do you miss the product having the chair shots in the head and the... I'll tell you a terrible chair shot in the head. And then everyone in here is going to be like, no, tell this story. I have always, having grown up in the business and wanting to get the business and you said it in the beginning, and that makes me feel so good about closer to pop culture and the big relevancy and be up there with... My dad was very much big on all... He was inspired by... We'd watch the Oscars every year, which was a crazy... We'd always... And he'd talk about Robert DeNiro on the front row. And he'd talk about Tom Hanks. And he'd talk about just this, these greats. And that's where he was trying to get some of his juju for wrestling from. Wow. That's a movie, man. Seriously. Well, so... That's a movie. I tried it because I thought, hey, listen, Chris Evans is hitting people in the head with the shield as Captain America. Why can't we? We're also entertainment. We've said we're entertainment. So in my efforts to do a chair shots of the head, this was when I was away from here, I said, let's do it safely. Let's shave this chair down. Shave it down. So the metal on the chair, it's a real chair. Sandpaper that chair. Sandpaper. It'll be just like a cookie sheet. It'll be just like a cookie sheet. It's fine. What I realized in the moment, because we do it, I get hit in the head. My Sean Spears who's here. What's in the moment? Like as it's about to... Right after. Right after. Okay. So what I realized in the moment was twofold. The cookie sheet part worked, but I gave him the old swing for the fences. Sean Spears, he works at NXT. He can tell the story. It's terrible. I said swing for the fences. And I could tell he's like, okay, like, sure. And the hands are down. It's me. Sandpaper part worked. The part that didn't work was the giant bar at the lip of the chair. Like the seat wraps around. There's a scar all the way that's around the back of my head now. So I'm laying there thinking, oh, I thought that was kind of, that hurt a bit. And then I start feeling the blood pool. Holy shit. And at the time, Brandi is trying to be scared of him and look at the ref and be there for me in my moment of pain. But I can tell she's just furious. And she's just mad because now I'm busted open laying there after doing this stupid stunt. And we're not really even, we're not in the narrative anymore. We're not in the fiction. She's just furious with Sean Spears, furious with me for me. Any botched it a little bit or no. No, no, swing for the fences is the dumbest thing you can tell another wrestler. Like, oh, swing for the fences. He didn't, he, he was fine. He did nothing wrong. But the big thing I noticed is it wasn't about whether the chair is real, whether the chair is not. It was about the optics of hitting one another in the head, what they've meant for concussions. So now two children and adult, that's one thing I don't miss is those moments that kind of detach us a little bit. I am a, take it on the chin type of wrestler. I do like a little grit and violence, but I don't want to distract from say you and I went out there and did 60 minutes and had this unbelievable story that we told and we got them here, we took it away, we got them here, we took it away. And then we did one thing in there that became the focal point. Because of how nasty it would look or whatever. Oh, but more because of how just the optics behind our business and the Cushing protocol, because now WWE. But that wasn't a thing 15, 20 years ago, right? No, no. Yeah. So it's almost like you can't, the, the peonies at the bottle, you can't go back. Right. And now today you can't have a hangnail backstage at WWE without Sherry coming around the corner. Really? Like, hey, what do you got there? The other day, brother drags me in there, you got to get your blood work, all these things, these commission states. If we're going to expect to be held to the higher standard, I like that we hold ourselves to the higher standard. Right. I still miss a thing here and there, but chair shots to the head are not one. I don't like chairs at all. I'd rather go through 55 tables, get hit with 20 Singapore Cains. I'd rather do tax, Legos, chair, I'd rather do any of it. My God. The chairs, the biggest shock for a fan who loves our game and goes and picks up a chair for the first time is they are happy. Right. So you've got to get behind that and bring it. And then it's like, you protect your elbows, you do the tabletop, never actually protect your elbows. It's, I'm surprised that they weren't there weren't more techniques to shave them down. And we're a little behind. Yeah. You can't wrap togetherness, but you can frame it for a limited time. Save on the perfect gift by visiting or frames.com to get 35 off or as best frame selling carver, Matt Frames, named number one by Wirecutter by using promo Cody at checkout. That's a, u, r, a frames.com, promo code Cody. This deals exclusive to listeners and frame sell out fast. So order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout terms and conditions apply. Wheatley American vodka is for hardworking people with true American spirit. People who never, just mail it in. Oh, a thing of beauty. People who rise to the occasion. Here we go. Men and women who know how to get the job done. From the top. And when the day is over, nothing's better than celebrating with something truly American. Wheatley, so good, I'm drinking the tea. This has to be very exciting for you though to do this in New York. Absolutely. Period it in New York at that. No, it was, this is, I think the third film I did in New York. This is the most New York movie I've done. And Josh, who's our director, is like the most New York guy you'll ever meet. Oh, I love that. I mean, he's like, I brought him in nicks games, or I might have not brought him. He's going to hate if I say that. He goes to nicks games anyway. But he'll kill me for saying that. He goes to nicks games, maybe you brought him in. And maybe I brought him once, but I was amazed because we're in the front row and he's heckling the players and the refs. Like we were like in the bleeds and I'm like, bro, we're in the front row. Like these guys can really hear what you're saying. And it's the most Josh thing ever. Got a little decorum in the front at least. Yeah, but then I got self-conscious. If anything, it was Josh who inspired me through my playoff run last year. It's like, I was so important, and I felt like I was part of the team. But that I would have having not been a nicks fan, I'm having not been watching the playoffs. I feel you were very much part of the team. Exactly. And that they were on a run. It was a little like a middle school. I couldn't make the team. So they maybe they gave me in triple XL, Verrazine. I ran back and forth with a flag. So I was like, sort of like a mascot. But the most New York, yeah, by far and no, so proud of how the New York edge this movie has. And just the the the faces in the movie are extraordinary. Like Kevin O'Leary went out on the limb and he said, we could have AI'd all the extras in the movie. It was like, Kevin, you're a snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Like this movie has been well received. Why would you? Yeah, something like that. Fuckin Kevin, keep your mouth shut, man. No, but point being all those faces, they're, they they're extraordinary. I mean, Josh, with the background casting with the detailing of the sets, it's really the most New York move ever been in. I feel like one of the most New York movies that's been made recently. Now, without saying anything, I just saw a show on Netflix a couple months ago that takes place in New York. You can tell as a New Yorker if you watch something. It's not if it's not New York, you know. So again, I've been very suburb, Georgian, south, sheltered. Kristen over there, it does the men's grooming. We're talking about that's probably the first main like New York person I ever met. And it always is really intriguing. Like, oh, it's a whole another. Yeah. So a movie based in New York feels very about a kid growing up in New York as I'm growing up in New York. But I got a lot of love for Georgia. Like I'm I I'm in a different life. I'm I'm I'm from like, Gwynette or something from Gwynette, right around the corner. What are some common red flags people should look out for when sending money to someone? Have you ever fallen for a scam? Scammers know the holidays are busy for everyone, which can make us all targets for scams. That's why Cash App builds in protection to help keep your money safe while you're checking off your shopping list. If you're about to send money to someone for a deal that's too good to be true and Cash App flags it as a potential scam, they'll warn you before you send the money. 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Wheatley American vodka is for hardworking people with true American spirit. People who never dismantle it in. Oh, a thing of beauty. People who rise to the occasion. Here we go. Men and women who know how to get the job done. From the top. And when the day is over, nothing's better than celebrating with something truly American. Wheatley, so good I drink it. College Game Day is one of my favorite shows. Oh, fuck yeah. And when they sent me to do College Game Day, I'm really thinking chip on my shoulder. I'm gonna have my picks. Exactly. I'm gonna have, oh, you gotta even throw me a question. I'm gonna have an award that this guy won. I'm a little performative in the sense that I'm now talking about some teams that I definitely didn't know the Kansas, but I had some facts. Yeah. And I went up there and I remember I had no notes. I was trying to lock it in, right? And I've got both titles because Fanatics God bless them, always likes to give a title. So I've got the Georgia Bulldog title and I've got the WB championship. I got them. And I remember Lee, Corso, sitting next to me, looking at me, he goes, no notes, huh? And I'm thinking, why didn't I bring anything up here? Everybody has notes upon notes, but when you went and did College Game Day. Oh, I had notes, man. I was so excited because I thought, I don't think they know that he knows. Yeah, they had no clue. I don't think they know that he's in this. Like he's a dog. He knows this word. Yeah, exactly. So just nailed it. Dude, I appreciate it. I had my notes and they definitely didn't. I think that was like, so Fox Searchlight, which is a company that did a complete unknown, they're owned by Disney, which owns ESPN. So I think it was a little bit of a thing like, we don't want this guy on. And then I think the heavy hand came in and said, no, have this guy on. But I know I went up there and I was like, Sabin was looking at me like he hadn't seen something like that before. Yeah. Because I had a pink jacket on. And he was like, I was imagining, imagine if I tried out for one of Sabin's teams, man, he would have traumatized me. But that was, no, I had my notes and I was locked in, man. I was locked in. But I was walking, it was the Mercedes Benz thing. I was walking through, I did a Drusky lesson. I was in this too. I had a little bit of this feeling too. I was like, what am I doing here? Is this pushing it too much? But college football is everywhere. And you came in and you knew yourself. You came to Scataboo, man. And now he's a nerd giant. I was shouting out Scataboo before he was a giant. And before he was shoving Dominic Mysterio with an ankle and his seven different places. And Andrew Schultz stirring it all up. I just did the first movie I've been part of. I did Street Fighter with Andrew Schultz. 1994. And it is the game. So trying to capture 16-bit guile, 16-bit, Ken and Chun Lee. And Andrew plays the joke character in the Street Fighter series, which is Dan Hibiki. But again, that's a new world for me. I'm there. What do you need me to do? I'll be there early. I'll stay until everybody. What would you need me to have a coach? Give me all the things. This is not my world. And I don't want to embarrass my home. I want to do this correctly. He was the most welcoming presence on set. And also, I realized really quickly, there was a lot of wrestling elements to what we were doing because they kept asking, just say, do it differently. And that I got to just roll. And he was the perfect person for the character to roll with. It was so, so... You were talking about like promos backstage? Yeah. And it was a lot of... That stuff had really loaded me up for, oh, I got one. Well, not to like be the most cliche guy, but when you watch the rock promos, and it's so obvious how that translated into his movie work and the best way, just timing wise and instinct and what it was like a an insane training ground for his career. I feel to do it in front of the audiences and stuff. I feel very much, I was going to ask you about another wrestler. I'm blessed that we have that experience, but on Dune, which... Oh, yeah. Dune. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. You're in there with Big Dave. He couldn't believe it. I knocked on his trailer door and I had the animal theme song playing. It hadn't met him. Oh, yeah. I hadn't met him and I came out and I did the ball. I was going like that. The machine guns? Yeah. He was the look on his face was priceless. He had no clue. No, but I love working with Dave. He's a very serious guy, very serious actor. The last time I saw Dave, I couldn't locate my mom at the Oscars. I feel bad because I hope he doesn't think I was Hollywood-ing him because he was saying hi and I literally couldn't locate where my mother was. Anyway, Dave, if you're watching this, I don't know if I just shot myself in the foot by saying that, but I love Dave, man. Also, I loved Batista and Rey Mysterio growing up. That was the WWE I grew up on and Dave's got one of the best entrances of all time. I miss the pyro techniques, man. I got to say, I miss the pyro. I have pyro. Yeah. I have almost the majority of the company's pyro. Exactly. The budget is allocated for Cody Rose. It's really annoying too because some of the people in Gorilla will be like, oh, you got all three burst tonight and then I'll. But what's up? Is it just too expensive to do all the time? We've been blessed in some of these buildings. We're doing 360 now. So we went from a sellout is what we allowed. Paul was playing this too. The call I would do was like 40 minutes logistics and 10 minutes. I love that you got all this information about our operating. Exactly. Well, because I said the raw with the gray steel, he had a fancy word for it. I miss that set because. Oh, the Titan Tron? Yeah, exactly. It was kind of on an angle. And I miss the SmackDown fist and all that. And you're basically saying that you sell more tickets now, right? Or basically that that was there to hide. Exactly. Exactly a lack of, you know, so. But I miss that set. Because we go 360, sometimes you have pyro. It's not even pyro. You do the punch and cold. It's a noise, but it's just a noise. And also, I think we've, as a company, maybe tried one time some digital pyro, maybe in San Antonio. Yeah, that was coming off the roof, but it wasn't coming off the roof. There was some moments. It's all in it. It's all in the efforts because we want as many people to get in the seats as possible. But I would be really sad if they came to me. Kyle is the wait for the shooter drop. I'd be really sad if they came to me and said, all right, that's it. No more. No, they can't. No. We've made it very much part of the thing opens, then the whoa, then the punch. But then there's an indulgent extra one that's on the buckle. And that's the one that most talent get a little like. I can't believe for the, we're talking about like the Kane one on the buckle? Yeah. So mine, I go, oh, oh, I see, I see. But Glenn's the old school, he'd be in the center. And they'd always tell you, like, if you were in the ring with him, get to the middle. Get to the middle. No, I can't believe that knock on wood, that there was never an XA. And movies, if you had a live thing going, yeah, there'd be yellow tape, there'd be a guy who's one job. It is to keep you away with the pool noodle and he'd make sure, you know, it's the money back. Exactly. But I, yeah, the Kane thing, I can't believe who for you has had the best power technique entrance. Easy, easy. Randy Orton, the pyro shower. The shower on the ground. I don't want to say the golden shower, but that was the golden shower. That was the inspiration. It works. That was the inspiration. Because I thought that's easy. We're not blowing up mortars. It's an easy drop. I also think Goldberg is great. Breathe them through his nose. I try to get a retrohale every now and then from Mike Friarow. I don't think it ever works, but I try. Another one was 90s when you had Sid and Razor do the random rig behind them in the ring. Like Razor is doing his whole thing and there's just a, what's supposed to be maybe an R or something behind, there's pyro behind them. Like DX a little bit with the pyro in the ring. A little bit. DX has actually great pyro too, the green. I like the Jeff Hardy that would shoot out as he's doing the. Jeff Hardy, we joke about it a lot because if you're ever making a run in and like say you're down in the ring and you're hurting and I was supposed to come and save you, Jeff is the type that famously one time came out still doing this whole thing. And then ran to the room, which is every, it's always brought up a lot of times. Like we proper nouns like, hey, don't Jeff Hardy me out there. Whoa. Which is that like, call the amazing things he did. Yeah. Like there's, you can use it in another way, Jeff Hardy from the, there's other Jeff Hardy versions, but that's a famous one where have some urgency, the police coming and getting me, because if you don't have urgency, the audience won't have urgency, but that's a famous one because it's very Jeff. He's sort of like, he's like the Heath Ledger of wrestling or something. What a great way to put it. Yeah. He's like a brilliant artist, weird, what a strange, but it's, I love Jeff Hardy growing up. One of the best finishers ever too. Swanton. Swanton, yeah. I think when he was younger, it hit different. You know, so you get older that Swanton starting to look for him. Oh, you're saying the gravity is going to start. Like, oh, you got to really tighten up. Oh, you're saying on the receiving end. Jeff's the best. Here's my, because he used to roll off the show. I think he was a little bit more like it was just different, you know, now it's I would tell you this is such a silly Jeff story. I'm positive we could keep it. We were in Mexico. We're all at this hotel lobby and Cena always used to like to hold court. He didn't like to go out. He didn't really want to take any big risk with partying or anything like that. Our bus is leaving the next day at five PM. It's very important that we stay. It's five PM. He sees Jeff walk by and he's like, Hey, Jeff, come hang. I can't. I can't imagine seeing on Jeff. He literally was like, I can't. I can't miss the bus because he had a habit of missing the bus. I can't. I can't miss the bus. I have to be on it. I want, and John goes, dude, it's five o'clock. It's eight PM right now. Like you're fine. You're going to make the bus and he legit is like, No, I'm not. I'm not. He goes, Hey, you can be the DJ. You can play Pearl Jam. He's got like the beats pill at the time. And you can see Jeff like reluctantly get called back in. All right. So he comes in the night turns incredibly fun. And I'd say tame, but still wild. People are in their gear in this fountain in this hotel. Cell phones aren't a massive thing at the moment. It's not all there, but man, next day, five o'clock. Oh, shit. No, Jeff. And I'm on the babyface bus. Five, 10, no, Jeff. And then finally, like five, 20 comes on. He's still in the close from the night before. And he's not like, he's got a mission. He comes on. He finds John. He goes, I told you, I could not go out and you did this. This is your fault. It was just one of my favorite things ever that he gave him such a specific, I can't do it, man. I can't. And then John called the man and poor thing didn't make it, but party hard. Yeah. Jeff was incredible though. Yeah. And still, Jeff is one of the babyface bus. They would literally make you guys. We still do. Yeah. Unless you get real pretentious. Talk about like, get a car. Yeah. No, but talk about like a Hollywood mental, like a level of commitment. That's insane. That's like staying in character for the nth degree. There's also a great byproduct to it. If you're a babyface, you're on the babyface bus, maybe you don't like all the babyfaces. Right. Well, if you spend 11 days with them, you get to know something. You learn something, right? You bond with someone you don't really know. Every now and then there's a babyface bus, a heel bus and a party bus. Then you ever pretend just like me because I like to stay really late after the show. Yeah. I try to meet every fan. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's just a car. And I used to think the idea of being in a car by myself would be fun. Yeah. And then there's a lot of times at like three in the morning in that car where you think, I'm not doing. I miss it. I miss it. Yeah. I could have just got out of there earlier. I miss it. A party bus, man. Yeah. That happens every now and then. Yeah. The parties are fairly tame, but at least we know whenever you plan something, it's never going to go as intense. Right. I think it's not the Rick Flair days of partying. No, not at all. the talking about the pursuit of greatness, saying you were going for greatness, saying most people don't like to say that, but you're saying that and talking about being inspired by these actors, but also these athletes, which is glad we're in the fanatics lounge. My favorite athlete of all time, Tom Brady's Helmets right over there. This is an odd way of wording this question. I feel like I know why you said it, or in my mind, but I wanna know why you said it, if that makes any sense, in terms of I'm a big will in new existence. I, oh, you don't believe me, hey, I'm going to do it. I needed to say it to believe it myself. In that moment, was there anything behind what you were saying, or was just what you were feeling and what you meant? It's just how, and then it's just what I was feeling, man. Yeah. It's not more complicated than that. And also, you put something out in the world, and that's how it's framed all of a sudden. See, if it rubbed people the wrong way, or it rubbed people the right way, at least that's the framing. And I'm sure you feel it in your business too, there's such a nostalgia for De Niro and Daniel De Lewis. And, but if you're a young gun like myself, or like yourself, say, well, wait a second, we're still doing it. And because attention is so fractured now online, I feel like you kind of have to shout it sometimes to get heard. And so that was the thought. Might be my favorite thing I've ever heard on this podcast. Amazing, cool. Because I hate nostalgia, but I love my business. I already know what these guys all did for us. Thank you. They've set a table that I get to eat at, but man, they can't keep them in back. We had to, just from a wrestling perspective, we've got to move forward. I don't want them coming back. And I don't mean any disrespect. I want them to come to a show and sit and watch a show. Watch a show, watch what they've done for their business. But the idea of you saying it was something that I found, it definitely didn't rub me the wrong way, is incredibly appealing. And I don't think enough people are in the pursuit of greatness or are afraid to say it. MediaCity loves company. And when you find a circle of people that don't, even those closest to you, don't want you to go for it. Exactly. Yeah, they say in Australia, tall poppies in your room, which is like, they want all the poppies to grow at the same height. But what I would hope even in you recapping it like that, is that it's not to go, it's not to say, put yourself or myself in another category, it's to say to anybody watching or listening, it's to almost speak to them. And for someone to know, oh, if I'm gonna do it, you have to be your biggest fan and your biggest supporter. And like you just said, we're in a culture of, just I don't wanna say negativity, but it's hard. It's hard. And I went to performing arts high school, so I was well supported, but there are all those moments when you're a teenager, someone says the wrong thing and you feel down. You feel bad about yourself and you don't feel like you can pursue what you wanna pursue. So, and all the music I grew up on and the wrestling I grew up on, it was ambitious. It was larger than life. It was stone cold. And I know we just said we're gonna be nostalgic right now, but it was. No, but that's inspires you to be the same. Exactly. To go, to be bold. Exactly. To be bold and go for it. And again, this movie is, thanks so much for letting us look at it. Oh man, thank you. I cannot encourage people who are watching this for the first time, but wrestling fans to see Marty Supreme. It was very special. And again, being bold, being ambitious. And the choices that you make comes out Christmas Day, correct? Yes, sir. Is there anything else you want us to know? No, co, I mean, no, I mean, we hit all the wrestling. I mean. We went way too wrestling. Oh, yeah, really? There's gonna be some people who are like, this, they just talked about wrestling, right? Which I knew you liked the, but we get a lot of fake nerd girls, if that makes any sense. Yeah, yeah. Where it's, oh, I love Star Wars. No, you don't. Right. You know, you tell me, this was a case. Never heard that fake nerd girl. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like where they're trying to like, I love that. And I said, you don't have to say it if you don't. You know, now you've set the bar for yourself. In this case, you clearly, clearly have a specific era in mind too and love our industry. And I'm so glad you have to get out and come to a show. Absolutely. And thank you so much for having me on and keep crushing it, man. And keep, you got the company on your back. So. Yeah, that's just all downhill now. And yeah, so I said, I read that the other day, started at the top and I've been working my way down. I've heard that. Right. That's a great way to put it. You know, like at a certain point, oh man. Again, Marty Supreme, it comes out Christmas day. It was absolutely incredible. And I, again, the thing I liked the most is that I got to ride back with the crew people and discuss all the things we got from it, wondered about it, intrigued by it. And then of course, Kevin O'Leary, Fran Drescher, all these moments of. What's your relationship to Fran Drescher? None, just a little bit growing up on the nanny. Just growing up. And then to see someone in that light is special, to see them grow and see them be in a different role. I got the same out of Winona Ryder. He's in the transition that goes on there. Who is more on your wall growing up, Gwyneth Paltrow or Fran Drescher? I'm gonna probably say Gwyneth Paltrow. Okay. Which one of the reasons, again, I don't wanna spoil any of the movie. Gwyneth Paltrow is amazing in the movie. I didn't really, it's hard to bring up because there's a lot of, there's a lot of Riz going on. And there's a lot of, that's amazing. In terms of her performance in this as well. So there's the difference in terms of nostalgia and active and still and changing and evolving. And those were two great moments where we saw people that we see and we grew up with in completely different roles and giving you your, your point. Yeah, absolutely. And our part is heartbreaking and nostalgic in a sense. Dude, thank you so much for coming. Dude, absolutely appreciate it. Thank you, buddy. I really appreciate it. Kevin, Dave, hush, hush, hush. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye.