E1070 - Going Deeper with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch

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Where we talk about all your favorite pop culture topics that we didn't get to in this week's episode plus deep dives on our going deeper guest and so much more all you have to do is go to vile files plus and you will be lucky you did. Seth, Becky, welcome to show. So excited to have you guys. Thanks for having us. Do you go by Seth or do you go by Colby? Well, who's talking to me? More people in the world know me by Seth Rollins. Colby Lopez is my government name. It's great name, but I use it for nothing. Nothing, zero things. I've contemplated like changing, you know, you have like Rebecca Quinn on your Instagram and your socials now. I'm like, maybe I should change. Maybe I should be Colby Lopez, aka Seth Rollins. I don't know. It was really endearing in the unreal doc, you know, when you were just like, well, can I, is it weird if I call him Colby? Oh, yeah. So like when you guys are at home alone with each other, is he Colby or is he Seth? Oh, he's Colby. I've never, I think I once called you Seth very early on, just like out of habit. Like to my face? Yeah. And you're like, ooh, hate about that. Oh, yeah. I would be so weirded out if you called me that. How did you come up with Seth Rollins? Because it's like such a like, it's a, like a name. It's just a name. Anyone could have that name. It's a cool name. I made, see, I don't know that it's a cool name. I made a list when I got hired at WWE in 2010. I had to sign my life way. And they wanted to own your character. So I had to come up with a new name. I was Tyler Black before that. That was my other alias. But I had to use a different name so that you could own it. And I came up with a list. I had first names. I had last names. I took it into the American Dream Dusty Rhodes and he went through them. He had his little glasses and he was looking at him and he's saying them all out loud. And he liked, I think he liked Seth because he spoke with a list. And it was funny for him to say, Seth. He's like, that's it baby. Seth Rollins. I see it now. And Amaki Resemanias. Seth Rollins. That's it. That's it. We're done. You got it, baby. Go do your thing. Anything that comes out of Dusty's mouth, mouth is gold. He's one of the greatest talkers in the history of our business. So yeah. Both of you have gone by so many different names. Is that, how common is that in your space? I feel like in the musical space, most people start out with a name and then they're like, 10 years in, like, I hate that name, but I got to keep going by it because that's what everyone knows me has. Yeah. I'm a big fan of a moniker because I hate my name. Rebecca Quinn? No, I love Rebecca Quinn. Rebecca Quinn Ross. What a great name. Becky Lynch. Lynch. Lynch. I just said, doesn't roll off the tongue. And how did you get that? So harsh. Well, unlike Kobe over here, I was way more often on the chopping block. So they, I came up with names that I thought were super cool. And then they kept saying, no, no, no. And then eventually they just got like a combination of Becky and an Irish name and Lynch was one of the ones that they approved. And I kind of wanted to keep a bit of my own names so that it's less confusing than Seth. Two different names. Seth and Kobe, you know, that at least whenever the time comes that I'm done, I can still be Rebecca, Becky. And then Lynch. And I didn't feel like I could push back. So I was just like, okay. What is the criteria for choosing a name? Like if, you know, them saying, who is them that are choosing? Who is them? Who is them? That is the question. Who is them? I don't know actually who was. Like I've only spoken to a black screen. I don't know who is them. Or is them. It was a combination between our legal department and our creative team. I mean, you had to have a name that nobody else had. So if there was a Brian, you couldn't be a Brian. If there was a, you know, your last name had to be different. You know, there was no Seth and there was no Rollins, which was, you know, two of the reasons I had the names on the list. And when I got signed, you couldn't, like, Colby was not an option. I couldn't use it. I couldn't use a different spelling of Colby. I couldn't be Kobe. I couldn't do anything that was close to it because they were so like anal about, we need to own this character and you can't take any of it with you. So that's just how it was back then. I, they were very, it's different now. But this was 15 years ago. Yeah. 15 years ago, the people in charge were like, no, we need to own every facet of this character in perpetuity. You can't have any of it. So even Tyler Black, I tried to sell them Tyler Black because I wanted to keep it because I had made a name off of Tyler Black. But they wouldn't. They wouldn't, they would not buy it. They said, no. What changed? Administration. Yeah, I suppose they just, they became, they got new people in, they figured out, you know, oh, we can actually do a 50-50 deal on it. We can figure something out. Like, they would just, you know, if they just, people at the top of the time are just very like, it's slippery slope. So we're not going to even go down that road. Here's how it's going to be. Figure it out. Deal with it later. That's fascinating. I mean, I mean, it's really fascinating the industry you guys are in. I mean, I remember the days of Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow. Bam Bam. Jake the Snake, the ultimate warrior. And obviously we love like reality TV. Our entire audience loves TV and just like the behind the scenes. And I feel like wrestling is like the OG reality TV of an industry that's really taken off. And I love the Unreal show because it really peels back the layer of the production of it. Because like, I remember back in the day when I was a kid, it was like, you didn't talk about whether it was real or not. Now my mind is like, because you said that it's the original reality TV, but I feel like it's like the opposite of reality TV. In what way? Well, because reality, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, you're right. But because it was supposed to be shrouded in mystery, you know, whereas I feel like reality TV, the essence of it or like the ultimate thing of it is that it's real. And I don't want to use the F word about wrestling, but I don't know. Ah, gosh, yeah, I don't know that it's the OG. It's the OG in a weird way, because I feel like the most interesting stuff has always been the stuff that's that is real, whether there's that there's that gray area where you don't really know whether it's real or not. Because you're supposed to believe that it's real, right? All of it. I mean, originally, originally with wrestling. So now I'm like, ah, your mind, my mind is a little bit blown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't, I mean, once the lid started to come off of it, probably in the mid 90s or so, it certainly became far more interesting what was going on behind the scenes or what was real as opposed to like what existed in the storytelling part of it. And then it became nowadays, it's like, you know, because we've peeled the curtain back so much, especially with this unreal show, it's like, how do we leverage because we still want you still want people to believe that there's some reality to it. But now that they see everything, how do you create conflict with that reality? Like how do you tell a story? How do you make it interesting with that reality? And so it's a totally different paradigm for us and how we navigate this world and tell our stories while still doing this sort of fake fighting thing. I don't know any other way to... It's really fascinating because you, you know, in the episode one, they were talking about how you were like going to turn heel. And for those who don't know what that means, it's like a villain, which is very common in real ITV, who's the villain? And it says, I thought it was really fascinating because like you guys, you will set up the storyline, you'll have a plan, but like, you don't know how the audience is going to react, right? And then, and I imagine in fights, you guys have a plan, but the plan often maybe goes off the rails. And even though like it's fake fighting, it seems like this is a very physically demanding sport where like injuries happen and like people get hurt. And it's just like, I mean, it's fake, but it really seems like you guys are putting your heart and soul into this. And like the human side, I mean, I mean, for you guys, how disconnected can you get from the characters versus like you are living this experience and just the audience's reaction seems to be such a big part of your characters in your livelihood? Like it must be kind of, I don't know, kind of a mind trip, you know, juggling the two. Yeah, I think it's easier to juggle the two when you're a bad guy, because you don't associate that with yourself. You know what I mean? Whereas when you're supposed to be beloved and the good guy, you want to bring the best parts of you that are you, and when they reject that, then they're rejecting you, you know? So it feels like it burns more. Yeah. You know what? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, when you're, because when you're a bad guy, like no one, everyone's a hero of their own story in real life, right? So no one, everyone walks along and tells their own story, but no one thinks of themselves as the villain in real life. You know, you think of yourself as the, the, you're the star of the show, you know? And so you're the main character and you're the good guy and everything, you know, everybody's doing you wrong. And so in real life, you process that way, but when you're playing a villain, it feels like you're playing a character. Whereas like she's saying she's right when you're playing a, you know, a protagonist, a hero, a baby face, you kind of feel like it's you. And so yeah, when you don't get the affirmation that you're the actually, that they, you are a fan favorite, it feels like a personal attack. You feel like you're being easy to get in your head. Whether if you're, if you're, yeah, very easy to get in your head, but it is, there is a definitely an element of realism to kind of play off what you were saying. I mean, I'm nursing it. I just got rotator cuff surgery two months ago that I, from an injury that I suffered in the ring, you know, I've done my ACL, I broke on my jaw, separated both my shoulders, meniscus on my left knee, you know, I've got countless injuries and stuff like that. So there, there's definitely an element of reality to that part of it. No doubt about it, the physical nature, things do go off the rails commonly. The audience is, they're a participant in the show. They're sort of a character in the show because their opinion of, they get to react in real time to what's happening. And the best of us, we're able to sort of predict that reaction, which is what we're doing is we're telling the story, we're going, okay, here's what we think the reaction is going to be. And, you know, most of the time, we're pretty good at it. But there are certainly times where the reaction is not at all what you thought. And if you're out of touch with your audience and what they're doing, your response has to be in real time. And you have to be able to change that to, to, you know, flip the switch, so to speak, and to get them to sort of ride the ride that you want them to be on. So yeah, there's certainly an element of planning and like pre-production that goes into it. But there's also an intense level of improvisation and storytelling that is pretty much, I would say, unmatched in any other form of live entertainment. I stand up comedy is the only one that I would like kind of liken it to that, maybe like live concerts, but anything else, it's, there's really no other art form that like kind of does it the way we do it. Yeah. And when you first got into this sport, what was that training like of kind of putting these stories together, but also like the physical side of everything? When we first got into it, when we first got into it, I don't think any, we weren't considering stories, we were just considering moves. We're like, ooh, what's a cool move. And trying to like come up on your, with your own. Yeah. And how do you, how do you get the audience to respond to a move? I certainly, I don't know about you. I wasn't thinking about storytelling well into my career in WWE. I was like, how can I do the best cool moves? How did you guys, both of you get into it? I was a fan growing up kind of, you know, you mentioned a lot of those guys, I was a fan of those guys growing up. My dad took me to a show and I was like four years old and I just became fascinated by the idea that these were like real life superheroes, you know, Hogan and Warrior and Legion of Doom and then there were real life villains, like these people that you could reach out and touch as opposed to like comic book heroes like Batman or Spider-Man or whatever, like that never really resonated with me the way like, oh, he's right there, like Hulk Hogan's sweat could fly on me, you know, like he's right there. He really beats up these bad guys. So I became obsessed with it. And then when I was a teenager, like probably right before went to high school, the attitude era is blowing up. So then you've got like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Degeneration X and all the, you know, Mick Foley, all these guys. Mick Foley. Yeah, wrestling is just massive at the time. It's sort of like, you know, invaded pop culture. And also it's the advent of the internet and you can connect with people from all over the world. And also like we like backyard wrestling became a big thing. So me and my friend started like doing it in our backyard. So we did it, we put on shows, we'd give out flyers. And I was just obsessed. I told my folks like, I was like, I'm done playing basketball, man. This is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. So in high school, I started like taking acting classes, taking public speaking classes, got gym membership, so I could, you know, get in some sort of shape. And then I was doing these backyard shows for my friends. And once I got turned 18, I was like, I'm going to get trained. And so I went and got trained. How about you, Rebecca? So I grew up again, watching professional wrestling, but I loved it. And me and my brother would wrestle in our mom's bed and stuff and put on little shows. And then like, around eight or nine, I fell out of it and was like, oh, that's for babies. And then when the attitude era blew up, my brother would watch it. And I would make fun of him. And it was a good, totally fake. And he'd be like, no, it's actually really good. And I'm a good whatever. And then I would watch Mick Foley cut these promos. And I was just drawn in by his ability to tell a story and his way of speaking. And, you know, it was the first time that I really got invested and I wanted him to win. And then I, so I tell my brother, just call me when Mick Foley's on. And then that was it. Then I was in and then I was hooked. And then around 15, I was failing PE. I was up to no good. I was a bit of a degenerate. And I decided that I was going to get my life on track. And that coincided with Finn Balor, Virgil Debede, opening a wrestling school, like about an hour away from me. So then me and my brother went down, took the train, the hour long train every week and walked the 30 minutes to this little wrestling school in the countryside in Ireland, but not countryside in Bray felt like countryside. But and then yeah, I would just do that every Sunday. And then I'd go over to England and I'd wrestle in wrestling camps over there. And then when I was 17, I dropped out of college and I moved off to Canada and I wrestled over there. And so anyway, that was how I started. Wow. Do you remember your first match in WWE? So tough to say because when I signed in WWE was 2010, I went to developmental. So I was in the developmental system called Florida Championship Wrestling for two years, which eventually became NXT. So it's all kind of a part of WWE. I moved up to the main roster in November of 2012. And my first official match was a six man tag at Survivor Series. Sorry, TLC was December of 2012. It's myself, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose against Ryback, Daniel Bryan and Kane. That was my first main roster featured match. But all the other ones before that, the developmental matches, I don't really remember those. Was that kind of a real surreal moment? I can only imagine as a kid watching it. It just must feel, did you have like a I can't believe I'm here type of moment? I mean, we debuted the month before at Survivor Series, where we jumped CM Punk or no, we jumped Ryback and John Cena was in the match as well, I believe. And this was the main event of a major pay per view for WWE. And immediately, we're the biggest thing that's being talked about the next day. And I remember feeling like, wow, this is insane. We're finally here. Everything I'd worked for my whole life. And now, like we just kicked the door down and I get to do my dream, like I get to live my dream, you know, so I do remember feeling like that. And like, we had this really sick entrance where we'd come through the crowd to kind of this pretty badass music. And our first pay per view match that I mentioned was in the Barclays Center. And I think it was definitely the first pay per view at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn might have been like the first event, we might have opened Barclays Center, I, you know, don't quote me on that. But I remember feeling a place was sold out, the energy was like insane. And I was like, this, this is what I want. This was what I worked for and, you know, suffered for and spent thousands of hours in the car and, you know, slept in my car and, you know, was poor and all that stuff. Like, yeah, that's this is what I, this is what it was all worth it for that moment. That's a cool story. I imagine the walkout, like having a walkout song, I feel like started with wrestling, and maybe it was, I don't know, I guess boxing or all their sports, but like, no, it was Michael Hayes, Michael PSA's and the Fabulous Freebirds did it before anybody. And then, you know, they, they picked up on it, WWF picked up on it in the early 80s, I would say, and had real American and, but yeah, Michael PSA's he was genius, genius revolutionary head of time. Is that that must be like a fun moment every time you're walking out? Do you get to pick your own songs? Or is that also like a collaboration between them? There's a lot of them involved with that. Yeah. Yeah. Because they want to own your song too. So it's not, you don't just get to pick, oh, you know what, let's call ACDC up and get a, get a, get a track, you know, Metallica. Let's see what, for whom the bell tolls. Yeah, yeah, that's available. No, they want to own it. They want to be able to sell it. They want to make money off it. So it has to be an original track. A lot of times you have to use their artists who they, you know, they have like a house, sure, people that build it or whatever. So that's what I did with, with my current song. She actually was able to get one of our favorite bands to do her. I just got new entrance music and it was a process. It was a process, but we're friends with a band called the Wonder Years. And I was coming back and I texted them, I was like, would you do my entrance music if I can get it approved? And they were like, yes, absolutely. Two days later, they came back with this banger of a song. And I was like, oh, and then it's going through the process of making sure that the lead Louis owns it and how that works. But so kind of, did I kind of pick out my own entrance? You sort of did. Yeah, sort of. What was, do you remember the conversation you had with your father or your brother after your first, like, big match? Obviously, your dad took you at four. You trained with your brother. No, I do remember when I won my first world championship, which would have been in 2015 at WrestleMania. I don't remember who was the following. Yeah, it's probably the following me because I still lived in Iowa. I grew up in Iowa. I remember taking the belt back to, I grew up in this tiny town called Buffalo, and we used to wrestle in my dad's backyard. My dad was a psychopath for letting us do it. But, you know, thank goodness he did. I took the title back to Iowa, to Buffalo, to that backyard with my brother and my dad. And I took a picture of all of us in that yard. So I remember that. And my dad's not like a, he's a jokester. He just tells jokes. Nothing is ever serious to him. So he doesn't, he would never give you, like, he never, he would never, if he told you he was proud of you, they would be followed with some sort of joke about how he was totally responsible for all of it or something like that, you know? So he's never been one to like, let you know sentimentally how he felt. But I do feel like he's always had a little bit of pride about it. And like, he'll text me occasionally and be like, because he watches every week, but he'll be like, he'll text and be like, is this, what's going on with this? How's this storyline going to shake out and stuff like that? So he keeps tabs on him. But yeah, I do have that moment with him taking the title back. And I remember probably finding on my Instagram somewhere, it's way back there. With these things planned out, you know, winning a title. And then, you know, again, on the Unreal show, you won the tag team title. And then like, it felt like right away that was taken away from you. Yeah, taken away from me. There's a lot of corruption in the system right now. But like, how, you know, when it's like, hey, you're going to be a champion. And then like, and then you find out that, hey, we have a bigger plan. Do you guys ever like push back or do you have to just let it play out and trust the process? Is it a challenge to like, I get older, I push back a lot less. No, I found it's futile. You know, I've pushed back so much, so much in my career. And I'm now starting to realize, you just got to make the best. The pushback, I think, I don't want to confuse people. The pushback is not like, I need to keep this title. No, no, no, pushback is like, what's the best story? What's the best story? Are we doing the right thing? You know what I mean? From a story perspective, from an audience perspective, like, are we telling the right story? Because you have so many creative people in WWE and everyone has kind of a different idea of what the best story is going to be. And so, you know, it's a creative process and it's a collaborative process. But yeah, when you're, you know, when you're young, you're a little more... You fight for what you really think is right. And then you're wrong so many times, you know, as well as the other thing. You learn that they know what they're doing. This isn't going to work. They're going to hate it. And then it turns out that it's awesome, you know, and you're like, oh, well, all right. Do either of you remember a specific moment of improvisation where afterwards you were like, that was fucking crazy. Oh, there was a time, I mean, a lot of times it's like injuries when injuries happen. And then like, yeah, then you're like, what do we even do? Like, how does that go? Or there's like promo segments that just go off the rails because the crowd is so wacky. Like, this wasn't me, but I remember there was one specific to the jump out to me. One was there was this story the WWE was telling in, gosh, it would have been like 2013, 12, something like that. Anyway, they had neglected this character named Daniel Bryan to the point where the audience wanted him to be the main character so badly. They were in near his hometown in Seattle, and all these big stars are in the ring and Bryan's like off to the side. And the crowd just hijacked the whole segment and was chanting for Bryan the entire time. And that was pretty sick. And people couldn't cut their promo because like they kept just chanting for Bryan over it. There was another one I remember where like one of our friends Kevin Owens, he was out there doing a segment with was it with Elias, maybe? And they were playing, they were doing something with like a guitar, Elias played a guitar and he would sing songs about the town. And he sung, I think it was actually Seattle too. And he like buried the sonics who had left to go to go to Oklahoma City. And the crowd just like he couldn't say another he couldn't get anything else done during it. Like injuries are the big ones. Like I broke John Cena's nose one time in a match and he had to continue. But it was a bad break. Like it was like sideways, like to where they, it was so much blood. I felt so bad, but he finished the whole match. And do you have like a conversation after that of like, sorry? Oh my God, I was so apologetic. And not only for like the after for weeks after I apologize, I probably still apologize to John. Was he pretty gracious about it? Oh, of course. Because everything, you know, it happens. It's all accidents. No one's like, I mean, if someone tries to hurt you, that's a different animal. But like, I think you'd always rather be hurt than be the person who hurts somebody as well. That's the other thing. Is there ever like, if someone experiences a real injury, do you feel like the rest are almost like, for all the things that people think is fake, they almost want the credit for like really taking the actual injury? Or like, like, does John Cena want people to know like, no, my nose is actually broken as opposed to people thinking, there might be a little bit of pride in that, I suppose. Yeah. I mean, like when you got your nose broken, and you just had the gut, the blood gushing, and you're just like, hands are up and crowd is going wild. Did it feel like, I hope like, this is actually real, like I'm in pain, everybody. Oh yeah. No, I was so out of it and concoct that I didn't really know what was going on. Like, and there wasn't another option, you know what I mean? Like it was very tunnel vision, you know, okay, this is what I got to do. Okay, the red lights on. Okay, now turn and walk and leave. Okay, where am I? Wow. What happened? Wow. Who are you? You played it so well. I mean, it look, it does. I mean, you guys are incredible actors and just the way that like, it looks like it's all part of it. I mean, that adrenaline is going. And yeah, yeah, I can't stop for nothing once the adrenaline's going. You guys are married. How did you guys meet? I asked one. Yeah. Yeah. That work, she was up for like, I was an extra at that time and I came up, oh my God. And back at the time, like girls, when you were on the road or like showed up for TV, get to be in very nice dresses, but not actually nice, just very slutty dresses. You know, that was considered nice. You had to look very, very clubware. Clubware. Clubware. The clubware was how it was described. Clubware. So I, you know, I'm trying to fit in and I'm not like girly or like good at that stuff at all. So I had this piece of material on and like, I had, I was trying to stick hair extensions in and they were hanging out of my head and eyelashes that were closer to my eyebrows than my eyelids. Colby was like, wow. She's beautiful. Who made the first move? But I was jacked. She was jacked. She was very easy to spot. She was like, her hair was bright orange at the time. Her skin was also spray tan to match her hair. Bright orange. Yeah. And she, well, I always want to talk to her first. But we were, this was, Well, I introduced myself. She introduced herself as she was, you know, the hierarchy you're always supposed to go up and say hi to everybody was just so nerve-wracking. You know, you're just like, hi, hi, I'm Rebecca. Hi, I'm Rebecca. And you feel like you're interrupting people, annoying people the whole time. But then you feel like if you don't go up and say, hi, I'm Rebecca, they're going to be like, she's done. She's done. Kick her out of here. I mean, of course they don't care and they don't notice. But you just didn't want to get that reputation. So she came up to introduce herself and I like to play to food and I was just eating. I was getting ready for the show and she was like, hi, Rebecca. And I'm like, oh, I'm Colby. What's your story? What's your deal? And she just talked my head off for an hour straight. I wasn't really expecting it. It was like 40 minutes legit. Yeah. First time I ever met her, she just went, I was like, oh, okay. All right, great. Great. Wait, wait, wait. It's been an hour. Who asked who on a date? Like, Oh, that was years later. Yeah. Years later. This was in 2014. That was 2014. So you guys like friends first. Yeah. Yeah. We didn't start dating until 2019. So like when did that happen where it was like, oh, wait, maybe in the summer. 2018. In the 2018. Yeah. In the 2018 early 2019. Like, I don't know. Just I was like, man, maybe, maybe, you know, maybe there's something I want to kiss her. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of want to kiss her in the mouth. That's kind of what happened. Yeah. It was kind of like, you know what? She's pretty hot. What am I, maybe, yeah, maybe I kind of want to kiss her a little bit, you know, because we already had the friendship thing down there. And I was like, well, you know, maybe, uh, maybe the vibes can translate, you know, but I was also like, I just gotten out of a relationship and I was like, not looking for anything serious. Classic. Classic. Such a cliche. Such a cliche. Not looking for anything serious. And so, yeah, I was like, flirting, but you know, I wasn't sure what I was doing entirely. And then she was like, well, here we are. Are you going to do it or not? She put me right on the spot. I was very nervous. Well, like you being like, really throwing it out there for a moment, you know? So then I was like, all right, well, if you're throwing it out that hard, let's go. Yeah. I was very scared. I was very nervous. I was like, oh, that's not how I thought it would go. That's how you know you care. You know? Oh, yeah. Super nervous. So we jumped in and then it was, it was, it was cool. Is there any part that was kind of like, are we mixing business with pleasure? Oh, totally. I broke it off very quickly on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I was, I had heard all of his, you know, I don't think Monogamy's for me. And yeah, I just got it. I've been bending to you about the relationship. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. Well, I met her. I was like, I'm never getting married. Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. That's where I was at. That's where you know, I was like, I had these relationships that didn't work out. I, you know, I was, you know, in my twenties, I was like romantic and then it didn't like work out. And I was kind of like, you know what, I don't need marriage. Like, oh, that was it. What's marriage? Yeah, bullshit. You know, and. What are we doing? Yeah. I mean, you know, you meet someone, you're like, I want to make it work with you. Oh, I wasn't, I knew right away. Soon as she, soon as she said I'm out, I was like, oh, no, you are not. You are in. You are, you are coming in. I was like, what is wrong with me? I am a psychopath. I cannot let this slip through my fingers just because I think I'm not good at monogamy. No, I just wasn't with the right person. That's why I wasn't good at being a partner because I, you know, was selfish and didn't understand that relationships are about putting your partner first and you're not, you know, you have to be a friend with somebody and you have to, there's a respect. I mean, it's a whole bunch of crap. Essentially, I wasn't with the right person. Yeah. I think that's a common story with guys too. We were, you know, kind of dating, fucking around for a few months. She kept trying to date me. I kept saying, no, no, no, no, no. And then she was like, fuck it. And then, you know, we, she's a bit younger than me and I was pretty self-conscious about that. And she was like, well, I'm just going to go out with a doctor who's older than you. And I remember she was like, I'm going on vacation with my sister. And I was like, and I was just like, and we were kind of like trying to like distance ourselves. And I lost my shit. Like I was like calling my girlfriends. I was stalking her Instagram. What am I doing? And like, I just felt like kind of almost like a 22 getting where I was just like, I'm just, I am not myself. And I was like, when you get, and like literally got back from vacation and I like flew her out and I'm like, let's just make this work because I just, I remember for the first time in forever that like, I hadn't lost myself like for a girl like that, where I was just like panicking that like I had fucked up, you know, in a crazy way. So yeah, I think you had a similar. Oh yeah. Yeah. She told me, because like we were, you know, at first, like you said, you know, you don't want to mess up the work. We didn't want to date within the work pool anyway, because you know, there's conflict of interest and it's like, ah, what if we break up? It's awkward. We'd seen it a million times. Other people had done it. It was just not great. It's like, ah, I don't know. And then, you know, again, I was a serial monogamous and you know, a pretty not great partner and I didn't think I was fit for yada, yada. And then we started kind of fooling around a little bit. It was awesome. And I was, I was like kind of comfortable with that at first. I was like, oh, this is fine. This is great. You know, it's easy. And then the second she was like, ah, this doesn't work for me. I don't want to be half in. What are we doing if we're not, why are we waiting? You can just do your thing and then we can be friends and it'll be great. I was so happy about this revelation. You know, I was like, oh my God, wait till I tell him he's going to be delighted. He's going to love this. I did not in fact love it. I was like, I was like, ah, and then like, I remember that week, like thinking like, ah, I probably let it sit for like three days. And I was like, no, we need to, this is, no, I don't want it. I don't want, I don't want, I just want you. It's all I want. This is all I want. I just want you. And she was still kind of like, ah, I don't know. And then I think it was like later that weekend, she was at like a signing or something in Louisiana or something and like saw some people with shirts of my shirts, like Seth Rollins shirts, right? Yeah. And it gave me the itis, you know, like when I saw them, I just lit up and like, I was like, oh, isn't he so great? You know, I just wanted to talk about how great he was. And there's this massive line of people and I'm just talking about how great Seth Rollins is. And then I was like, God damn, I do like him. Crap. Yeah. And then it was like, almost that moment, you're like, well, fuck it, what am I doing? You know, you're just like, Oh, I mean, as soon as she said she was out, I was like, no, that is, I've gone about this all wrong. Yeah, I've gone about this all wrong. And then when she came back to me and told me that, that she was like, no, I think, okay, I think I want to do this. Yeah. And then- So how long did y'all date before you got married? I mean, that feels, oh, before we got married? Well, we dated, I started ring shopping like within two months. Stop. Oh yeah, I knew right away. I was telling people, I was telling my friends, immediately when we started dating, I was like, oh, yeah, we're probably gonna get married. So you can just, you can just, you can bank on that. Yeah, this is- Did you know that at the time? Gosh, well, no, I was still a little nervous because of everything he had told me. Like, it was so easy and it was so comfortable, but I was like, don't pull the cart before the horse or whatever. Yeah, put the cart before the horse. Yeah. Yeah. It took me maybe a little second longer because like what I said to him when I was like, I can't do this was that either, like, I go in full armor and I don't feel anything or I don't go in full armor and I'm just looking to get pummeled. So either way, that may be a choice of words, but anyway, either way, like it's not a good outcome for me. It's just nothing, you know? But yeah, I mean, I said no and I got the ring and then I mean, I proposed you were in August, so we started dating the end of January. I mean, like officially in February-ish and then by August we were engaged and then we were gonna get married in 2020. So this would have been August 2019. 2019. Yeah, and we were gonna get married in the next year, 2020. COVID screwed that up, so we lost a year and we ended up doing it in 21 because we wanted to get married in Hawaii, which is where we got engaged and then we wanted to go back and do a little destination, but Hawaii was, nobody's coming in. They're very strict. So to have even, we get a small wedding, but they were like, to try to get 20 people there was like, it's too much. How did you guys break the news to your colleagues that you guys were all of a sudden in a relationship? Oh, they knew right away. They did know right away, but it was also in a whoop group chat that I think you said sorry about my girlfriend. I was like, oh, wow. Yeah, I said something. I probably was poopooing something. There's been other obviously wrestlers who have dated. Are there like HR policies or guidelines or there's like, do they like it when that happens? Like it? Yeah, do they like it? Like a storyline? What can we do with this? I don't think they one way or the other, I think they go with it, but they are actually very accommodating with it. They try to keep couples on the same show. Like the same schedule for the most part, which is very kind of them. Yeah, I mean, I think they were, I mean, we spend, because we're year round, WWE's constant. There's no off season. And it used to be where there would be upwards of, I mean, they would run well over 500 shows a year between the, because they do two TV shows every week and then tons of live events, sometimes, sometimes four, five, six live events, depending on if they were running simultaneous live events on the same weekend. And so you would spend all this time with these people. Like you would spend way more time with these people than you would your family or your friends at home. It wasn't even close. You'd be on the road so much. So I think they, they understood that obviously relationships were going to happen. And the biggest, one of the biggest things, at least for us that works, and I don't know how it is for other people, is that we like regular people just don't get what we do. They just do not understand it. They don't understand the schedule, the sacrifice, what it takes. So like for us to have each other back in that regard and understand what sacrifices need to be made, you know, like if I have to be gone for whatever amount of time, there's no pushback. There's no like resentment. There's nothing. We just, the other one just picks up the slack and vice versa, you know, she's got to go shoot Star Trek and then she's got to go be on the road and she's got to go to Saudi for a rumble and she's got to go to Europe for two weeks, for WWE. It's like, okay, you know, there's no pushback. There's no like, well, you're not here and me, I'm doing, there's none of that. It's just, oh, I get it. That's the work, you know, that's the job. And to have that, WWE, I think they understand that. They understand that that's just, you know, even you have everybody constantly traveling together, you get to know each other, you spend a lot of time together, you understand each other, that's bound to happen. So yeah, there are, I'd say quite a few romances in the mix and they are very accommodating, schedule-wise, it's quite nice, but sometimes they do stuff with it and sometimes they don't. You know, her and I, they put us on screen as a partnership, but like other couples, like, you know, Bianca Belair, Montes Ford don't really do anything with them. They did. They started off doing something with them. A little bit, a little bit. Yeah, but there wasn't like a romance thing, right? Well, she was with them in the beginning. With all of them. When she came up. Yeah, yeah. Do you think it'd be fun to have one of you guys like turn on each other as far as storyline? Just don't know what you'd get out of that because we can't have a match, I suppose. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, we also like, our world is such a weird gray area that like, people would know we're not really, you know what I mean? We're going to dinner together on Tuesday night and we're fighting on Monday. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I don't think anybody. Picking our daughter from school. That makes sense. So you kind of always have to ask like, what is, you know, what is believable? What is viable? Are people going to buy into the storyline? Like you said, if it doesn't work, like, why fuck around with it? Yeah, you really have to tread that line of reality all the time. It's got to be one of the other, right? It's got to be like, there's got to be the thread in that gray area where you can really make them, you know, really hook people like, oh, I don't know if that's real or not. Do they really like each other or not? I don't know what's going on there. Or it's got to be like the opposite where it's full, like a full piece of stories, full piece of fiction, you know what I mean? And they're just, they're watching it the way they watch Game of Thrones or something like that. So you kind of got to do like one of the other. There's not like a middle space that works, I find. If you like insulting it and you're like throwing it in their faces, it kind of doesn't really work, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you two of you obviously have a very beautiful daughter. She's the best. She's so, I mean, in the, in the show, we see her as a baby. In the first couple of us says she's very beautiful. When did you know you were ready to start and grow your family? I, for God, I felt like I was ready real quick. Really? Yeah. Yeah. To have a kid? Yeah. I mean, yeah, but the schedule didn't really permit it because, you know, when you live working in a physical industry. So I was curious about that. I mean, we work together. I love working with my wife. It's a lot of fun. We didn't, I, you know, I started the show before we met and then it was like, I think you could be really good at this and it just kind of happened. And then we had a daughter together and we make it, we make it work. But I'm just really fascinated with you guys. To your point, you're on the road all the time. You are, you know, you're giving your body to wrestling. It's physically demanding. And then obviously being a mom is a whole other universe. Like, that must have been, you know, having those conversations about like how you guys make, like as you're like, hey, we're going to do this. Were there conversations about like, well, how are we going to make it? How are we going to do it? So before the pandemic happened, I just wanted to have a kid anyway. So it was like, I think I'll just have one and then come back, you know, and make it work and figure it out. Because I don't want to skip over that part of my life, which can often happen when you're, it can never, it never feels like the right time to step away to make that decision. And, you know, and it's hard to get that back. And I was at the top of my career. And, but part of me, I don't know if it's self-destruction or just like a rebellion where I'm like, I'll make it work. And just wanted to figure it out and have both. And then the pandemic happened. And then I saw that we would be wrestling in front of no people for a prolonged period of time. So, you know, this might be a good time to sneak a kid in. Yeah. And so like timing worked out so perfectly. And then when we came back, like everything fell perfectly into place. We have a bus. We have a bus driver, Andy, who's like family. He looks after us so incredibly. I wish I could clone him. And then he said that his wife was looking to leave her job and we were like, oh, great, let's take her on. So she was our nanny. And she would travel everywhere because we were on the road four or five days a week. And we would just bring our daughter everywhere. She was on the bus. She was in arenas. We would bring her to every kids' museum, park, zoo, etc. in all these different towns all around the world. But it was like, you know, she had another aunt and uncle with Andy and Jackie. And yeah, it was just incredible. And how did you manage postpartum in getting back ready for the ring? He trained with me a lot. And that was, the getting my body back was way easier than I thought because she just sucked the life out of me. I breastfed for over two years. So I probably didn't sleep for the first two years. And then after that, I didn't realize that postpartum depression can hit you once you're done breastfeeding. So then that was wacky. And then I was a mess for like another six months. And it took me a while to realize what was going on. It wasn't until one of the girls, Beth Phoenix, explained that that can happen to you after you're done that I realized, oh, okay, I need to get some help. And then once I did that, then everything was fine. But it was poor Colby. It was treacherous for a while. It had to put up with me for... Yeah, God bless. You women are your superheroes. It's insane. What you have to deal with from like a child birthing perspective and everything that comes thereafter hormonally, I was blown away. We're dudes, we're simple creatures. We're just like, video games, football, cool. We do not have this to deal with hormonally, emotionally. We just do not. So having to navigate that, be a mom, be your wife, be a performer, and manage all that internally. And how that affects... I mean, it was wild to see. I don't think I've ever been more impressed than watching my wife be a mother and like figure out how to navigate all that and do it so effortlessly. Like, you know, I think on one hand it's... It's so kind. It was not effortless. But it's losing my mind. Yeah, but you didn't. You were like, I'm losing my mind. Stop it. You know? And then you were able to figure it out. Like the fact that you were able to figure it out and like you mentioned, you had help and all that. But I mean, it's such an impressive thing to... And not just you, but all of you guys, all of you women who do that. It's just... It's to me, I go, wow, I could never. You know? I could never. So it was really cool. And we got to travel the world with our kid and experience, you know, Europe. She went to Europe with us a couple of times. We took her to Saudi Arabia a couple of times. Took her every single state in the country. She went all over the place. Like, it was a really awesome thing to be able to share that experience with her. She'll not remember any of it at all, but to be able to do both and, you know, say, hey, we did that once. And when we tell her about it, like, even now when we kind of reminisce about it, I'm like, that's nuts. I can't believe we did that. Nuts. She's five now. She's five. We had that baby bag just going everywhere. Everywhere. Put her on the planes. We were never at home. Wow. When Rebecca was back in the ring, you know, in making your comeback, that must have been like a just a really proud moment for you, knowing what it all took for you to like be a mom, raise your daughter, get your body back, you know, like, this is the challenge. But is there like a sense of pride that you felt like seeing her back? I don't know if pride was the right word, but certainly a sense of inspiration, you know? I mean, pride in that like, hey, that's my wife. Look how awesome she is. Hey, guys, check it out. I got a real good one, you know? So I think in that regard, yeah, but I think it was just I was more just impressed by her ability to do it all, you know, and just put all that on her shoulders and do it and do it so well. And like, another thing is in our industry, women aren't allowed to do what she did. Like before, before her, she's truly a trailblazer in that regard. I mean, there are a couple of them, a couple of women who had kids and were able to come back and they continue to do it. But not the way, in my opinion, not the way she did it, you know, at the, I mean, she was at the top top main, we're talking main event of WrestleMania, which is like winning the Super Bowl first woman ever to do that two years later. No, a year later, a year later, she's pregnant. And then a year and a half after that, she's back. And she's coming back to that elite level of storytelling, better than she's ever been, still able to get in there and do everything she did and more work with younger talent and help bring them up. I mean, there's so much that goes into it. And the fact that she was able to do that, I mean, it sets a wild precedent in the sense that I think it's going to be so hard to like, keep up with that if you're a woman in our industry. But it also shows them, oh, what's possible. You know, this is possible. It doesn't just have to be the way it used to be. It doesn't have to be the good old boys club and the girls, you know, they get 30, then they go away and retire and have kids and never do anything again. Like she showed people and women and young girls in our industry that you can do both and you can do it like awesomely. And that that gift, that ability to trailblaze in that regard is going to change the way our industry works forever. Rekha, what did you challenge like internally to do that? I don't know. I think I just was, it was that sense of rebellion of like, wait a minute, this is always the way that it has been. Like if you want to be a mom, well then see you later. Right. Your life's over once you have kids. Yeah. But you know, like I think of people that do have kids and they were able to balance the two, but they didn't have another person that was also on the road. They had, or have people that stay at home and they've had, they had their kids before they started wrestling. So it seemed like if you wanted to go have a kid, then that was it, you know. And so, or you come back and you're on a part-time schedule. I wanted to do both. And you know, I was already challenging what could be done. So I was like, what else can I challenge? How did being a dad change your life? Oh, you know what? I think it, I mean, patience is the biggest one. I think patience and also like, I think it was a progression of in our industry, and in a lot of entertainment industries, I find that like to be super successful, there's a level of kind of selfishness that you have to employ to get where you want to go. You know, you sacrifice a lot in terms of relationships and friendships and stuff like that to do the thing. And as I got later in life, and part of that is why I was such a bad relationship partner is because I was so self-involved. And as I got a little later in my life, and especially with her, I started to realize what it really meant to put somebody before you or put someone's needs equal to yours. And that, even that was a little bit of a, you know, thing in our relationship that was difficult for me to like, I could say it, I could verbalize it, but my actions didn't follow my words entirely. It took me a minute to like get there. And then when I had my kid, when we had Rue, I remember like specifically one of the nights, putting her to sleep or something, and I'm like, she was gone or whatever. But I remember being by myself and like, remember losing my patience with her. And she was crying, and I like was mad about her not sleeping or something like that. And then I like did, you know, I went and got whatever, whatever. And I came back. And like, I was just like, what am I doing? What? This is a baby. Like this is a child. She doesn't, she just, you're totally responsible for every, every, everything that this kid has you, she doesn't know. And I was like, Oh, I'm, I'm going about this all wrong. And that was like the last facade. That was like the end of it for me. And then it, and then so I learned really, truly what it meant to, for someone to mean more than you and for everything that they do is more kind of not more important, but it takes precedent and to put that before all the things that you care about yourself. And so I feel like that's part of me. Like that's like the was one of the, my final like hurdles and like, Oh, this is what it means to be a dad, a husband, a caretaker of a family or protector of a family. It's not about always leading the way and making the decisions and being the boss. It's actually about putting other people's needs before your own. And so I think that's really what that was like the biggest thing that I learned from. Yeah, I find it to be really rewarding the same way. It's like just waking up and knowing you have a purpose outside of yourself. Where it's just like, you know why you're getting up, you know? Because otherwise, other things feel selfish or not as rewarding or just like things can be taken away from you. But like once you have that thing to protect and take care of, it's like, yeah, I don't know. I just became happier. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, oh yeah, so much. You're like, no matter what happens, you're just like, Oh, I still got this. Yes. You realize that it is actually the most important thing. Like I always felt like it was something that you'd see on homework movies where they're like, family's everything. And you know, I came from a broken home. So did he. And so I didn't necessarily buy into that in most of very Irish, you know, I don't think that we're as much like that. But then you're like, Oh no, this really is everything. This is all that's important. Yeah. All that stuff is just extra. It's just fluff, you know? Right. Well, I know you guys get it going, but I just want to ask you guys, obviously, like the WWE, the industry has created some mega stars. You have The Rock, you mentioned John Cena, The Rock's up for an Oscar this year. You're doing Star Trek. Do you guys have dreams and aspirations outside when your wrestling careers end to maybe follow the path of some of your biggest entertainers in the industry? I mean, I just love performing. So whatever I can do to continue telling stories and to perform, that's what I want to do. Yeah. I mean, I'm, I talk about football. I got a part time big doing that. Chicago Bears. I'm a Packer fan. Oh, you should have led with that. We're talking right now on the eve of one of the biggest Bear Packer games in a long time. Long time. A few days. I died on Sunday. We mark up. Make a person. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about you. We hate to see that. We hate to see an ACL. I have someone who's had that. I understand that pain. Get well soon, Micah. If you're listening. But yeah, no, I like doing that. That's like kind of a great thing for me. I think I'll be involved in the business in some way, shape, or form. I love it. It's given me everything. Obviously, my wife, I met there. My daughter got a wrestling school. It's helped provide you know, just a life for me. And it's what I love. It's my number one passion. And so I feel like I'll be a part of the WWE family for quite some time, as long as they'll have me, whether that's in the ring or behind the scenes. So we'll see how it goes. But football comes calling, man. I love to be in the booth when the Bears take down the Packers for the next two decades. You feeling good about this weekend? I feel good. Yeah. We're going. I feel good. We are. Yeah, we're going to Soldier on Saturday. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a lot of fun. Well, the show is WWE Unreal. It's streaming on Netflix. Whether you are a fan of wrestling or not, it's a great documentary. It's fascinating. I think anyone listening to this show will definitely watch it. I appreciate you guys taking the time. It's always fun to see like a husband and wife duo working together and making it work. And you're an inspiration to us. And it's been a lot of fun getting to know you guys. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us.