What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes

Natalya

59 min
Nov 12, 20257 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Cody Rhodes interviews Natalya, WWE's longest-tenured female superstar, discussing her newly published memoir, her journey from struggling wrestler to established performer, and her evolution into the 'Low Key Legend' character. The conversation explores themes of people-pleasing, family legacy, work ethic, and taking creative risks.

Insights
  • Second and third-generation wrestlers must exceed family expectations while establishing independent identities to succeed
  • Therapeutic self-reflection through memoir writing enabled Natalya to transition from people-pleasing to self-directed creative choices
  • Wrestlers possess more creative power than they typically exercise; taking calculated risks without seeking constant approval drives innovation
  • Consistent reliability and work ethic remain foundational competitive advantages in professional wrestling, but must be paired with creative risk-taking
  • The dungeon training model emphasizes etiquette, gratitude, and work ethic as prerequisites for developing wrestling talent
Trends
Second-generation talent leveraging family legacy while building independent brands and creative personasWrestlers pursuing external creative projects (indie wrestling, other promotions) to develop characters before mainstream deploymentMemoir and personal narrative as professional development tool for wrestlers seeking creative autonomyMentorship models emphasizing character development and etiquette over purely physical trainingFemale wrestlers taking initiative in pitch meetings and character development rather than waiting for creative directionIntergenerational wrestling training creating multi-generational talent pipelines within familiesWork ethic and reliability as differentiators in competitive wrestling landscapeVulnerability and emotional authenticity in wrestling character work gaining audience traction
Topics
Professional Wrestling Character DevelopmentSecond-Generation Athlete Legacy ManagementCreative Risk-Taking in EntertainmentPeople-Pleasing Behavior and Professional GrowthMemoir Writing as Therapeutic ToolWrestling Training Methodology and EtiquetteFemale Wrestler Career ProgressionFamily Business Dynamics in WrestlingIndependent Wrestling Circuit StrategyMentorship in Professional WrestlingWork Ethic as Competitive AdvantageVulnerability in Performance ArtGenerational Wealth and Professional StruggleCreative Autonomy in Corporate EntertainmentDungeon Training Philosophy
Companies
WWE
Primary employer and subject of discussion; Natalya is longest-tenured female superstar with 19 years tenure
Fanatics
Co-producer of the podcast 'What Do You Wanna Talk About?' with Cody Rhodes
NWA
Promotion where Natalya wrestled Kenzie Page to prove her character work was not a fluke
Bloodsport
Independent wrestling event where Natalya debuted the 'Low Key Legend' character against Miu Yamashita
People
Natalya
Guest; WWE's longest-tenured female superstar discussing her memoir and creative evolution
Cody Rhodes
Host of the podcast; discusses parallel creative journey and mentorship of younger wrestlers
TJ Wilson
Natalya's husband; instrumental in dungeon training and women's division development; encouraged her creative autonomy
Bret Hart
Natalya's uncle; discussed as family legacy figure and wrestling legend
Stu Hart
Natalya's grandfather; founder of Stampede Wrestling and original dungeon training facility
Jim Neidhart
Natalya's father; discussed extensively regarding work ethic, athletic achievements, and family legacy
Miu Yamashita
Opponent in Natalya's Bloodsport match that launched the Low Key Legend character
Triple H
Approved Natalya's Bloodsport appearance and character development initiatives
Josh Barnett
Collaborated with Natalya on Bloodsport event and Low Key Legend character debut
Bianca Belair
Mentioned as locker room peer and part of Natalya's American dream team
Becky Lynch
Provided memoir writing advice to Natalya about emotional authenticity
Brody Leilani
Son of late wrestler; trained at Natalya and TJ's dungeon; Cody Rhodes serves as mentor figure
Dwayne Johnson
Referenced for vulnerable performance in 'The Smashing Machine' film and taking creative risks
Billy Corgan
Close friend of Natalya; provided opponent Kenzie Page for NWA match
Kenzie Page
Opponent in NWA match where Natalya proved Low Key Legend character sustainability
Quotes
"Everything I have, I built from the ground up. I wouldn't trade any of it because it's made everything so worth it."
Natalya
"The only person you need to worry about pleasing anymore, Natty, is yourself."
TJ Wilson
"You have to be everything they expect already that comes with your name and your lineage. And then you have to be so much more."
Cody Rhodes
"If you keep doing the same things you've always done, you're going to get the same results. If I want a different result, I've got to dive into something else."
Natalya
"At a certain point, I just stopped giving it power. Nothing scares me anymore, except maybe Brock Lesnar."
Cody Rhodes
Full Transcript
Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your products out there, integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time, from startups to scale-ups, online, in-person and on-the-go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com. Hello everybody, welcome to What Do You Want to Talk About? I'm your host, The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes. This is a WWE and Fanatics original production and we are back. Not only are we back, we are in the lovely WWE warehouse. Shout out to Ben Brown for setting it up. So kindly, this is the, this is the, this is where it all is. And we have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful guest who I have wanted on the show since we started the show. This is two-time women's world champion, WWE women's champion, Divas champion, has the most PLE matches in history of any woman. And the longest tenured woman's WWE superstar in the locker room, a newly published author. I think while we're filming this, it's not out. But when this comes out, it'll be live and you have to go get it. I insist, go and get it now. Press pause, go get this book. It's incredible. And this is my good friend. Also, third generation Nepo baby at its finest. And the prime example of what a Nepo baby truly should be. Please welcome with a warm warehouse round of applause to the podcast. What do you want to talk about? Natty Nightheart. That was such an introduction. You're so good. Well, so good. Let me walk you through how bad my introductions have been lately. Come on, be honest with it. I did a podcast with one of your peers not too long ago and I was too inebriated to do the introduction. So that is not going to air. Now I got it. We're good. We got that part out of the way. We did the introduction. I see you've got something there brought to you by our friends at Wheatley American Vodka. What do you have? The Queen of Hearts. Queen of Hearts. It's really good. It's got the Wheatley vodka. And at which I told you earlier, though, that I have a rule. I try to keep my one. I got my one splash of vodka or tequila because when I was filming Total Divas back in the day, crazy stuff happened when we had over two shots of vodka. Total Divas, huh? Start right with Total Divas. Total Divas. So many women. Yeah. So many women in our locker room today. Tell me. I got into WWE. I got into wrestling. I got into watching wrestling from Total Divas. Maxine Ducree, she's one of them. Bianca Belair is one of them. Tiffany Stratton is one of them. And they want the Total Divas tea. Yeah. They want. They always want the inside stuff. You've got the Queen of Hearts. I have an American mule. Thanks again to our friends at Wheatley American Vodka. Cheers, by the way. Cheers. Thank you from one. Neppo Baby to another. Yes. The Neppo Baby thing is very, very, very, very overrated. Neppo Babies are in right now. So in. We're in because people started looking around going, who's going to do all this work? Who, you know, and then it's, when I said in the introduction, the prime example of what one should be, what I meant in this conversation I was having with another one of my peers earlier today was you have to be everything they expect already that comes with your name and your lineage. And then you have to be so much more. Yeah. And in addition to that, you have to be your own personality. In terms of workplace personality, what I mean by that is I have encountered so many people who worked with my dad or brother, who have a preconceived idea as to how I'm going to act, behave, and be, and I'm none of those things. Right. And either that excites them, like, oh, they have stuff to work with, but Cody's, or it's, man, he's not funny like his brother. You know, they, you have to, you have to be all these things and own it, can't pretend to be something else and nobody. I mean, you're the longest tenured person in our female locker. Right. But it's been in January, it'll be 19 years. And I was doing an interview earlier today. I was talking about the book and I was saying, it's funny. I, it's like the first time I've ever verbalized this, but I was like, they were talking about, you know, growing up in the family and was it harder because I was a heart? And I said, for the first time ever, I was like, I wished so much, like looking back at the journey back then in 2005, when I was sending in tapes and trying to get hired, I wish so much that somebody in my family could just make a call and go, hey, like, can we try to get Natty a job? Yeah. It was like the complete opposite of that because where the family was at at the time with the company and like nobody was able to do that for me. My dad wasn't, Brett wasn't, my grandfather wasn't, like, there was no uncle, like just no one could do that for me. But I was looking back on it and I'm like, why I love and appreciate everything that I have now is because when people read my book, they'll realize like everything we thought about Natty is not what we really, like it's totally different than what we thought. But it was nice not having anybody make the call because I was able to, I just pushed through so much and I'm so grateful for that. And you contributed to my book too. How nice is this, by the way? Look at this. I'm so proud of it. It's a real book. I know. I'm so proud of it. I didn't mean to say that in a way, but this is amazing. Thank you so much. Are you in a bit nervous? Yes. Right? Yes. You're opening up your world to. Yes. Yeah. What are you most nervous about? I was, it's funny, we did our dungeon practice last night. We had like a four hour practice. We had, it was so incredible. We had such a great group. I got home from the practice and I sat down to have dinner at the table when I was thinking about our interview today. So I grabbed the book and started going through it, like just thumbing through it. And I just like, I just like, I was in between bursting out laughing and like getting emotional, like crying because there's so much in the book that I'm so excited for people to read. But I also realized a big, this book was the most therapeutic thing I've ever done. I realized that like in writing this book, I realized that I'm such a people pleaser, like I'm a recovering people pleaser. And I think that comes from, you know, coming from a family like mine and always trying to figure out like in a family like this, where do I fit in? Do I stay small to, to, you know, is it safer to be small or is it, is it easier to stand out? And so this, this book writing it was such a therapeutic journey for me. And I was like, TJ said to me last night, he goes, you should be so excited for everyone to read it and don't be scared. He's like, the only person you need to worry about pleasing anymore, Natty, is yourself. And I love the book. I feel so proud of it because I slept on every chapter. Yeah. I would write things. Becky, Becky Lynch actually gave me some of the best advice. She said, just pour your heart out, spill your guts and then just sleep on it. And then you can decide if you want to keep it or change it. Yeah, I love that. And so I would write stuff and then I'll be up till three in the morning working on stuff, writing, and then I would sleep on it and go, I want to keep that. You know what, you keep it. And then after a year of sleeping on everything, I realized everything I wanted to be in the book, I've kept it in the book and I'm not worrying about pleasing everyone. I'm worrying about me. I love that you said you're a people pleaser. I feel like everyone in our locker room and in the previous locker rooms and in the previous administration, WWE knows if we ask Natty to do something, Natty's ready and not only ready, but no complaints. Good to go. The red, as soon as the red light goes on, that's one that is guaranteed. A lot of that comes from being a people pleaser. A lot of that comes from, we had this conversation when we were younger and amidst the struggles of booking and creative, I remember thinking, I wish I could care less. And it was actually you, I don't know if you remember this, but you were saying that's the difficulty in caring the most is that this hurts you the most when it doesn't work. Yeah. And this also, if you don't care that much, it doesn't even excite you that much versus if you were, you or I who wanted it so bad and loved it so much when we got close and then we got pulled away or when we got a taste of something, it could hurt us far more than it could hurt somebody who had that ability to care less. Here's what I've come to find out. You've crossed the bridge, written this book and as TJ has pointed out, you only have you to please. I'm going through phases. Of I tried to do a mean version of me, where I was saying, I'm going to be mean to everybody. I'm going to start, you know what, I'm going to start being mean. Didn't click. I'm going to start showing up late. Somehow it was still five minutes early. I haven't got, I'm in a version now I'm wearing suspenders today and my suspenders me, I don't know what it's going to be. But here's what ultimately comes from all my phases. My version, I was Cuban Cody for a minute. I was Sicilian Cody when I went and made a pizza at a local spot in Brooklyn, shout out to them. But I, all these things, what I come to find out is I just reformed back to who I was the moment I walked in the doors here where it's, I'm still early. I'm still, oh yeah, I got whatever you need. Sure. And just as we've seen, I feel like in the end, not that this is the end. I think that's the way to be. That's, that's who I'd want on my team. That's, you know, that's, you may not even get along or personalities might even clash, but if you're somebody that you can guarantee is going to show up and deliver, that's special. Cause you're so consistent. You're such a consistent person. I'm a consistent. Oh, good. All right. Yeah, you're a consistent person. Suspenders mean that I don't know. Yeah. It's going to get wild. You're a good dresser too. But it's, it's, um, we do like our, I feel like we're both a little bougie. But you like your high end stuff. Yeah, it's gotten bad. I know. I can, I can tell. Yeah, it's gotten, well, you were the first time I saw somebody with our Louis Vuitton scarf. I love Louis. Yeah. And then, uh, I just, uh, here's, here's where I've got, I bought a bunch of stuff at duty free coming back from Perth. And you know what I decided? I go, I need a bag. I gotta put it, put the stuff in a bag. So that's pretty easy. You go to the Adidas store, the foot, there's a bazillion stores in this mall and Doha that could just give you a bag. Actually, even just a normal WH Smith or what, a normal convenience store. You know where I went? Louis. Louis Vuitton. I love that bag right in the middle of store. I love it. Yeah. Right. It's just, I say to TJ, I'm like, I don't, I don't really, cause I don't really love jewelry. I'm not a jewelry person, but like I said to TJ, I'm like, for birthdays in Christmas, you know, I love my Louis shoes and I love a Louis scarf. So you don't have to buy me jewelry because you know, I'm going to lose it. And I don't really wear it that much because I'm always wrestling. I don't even, I mean, I hate to say this as a confession right now. I don't even really know where my wedding ring is at. Whoa. Like I'm like, I, let's find it guys. Let's find it. It's somewhere in our house. Yeah, we're going to find it. But I was, we were painting something on the patio and I put it down somewhere and it's in a cupboard or a drawer or something. But this is why I tell TJ, don't buy me expensive jewelry. Yeah. Because I, I'm always, I'm either I'm at the gym, I'm working out, I'm weightlifting at the dungeon, I'm training. I'm like, don't buy me expensive stuff. But TJ, the wedding ring is somewhere in the house. It's in the house. It's in the house. It's not like, it's, it's not in the litter box, but it's in the house. It's in the house. But, but I, I love my Louis. So it's, it's my little gift. And whenever I go to Louis, whenever I go to Louis and buy myself something, I always think about how much it would have cost me when I worked at the restaurant. Cause I wrote about working. I was a waitress before I ever, you know, got hired by WWE. Um, I was a waitress for many, many years. And so anytime I buy anything expensive, I'm like, how many shifts would that have been? Yeah. I still think about that because I'm always like, you know, you know what it's like when people think you grew up in this big wrestling family. But in your, in your experience, when you were young, when the business was good, your dad was doing okay, right? Yeah. But when the business wasn't good and things weren't good, it's like kind of feast your famine. Yeah. And so that was another really cool experience in writing the book where I was able to, um, share with people some of those things that it's not like a sob story where it's like, you know, what was me look at the hard time I had. But a lot of people didn't realize that like, you know, when I was a kid, my dad was in his heyday in WWE and he was winning the tag team titles and this and that, things were great. But when things weren't great, we, you know, we had those ups and downs and struggles. So when I was able to get my own first like real job, I always just had this incredible work ethic because I wanted to know that no one would ever pull the rug out from under me because the wrestling business is very volatile. My grandfather was a promoter. And so in Stampede wrestling, same thing with the, with his kids. When Stampede wrestling was great and Harley race was their champion and everything was great, business was booming. But when somebody would get hurt or somebody would take off or, you know, there'd be issues or altercations and they would have, they wouldn't even be able to keep their power on. So that's the one thing that like I was really, it was cool being able to explore that because so many people think, oh, they grow up in these big families and they're famous and, you know, they're rich, they have all this money and they don't realize that like growing up, it was always boomer bust. Yeah. It was always, I've heard Stephanie talk about that too. It's like, yeah, there's some things that have definitely helped us. Like that have been like, yeah, it's cool to be Bret Hart's niece, but like it's also not been, it's definitely come with its own set of challenges being from this big family. So what do you want to talk about? How about your health? Look, I'm a dad. I travel, I train, I work my tail off to stay sharp. And let me tell you that takes energy. That's where game day men's health comes in. Game day is helping guys all across the country optimize their performance. Mentally, physically and emotionally. It's not about fixing problems. It's about feeling your best every single day, whether you're chasing your career goals, chasing your kids around the backyard or both. Game day may help with the stamina, focus and recovery you need to keep going strong and they make it easy over 400 locations, real medical pros and complimentary test, astro and PSA testing. So you know your numbers and can build a game plan. Visit gamedaymen'shealth.com slash Cody to get started. Game day men's health because champions don't settle. They optimize. Some people don't know this story. When I was 17. That the power went out at my house at like 10 p.m. at night and my sister was home from college and we both knew is because we hadn't paid the bill. Now we got the power back on quickly and none of it was ever discussed, but it was one of those really terrifying moments because you mentioned Boomer bust. I think sometimes wrestlers do Boomer bust to themselves. Like I'm almost now regretting that I went in and bought this bag and because it's not about the money and the nice things you like them. And there may be a representation of, oh, I was here in my life. Right. But really the thing that satiates you and fills you up the most isn't something that money can buy. It's, you know, the person you spend your life with. And then of course the job you spend your life with, which is you've chosen professional wrestling, which is the number one currency for us, which is a very bizarre addiction, but yes, you could have worse. Where do you think, as you mentioned your work ethic, where do you think it emanates from your mother or your father? Both. Yeah. Because my dad, you know, when people, and I loved writing about my dad, I dedicate the book to my dad. Like he was, he's a very big character in the book. And both of them, though, because my mom taught me to not take shit from anyone. Yeah. She, she was the main person that told me to always stand up for myself and never, ever let anyone walk all over you. Yeah. She, she's, she's taught me the most about perseverance, but my dad. Yeah. When my dad was 18 years old, he was the number one shop putter in the United States. Nice. And he was ranked number five in the world. So he was like NIL before there was NIL. Yeah. And then my dad was, you know, my dad played professional football. My dad started playing football when he was 11 years old. Yeah. And so my dad actually played three professional sports. He played football. He played, he was a shop, world-class shop putter. And then he of course came to WWE. So my dad was very, very disciplined growing up. And we explore this quite a bit in the book. My dad was gone for like 300 days a year in his heyday. So there was a lot of times that I didn't like always see my dad. And when he'd come home, it was just this whirlwind of like excitement where like, I knew he had gone on a journey because he brought back, you know, a toiletry kit from the Kyo Plaza from Tokyo, you know what I mean? Or like he was, he would always bring these little trinkets back from all over the world and that would kind of give me a glimpse into my dad living a much bigger life than all of us were living because he would just, you know, they were back in the heyday of the Heart Foundation. They were always traveling around. But it was, it was just, it was, there was lots of highs and lows and highs and lows and highs and lows a lot. And we talk about that in the book in great detail. But my dad had a very strong work ethic. He liked working hard. He liked training hard. My dad was one of the strongest guys in the NFL. Like in the book, let me pull it up real quick. I got a question about your dad in the shop put while we're at it. And this is because we're surrounded by history and there are historians in this room with us. Who do you think would have a better shop put? Your dad or Karyvon Eric? My dad. Yeah. My dad's record has not been broken in the state of California. I love this. All right. I'm competitive when it comes to my dad. No, I mean, can I just read to you real quick? So like this, I have in the book, I have my dad's resume in the book. And I put it in the book because this is the resume that he presented my grandfather when he was trying to get into stampede wrestling. Yeah. So my dad, he went to UCLA from 1973 through 1977. Shop put in 1975, he was ranked number five in the world. I'm number one in the USA. Professional football, professional football, professional wrestling. He started professional wrestling 1978. His bench press. This is these are the records that he got these records in one day. Five hundred and seventy pound bench. Nice. No shirt either, probably. No shirt. Probably spant, spanny pack and spandex. Squat was six hundred and eighty nine. Yeah. Power clean was four or five. Incline bench for eighty five power snatch three hundred and could run a 40 yard dash in four point seven seconds. He was some monster. He was a by the way, he's the 300 pounds back monster, guys. Yeah. And one and a half mile run in 11 minutes and 50 seconds. And this is all recorded. And like he was just a beast. That's why he's the animal. He was so my grandfather, Stu Hart, when my grandfather met my dad, he was just like he couldn't believe it. He was like this guy like is just everything that a wrestling promoter he sees him, he's charismatic, he's big, he's jacked. He's you know, and my grandfather loved athletes. Like he he was big on like I can mold them. I can make them like everything. Well, to the point about Stu loving athletes and to him being such a real athlete, there's your dad's one of those names that if you hear and you hear about the locker room or you hear about the camaraderie, it's there's other different athletes that have checked this box where there's just a general respect and not just a respect for what they did and their career and their tenure. There was a respect the first day they walked in the locker room. The a lot of amateur wrestlers have that same respect. Yeah, we can teach them about pro wrestling and things of that nature. But your dad was legit. Legit. So when you find someone who's legit, you can't you can't young boy, someone who's that legit. You can teach him a little something here and there. But again, legit. And that's it's really amazing that that's part of the resume to being a performer and a storyteller is look at all this legit stuff. Yes, because it's it comes in incredibly valuable in terms of one of the things that Sina I always look at Sina's career and I try to steal as much as I can. And one of the things that he did really well that I am trying to improve on myself is feats of strength, feats of strength. He'd have this unbelievable because he truly was, you know, hard knocks. He's trained with Rob. That's where that stuff actually comes in handy. Be able to do something that someone sitting in the seat can't do and gets excited about and vigorated about Anvil being one of those. All right, sports fans, this is the tag team you've been waiting for. A firm and fanatics just joined forces. So you can grab your fan gear today and pay over time with a firm. 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 or a classic throwback. A firm 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 WB to get started or download the affirm app. It's free on iOS and Android with a firm and fanatics. Now every fan can own their moment. Subject to eligibility terms apply. I ask you about the work ethic because my work ethic comes from my mother and I don't want to pat myself on the back for my work ethic, but I do think that probably my biggest strength in the history of my time in pro wrestling is my work ethic, not talent. My I, hey, I'll be there. Yeah. I don't get any of it for my dad. My dad, I don't know if he had a work ethic. He might have. He worked always and he, but my mom is a workhorse. I mean, I lost my first job at Einstein's bagels because I'm a teenager and you lose jobs and you're irresponsible and you're a teenager. Right. And it's the only time God bless Shelly Rubio, but she called me a lazy piece of shit. And I never, she'd never talked to me that way. I've never been talked to since that way from her because I realized that that's something that matters to her is my son working. Right. He's working hard. He can't, he can't be my son if he's not show up on time. Yeah. And I never, from her man, I just, she was, that was her whole thing. She went back to be a nurse when we were in high school and it really wasn't for the money or I don't know. But yeah, the work ethic comes from her. I didn't get it from, from dream. Your mom is so, your mom is such a strong woman. Like she just has that, like she's little. She's ferocious. She's little, but it kind of reminds me of my mom. Yeah. Like my mom, I wrote about, I wrote about. Well, dynamite, you know. Just little five foot two, little red hen. But when my dad, you know, was going through some hard times and lost his job, my mom actually, my mom, you know, she was, she went to school, she went to art college for, she was a sculptor. Yeah. And so she was, she was an artist. She was an amazing artist. But like when you're trying to raise a family, there's not a lot of jobs that you can do art with, you know what I mean? And so when my dad lost his job, my mom actually, to make ends meet, she got a job working at Costco and selling hot dogs. Hot, she was a hot dog vendor. And so. Ain't nothing wrong with Costco? No. And I'll let, listen, I love a Costco hot dog. But my point is, is that she wasn't afraid during some hard times when my dad had like been struggling in WWE. My mom wasn't afraid to roll up her sleeves and get to work. And get to it. And to protect her family. Yeah. And so that was like, I think something that she had that grit in her from like my grandfather. Yeah. And so, you know, we, like, I like being able to share those moments because again, it's cool for people to, to go, hey, like you see us on the outside and you see, you know, or both of us, like they have a nice house or they have a nice car. They're wearing nice clothes. And it's like, but everything I have, I built from the ground up. Yeah. And I love that. I wouldn't trade any of it because it's, it's made everything so worth it. Even my first, and I've talked about this before in interviews in the past, and even my first paycheck in WWE, my first contract, it was for $24,000 a year. So not even the 500 a week? It was 500. Well, it was 500 a week. Did I just do the math wrong? It was 500 a week. Yeah. I think that math is close to being right. Yeah, I don't know. But it was- Some people had to take off their tax for immigration purposes. TJ, TJ's was 21,000. I always heard that TJ was the lowest paid because he had to do this visa. Yeah, TJ was the lowest paid, I think, in developmental. It's crazy. But I was getting, you know, around 500 a week and I thought it was great. I was thrilled. I was excited. I was ecstatic. It's just, it drives you. It makes, it creates a hunger inside of you where you're like, my favorite times, like some of my favorite times ever were in developmental. Working with Dr. Tom, working with Steve Kern, working with Dusty. Those were like some of the times of my life. I met the Bellatwins for the first time. I remember Randy came down to OVW and he told everybody there, he was doing a match at Six Flags. And he told everybody he didn't have much to say, but they gathered us up for his speech. He just said, make sure you're having fun because the moment you go on the road, it's still fun, but it's a very different type of fun and it's a business. So this group, you'll never forget who you trained with, that funny moment when you were watching PLEs or pay-per-views on your couch, thinking about when that will be me or when your friend got called up and you got to see it firsthand and you knew how real it was. Yeah, that time period is so much fun. So much fun. And we were not making any money, but I didn't give a shit at all. I loved it. I loved it. Do you know what I did with my money? Spent it. Yeah, but I'm going to walk you through it. I got $500 a week and we'd film TV on Wednesday, which was, I think I also got paid Wednesday morning, like I got a direct deposit. We'd film OVW TV on Wednesday and then after the show, I would try to take everybody out on $500 to a establishment, you can look it up to understand what it is called PTs in Louisville. And I would then end up with no money at the end of the, that would, but it was okay. You were always so generous. It was okay. I had a house, like I had a place and you just go to, it's not like I'm going anywhere. I'm just going to TV. And you know, then I mentioned multiple mentions of hot dogs on this show because I would eat hot dogs from 4,400 Shepherdsville Road. Danny Davis is his concession stand. I would just grab a hot dog while I was there training, which he didn't love because that was part of the concessions, but that's a big thing about what you want to talk about. Everyone should understand we're all about Louis Vuitton's, Cadillacs, but we're also about hot dogs. Yeah. We're about like, yeah. Costco hot dogs, still my favorite. We're splitting it. We're about, yeah, we're about it. This message is sponsored by Raycon. Keep your ears open and your holiday playlist rolling with Raycon's essential open earbuds. These open ear earbuds let you stay connected to your surroundings while enjoying your favorite music, podcasts or calls, perfect for a jog, commute, or just kicking back. 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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. In this book, are you talking at all about what I feel like everybody's talking about it lately? And I wanted to bring it up because, A, I watched it and it kind of brought a tear to my eye. Oh man, I don't want it to now, but it kind of did. And I thought, good for her, was the low-key legend stuff. Thank you. Holy smokes. What a way to take the feed. I... Take the feed. Take the news feed. Just own it in a hard world of just every day there's something new, something viral, something happening and the overall wrestling pantheon. So just to take it and present in the way you did. Hats off to you, especially. Thank you so much. So when I was about halfway through the book, I realized that I was living a lot of my life over the last probably two decades of this tightly woven childhood trauma where I was just trying so hard to be what I thought everybody wanted me to be. And I just kept on thinking, even when I was trying to get to WWE or I was trying to make characters work, I was like, what would they like? Or what would the audience like? Or what would my opponent like? What would make the girls happy in the locker room? Maybe this will make them happy. This will make them like me more. This will make them... Yeah. About halfway through the book, I was like, I had this epiphany that I needed to just take a chance on myself. Yeah. And it's funny because I was saying to TJ the other day about you. I said, you're a really big inspiration for me because you had so much courage to take a chance on yourself and your dreams and to do shit that was crazy. I mean, some of the... If you watch... If people go back and watch and look up some of your indie stuff, you did some crazy stuff. Yeah. You... I mean, physically crazy stuff where it was in front of nobody. I'm not sure if there was much money involved or anything. And you were putting yourself out there and reinventing yourself in a way that was... You just took this crazy chance on yourself. And so the low key legend character, it came from the book. It came from me reaching a point in the book. And that's why the book has got so much range in it. It's very funny, but it's also very deep. And there's a very deep story in it where I just kind of reached a breaking point personally where I was like, are you going to spend the rest of your career just trying to be what you think everybody wants you to be? Or are you going to take a chance and be who you really are? And it was so easy for me to dive into that role because that role really stemmed from the work that I did in the dungeon when I was first learning how to train. My first... Everything was in the... It was in the dungeon. My first lock up, my first like, you know, drop kick, my first bump, everything was in the dungeon. And I always knew that girl when I first started, she was just gritty. She had that stew heart grit. And one day, it was like a couple of weeks before WrestleMania, I was feeling a little frustrated. I felt like I was lost. Like I was like, where do I fit in? Because I knew that creatively, you know, Hunter wanted to find something. He wanted to find something for me where he wanted it to be meaningful. We had talked about finding something meaningful, but sometimes that takes time to find that. Sometimes it takes too much time. And so I just decided, you know what? You got to basically... You can't just wait, Natty. You got to take the bowl by the horns. So I got to talking and talked to Josh Barnett and said, Bloodsport was what I did in the dungeon. The dungeon was Bloodsport before Bloodsport was Bloodsport. And Josh and I have trained together. I know Josh very well. Josh believed in me and said, absolutely, let's do it. I love that. Walked up to Hunter. He was doing a rehearsal at Raw. Everybody and their brother was trying to talk to him. He made time for me. He literally just was like, he just talked to me and we, I said, hey, like, and it's so he's, trust me, like, you know better than anyone, he's somebody that like he, he's approachable, but everybody's trying to get to him, especially when they need an answer or something about TV or something that night that's going on live in two hours. Also other people ruin the approach. You might have something super authentic and sincere and 3A who's have gone up to him and pitched them winning the title and really self serving and not even done in a tactful way. Just super. And by the time you get to him, you've got to warn out. Yeah. And he's like, yeah, totally. And so he stopped. He made the time for me. He listened to me and he said, I said, I would love to do Bloodsport. And it's during like, it's during many a weekend. He said, sure. He goes, I love it. Let's do it. Absolutely. I love that. And I, because I had anxiety that morning I was saying to TJ, I was like, what if he, you know, doesn't want me to or what if they don't let me or what if they, it's again, it's what if, what if, what like, no, it was just taking a chance on myself. He said yes. And then I was like, now I'm going to get to work and I'm going to make this, I'm going to blow this up so that like, this is what I want to do. And I'm not going to ask. I'm going to show them, which is what like Chelsea, Chelsea Green is a perfect example of somebody that she, she doesn't just write down an idea. She shows them. She physically presents it. So being able to do that low key legend character at Bloodsport, it was like an audition. I treated it like an audition. It was trending for two days. It went viral. People loved it. And I think the girl that I wrestled, Miu Yamashita, she's one of the best female wrestlers. That's not signed by WWE, but she's one of the best in the world. She, um, But you were, you're, she's one of the best in the world. She's amazing. So incredible shout out to her. But don't, don't sell yourself short. Thanks, Cody. I know this from personal experience. The rub is two fold. You're getting the street rub. I had streets, not the way to put it, but you know what I mean. And there's this underground underground. You're also giving a mainstream rub. You're getting people who would never look are looking. And that's why it's, it takes two. It takes two. I made the mistake a long time ago, overly being grateful and thankful. And Hey, it was him. It was him. They, it was us. Yeah. It was us. We made magic together. Exactly. It takes two. There's two names on the marquee. It's why we do this random wrestler shake hands 50,000 times. Cause I need you. You need me. That's how it works. Don't have to love each other. She was phenomenal, but you're right. The magic was in us working together. She going to come work here? She better. Me you. Me you Yamashita. I'm scared. She's a bad ass, but I still, I still whipped her ass. Yeah. So love this. Love this. So I said to teach a ego, I want to make sure that everybody knows that that performance at Bloodsport was not a fluke. So I went to Triple H. I said, can I do NWA? I want to work for Billy Corgan. And Billy's a very close friend of mine. And I said to Billy, I said, give me your best girl. And I want to, I want to, I want to work a match with her. I want to build a program with her. And he gave me Kenzie Page. And I said to TJ, I said, my match with Kenzie, I'm going to show everybody that the match with me was not a fluke. Kenzie and I at NWA, we sold out the ECW arena. The match was amazing. It was so much fun. I said, I said to TJ afterwards, I go, I want to make sure that everybody knows that that match with Kenzie and that match with me was not a fluke. I asked, I asked Hunter if I could work at work for Booker T. And so I wrestled a girl. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, T-book. So I asked Booker T. I said, who's your best girl? Who's the girl that's going to push me to my limits? Who's your best girl? And he said, Promise Braxton. So I said, give me promise. I had this phenomenal match with Promise. And then I asked Josh, I said, I want to, I want to wrestle. I don't want to do Bloodsport during SummerSlam. Give me your best girl. He gave me Masha. Like, so, so my thing was, is it was about proving that I could do this. It wasn't a fluke. Yeah. I did it, did it over and over and over and over again, because I, like you, took a chance on myself. I didn't just rely on Natalia. The thing about Natalia, and I've said this before, but she's, she's very safe. She, she's, she's very consistent. She's very solid. Safe presentation is guaranteed. Consistent, safe, solid. You know, she's. You know what you're getting, what it looks like. And she's, I mean, listen, I've worked through, I wrestled on a broken ankle. I wrestled Naomi in London with a completely broken ankle because I was booked on the show. And I just, I'm a person of my word. I like that toxic mentality. I just, I love it. I, yeah, I broke my ankle during rehearsal. I did a baseball slide through Naomi's leg. Like I, I remember this actually. Yeah. Yeah. I broke my ankle during the day and they told me that everybody was like, you're, you know, you don't, you know, you can pull you from the match. I was, this is me being selfish. I was booked to win. And I was like, I'm not giving up my win. Yeah, right. I'm not giving up my win. So I told everybody I was fine and they were like, no, no, no, we just need to let you sit it out. You're not buying your limping. I wrestled that night. It was a three minute match. I walked out like Undertaker. Yeah. I walked out so slow. You would have thought I was Undertaker's daughter for how slow I was walking. I wrestled Naomi with a completely broken ankle and I was like, I am not giving up my win. This is a sold out arena. There's 20,000 people here. I'm doing my match. And that's Natalia. She's, she's, she's rock solid. And I love that, but she's also safe. You know, she wants to make everyone happy. I want to make the girls happy and it's not a bad thing by any means. Like I love being consistent and reliable and everything else, but I also know that like, if you keep doing the same things you've always done, you're going to get the same results. Sure. If I want a different result, I've got to dive into something else. So I loved, like you did, you know, you took a chance on yourself and it paid off. The chance thing is really unique in a sense that you can ask for permission on a lot of stuff. And it's almost like we don't hear when people say, yeah, sure. Or they give you the only green light you need is the faintest color of green light. That's all. And you don't need to double back on it and go, how am I doing? Is it okay? No, you just go. Yeah. Just go. Until somebody, oh, hey, this isn't, no, no, we can't do this. Just go. And I feel one of the bigger mistakes that all wrestlers make and we are all guilty of this. And I, this is not to knock any positions of where the, where the office is compared to where the talent are and things of that nature. A mistake wrestlers make all the time is they forget how much power is actually within the wrestling talent. How much power is within the human, the wrestler. I don't know if it's the way we're wired or if it's the facts that the checks come from. I don't know what it is, but at a certain point for me, and maybe it's something that you discovered with the low key legend or even long before that, at a certain point for me, I just stopped giving it power. I have a massive respect and a massive understanding of the infrastructure, particularly with my executive experience now of like my, I totally understand and respect it. But at the end of the day, this show is based upon, you know, I'm looking at Brett and Anvil behind you on that painting. I'm looking at all this. There's, there, there isn't a wing here for really great executives and that's not to knock them at all. But I feel like one of the things that gets stripped away is you almost get scared. And I don't know at a certain point, I just, nothing has, nothing scares me anymore, except maybe Brock Lesnar, but nothing, you know, like nothing. And that's a good place to be. It's a dangerous place to be because then you find out like, hey, you know, there, there are things, there are borders, there are guidelines, but I'm just, I was so excited to see it. Thank you. I was so excited to see it. Thank you. Will, will, will we see more? Yes. There we go. Yeah, you will. And I'm manifesting all of it and I'm grabbing it by the horns and I'm running hard with it because I would rather, and this is the big thing. And I saw Dwayne Johnson talking about this when he was doing, like he was doing press for smashing machine. Yeah. He said, you know, he was like, I just wanted to take a chance on something and I wanted to do a project for me. Yeah. And he's like, he's like, I just, just try it. Just do it. And by the way, that movie, he's, he's the most vulnerable I've ever seen him. He goes to a place where it was like, like I've never seen, like you'd never see him crying and sobbing the way that. I saw it. It's, it's outstanding. He should, I think, win an Oscar for it because you just don't, especially with somebody that physically, like you see how he looks physically and then you see him like, I got emotional watching it because, you know, especially for guys that were trying to make, you know, pave the way for MMA in those early days, there wasn't much money involved in it at all. And you see him just beside himself with the loss and he's crying and his relationship was falling apart, but you see him like, it's like for him, it was a role that he needed to do for himself. I saw that, I felt he took that part for himself, for him. Sure. Did you also get a sense of, because second and third generations are, they have twin magic to degree. We, we think about each other. It's a strange thing. We shouldn't think about each other, but we do. You'll hear about, oh, such and such, his son is getting into it. Oh, her on NXT, that's, you think about each other. Yes. I almost wish there was like this collective group chat to get with everybody. And I also know that not everyone will make it because maybe their love is different, maybe their priorities are different. I'll round this out in terms of about taking a chance with you talking to me now is very motivating because I feel like lately I've been the safest version of me ever. I've been completely buttoned up and having children is like donkey and Shrek at the end of the movie. Where it's like, oh man, I got to get a job. That's a whole bit like that's the, the first thing I thought was, oh, I got to really, these days are behind me of just kind of wild swings and things of that nature. But that's still, it's still wired in my frame that I got to, you have to do that. So otherwise you're not able to live with your resume. You're not able to live with your work, your body of work. If this really wasn't how you wanted to go about doing it. Taking a chance on yourself. Yeah. Big news, WWE and sports fans, the world's number one sports fan festival, Fanatics Fest, is making its return to New York City. Fanatics is bringing you closer to the leagues, teams, superstars, and athletes you love across four action packed days in July. Meet your favorite WWE superstars, get your hands on exclusive merch, catch live podcasts, and interact with the biggest name in sports. Tickets go on sale November 13th, so mark your calendars and don't miss out. Full information at FanaticsFest.com. I have to ask about the, the, the new dungeon. Well, the new dungeon is, it's crazy because I, there's nothing like it in the world. There's nothing like it in the world. I know first hand, because you, you took care of two members of my family, correct? Yes. How'd they do it? Yes. So, so they're, what are their real names? Because I couldn't, they have, they have stage name. Dylan and Dalton. Dylan and Dalton. Yes, Dylan and Dalton. So, so Dylan and Dalton came to our, you will, listen, the dungeon is like, the way I look at it is. I was sending them to you. You got to know somebody that knows somebody that can get them in. I, I needed them to come to you. And I think Dustin, who Dustin primarily trained them. I mean, Dustin is their trainer and their, their uncle and he's been everything for them. One of them reminded me of you and the other one reminded me of Dusty. Oh, Dylan reminded you of Dusty. So, so. The youngest ones. So, so they were, you asked us if they could come in. They were the, they were there early. They stayed late. They worked their asses off. There you go. And by the way, our, our dungeon is meant to be very hard. It's, it's, it's not fancy. And I don't want like, listen, T.J. and I, if we wanted to do fancy, we could do a little fancy. I don't want it fancy. I want it to be gritty. I want it to be real. It's, it's a room that's only big enough to hold the ring. Yeah. And there's a bathroom and there is no air conditioning. That's how it should be. And we don't want air conditioning because, well, I'll tell you why we don't have air conditioning because Angela Dawkins won't let us get air conditioning. Got sweat. She's got a sweat. Got a sweat. Yes. And I get that right away. We just, you go in there and you work your ass off. So Dylan and Dalton came in and they were ready to work. You could, I could tell at first they, we did a, we did a few days with them. Yeah. And they were, they worked so hard, but T.J. goes, he's just like, this is like watching Cody and Dusty wrestle. Because they were, you could, this is the power of genetics. Yeah. I'm telling you, this is the power of genetics. So I was watching them throw punches like, like it was like, it was crazy. It was uncanny. We have all the footage. I keep all the footage. Anybody that ever trains with us, I always keep the footage. Because sometimes there's magic that happens in there. Ilya, Ilya Dragunov, he's been training with us. Cheers to him by the way. And the United States champion. Yes. Welcome back. Cheers. Cheers. Little dungeon training. Ilya came in and blew everybody's minds in the dungeon. He started basically acting like it was WrestleMania in the dungeon. I love that. And that's what your nep, their nephews, right? Yeah. They were wrestling. I told T.J. go, Dylan and Dalton were wrestling like it was WrestleMania. You know, even though that, I know they're not established, they're still getting their feet wet. They're still, for how green they are, they work their asses off. I'm excited at this because I put the initials of all of the nephews and grandkids Dusty's grandchildren. I put everyone on my boots for WrestleMania 40. The initials are on the inside of the boot. I genuinely thought in that moment, none of them are going to enter the wrestling space. It wasn't because I didn't think they could. I just thought it ended with me. I mean, finish the story. I thought it ended with me. And then I see how far it's progressing. Oh, they're going to wrestle. Yeah. And how it's advancing. They're definitely going to wrestle. And it's not even, it's very exciting. The idea that they're into this and they can do something. And I always tell them, the biggest thing for them, I want them to know is just make sure you're in love with this. And I was so glad they went to you. And the reason I was so glad they went to you is not just because of the grittiness, not just because of the education you and TJ are providing, but you have to break out of the road stuff. I love a Barry Winnam match more than anybody, but there's one guy in this room, Ben Brown, who knows who Barry Winnam is, maybe two. Right? I mean, it's 2025. And they're talking to me about these Barry tags. I'm like, you need to go somewhere that's completely, Stu Hart's going to train very different than Vern Gania trained. Vern Gani is going to train very different than Bill Watts trained. And all that training still is trickled down. Dusty trains the way he was taught by Joe Blanchard, like he did train. Dustin trains because Scandar, Acbar, we're all products. Al Snow got me. I just wanted them to experience something very new. And there was, and gritty and hardworking, and a place that really wouldn't, they could have been welcomed there and been warmly received, but they would have known right away if they were cutting it or not. Exactly. They had to work hard. And that's the thing about our ring is that that's why I hate to say this, but it's invite only. And the reason, the reason, That's like the magic castle. The reason why, the reason why is because TJ and I, we want to have it emulate what my grandfather had in the original dungeon. My grandfather, Sue, he never took a dollar from anyone, but he wanted to train with the very best in the world. And some of the very best pro wrestlers that ever, like Grellamonssoon, trained in the dungeon. My grandfather wanted, he wanted to train with the best. And if he didn't like you, and he didn't feel that you respected the industry, he didn't want to take your money because he didn't, he'd want to see you again. Would Stu, Stu famous for, would he stretch everybody? Or I always was of the thought that Stu stretched the ones who didn't have it. Or, or was it everybody? Everyone. Okay. Everybody was getting stretched. And that's the thing why grandfather didn't take money is because he wanted to beat everyone up. Right. Okay. So everybody's getting stretched. The good, the bad. My dad. Everybody's getting stretched. My dad was the strong, like one of the strongest men in the NFL. And my grandfather was beating him senseless. Like, like, like, You hear stories of people screaming through the vent in the house. Well, cause he wasn't, he wasn't like, he was putting them in submission wrestling holes. Gotta know it hurts. And so the thing with DJ and I don't beat anyone up like that in the dungeon, but we want to work with people that have passion. So with Dylan and Dalton, they have passion. They understand that they need work, but you know what I liked about them more than anything? What? Etiquette. Oh, that. Their etiquette was great. It's like, Give me some of the wrestling etiquette. Yeah. Like wrestling etiquette. On time. It's life etiquette. It's like, A lot of thank yous. Like, thank you, you know, thank you and appreciation and here's my thing. If you're going to be, if you're going to be five minutes late, 30 minutes late, an hour late, two hours late, shoot me a text. Let me know. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. Like, let me know. Hey, like I'm going to be, like I'm going to miss half the practice, but it's because, you know, there was a crazy accident on the highway. Yeah. And I'm always like, Dr. Tom used to always talk to us about that. He'd say, don't bullshit. Don't lie. Just tell me what's going on. And we're good. And so the boys had great etiquette. They were the first ones at practice. They were the last ones to leave and anything that they were asked to do, even if it's, if it was stuff that they weren't really sure that they could do, they still tried it. And then the next time they came in, everything that we had worked on the day before, they had processed it and did it. So they just, they had really good wrestling etiquette and they were grateful. And then afterwards they like sent TJ and I this really nice card and like, it was just so sweet. They were just so sweet. Good boys. But they worked hard. If they didn't work hard, we wouldn't give a shit about the greeting card afterwards. They got up, they got to work hard. Yeah. That makes total sense. But we, yeah, we love, we love tapping them. So tell them they're welcome back. I've gone the conversation mainly not talking a lot about TJ because I spent a chunk of time talking about TJ once before on this pod. I think when I was talking to Nikki and I think TJ just needs to come on the pod because there's so much. TJ needs to be on this. For sure. There's so much to talk about. So many funny stories that have happened, but also this unique like-minded parallel path in life that led me back to being just in his presence and being around him often, although he's doing his own thing and working. TJ leading the charge, helping develop the women's division, you being the tenured elder statesman. We don't like to use the word elder, but wrestling, the statesman of, a stateswoman of the locker room, your power couple ripple through the waves of pro wrestling. Tell me about it. I mean, I, it's funny because the older I get, the more I feel the happier I am. And I used to, I used to sometimes like get scared of getting older because I was like, what if, what if people think I'm too old and I just can't do this anymore? I, the older I get now, the more I feel like I just feel so excited about my career. I feel so excited about where the company's going. I feel so excited about the people that I'm working with. The locker room, like I love the girls in the locker room, like Bailey. I love, I love being in a locker room with her. There's so many- You mentioned always wanting to make the girls in the locker room happy. Yes. And, and I think like it's just, again, it's just that recovering people, pleaser thing, but like, I understand what I went through when you're trying to put a match together and you're just trying to stand out and you're just trying to like make your mark. And you're just like, we all get in our own heads. And so I want to make sure that every girl that I worked with, I worked with Ivy Nile the other day and she was so- You worked dark with her. I did. Yeah. And I said, I said to TJ, she's so good. She's so underrated. But I really wanted to make sure that Ivy like got a lot in because I was like, I'm already established, but she, we need to show the audience who she is. Also, because I'm going to beat her at the end. There it is. But, but she was, she was amazing, but TJ is such a big part of our women's division. And I think that like, I just think, yes, you need to get him on here because he's, he doesn't do a lot of interviews. I know that's why it's special. He's actually very shy, TJ. When you get to know him and he's comfortable with you, he's a little asshole. Yeah. But, but we'll bleep that out. But, but he's, he's actually like very introverted. He doesn't open up to everyone. It takes a minute to get, he's like, he's, he's like a cat. But, but the girls, he's, he's, he's such an important part of our women's division because he always finds a way to help every woman shine. And he, he's, you know, he just, he sees something in everyone because he was also an underdog for most of his career. So he doesn't want to leave anyone out. He's like, okay, if this is the girl that we're trying to get over right now, the agenda is let's get her over. He's like, how can we get her over but still help this person? Sure. And the girls see that and they recognize that and there's a level of trust there. I do want to thank you for, I can thank you for a million things, but one of them that's pretty special to me is I really appreciate taking care of little Brody. I, I love Brody and I love no one. And, you know, when, when their dad passed away, I know that you were, they're during that time and that you have taken on a role for them that is, you know, when you're a little boy growing up and you don't have a dad. I know that like you're a very big part of their life and it's fun. I see it all the time with Brody because Brody, you're like his North Star. You're his, you're his like, you know, it's funny, because Brody sent me this text one day and he goes, we train with Brody. And by the way, Brody couldn't just come unless he proved himself. No, I know. I said to, I said to Brody, I said, you gotta, I said, you gotta prove yourself. Yeah. I can't, I can't just let everybody come into our ring unless you show me that, you know, Brody proved himself. He earned his spot. But Brody sent me this text and he goes, Natty, I'm so sorry. I can't come to practice today. Cody's surprising us. He's taking us to Disney World. Oh yeah. And he was, it's like, and in TJ said to me, he goes, Cody's like the busiest guy in the whole company right now. He was at the time, he were like, I think, I think we were, we were getting ready to go on a European tour or something like that. And he goes, Cody is like the busiest guy in the world, but like he's making time for people in ways. He's, you're showing up for people, especially for Brody, you know, losing your dad at 10 years old in such a tragic way where like, it was very hard for those kids. When, when a big rig passed away, one of the things that I, I was really, I was, it was nice to see the wrestling community come out, support, probably one of the most loved guys in the history of any locker room. What worried me was what happens the next day. Right. You know, and the next day after that, and just, he found a good spot with you guys. He loved it. Yeah. He's, and he's, he's hardworking and Nolan's such a beautiful kid. They're just, they're good. So when I see him there, because I get the clips and you've sent me the clips and he's training so hard and that whatever he's going through, he's just, it's special. So I just, I really, thank you. No, no, thank you. Cause that's, you've made that a special place, you know, it's a safe zone. Yeah. And I'm really careful with Brody because he's still just a kid, but like, I think they're just, they're great kids and we love them. And you know, it's funny because TJ and I, we will wrap this up. TJ and I don't really want to have kids at all. We're not, we've kind of made, I just, I've never, I took care of my dad. My dad was like my child. My dad was my, my child. So I, I didn't, I've never wanted to have kids, but I see TJ and TJ and I are fine with that. But the way he is with Nolan, TJ and Nolan are like peas in a pod. No, they're buds. They're best friends. They're like the same person. So the way TJ is with Brody and Nolan, it's like, okay, we're not going to have kids, but Brody and Nolan are going to be like our like stepkids or our circuit kids. We made a Brody Leilani's Godfather and he asked me the funniest question. He asked me, should he watch the Godfather? And I'm so sorry, little B, if I'm putting you on blast, but I told him, no, it's not applicable to, it's, it's, it's here. You don't need to, but yeah, he's, they're just such sweet kids. Yeah. I said, you gotta like come to the christening and a couple of things, but I think you, you don't need to hold meetings and murder anybody or anything. Do crime. I like to think of myself with Wheatley American vodka. We dub ourselves as the American dream team. I've changed my team pretty regularly. Wheatley is always part of it. If you had a team going into zombie apocalypse, war games, if you think four, think five, but we've had plenty, who is on your American dream team? Or in this case, American Canadian dream team. Four, no, does that have to be a wrestler? No, it can be whoever. Four, so how many do I get to pick? Four. Four is a good, four to five we like, but we've had whole teams picked. And it can be men and women. Yeah. Golden state warriors were on somebody. So, well, TJ loves Steph Curry. So, can I say Steph Curry is in. I think Steph Curry, I mean, TJ also loves MJ. Can I say MJ? Does he have to be actively participating? No, no. Okay, we'll say MJ. Can I say a couple of wrestlers? Yeah, I mean, you can, it's your team. My team, I'll say Bianca Belair. Because Bianca is just rock solid as a human being and she's an awesome performer. I love her. Yep. And Beth Phoenix. Can I say Beth? Oh, the Lamazon. Lamazon. We went this whole podcast without mentioning her. Got her right into the end. The Lamazon, if I was going to be stranded on a desert island, I would have her on my team. With the Lamazon? Yes. It's a pretty good team. She's a badass and she will fight through anything. So, I know it's a weird motley crew of people, but. No, you have Steph Curry, Michael Jordan. Bianca Belair. Bianca Belair and the Lamazon. I think it's a great team. That's amazing. Well, thank you. Thank you, Cody. And we'll have to get TJ on here and hopefully you'll be back. And please, everyone, buy the book. Buy it. The Last Heart Beating. Nadi's a published author. If you buy it and show me you bought it, I'll follow you back on X. So, you got to show me authentically that you bought it. Enjoy the book. Cody's going to follow you guys. I'm following you back. Thank you, Cody. That's happening. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, there you go. Here on What Do You Want to Talk About, we have a special game. Nadi, of course, had to go and make a flight, but we're still going to make her answer the question. The famous Wheatley Jingle. Vodka soda. With Wheatley. Wheatley, so good at drinking. This song right here is for the red, white, and blue. You got good taste and you drink like a tube. Wheatley, so good at drinking. Wheatley. Wheatley. American vodka. Wheatley, so good. You drink it. Sweetly, because this girl has a sweet tooth.