Jelly Roll

The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes on my home away from home my tour bus this is a WWE and Fanatics original production welcome to what do you want to talk about in today very very very lucky it's the first time we have had someone who has been nominated for a Grammy probably the only time that this is going to happen on the bus to discuss things not only that three times CMT music award winner people's choice award winner he's got 28 million monthly streams basically on Spotify every month ladies and gentlemen please welcome to the podcast jelly roll everything in me wants to be like so what do you want to talk about hey I love the pod man let me start there like you for those watching I'm on this podcast because I requested to be I asked and luckily Cody was a didn't didn't hesitate to say yes but I was a fan when y'all did the first six episodes yeah I'm a huge fan man I told you this off camera but I want to give you your flowers in front of your audience like I always loved you I loved you as a wrestler I loved you as a worker but I fell in love with you when I got to watch you have long-form conversations you know what I mean it was like because you can hide your depth in a three-minute promo or in a quick interview backstage but you can't hide the human you are for hours at a time with different people sitting across from you asking each other questions and having conversations so you're an awesome human man cheers thanks for having me thank you no thank you for wanting to be here thank you for that cheers hmm I have again our friends at Wheatley American vodka our good friends new bottle by the way get the new bottle bottles fire I'm on the American mule train as usual and now that you've said this I this is not at all where I was going but you've you brought up you can hide your depth in a three-minute promo and to me I've always wanted to subvert expectations on what pro wrestling maybe looks like maybe people think it is that was why the suits always there was all these reasons for I want them to think differently I want them to think of the range that we might have but they may not be aware you know if you're a pro wrestler and you go on an appearance they're gonna ask you a cut a promo and it's like okay I could but I really appreciate you saying that because we can't stay one way the wheel changes and the wheel you know continues to move but here's why what I was thinking as you said that there are wrestlers that can get it done in six eight minutes of a match 15 minutes of a match and then there are wrestlers that genuinely take 40 minutes sometimes upwards of an hour and I feel it's maybe it's underappreciated there's a style in every company that you go to and it is really you've got to work really hard to find your footing how do I express my language how do I tell my story no pun intended and you actually said this when we were talking off-camera your first conversations you wanted to do out there in your own career were long-form conversations and you mentioned something was it flagrant one of the ones you play great rogan Theo Theo and Brennan Shab actually gave me my first podcast opportunity yeah yeah I'll never forget it man that opened the floodgates and this was you know it was a big podcast at the time but this was right before Theo became the monster the way it is now like God I love you so much the I'm so proud of you he'd no human deserve it more than Theo but I remember Theo was the first one of like come on here man to share your story him and Shab so right then I told you this off-camera I knew that I don't think I always was like felt insecure about myself and short conversations with people always walked away like I bet I sounded stupid right there you know but anytime I've ever spent like an hour with somebody I feel like we could get each other you know so when I started doing media my publicist when I first hired a publicist 2020-2021 after saved me she's like you know she's thinking about traditional media and I'm like I'd love to do that but like let me go show the world who I am long for him first so that's how we kind of jumped off of it. So you mentioned Theo in that first podcast opportunity it comes in wrestling you get your first big breaks and you never really even know sometimes what your first big break is you think okay I'm in I'm in and then something happens for me there was a moment at the BO case center I'm in Oklahoma and walking by the chairman's office and Ray Mysterio pulled me aside and said hey I want to wrestle you a WrestleMania we're gonna go in the office and talk about it and I you know and I was ready and I had my idea and it even had written down in my backpack but when I went in that room when I came out my career was different it genuinely was a break beyond just it wasn't just an opportunity it was a break it was something special I forever even though I don't share it with him enough I forever think of Ray as if there is there's nothing I have nothing have if this moment never happens and I often think about how do you thank somebody how do you do you thank Dom do you befriend Dom do you do you watch over him what is it and I I've never really figured out other than saying it hey this was one of the most important things if not the most important thing so I'm asking in terms of with Theo do you just have like a I always call it the Chewbacca that sounds really ridiculous where you have like a life debt to somebody yeah how do you how do you express that to him now or is it just success is it just hey I'm gonna go out there and continue to be successful connect with an audience do it on a real non performative way how do you express your gratitude to somebody like that dude Theo I put him like in the same regard as Schultz from Flagrant of course in Akash and Alex and all the guys dove and rogan because these were like the three biggest platforms that gave me a chance super early yeah and all of them have turned out to be I want to consider them all lifelong friends now we're all real pretty close and I try to make it a point I thought you were saying is real is like I want to make sure that they know they bet on the right horse so I think they're gonna talk about them all the time yeah you know what I mean whenever I'm like anytime I do something cool I'm quietly like and I bet theos proud right you know what I mean like I bet Rogan's watching this and like losing his mind yeah and the cool thing is they're such good people they'll be the first one to hit me when something cool happens I got nominated for a Grammy I think like either either Dwayne Johnson or Joe Rogan were the first person in my DMs that day oh they're like dude you Grammy this is big when losing a draw you're the man you know what I mean and it's like but I think and it's funny how you compare Dom it may be when you were asking that it might be too personal to ask you this but have you got to have that moment in reverse yet that you can talk about where you've got to look at somebody and go yo come here I want to talk to you I want to rest of your rest of my idea and you knew you were giving that kid a life-changing conversation in there and he knew gosh I think before I came back to WWE maybe I found a couple of individuals now you know one we just had him on the podcast that being Ricky Saints somebody and I would never want to take credit because it was their success it was your talent you that's yes they let you in the room but you also got in the room so I just I don't know it's almost a time will tell right in terms of I try to do it often I often wonder if it annoys anyone backstage you know hey I got my niece with me I got my nephews with me hey a little Brody shadow in me hey I got I like to do that because when you get in these rooms and you're around Michael Hayes and you're around Mr. Heyman and you get to talk to Triple H and you see all the you're you can't not pick something up yeah so I don't know if I've been able to really give somebody the the full layup maybe I'm still selfish right maybe I'm still trying to eat as much as I can and then bad equity because that's always how it was referred to by wrestlers who would do the honors for me is hey the equities passing to you now and the one at one point it's yours to pass to somebody so maybe in small bites I don't know if I've done one yet that I can flat out say that's that's my guy I helped I helped one of one of the things that you know how humble you are is that I bet there's a locker room full of guys that would say the opposite right now I'll be cool you know I bet I bet there's a lot more guys and you know in there right now that if I got to ask them this question I'd be like dude Cody put me over here Cody brought me here Cody came to me in this moment and gave me a reflective moment I needed I uh I hope so one of my favorite things about the Hall of Fame back in the day when my dad was still alive is when he would sit with me and we'd watch not when he was having to present which he presented a lot of years too but when he'd sit with me every time somebody came on stage that he gave a break to and often it was the first break before they started talking he'd go like he nudged me and then they'd mention him and he was basically like keeping tab like he was getting like in like high off of right yes yes I did and I always uh I always really like that because I found I was just talking about this with somebody else earlier today they asked me they go do you want to mention uh Dusty in your interview tonight your promo I said no that guy's still getting over I'm done like what no I know he's somehow in like after death it's still growing yeah which I of course I love yeah but it definitely wasn't on my bingo card that it would expand and that all of these seeds he planted especially with you know NXT and all these seeds he planted ended up growing into you know the biggest of trees basically it's really I hope I hope you're right though yeah I hope there is somebody like yeah he actually did you know he actually was helpful I think it's gonna be more than you think but that'd be special hey uh I was gonna ask you the I was thinking I was thinking what's the thing I'd like to ask him the most and this might be a really abstract question but I went on this journey in my mind of matches that I've had that I wanted to see what's the most complete match what's the match where I feel like I checked every box where I was where I was you know you're never perfect where I was close to perfect what is it and then I wanted to ask you is there a song in your catalog is there a song where you felt that's me at my best or not that's me hitting every demo every check in every box whatever it is just is there a song you find complete or close to complete dude that's crazy you ask because I have a quote I say as a song writer which is like if I met your grandmother and and just introduce myself to her and she said what do you do for a living I would tell your grandmother I was a songwriter yeah because that's how I I see myself the most as a songwriter um and my my quote is as an artist is a song is never actually finished I just quit you know what I mean does that make sense because like if it was up to me I would pick that thing apart forever and it would never come out I'd go in every other week and change a snare or a tone or try out a different way so um I think that the perfect match for me is still out there and that's what I'm chasing yeah like more than anything I'm chasing that perfect match but save me to answer the question more directly is very close to my heart because I believe it burst the sound of jelly roll but what I didn't like about that song I've never talked about this is it didn't give any hope it it left with no resolve okay and I got a chance to make that right with a song called I'm not okay oh that's fine jam you know what I mean I texted you about this right yeah oh yeah yeah because I'm not okay but it's all gonna be all right and that's like I don't know if you've ever had a match where I bet you learned every match but uh buddy of mine Travis O'Gwynn at Strange Music built a compound him in tech nine of buildings for their independent label and the first building he shows you he hates the kitchen the first thing he said look how small this kitchen is by the fourth building the kitchen was like the size of a living room yeah and he jokes I think I overcompensated by the time I got to building full so it was um for me coming out of save me I just remember being like man I wish I would have gave people just a little bit of hope at the end of that song but I didn't feel hopeful hopeful at the time you know but so I was like when I was writing I'm not okay I was like this song ends with but we're all gonna be all right like we're gonna give people hope at the end of this song so that's the closest thing to my perfect match yet I love it so it's I actually feel it pairs up my match that I as I was going through this what is the match that I feel like I was best if somebody asked me what's my favorite match it's tricky because there's an answer I'm supposed to give yeah there's an answer that sounds real good but the actual answer is WrestleMania 39 the year I don't win it and there's a moment in the match where I'm in the guillotine and crowds don't really respond so much to the submissions or near submissions like they used to it that definitely still happens but it takes a lot of interest a lot of suspension of disbelief a lot of getting in there and I popped my head out and I remember in a stadium where all the noise goes up I remember in the stadium hearing them react to it and I never felt that I was at that that was I was so connected with them I was so everything was real everything was real but it's a tough answer because I we left there sad we left there you know on on a downer and then WrestleMania 40 is where we're able to give them the they feel like they're one match right to me but yeah I was so curious I was like I wonder if there's a song that he thinks out this is just the one where it would where it was me at my best but that's the whole thing we're always chasing and like you said talking about the snare wrestlers who rewatched their stuff it's kind of it's kind of like why if it was a if it was bad you you know it was bad right you you were there if there was something that was really off or air this much or whatever you're pretty aware of the thing you need to fix and when it was good you felt it and it was great and I just it's it's hard sometimes watch your stuff because that's all it becomes it becomes snares it becomes I would have done this I would have stood differently I would have closed closed my mouth these unique things and I almost take away from good good things you've done good work that you've had um gosh I love that I texted you about that song because it hit me in the bones I think is what it told me country music I grew up in Georgia oh yeah okay I used to have kicks 101.5 oh yeah kicks 101.5 I grew up what I would say and I could be off here on 90s country and I really it was like you know Randy and it was George and it was Travis and and it was Garth and it was Tim but Tim was like I was the man Tim was like a the Tim was like the young young athletic and even yeah exactly it was doing up doing big high spots yeah you know and and I uh I remember my dad was was particularly old school but also real open minded do you have an era of country music that you feel is just just speaks to you I was hoping we were gonna talk about music um dude I have so many eras of country music yeah we'll start at the 90s because my mama loved 90s country yes like I told Garth Brooks when I first met him I think I know more Garth Brooks songs than Garth Brooks you know what I mean I think I was still buying Garth Brooks CDs until he did his amazon music deal two years yeah I was literally still going to walmart every year because you know the schemes were burned but um 90s was big even Tim uh Randy of course you're touching Tracy Lawrence yeah oh gosh man I just remember the distinctiveness of that was the first time I ever heard a nasal singer that wasn't like bad it was something charming about his nasally voice like Dylan wasn't as charming but his lyrics were so good you just kind of you just it was so Dylan and I'm a big Dylan songwriting fan too but it's 1970s outlaw country music have you ever went down as wormhole my only experience what I say with outlaw country is more being told about it about it you know Dusty had his people that he loved and more being told about it but also it was so beyond me generationally I don't know how much I went back and really got into it you know yeah I will say this it would probably be fun for you to go get lost in it for a night down wormhole because I don't know there might be something to draw there from inspiration yeah you know for this yeah because I draw a lot of my inspiration from y'all right because I'm so easy at getting into another world and watching it and going oh that could apply here in my world yeah you know what I mean but Waylon Jennings so I'm sure your daddy told you the story but I was just talking to Kevin Owens about this I'm like force feeding outlaw country music on your friend right now I'm like force feeding it on him but he's gonna watch this now but I can't get away from this talking about to me about Waylon Jennings but Waylon was the first artist in country music history to have a platinum album think about that country music history of all the Hank senior yeah I mean think about what we know about country music Hank Snow like the first platinum album and when Waylon went to the label he said I want to do this album called the Outlaws and we me Willie and Jesse and and we're going to put out this album and it's going to be just kind of a compilation record and the label was like have you lost your damn mind what is wrong with you and he was like dude I'm telling y'all this and y'all don't know because y'all aren't out here yeah I'm in the clubs every night people are climbing the walls about this stuff y'all they're missing a moment and they put out the album and almost on there's two stories I'll tell you about this happened in country music history if you care to hear where the label looks at the artist and goes all right we'll do it your way but it's your funeral yeah you know what I mean sure Outlaws the Outlaw album first album go platinum the Outlaw movement begins which would launch Waylon, Willie, Johnny, Johnny was a little bit before the Outlaw movement but he just kind of fit right into it it just he was he was like on an island of his own without a home yeah it's like when this started happening they were like hey no I work for you fit in here yeah Chris Christofferson and what else is fun about it is I look at the Outlaws kind of like I do you know some of some of the wrestlers in the aspect of like these four dudes were really close it's like you and some of your homies they're all really cool but couldn't be for different personalities sure you know Johnny was like I want to host 52 episodes of the Johnny Cash show I want to be on TV I want to be you know I'm uh Waylon was like I don't want to do an interview to save my life don't call me I just want to do shows and write Willie was like I want to do everything from the Muppets to you know and Chris Christofferson wrote just did a bunch of songs it was like I want to go be an actor yeah he just wanted to write big hits and be an actor you know he was so handsome so they all had such their own unique thing and the music lived the the story is so compelling that people hear the music and if you can't get over the twang at first you get lost but like when you get into the content I never would have thought I could have been a country music artist if I didn't hear Waylon Jennings go looking for trouble and I found a son right down a barrel of a long man's gun and I remember looking at my mama going this is country music yeah she was like listen to this and she started playing uh don't you think this outlaw bit is done got out of hand and I was like ooh um was it singing through my nose it got me busted by the man don't you think this outlaw bit is I mean I was like this dude when he was talking about they locked me up for some possession for stuff that was long gone oh man he was just so clever and yeah and then I got so sorry you you'll shut me up shut me up if you want no not at all but Willie Nelson was he I identify myself in him and Johnny the most sure and Willie because he's the most jovial guy like even when I met him for the first time gives me a bandana with his autograph sign his wife's sweetest chest pie son comes over all hanging he's just the nicest guy and then he's funny he's charming and then he grabs that guitar maybe I didn't love you and you're just like oh yeah oh you're writing that you know what I mean like even his fun song shotgun Willie was funny something I was sitting around his underwear but like even on the road again had like a feeling to it wasn't just you know it's like I don't know it's just all those dudes uh the first time I heard Folsom Prison and heard the story of Johnny and Johnny and June's Carter and found out they were married and even that was cool to me it was like the idea of this married couple yeah singing to each other about like having a problem with each other and going to Jackson to drink and get over each other you know yeah I carry that into my marriage now yeah you know what I mean like that's the kind of vulnerability I would die I die for with my wife you know what I mean is that so I love the 90s I love the 2000s and the 2010s because 808s came into play and these were all moments that were like little moments that happened that made it later would be the moments that were the reason I could come in sure but 100% 1970s outlaw outlaw country I love talking about Willie I don't know he he his tour manager I believe he's passed on but you did you ever meet a guy named Poo-D yeah okay so growing up Willie coming whether it was Lakewood Amphitheater wherever we always had to go to Willie and I again I was Kicks 101.5 this is 90s country I knew obviously Willie and we had pictures all over the house of Willie and Dusty all over the house all over the house well so I kind of just figured it was his friend but obviously he was a big-time musician too but the first time I saw it was really mind-blowing he's singing Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys and all of a sudden he calls Dusty up on stage and they're they're just going at it and this happened every time we went and saw them and Dustin will get up on there and I always kind of wanted to like maybe this would be my time maybe I'll go up and I was always too shy to go up but I have great pictures from all the times that Willie Dusty and he did it with I mean every wrestler who wanted to go see Willie they'd take care of him always he was just he was just so special my there's because you mentioned Johnny too we were talking about this earlier and this is I've never seen this before but one time Tony Shrivani was doing an interview with Willie Nelson by the pool it was supposed to be Willie and Dusty Dusty I think Willie was just doing a favor for Dusty and my dad was late 15 minutes late but there was no reason for him to be late and they went to his room and he's like Dusty we're at the pool and my dad goes hey is Willie there? He said yeah he's been waiting on you he's all right I can come now and that was this big power move that he needed to do to he's it was I don't know if it was a rib burn if something Willie was used to but it was really silly really just some odd power move or rib but then when I saw there's I think it's gun smoke I think it's an episode of gun smoke could have this wrong but he meets Johnny Cash and I have the footage of my dad meeting Johnny Cash and he take my dad takes his hat off and I've never seen ever in my life my dad nervous except that moment and it is something about Johnny and how he came in the room you know sometimes there's just a power oh yeah you know everyone says aura today there's a there's a thing something about when he walked in the room he took his hat off he went over and shook his hand and I I kind of didn't like it I was like oh I don't know I don't know that man like but I also loved it because he had such a respect for him and such a and not just a respect for the music the music was in the hard in the ears when they were driving and all that but the the road and you know Johnny a master marketer and master entertainer you know not unlike Garth would become where there were all these things you needed to do like the music's there but what are these hooks that we can do to get them to pay to come see us and then oh my gosh there's this whole entertainment aspect to it I love that you mentioned Chris Christofferson he doesn't get enough love he doesn't and my mom my mom if you ever meet my mom talk to her about Chris Christofferson she loves some Chris Christofferson I don't want to guess your mom's age but if she's in her 60s and 70s yeah every woman she's in the every woman that grew up south of Indiana you know who's saying his blues is their mind about Chris Christofferson he was just writing music he didn't know he was just writing hits he didn't care he just he'd love to he would do it on movie sets he was like he was uh he was a real songwriter yeah like I love those guys man and I learned early I call myself a songwriter but because I write a bunch of songs but like real songwriters that's all they do yeah and I do a lot more of this stuff you know what I mean when it takes away from that stuff where Chris I think that's what made Chris make that decision yeah he was like I can't do the traveling and the writing yeah I can do the movies and the writing but I further write than travel and you know our business was a lot like y'all in the old days you've done this like 200 I relate to y'all in this regard 250 300 days out of my bed a year yeah super normal it's it's just the way it is just what it is yeah I got I think we count them now as a joke in the family I'd like 40 something last year yeah I'm gonna have like 53 this year or something like that it's like just kind of standard protocol for us are you ready to hold WWE history in the palm of your hand? 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Been it out of the pandemic I remember the first things that were going back on the road like let's get these buses going whole fleets was at least out of the group we use was country music and pro wrestling nothing else was ready to go yet but country music pro wrestling we're ready to go we're ready to get back on the road yep what do you got let's go we went immediately yeah I uh I love that you say songwriter because I mean as I get uh I guess as I get older in wrestling I used to say I was an athlete he says a wrestler or I'm not I don't think I've ever said I was a worker but now more than anything I think I just like to say I I'm a storyteller right that may be easier to digest for someone who doesn't I'm a storyteller and and then if they want to know further you know well here's the type of story is that physically we tell these stories is how we did whatever it may be how do you feel songwriter entering this world where everyone on this bus is aware everyone in that locker room is aware everyone who's going to be in this arena tonight is aware you clearly enjoy this oh yeah you clearly are putting in the effort and then some do you feel it's just all happening so fast that you can't get a sense of it or do you feel you're telling stories in the ring already do you feel you're in that in that role now how do I tell this story with these individuals heading into summer slam or as a part of summer slam I think I'm starting to tell the story in the ring but I think more so I'm proud of this and I'm starting to be able to tell the story outside of it yeah which is probably the value I thought I brought to this the most if I brought any value at all yeah was that um it would like when bad bunny did it like it immediately brings a new set of eyeballs onto it yeah so I was very like I remember calling Randy super early when we were like deciding to do this and being like will you do like mainstream media with me yeah like I think you deserve it I think wrestling doesn't get enough of it I think it's it breaks my heart that you haven't been on a late night show in 21 years like I'm gonna host this Kimmel gig let's do something you know what I mean like immediately was like and I think that's what I'm probably the most proud of so far is that I've been able to be one of the first guys in a long time to take a wrestling storyline outside of WWE presence or even like you know I mean as far mainstream media as you can go without not even just like a conversation like we got to be the full thing yeah we got to really bring a segment to late night television again I'm proud of that you know what I mean like I'm proud of that well and I'm not proud of much like if you asked me albums I was proud of you'd be surprised I'm proud of like two you know what I'm saying I'm 20 like I'm truly proud of that but the storytelling is what made me want to do this I thought it was the only value I could bring because it's where I relate to y'all the most I don't know the physicality I'm learning yeah brutal y'all are it is so y'all do it so much and talk about it so casually that I think even fans are callous to how crazy sure that concept I want to be the guy that keeps reminding y'all yeah that I'm doing what y'all did 20 years ago 30 years ago for the first time y'all don't remember what that first three weeks was like but it sucked I mean I've got headaches neck and back aches leg aches shoulder aches pinky aches when y'all say we don't fight injured but we fight hurt all the time amen I don't do I didn't understand that quote at the time I was like what what it hurt injured I yeah maybe you didn't turn ACL but it's like no y'all are hurt all the time I always joke hurt now so that's funny because I tell my students two things I tell them in the beginning everything hurts just told the kid at a autograph signing this morning because he was asking about getting the industry I said in the beginning everything hurts then none of it hurts but I feel bad because whenever I tell my students at the nightmare factory whenever I say hey don't wrestle injured you'll always wrestle hurt but don't wrestle injured it's obviously I've wrestled injured prior so it just opens up a world of like well and it's well you know yeah like I'm just telling you um gosh okay so you you said something about mainstream media and there's this whole discussion online and I I always like to be right in the middle of it I really do I like there's the hardcore fan who loves this has always loved it there's the more athletically like high spot geared fan then there's the fan that likes good old-fashioned like blockbuster good stuff legends nostalgia nostalgia just fun whatever it may be I like this just be in the mix and be in the middle but there's always this discussion about huh they're doing this with celebrity x they're doing this with this celebrity I wonder why does that take away a spot from such and such and in my mind I don't get furious about many things anymore but it's like a rage will fill my body because growing up whether it was the roads the jarits the mcmanns the watts they all they wanted was that endorsement from somebody in another field of storytelling to say hey this I like this this is you know its own version of live theater and Broadway I'm getting something from this so whenever I see something like you and Randy together that is gosh it's so valuable to what we do I think I told Andrew Schultz this we have to grow I love our people I love I'm not trying to harm anyone I'm not I love you guys thank you all the hardcore fan great we have to grow and the end the unreal show on netflix for example a lot of people gonna be mad right it's not so much for those who are already here versus hey if you're not here take a look at what it looks like now see rhea ripley out there you like her cool you know what you can come and see her and it's even cooler in person like see him punk you can come and see him so when I see you doing stuff like that and when I hear you say it I love that because I have I've always had this kind of hidden dream of doing something outside of wrestling perhaps and being able to bring wrestling with me you know if that makes any sense I don't I don't like when wrestlers leave and they don't they don't bring it with them thank you for doing it no thank you thank you for doing it thank you for saying it no of you guys saying this is helping me my heart I mean WrestleMania one Cindy mr. T I could name every time I could name all 12 15 times celebrities have taken matches so official matches to me and I understand where fans are coming from because I felt this way for a long time as a fan is like you ever read a good book that was so good you almost didn't want to tell nobody how good it was sure because it gave you so much power you were like you had to be you were selfish for a second you had to catch yourself like I'm being selfish let me tell everybody about this book look at me you know what I mean like I understand that like wrestling is so precious to us fans and it's our thing yeah you know what I mean it's like the idea that you know what I mean like this is our thing like I don't want everybody to be an our thing it might not be our thing of everybody's you know what I mean so I get that thought but it's like I am the opposite now that I've gotten older I'm more like the guy who's like no man we could change the world with this book yeah it's a really good book we should tell everybody about how awesome this book is it helped me it changed my life yeah if this book helped change my life I want everybody to know about the book yeah so I look at wrestling that way and when I this is a two-part thing and this is probably the most shooting on it I've done yet right here right now one it was a little selfish and I don't do very many things selfishly but there's nothing in life I wanted more as a kid than to stand in that brain you know what I mean like nothing I didn't want a microphone more I didn't want to sold out show more I didn't have no I didn't know I had a music bone in my body at the time but I knew that something happened every Monday night yeah that got me so emotionally fired up I couldn't sleep until Tuesday yeah you know what I mean I knew I connected to the storytelling in such a way I found myself in the characters yeah I found myself in these humans you know that I wanted to I just I wanted to try it and it became a North Star my weight loss so almost when I first signed up for it it was almost like I'll never actually do it like I'll never actually lose 240 pounds and take them back is that where we're at 240 pounds 240 pounds so it's like what when I walk on there that night when I walk when you watch me walk to the ring at Summerslam I will be the smallest I've been since the seventh grade unreal unreal congratulations thank you man that's amazing thank you you know oh my gosh but then part two of it and I said they said this was like as a celebrity I'd always watch like man I hope I get famous enough to get involved because I'd watch all these other celebrities do it and I would watch them code in some of them would make me mad because I could just tell they didn't care they didn't care I could tell they pulled up walked in the back door walked through gorilla did their promo walked through the back door and got in their car you know what I mean and every time I've showed up for an event the first day Neil Lowey who's my my baby face in this whole scenario yeah one who brought me in all this the first day Neil Lowey was at the raw when I met you a couple years ago in Nashville I go Neil what time is the show started like doors open at six goes live at seven I was like what time can I come he was like five five thirty I was like what did the wrestlers do before that and he told me yeah and I was like can I come for that and he was like you'd have to come at like noon I was like I'll be there yeah I was there from noon to 10 or 11 o'clock I was you know what I mean like I was not gonna miss a chance to get this you know what I mean like I've been like that almost every I got here to get two two thirty or three or something I was running here earlier my flight got delayed yeah but I had a moment my second thing was with this I thought we should share the book like yeah I want people to see when you're a big part of this Cody when the Roman era what I call the Roman era kind of because it just happened it felt like almost I don't know where kind of yes you know what I mean started really getting over and then I was like this story's got to balance itself out and then you came in and then it became about a story and like that I'd been watching wrestling but casually again like I couldn't you know I just I'm so busy you know what I mean yeah and I started calling friends like yo am I tripping or is like wrestling getting like crazy good again oh man and they were like dude you got a tune in this was a few years you know four or five years ago yeah uh pandemic is right after coming out going into 21 22 and I just could not quit watching yeah and then what did it the most for me is that you went all the way to WrestleMania of 39 and lost and I had a moment right then where I was like I was so sad for you but I was so happy as a wrestling fan that I was like long-term stories are back they have found a way to feed us our need and social media era to give me my quick fix every week yeah but they've also found a way to drag me along for a really long ride and I was like because if Cody comes back to WrestleMania next year this will be one of the greatest errors in wrestling history I felt it then and as we started leading up and everything starts playing itself out and then the curve ball is coming and the the you know all that crazy shit happens going into 40 and then the fans ultimately decided just it it was like I'm getting goosebumps dog oh it's you catch them real real real goosebumps bro like legit chicken skin as we call it in the music business we call that money bump a money bump chicken skin chicken skinny money bumps money bumps you're writing a song and you get the money bumps yeah it's a it's a thing but I just remember being like man this is this is really really cool I know my fans have been waiting for something new well head to WWE shop and check out my new American nightmare stars and stripes collection including authentic tees hat weight lifting belt and everyone's favorite windbreaker jacket the cody road stars and stripe collection is live now don't wait to grab yours now only on wwe shop.com for me it became I had in my mind we're gonna get back the whole point the story yeah we're you know whatever the long-term plans may be I think they're there we're gonna get back but the issue with we're gonna get back became oof I have to do something for the next 300 and something days that continues to capture their imagination honestly that continues to to make them say the phrase all that all wrestlers want them to say that's my guy it's my guy that's my girl that's why tune in and it sounded easy before WrestleMania 39 and then as soon as it was over it sounded like oh this there's no way there's just no way and that's why when the situation happened in Birmingham where I wasn't gonna wrestle at WrestleMania that's why I thought a really just a moment where I thought it's just not meant to be you know it's it's just not meant to be and maybe it is my fault maybe it's not it was just really tricky but I I'm so glad that we got to complete it and I'm I'm so glad for the curveball because the curveball kind of dictates more long-term stories and just I'm glad I'm glad you enjoyed it because on this bus actually talking with Matt who we've talked about before my driver Matt he's one of the only people I got to tell like this is not gonna be easy this is gonna be really hard you know we were we were staying after shows for sometimes an hour we'd have to throw us out of the building trying to meet as many people as we could and it wasn't for a viral video it wasn't for anything like that it was for an actual hey I really enjoyed being here tonight you know what I'm saying like I'm gonna be back and when I come back I'm gonna bring the title that every time we said that I'm thinking man if I do not come back to Manchester and you know the United Kingdom or to Mobile if I do not come back to Bakersfield I'm a liar right and a babyface that as a babyface you that you can't be a liar right and I just oh man so I'm so glad you said that because it was I think we have better stuff ahead but also I'm I think I'm aware enough and hopefully not delusional I think I'm aware enough to know if that was the best it was it was quite a ride yeah quite a fun time and I'm glad you jumped back in and you talked about wrestling you know oh well I'm gonna give you some good news brother everything that we do in art is consp... uh lined out in decades yeah you know like when you look at music we just first thing we talked about 90s country you started this podcast with a with a era of music oh yeah I am honored to say that we will share the 2020s together oh yes so I know that your best days are not done yet I know your best days I know the wildest curveballs in your career in front of you not behind you yeah I know that because we are in the middle of this decade and we got to close it oh for them to for us to make the books the way we want to make them absolutely to close these but yes we got to close this decade strong well to closing it as unbelievable as that is and and you were talking about the book sharing the book you've got this good story and I completely get you because attitude era I remember you know third and fourth grade before the era I had one buddy who liked wrestling we talked about wrestling we talked about the pay-per-views the ordering them wasn't the simplest of things where are you gonna watch did you see going to blockbuster or hollywood video and get an old vhs's I got this I got that hasbro collection all this stuff but then attitude era comes and I got a full living room and I'm behind everybody watching what I always knew yeah and I'm oh okay yeah all right but part of me thought like I don't know I don't know if they deserve this yeah I don't they deserve this uh but who who was it that you because you're talking about watching and growing up and wanting to stand in the ring who was it that you liked the most who was your guy man obviously a really sensitive week to discuss it but I was a Hulkamaniac like every kid that's 41 I'm 41 so that's the easiest way to kind of age it is like I thought the ultimate warrior was the evilest human on earth you know what I mean and I thought Hulk Hogan was the greatest guy ever you know what I mean and then I got to watch going into the attitude era and that was like coming into my teenage years so that was like when it really started getting cool yeah and it was I mean every of course obviously the rock stone cold Steve Austin yeah I still think arguably the greatest storyline and one of the greatest characters ever is the Undertaker and Kane just like sure that's gotta be Kane you know what's cool I was comparing this to my wife the other night I got an eight year old son who's in light of me getting so WrestleMania 40 was the first time he kind of tuned in okay right it's like and we had the funniest conversation the other day y'all don't know if you can use this or not it's but if you can't I respect it but he goes dad the rocks are friend right I seen the video I was like he's our friend man he's actually one of the talking about a guy who gave me a chance early yeah I mean before Theo's podcast even the rock was in my DMs encouraging me like oh yeah I had 80,000 Instagram followers yeah you know what I mean he's the most famous person on Instagram like yo I love this song it was so crazy but I was like the rocks are buddy and I didn't know where that was going I was just excited you know I was proud dad like yeah the guy you think's really cool is my friend yes and then he goes his face gets flat and he goes why was he so mean to Cody and I was like oh you're getting in it huh yeah and he was like I am and I was like cool you know but I thought about him being at that age where like it's that was where I was around the hulk's era yeah and then as wrestling grew it's almost like wrestling grew with me yeah because like by the time I was 13 it was Austin 316 said I just whipped your ass and it was a little more edgy because obviously I was getting a little more edgy yeah you know what I mean but it reminded me in that moment of my son of like two I needed to have that conversation with him because sometimes I look at wrestling from my perspective as a 41 year old man who's watched it for 31 years or 32 years yeah I forgot the magic of which yeah you know what I mean oh buddy I I love a show that is flanked with the really nuance really hardcore thinking gets get there let's get our core audience and I love one that's also just flanked by hey this is a simple story we're telling there's kids out there they like Bianco whipping her hair around they leave you know there's certain things that connect with and that are magic and I love them all being on the same show so I know completely what you mean and what I told my son was we were so we watched together yeah and uh the why it's six comes out and I watched my eight-year-old son get a little uncomfortable oh okay like I kind of watched him shift a little yeah and he kind of looked at me to make sure you know how kids are they look at me to make sure it's close like I said watch this they're fine you know I just kind of watched this they're fine but it reminded me and of course it's a I'm gonna get crucified online because this is no comparison but the closest thing that he's ever gonna feel to how I felt the first time I heard don't and the lights went out and I was like what's going on right now I watched him have a similar moment oh when the lights went out for the why it's six you know what I mean and all these creepy characters and then I get to tell them the story about bray and like then it gets then it gets deep you know and then it's like because then he goes oh that that really happened I'm like yeah sadly it did he was a really good guy and he really really passed away at a young age and he'd been a lot to the sport and these people are keeping his memory of name alive so now it's like there's a depth of that you know what I mean for my eight-year-old son who went from like being kind of of course I say this all the time I was scared of undertaker until I was like oh yeah you know what I mean I'm still halfway afraid of by the way you see him in person he's still relatively niceest guy ever but still he's still you know the undertaker but it was cool to see him have that kind of a moment for us to share that moment of course and it reminded me that the generational storytelling y'all do is generational for us sure and I'd never connected that dot neither for some of it yeah I was always so fascinated with you and your father and Randy and his and like just even at the pc you know this and I won't say their names but like it feels like everybody's got a kid at the pc yeah you know what I mean like I hate to be I hate to say it that way that's the truth it's fun yeah I think it's awesome yeah I was like this really is the most generational business we do you know I was like but then it reminded me of how generational the storytelling was yeah that my mama sat me down and took me to the smoky mountain wrestling for the first time you know what I mean that my mom was at the first one you went to I'm pretty sure I think we went to east Tennessee to see a smoky oh I love that and the Nashville fairgrounds had tons of well also smoky mountain you were guaranteed that it was good storytelling for sure disciplined good storytelling yeah yeah no I uh gosh smoky mountain and I I wonder you know I think it's totally you were talking about Hogan there's a moment from the Hoosier dome that's my favorite Hogan moment I think it's the Hoosier dome but swear he walks out takes in the crowd and he puts his hands on his hips he just does a 360 to turn around and take them all in oh with a hand on the hip yeah and it just feels like that moment of knowing maybe this run is kind of winding down or already has but what a run what it like you're talking about a decade closing a decade out carrying it as long as you can I didn't I didn't think Hogan was gonna be your guy yeah no I might have read a judge a book by its cover there no yeah you had to think about my age you know what I mean yeah age wise I was like eight years old when Hulk Emanuel was like in its prime oh man seven like I was at the ripe age to and it was also I think about it now too and I feel this way about you I hope you don't take this wrong it's like also such a good role model like yeah oh you're a great role model yeah it's like my son looks at you the way I looked at Hogan oh man like you're the all-american good guy that's there to serve justice and fight you know what I mean you made me feel so good I'm about to run out of there and just have every heel bumping feed for me for 10 I feel great no I'm telling you this is real it's like it reminded me of that because my son gets it like the American flag yeah like these were like the things that were big for Hogan remember Hogan to eat your vitamins you know what I mean I remember my mama tricked me into eating vitamins the Flintstone vitamins because they were Flintstone I don't want them they taste bad like Hulk Hogan said I'd be like okay Hogan said I'll do it you know I was that kid I love the Ultimate Warrior later too when he'd shake the ropes a lot but um then I just I stuck with I'll but I even got to watch Brutus the barber yeah you know I'm just old enough that I caught the tail end of that a little bit yeah you know what I mean I always like to say myself Wheely American vodka are the American dream team I think of my own team and I'd ask you who is on your team and if we're looking for specifics and qualifiers and what makes it could be zombie apocalypse could be a war games team who is on the team with jelly roll oh goodness oh god that's great anybody I just get to start picking a team yeah we've had one animal we've had somebody pick a whole NBA team who's coming with you I like to say war games just makes it a little easier yeah get your four or your five who's on your team well I'm gonna start with Randy just because we are in the thick of it right now and I'm riding with my guy yeah um I'm taking my wife with me everywhere just period just bunny is a rider yeah I'm taking my dog I got a bass at home that's my favorite thing on earth I love them I just want him with me what's the bassist name oh his name is busty the bus dog you can guess why we name his he's a bus dog he's a bus dog yeah he's a bus dog dude uh last one let me think of something fun here I'm gonna pick a country musician you know either Cain Brown or Morgan Wallin because they are extremely or Brantley Gilbert they're all extremely athletic and all relatively aggressive alphas okay so they would like surprise us was Cain uh Cain did bury me in Georgia yeah and uh first time I heard bury me in Georgia almost took a back bump really because that's yeah that's how I feel about yeah straight up my town you know what I'm saying every and I always get back there you know so you know what I love about Cain I'm sure you want mommy sharing this we're really close Cain had just dropped thank god which was like the biggest hit of his career yeah him and his wife just had this mega record it was like this beauty come out another wife guy yeah family dude through and through man and he was going to pick his next single and he was like I want to put this bury me in Georgia record out because it mean like I just put this big love song out I want to remind people I'm still that Georgia boy yeah you know what I mean like it was personal to Cain and I love when artists take big creative chances yeah like especially when they know they might have a song it's more commercially digestible but they're like I'll put that out later right now this is my message take the swing yep he did the same thing with me in the song he put me on haunted like when he picked that for his second his next single after Miles on it he just had this big success up but it's a Miles on it back out of Chevy huge record with Marshmallow and he goes and does this dark like mental health awareness song with me yeah like Cain is just brave like at me yeah that's him yeah he's a Georgia guy Michael Hayes is like you gotta take the swings can't play it safe no for sure we hit we hit 100% of the shots well we miss 100% of the shots we don't take that's right um talking about you're you talked about the pc and you're talking about training uh we're all aware and there's almost a lore and mythos around you going down there and training yeah how you're training are you enjoying I'm having the time of my life Cody I love that who who do you feel if we could give them their flowers that you want to say has been helpful in this journey because this is this is one match we're talking about one match it's a it's a village yeah but I mean you're you're in this oh brother you're in this I'm in this thing you're you're you're you know go ahead and throw the bag in the locker room you know what I'm saying I am a lot closer than I tell you what when bad bunny did it and he was supposed to do one match and ended up in a two-year storyline headline back last yeah when I walked into this I looked at my manager and said I promise you this is just God's timing to do this right now everything lined up like I won't I won't put us through one of these again I'll tell you this I'll tell you this talking like homies I was um I told I told Triple H you know I want to lose summer slam yeah just because no celebrities ever got took a ill yeah always put them over yeah and if you don't put me over I always have a reason yeah there's always just something lingering here I can pop up anytime any one of those three are there oh man I I love uh I love the I love it Cody I'm showing up every day it's gotten in here your your bones here you were training with Baldo yeah I went back to the village though yeah let me shout my village out shout him out my one match has took a pork mama male that's what I call her the lady that runs that facility she is like gives me all my ring time and she deals with me being just completely nuts like I want to do 11 to 1 tomorrow and then I hit her up and I'm like hey but actually I want to do 4 to 6 to 7 to and you know everybody leaves at 5 yeah but she'll always find people to stay for me at night yeah Matt Bloom has dedicated his life to me I love you coach Bloom uh Scott Moss uh love that coach Brooks side yeah yeah coach Brooks I think about that your first show you're talking about going to see in Smokey Mountain and you're training with Robbie Brooks side like that yeah man and he's over the place he's so awesome a couple of NXT kids that I want to shout out that really deserve it tag team champs over there called Hank and Tank yep I can't wait till they get called up oh yeah I am cheering for them to get called up right they they get called up I'm I'm gonna cancel the show to come short oh that's crazy they've been that good to me but uh even better to me as a kid named Mitch they call them stacks the NXT and a kid here tonight he's here tonight Ben and Brooks I brought them both I flew them up here with you you're doing the thing yeah you're Theo and these guys yeah yeah exactly and my babies yeah I do they like these dudes have showed up for me every day and took tens dozens of bumps a box for me every day while I'm learning this thing you know and you got to imagine poor stacks our first four or five body slams you would hear three different thuds yeah you'd hear his feet yeah you'd hear his feet his back then his head or shoulder oh man yeah and he just had back up like and he was so nice like I just what we're looking for is just one flat thud and I was like okay then I just throw him over again and just one time I damn near flipped him poor kid but we got it and uh they've been really sweet to me mouths born you familiar with mouths yes yeah I was a show pretty I actually I reached out to a group of them not too long ago this is the NXT talent just because there's this little transition that happens in terms of what they do in the NXT sphere then they come up here and they are the same there's a ring and we wrestle let me tell stories but there's a it's very different I never like using the term main roster but there's just a difference in what we do in terms of what's the ultimate goal what's a day look like what are your other responsibilities whatever um but I watch pretty regularly actually it's great Sean's got him rocking down he's got him rocking so you mentioned man Sean's another one that's uh poured love into me yeah KO your friend has poured a lot of love into me that's hard to get though I mean I don't know I feel Sean's not the easiest to get love from but he is the you know my hero growing up and then KO is almost impossible to get love no I've gotten some love from KO dude Damian Priest has showed up for me really big for love her oh yeah you I mean you're in there those are such great guys that's what I said throw your bag in the locker room we're ready um but I have this story about Matt Bloom and I have I figured you'd mention him I wanted to bring this up because I've never talked about this oh he's gonna love this and I don't I hope he loves this because he's had such an unbelievable next chapter came down to NXT and this head trainer and you know Sean's Sean's number one guy and they're they're really piloting a ship and putting it in places and everyone who you talk to talks about Matt Bloom immense amount of respect always wants to please him uh my wife had done some stuff at the PC and he was so good to her and you know I'm big on when you do something for my family I'm like that's the Chewbacca thing I'm yours for life buddy we need a posse we're rounding up posse we're fighting somebody I'm in you know but I had this moment Matt Bloom right around the time I'd hit kind of a professional rock bottom I think I had the mustache still and I say professional rock bottom we go up we go down whatever but I had a moment with him where I thought that's also a professional rock bottom I've never talked to him about this but you remember tons of funk you have snap off fans so we're in Rotterdam not even Amsterdam Rotterdam and we're doing this last show on an 11 show Europeans were and it's okay it's not the greatest crowd in terms of house they're very vocal and kind but here he comes out there and I don't think they've liked the first 10 nights of matches that we've had he's doing the shovel and I can see it's just not really like excited about it and then I notice he doesn't tear away his pants and I'm thinking what's going on and then I look he's got regular sweatpants on but his boots are on so Matt Bloom this big giant intimidating just barrel-chested wrestler of a man has to sit down on his butt in the corner and I see him pulling his sweatpants off over his boots and I remember I think I'm like that's rock bottom that's like he's he's he's so not wanting to be in this tag anymore and I don't want to be in this tag but to this day I don't think I've ever brought it up to him but I always want to be like is because it was for me I thought like hey it's not great but we're gonna make it things are gonna get better we're here we're working things are gonna get better but yeah Matt Bloom's the best shout out to him for sure and those guys you're training with that's that's they'll never forget it and they'll never forget how you know that's an opportunity for them we learn a lot when we teach somebody um I have an interview tonight for TV and I don't think it's the beefiest bulkiest interview but I did promo class at the nightmare factory yesterday that in a way is so helpful just seeing guys do their introductory promos and who they are I get so much off of that of oh you know what that's that way of thinking before you ever start getting into the rules of all this that's a good way of thinking you know it's an outlaw way of thinking a little bit yeah um I'm glad you're enjoying the pc yeah at the time yeah I think I'm getting love down there too because they I didn't and I'm not throwing anybody under the bus or acting holier than now but they're traditionally used to celebrities doing it a different way and the few that do commit they you know they normally like clear the pc yeah and like I've done the opposite like I was very clear about that to the front like I don't want the pc catering to me sure like I want to be a fly on the wall I don't I don't want people feeling like jelly's coming we got to clear the rings well I know I noticed fly on the wall were you in gorilla uh Goldberg was in the ring the other night and you were in gorilla headset on yeah and I thought there's nobody filming this yeah nobody this is he's he's here in them talk yeah he's seeing this one side of it because it is if you come to tv it is amazing to see the amount of production elements that you would never think about I really think wb's production is first you know nobody does live live better than wwe I and anytime I see live live sometimes is boxing sometimes it's an all-star game or whatever anytime I see live live I always wonder man you should have had us do this for sure it would have been as clean as can be clean you would have thought it was tape you would have thought it was you know because it's so they just have a way of making it super uniform and correct even down to like the commercials getting out of them bringing back into the rest and the rest of being able to keep the yeah the room happy yeah while that commercial is going for five minutes but still end up back in a similar position not the same one but just the same guy still on top yeah it's just really really fascinating and the more like when I get to go watch nxt on tuesdays I sit down and I just listen and I do the same thing I do here in gorilla I just spend the whole program sitting next to the coaches or in the in their gorilla just watching and I learned so much there too because you're getting to see what your producers want what I'm really listening for is I'm listening for hunter to go hey camera such and such look at that emotion don't miss that yeah and then I'm like okay hunter like that he's doing something really good yeah if he went out of his way to tell that camera guy go and get it go get it you know what I mean so it was just really cool to hear that and see the way that Bruce is thinking about you know what else I always knew that this was a I've always been jealous arresters of how the business was always first and I was felt like country music was close we're the only genre that never necessarily completely imploded because we did always have reverence for the genre yeah you know what I mean does that make sense like we never had too much of a lull because that's why we're still the only genre that has so many award shows yeah you know what I mean like we still have like three or four big award shows a year yeah because country nothing none of us are actually bigger than country music I mean Morgan is Luke is always come back to it exactly yeah it's always a country thing but I wish we did better at paying it forward a little bit and I'm going to take that from y'all because like not one person here has at least let me know they're not happy I'm here and every person I've asked to help me just was like all it took was asked yeah like the first time I grabbed Paul Heyman and I'm like yo wise man like I'm lifelong fan of yours brother yeah I'm fixing to go shoot my first promo out here I want you to pick it apart he's right up you know what I mean yeah and I come in and he's like 10 out of 10 10 out of 10 you want me to be a nitpicking though and I was like Mr. Heyman I've been praying to have a moment with you like yes and he picked down my promo apart to the point where I learned so much from him that time guess what I'm gonna do tonight bring him in before yeah I learned the lesson I'm not gonna let him criticize me afterwards I'm gonna go in and go this what I'm thinking this what I'm cooking interesting talk to me about it did anyone ever tell you you know because wrestlers even through the pandemic always shake hands like at nauseam shake hands with everybody that's a big thing is shake hands with everybody keep shaking hands even Sean will be like I've shaken I've I've I've shaken all your hands a hundred times but that's a big thing is that we all shake hands all the time and my trainer I remember Al Snow who trained me he asked me he's uh he was like do you know why we shake hands I assume like because we respect each other said yeah that's that's part of it he goes but the actual reason is different and Al is very specific always there's one answer I'm like okay why do we shake hands and his thought was still I believe it to this day we need one another you're gonna pick me up you're gonna slam me I have to go back to brandy where you can slam me again next weekend and I can return to unit and when we look at the marquee it says such and such versus such and such it's not just w to be featuring it's it's this concept of we need one another and I feel like that to me has always been really special because no matter how much you might dislike somebody because unreal is a great example of how real our industry is but it's real in a different way but how much you might dislike someone or not love them whatever it may be in terms of we can work with anybody we still are a fraternity we still are a sorority a fraternity a brother and sisterhood we we gotta stick together um no matter how bad it gets so I'm glad that everyone has been willing to to jump at it because it's it's it's special um to have that when when we have you here and of course I'm I'm I'm glad that uh you I mean to get Mr. Heyman's huge I love that it's been fun man but I think it's a testament of my he knows I'm taking it serious yeah like and I think he honors that you know what I mean but he's been really really good to me man it's been special I told the story Fatou got in the ring with me and I thought he was just gonna show me something and he bumped for me for two hours oh yeah you know what I mean like it was crazy you know and I love his story anyways because we got a similar background special huh yeah special I met him at uh All Pro Wrestling show in San Francisco I knew right away uh we talked about it this day but I knew right away who he was and we just started oozing each other because I'd been around Jimmy and Jay throughout my whole first run with WWE but yeah Jacob's really special he feels like a little baby here yeah that I just want to make sure everything is right you know he's he's special I know everyone here is incredibly impressed with Jacob too he's really he radiates gratitude yeah it just like yeah screams off of him you know what I mean like the genuine like I am just grateful to be here I love that you know you know why I love that I don't radiate gratitude yeah like you know what I'm saying like I there are people who I have that like one of the boys like energy that I'm always a little jealous of Damian Priest is another one where he's just if he wins something if he does something big there's like a whole crew of people in gorilla like all excited and I'm like man like how do you balance yeah how do you balance that and I love it and you see Jacob it's the same thing when something good happens for him all of us are god awesome man yeah awesome that's it that's that's a real good energy I dig that um talking about SummerSlam SummerSlam being one night but obviously what we do is is about not just the one night so all the nights that lead up to it and even about the night that follows it in terms of your overall story and I wonder if there is any similarities between building a wrestling match and building an album you know what's fun I thought about it it's a little bit like building an album as far as the match itself is interesting but what I'm comparing it to more and I keep defaulting to this by accident it reminds me more of when an album's finally finished okay and you gotta go tell the world it's finished you know what I mean like I'm enjoying this process of like I'm used to going on TV and having to promote an album yeah and that's something else I'm proud of being here Cody is that I'm not here I don't have an album coming out yeah like this isn't going to be a big shock on SummerSlam when it's like Jelly Rolls new album coming out next Friday or it announces something I'm in like I'm not doing this for any promotion of my personal stuff so it's been really cool to like I look at it like my job right now is to make Randy Orton look like the apex predator he's always sure like my job is to make Randy Orton look like the biggest baddest son of a bitch in the WWE yeah you know what I mean like my job is to make sure that everybody in the world knows that I think Logan Paul's a prick and that we're gonna handle it on August 2nd or August 3rd right that's my job and I relate to that in a way that's like when I need the whole world to know what album's coming out like you go into a different mode because it's like you spend all this time working on this yeah and dedicating your life to it and all these hours of just you know this more than anybody about this business now of like painful just trying to figure it out just doing a move 30 times on a crash pad yeah and then moving the crash pad and doing it on thinner crash pad and doing it 20 more times and then going all right now we're doing it on the mat you know what I mean or going from sitting down and flat back bumping to a second rope the top rope this little one yeah the snapback ropes to just the middle snapbacks you know what I mean to then how do you throw the leg out it's like I walked in there the other day and I knew walking in that my day was going through tables that was the wildest concept for me ever that y'all live this way that like all the money I knew on the drive there that my destiny yeah was 10 to 15 tables you know what I'm saying I don't know what else I'm doing today but I'm going through a bunch of tables it is just so I look at that like building the album sure like I'm building the album when I'm working when I'm in there doing the quiet work the work nobody sees three or four hours a day that are becoming legend at the PC yeah you know what I mean but when I'm going out it's like rallying the troops like letting my people know that we get even at SummerSlam the underdog yeah beats the a privileged rich kid at SummerSlam you know what I mean the poor kid yeah it's the kid that grew up in Westlake gets to get in his ass you know what I mean this somebody was asking like how did you fall into this storyline I was like this is the easiest classic American storyline yeah this is real blue collar white collar storyline yeah you know this is my daddy sold me out of a truck your daddy sold houses yeah you know what I mean this is we're this is that old storyline you know I'm more Cleveland than Logan will ever be you know what I mean right that's this thing but my job is to make sure nobody doesn't know that's happened what it's so funny what's the I'm trying to think the Ted Turner quote but he has this great quote about advertising and then Arnold Schwarzenegger took it to the next level but what I like so much about what you're saying is you're talking about promoting getting everyone who's ever open their ears and eyes to know you're having this moment in this match but the product you're selling them is a good product yes that's what I like about WWE more than ever right now if if it's bad product I can I can't have that I can and today with the tension spans being what they're being like you mentioned we're talking about long-term storytelling not too long ago tension spans are tough quick to look at our phone even in any form in any genre of entertainment the arts whatever it may be but I like the idea that you're talking about Randy Orton who is currently kind of I don't think Undertaker would dislike this but he really has become the undertaker of this locker room if there was a real problem probably gonna go to Randy or Seth yeah if there was somebody that I'd tell you you know little Brody might come to TV with me sometimes I'll tell little Brody hey go say hi to Randy that's the number one same way my brother when the one time I came to a WWE show back in the day said hey you want to go meet Undertaker me not just do you want to meet him it's part of the experience you're in his locker room like oh yeah but so to everything you're saying is authentic all the way to the fact that you have the Logan Paul who is the opposite in terms of how we view him but also just going about this in such an aggressive way and seeking it on his own just got it's a great product yeah yeah I love I love that about the product yeah I tell I said this on Stephanie's pod but I want to be a little I didn't clear it say the way I could have is the only people who can watch a WWE event and not enjoy it are those who will not allow themselves yeah that's a great way to put it like just get out of your head and submit to the show allow yourself to see it through the lens of a teenager again and you will have the night of your life yep don't be the kid who's too cool it's in your head about yeah just submit to it like just allow it to be as good as it actually is I love because you're the only one not getting it because you're not allowing it to be you know what I mean like as soon as you sit down and turn that TV on and you put that phone away and you watch or you sit in that arena or stadium I've been there now that's why I'm so addicted to this stuff and I stand on stages in arenas and stadiums 200 nights a year as well this isn't you know it's not like I'm one of the few people in this business even Logan had never experienced that because of where he came from yeah he came from the internet he never knew what yeah a 65,000 person pop felt like I had felt that a few times you know what I mean and I still went in there it was like totally different pop this is a totally different experience you know I want to ask you about this you mentioned the pop okay so you're performing what's the largest crowd you've been in front of 75,000 75,000 people yeah right at 80 what that sounds like did it change you did it did you always after that think they're always gonna sound like 75,000 did it make you I've heard of this thing two of my heroes in the business so I'm gonna keep nameless in this moment they talk about the treadmill say when you get on the treadmill man it's hard to get knocked off once you're on that treadmill but it's hard to get on and I've thought a lot about the noise because that for a while was like man if they would just react a little oh my gosh and then they react a lot and then they then it's it then it's you it gives you you know the money bumps it's this whole do you feel that it's made you more attuned to how can I do this on the regular in front of stadium-sized crowds or does it always every time do you still feel like oh this is amazing this is a gift no it truly is everywhere yeah because it's like what I love about what we do and you said this about the stadiums and I didn't cut you off right then but it made my heart smile because it's another parallel of our business when you were like yeah I'm in a stadium you know the sound goes straight up people don't know that if they're not in our business yeah like if I don't if you put me somewhere that's a bowl with nothing to catch that sound just escapes so like I've had 12 000 person low ceiling arenas sound louder than 75 000 stadiums yeah you know what I mean because the ceiling captures the sound oh yeah it's really unique um but to me it's like the magic for songs is everywhere like if I sit in a room if I break a guitar right now and I sing and y'all aren't gonna give me much right and I don't expect y'all to give me much because it's a very intimate moment but I love that just as much yeah like I still get that feeling of like like I will still go play the homies backyard for his birthday if he wants me to you know what I mean like I have no problem like doing like I love every single second of it um for other we're doing it in clubs or stadiums now the difference in my business and y'all's business is there's always two people going against each other in y'all's business um at least in my bit I get the luxury of experiencing we're all there for one reason one band one sound one soul one feeling one emotion 75 000 people we are one right now in this moment you know what I mean where y'all that then that's what makes you're so much cooler because there is let down you know what I mean like the only way I'm letting somebody down is if I like get sick on stage and can't finish the show you know what I mean like part of it what we do is let down yeah to bring them back up to bring them back yeah for sure to keep them stick with you and believe that it'll shake out that way so yeah I love it anyway what about you you still love it everywhere are you chasing them stadiums now I uh I've had an experience where a room with 400 people in a small I don't even know if it was an armory a VFW home sounded like 40 000 yes I I don't know anymore so much what I'm trying I try really hard to use my ears and not get in my ego not about what it is what am I hearing and and what can I how can I give them what they want and it's it's it's not lost on me it's not it's just gotten bigger yeah if that and and that was something I never thought I would get uh for this long right so I'm sorry I'm getting like emotional but I'm grateful that it's still like when I hear it I all the guys who work with me regularly are always like oh it's gonna be great you know nuts for it and then I'll hear it and I'll be like oh yeah cool yeah all right there this is a good crowd um did you enjoy doing Stephanie's pod I enjoyed Stephanie's she's so good she is such a conversationalist too she got deep so I gotta tell you the Stephanie story and I only want to tell you because I feel like I've never gotten it out there I don't think her and I have talking about it but it's one of my favorite moments uh and to this day I've never she's always had I mean she was Stephanie me man so she already had one on everybody but I feel like she's got 20 on me because of this moment so I was sitting at the monitor with my tag partner at the time not aware she was standing behind me and uh one of the girls who was heavy-chested runs to the ring in a run-in and I'm watching and I'm just going dum-da-dum-da-dum dum-da-dum I'm making I'm making this sound and I'm going dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum and then I felt her like hand and I went like that and I saw her and this is my boss even if she wasn't my boss she's my boss yeah and she just goes keep going go cool and I thought like I was mortified and that ever since then I that's all I ever think about when we're talking it's like this woman can't take me seriously she can't you remember the time I drew my girl but I'm the man yeah she's uh I look forward to uh I want to come on her pod because she's she's such a like you said a conversational y'all should do the pod swap the whole thing where you go do hers for an hour and a half and then y'all just walk right on the bus oh I like that well pod swap yeah a little pod swap my wife does it all the time with people it's like a thing shout out to your wife by the way sharing you with us physically sharing you're getting beat up yeah she's proud I mean she all right I'm dude I'm sitting I got really bruised the first week I was yeah I've never done nothing physical for the regular like I got in jail fights and stuff and like I haven't lifted weights through this process I don't have any background in anything so just locking up with grown men even though I'm just softly doing this yeah doing this a thousand times that first week I had bruises all down my shoulder yeah I had bruises on my back and I would like FaceTime my wife every night like a high school kid proud of them yeah like I'd like intentionally talking or showing them the whole time and I'll point them out just like waiting on her to acknowledge my bruise so I could be like yeah your man's working hard ain't he sitting there doing it yeah she's awesome dude you're like me though I've seen your pod with your wife y'all are very rooted in each other yeah that's kind of me and Randy share that yeah wife guy I probably shouldn't say this on this pod but I'll shoot Drew's the same way Drew's wife totally changed his life um big big wife guy like I don't look at my wife like something that's at home yeah you know I know a lot of men that do that you know what I mean like yeah the wife's better my wife going back home to the wife like I look at my wife like my best friend like I want her to be with me all the time I'm saying she's not here tonight but she's watching and she's going to be surprised whenever I it turns out the way it turns out tonight I'm scared I got to cut my first real promo we're gonna get you out there no no no it's my first real promo you got any advice I've never had to go out and like talk like this so you know the way I promos were always taught to me matches a promo promos a match so there's a structure to a promo if you're kind of going at it from the paint by numbers perspective of who I am how exciting this is shine myself up there's the adversity there I go up on a comeback and then there's a finish when we're more dealing on the larger more abstract and you're amongst the great artisan that is a Randy Orton for example the best thing I could tell you is plant your feet in the ring take them in the audience even if someone's telling you this even if the clock is saying one thing and just speak from the heart speak from the heart if you know what you're talking about what you do you have your feelings on Logan you have your feelings on Randy you can't go wrong and they'll that they they know you're you they want to feel like you're one of them and every time you've been out there everything you've done has made it feel like oh he's one of us you know he's a fan who transcended his own industry to jump into this industry and he's treating it with reverence yes sir so oh man um yeah no you're uh I wanted to to shout her out because she's sharing but one thing I'll say and then we're gonna get into this game there's a whole generation of people that did family at home and success away and I feel like we're entering this new thing where it's no longer you don't have to be afraid to I do this for my family exactly I don't do this to share this with I this is our success yes this is this is like even at four I've tried to explain to my daughter you know why we get to do that because we do this do you know why we're taking our time to say hi to all these folks here because it's it's part of it's hot it's ours so I love that I love that you're around other guys feel the same okay so this here is our friends at Wheely American Body this is the jingle I'll play it for you and then I will ask you to replace a word this song right here is for the red white and blue you got good taste and you drink like it too American Buck Wheatley so good I drink it what? Wheatley so good I drink it neatly and that would be the part that you change to uh tailor it to your taste Wheatley so good I drink it what? yeah um Wheatley so good I drink it beastly beastly I love that or you or you could do the bend word and use easily but take out the vowel yeah and go Wheatley's uh so good I drink it easily yeah you know what I mean I like beastly yeah beastly's gangster though right I just went like Wheatley's yeah thanks man beastly you know what I mean like ah because weekly wasn't it you know what I mean so yeah I felt like beastly yeah just bear it yeah there we go you know what I mean there we go as we do more of these I realize that we're probably gonna start running into repeat answer but we haven't no not yet beastly's yours oh good your beastly yeah I think I'll own that yeah that's taken that'll be mine that's yours thank you so much for coming dude thank you can I say one more thing before we get out of here say hell yeah I was thinking about something I love when I'm a big storyteller like you and I love when stories stop where they start yeah and I love when there's a overarching theme and we started this podcast with you saying this is probably this is the first time maybe the only time I'll ever have a Grammy nominated artist uh-huh first of all I hope you are wrong I hope you have tons of Grammy winners and nominated artists on here and I'll give you my roll of decks but I will say in the middle of this story he says I'm gonna touch my soul when you said I stayed in every night and I shook those hands for an hour in Bakersfield to tell them I'm coming back with the title yeah I have been nominated for four Grammys and I have a 1-1 Cody yeah when I finish my story I'm coming back on this bus yes and I'm setting that Grammy right here yes and we're gonna turn it sideways and we're gonna take a shot of Wheatley Bach out of it oh my gosh consider it done I believe you I can't you I love that yes sir I'm gonna finish my story yes yep I uh I I'm just looking forward to it because I know what's gonna happen that's great and then and then my goal is I might not be the first Grammy winner you have on this bus by then I hope but I'm gonna be the first one that brings the Grammy oh yeah yeah what I'm saying for sure and bringing the Grammy we were talking about this with Nikki Bella last week bringing the Grammy is the most wrestler thing ever yeah which I love it I love it yeah do you have the gimmick with you yep I do yeah so but be careful because you bring a Grammy around here wrestler start being like maybe you hit me with the Grammy so can you hit somebody yeah so oh man well thank you and uh I look forward to the next one thanks for your time thank you brother love the pod look yeah we had fun love you too thank you sorry my problems wait I'm nervous not sure I just off you gotta go see the promo