Summary
Logan Paul discusses his journey from early YouTube creator to WWE superstar, detailing his rise to fame, the Japan incident that nearly destroyed his career, his redemption through boxing and faith, and his current success in WWE and collecting businesses. He reflects on the importance of work ethic, surrounding yourself with honest advisors rather than yes-men, and finding purpose beyond seeking external validation.
Insights
- Early success and unchecked validation can create dangerous blind spots; surrounding yourself with yes-men accelerates poor decision-making at scale
- Public accountability and transparent redemption can be more powerful than private recovery; Logan's willingness to be judged at his worst enabled genuine transformation
- Passion-driven business models (WWE + collecting + content) outperform when all three elements align: business viability, personal passion, and storytelling ability
- Combat sports and physical discipline serve as humbling mechanisms that ground ego and rebuild character in ways passive reflection cannot
- Understanding audience psychology (booing as engagement, not rejection) is critical for entertainment business success; indifference is worse than negative reaction
Trends
Creator-to-traditional-media crossover: YouTube personalities successfully transitioning to WWE and mainstream entertainment with built-in audiencesRedemption narratives as brand strategy: Public figures leveraging documented mistakes and recovery as authenticity markers and contentPassion-driven diversification: Successful creators building multiple revenue streams (entertainment, collectibles, consumer products) around genuine interestsAnti-suicide messaging and mental health advocacy emerging as high-impact content category with measurable social outcomesCollectibles market maturation: Trading cards and rare items becoming legitimate alternative asset class with institutional-level valuationsFaith and spirituality integration in mainstream entertainment and business discourse among younger entrepreneursAudience engagement inversion: Negative reactions (booing) reframed as superior engagement metric compared to passive approval in live entertainment
Topics
YouTube Creator Economy and Platform EvolutionProfessional Wrestling Business Model and EntertainmentPersonal Redemption and Public AccountabilityWork Ethic and Consistency as Success FactorsCombat Sports Training and Character DevelopmentCollectibles Market and Alternative InvestmentsPokemon Trading Cards and Nostalgia-Driven ValuationContent Creation Strategy and Viral MomentsFaith and Spirituality in BusinessAudience Psychology and Engagement MetricsCelebrity Brand Building and DiversificationMental Health Advocacy and Anti-Suicide MessagingParenting and Child Development in Digital AgeUFO Phenomena and Conspiracy TheoriesWWE Talent Development and Character Work
Companies
WWE
Logan Paul's primary professional focus; discussed his WrestleMania debut, character development, and commitment to t...
YouTube
Platform where Logan Paul built initial audience starting at age 10; discussed his early video uploads and content cr...
The Pokemon Company
Owner of Pokemon IP; Logan extensively discussed his collecting passion and $16.5M Pokemon card sale
TKO Group
Parent company of WWE; Logan referenced the Netflix deal and revenue growth under TKO ownership
Fanatics
Co-producer of the podcast; mentioned as partner in WWE and Fanatics original production
Prime Energy
Logan's beverage brand; discussed product line including hydration drinks, energy drinks, and newly released protein ...
Golden Gate Bridge Authority
Logan referenced their installation of suicide prevention nets, influenced by his anti-suicide PSA work
People
Logan Paul
Guest discussing his career trajectory from YouTube to WWE, personal redemption, and business ventures
Stephanie McMahon
Host of 'What's Your Story?' podcast; conducted interview and provided industry perspective on WWE business
Vince McMahon
Referenced for his vision in elevating wrestling business and hiring Logan Paul despite not fully understanding socia...
Jake Paul
Logan's brother; mentioned throughout regarding early video creation, growth trajectory, and shared childhood experie...
Kevin Hines
Featured in Logan's anti-suicide PSA; profiled for his story of surviving suicide attempt and advocacy work
Kristen Pouty
WWE executive who convinced Logan Paul to join WWE and facilitated his initial pitch to Vince McMahon
Bruce Prichard
Came backstage after Logan's first match to explain that audience booing was positive engagement signal
Bob Lazar
Discussed for his Area 51 story and upcoming documentary; Logan attempting to contact him about UFO footage
Gary Vaynerchuk
Recommended Pokemon collecting to Logan Paul, influencing his entry into the collectibles market
Joe Rogan
Referenced regarding his assessment of Bob Lazar's credibility in UFO discussions
Eddie Guerrero
Logan referenced performing Eddie Guerrero's signature move (frog splash) during WrestleMania debut
Rey Mysterio
Opponent in Logan's first WrestleMania match where he performed frog splash
The Miz
Mentioned as training partner during Logan's early WWE matches
Tom Brady
Logan joked about apologizing to him for earlier trash talk about his football abilities
Quotes
"Ironically, I was literally born, bred, and designed to be a wrestler."
Logan Paul•Opening
"The ignorance was a tool. A 10 year old not knowing the lexicon, a 10 year old figuring out the lexicon and being able to do it. That's the switch."
Logan Paul•Early career discussion
"If you work hard consistently, big keyword right there, day in and day out, you're unstoppable."
Logan Paul•Work ethic discussion
"I developed this error of invincibility. I thought I was unstoppable. Because everything you did was so well received. Well received, turned to gold."
Logan Paul•Pre-Japan reflection
"I am grateful that I took that opportunity to backtrack, really look myself in the mirror, and ask myself how and why that happened."
Logan Paul•Redemption discussion
"The worst is nothing. Have you ever heard crickets? Yeah, that's not good. We don't like crickets."
Logan Paul•Audience engagement discussion
Full Transcript
Ironically, I was literally born, bred, and designed to be a wrestler. No, I'm well aware of that. I wasn't aware of that. I'm well aware of it. I wasn't aware of that until the first time I saw you. Really? I'm getting goosebumps. I thought it immediately. That's crazy. I didn't see it at all. It wasn't until after our first WrestleMania, I came backstage and your dad was like, your future is here. Or something like that. I was like, okay buddy. Okay. We'll see about that. I've heard about you. Yeah. Oh, what's your story? Don't you dare be sour. Clap for Stephanie and feel the power. This is a WWE and Fanatics original production brought to you by Game Day Men's Health. Do you have a side that you prefer? Really? I'm not on it. Would you prefer we switch? Would you do that? Sure. Do you not have a side? No. Wow, must be nice. Well, I mean, I would have a side, but I'm not aware of what my side is. I would totally switch if you let me. Yeah, do you want to switch? Yeah. It would be kind of fun. Can we tell that because it's your side? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. It's great. No, I have to fight people for it. You don't have to fight me. Okay, so I'm sandwiched now. Yes. Hi. I touch her a lot. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. Oh, now we're cooking. Now we're cooking. Should we interview her? Yeah, I think maybe. Should I feel bad for taking the host seat? Why? This is actually good because this is where I sit for my pod. Okay, this is perfect then. I'm the one out of my element. I mean, no, of course. Thanks. Of course. If you feel more confident in a particular. Yeah, I feel good about it. Every time I'm... So what is it about the side? I'm asymmetrical. My face is asymmetrical. But everyone's face is asymmetrical. I think it's because my hair swoops this way. Okay. And I think my jawline is sharper on this side. Not think it is. And every time I do a podcast, opposite, I'm just like, eh, I should have done it differently. You don't feel as good. No. You don't feel as confident. Uh-uh. When did you discover that you had a side? Probably like early 20s. Really? Probably early 20s. But now you started vlogging when you were 10, right? I wouldn't call it vlogging. Okay, educate me. Yes. What would it be called? Wait, so this is about... We've begun. Yeah. Right? We're going. And you want to know my story? Yes, this is about you. Bro. Which I have a feeling is your favorite topic, no? I am pretty sick. I have a baseball seat switch. I am pretty awesome. You are. I mean... I'm pretty sick, Steph. And a big success? I'd say even bigger than big. You are. You're a phenomenal success story. But I also think you haven't peaked yet. So I don't want to, like, because then where do you go from there, right? Yeah, no, I don't think so either. It's crazy because, you know, they said I peaked in high school and then I just... Yeah, no. They were so wrong. They were so wrong. They were so wrong. But so what did you start doing at 10 that was akin to vlogging? I think it was actually nine. I was nine years old. I had this weird obsession with being able to capture what I was seeing with my eyes on a screen. Started with digital cameras. I was obsessed with taking pictures of flowers as a nine-year-old boy. Flowers. My mom was going to paint my room one day. She said, look, what do you want to paint your room? Like, anything special? I was like, Mom, I kind of want to put flowers on the wall. Really? Yeah, and like my dad sat me down. He's like... Son? Son, you know, boys don't normally do that kind of thing. I was like, yeah, yeah, nah. I was kidding. I was kidding. Put a football in there, dad. Dude, let's put basketballs on the wall. I was like, nah, nah, nah. But I really like taking pictures of flowers. I love the aesthetic of seeing the flowers on my digital camera. And then it graduated to a video camera when I got enough money for my birthday parties. I saved up for a video camera. And I was obsessed with being a goofball on camera and then going and watching it back. I don't know why. I don't know why. I just thought it was incredible. You could save a moment visually so we can watch it forever. Right. And then this new site called YouTube had just come out. I'm like 10 years old. I'm trying to, as a 10 year old, imagine figuring out the nomenclature of digital media. What the hell does a 10 year old know about the word upload? Well, you learn, right? Because I'm just sitting there on my computer. And you're like a sponge. I think when you're that age, there's no reason for you not to learn it. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I'm like, you figure things out in a different way when you're younger and there's just, you don't think you can't figure it out. Right? Like there's no, nothing stopping you. You're just going to figure out how to do it and do it. Indeed. The ignorance was a tool. Yes. Because I was just like, dude, I don't think of it as ignorance though. A 10 year old not knowing the lexicon. A 10 year old figuring out the lexicon and being able to do it. Yeah. That's the switch. Yeah. That is true. But did you love art? Or it was just all digital? Digital art. It was mostly digital. And the colors. I liked the colors. Or like textures and patterns in the flowers. Like what specifically was it that drew you to it? I just thought flowers were so beautiful. I don't know why. I liked the way they looked on a screen and then we went to Washington, D.C. one year and I would take pictures of all the monuments. I liked capturing these beautiful things on screen. You had a vision, maybe? Yeah, kind of. Like I just had this burning desire to capture. And just enjoy. And did you, like because you grew up in a different world than I did because digital didn't exist when I was growing up, like what did you, what were you drawn to? Like you became a content creator so young. Did you, is that a pattern that you followed? Did you see someone else creating content? No. No, no, no. What is just your own? No, there's not such thing as a YouTuber. Yeah. There's just like that wasn't, that wasn't a thing. I'm telling you, just like. Are you one of the first? I guess from a chronological technical standpoint, yes. But Steph, I didn't make it for eight years. I made videos with no one watching with my brother for eight years. But they all exist today. So no. No. So I actually, this is one of my biggest regrets in life. I went back and deleted the original batch of YouTube videos that my brother and I made because I was at this point now in sixth grade, right? So I'm 11. I've been making videos with Jake for two years. And I went to go show this girl. Her name was Molly. I still remember her name. Molly. I went to go show her our videos. And I was so proud. I was like, this goofy video is online. I'm editing. I'm uploading. I figured out what it meant. I'm uploading these videos. And I showed this girl Molly. And she's like, yo, that's so cringe. These are, these are, this is not funny. Oh no. And it destroyed me. Molly. I was like, I was literally like, wait, this girl doesn't like my video. Like girls don't like my videos. This is, this is horrible. And I went and I went and I deleted all of them. And you don't have them anywhere. We found them. They're backed up. Thank God. So no regrets. I wish they were public. Because like you can still make them. We can, we can, that's actually not a bad idea. I mean, you can release. That's not, that is not a bad idea. I'm just saying that's incredible. I mean, these, these videos like, like nine year old and seven year old Jake and Logan Paul. That's pretty cool. Do you know my first ever video was me doing, me and Jake doing stunts in our basement, doing stunts in our basement, like, which by the way is exactly what I'm doing now as an adult, but I'm not in my basement. I'm in a ring in front of 50,000 people. Like I, like ironically, I was literally born, bred and designed to be a wrestler. I'm well aware of that. I wasn't aware of that. I'm well aware of that until the first time I saw you. Really? I'm getting goosebumps. I thought it immediately. That's, I didn't see it at all. It wasn't until after our first WrestleMania, I came backstage and your dad was like, your future is here or something like that. I was like, okay, buddy, we'll see about that. I've heard about you. Yeah. I was like, dude, I have, I have few, but I have a couple of funny stories about your dad. And that was one of those. I was like, yeah, okay, we'll see about that. And then I went right to the locker room and I see me doing the frog splash and all these moves with the Miz. I was like, yo, I look like a wrestler. This is crazy. I was like, I was buying it. I was buying what I was selling in that ring. I was like, oh, shit. Yeah. Maybe Vince was right. He was right. What are some of the other funny stories? Okay. So part of the reason WWE originally hired me was because I had a social presence. I followed followers online. You guys do this. You'll bring an outsider's integrate the audience. It's a nice cross pollination, if you will. And I went to the office to pitch him my ideas and what I could bring to the WWE and how I thought I could add value. And this is after your first. This was, I think this was before. Yeah. This was before WrestleMania. I was like, these are my ideas. This is what I want to do. I'm big into making moments. And I was like, what are the big moments? You know, we've had a lot in WWE to this point, but I pitched him these kind of like what I considered innovative viral ideas. For me, it was all about virality. Sure. What's the moment? And I tell him. Something you understand better than most. Yeah. Yeah. I understand it pretty well. Thank you. Yeah. No, you do for sure. No doubt. So I talked for like 15 minutes in this meeting and Vince didn't say a word. He was just like nodding and I'm like, dude, am I resonating? Like, also does he even know what I'm saying? Can he even just hear me? Like, I was, I really wasn't sure. I was like, dude, I sort of feel like I'm speaking a foreign language. And we walked out and I spoke to my WWE rep, Kristen Pouty. I was like, who was a big fan of yours by the way? She's incredible. She is the whole reason why she is. Why you're here. No, no, no, no, I know that. She convinced me. She's like, you got to do it. I was like, I guess I'll try. Like, now it's my life. Yeah. But I walked out and to Kristen, I was like, yo, I don't think he understood. Oh, she said it. She said it. She goes, I don't think he understood a word you said. I was like, dude, I know. I know. Damn. It's like, I wonder if he's going to like hire me, but it apparently it's like, it's downloaded in some way. Yeah. It downloaded in some way. Well, I mean, he's ultimate showman, right? So when social media first started, I was running our digital team at the time and I remember going to a conference and I was hearing somebody talk about how social media is not 100% of one person's job. It's 1% of 100% of everybody's job. And I brought that to Vince and he goes, no, no, no, no, it's 100% of 100%. And then he was trying to make every department at that time implement social media and we had to generate weekly reports on what our departments were doing in social media. And even though he didn't totally get it, he got it. Yeah. Right? Like he, he's genius that way, the ultimate promoter and he, he knew even if he didn't understand you, he understood that you got something about going direct to the people because that's the other thing. You bypass all the middlemen, you go right to the people. And by the way, that's the brilliance of Vince McMahon. Yeah. We've seen that over the years. It's like you have this ability to adapt even if you aren't entirely sure what's going on. You rely on people who are experts in a craft and the WWE and Vince trust me. I was the last person Vince ever signed, which I thought was really cool. You said there were a couple of stories. Yeah, that's all. Yeah. Okay. That was two. I mean, yeah. Those are my two Vince stories. But you know, you know, you know what I learned from that and your dad just in general, it's all about the show. It's all about the product. He, he, he built something that he would have died for it. For sure. Like actually, like it was all about entertaining people. Well, and I have so much just respect. So he, it was always his goal to elevate the business. Right. And, you know, because for a long time ago, it was seen as sort of smoky bar room, like crass low class type entertainment. And it was always his goal because he could see it was Broadway. You know, it was Hollywood. It was the best of athleticism, the best of entertainment. And he always really wanted to elevate the business. And that was sort of my mentality as well. You know, coming in, but he took it to levels nobody ever imagined possible. I mean, and now look at where we are, you know, it's, I used to rattle off all the stats. And I'm sure they've only grown. The stats have only grown mostly because of me. Well, I mean, a lot because of you. A lot because. Yeah. 80, 90 percent because, you know, maybe more, maybe more, the gates. I mean, you're being, you're being a little humble. It's my thing. It's more like 95 percent. Maybe look, I, again, I want to remain humble. Everyone knows I'm the humble king. But it's just so hard sometimes, but I'll try my best here. It's, it is the product is arguably the best it's ever been, at least from a revenue standpoint. Certainly. Sure. Again, like you're welcome, TKO for the Netflix deal. Yeah, you know, I never got to personally thank you. You're welcome. Yes. Thank you. Because I mean, my whole life I've fought for this company and I've given everything I had to get it to, you know, the places that I could, but I couldn't have dreamt to have gone to the level that you. I appreciate you saying that. Now you have star power. Yes. True star power. Now you're true star power. And this knack for understanding the business and wrestling and the art of professional wrestling in a way that veterans could only dream of. No, I know it's actually even shocking to me how natural I am at it. Which is true. You are very natural at it, but obviously. Yeah, no, it's me. I'm the guy, but yeah, but that's neither here nor there. What I'm saying is this. I actually feel like we should take inspiration from kind of like the attitude era. Like, I'm trying to get messy. Yeah, I'm trying to take the shit to the next level. Steph, let me tell you something that I bring to the table. Okay, tell me Logan that no other wrestler does an actual brain. Oh, I have intellect. You do. And it is being underutilized, not just not just intelligence. I have a creative ability that I don't think most of my peers have. I have ideas. You do have ideas. The good ones. The good ones. I want to be heard. I want to be heard because I think I can do what your dad did in elevating the WWE beyond just the WWE Universe. Fuck the universe. We go in a dimensional. We go in a dimensional. I'm with you. Not just I don't want to just serve the audience. Yeah, the audience is great. Whatever. You guys are going to pay for your tickets. You'll be there. You're predictable. But what we want to do is reach fan bases beyond just the traditional WWE audience. That's correct. That's what I do. Correct. That's what I do. You know that was the whole idea behind WrestleMania one, right? Yes, exactly. Yes, that was the whole thing, bringing together celebrity across all different spectrums. Yes. You know, bringing it all together and getting audiences from all different walks of life. And it worked. And it worked. And we need to do more of it. But honestly, but you're all of that. And what? Yeah, but I mean, I mean, stop. You gotta chill out. You gotta chill out. I know I'm fangirling over here. Stop, stop. She switched seats. Just, just take it easy. But I do, I do, I do believe that you are incredibly intelligent. And I do think that that is the difference in life between who really makes it and who doesn't, especially in this business. This isn't about hype or luck. It's about optimization, living stronger, thinking clearer, and performing better every day. At Game Day Men's Health, that's the standard. Game Day Men's Health helps men improve testosterone, energy, and sexual performance with real testing and face-to-face visits. They help men reach their full potential with science-backed care from testosterone optimization and peptide therapy to ED and performance support with personalized treatment plans. With over 400 clinics across North America, they've got you covered. No long waits, no online guesswork. When life demands you be at your best, every day is Game Day. Learn more or book your visit at gamedaymen'shealth.com. Going back to a young you, being able to build the empire that you've built, that's not happenstance. Maybe some luck, but it's a lot of your hard work. Hard work is one of the lessons I learned very, very, very young. It's one of the consistent themes of any successful person that we've interviewed on this podcast is that you have to outwork everybody. I'm curious your stance on work ethic and how it helped you get to where you are. WWE aside, right? But how it helped get you to where you are today. It contributes to the entirety of my success. Is the most important characteristic that a person can have? What is your work ethic? If you work hard consistently, big keyword right there, day in and day out, you're unstoppable. My dad is a bit of a lunatic. If I have some of his traits in me, I'm not going to lie. My wife sometimes says your Greg is showing. It's my dad's name. And sometimes my Greg does show. And what does that mean? It's just a little unhinged sometimes ego. We'll unpack that later. What I'm saying is this, he would make Jake and I work our asses off as children. Like he definitely broke most of the child labor laws. I consider calling the services. And what would you do? So he would have us work at hoarder's houses and cleaning up like the houses that he was refurbishing and renovating. Yeah, yeah, smart for him. But like, bro, you weren't paying us, dude. Like our pay. Come on. Where's my money, dog? You're making money. These are these were not chores. But and how old were you? Eight. Oh, nine, 10. Like I was a child working like 12 to 16 hour days. And my pay was Wendy's for lunch. And I hated it. Jake and I hate it. Like this is how we're spending our summer, dad. However, we worked our asses off doing something that we hated. So when we found something we loved, you were all in the hard work was given. Of course we're going to work hard. We were scrubbing inches, four inches of gunk from every little crevice in a house. So my dad could refurbish it and make, you know, five to 10 K. Are you a handyman? Are you handy around the house? The most, the most minimal bit possible. I prefer to hire people. But you could if you if need be. I can fix stuff. You can fix stuff. OK. All right, just make it sounds sounds like you could. No, I could do most things. Yeah. But you work hard enough. And if not, you'll figure it out. Yeah. Right. He's worked hard enough so that he doesn't have to do it. Right. That's right. Right. That's the goal. I prefer to let others do it. So when you found something that you loved, when was that? Like, so you started making this content with Jake Mollie shut you down. And then what happened? Yeah, I think I think I think the first thing that I kind of saw that hard work really manifest in an interesting way was wrestling. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I started wrestling when I was 12 years old. I wasn't going to do it because I had wrestled at age like seven and eight, like youth wrestling. And I just I honestly hated it. Really? The room was smelly. The it was hard. I just no one else in my school was wrestling. It's like it's like it's not like the cool kid sport. I think it's becoming cool. But back then it was like not cool. And I never makes fun of the gear. And I'm just a 20 man. The single. Yeah. And so I was like, dude, this is not for it. But I was but I was decent. So I wrestled for two years when I was seven and eight. When I was 12, the coach approached me at school. He's like, hey, I think you should consider wrestling. You know, you play football. Maybe maybe just like come to the room. I was like, I'm not going to do it, bro. He's like, just I think you'd be good at it. And it's crazy because like a simple conversation like that entirely altered the trajectory of my life because I showed up as a 12 year old and I was good because I had those two years of experience and I had athletic ability. And it was something that I was naturally kind of good at and was better than 95 percent of the kids. So I kind of feeling I kind of found something that I was like, oh, shit. Oh, I'm not bad at this. And then I kept I kept wrestling and I was like, oh, man. Were you always a little bigger? No, no, my friends actually call me shrimp. Really? I was the shortest, smallest one of the group. When was your growth spurt? I was 17. I was a junior in high school. Wow. Yeah. Late. Very late. I was I was yeah, I was late bloomer. Jake's growth spurt wasn't till he was like 22. I'm not kidding, dude. Look at look at pictures of Jake as like a 20, 21 year old. He is a tiny, tiny person. Really? Now he's a big boy. Yeah. Thick. Yeah. Two C's. But so here you are on the wrestling team. Yeah. And and and doing well. And you did wrestling and football. Yeah. Which is very challenging. Yeah, I played both ways. Like, Steph, I really do at all. I'm not I'm not just saying that. And like, no, no, I'm aware. I'm aware of the people, the people who like are like, oh, like. How dare you talk smack to Tom Brady and then like. I beat him. Well, I love your apology. About your 19. Well, I was I'm sorry, Jaylen Hurst. That must be fucking embarrassing. Yeah. I mean, and you're afraid that you're going to impact his future contract negotiations, which makes me an empath. That was right. You apologize. You also are an empath. I mean, is there anything you're not. But so I do want to ask you about a particular time in your life. And, you know, no one's path is perfectly linear. One of the things we always talk about on this show is like, what are your lessons? What are your biggest lessons that you've learned? Because we all make mistakes. Even the great Logan Paul at some point in time has made mistakes. Right. Especially, especially. Especially here you are on the rise. And actually, maybe we should start with the rise, right? Like, when did you really you started with Vine? No, you want to get to Japan. I get I do want to get there. Let's let's go. I want to get there. Let's go. OK, we can go right there. Now, because the rise is whatever. It did some vines, made some viral videos, got a lot of followers. I mean, it's pretty whatever, like, hugely successful. It worked. Yeah. But you know what else it did? OK. It altered my priorities. It made me someone that I didn't want to be. How so? I developed this error of invincibility. I thought I was unstoppable. Because everything you did was so well received. Well received, turned to gold. Millions of people validating you every single day, whether your behavior is right or wrong. It's just I think this Internet life can really skew your values. And my values got skewed as a as a 21 year old. It's so young to be so successful. There's a lot of parallels to people in Hollywood and everything else, right? It's when you're all you hear is, you know, you have the people who are just putting you over all the time, saying how great you are. How do you not believe it at 21 years old? Especially with no guardrails in place. Right. I didn't have a babysitter. I didn't have like a team, a review team who would like. Well, and that team is not going to check you anyway, because they're all making money off you. That's the other thing. So they're encouraging you. That's the other thing, Steph. It's like as a 21 year old. I didn't have the wherewithal to realize that having the yes men around me. Would actually ultimately hurt me so much worse because that validation, you there's there's no room for criticism because if I got criticized by someone internally, it's like, wait, you don't you don't believe in me. Get out of here. Fuck out of here. Yeah. It's I didn't I didn't foster that environment. And that's a mistake. That's a huge mistake. Now my team knows. Like if you do not fucking yes, men, me if anything, like, tell me no, but also don't be a dickhead about it. Right. And tell me nicely. Don't don't don't always tell me it's a great idea, but but. Yeah, whatever it is. But like, I also don't need the the naysayers. Right. But like, I do want to hear it. Yeah. I do want to hear like perspective. Yes. Bingo. Yeah. And so, yeah, at that point in my life, pre-Japan, I was I was really just chasing attention. That was anything and everything. Didn't matter. I was like, what is the next craziest thing I can do to get to get attention? And then. Wrong place, wrong time in Japan. Didn't turn the cameras off, made a huge error. But so what made you go to Japan? I had always wanted to go to Tokyo. So it was just like a whim kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we were travel for vlogs and because you were now vlogging. Yeah, we were. I was vlogging at the time, which is another. Absolute beast of an endeavor to shoot 10 to 20 minutes of cut down edited footage every single day. You can't you don't have time to think about what like literally what you're doing. It's like, live the day, edit the video. It goes up the next day. And so you were you were putting content out daily every single day for how long? Four hundred and sixty days. Wow. That's a full TV show every day. We shoot 12 hours a day, maybe more. That's crazy. Every single day. But you loved it. I thought I did. I thought I did. You love the attention. I love the attention. Yeah, that's what I loved. Yeah, it was definitely fun. It had its moments, but it was a vehicle to feed the worst parts of who I was becoming. And well, I mean, you can go back and psychoanalyze everything, right? So it's like if you feel for some reason growing up that you don't not that you feel this way, but you don't get the attention that that you want from the people you love the most for whatever reason that you seek it and attention can feel so good. Right. And I think you can mistake it for love and holes that might have felt like we're there. So it's a very normal, natural thing. You know, to to seek it. It doesn't make you a bad person or that it was a bad side of you. It was just a side of you that needed something. Yeah, it's it's always crazy because. It's it's a little hard to sit here and like rationalize some of the decisions and like we can try and I've certainly tried, but it's not rationalizing the decisions. It's just the the why. Yeah, you know, the why, the attention, regardless of the decisions that went into that. I don't I don't fully know why. I mean, I've tried to unpack it. It's not like I had like self-esteem issues or anything. I think maybe I just wanted to like prove to people and myself that I was a certain person. Sure. I don't know. I don't even know. Yeah, but it doesn't make you a bad person. But so what happened? Yeah, well, you guys you take a trip. Yeah, we took a trip. We wanted to shoot a video. I mean, everyone knows this story. I want to give you like broad strokes because I actually. Only what you're comfortable with. Yeah, I mean, everyone knows. It even obviously makes me a little uncomfortable. Yeah, so you don't have to talk about specifically what happened. What happened after? There was a a righteous fallout and. God was just and I basically lost everything that I'd spent the last. Eleven years building. And I deserved it. And I think people. See two sides of this. There are people who are like, yeah, that was that was was fucked up. I can't believe you did that. There are people who were like people overreacted. I'm actually I agree with the former. I think it was I think it was a mistake. I think it didn't need to happen. That said, I. I'm grateful that I took that opportunity to. Backtrack. Really look myself in the mirror. And ask myself how and why that happened. How did I get here? What? What? Where did where did it? Where could I possibly went wrong in my life? Where I thought that was a good idea. And. Asking myself those questions and doing my best to be honest with the answers. Led me down a separate path that has ultimately led me to become someone who I can say I'm really proud of and I'm really happy with. But it's because I was willing to. Really become a better person. Or at least do my absolute best to try to become a better person. And I understood that. Forgiveness was not a given. But I did ask to earn just a chance to be forgiven. Just open your mind. Give me give me a chance. Let me let me try to show the world and show people like. The best version of myself. And. For me. I started experimenting with a bunch of different things to. Try to find myself or at least like who I who I wanted to be. I went I went vegan for a little bit. I know it sounds silly, but like I thought there was like an empathy thing maybe tied into like animals and like the food you consume. And maybe it alters the way you think I I started skydiving. So I was like, I'm going to put myself in positions where like, you know, life or death decisions are made on a whim. I let myself fall in love for like the first real time in my life. And I thought maybe that would could teach me some things about life. And then I started boxing because. Combat sports have an interesting way of allowing you to fight as hard as you possibly want. But you're still going to get the fucking shit kicked out of you every day. And you have to show up the next day and the next day and the next day if you want to get better. And so boxing for me was a way to kind of. Reground myself. Humble myself. And once again, become a. Likeable human being. Or at least a human being that could like themselves again. Right. Because I told you we've logged for four hundred and sixty days straight. I took that month off. After YouTube blacklisted me and was, you know, basically went from being the golden boy to the most disgraced YouTuber in history. And I realized I don't know who I am. And so even when I like came back, I was still just pretending. I was still and then I and then I like tried to be the villain and I was like, that's not me either. Like, who the fuck am I? Who am I? And so how do you figure out who you are? For me, I just did a lot of stuff. I did a lot of stuff. I grew up. I was willing to learn from my mistakes. And after dedicating myself to boxing, I realized, OK, I think, I think, I think I'm on the road. I don't maybe know who I am just yet, but I am on the right path. I think people are always trying to figure out who they are. And like, what is my identity? Right. I hear that so often. And you went through it so publicly. And that's so hard. And you were so young. It's both a blessing and a curse, though, because also like you sleep in the bed that you make, sure, you know, and the blessing is that. I am being critiqued and judged rightfully by millions of people. And so with that, I was able to. Mold my betterment in a really fitting way. The or that's that's maybe that is the blessing and the curse, but also it's like it's all out there. Right. You know, like this is this. I mean, there's no skeletons in the closet. That's this is this is judge me at my worst. And that's fair, because that's the bed that I made. Yeah, but we all make mistakes, right? And some people hit rock bottom in a different way. Some people are using drugs or, you know, different things and they do unspeakable things they would never imagine they were capable of doing. I mean, horrific things. And we are all human. We are all capable of doing that. Right. So it's the fact that you had the opportunity to or not even to do that. We're not even the opportunity, the fact that you embraced what happened and turned yourself into the best version of yourself. Right. And you and we are all always trying to be the best versions of ourselves every day. Right. If that's the path that we're on, you're never ultimately going to, you know, you're always chasing, right? Always trying to be the best person, but you have rebuilt your career into something I think you're very proud of. Very. I'm very proud of where I am. Yeah. And you should be. Thank you. But I also. And you're a person who fell in love and has an amazing wife and a beautiful baby girl. Thank you. Right. And I'm sure you couldn't have imagined yourself in that position. No, no, I definitely thought it was impossible. But beyond even the personal outcome of it all, I have to say, and I don't think I talk about this enough, I'm really proud of how we were able to funnel all that negative attention from the Japan incident into positive anti-suicide PSA messaging. Yes. I have the most viewed anti-suicide video in history. It's called Suicide Be Here Tomorrow. I profiled a guy named Kevin Hines, who's a dear friend of mine at this point, who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived. You heard his story. Yeah. He's an incredible orator. He travels the world speaking about self-love and positivity. And his story is so interesting because, and I don't want to butcher this, I'll do my best, but he said the moment that his legs went over the railing, like the instant his legs went over the railing, he regretted it, which is interesting because without getting too into the weeds, and I hope this comes across, that methodology allows a person to have that time for regret. Yeah. And so Kevin is now able to share that experience with people who are feeling self-doubt or who are need to, or who need to hear that loving thyself is possible. And there are people out there who can help you get through the thing. And so I got to highlight and profile this amazing individual with this amazing message in a way where we have one of the most impactful anti-suicide videos in history. And then Kevin has gone on to, like I said, just be so impactful with his message, including he's making a film at the moment about how after decades of trying to convince the San Francisco government to do this, they finally put a net under the bridge. Wow. They finally put a net under the bridge via legislature and however they got it done, they got it done. And so like now hundreds of people are not dying at the hand of the Golden Gate Bridge. And I am able to empower Kevin. And amplify. And amplify it. And so I thought, like I have to say, I am proud of that. You should be. I'm proud of that. I was able to, I think, make the best of a not so great situation. Right, of a horrible situation. And that speaks volumes to who you are. It really does. Thanks. Was faith a part of your journey at all? It is for some, it isn't for others. It's interesting you asked that. It has not until recently. In fact, I have gone pretty viral in the past for sort of mocking faith and religion. And it's so crazy because after I did that, I like felt the wrath of God. Literally, like after I publicly mocked faith, God punished me. And it wasn't like an immediate switch up like, oh, I believe now, please, like leave me alone. I'm sorry. No, hell no. My ego was like, nah, I'm not like this is just this is a coincidence. This is like whatever. But years later, I noticed when I started opening my heart up to God. So when I pray, I say, dear God, creator, universe, Jesus. A deity of sorts. It's got to be one of those. If not all of them. You just name them all. I just feel like I checked the box. Well, because Steph, I've always had a semi-difficult time subscribing to a religion. Sure. Like I guess. You believe certain pieces of different religions. They all have like merit in their own way. Like some of them. And the message sort of is like the same generally. Be a good person. I love the forgiveness aspect of Christianity. I think it is such a powerful thing to do to be able to forgive people and forgive yourself. Yeah. And I think that's the key. Yeah. Like my faith journey started with one simple question. It was what would Jesus do? Hmm. And in this particular situation that I was in, my answer was he would forgive. And I employed it and it worked. And I started opening my heart up to God and I started praying regularly and just being grateful for my life. And now faith plays a huge, a huge part of my life and my conversations with God are very important to me. That's beautiful. When you think about that, is it so much that you want the millions of people in the audience to influence your behavior when you say I needed them to, I needed them to forgive me. I needed, you know, all of that. Ultimately, do you really need them or do you really need God and yourself? Yeah. No, I, I, I, I don't. Or your family or however you look at it. Yeah. I mean, now it's just like it's my family. Yeah. Again, the values change. Early twenties, it's me, me, me, me, me. Now it's daughter, wife, me. It's family, family, family. Like, you know, like the daughter and wife are basically the same. Like this, they're the first rung on the ladder of priority for me. But the validation has become way less about what the audience thinks of me, which by the way is why I'm fantastic at my job because I don't give a fuck. Yes. I truly don't. It's great. Well, when I first got here, I gotta, I gotta tell you what. The WWE fans booed me and I was pissed. But it was great. Oh, that's what Bruce Prichard came backstage. Immediately, I was like, oh my God, he's just a natural. I didn't realize that was the currency. Yeah, no, no. It was just right there. I mean, the way they took to you, yes, they booed you, but they took to you. They cared enough to boo. Yeah, I know. I didn't, well, I didn't know that was the power. Yeah. Bruce came back. He was like, that was great. I'm like, what do you mean that was great? Everyone booed me. I was pissed. I was like, did they not know? That made them boo even more, which is so much better. Oh, my mom. Hi, mom. Hi. Hi, mom. I'm doing a podcast with Stepp McMahon. Hi. Well, I know we have. My sweet, sweet mother. Bestselling author right there. That's my sweet, sweet mom. The most stable part of this family, Hoorah. Mom's usually hard. Yeah. Yeah, no, I was pissed, Stepp. I was like, Bruce, do they not understand? I will get out of that ring and beat the shit out of all of them. And he's like, what are you talking about, bro? It's cool. He's like, it was awesome. Calm down. And then I realized, like, oh, that's my power. That's my power. Yes. Yeah. It's a real power. So take me through your WWE journey now. So you finally, you know, you get to this place, right? And you're in WWE and the audience is booing you and you don't get it. When do you get it? Because I said from the first second I saw you out there, I said to Kristen, I want to talk to him. I want to talk to him about how to enjoy that. Like, and how to work for it and how it is a good thing and how to lean into it. It's way easier said than done. It is, especially if you have no idea about our business. No, for sure. Yeah, for sure. But no clue. You come in, you get booed. You're like, unexpectedly. Yeah. And someone's telling you it's a good thing. You're like, it doesn't, I don't get that. It doesn't feel like a good thing. And you know what else is crazy? If I'll go to other venues outside of WWE, a basketball, a Knicks game, a bit, whatever. I just went to high school. Yeah. Well, the heist was different. I went to high school, high school was there. If I go to like a place where there's like adults. Right. And they'll put me on the jumbo tron. The stadium will boo. It's great. Well, outside of the WWE is actually a different beast. Oh, I don't know. Because they're the real booze. Those are real booze. Like, let's be honest, the WWE fans, I noticed it's so funny. Most of them, boo, cursing at me, going crazy, boo. But the closer I get to them, the booze get a little quieter. And then they kind of stop. And then I'm in their face and they're like, bro, can you stop my thing? Yeah, let's take a selfie. What are you doing? Like, you're pretending. Would you rather have, okay, you'd rather have them cheer when you're at a PAX TV or whatever? I don't care now. No, okay. No, no, no, no. I mean, outside of WWE, you were saying it's different. Hell no. So you do you enjoy the booze now? I feel weird when people cheer. Yeah, I get that. I actually get that. I really do. That's what an unrelatable thing to feel. Yeah, they cheer. I'm like, yeah, I'm always awkward. It throws me off my game when they cheer. Like, they say to give it, bro. Yeah. You're always supposed to do, bro. Yeah. Let me turn you quickly. Yeah. By the way, I can't. I can't. I'll get them there. Yeah. So I think the moment where I realized how awesome it was to pour salt in the wound and be the bad guy actually happened during my first WrestleMania. Okay. I got up on the ropes the very top for the first time in my career. And it was a bucket list item to jump off the top rope and WWE. Okay. What a crazy bucket list item. Before I even knew I was going to do WWE, I was like, this would be fun. And I get up on the top rope and I do the Eddie Guerrero shimmy. Right. I go like this. I like do this little face and I do this and the crowd goes crazy. Of course. Booing this shit out of me. Who's this imitator? Bingo. Frog splash, Eddie Guerrero splash. And in that moment, I watched it back. I went, oh my God, this moment right here. They went crazy. Oh yeah. Just a little moment. They went crazy. And then I watched it back and that was the highlight that everyone watched after the fact. Me frog splashing on Rey Mysterio after doing an Eddie Guerrero shimmy in a mocking disrespectful way. And I went, of course. I went, oh, this is sick. Oh, I get it. Oh, I get it. I get this. Yeah. Yeah. And then also you guys just pay me so much for being bad. I was like, this has got to be working. Let me just be worse. Do we have a chair for Logan's mom? I feel bad she's just standing back there. Okay. Okay. Okay. She's active. She's active. WWE World returns to Las Vegas this April 16th through the 20th. And it's the can't miss destination during WrestleMania week. WWE World brings the WWE Universe closer than ever to the superstars, legends, and iconic moments that define WWE with immersive exhibits, exclusive merchandise, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. See superstars like Drew McIntyre, Liv Morgan, J. Uso, Dominic Mysterio, Tiffany Stratton, and many more with even more appearances still to come. Tickets are on sale now at WWE World.com. 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Don't show the address. Maybe don't put your last name out there, but yeah, go for it. A lot of parents, I feel like, parent in a way that isn't conducive to who the child is. They're parenting in restrictive ways that fulfill them instead of letting your kid just be themselves. Every kid has innate interests. I think that kernel of what you're observing in your child is so fucking valuable. If there's one piece of information that any parent takes from this podcast, it's watch what your kid is inherently attracted to doing. There's so much value in that because odds are, I bet you, if you water that seed, you're going to grow a fucking redwood because they can figure out how to make it work, and hopefully one day do what they love to do. That's part of the reason why I'm so bussed to say I feel deeply fulfilled, deeply fulfilled with my life. That's a gift. It's a gift. It's such a blessing. It's because I get to do what I love. If you look back, we've even talked about it just on this podcast, stunts, wrestling, hard work, making videos. All of this started as a kid. It's the same thing I'm doing now. It led you. When you say you're doing what you love, is that WWE? It's one of the things, yes. Yeah. Well, is that being an entrepreneur? Because you're also an incredibly successful businessman. I do want to learn more about Rip It. Yeah, my collecting. Yes. I'd say the two things at the moment that I'm most passionate about are number one, WWE, just because it encompasses everything that I'm interested in. And you can be whoever you want to be. Yeah. It's deeply fulfilling. Yeah. I get to. And I'm not sure the audience, I mean, I hope they know and understand, but you didn't have to. And you asked to become a full-time WWE superstar. You have doubled down and committed everything towards being the biggest success you can possibly be here. Yeah. And that's huge for our audience because you're committing to them. And that's the difference. And that's what people don't necessarily get. But you're committing to them when you commit to this business. And I just want to make sure that people know that about you. Thanks. They're still going to boo me stuff. Well, you want them to. You want them to boo you. Yes, please. The worst is nothing. Have you ever heard crickets? Yeah, that's not good. Yeah, no. We don't like crickets. Yeah. Yeah. When they put your face up in the Jumbotron and nobody did like. No, yeah. Nobody does anything. No, no. That's the worst. Very bad. If they boo, yeah, great. Way better than cheering. Yeah. Because then how do you keep them cheering? You do one thing. They like it. Not interested. No, no. Not my thing. It's not. So what other parenting advice? Oh, I'm sorry. So you were talking about the things that you love. WWE is one of them. Yeah, WWE is number one. I am obsessed with collecting, which, by the way, guess what I did as a kid? I collected. Mom, do you remember what I collected as a kid? Pokemon cards, rocks, big rock collecting. I didn't collect flowers. Rocks, coins, like I collected stuff that I thought was cool. Now I'm an adult. I'm doing the same thing. So can you explain it to me because I don't get the collecting business at all. I get the wrestling business. So teach me about Rip It and Pokemon and you just sold a card for $16 million. $16 and a half. $16 and a half. I got you. $1 million. $6. Pokemon. Thanks. Oh, yeah, I saw a very cute video. Most expensive trading card of all time. Yes. Which is huge. And I saw you wearing the card that you sold, I believe. I wore it out to WrestleMania, which, by the way, is part of the reason why it's so valuable. It's my WrestleMania debut. It is. This is funny. Wow. This is so fascinating. It is the most expensive WWE memorabilia of all time as well because technically I wore it out to my WrestleMania debut. Wow. Yeah, it shattered all the records. It was success through and through. So, okay, so let me. Did you figure out how to make it profitable collecting? Yeah. Yes. I always say this. There's a trifecta for me, business, passion, content. If I can do those three things, I am in my pocket. That is where I perform the best. I can do that with WWE. I can do it with collecting because I found that at heart I am a storyteller and I have a unique ability to tell really compelling, deserving stories of these artifacts from some of the most successful IP in history, Pokemon being my ultimate collecting passion. I understand people don't get it. I would say, let's start here. You know, why is a Pokemon card valuable? It's a piece of cardboard at the end of the day, right? Okay, why is money valuable? It's a piece of paper. Why is gold valuable? It's just metal. It's a value people assign to it. It's assigned value. Pokemon has 30 years now of goodwill and emotional equity that its fans have and they've structured the business in a way with scarcity, rarity, intrinsic value and skill sets in Pokemon and collecting Pokemon specifically has an interesting way to ignite a sense of nostalgia for a lot of people who grew up with this game that meant so much to them. At the end of the day, Pokemon is a franchise, in my opinion, about kinship and going on a journey with your companions and your friends. Who doesn't like going on adventures with your pets who battle on behalf of you? That's fucking awesome. It's awesome. I had logged so many hours into this game, so much so that when I was 22, I decided to get a tattoo of a Squirtle. It's a Pokemon. My one tattoo is a Pokemon. Just because it was the only thing in my life that meant so much to me that I was willing to emblazoned it on my body. Then one day I heard about the cards. This was years later, maybe a year later. I heard about trading cards. Gary V was like, you got to look into Pokemon. I was like, I actually love Pokemon. Let me see what this is about. I called my financial advisor. I said, how much money do I have sitting in there getting 5% a year? He said, you got about a million dollars. I said, give me all of it. He's like, what? What do you mean? This is like your backup. I said, give me all of it, bro. I had to convince this guy to give me my money. He's like, what are you going to spend it on? I said, Pokemon boxes. He's like, no, you're not. You're not. You're not. You're not. Of course they all said no. Of course. I was like, it's my money. Give me my fucking money. Right. Just give me my money. What are my paying for? With true the money. I bought first edition steel boxes, first edition chargers. I was going crazy, but making content around all of it. Yeah. Because that makes it more valuable. That's not why. No. No. No. In fact, that screwed me. Really? Because after I made the content, it all went up in value, but I wanted more stuff. I wanted to buy more stuff. But it was now realizing, in my opinion, its true value. It was double or triple what it originally was, because I have this ability, like I said, to spotlight and tell a story around these collecting pieces of history that are like, you know, are some of the most significant items of the valuable and profitable IP in history. Right. Pokemon is the number one grossing franchise in the world by a mile. It's not like on accident. People love Pokemon. Yeah. But you described why. Because it's more than just a game or a figure or a card. It's because of what it makes you feel. And that's what matters the most. And if you never beat the elite four with your Charizard, your Gengar, your Dragonite, your Alakazam, your Machamp, your Onyx, hopefully Steelix, if you get a metal coat, you're not going to know what that feels like. Right. Metal coat with a trade, by the way. It's not easy. And the metal coats are hard to come by. Because you could also give it to a Scyther and get a Cizor. Cizor, whatever you want to call it. But you got to make these decisions at a young age that matter. That matter. They matter. They matter. I get it. I get that. I get that it matters. That's what it looks like when you were pitching your ideas. It looks exactly like that. Exactly. He's just like, he's like... So in terms of collecting, right, you also collect dinosaur fossils. I love dinosaurs. So you are quoted saying something about the perspective of being around something that's 66 million years old. And what is that perspective? What's that story? What does that mean to you? Dinosaurs have an interesting way of reminding me just how incredible this planet is. We live on a miracle. The fact that we are alive and sentient and can sit on this podcast with these things filming us and post it out for other people to watch it is like actually a miracle. Do you have any idea how big the universe is? How many galaxies, planets, stars there are in the universe? It is a number that is so shocking. You can't even comprehend it. You cannot even comprehend it. And yet here we are alive on this rock that has so much rich history, including millions of years of species that lived and died and went extinct before our time and ruled the planet for hundreds of millions of years. The dinosaurs are around for like between 100 and 200 million years. 100 and 200 million years. Do you know how long humans have been around? Not very. Two to 300,000. Yeah. That is a blip in the radar. This species ruled our planet for a very long time. And before then, it was a different species. And so by admiring these fossils of ancient creatures that really rule the most special miracle that we know of in the galaxy, it grounds me in a way that I really appreciate. I love looking at fossils for that reason. And it gives you that perspective every time you look at it. Every single time. Yeah. The wow, the holy shit. Just incredible. Yeah. These things are incredible. Yeah. We have a triceratops head too. Are you serious? Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. Sick. I feel like... Ours is a mold of an actual, you know, fossil, but it is not the actual fossil. Yeah, it doesn't quite count. It does because it's still the meaning of it. I don't think so. I think it does. I think it does. Sorry to say. But you should get a real one. Well, yeah. There's one at auction right now, but it's a whole skeleton. Wow. I mean, yeah. It's a great birthday gift. Yeah. It's a four to five mil. At least you can get it for me. That I can't buy for you. Somebody can. Yeah. Oh, is that it? Oh, that's actually, that's sick. Oh, oh. That's a T-Rex. No, that's in my dad's office. We bought that for my dad. We at our place have a triceratops head. No, it's incredible. Is that truth? Yeah, it is. It just seems to be everywhere, that guy. Yeah, he is. He really is. I mean, you never know when he's going to pop up. But how do UFOs then fit into all of that? And you have some footage that you won't share. Right? Stephanie. Again, great place to share it. I'll share my UFO footage one day. Maybe when the time is right. It's, yeah. UFOs fascinate me. They should fascinate everyone. It is an undeniable fact that we are no longer alone and probably have not been alone for the entirety of our time here on Earth. Did you see Age of Disclosure? I did not. I haven't watched it yet, which is shocking. You know why? Because I'm pretty deeply ingrained with the conversation online. I heard from fellow UFO heads, there's nothing really revelatory. There isn't except for the non-UFO heads. It's pretty eye-opening. A lot of people for the first time are like, oh my god, the government is even saying we don't know what these crafts are and kind of acknowledging it in a roundabout way that we are the most intelligent. Right, and this crazy time-space manipulation that is a bubble around these different aircrafts. Yeah, it's insane. So essentially, the theory is that these crafts are able to create their own gravity and by doing that, you can manipulate the time and space in front of the craft and it can pull it forward. All around the craft and in the craft. Yes, yes. And so they experience time differently. They can move. The physics of our planet don't apply. Right. They can just, they can like pick a point in space and like get there instantly. And so yeah, I mean, it's shocking. This stuff exists. How can you not be intrigued by it? So how did you first come to be interested, learn about it? What was your first like, holy shit, aha moment? You know what? I actually don't remember. I've always been fascinated with like aliens and UFOs since I was a kid. But I think as more and more of this stuff came out, and I think remember hearing about the Bob Lazar story, who is the scientist who worked at Area 51 allegedly and like reverse engineer craft. But then you look into his story and it's so compelling. It's almost, it seems, it seems ridiculous that this guy wouldn't be telling the truth. Or at least he's very believable. He actually has a documentary. He believes it for sure. He definitely believes it. And that's what Rogan says too, by the way. Yeah. When asked, do you think Bob Lazar is telling the truth, Rogan says, I think he believes it. Regardless, this is actually interesting because this ties in my footage. Bob Lazar has a documentary slash movie coming out narrated by him and a fellow filmmaker. I think it's called something about S4, which was Area 51. That's where he supposedly worked. And I watched the trailer because the movie's not out yet. And in the trailer, about three quarters of the way in, there is a craft that goes up in the sky and changes its exterior to a glowing orange skin like texture, which, you know, if you're watching and you're not going to think twice about this footage, mostly because it's AI generated. But I think the footage was crafted with Bob's direction. And now with AI, you can almost, you know, it's almost like you don't even need the footage. If Bob's telling you like, yes, that's exactly what I saw. You can imagine you're getting a pretty accurate recreation of like what he was describing. But this footage where the disc turned orange caught my attention because it looks exactly like the disc in the footage that I have. And so were you recording like, it was your personal recording? Nope. No. Nope. Okay. Story for another day. Okay. All right. Okay. But you are in possession of said footage. I have it. I can show it to you as well. It's not entirely compelling. You won't think twice about it until I do one thing. Okay. It's a blurry orange disc. Allegedly, these kids went to Area 51 to do this exact thing. And they drove all the way up as far as they could. And then they essentially found what they were looking for. And it was a UFO that was had this like glowing orange skin like thing and the kids were hiding in their car. And you could see the light like oscillating and they're underneath the dashboard like talking about like, we can't get out of the car, whatever, then they get out and they film the UFO. Really poor quality footage, as you can imagine, it's grainy. The film has been played hundreds of times, whatever. It's compelling, not convincing until if you take your finger and you kind of scrub it backwards and forwards quickly, like you're not watching in real time, you're just going through the footage fast. The disc has a buoyancy to it on the air. It's floating almost as if if you put a bobber in the water and someone taps the bobber and it looks like it's floating on water, which I don't know if that's possible to fake in 1995. It is disgustingly smooth. And this characteristic has a name. I think it's like leaf or something like it's leafy. Like it's like a leaf floating on water. Oh, wow. And that's how people have described how they see craft. But why it's interesting is because it's the same thing I saw in the Bob Lazar movie trailer. It's that orange disc at Area 51 where he worked and these kids filmed this orange disc at Area 51 where he worked. And so I'm trying to hop on a FaceTime call with Bob Lazar and see like, yo, is this the craft that you guys worked on? That would be amazing. Yeah. And you've studied and looked at so much footage, digital footage mostly from, you know, all of your experience. But since you were eight years old making these videos that you can tell in 1995 that the tech wasn't there to do what you're describing. I just did not like that. Not like that. If you don't do that in the video, you're like, it could be a joke. But I'm telling you, it is floating in the air. Like, like it's like, it's too smooth. It's too smooth. I don't know how you'd fake that in 1995. Well, maybe they did. I don't know. I mean, yeah, who knows, right? Did we land on the moon? Did we not land on the moon? Don't even get me started. I can't thank you enough for being so vulnerable on our podcast for sharing so much. I mean, I really, I have wanted to like have a conversation with you and maybe we can at some point too, just about WWE and bringing all of yourself. And you're with the right guy. I mean, you're with the wise man. So he is definitely getting in there. I'm sure. Yeah, he is. Yeah. Yeah. Whenever, Steph, thanks. Thanks for having me on. I talked a lot. I'm so sorry. Why? That's the whole point. Yeah, I just normally don't talk this much. No, but this is the whole point of our podcast. Yeah, I guess it is. It's called what's your story? Not about you. What's our story? Yeah, that's fair. Is it anything you want to plug? Nah, nah, I don't need your business. While you drink your prime? Yeah, it's funny. People make comments about prime. Obviously, when I'm in the ring, and they'll sometimes even have signs. And how cool? Well, yeah, I mean, it's awesome. It's the attention, but they'll be like, prime sucks, whatever. I go, we don't need your business. You look mad dehydrated. I can tell you don't drink protein anyway, buddy. Yeah. What's your favorite prime flavor or product? Globerry is my favorite hydration. I drink the cherry, limeade, prime energy, 18 plus. Every single day before I work out, it's the best pre-workout, energizer, whatever, and before every match. But we just released a prime shake. I said I wasn't going to plug anything here. We just released a prime shake. It has 32 grams of protein, 3 grams of sugar, 150 calories. The reviews are stellar. People really like the product. Awesome. I think we might become a protein company. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, you have so much in front of you. You have a title match tonight. Yeah. You got to get ready. I know. I know. Thank you very, very much. Thank you so much. Thanks, guys. Hey, hey, hit that subscribe button, like it, subscribe. See you next time.