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Big E

Jun 29, 202040 minSeason 1Ep. 45
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Episode description

As soon as we’re allowed to give hugs again, it’s hard to imagine not having WWE Superstar Big E at the top of your list. The teddy bear masquerading as the current WWE SmackDown! Tag Team Champion has proven himself in the ring for years now, but it’s his ability to see the larger picture that will make you a fan for life. Big E talks to Jensen about the racial divide dominating our culture, the history of the black performer in wrestling, and what the industry is facing in the form of sexual assault and harassment outed online by the #SpeakingOut movement. They also talk about The New Day: Feel The Power podcast, why Big E doesn’t miss an opportunity to speak the truth and whether The Undertaker’s retirement is like, for real for real. Oh, and look, we’ve got a brand new name – goodbye No-Sports Report, and welcome to The Sports Bubble! This episode and series supports FeedingAmerica.org. For more of The Sports Bubble, visit treefort.fm/the-sports-bubble

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Welcome to the Sports Bubble, a production of I Heart Radio Entree Fork Media. My name is Jensen Carf and I'm a sports fan, and look at us. We've got a brand new name, the sports Bubble. You see with golf and soccer and tennis and NASCAR and maybe baseball, but for a little not baseball, and now maybe baseball again, and basketball but also maybe not basketball, but yeah, probably basketball. All these sports are returning, and because of that, the

No Sports Report just doesn't cut it anymore. But we'd be fooling ourselves to think everything is going back to normal. Normal is clearly subjective. Things are changing every fifteen minutes. And anyone who pretends they know what's going to happen when it comes to athletics, well they haven't seen that video where Roger Goodell encourages kneeling. Hell has frozen over and we're living in the matrix. And the quicker you accepted,

the better. So I'll just keep trekking along, following the changes, riding the wave as our favorite games return or everything just shuts down again and we're begging or another Jordan documentary. I'll keep interviewing athletes and sports industry professionals about what they're doing in this very weird time because someone has to keep track. And now, for the first time, this is the sports Bubble with Jensen carp five pound w w E superstar Big E is a big, old, sensitive

teddy bear. Don't tell his opponents, but the current w w E SmackDown Tag Team champion, former college football player, and power lifts standout feels a lot. He's a former Intercontinental and n x T champ, a two time Raw tag team champion, and he's held the SmackDown titles he now possesses a record six times. But it's his ability to see the larger picture that's always stood out for me.

He's recently been vocal online and in the ring about the racial divide dominating our culture, and though that seems like something second nature to an African American in this squared circle, well it hasn't been in the past. There's a pretty big online swell for Big E to finally get an individual shine as a singles champion, and I get why. He's really a new voice in pro wrestling, especially as part of the popular New Day podcast Feel the Power, and his words are more in line with

society than maybe anything else in sports entertainment. This episode, Biggie and I talked about the history of the black performer in the w w E, his own experiences with racial bias, and what the wrestling industry is facing in the form of sexual predators and assaulters. Out it online by women with the hashtag speaking Out, and to make things a little lighter, we play the cameo game. It's an important episode with Biggie in the sports bubble from

big to accept Press one. Hello Biggie, Well, I want to start off. You know, we're obviously starting to gingerly tiptoe our way back into the real world. But I wanted to know where you've been quarantined and with who I am solo. Although I lived in Lando Lakes, which is a real town. Uh it's a real excellent town. It's just upside of Tampa. And I've been quarantined alone. There's not a ton of people we've spoken to alone. Have you Have you enjoyed it? I have so. I

really liked my alone time. Even though I'm obnoxious on TV, I am at heart and introvert. I like being alone. I like my alone time. But I did find with the quarantine that. So the first few days I think was a little anxiety written just because I didn't know this is We're just so used to having four shows a week and then we have appearances, and you know, there's some months where I've been home three days of the whole month, and that's like pretty common just to

be gone all the time. So there was some some anxiety initially when everything closed down, but then I kind of got into a nice groove for the first probably like six eight weeks honestly, and you know, Florida had been open enough and maybe it shouldn't have been but the recent spiking chases. But it allowed for me to

go over to Baron Corgan's house. It was about the two minutes for me and I would just work at work out at his his garage, so still allowed me to work out, um, and it was I was finding a nice balance between we still had the podcast that we were doing, so we're staying busy with that, and I was working out, having more time to like I've recently the last probably the last year so I've really got into guided meditation, so I've had more time to

do that and to stretch. So there were some things that I really enjoyed with with having extra time, But then I realized, man, I really missed people like I missed. I'm fortunate enough to like so many of my co workers, and you see them, you know, five days a week often, and then you go to maybe seeing them once a week, or if we do tapings, we might do two tapings in a row and then be off for twelve days.

So it was just weird to, uh, to not see people that I liked, and even even things like physical touch. I realized how much I appreciate just a good hug, as as simple as as medias that might sound, just being able to hug someone was something that I missed.

So yeah, man, it's it's been a lot of kind of just refiguring out the best way to stay saying I think, yeah, Well, people who might not have been following the w W during quarantine and the pandemic, you guys have been taping out of Florida out of kind of a small in house arena with at first no fans, and then now they've sort of brought in some employees to be fans. This must have been kind of the

best case scenario for you, since you live out there. Yeah, it worked for me well because I love about hundred miles from the performance center, and so I just popped in a car and drove the hour and forty minutes. Uh, And I could drive back every night. So it's also like rare to sleep in your own bed every night. Um,

that was new for me. And yeah, so it was I guess it was convenient in the fact that I haven't had too haven't been on a plane since uh like March twelve eleven ish around there, and that's very uncommon where we're used to take in probably averaged three to four flights a week with w w E Private This Yeah, what a different life with this? Uh, you know, with the w w E kind of publicly admitting to hitting a bit of a snag with a developmental talent

testing positive. How did that throw a wrench into wrestling life? Did that change how you guys normally do things? I mean, is it is it kind of evolving the same way the rest of the world is. Well, it definitely changed

our shooting schedule that week. So when we heard about the positive test with an n X key talent, it's we were supposed to tape on that day, but then I think the day it came out, but the next day, uh so we actually did tape that day, then the next day we got on that evening the next day we had to stop the taping and we all got tested. We did the nasal swab for coronavirus, which I kind of heard some horror stories and it's not great, don't get me wrong. Not quite as bad as the thought,

but not great either. And so we had all got tested that day and then if you were negative, then you were allowed to tape again the next day. So it's definitely, you know, caused a shift in the way we do things and tape again, and I think there may be some more testing moving forward, which is honestly what we should be doing. I think, yeah, it seems safest.

And today I saw Kevin Owens came out and spoke a little bit about his decision not to wrestle, and weirdly, the w w E has faced this before the rest of the of the sporting world. We have Avery Bradley and a bunch of players who have just decided for the health and safety of their family not to join the NBA or you know, you'll we'll see that in the NFL soon. Uh, you guys have faced it with Roman reign Samy Zane, there's a bunch of of superstars who kind of made their own decisions. Is that what

you guys are kind of encouraged to do? I think So, I think it's, uh, you know, you have to consider what your individual case is, the people you're around. I think for those guys with families, I definitely understand completely because you know it could it can devastate your family, and that would that would like you know, to do this, to decide to wrestle, to step into a ring, and the fact it could really negatively affect your your family's future as something that it's just I don't think it's

worth the risk for me. Like I said, I go home to no one, So I kind of I think there's a certain risk with wrestling that I've accepted anyways for myself. And there's really no fear that I'm going to get anyone else sick, not a family member or anything like that. So I have really minimal contact with

anyone else outside of wrestling at all. So it's kind of something that I've been more comfortable with going back with supposed to know, with more testing, but I completely you know, except that you know, there are people who are going to say this is not right for me and my family, and I think it's smart that they

decide not to step in the ring. And you you know, you played college football, you found great success and power lifting and with all that teamwork that you've been in in the locker rooms that you've been in both sports and sports entertainment. Now, can this be contained or is social distancing the way is you know, like I have been open about it on the podcast, being very nervous for athletes going back. You've been back, So are there

things going on backstage getting ready? Are people keeping it in mind? Man? It's hard because you talk about like I played college football at at a major university of ot Iowa, and it's very difficult because you're just used to being around your teammates. And I've talked to like two of my really good friends, um we played collegeball

together that we're like brothers. Um their coaches they're high school coaches, and talking to them about some of the things that they have to do where they have like groups of ten and it's really limited. It doesn't feel like that's not the way we're accustomed to running practices and doing things same with us, Like we're we're a business where there's a lot of contact with another human. It's not like tennis or baseball where you can play

these sports and still have distance. You know, we're just used to touching each other and even in the back, like we're, we're encouraged to wear masks and to be socially distant, but it can be difficult, and it's it's hard to say, you know, after months and months of seeing people that you really like or your your close friends and having no physical contact with them, with seemingly no end in sight. You know, this could be probably several more months to go, I would say, at least

before we get back to a more normal schedule. So it's definitely something that's encouraged, but I think just naturally, it's very difficult for us to continue to maintain distance and to continue to wear masks, and it's something that we need to be cognizant of. But I don't know how you will be able to enforce this in high schools and in the NFL, the NBA, to make sure that guys keep a respectable distance in a sport or in a culture where you're just used to being around

people and used to being in close physical contact. Yeah, I mean I even have trouble. My mom stopped by the other day to see our kid, and I'm even just like, the instinct to want to hug your family isn't something we should be doing, right, I mean we did, we don't do it. We haven't done it in months, but even three months later, I'm seeing myself starting to go for it. I mean, do you guys have kind of those oops moments as well? Like, you know, it's

just you've you've trained and wrestling for so long. How

do you just change it out of nowhere? It's hard. Yeah, definitely an adjustment, and I feel like we're and this isn't the right thing, but I feel like we were definitely more A lot of us were more cognisant of it the first month or two months in, But then you get to a point where you're at eight weeks in, twelve weeks in, and you just kind of star for physical contact and being close to people you enjoy, and it's it's difficult, and it's it's obviously something that's important

because it's it's really wreaking havoc man, I like my barber of mine. Uh, he's my barber, and he's just he's a good friend of mine. Uh. Was someone who not that he didn't believe it, you know, but but Jay was someone who was in great shape. He worked out a lot. He's not that old, but he kind of questioned like, hey, I don't know anyone around me who has it? Do you and just kind of was more just kind of weird. But then he's been he was in the hospital, just got out of the hospital.

He's in the hospital for eight or nine days. And it really took it just took a huge toll on him. He was he just didn't look the same. He FaceTime me from a hospital and you could see how how much it took a toll on him. And it's scary to see. Like I was really worried, like is he gonna make it? I don't. I don't know to see that. But um, it's something that obviously we need to take very seriously. And you know, I just think you've gotta

listen to the experts. You know, there's a lot of people with you know, opinions who have no science, who read stuff on Facebook and think they're qualified to weigh in on what we should and shouldn't be doing. But I really don't think it's that difficult to put a mask on, you know. I don't think it's worth uh storming your city halls just to wear a mask, you know. So I have no problem wearing a mask. More with

w w E superstar Big E after this. Now let's get back to Big E. Well, this time in America has been wild, first with the pandemic and then with the civil unrest semming from the murder of George Floyd. I wanted to first talk to you about speaking up

in your industry. You you had a special episode of your podcast where you tackled race, You've tweeted support for Black Lives Matter, you took a knee at a recent w W W tape, and you've had gear made with the names of victims that have not yet had the justice they deserve on them. Have you felt supported about this from I mean the locker room in general, but maybe

white superstars. Yeah, I have. You know. One of the things that was really eye opening to me is I had so many of my peers reach out to me, people who worked with us in digital fellow wrestlers who wanted to reach out and either offer there you know, support or some like. Several people also wanted to learn and like one of the things that I realized that I'm kind of out of loop with a lot of

this stuff, and I have been. I was an African American litt minor in college, and I found, honestly, I found the weight of of knowing the history of like what happens to black men and women in this country. Uh,

it really feels like a weight. It was depressing, It was sad, and I there was a big part of me that just kind of wanted to distance myself from a lot of that stuff after college because it was hard to just continue to take in these images of black people unjustly dying and nothing being done about it. But I've the stuff with George Floyd and the aftermath

really weighed, so have on. Like you said, we we were gonna you know, the podcast for us is usually very fun and lose and irreverence, but it felt very necessary for us to record uh an Hour and change, and we did it. It It was the three of us and a buddy of mine, Andrea's Hale, who works in combat sports covers combat sports, but he also has a history and activism. And you know, for the three of us with me coping Woods, we don't have the answers,

but we wanted to speak to our experiences. So many of my friends, young black men, who have that histories of being pulled over by police, of being harassed by police,

of being unjustly stopped. Like we, this is something that we've talked about, and especially now too many of my friends have kids now and they're having to you know, we talked about the talk usually is the birds and the bees and talking to your kids about sex, but for so many black men and women, their talk to their kids is about how to act when you're pulled over by police, because you don't know what can happen. If you don't all the letter of everything they say you,

you fear that your child can be unjustly killed. And even if they do follow every single thing they're told, you never know. So a lot that's that's a big part of what it means to raise a black child. And that's scary, and that's frightening, and that's sad. And you know, even me, like I got pulled over, I've never gotten to any trouble, never had any issues with the law. But in college it was a group of us.

We were actually be had the youth leadership program and we put all played college football at Iowa and someone's I think someone said that we had a gun in the car and called the cops. And we did not have a gun in the car, but we got pulled over. I had a gun pulled on me by a cop. And who knows, like how that could have gone to have a gun a few inches from your face and have done nothing wrong. And this this happens time and time again. So you know, for us, it's uh, it's

it's very frustrating, very sad. And I found the George Floyd news really really weighed heavy on me and something that was a It was at the forefront of my mind for days and days thinking about it, and for me, I kind of felt some hopelessness. But I didn't want to just use my anger and frustration and do nothing with it. Um. I wanted to at least have a conversation.

And it's been nice. Man. We We've had so much feedback from different people who reached out and said, man, I didn't consider these things until I listened to your podcast and I learned something or I heard a perspective

I had never heard before, and thank you. And you know, I'm not going to presume to say we have all the answers or any answers, but we just wanted to speak to our experiences, to not be preachy, to to not tell people how to feel or what to to believe, but to tell you how we feel, to tell you our experiences, to tell you the experiences of our black friends and what they go through and the things that are are in their minds when it comes to being pulled over by beliefe. So a lot of what we've

done recently is it's trying to raise awareness. And you know, sometimes I really think I don't know the power or the purpose. Sometimes up a tweet or an Instagram post and I really like, sometimes I'm wondering, am I just screaming into a void or petting myself on the back when I post something and feeling like I've done something And that's not, that's not. I wanted to make sure that it came from a good place, a place of actually wanting to help make our country and our society

more equitable. I wanted to make sure it came from a place of of not self aggrandizement, but a place of of wanting to actually see a better world. So we've done a few things and I think we're going to to continue to do some things that you mentioned taking a need to bring attention to this movement on SmackDown. And the nice thing is, you know, we ran it by by venture Man, our boss, and he approved it.

We got no pushback there. We got a lot of support from the company with the podcast, and we can't typically put out the video, um not the whole video because of the way that the contract is with our podcast, but they were so supportive with us putting up the whole conversation because we felt like it was important for people to listen to this our plus and to see it and to see our faces and see our expressions. So we were thankful that we got support from the

company too. But we've done different things. Like you said, we put the names of the victims of these people who who lost their lives and shouldn't have put them on arm bands, Chikaradi, Brianna Taylor, Tamla Horsford, Riot, Milton uh and so many more. And Uh, we we've done a lot with trying to We've tried to do a lot.

We're trying to learn ourselves with reading. UM actually rent across a great booklist from Victoria Alexander and she's at Victoria a l x N d R on Twitter and on Instagram, and I had a lot of people reach out to me and asked like, Hey, how can I learn? What can I read? What can I watch? And I'm trying to find stuff that that I know of, but she put out this great bookist of of just stuff. If you want to be an ally and you're trying to learn, here's just a laundry list of books. And

she does a great job. I believe she's a PhD student and she's been putting out consistent information with with ways to learn. So we just tried to do things on our end. I've also worked with some great companies. Astro flav is a supplement company and they're donating of all the income that comes in from their products. In June is going to the a CP Legal Defense and

Educational Fund. Same thing with Cameo. For a few days all their cameos, they were donating a portion to the end double a CP Legal Defense and educational fund, and we've got a few other things in the next two that we're trying to not just post on Twitter and on social media, but to help raise money to for

organizations that are working towards racial justice. So it's been a lot of that, just trying to do the work in our communities, to try to stay on top of this, to keep even just keeping the conversations going, man, honestly, just just to keep talking about this. And I think too often we've just shied away from this because we

didn't want to be labeled a racist. And it can be uncomfortable because as soon as you feel that someone is saying you're a racist or your racially sensitive, your your first instinct can be to the back pedal or to defend yourself. And for me, I don't want it to be about It's not about labeling people around me racist or or pointing fingers. It's about having these honest conversations and analyzing the biases that we carry and being

honest about that. And and for us, it's really just about like the same protection I want for my female friends and for my gay friends and people I don't know who are gay or female, the same protections that I would want for them. I want for black men and black women, and I you know, that's it's all, it's all this fight is for. And uh, I think it's something that's worth continuing to fight for even beyond

this next week or this next month. Uh, it's something that's going to be at the forefront of you know, at least my mind and trying to continue to keep the conversations going and to keep fighting for a more equitable country, a country where you don't feel that being black is a strike or two. But you Yeah, anyone who hasn't listened to the podcast, I highly suggest you do. Uh. You guys did a great job, and you talk about seeing some change even in what a tweet means and

those kind of things. I mean, I was so happy to see Randy Orton tweet his support for Black Lives Matter, and not for any reason other than in the past he's sort of been a bit conservative with his political views online. But I really do think that things like that mean a lot. When you see someone who you know, you don't necessarily equate with that kind of justice or online you know, social justice or whatever you wanna call and then they jump out with it. It has to

be rewarding, yeah, for sure. And you know, Randy will admit like he doesn't have the squeaky clean past like he's definitely you know, he's definitely made some mistakes in the past. Um, and that's not to absolve him of anything he's done. But like you said, he's he's had this really conservative viewpoint. It's not for me to try to make him a liberal or anything, but yeah, I

think it's something that he's had. He had some you know, close black friends, and I consider Randy of friends, and we've had some of these conversations at work, you know, just over the course of the last few years even and I think he's finally starting to get it, you know. And and like you said, that is as impactful as it can be to see black athlete or black entertainers

speak up about these things. I think it can be really impactful as well to see someone like Randy who's had these conservative views, who in the past would never speak up to say anything like this too. You know, I thought he did a really good job with what he posted you and uh to offer that kind of support. Growing up, I was a huge WWF fan at the time. Obviously becomes w w E. I was never and I'm a white kid from the suburbs, I was never a

huge fan of the way black wrestlers were portrayed. There weren't a lot of realistic portrayals back then, you know, a lot of stereotypes sort of being thrown out there. What did you see as a kid watching? What was your representation feeling when you watched? Yeah, and I guess it really hit me more as I got older, as I moved into my teenage years. And I agree completely.

I think we have a notice to say it kindly, a very rocky path with the way we've depicted black wrestlers, for sure, and uh, you know you have, you have so many that are celebrated and I'm not going to point the finger at the performer, but you know, Junkyard Dog and Kamala was and even African Savage we didn't speak and he padded his stomach, and you know, there were a lot of depictions of black wrestlers that really

made you cringe when you look at it now. And we wanted to not be that with the three of us, that's what we really pushed for. And you know, at first it was it was kind of in that mold. We came out as three black inspirational speakers slash preachers, and it didn't feel right. It didn't feel like us. And then when we were finally able to have um more of the reins, it really we had a more

authentic depiction of of who we were. You know, it's obviously you know your characters who you are with the volume turned up, it's kind of the same wrestling, and that's what we wanted. That's because representation does matter, And I know sometimes it can be to something that people throw out there, but it does matter when you see an authentic portrayal of someone who looks like you, who

acts like your friends and talks like your friends. Because the three of us are into video games and anime and we have a myriad of interest and so many of our friends, so many of my black friends who I grew up with, we're the same, Like they felt ostracized because there weren't that many depictions of black guys who liked anime or black women who were nerds. So we wanted to to kind of open up that box

a little bit. And two shows like, hey, there's there's a lot of us who who talk like this and who like this is this is what we enjoy and this is who we are, and we want to keep pushing that to get more realistic depictions of black wrestlers and uh, and to kind of get beyond that that past that didn't pick black wrestlers in a in a

very good way. Yeah. And I think obviously you guys now being veterans in the locker room, I think you guys are clearly have been, especially you and KOFE and and I mean, you guys have been changing the culture around you, superstars like Bianca Blair, Keith Lee, Ricochet, Malcolm Bivens. It feels like the tide is turning on a gimmick that would glaringly only be given to a black superstar, right right. And that's and that was kind of are

one of the things that we wanted to do. Like, you get white wrestlers who are, like Wood says it in a way that they they get this blank slate that they can be any character across suspect and they can be just just pretty much any character you can imagine, they can pretty much be. But with black wrestlers until maybe recently, and it's something we're still fighting for it. You know, you had these very few tropes to pick from.

You can be an angry, randomly angry guy, or you can be like a rapper slash dancer, or like we got saddled with these preacher gimmicks. You just had these like Okay, he's a black wrestler, she's a black wrestler, and this is you have three or four of these archetypes to choose from. We want to break that mold and continue breaking that mold and showing that the black

experience is not this homogeneous single experience. We would come from so many different backgrounds and countries and we have a myriad of interest that we want to continue to explore those on screen. And we want our fans to be able to see Black wrestlers, Japanese wrestlers that aren't just stuck into these boxes, that that are allowed to be full uh unique interesting characters. And I think that matters, and I think we'll continue to keep pushing for it

and no more kid rock. That's all I'm asking that will help us at least see some black culture and w W after this more with w W E Superstar Biggie right now feeding a Mary UCA is working tirelessly to ensure our most vulnerable populations, like students who are out of school, the elderly individuals whose jobs are impacted, and low income families continue to have access to food

and other needed resources during the COVID nineteen pandemic. The Feeding America Food Bank Network is committed to serving communities and people facing hunger in America, and their greatest need

is donations and support of local food banks. This podcast is committed to donating a portion of the proceeds from the show to Feeding America and we hope that you can join us in this effort to find out how you can help Feeding America dot org, backslash COVID nineteen and now the rest of my chat with w w E superstar and the host of the New Day podcast,

Big E. This past week has been extremely illuminating. You kind of hinted to it for a second earlier, specifically and Independent Wrestling and in the UK with the hashtag speaking out about sexual harassment, assaulters, predators inside of the wrestling world, which I did not see it being such an epidemic. I know you tweeted out your support of the women coming forward were you as surprised to see

how just absolutely rotten to the core. Uh this business has kind of been last fifteen years out mostly outside of the w W E. Yeah, man, it's um, I guess I you know, sadly enough, I wasn't surprised you hear some whispers or haven't understand the culture. I will say there was there wasn't any specific instance or the rest of that I knew that I saw and that I had like covered up, or there wasn't anything that I knew of and just shrugged my shoulders at. So

there wasn't anything that I was specifically aware of. But uh, it really really saddened me to see and disgusted me to see how prevalent this was. And I had to give my like hatch off to like a friend of mine actually was the one who started this all, Victoria. She was brave enough to tell her story about David Starr and this all came out, and then she emboldened a lot of women and even men to come out and talk about some of the things that they've experienced,

the way they were victimized in this industry. And I think too often we as men, we shrugged our shoulders or we've said she's probably lying, or we've turned a blind eye to it, and we haven't given these victims the voice and respect that they deserve. And I think our industry can no longer tolerate what's going on. We can no longer tolerate rape, we can no longer tolerate sexual harassment. We can no longer shrug our shoulders at the way women have been victimized in this industry. And

I hope these stories. I don't want to know that there are more stories, or that you know, I don't want that to be the case. I hope this is the end of it. But I hope every woman gets an opportunity to speak her voice, to be heard, to be respected, to not be dismissed. I hope all of the people who who are guilty of this, I hope they're eradicated from the business. I hope there are usted. I hope they're imprisoned. I hope it's a real turning

point in our business. And I hope that women aren't persecuting I've I've already seen a lot of horrible comments from people, you know, at the times. I think we have a great fan base, but I think you can also at times as a portion of it that can be very toxic. I think the way it disrespects women, the way it condones abusers and rapists, I think is discussing and the problem. I think one of the things that happens with a lot of these movements is that it causes a surge and then a week or so

later it can be forgotten. And I hope to God that's not the case. I hope this is not forgotten. I hope it's something that we continue to talk about, that we continue to clean up this industry, that we continue to eradicate abusers, rapists, that we get them all out of this business. That we have been prosecuted because it's something that no woman or man, no one should

ever be victimized or or have to endure. And seeing so many stories of kids, of people who are under age who came into the wrestling business and wanted to learn or to train and we're victimized is really disgusting.

It's a born and I hope we continue to keep fighting this and to listen to and support those who come out who tell their horrible stories, who are brave enough to that they get the support they need that we don't condone these abusers, that we don't just say, hey, it's okay to to go to rehab and you can come back, because that's not something that I'm interested in if it means that justice is not something that we're

trying to pursue here. So I hope it's something we continue to talk about and continue to be open with. And I'm glad these stories are being heard. I'm sorry that there are so many stories, but it's something that's important to speak out against and to show women that we support them and that we're going to to do our best to investigate these allegations, to get rid of

these abusers, and that we have them prosecuted. Yeah. I mean it's well said, and I think to like, it's not the eighties business anymore, you know, as a guy who's watched wrestling and I worked w W for a while in writing, and I mean, it's a of a crew. You know, you guys all grew up with a different

thought process than kind of what the womanizing. And that's why it was so shocking to me to hear that there was kind of this underbelly and indie wrestling, and I think, you know, with you and and and and

so many guys on that roster involved in activism. I think we've already seen changes, whether it be uh, you know, a real kind of reach out to the Pride community with Finn Baylor, I remember with his you know, his gear with all the rainbow and now you know, Jake Atlas and things that are happening in w W. I think it's just now it's time to focus on the women.

It appears right right now completely and I think, you know, as horrible as this year has has been in many respects, I think one silver lining is that people are actually listening. You know, I feel like a lot of times in the past and maybe it's due to the pandemic and the fact that a lot of us have I just slowed down. We don't have as many distractions. A lot of us aren't We're either not working or not working as much. And we now have time to listen and

people are listening. So I hope we continue to listen. I hope we take these things seriously, whether it's racial inequality, whether it's you know, the awful crime of rape uh and domestic abuse, you know, I hope we continue to have these conversations and continue to take people seriously and actually listen, and not to to speak from a place of defense or or or condoning these acts, but to

actually listen to actually want to make our cultures better. Yeah. Well, on a lighter note, someone wrapping up the last ride on WW network right now? Can this really be the Undertaker's retirement? I've heard this before. There's no way. What are your thoughts? Is he done wrestling? Oh? Man, I don't know. I thought he was done when he took off the gloves and laid them down, So I don't know. And athlete retirements, whether it's in wrestling or not, it

can be it can be very shaky, you know. It's uh, well, you know, we all were wrapped up in the last Dance and obviously m J retired and then unretired, and it's very common in you know, with a guy as popular as the Undertaker. I think, you know, what I thought was the cinematic match, the match with a G I thought was incredible, and I think he can continue to have those kinds of matches. I think that I think the cinematic match style, I think it's kind of

best for a guy like Undertaker. Who's older, who might not be able to have the twenty five minute classics in the ring that he would want at his age. So I could see him continuing to do like cinematic matches for a few more years. But you know, it's it's kind of I guess it's his call. You know, here's the the leverage to make the decision when he wants to walk away, and I don't know, I don't I'm not gonna make any declarations because I wouldn't be

surprised one bit if he returns. Yeah, he's coming back with the forty five. He's gonna wearing forty five like Jordanhill. He'll fight staying in a cinematic match. I'm saying it now exactly all right. Lastly, something stupid I like to do to end the end these interviews, Let's play a game this time. You, like many athletes and celebrities during the quarantine, gravitated towards cameo. You've been great involving charities

with yours. It's a place where a lot of people were able to connect with their fans, especially during a tough time. You I think are priced perfectly at a hundred and twenty five dollars. Like you said, a lot of it going to charity. But what I want to do is I want to list off some of other celebrities. You tell me if you think they are cheaper or more expensive than you. Let's do it. Okay, all right, Let's start with basketball player Austin Rivers. Uh, he is cheaper.

He is fifty dollars. Listen, if I got doc on a kind of a conference call, I'd pay a lot more. But I think fifties right for Austin? Right? Okay, here we go wrap legend flavor flavor. Oh well, I think Flave had that resergain several years ago with Flavor of Love. I bet he, bet he thinks. I'm going to say he's definitely more expensive than he is. Double he is to fifty. He's a he's an expensive cameo. I'm not s I'm not sucked it up. Okay, alright, bar rescue

John Taffer. This is the guy who yells at people tells him their restaurant is garbage. I feel like I could maybe get him to tell me my house is dirty. Uh? Is he more expensive or cheaper than you? On cameo? I'm going to guess he's someone who's a little self important. I'm gonna go more expensive. Hey, you know what, I agree with you. He's one fifty. I knew if you're exactly right. You know that John Taffer is not humble about his cameo pricing, so he is all right. Reality

TV star Heidi Montag from The Hills. Is she more expensive or cheaper than you? Oh? She was a big deal at one point. I'm going to go more expensive than me. She is actually fifth, she's twenty dollars less. She's a hundred dollars man, not bad. All right, Let's go to Cisco the Thong song, you know, R and B Crooner from drew Hills. Cisco. Is he less money or more expensive than you? You know this is random, but somehow would his friends Francisco had a gaming thing

or something. Uh they're like texts. I think we're trying to do something with all of us. But uh so, I will definitely not be arching Cisco. I will go cheaper. He is cheaper. He's a hundred dollars. But also now I am obsessed with the idea of New Day being the new Drew Hill with Cisco coming out and performing. R and B at a show. We've talked for years. We've talked about doing a booty song, you know, like an old school Miami basse. Uh, that kind of like

just that that kind of booty song. And I think with Cisco, I think that's the way to do it. Love it lastly, let's do one last one. It is a teen heart throb Jennifer Love Hewitt. Is she cheaper or more expensive than Biggie on cameo? She should definitely be more expensive. I had a huge crush on Jennifer Love to do it in my teen years. What a beautiful woman, I'll go she is by dollars, she's won fifty. You did very good in the game. I did want to also let you know that the soup nazis only

eighty dollars. I didn't even need to ask you. It's just seems like he's too low, considering we can get him to say no soup for you to any family member, right, right, He's way too low. I'm sure you know this because I try to at all possible times. Are a huge science fans, favorite sitcom, all time, favorite TV show all the time. Sure, And uh, that's that's a bargain. I

think it's a great bargain. Yeah. Well, Biggie, thank you for not only doing the interview, but for everything you're doing with w w E and making sure that you know they have so many kid fans. I feel like you guys are doing a great doing great work with with alerting people to what's going on around the world. And thanks for talking to me. I appreciate that we're trying world, just trying. Thanks for having me. It was funny. W w E intellectual property used with permission of World

Wrestling Entertainment, Incorporated. The Sports Bubble is produced and distributed by tree Fort Media. The show was executive produced by Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer and sound supervisor, with production and editing by Jasper Leek additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hayley Mandelberg. Theme music

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