The Undisputed Champion Of Neck Tattoos w/ Cody Rhodes | 2 Bears, 1 Cave

Summary

Episode Summary: The Undisputed Champion Of Neck Tattoos with Cody Rhodes | 2 Bears, 1 Cave

Release Date: December 30, 2024

In this engaging episode of Two Bears, One Cave, host Tom Segura and comedian friend Bert Kreischer delve deep into the world of professional wrestling with special guest Cody Rhodes, a renowned wrestler and the "Undisputed Champion of Neck Tattoos." The conversation weaves through personal anecdotes, industry insights, and the evolving landscape of wrestling entertainment, all while maintaining the show’s signature humor and camaraderie.

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1. Welcoming Cody Rhodes and WWE Raw's Netflix Transition

The episode kicks off with Tom Segura enthusiastically introducing Cody Rhodes, highlighting his status as a world champion and setting the stage for a conversation that promises both humor and depth.

Tom Segura [00:30]: "Welcome to another episode of Two Bears, One Cave. I'm Tom. He's Bert. And joining us today, we don't often get to say this, but we're actually being joined by a world champion. So please put your hands together for the one and only Cody Rhodes, everybody."

Early in the discussion, the hosts announce a significant development in the wrestling world: WWE Raw will be streaming on Netflix starting January 6th. This move marks a pivotal shift in how wrestling content is consumed, aiming to reach a broader and more diverse audience.

Tom Segura [00:51]: "And then a huge announcement because the platform of Netflix just keeps expanding. Raw is going to Netflix on January 6th."

Mike Tyson joins the conversation to express enthusiasm about this transition, noting the potential for increased viewership and the evolution of RAW's presentation on a global streaming platform.

Mike Tyson [01:09]: "The amount of things that they've done is pretty limited, but it's been a huge hit. It's fucking huge, man. So congrats."

2. Personal Stories: Cody Rhodes Meets Mike Tyson

A significant portion of the episode revolves around Cody Rhodes recounting his memorable interactions with former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. These stories not only highlight the unique friendships forged in the wrestling and sports industries but also provide humorous and heartfelt moments.

Cody Rhodes [06:20]: "And he holds the dvd. He's like, this picture. I was like, yeah, that's the. I just gave that to you."

One standout anecdote involves Tom's encounter with Mike Tyson, where Tyson unexpectedly showed up at one of Tom’s comedy shows after meeting him on a flight. The story underscores the genuine and often surprising connections that can occur between stars from different arenas.

Tom Segura [07:13]: "He goes, we're coming to your show tonight. And I go, okay. So I call the club, and I'm like, mike Tyson's coming to the show?"

Mike Tyson shares personal reflections on his time in the wrestling world, emphasizing the blend of athleticism and performance that defines professional wrestling.

Mike Tyson [08:31]: "Yes, it was incredible. And he told stories and, like, I would throw out names of boxers and he would be like, that guy's a..."

3. Wrestling Industry Insights: Evolution and Authenticity

The conversation transitions into a more analytical discussion about the wrestling industry's evolution, particularly focusing on Vince McMahon's groundbreaking moves that reshaped the business. The hosts explore how Vince's decision to centralize wrestling content and expand its reach has influenced modern wrestling.

Mike Tyson [21:19]: "So mob stuff, genuinely. Yeah. This was your whole livelihood, you know, my father."

They delve into the strategies employed by wrestling promoters to engage audiences, the importance of authenticity in character portrayals, and the challenges of maintaining relevance in a rapidly changing entertainment landscape.

Mike Tyson [32:32]: "There's multiple mediums of entertainment. Don't be in a bubble. Like, don't be afraid to do a little crossover thing."

4. Neck Tattoos and Personal Branding

True to the episode's title, a significant portion of the discussion centers around Cody Rhodes' decision to get a neck tattoo. This personal choice becomes a springboard for conversations about self-expression, branding in sports entertainment, and the societal perceptions of tattoos in professional settings.

Cody Rhodes [48:12]: "And remember when I shot the bullseye with the bucking bow and arrow? That was, like, my highlight."

Tom Segura [48:22]: "Very few people can find employment after a neck tattoo. When did you decide to do it?"

Cody narrates the backstory of his iconic neck tattoo, explaining his motivations to differentiate his personal brand and assert his individuality within the WWE framework. The hosts discuss the broader implications of visible tattoos for athletes and entertainers, touching upon cultural shifts and acceptance.

Mike Tyson [49:00]: "I want to be as bold as making. I'm going to. I'm going all in on my own thing. So I had this idea that I would put it on my chest."

5. Final Reflections and Future of Wrestling

As the episode winds down, Cody Rhodes, Tom Segura, and Mike Tyson reflect on their experiences within the wrestling industry. They discuss the future trajectory of WWE, the importance of embracing new technologies and platforms, and the enduring appeal of wrestling as a form of entertainment.

Tom Segura [53:01]: "I think at a glance. No, but once, like, as a. If you were running for something, like governor, the thing about it is your story gets out, so you become. Actually, you'd become the person who opens doors for throat tattoo people."

Mike Tyson [54:00]: "Yeah."

The trio emphasizes the necessity for the wrestling industry to remain adaptable, authentic, and inclusive to sustain its legacy and captivate future generations.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Tom Segura [00:30]: "We're actually being joined by a world champion."
• Mike Tyson [01:09]: "It's fucking huge, man. So congrats."
• Cody Rhodes [07:20]: "He gave me my number, and I gave him mine."
• Mike Tyson [21:19]: "This was your whole livelihood, you know, my father."
• Cody Rhodes [48:12]: "When did you decide to do it?"
• Mike Tyson [49:00]: "I'm going all in on my own thing."
• Tom Segura [53:01]: "You become the person who opens doors for throat tattoo people."

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Conclusion

This episode of Two Bears, One Cave offers a rich tapestry of stories and insights from Cody Rhodes, blending personal experiences with broader industry analysis. From the heartfelt narrative of interactions with Mike Tyson to the bold statement of sporting identity through neck tattoos, the conversation provides listeners with both laughter and thoughtful commentary on the intersection of sports, entertainment, and personal branding. Whether you're a wrestling aficionado or new to the realm, this episode delivers a compelling listen filled with memorable moments and valuable takeaways.

Transcript

[Tom Segura]

What's up, everybody?

[Bert Kreischer]

It's Tom Segura. We're almost into the new year, and I'll be bringing my Come Together tour to a bunch of more cities in 2025. January 18th, I'll be in Philadelphia. I haven't been there in a while. January 24th, San Francisco. 25th January, I'm in Reno. January 30th, I'm in Athens, Georgia. And January 31st, Savannah. February 1st, I'll be in North Charleston. I can't wait to hit all these cities. Get your tickets [e-mail] tour and I.

[Tom Segura]

Will see you there.

[Cody Rhodes]

100%.

[Tom Segura]

Cheers. Welcome to another episode of Two Bears, One Cave. I'm Tom. He's Bert. And joining us today, we don't often get to say this, but we're actually being joined by a world champion. So please put your hands together for the one and only Cody Rhodes, everybody.

[Cody Rhodes]

Cody Rhodes.

[Tom Segura]

And then a huge announcement because the platform of Netflix just keeps expanding. But for people who don't know, Raw is going to Netflix on January 6th. And so far, sports on the.

[Cody Rhodes]

The. The.

[Tom Segura]

The amount of things that they've done is pretty limited, but it's been a huge hit. It's fucking huge, man. So congrats.

[Mike Tyson]

Live. Live sports on Netflix. And, you know, seeing Paul and Tyson and what they're doing at the NFL Christmas, it's. It's the direction it seems like Netflix is going. I'm really excited that we've gotten in early.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

On. On it all and, and what Raw looks like on Netflix will be very different from what it looks like currently and in a way, similar as well. But I'm very excited about it.

[Tom Segura]

You know, I was at the. The Paul Tyson fight, and if. And if your guys could be anything like that, it'll be really electric.

[Mike Tyson]

What'd you think of it?

[Tom Segura]

It was a dog fucking fight. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen. We were fourth row. Like, this is going to be fucking amazing. And that undercard was Serrano Taylor.

[Mike Tyson]

The women, such a good fight.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, phenomenal. And then that got us even more gassed up. We're like, oh, shit, this is going to be fucking nuts. And then we got in there and watched a light sparring match that was like, what the is this? It was crazy. I know there was like all these conspiracy theories, which is a natural thing that happens. But one thing that, I mean, doesn't matter whether you're there or you watch, it is like, it was clear that neither guy pressed that and like, you know, when you watch boxing, you see people set things up with jabs, and then a jab usually at some moment creates an opening where you attack. It's like the basic fundamentals of boxing. And you would watch that happen. You're like, ooh, like right here. And then by the fifth round, you're like, I think they're just going to hang out, light sparring. That's exactly what it looked like.

[Mike Tyson]

My only moments with Mike Tyson, and I will treasure this moment always. He was a Gosh, I think he was just ringside for a match of mine. He was presenting the championship after the match, but he saw other wrestlers backstage.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And he seemed very. And I don't say out of it, because he was the sweetest, wonderful person. It was very nice to talk to him, but he wasn't saying much. And he just kind of seemed to be, I guess, deer in headlights a little bit. And he's watching all these guys oil up and they're using the bands and they're pumping up and all that. And he just looked at me and I'm getting ready to go out. I'm getting ready to go out. And at the time, I was also in a management position, so I'm directing something, some shot something. He looked at me and just said, do I need oil? And I. Those are those moments where it's like, it's Mike Tyson. I want this relationship to be good. So I'm in my mind thinking, what's he thinking? Does he think he does need the oil? Well, then I said, yeah, sure, sure. Oil up. And then so he took his shirt off. So now Mike never had to have a shirt off for this. Mike's standing there just looking at me with his shirt off. And I remember he had, like, no belt on his jeans, too. It's just a lot happening. This is the greatest fighter, you know, potentially ever, and someone I really, really like. But he just took the bottle and kind of went like, you do it to me. And. And he put a little in his hands and he puts them on his chest. But then he turned around.

[Bert Kreischer]

Sure.

[Mike Tyson]

Just. Just oiled him up. And. And he, you know, he looked good. And I. I've put oil on another wrestler before. This wasn't the strangest thing, but the weirdest thing was right after that, he just threw his shirt right back on over it. No, and.

[Tom Segura]

And I thought, that's not the point. What was the point?

[Mike Tyson]

You know, like. Like, are you pre. Are you prepping for. You take the shirt? You know, a lot of wrestlers might think, at this point, I'm going to rip my shirt or whatever, but you're not doing anything like that tonight. And I do think he actually got his shirt off at one point. But, yeah, I oiled him up. I always felt good about that decision. Dude, to oil up my.

[Cody Rhodes]

Might be the best story that's ever been told.

[Tom Segura]

It's fantastic.

[Mike Tyson]

What kind of. What kind of person would I have been to say, yeah, no, Mike, bro, he.

[Tom Segura]

I met him on a flight.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And he was a fan of yours?

[Tom Segura]

Well, it was a. It was a peculiar evolution where I had straight up panic about approaching him because I was like, you know, I was listening to like, old guys going like, hey, Mike, you remember 1987? He was like, yeah, like, just like. I was like, oh, don't be like. So I. I just worked up. It was like, it took like. I actually thought of it as courage because I totally. I was like, don't bother him. But then I was like, you're never. This will never happen.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And I gave him. I. I reached into my bag and at the time, I had one special out and I had a dvd and I gave it to him. And I was like, I'm a comedian.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And then he was like. He was like, cool. Like, where are you going right now? I was like, we're both going to Pittsburgh. We're on a plane, you know, so, like, that's what we're doing. And he was like, oh, like, where's your show? And I was like, it's that. The improv. He's like, where's that? And I was like, I don't know, man. That's wherever the Pittsburgh improv is. Like, I don't know the geography of Pittsburgh. And then he was like, oh, cool. And then he gave me a fist bump. And I was thrilled at the interaction. I was like, I had a moment with Tyson and then I sat down and I'm just like. I'm literally like, my heart's racing, right? Cuz, like, I. I felt like it took a lot just to say something. I was like, also kind of scared because I didn't know if he was going to be like, leave me the alone, right? So I was like. And then I just feel him, this hand grab my shoulder and he's standing above me. He goes, yeah, I know who you are. And I was like, what?

[Mike Tyson]

Wow.

[Cody Rhodes]

And he.

[Tom Segura]

He holds the dvd. He's like, this picture. I was like, yeah, that's the. I just gave that to you. And so I was like. And Then he leans down in my ear. This is almost like your oil thing. He leans down in my ear, and I'm like, what the fuck's he gonna do? And he leans down, he goes, I've been watching a lot of Netflix. That's it. And then he stands up, and I was like, me too.

[Mike Tyson]

What a great.

[Tom Segura]

And he goes, yeah. So he goes, give me your number. And I'm like, okay.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So I give him my number, and I'm like, this is like. We land, and I just, like, run off the plane because I don't want anything to go wrong.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And then I'm like, well, that was that. He's not. Because so many. I've met so many celebrities who are like, give me. I'll give you a call. Or you can. We can do. We should do a thing together. You're like, sure. And so next day, phone rings. It's Mike Tyson.

[Mike Tyson]

Wow.

[Tom Segura]

He goes, we're coming to your show tonight. And I go, okay. So I call the club, and I'm like, mike Tyson's coming to the show? And they're like, sure. Like, they don't believe me. And they're like. I'm like, okay. So then I get to the club. I'm in the green room. There's like, 100 people there. So Thursday night. And they're like, manager comes in. He's like, dude, Mike Tyson's here. I was like, I know, dude. I told you. And then he. I can hear him during the show hitting the tape. He's hitting the table while he laughs.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, you had him, man.

[Tom Segura]

I had him for a second. And then the show ends, and he fucking. He grabs me. He's like, let's go to the green room. So he. He takes me to my green room, and then he just starts smoking cigarettes and buys, like, fifth cigarette. He goes. He goes, you got a window? I go, it's a little late for that. He goes, you got one? And I go, no. He goes. He goes, that's when you'll know you've made it, when you're. When your green room's got a window. He just hung out for an hour.

[Mike Tyson]

Wow.

[Tom Segura]

And then. Yeah. And I just asked him, and I remember telling him. I was like, yeah, you know, it's crazy, like, watching you guys train. Like the training videos of those guys. And I just. Stupidly, I go, you know, like. Like Roy Jones Jr. And he goes, yeah. I was like, oh, yeah. Why did I say him?

[Mike Tyson]

So he.

[Tom Segura]

I should say you like watching you train.

[Mike Tyson]

That's like, the hat trick of the celebrity. Heroic sports figure. Everything went right.

[Tom Segura]

It was incredible.

[Mike Tyson]

You got the number, you got wisdom.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, it was incredible. And he told stories and, like, I would throw out names of boxers and he would be like, that guy's a.

[Mike Tyson]

And I was like, oh, my gosh, that's the dream. I. I have one more actual Mike Tyson moment that I don't know why I have. I guess I've run into Micah on a couple occasions, but he got inducted into the WWE hall of Fame.

[Tom Segura]

He did.

[Mike Tyson]

He did.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

He. Because he was a big part of WrestleMania in Boston with Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. It's like the attitude era was coming into its own. And Mike was the there. He gives Sean this unbelievable right hook at the end. It's just great stuff. But he got inducted in the hall of Fame, and I was sitting with my wife and he started going on about my dad. And my dad had a very large black fan base. Very large. And he was talking about how my dad was kind of the first black world champion, even though he was a white man from Austin, Texas, and all this. And he was kind of, you know, he's obviously ribbon on the square here. And he was talking about like black exploitation and just making these jokes. These are jokes that, as a white person, I feel like I can't have a reaction to these. Yeah, I need to just, you know. But my wife is black, so she's sitting next to me. So they keep. Every time he makes a joke, they kept shooting us and I was just like, you know, like, like every time he made a joke and they'd pop on us, I'm like, oh, man, please. Like, I would have been gone. I would have left this. Yeah, gosh, yeah, Mike, man, Mike's the best.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, he's. He's incredible.

[Bert Kreischer]

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[Cody Rhodes]

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[Cody Rhodes]

Your dad was the best.

[Mike Tyson]

Your dad was the fucking best where you're from. We were talking about your Florida.

[Cody Rhodes]

I saw him, I saw your dad wrestle at the Tampa Armory.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh my gosh. Port Hesterly.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, it was, I mean your dad was the. I, I still, I still go back and watch promos your dad did. Like you like they're just so.

[Tom Segura]

The promo era of those guys is the best promo era.

[Mike Tyson]

Like it's, I mean it was so much more important than the match to talk people into the venue, to talk them to do that act. Actually, I, I'm so excited to see him this morning because when I met Bert on doing Go Big show season one, I think Bert and the whole Go Big show production had a very different idea of what wrestling looks like in 20, 21 or 20, whenever it was. And it took a full season for them to kind of realize like, okay, Cody's a different type of performer. You know, like there's a different, it's changed, it's evolved. Because at first I think he was really expecting like Dusty.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Like, you know, like they kept asking me like, are you going to be in your gear at the judging seat? I'm like, no, you're not gonna be all up exactly. Like no oil. Not in my gear. It was one of those things. But it was fun because I, I, I said this earlier is Bert is one of the most wrestler, he's one of the biggest pro wrestlers I've ever met who's not a pro wrestler.

[Tom Segura]

You're not the first person to make that observation.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh my gosh.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Right out of meeting Bert and I don't know if I've ever told you this story, but it was, it was amazing. It was, it was genuinely like inspiring. I met Bert, they had this dinner. Covid production, one of the first productions that was happening during COVID We're all in this bubble Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Nettles Burt, Snoop Dogg, me. We go to this dinner, and right away I met Bert, and he basically explained himself to me in three minutes as to why he was amazing, why he was famous. There was a movie rights on his name. And. And I thought, dog, this guy out wrestled me because that used to be a skill that every wrestler had. The self promotion.

[Tom Segura]

Yes.

[Mike Tyson]

And I mean, so basically he made it so that if I didn't know him, there was going to be no discomfort because you know, me now, in.

[Tom Segura]

Our business, he is known as the promo king.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, my gosh. I love that.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I honestly, I just took from your dad because your dad would. Was the best promo.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, man.

[Cody Rhodes]

And. And. And so one of the reasons, like, when we hung out, I was. I remember telling you, I was like. Because we. We all went to dinner and then me and you kind of connected because you like whiskey, you like cigars.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I like both those things. Yeah. And you, like, listen to me talk about myself. And so. But I remember saying to you, I was like, yeah, I'm not really, like, I don't really know much about wrestling. And you're like, okay. And then in like 15 minutes later, you're like, hold on. You're. You're bringing up names that, like, only, like, a wrestling fan would know. And I was like, well, everyone knows Von Erichs. And you're like, no, they don't. And I was like, come on, the claw. Like that. Do you remember when Ric Flair and Carrie Von.

[Mike Tyson]

And you're like, oh, Christmas Day.

[Cody Rhodes]

That's one of the. That fucking match. Yeah. I have a weird question about Netflix. How much bigger is this audience going to be than an average viewing audience? Like, when you guys do Raw?

[Tom Segura]

Well, it's tremendous potential. It's the potential because when we were. We were sitting there for that fight, and two hours before, there was a Netflix executive.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Next to me. So he's like. He goes, There's 30 million people right now on the service. And then the next fight started. And he's like, it's 45 million people now. And then right before the fight, he goes, we have a hundred million. Wow. Different subscribers. That's just subscribers, like, accounts on right now. And then people were like, oh, you know, the. The. The signal is all scrambled. Like, people were buffering issues. And it's like, well, yeah, you have 100 million subscribers, so this is going to be huge.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah. I think there's a lot of our library content, like our evergreen content. So much great wrestling history. Raw itself coming in. Netflix. It's always so. From a. The pro wrestler standpoint, I always go out there with the idea that they've never seen me before.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

So I got to give them a little burp.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, you put it on the show. Right.

[Mike Tyson]

I got to give him a little bur. Like, I need them to know right out of the gate, okay, this is who he is. This is what. What she does, whatever. Whatever it may be. And this is one of those cases where when the old timers and the producers and all the people we have backstage kind of are our wise men who help put the show together, when they say something like, hey, there's a lot of new eyeballs out there, this will be one of those situations where it really is really, truly, really, truly is. And you have the chance to, you know, to hook them.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And. And I. You know, there's such a carny element to how pro wrestling used to be in terms of, like, reeling in a mark for something.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Mike Tyson]

To watch. Now the audience is so sophisticated, so changed, and you have new eyeballs. We've never seen it. You can't just hook them. You can't be cheap. They have to actually see someone authentically that they like.

[Tom Segura]

Yes.

[Mike Tyson]

And then hopefully they stay on board.

[Tom Segura]

It was fascinating watching the. I was watching the Vince McMahon doc and. And the. Watching the history, like, the evolution. And, you know, there was. I mean, there's a lot of aspects to it, but just the fact how I didn't, you know, because I had no idea that it was. Everybody had territories and different markets for real, and. Oh, yeah. And like. And you didn't cross territories. And one of the things that they credit Vince with is being kind of brazen enough at one point to be like, fuck them. We're going to go do it in this guy's territory. And then everyone's like, what, like mob shit, basically.

[Mike Tyson]

So mob stuff, genuinely. Yeah. This was your whole livelihood, you know, my father. There's a individual in the wrestling space that I model a lot of the character I have after today. And most people don't know him because it was pre. Pre cable. Pre Even, like, closed circuits. Eddie Graham, who was in charge of championship wrestling from Florida, who was my dad's mentor.

[Cody Rhodes]

And then my dad, his son was Steve Graham.

[Mike Tyson]

No, Mike Graham.

[Cody Rhodes]

Mike Graham. Mike Graham. I went to high school. Bam. With his daughter and his other son.

[Mike Tyson]

Ye.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

So the Graham family, he was in charge of that Florida territory. Then there was Georgia. Then, of course, in Texas, there was world class.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

There's Eddie Graham right there? Yeah. No, he was really ahead of his time. And one of the things that was special about Eddie Graham is he was really big on community activation. Like I mentioned, you have to be authentic. You can't just be reel them in in the old fashioned way. They have to. He spent all this time at the Boys and Girls Club. He was big on going everywhere. That's why it was in the Armory in the first place. You know, like he was big on just a pro. Pro's pro was Eddie Graham, but he ran Florida. Vince's father, Vince senior, ran Washington D.C. and in New York and then you had in Texas, multiple territories awa. I mean, they didn't cross and if they crossed there was a problem and they had. There's a picture that really feels mafia. It really, like, maybe that's silly. If you know anything of the mafia, I don't, but there's a picture of them at the NWA convention in Las Vegas. All black and white, all these wrestlers. You see Andre in the back, you very unique body types and position. They're all just facing the camera. That's where they would vote on the world champion because the NWA world champion would go from territory to territory, but other things would not cross.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And, and Vince Jr. Vince McMahon was the first one to say, hey, I'm, I'm making the move now. You mentioned them on Eric's. Somebody else was going to do it. Right? It wasn't a matter of somebody else was going to do it. He just, he beat them to the punch. You know, he beat them to the punch. And then everything changed you because closed circuit became pay per view and the next thing you know, off and running.

[Tom Segura]

I want to ask you this because, like, I'm always fascinated by, you know, boys growing up with. Regardless of if someone's dad is an athlete, usually boys either go, I want to be just like my dad or I don't want to be anything like my dad. Right. Like, and, and when you get to athletes, like obviously there's children of athletes who go, I want to do that. Like let's say in like the NFL.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And you know, there's some that do and then there's some that you're like, you just can't do. You're not an NFL player.

[Mike Tyson]

Right, right.

[Tom Segura]

Or NBA in wrestling, like as a kid, were you. I want to, I want to be a wrestler, like as a young kid. Or are you kind of like, yeah, you know, it's just what my dad does, whatever.

[Mike Tyson]

So he brought me to A show when I was really young and he was, he's an older dad. He was 39 when he had me. He was executive producers. Behind the scenes, it was a wrestling booker. He was helping the creative. So he wasn't in his full prime. But I remember when he brought me to that show, it was UTC Chattanooga. It's a building WWE still runs to this day. And it was Brad Armstrong. This guy hit an arm drag and just to hear the reaction and the women screaming out of their mind. It was one of those. I always tell people I have no interest in the inside behind the scenes of wrestling because I lived it. Yeah, I like to be out. Yeah, I like to be out there in the crowd. That's what that narrative is, what I enjoy. After that, there was nothing I wanted to do more.

[Tom Segura]

And you let it be known.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh my gosh, I mean, nothing.

[Tom Segura]

And was it, was it like, was he like great or was it like, you got like a long way to go, kid. Like you're going to have to.

[Mike Tyson]

I needed to earn, so I needed to earn his trust because so many second generations and third generations in the pro wrestling sports entertainment space, they burn out, they turn out bad. I needed to earn his trust. And what I thought could earn his trust with was actual folk style wrestling, Greco Roman, freestyle, all that. Because he had never done that. He was straight up promo entertainment, great athlete, but he had never been on the mat before. He didn't even know how it was scored. He would come to my tournaments as a kid and I'd see him for a takedown hold up like. But then it would be a two point. He didn't know.

[Tom Segura]

He didn't know.

[Mike Tyson]

And I was obsessed with it. Full blown vision quest. If you've ever seen that movie. Just, I dug in. I did summer camps with Ken Shera, Granby, VHS tapes. I'd watch. I made it my whole life.

[Tom Segura]

Loved it.

[Mike Tyson]

Loved, loved it. And once I, I ended up winning a state championship as a junior and I had gone undefeated and I'd gone on team nationals and made my way around. Once that happened, I think whatever I told him I wanted to do, he was good with it.

[Tom Segura]

He was good.

[Mike Tyson]

He was, he was good. I didn't have a curfew anymore. My sister still complains about it to this day. Yeah, like senior year, they just. He's fine.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Where is he? He's been gone for three days. He's fine, you know, but so you have.

[Cody Rhodes]

Obviously he wrestled. He wrestled in the place we shot. Go big. Yeah, we walked in we walked in, he's like, well, I haven't been here since I was in high school. I was like, what? He's like, yeah. One states in this building twice.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah. And that, that, that building. Some Macon centralplex. The Macon Coliseum.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

There was a little electrical closet that was right by where we'd all sit. Bert would be up on stage, we'd be all sitting in the chairs. And I went in there and I cried my eyes out. When I was 16 years old, just. I had won that tournament.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Took like everything I could possibly muster to do it. And then I would just walk by it randomly doing that show with us. And it was just a surreal moment.

[Cody Rhodes]

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[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Stop.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I remember you going, how big is this place? I go, I have no fucking idea. Last year I did that Coliseum.

[Mike Tyson]

Nice.

[Cody Rhodes]

Performed in it. And I walked in. I didn't realize what. I was in Macon. I didn't realize what I was doing. And I walked in and I went, shut the fuck up. I was like. I was like, how the fuck.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Did I get here? And it was so funny because I thought of you, because I remember you walking in going, shut the fuck up.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah, that's a special little building.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

I mean that. That is a home to us. We. Because we were quarantined.

[Tom Segura]

I remember this.

[Cody Rhodes]

And you can only really like, me and him hung out. We hung out with. With our ep.

[Tom Segura]

We had kind of just started.

[Cody Rhodes]

Conrad.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

We just kind of started doing this podcast.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And you're like, I'm going to do this thing. And I was like, what the is that?

[Cody Rhodes]

I remember telling you. I was like, I'm gonna meet Snoop. I need advice on how to meet Snoop.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And you're like, be yourself.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And at that meeting, whatever.

[Tom Segura]

Don't start with like what it is. Cuz. Yeah. I don't think that would.

[Cody Rhodes]

We had dinner at that. In that one dinner with everyone's. At. When I explained myself to Cody, I think I did the same thing to Snoop. And he was caught off guard by me.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Cody Rhodes]

And he Just went like this. In the middle of it, he hit this and he turns the phone around and it's Red Grant. He goes, you know this guy? And Red turns it back and Red goes, he's cool. And he goes, like, all right. And he's like, all right.

[Mike Tyson]

Cool. Oh, wow. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

You called the right black guy.

[Mike Tyson]

When I. When I see Bert, like, Bert's. My algorithm is all over. Bert, you, Bert, Tony, all these. All these things that have, like, come from Bert's world.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And my interaction with her, with Bert. Whenever I see all this popping off, I have. I'm so glad I get to sit with you today because I never got the chance to tell him. Bert was the spiritual and unofficial leader of that show and was so good to all of us. We were trapped in this Marriott connected to the Macon Coliseum. I had the biggest imposter syndrome ever. Bert, who's talking about selling out Red rocks? Snoop Dogg. Rosario Dawson, who's getting ready to play Ahsoka, like, is already in.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, she told us that our first night.

[Mike Tyson]

And I'm this big Dave Filoni fan, so I know all this stuff. I remember my wife telling me, like, you do not. You do not ask. You're not like, all right, I won't, I won't. Jennifer Nettles, who at a moment's notice could belt out a song that would just make you cry.

[Cody Rhodes]

She did it. We were.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, my gosh.

[Cody Rhodes]

The. You know the song from Shrek. The one. The one. It's the. The. She did it one time. We're in line.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I was. I was like, jen, I can sing. And she was like, really? And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen. I started doing it, and then she started singing over me, and I just went like this. She is so. Like, I'll tell you.

[Tom Segura]

So you. To be able to go to the singer and be like, I can sing.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, bro, He. He. He. He quarterback. He quarterbacked everything. And he.

[Cody Rhodes]

Remember when I shot the bullseye with the bucking bow and arrow?

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

That was, like, my highlight of. I go, I think I can shoot. It's like, I'm not getting shot. And I fucking pulled off a bullseye.

[Mike Tyson]

If there was ever a show where the sharpshooters weren't sharpshooters, though, it was go. Big show. They'd have us sit up there and watch these guys, whether it was. Whether it was guns and they were shooting targets or whether it was arrows. And I thought, like, is this a bit.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, like, dude.

[Mike Tyson]

And then Burt would come to us for like, so what'd you think? I'm like, well, you missed. Yeah, you missed, you missed most of the shots. And they're Matt because this was like Covid times. We all need to be really happy. And Snoop had asked, like, it's not going to be a mean judge. We're going to be all happy. But at a certain point, like, you're.

[Tom Segura]

Like, you're not good at this.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah. How do you think you did, man? Oh, no, but I, I, I wanted to thank you because you were the unofficial leader to it and you were super sweet to me and well, you.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I were the closest. Me, you and Conrad every night would have a, have a glass of wine.

[Tom Segura]

You know, it's funny, we have a, we have something from the show.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, off. I know exactly what this is.

[Mike Tyson]

What is it?

[Cody Rhodes]

I know exactly what this is.

[Tom Segura]

Just for, For Cody Krishna.

[Mike Tyson]

Brucer.

[Cody Rhodes]

They messed my name up.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, man, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

[Cody Rhodes]

I think he started doing it. What's that guy's name? I know that guy.

[Mike Tyson]

I, I can't, I can't accept any knowledge.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, wait, draw that back for him there. Hold on, listen to this.

[Cody Rhodes]

9, 8, 7 Central on TBS.

[Mike Tyson]

Bruce Chrysler. Well, that was, that was Chris Jericho who said it wrong. That was Chris who said it wrong purposely, I want to say at that point it had become a bit perhaps at that, at that point. But also, and this is not to, gosh, this is not to bury what I was doing at the time and where I was but discovery now, or I guess at the time it was WarnerMedia sent me to do that show to help with the other show and I was honored to do it and excited to be picked. But it's, Wrestling has a bad habit and this is in all companies everywhere of not understanding. We're in a bubble, guys. There's a whole outside world.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

There's multiple mediums of entertainment. Don't be in a bubble. Like, don't be afraid to do a little crossover thing. Yeah. Pure hardcore wrestling fans, they may not love it, but there's something on the show that's for them already.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And that, that was, you know, I hate, I'm not bearing where I formerly was, but not understanding like the power, the magnitude again of new eyeballs and of crossing over. And also I hate gatekeeping when it comes to what we do. That's one of the things I do really like about pro wrestling fans and sports entertainment. And I wish the locker rooms would feel this more we welcome, please, if you've never been before, because I know. I know, Tom, you're not a big wrestling.

[Tom Segura]

This isn't true. I don't know where you've heard.

[Mike Tyson]

So there's. There's some quotes out there.

[Tom Segura]

No, I don't know what you're talking about. About.

[Mike Tyson]

But. But I.

[Cody Rhodes]

But I would say. I would.

[Mike Tyson]

I would say to you is like, hey, if you ever dip your toe in. And this is not a show for WrestleMania 41, it could be WrestleMania 42, it could be WrestleMania 45. Come to it. Come. And if there's not something that you're like, ah, all right.

[Tom Segura]

No, I get it.

[Mike Tyson]

I get it.

[Tom Segura]

I. I actually feel like. I mean, I've. Look, I've said reckless things in my life, but I. I do feel like I already know that. I have a good time. I. It. It. I. I think I experienced the same thing when I went to nascar.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Nascar. And I went to nascar. I was like, this is amazing.

[Mike Tyson]

Right? Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, I had a great time at it. And I've. I've watched, you know, maybe not a lot of. Of matches, but like. Like I said, I've watched multiple docs and like, I. I also get the fact that I. I used to think they're so different, but what I'm saying is, like, when it comes to wrestling and like, sports entertainment, it's really not at. At its core, that different from traditional sports. In other words, you know, going to a NFL game, it's like, you got into this as a kid, probably, and you're watching the rules that are established and people like, participating in it, and you cheer or you boo and you just get. You get emotionally involved. And then in wrestling, for me, it's just like, yeah, it's athletes, they're performing, and usually there's a foundation from. Usually from being a kid.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And you get an emote. You're emotionally invested.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's kind of similar thing when I was a kid. When I was a kid, we'd go just about every Saturday night. And the noise. I remember just the noise when someone hits the mat. Just the noise was so visceral. And the energy, you get caught up in it. Old ladies telling people the garbage, and you just get so. It's like. It really is like, I want to go so bad. I want to go to raw. Where's RAW gonna be shot into a dome?

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, my God. In la?

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah. You gotta come.

[Cody Rhodes]

Hold on. Have you been to the end of a dome?

[Tom Segura]

No.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's fucking insane. You don't even have tickets. They scan your face.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah. They also have the.

[Cody Rhodes]

You don't have money. They don't pay with money. You pay with your eyes. You go like this. And then it goes.

[Mike Tyson]

Dude, it's in a very advanced place. They have every seat.

[Tom Segura]

Where in la is this Right.

[Cody Rhodes]

Right next to, like, all that. That YouTube area, like, downtown area. No, no, no, no. It's by. By Sofi.

[Tom Segura]

Oh. Like Carson.

[Cody Rhodes]

Like, by all that. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[Tom Segura]

Wait, what's it normally used for?

[Cody Rhodes]

Like, clippers.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, it's the clippers.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. We saw Billy Joel play there.

[Mike Tyson]

And every seat, you know, can measure the audio. So we have this one moment in. In throughout the show where when I come out, I don't know how it caught on, but there's a part of my song that everybody sings the same. It's just when the dude yells, whoa. Yeah. They all yell, whoa. And they pop off a bunch of pyro. But they're very excited about this. Like, well, if you're on that show, if we format it this way, what. We might be able to tell who is the loudest.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Pinpoint them and all that. And I thought, that's a wild, insane.

[Cody Rhodes]

Amount of technology to go to that. Go to raw for sure. Let's go. Let's bring boys.

[Mike Tyson]

How? You have two boys, right?

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

How old?

[Tom Segura]

Six and nine.

[Mike Tyson]

Six and nine?

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah. My daughter's only three and a half, and I'm struggling with how to explain it to her because my. My dad didn't explain it to me.

[Tom Segura]

And he was just like, check this shit out.

[Mike Tyson]

Well, no, I mean, he. So there's a term. You know, you'll hear people say the term kayfabe, and.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

So he just figured it was best for me to always believe. And, you know, for example, the Four Horsemen broke his. He broke his arm, but they also broke his leg. At one point in the cage, I remember finding a cast, and he had this giant closet, and it was a big cast like I had when I broke my leg on my four wheeler, except it had hinges and it opened up and I thought, oh, I want that cast.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, that's a good cast.

[Mike Tyson]

Not realizing that this was something that might have gone on for the public, it might have gone off. But, yeah, he never. I guess the way we put it, he raised me very old school, which I wouldn't recommend.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Because I'd meet people like Ric Flair and I'd meet these. Arn Anderson, these nefarious enemies of his, and kind of having, like, a disdain for them.

[Cody Rhodes]

Sure.

[Mike Tyson]

Already not understanding. These were your partners.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

People you were making money with and selling tickets.

[Tom Segura]

Wait, until which age were you? Sadly, 27.

[Mike Tyson]

You ready? You ready?

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

You ready?

[Tom Segura]

I was 14 before you, kind of like.

[Mike Tyson]

So there's two big.

[Tom Segura]

So he doesn't come down the chimney and leave stuff.

[Mike Tyson]

Right, right. So I. I was 14, and I think part of the reason it took so long is because I wanted the magic.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, for sure.

[Mike Tyson]

So there's two incidents. One, I'm watching DDP wrestle Hacksaw Jim Duggan. They're on the show in Daytona and they're out in the ring earlier in the middle of the day, like 3:00.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And that's not something you see that often. A lot of people think, like, wrestlers are out there practicing.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

It's not as you don't see that that often, but they're out there and they're just going over stuff and they're in the middle of this heated rivalry. I remember watching and I thought, okay, I'm accepting of it at this point. Okay. If that happens.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Then. Then I'll know.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And of course, DDP is in the corner. Here comes Hacksaw. Big boot. I'd seen it already. I thought, oh, that might be it.

[Tom Segura]

Did it emotionally affect you?

[Mike Tyson]

No, no, because there was. There was a prior event where the toughest men, like the toughest person in all of wrestling was this guy named Haku. I don't know if you ever heard about Haku or Flair, told you any stories about Haku. Yeah, he's a big fish situation where a lot of the stories you hear, like, no way that's true. He didn't take that cop's eyeball. And then you'll find out, like, later, like, no, he did. He. He was. He was all those things. Well, Haku slammed a wooden chair over my dad's head. And my dad is bleeding and he's in the ring and, you know, people are crying and he had this deep connection with the audience, are deeply affected by it. And I was just a young kid at the time, and obviously, obviously, you know, when you pick a fight, you're not winning.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

But I am of the thought, like, I'm raised, like, in, hey, we still going to fight though, right? I'm not saying I'm winning this fight, but we're still going to fight. And he came back to the locker room and I was sitting next to my dad. My dad's bleeding. And I remember I stood up I don't know what my. My game plan was, but I stood up and my dad, like, swiftly knocked me back down in my seat. And then Haku, who happened to be one of the most gentle, sweetest human beings in all of wrestling, came over to my dad. He shook his hand, he kissed his hand, he helped him take his leg wraps off, because my dad was a lot older at the time and just said he love. I love you. And then he left. And again, I'm thinking, like, well, that should have been the moment. I know, clearly. And all my dad said to me was, the rules are a little different back here. We can't fight back here. But out there.

[Tom Segura]

So he really wanted to keep you going.

[Mike Tyson]

So he's kept. So. But in that moment, I should have known, like, all right, you know, but.

[Tom Segura]

Also, I'll say this, your level of belief in this. I don't know if anyone tells you this. Yeah, it's adorable.

[Mike Tyson]

Okay, well, yeah, well, I wanted it to be.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

You know, like, I want. I wanted it because I grew up on it. I got into fights over it. That was a big thing in elementary school. If a kid says it's fake, tell them, hey, it's not fake. If kid says it's fake again, say, hey one more time. In the morning. If he says it's fake a third time, you punch him. And it was always, punch him in the nose. So that's terrible. That's terrible advice to give a kid. You punch a kid in the nose, you could break their nose, jack their face up. So multiple. Hey, Cody got into another fight today. Hey, Cody got into another fight. My elementary school hated me, hated my dad. We were like the Addams Family. That was one. He could have at least been like, hey. Because I remember he told me as a young kid, he said, hey, you can tell them that I'm a salesman if you want to. And I thought, absolutely not. I refuse to say you are a salesman.

[Tom Segura]

My dad's fucking Dusty Rose.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

What are you talking about?

[Mike Tyson]

But now I'm in the space where she's three and a half, Liberty, my daughter. Where I do want to say to her, hey, just let them know I'm a salesman. Yeah, let him. Let him. You know, like, just because I don't want her to get caught up in any of that, because she's already. I've seen her watch a few things, and then when you.

[Tom Segura]

I always want to ask this, though, because, like, you mentioned, like, Tyson participation, and you have people come in that are, like, not background wrestlers. Like, Like a Mark Henry or like a Brock Lesnar or somebody. Right. And so when they come in and they get what the world is and that there's a lot. It's obviously super athletic.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

There's a lot of performance and obviously, like, we all know that people get seriously, seriously hurt. And there's tons of people have had serious injuries and tons of surgeries and stuff. But do you have, you know, moments with these guys where you're like, hey, like, don't fucking flip a switch. And like, do you. Do you have to, like, spend more time with someone like that who's coming from, you know, mma or like, Mike with boxing, or do they just kind of get it out of the gate?

[Mike Tyson]

Well, I'd rather, in my. My case, I'd rather you come fully, like, come and bring it. Bring it, because we can't afford it. Not looking good on tv.

[Tom Segura]

Right.

[Mike Tyson]

We don't have time to train you up.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

In this moment. So if you're outside coming in, swing for the fences is a big quote. I always really, that I afterwards be like, regret that. Regret saying swing for the fences. But when it. Brock's a great example. I'll. It's very hard for me when I'll never say wrestling is fake. I had the F word. I get really weird about. And I don't know why, but the. I always say to people, hey, this reason I don't say it is because if you look at that dad and his son or the family over there, their feelings are real.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

So I don't need to say this is. But I can tell you if people ever wonder how real wrestling can be. The three matches I had with Brock Lesnar are the most competitive. And there's a thing when you work with a guy who's a big monster, he's a monster. Where they make you earn it is what they'll say. You're not just grabbing my leg, even though that might be the spot. You're not just hitting me with that. The Cody cutter. It's not just happening that way. You have to actually earn it. And earn it is as. As close to it being in a real fight as I've ever been in my life. I look back at the three matches with Brock lovingly and so proud of the body of work we put up. But also, I remember scared is probably an appropriate term, but just that was the most aggressive. And I've been in fights and I wrestled folk style, freestyle, did all that. That was the most real anything had ever been for me in the ring. And it actually gave me a whole new education on getting, I guess, to the top of our game. What it really means is there is an element of. You're not just taking this.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Thank you. This is going to be a bit of a struggle because that man is a freak athlete. And there's a lot. Mark Henry, on the other hand. Mark Henry, because he came through our developmental and trained and all that. He's a lot like the Big Show. I don't know if you've ever met Big Show Paul. They. They always had to be really, really gentle because if they so strong, if they F'd you up.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

That you can't be that guy. Right. They had to be the most. And Big show for Mark is a fucking animal. Yeah. No, no. I mean, do you ever heard the story about him at the Strongman? Tough man. It might have been the Arnold where he was on stage presenting. That's Mark and Show together.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And there was the world's heaviest dumbbell, which it's all. It's a bit. Nobody can lift it. Nobody can lift it. I don't even know how much it is. But Mark lifted it, which people were reacting to already. And he dropped it off the stage and it was like this kind of calamity. He went down and picked it up and brought it back up and put it back in the thing. Not even thinking. It all worked out like as if it had been planned. Mark was genuinely the world's strongest man. They say had he even trained a little bit harder, his. His records would have been untouched to this day. His son is. Got a preliminary contract with us. Jacob.

[Tom Segura]

Really?

[Mike Tyson]

Yes, Jacob.

[Tom Segura]

Which I remember when Mark was a junior.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Olympic lifter.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And he wasn't even on a proper meal plan. And so this like high level coach.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I was like, what the fuck are you eating like? And brought him in and was like, no, no. You got to be like. You have you as a heavyweight.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Need to be eating this much protein and all. And like was just. Just getting him to. To do that properly because he didn't even had. He didn't have any idea.

[Mike Tyson]

He was just raw dogging it all, like. So I got a good. I love Mark Henry. He's still part of this radio show called Busted Open. His son Jacob, who I is going to come up and babes, probably Brock Lesnar us all when he. When he does arrive. We're all looking forward to it. But I have a fun moment with Mark where I was in a tag match in Cape Girardeau at what's called the show. Me center, and it was a six man, and I'm in there. And Triple H and I think MVP are Mark's partners. But Triple H is really leading this match. Crowd wasn't great. It's one of those where the crowd wasn't great. There's daylight coming in the arena.

[Tom Segura]

We've never, We've never experienced that before.

[Mike Tyson]

Before. It's like a mad show. Daylight's coming in the ring and I. It's the only time I've ever seen it. And God bless. I learned a lot from Mark and I hope he doesn't get mad at me for sharing this, but I watched Mark on the apron fall asleep. I watched as we're in the middle of bumping all this stuff and we're the bad guys, right? We're the bad guys. And I remember watching Mark just slowly.

[Tom Segura]

Take a nap and then he come back.

[Mike Tyson]

He come back to life. He come back to life. And when we eventually tagged him, there was not this. We'd like to call it the hot tag. Could be the most exciting 15 seconds of the night. There was not this big response, not this big reaction. I remember Triple H, who's, you know, now our chief creative officer, just screaming at Mark like, come on, Mark, this is the coldest tag I've ever. They're having this conversation as. And I just, I couldn't believe it. But we used to joke because Mark had three six Mafia sing a song. It was like, beat him up, break his neck. And we would just add terms to it like, beat him up, break his neck, get sweaty, take a nap. And just like. Because I. I saw him do it on the apron, I never forgot it. He's great, though. Mark is great.

[Tom Segura]

With someone like him, though. I mean, obviously you know it intellectually, but you can also physically sense the level of strength someone like that has when you're in a match with them.

[Mike Tyson]

With Mark. With Mark for sure. Mark was always really pros. Pro. I'll say. With Big Show, I felt that the most because I pissed him off one night and I pissed him off one night and he did what's called the Big man kick out.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

Where you like cover him and then the guy goes flying. Haha. But he put it all behind it.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And I remember I like hit the rope. It wasn't. It didn't even look clean. So he basically shot me up a good four feet. Dead cold, press nothing underneath him. Shot me up four feet. And then I went to the corner to take the Big chops. These big, like, soup bowls, and they were overhand, and I had my chin ducked just a little bit, and he hit me here and just lights out. Drooling on myself.

[Cody Rhodes]

For real.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah. Came to pretty quick. And I don't think he did that one on purpose. I think that was more my. This. Because I learned so much from. From Big show, but the one time he ever needed to let me know. Hey, I'll kill you. He. He. He did. He did let me know. And I was probably. I'm positive at that point. Young Green positive. I deserved it. And super helpful. It's stuff, actually, in an odd way.

[Tom Segura]

Okay.

[Mike Tyson]

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for this bizarre lesson, but, yeah, thank you.

[Cody Rhodes]

Now.

[Tom Segura]

Very few people can find employment after a neck tattoo. When did you decide to do it?

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, I love. By the way, this is one of my favorite stories.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Is we're sitting there and I said something about his neck tattoo, and he goes, yeah, it was. It was a little bigger than I thought.

[Mike Tyson]

I. The logo was already. The American Nightmare logo I already had. So I was never about the art, was never about the look. And I. I went through this phase where I was really. I was away from WWE at the time. I was trying to really build my own brand and be my own thing. I was tired of wearing other people's logos. Like, I hated going into dicks, and there's the, you know, rocks logo everywhere. I was like, I want to make my own thing.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And I want to be as bold as making. I'm going to. I'm going all in on my own thing. So I had this idea that I would put it on my chest. And then I saw Conor McGregor was just absolutely, you know, box office hit. Marky guy, he had a big. The big lion on his chest. Like, I can't. Well, I can't do the chest. Then I, of course, think about the Rock, who's the biggest marquee guy. And, you know, my current boss as well, and he's got the Brahma bull. Before all the Samoan tattoo, it was just a Brahma bull. Thought, well, I can't do the arm. That's, you know, Goldberg, too, with the barbed wire. I thought, I'll do the neck. I'll do the neck. And I did. He showed it to me, and it was. It was smaller.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Mike Tyson]

And I thought, that's perfect. It'll peek right over the collar. I'm always in suits. That's perfect. And I love this guy. He still helps. Like, he'll dial it up and Fix it every now and then when it needs to be. But I did the dumbest, most alpha toxic thing ever is I sat there in the chair, and he kept giving me an out. Because you want to take a look. You want to take a look. I mean, kept giving me an out. You want to take a look. And I know I'm good. You know, I'm like, gritting my teeth. I don't know who the I was trying to impress. Yeah, no one there. My wife's not there. Like, I'm good, you know? And then I got up, and they're filming this. They're documenting this whole thing. I got up and I saw it, and I didn't say anything in the moment, but it's like a kid on Christmas who the gift was not. It's not the right Power Ranger, basically, you know, And I thought, well, thank you. I think the first thing I said was thank you. Shook hands and then headed for the door. And I had to wrestle the next night. So I had a signing that morning where I wrapped it in a scarf because they wanted me to do it fresh right away or take months and let it heal. So I wrestled the next night. So I'm at this signing with a scarf around. It's all. It's coming up over the scarf. There are people clearly who know something's up. I remember Jim Ross, legendary Hall of Fame announcer. Yeah, he thought it wasn't real.

[Tom Segura]

It's a big Oklahoma guy.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah, Oklahoma. Yeah. He thought it wasn't real. I walked into the production meeting, and at the time I'm reading the production meeting, I'm the. The boss at the end. I remember him. Hold up is a. He couldn't believe it. Like, he could. He couldn't fathom that this giant thing now existed. But I tell people, I guess in the long run, it was really worth it.

[Tom Segura]

It's kind of rad. I mean, here's the thing. If it. I think for your job. Yeah, it's rad. And if I didn't know who you were, I'd be like, this guy did 20 years, you know, like. Like, he was a dangerous individual.

[Mike Tyson]

Let me ask. I had. I had, like, another. I had two dreams growing up, and this is so stupid. Forgive me.

[Tom Segura]

To do time in prison for 20 years.

[Mike Tyson]

I wanted to be a wrestler, and then I really want to be the governor of Georgia. That was like, I grew up in Georgia. I love my state.

[Tom Segura]

You wanted to be the guy.

[Mike Tyson]

I wanted to be the governor.

[Cody Rhodes]

But hang on, hang on. I have plans on being the governor of Florida that you could do. I met Arnold Schwarzenegger. I was like, I'm going to be the governor of Florida. And. And I'm. I'm. I've. I literally was like, this is a real dream. I'm. I could be a politician. This could be real. Especially. We'd be like, you be governor of Georgia, I'll be governor of Florida. Be right next to each other. Oh, just.

[Mike Tyson]

Just buddy governors. You know, he.

[Tom Segura]

He comes up with stuff like this a lot.

[Mike Tyson]

But my. My, that. That's inspiring, though, because if you watch the Arnold doc, I think a lot of people are like, oh, he said he could do it. That mountaintop, that whole thing. He goes into about, I see another mountain and I have to climb it. But I've thought a little bit about it later in my life about the tattoo, and I thought, I don't know if everyone would understand that tattoo.

[Tom Segura]

I think at a glance. No, but once, like, as a. If you were running for something, like governor, the thing about it is your story gets out, so you become. Actually, you'd become the person who opens doors for throat tattoo people.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, my gosh.

[Tom Segura]

They would be like, I. Ever since he became governor, I got. Yeah, I got hired by a tech company, and, well, people stop shutting the doors in our faces.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, you'd be state of Florida tattooed right here.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, my gosh.

[Cody Rhodes]

Little in green, a draw.

[Mike Tyson]

But it's the Florida outline.

[Tom Segura]

There is no reason you shouldn't do that today.

[Cody Rhodes]

Dude, I have a tattoo gun at my house. I've been tattooing people all the time. Tattoo, tattoos, tattoo.

[Tom Segura]

He does that tattoo.

[Cody Rhodes]

If all you have to do is choose to say something differently, like aluminium.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah, aluminum. Yeah, there it is.

[Tom Segura]

And then nightmare.

[Cody Rhodes]

No, nightmare. Nightmare is like, I assume that was.

[Mike Tyson]

Purposeful because those guys screwed you over.

[Cody Rhodes]

No, no, no, no, no, no. Nightmare is how I thought it was. And then I know I can't change it back.

[Tom Segura]

Did you see American Nightmare, by the way? Yeah, the doc.

[Mike Tyson]

Oh, so crazy.

[Tom Segura]

Unbelievable.

[Mike Tyson]

So I like it. So from a true crime doc perspective, nothing annoys me more than, okay, he probably did it. And then three episodes in, they're like, yeah, he did it. I need a spin. Yeah, I need something in American Nightmare. That doc. Oh, my gosh. Well, I don't want to spoil it for everybody.

[Tom Segura]

Spoil it.

[Bert Kreischer]

Him.

[Tom Segura]

So at the end of. Because I always get on. This is like, whether or not people always argue about, you know, is. Is there such thing as normal? And you're. Yes, of course there is.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And there's a spectrum of normal behavior. If you're somebody whose girlfriend was just kidnapped.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And the way he is in that interrogation room, you're like, this is fucking completely abnormal.

[Mike Tyson]

Sure.

[Tom Segura]

The way he's talking. So it leads you to go like, yeah, something. This is fucked up.

[Mike Tyson]

He's the problem.

[Tom Segura]

And then episode two, when they feature the girl, her behavior.

[Mike Tyson]

Yeah.