Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson PART ONE - SAS CLASSIC

Summary

The Steve Austin Show: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson – PART ONE (SAS Classic)

Date: March 17, 2026
Host: Steve Austin
Guests: Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Rocky Romero (occasional input, no mic)

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Episode Overview

In this laughter-filled episode, WWE legends Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson drop by Steve Austin’s LA podcast studio (with an un-mic’d Rocky Romero chiming in) immediately after Monday Night Raw. The conversation is a wild ride through stories of wrestling life, travel mishaps, misadventures outdoors, insights into wrestling’s Japan and indie scenes, the birth of the Bullet Club, and navigating the grind of the wrestling business, all peppered with Austin’s signature storytelling and humor.

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Key Topics and Highlights

1. Life on the Road and Coming Up in Wrestling

Timestamps: [08:08] – [15:00]

• Wrestling Origins: Karl Anderson shares how he quit his job and left Cincinnati for Los Angeles in 2006 to join the New Japan Dojo, going so broke he had to live and sleep in the dojo itself.
  • "I quit my job, left my girlfriend and moved out here, baby. I lived with his mom. There were some broke days. Laverne saved me." – Carl, [08:44]
• Cost of Living and Financial Humor:
  • Running jokes about how expensive California is. Gallows and Anderson riff on personal finances, with Anderson repeatedly (to Gallows’ dismay) sharing exact bank account numbers.
  • "My new thing recently is telling him how much I have in my personal bank account... He goes, 'Maybe don't tell everybody that.'" – Anderson & Gallows, [11:46]

2. Travel Woes and Life Between Shows

Timestamps: [12:23] – [15:19]

• Missing passports for overseas tours, marathon drives, LA traffic nightmares, and differences between big-city and rural living.
  • "We’re going to Abu Dhabi and India tomorrow... had to turn back around, that was 20, 25 more minutes..." – Anderson, [12:23]

3. Outdoor and Jet Ski Fails

Timestamps: [15:19] – [20:02]

• Sharing accidental misadventures with jet skis, including nearly sinking a new one on a father-son day out.
  • "We're sick in this son of a bitch... my 10-year-old son’s going 'dad, dad, dad' and we're sinking." – Gallows, [18:26]

4. Family, Fishing, and Childhood Mishaps

Timestamps: [20:06] – [31:13]

• Glorious, gruesome, and hilarious tales of first fishing trips, animal misadventures (like grandpa vs. a seagull), and learning hard lessons about hunting.
• "Grandpa grabbed that wooden oar and beat the snot out of [the seagull]. I was just a kid – it scarred me for life." – Austin, [24:43]
• An epic failure at removing a fish from the hook in front of Anderson’s kid: "Can you help a brother out?" – Anderson, [23:22]

5. New Japan Dojo & Wrestling in Japan and Mexico

Timestamps: [31:36] – [43:55]

• Anderson’s transformation from indie standout to polished international worker, learning from stars like Rocky Romero and Shinsuke Nakamura.
  • "Being around guys that were better than me helped me polish myself...That was my first time doing [lucha], I had no, no clue." – Anderson, [33:12]
• Stories about the unpredictability of Mexican wrestling and houses, navigating language barriers, and the ever-shifting money scene.
  • "In Japan I had a guarantee for eight years...but Rocky was used all the time, so he was actually making more money than me!" – Anderson, [37:44]
• Hilarious gear-selling racket in Japan, controversial wrestling attire, and making "side cash" from zealous fans buying used gear.
  • "I can go to the Army Navy store, buy these shorts for 12 bucks, buy a plain singlet...wear a different one every night. They're going to give me a grand for it." – Gallows, [39:08]
• Sponsor stories: Japanese fans spending fortunes on their American wrestler favorites.
  • "My main guy Oguchi-san...over eight years probably spent $300,000 on me." – Anderson, [41:10]

6. Body Impact and Styles: Working US vs. Japan

Timestamps: [43:55] – [45:13]

• The realities of the hard-hitting Japanese style and how Anderson, age 37, feels good: "My body's...knock on wood, I feel great." – Anderson, [44:32]

7. Beginning in WWE: Festus, Gimmicks, and Vince Stories

Timestamps: [45:43] – [51:28]

• Gallows’ first WWE run as Festus, breaking in at a young age, and the surreal experience of Vince McMahon directing him face-to-face on how to do the "Festus" face.
  • "So he does the Festus open mouth, tongue out face to me. He goes, 'Can you do that?' So we start doing it back and forth...and I'm just drooling on myself..." – Gallows, [49:13]

8. Childhood Fandom, Attitude Era, and Wrestling as Marks

Timestamps: [58:40] – [61:39]

• Austin, Gallows, and Anderson trade tales about being wrestling fans, sneaking backstage as kids, and the wild popularity of wrestling in the Attitude Era.
  • "I remember being in geometry class, and I never forget Keith Brown looked at me and goes, 'Never mind that, let's talk about what Stone Cold did on Raw last night.'" – Anderson, [60:05]
• Anderson forced a high school classmate to take off a wrestling shirt by failing a wrestling knowledge quiz.
  • "If he couldn't get at least an 80, he had to take the shirt off..." – Gallows, [60:21]

9. The Birth and Boom of Bullet Club

Timestamps: [66:36] – [69:41]

• Detailed narrative about Bullet Club's formation in New Japan: The group’s accidental explosion in popularity and how the black ‘skull’ shirt took over arenas worldwide.
  • "When they sold like 8,000 shirts in two hours, I thought, what the hell is going on, man?" – Anderson, [67:55]
• Anderson and Gallows reflect on always traveling together, forming a "core four" with Finn Balor and Tama Tonga.
  • "You find people you click with, and you got to ride with people you click with...I click with this son of a gun, and it's perfect." – Anderson, [66:12]

10. TNA, Wild International Bookings, and Wrestling Hustles

Timestamps: [70:16] – [73:17]

• Gallows’ brief TNA stint and his wildest road story: nearly getting shot (and sketchy blood blading) in Africa and Nigeria.
  • "Don’t go to Nigeria. The Congo—safer. I saw a guy get killed. Nigeria—they wanted to kill me. So you gotta bleed so they believe it." – Gallows, [71:03]
• Gallows' interaction with Hulk Hogan at TNA – his genuine excitement at meeting an icon who turned out to be a totally approachable "brother."

11. No Plan B – Betting Everything on Wrestling

Timestamps: [74:03] – [76:38]

• Both Anderson and Gallows talk about betting their lives on wrestling, giving up football scholarships, quitting jobs and school, and hustling their way up.
  • "I gave enough, that's why I flunked that class, but I would...just sit there and watch wrestling and just think about how I'm gonna do this, how I'm gonna do, that's all I Cared about." – Anderson, [76:07]
• Funny stories about living incognito as rookie indie wrestlers, coming up with outlandish ring names (like Gallows’ failed "Dorian Deville, the Human Cadillac") and literally handing out business cards.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On wrestling travel insanity:
  "I've been burning the midnight oil trying to keep up with these WWE Superstars. And it just goes to show how hectic that lifestyle is, how tough that travel schedule is." – Austin, [06:44]
• On abject indie poverty:
  "There were some broke days. It’d be nice to come out here now that we’re rich. I always tell Rock, I wish I could hook up now, brother, because I’m loaded!" – Anderson, [09:16]
• On their time in Japanese wrestling:
  “My main guy Oguchi-san…over the eight years that I’ve known him, he’s probably spent $300,000 on me. That’s for real.” – Anderson, [41:10]
• On the ridiculous birth of the Festus character:
  “So finally I get it right after, like…10 minutes, and Michael’s staring at me, and Ray’s scared to death...Then he looks over at Ray and goes, ‘What’s your favorite color?’ Ray goes, ‘Yellow.’ And he goes, ‘Good, get a yellow singlet. You’ll be his handler.’” – Gallows, [50:29]

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Key Timestamps

• 08:08: Anderson and Gallows arrive, tales of starting out and poverty in LA/Japan
• 12:23: Overseas tour mishaps and forgetting a passport
• 15:19 – 18:26: Jet ski and fishing accidents
• 24:43: Austin’s grandfather’s infamous seagull showdown
• 31:36 – 35:37: Indoctrination to New Japan’s style, learning from the best
• 37:44 – 39:08: Japan’s gear-selling hustle and money talk
• 45:43 – 50:29: Gallows’ WWE ‘Festus’ story and Vince McMahon impressions
• 58:40 – 61:39: Attitude Era and being wrestling super-fans
• 66:36 – 69:41: Bullet Club origins and pop-culture rise
• 70:16 – 73:17: TNA stint, Nigeria madness, and working with Hulk Hogan
• 74:18 – 76:38: Betting everything on wrestling, quitting day jobs/college
• 77:30 – 81:14: Quitting football for wrestling, Dorian Deville days

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Guest Socials

• Luke Gallows: @LukeGallowsWWE
• Karl Anderson: @KarlAndersonWWE
• Rocky Romero: @AzucarRoc

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Tone and Takeaway

The tone is casual, bawdy, and endlessly self-deprecating—a bunch of road-weary, hilarious veterans trading war stories and revealing the goofy, behind-the-scenes world of wrestling. For fans, it’s a fascinating, fun, and unusually honest peek behind the curtain about what it really means to chase the pro wrestling dream.

Tune in next week for Part Two!

Transcript

[A]

The following program is a podcast one.com production he started in a small town in Texas, worked his ass off to become one of the most famous wrestlers of all time.

[B]

We're gonna take care of business tonight. And that's the bottom line.

[A]

And now he's dominating the world of On Demand Audio.

[C]

And he's doing it for the working man.

[B]

This is a damn good outlet for me to spew the off my brain.

[A]

This is Steve Austin unleashed.

[B]

Un. All right, everybody. Welcome to Steve Austin Show. I am coming to you from the mean streets of Los Angeles, California. Today I'm sitting over here at the studio at 317 Gimmick street at my little podcast table, my microphones, my laptop computer, and I tell you what, you talk about a goddamn cleanup job I just got finished doing. It's Wednesday morning as I record the open to this podcast for the Thursday show. But holy shit, Monday night after Monday night Raw, Carl Anderson, Luke Gallows and Rocky Romero rolled over here to 317 Gimmick street and upper. Holy smokes. I'll tell you what, you talk about a good time. We recorded two hours of podcast gold. In my opinion, you're going to hear hour of it today, you're going to hear an hour of it next Thursday. And I told you guys the other day Elias was going to be up next. But it turns out as I recorded with Elias, that was indeed a family friendly show. So I'm going to play my conversation with Elias. Who wants to walk with Elias next Tuesday? Because it was a family friendly show. Now Gallows Anderson and Rocky Romero came over here and I didn't have a microphone for Rocky. I didn't know he was going to be here. But nonetheless, we, we open up a can of audio whoop ass and everything. But the kitchen sink. Hey, I toss a couple of wrestling questions in here or there, but there's just a lot of bullshit stories, laughing and having a good time. I've been trying to talk to Gallows and Anderson for, about, hell, I don't know, six or nine months. Just seems like the schedules never line up. It's hard to get ahold of all these guys when they're on the road. And every now and then when they make a west coast swing and our schedules work, I'm able to talk to them just like my conversation with Sasha Banks, the legit boss. Bailey, Bailey and Sasha, you'll hear probably next week and then Elias coming by. It was great to talk to that kid. He's a real good guy. I love that gimmick and Then Gallows Anderson and Rocky Romero rolled in here and just blew the roof off the place. I'll tell you what, I don't know how the sound quality is. You had three guys running microphones and about a four foot by four foot table. Probably a lot of stepping on each other. But in doing this podcast in the first hour, and then we'd stop, we'd hit the pause button, we'd tell a couple of kayfabe stories, and then we hit the roll button again. But over the course of about the three hours that they were here, I don't think I've laughed so goddamn hard in 10 or 15 years. These guys have some crazy ass stories and, man, I got a couple of my own and I was just laughing my fucking head off. It was just an unbelievable time. And I had stayed up late the night before talking to Elias. And then Gallows and Anderson were coming down from a Staples center and hell, they were about to go on an overseas tour and forgot their damn passport. Had to go back to the Staples Center. Finally got back over here, man, I've been burning the midnight oil trying to keep up with these WWE Superstars. And it just goes to show how hectic that lifestyle is, how tough that travel schedule is. And I tell you what, I did that shit for, give or take, 14 years. And I've never had so much fun in all my life. Traveling up and down the road, getting inside a squared circle. Sometimes the houses were the drizzling shits and then sometimes, God damn, you just start selling everything out and merch is flying off the shelves. And I tell you what, it's just the best job in the world. And these days, when I watch these guys and gals going through Monday night Raw and smackdown, it's just, it brings back a lot of memories. And I'm so happy that right now the business is where it is, that all these guys and gals can make a living doing what they love to do and what I love to do way back in the day. So again, I hope this damn sound quality is good enough. I know we're going to be stepping on each other. There's so many shenanigans going on over here. When I came in this morning, I came with a green trash bag and I put away a lot of recyclable cans, to say the least. I'll leave it at that. There was a lot of broken skull IPA bottles that I keep and I make candles out of those. And I tell you what, I'm glad they're out of town now because I need some rest. Anyway, I think you can enjoy the conversation to have with Gallows and Anderson and Rocky Merrill chipping every here and there. But. But goddamn, what a good time. I want to thank those guys for coming by after Monday night Raw. Like I said, the next day they were heading over to Abu Dhabi a couple of days and over to India and then back. So damn, what a schedule. We hooked it up and son of a bitch, we had a great, great time. One of the best times I've ever had in the entire history of the Steve Austin show. Before we get to these guys, man, I want to say shout out to Mac from Broken Skull Challenge. We got two more episodes as I record this podcast and I hope you've been setting your dvr. This has been absolutely the most unreal season of Broken Skull Challenge. All the just all the shit that has happened, the epic wins, the epic failures, the decisions that are being made. The women are coming up this coming week and they just throw down like just a bunch of badasses. It's unbelievable. Tuesdays, 109 Central only on CMT. We got two episodes less and they are badass. And that's the bottom line. And that's all I got to say about that. Amen. I'm going to cut this open short. Let's stop fucking around here and let's get to the good brothers and talk a little shop with Gallows Anderson and Rocky Romero. They are coming up, but before I get to these guys. And Elias will be coming up this coming Tuesday. Elias, who wants to walk with Elias? Is coming up next Tuesday. Check out the story on the front end of the podcast. What I thought that cat was saying way back in the day. Good kid, great gimmick, love the guitar playing. He's coming up next Tuesday. Hell, I think Thursday might be Joey Diaz. We've been trying to get him over here. I think he's going to show up and then I'll play that Sasha Bailey 35 minute podcast I did. It was fun. Just bullshitting with those two ladies. Class X. It's always fun to talk to them. Anyway, let's get on with the podcast, man.

[A]

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[C]

This is Steve Austin unleashed.

[B]

All right, Steve Austin here. 317. Give it Street Got. What are you going to call it? Doc or Luke?

[A]

Yeah, whatever the hell works. Luke's fine.

[B]

Luke, I think better.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Carl Anderson.

[C]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Rocky. Rocky ain't got a microphone. I know he's gonna be here, man.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

I feel bad.

[C]

He's just our little birdie.

[A]

Little Rock.

[B]

Okay, we got plenty of beer. I told you guys gonna have to carry me on this podcast. But hell, let's start off, man, y' all over here in Los Angeles, California.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Y' all like being out here? You know, her traffic beat y' all up. Coming up. Go back and get your God dang passport.

[A]

His wrestling history, a lot of it started right here. Him and Rocky both.

[C]

So, you know, I. I started in Cincinnati and for. I lived there for about four years. And I found out about this dojo out here, the New Japan Dojo. And it was in Santa Monica. I moved out here in 2006. I just quit everything. I quit my job. I was working with handicapped people at We Care Homes. I quit my job, left my girlfriend and moved out here, baby. And it was. And it lived. I lived with his mom. Him and his mom, man. It saved me. There were some broke days. Laverne. Yeah, it's great.

[B]

So how long were you out here?

[C]

Two years. Two full years. I slept in the dojo for. For a whole year. Then I stayed with him for the next year. I loved it. I just was so broke, man. I was so broke and being broke out here, it was tough. It'd be nice to come out here now that we're rich. I always tell Rock, I said, I wish. I wish I could hook up now, brother, because I'm loaded. We'd have a great time, bro.

[B]

You'll see my broke down ass picking up aluminum cans outside the 4 or 5, so called. You need somebody stone cold.

[C]

You need some money? I got something.

[B]

I'm telling you, Louisiana's expensive as hell. Thirteen on top of your damn taxes. Yeah, it's a real son.

[A]

Especially down to bare essentials last night. He's not cheap, you know, it's.

[C]

You know, it's. Santa Monica's beautiful, man. Like that 3rd Street Promenade is fun to go down to, man.

[B]

I love.

[C]

I love California, man. We used to drive up to San Francisco and wrestle. You know, drive six hours, work for APW, drive six hours back after 20 bucks. And then wrestle in the garage. Yeah, of course.

[A]

Oh, hell yeah.

[C]

Yeah. Rolling. Alexander.

[B]

Y' all just come over here from the damn Staples Center. Yeah, man, that's a right off the 110 split. That's a pain in the neck. And then y' all was almost here.

[A]

Well, we saw a shooting on the way too, Steve. In between our traffic text, the guy goes, oh, well, there's a shooting. And then the LAPD was out there and they were marking the thing off. We went, well, damn. Yeah, there was.

[B]

Yeah, dude did the job.

[A]

He did the job

[C]

well. Yeah, the traffic is. It can be brutal out here. Brutal.

[B]

I don't even go nowhere. Yeah, you can't be able to commute in. There's people out there commute from like, Bakersfield. That's 100 miles in and out. We just drove to Reno the other day and I see all of them coming in. I'm like, ah, dang, man. But everything's so expensive here. You got to commute in. Yeah, I see all these people, these goddamn restaurants, and I don't know how they do it.

[C]

And you can't leave from 3:30. You know, between 3:30 to 7:00pm you shouldn't leave. You need to wait till the.

[B]

Here's the thing, I'll be going somewhere. I'll get on 4 or 5. At 2:30.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

And the sound bitch is just slammed. I'm like, all right, what's up here? I thought, I thought the work day was at least until 4 or 5. Yeah. And they already jammed up at 2:30, everybody going in at 5. I ain't buying that. The other day, me and my wife was driving to Texas. I said, we got to get out here at 5:00 in the morning. It was in our RV, me, her and our two dogs. 22 foot camper. Boy, that was fun. That summit is for sale. Since you got all the money, Carl.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You can live in that summit. Yeah.

[A]

Hot Carl's got all the money. He's got that wallet.

[C]

Well, I always tell Gallows, I don't

[A]

want him to start paying for some.

[C]

My new thing recently is telling him how much I have in my personal bank account. I mean, I got this much.

[A]

He goes, I say, listen, every time that we have this conversation, I don't need to know to the set how much is in your savings.

[C]

You know, I got. I've got blank, blank, blank in my account. He goes, it's great, man.

[A]

Maybe don't tell everybody. Tell me, don't tell everybody that we

[B]

left at 5:20, 20 minutes too late and got our asses handed us just about 20 minutes. Yeah, 5:20 in the morning, of course. And are just killing us on the damn highway, dude. I'm in the Left lane going 85 like a psycho. I'm blowing Porsches and Ferraris off the damn road.

[C]

Well, it's like we. We got halfway here and then, you know, I got a text from the talent relations guy, said, from Mark Corona. Said I need to come back and get my passport. There's passport issues going on. And we're going to Abu Dhabi in India tomorrow. And so I had to turn back around, you know, that was 20, 25 more minutes, you know, and it was. That wasn't that far away, dude.

[B]

I was happy. I said, hey, man, you know, I stayed for Li to come by, you know, kind of early bird now that I'm all retired and you guys making all the big money. I got to sleep about two.

[C]

You made that money. Now you can just chill, baby.

[B]

Elias was over here. Didn't drink one single beer. Props to him. Good physique, of course. And he was driving. Looks great. So I had to drink for him, of course. Had a couple brokers, girl, IPAs, a little bit of whiskey. I got all wound down, sent the show into my producer. I was standing at the island, my kitchen. I'm just minding my own business. Got to chill down, get ready to go for bed. My wife all sleepy headed like a sleep stack. Why are you doing still up?

[A]

This is the wind down, baby.

[B]

I'm just chilling out. Abu Dhabi.

[C]

Abu Dhabi. India.

[B]

India.

[A]

India.

[B]

Man, I ain't been overseas in a long ass time. Don't miss it. How long is that first flight?

[A]

16 hours and 40 minutes, I think.

[C]

Something like that.

[B]

What will y' all do to pass the time?

[A]

Well, I'll probably read.

[B]

Yeah, that's a good pod.

[C]

They always, they. They say you can't check in until 2. I'm like, well, me and Gall, 10am Where's Gall Anderson? Why you guys. Why you guys get there so early?

[A]

Buy a couple novels. Barnes Noble.

[C]

We like to really make sure all the good novels aren't taken yet. Check INS at 2.

[B]

Great.

[C]

We'll be there at noon.

[A]

Couple good crime dramas,

[C]

you know, we'll enjoy our time, play the Nintendo Switch, watch movies.

[B]

Big video game guys playing video games and you know. No.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

With respect to 2K, 18 or 17, whatever.

[A]

Yeah, of course, my son Loves that game. And it's cool to be in video games, but no.

[B]

Yeah, well, I don't play them either, but I'm just wondering if you always.

[C]

I. I like them. I like them. I'm not. I'm not huge, huge gamer. I don't play, like, all the crazy games. I like to play the basketball game, Little Mario Kart every now and then, and. And I'm good to go. Yeah. Not like him. He doesn't. He doesn't play at all. He hates him.

[B]

He thinks everybody plays endurance, this guy. You got any hobbies? What do you like to do?

[A]

Well, I.

[C]

He's on a world tour right now, Steve.

[A]

My gimmicks on a world tour. It's not just me, but. No, I live. I live in a very rural part of Georgia. I live on a little lake called Jackson Lake. I got a pontoon boat and some jet skis. And where's that at? It's down 75 south. South of. It's about an hour south of the airport. But it's out where a lot of people don't want to go. But I love being out there. We just got a Subway. It's a huge deal for us, so we can go there and get sandwiches. Now, you can't order any food in, but you can drive to the Subway. So we're doing good.

[B]

Hey, did you ever buy that campaign when Jared lost all that weight bite in Subway sandwiches?

[C]

I remember. What a fall from.

[B]

We had a staple in his stomach. Man, you don't get me Subway sandwiches. 12 inches worth of bread, a bunch of salami, and I'll respect the Subway. I'm just saying, you ain't getting lean

[A]

eating a Subway sandwich for Jared either, right?

[B]

He dropped him like a hot potato.

[C]

Well, yeah, and they should have.

[A]

We did a thing one time on Smackdown where he was in the front row, and I just remember punk going, bring me Jared from Subway, and we had to go get him, and he's just standing there looking dumber than hell. You know what I mean?

[C]

He was there. Yes.

[A]

He's in the front row.

[B]

What kind of Jet Skis you got?

[A]

I got a Kawasaki. I got 2kawasaki9 hundreds right now. Bottom used. Always do.

[B]

You're the man, you know? Dude, I got a Kawasaki. Shit, why I can't remember. That's a 310. Yeah, it's that V Twin and a supercharged. And when I was doing Redneck island over in Georgia, shit, man, I'd stay in lake house.

[A]

Where did you guys do that?

[B]

We did. Shit, Lake Hartwell. Yeah. On the way. When you're going to Anderson.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And so, goddamn, I'd be out there between shooting, riding the shit out of that Damn jet ski. 310 horsepower. And that's something. Just. It's like a rocket.

[C]

I've never been on one, dude.

[B]

I'm a brand ambassador for Kawasaki. So I got one out there at Marina Del Rey, just a mile down the road. And I went out there, I said, shit, go ride my jet ski. Well, it's different when you're on a lake, because when you're on a lake, kind of slick as glass, and if you get lost, turn around. You know, Lake hartwell is like 54,000 acres.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So. But when you. You get out there and get in the middle of it and you can get turned around, but you can always find a shore. You can pull up on someone's pier. Yeah. You can just. You can get off.

[A]

Lake people are friendly, too.

[B]

And it's funny because when you look at Lake Hartwell, like on a Google map or something like that, you see all the fingers where they just kind of run off. But when you get down in there, you're three feet above water, don't look like you're in a finger, and all of a sudden you get turned around. So, man, I'll just shut that jet Ski off and kind of just look around, look at the buoys. And I call my buddy who lives out there, say, hey, man, I think I fucking lost my iPhone. I could have been running sound. I got like 20. 20% of my iPhone. I got about, you know, a couple gallons of gas, and I really need to find where I'm going. Yeah, but see, that problem is about it, man. You get out here, Marina Del Rey, you're in the Pacific Ocean, dude.

[C]

When you ride.

[B]

When you ride out of Marina, you can't ride up on a beach. Yeah, there's only one pier out there. It's a Santa Monica pier. And you. That's something too high there. I took my wife out one time. She's on the back, and we come out the damn marina, we took a right and got damn, boom, boom, boom. That motherfucker just beating the shit out of us. My wife says, turn around and go back. Hell, we just started. I said, let me gas it and get on top. When she started raking my eyes, I knew that she was serious about taking it home. I put that back. So I'm looking for a place in Nevada so I can go ride in the lake like you,

[A]

my son and I We're not. I've had a pontoon boat forever. I've never had a jet ski. My dad's a tournament bass fisherman. Always hated jet skis. These on, these jet skis are ruining fishing. Hated them, hated them, hate them. Well, I wanted one, so I bought one maybe two summers ago, the first time. And we're out there and the first day is fun. It's great. I don't know shit about it. So I put it back on the trailer. I didn't. I pulled the plugs. Well, I didn't put them back in. So I go, you want to go jet ski boy? Come on, let's go. So we get out in the middle of Lake Jackson. All of a sudden I'm like. And all of a sudden my 10 year old son's going, dad, dad, dad. And we're sick in this son of a bitch. But my buddy, who's my neighbor knows everything about boats. Like, this is what you do. If you flip it over. You do this, you can flip it back over. I'm a big strong guy. Yeah, Dave, I can flip it back over easily, no problem. Until the whole hall of the son of bitch is full of water. And my son's going, dad, I'm going, nah, we're going. And the son of a bitch is sinking to the point where I'm like, I think I can swim it in, but you're gonna have to swim yourself

[B]

in to get it there.

[A]

And thank God. We saw a guy we knew going by on a pontoon boat about eight miles an hour, hammered. And he pulled over and got us and helped us get it at least to the shore then to pull the plugs and get it back across the lake. But I was like, I just bought this thing. It's going to the bottom of the lake. It's 100ft deep in the middle. So what am I gonna say? Do I have jet ski insurance? Oh, hell no.

[C]

And his neighbor Dave doesn't like him anymore because he runs. He runs the neighborhood. So neighbor Dave, real jealous.

[A]

Well, he's got a girlfriend now. I'm single. It's not a good decision.

[C]

Gallows looks cool. He's got tattoos, he's big, he's tall. He's the only cool guy in the neighborhood.

[A]

And his girlfriend came over and she goes, this isn't the girl that was here last week.

[B]

And I went, whoa. Thanks for that, dog. Appreciate that. How tall are you?

[A]

I'm like six, seven. What are you weighing, about 285? Yeah.

[B]

You get enough jet ski in my first.

[A]

Yeah. And my son, he's a 160 pound 10 year old as well. So we're like. We're not doing well.

[B]

You know my question, actually, we need

[C]

to see him on this thing because he ain't no marathon runner.

[A]

I want to see him the short bursts.

[B]

But let me ask something with your big ass out there, you. You got yourself. You got your life jacket on, right?

[A]

Oh, 100 always. We've had a bunch of drownings in the lake. We don't go near the water without life jackets.

[B]

I don't.

[A]

I believe in. Yeah, I like to have a great time. But like the water safety thing with my son is number one.

[B]

Hey, I gotta ask you a question, man. You said something about pro bass fishing.

[C]

Yeah, right.

[A]

Well, not. My dad wasn't. He's a tournament bass fisher. He's in the local club.

[B]

Okay. But here's the thing. My point is, man, these man all of a sudden. Because they got this badass like. Like a ranger skeeter. Yeah. All the different damn bass boats get bigger every year.

[A]

Now they got twin 225s on them.

[B]

It's like casting a lure. No, they bite. And it's all about who catch goddamn biggest, most. You know, weigh in the most in the shortest time. That's what I told.

[A]

I told my dad. I go, this isn't really bass fishing. It's a race. Because all you son of a 25, you line up and race with the biggest. Whoever's got the most money and can race to the best spot in the middle of this lake wins. Because you get there first, you post it up, you catch all the fish and you win. So it's like you got to buy a bigger boat, dude. I don't know. Daddy, you got a 150. Nobody likes shooting more. You're in last place.

[B]

I think I was gonna get a bass boat one time and a guy, you know, say, man, you ready to go? I was living in San Antonio. I told you guys. We were talking before we started rolling sounds. Some of my misfortunes in San Antonio, Texas. Anyway, I got up. That's what I had my. It was right outside of San Antonio, Texas. And God damn, I was hungover. Like stomach. Believe it or not. No. I had been reading a hell of a crime drama.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Harry Bosch was here in la. Just leading you down the wrong path.

[C]

You read the whole novel, didn't you? That's what we do.

[A]

The novella.

[B]

The guy was going down there, gave me the bass boat. We get out There. And we were just hauling ass. I'm looking at the speedometer. We're going 72 miles an hour.

[A]

And on the water in that boat.

[B]

Yeah, that's something. It starts getting a little canywampus. And I'd seen the little videos on YouTube and them speedboats catch a little air.

[C]

That's scary, man.

[B]

Flip back. I reached over, grab a damn throttle, said, hey, goddamn, I think I value my life a little bit more than you.

[A]

It'll suck the water out of your eyes.

[B]

Take this sandwich over lake house. I need to run.

[A]

I need to read another novel.

[B]

I need a bloody man.

[C]

I used to. I fished as a kid. Bass, trout and catfish.

[B]

You know how?

[C]

Yeah, no, North Carolina.

[B]

Grew up North Carolina.

[C]

Yeah, well, I, you know, and I did.

[B]

I hadn't.

[C]

I hadn't fished in like 15 years just because I just was busy, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I have three boys now. And my son said that I want to go fishing. I said, well, of course we'll go fishing, boy. Let's go. He throws that thing in there, catches one right away. I said, we.

[B]

We got a fish.

[C]

Pulled it out, and he goes, what do we do, Daddy? And I went, I got to take it off the thing.

[A]

I forgot how to do this.

[C]

So I go, oh, no.

[A]

Oh, you got to save face in front of your son. Yeah, I gotta get your big badass.

[C]

I got, I got. I got it, son. I pulled the thing up. I go in there and I pull the hook. And his eyes move. He's hooked into his eye. And I go, Kaden's looking at me

[A]

going, daddy, is he okay?

[C]

I go, I didn't really want to touch the fish either.

[A]

I don't want to touch the fish.

[C]

I looked over, I looked over the other guy fishing.

[A]

I said, excuse me, sir,

[B]

can you

[C]

help a brother out? He goes, yeah, of course, man. Well, see, that's what happened.

[A]

Give a hoot hand.

[C]

Hey, Daddy, remember that time you could get that fish off that hook? I said, shut up, boy. It been a while.

[B]

You forget how.

[A]

You know, I just haven't done it in a while. I got to touch it. Hey, that guy who took the fish off the hook couldn't bump and feed.

[C]

He ain't a fall down man like Daddy, boy.

[A]

Daddy was a fall down man.

[B]

We used to live. When I was living in South Texas, we always go fishing. We fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, fishing for, you know, trout, redfish, stuff like that. Get some sand sharks. We're out there chasing the birds. You always kind of chase Them seagulls and seagulls always find where them schools of fish are. And you follow the birds, you find the fish. He always out there. I'll never forget my grandpa. God damn, he was out there fishing. My dad, when he balances checkbook every month. If that son bitch was a nickel off Beverly, you know they won't get it right. So my dad's tight. That's why I'm tight. I grew up like that. My grandfather was real tight. So anyway, we was out there fishing. He hauls off and throws his worm jig out there and promptly catches the shit out of a seagull. That damn seagull ties take off, it's in the damn water, he's reeling a sun bitch head. And I don't know if you know very much about a seagull. Do you know anything about a seagull? It's a.

[A]

It's an ocean pigeon.

[B]

Hey, man, you know they'll eat the fish. You know, if you go to the cleaning station when you're throwing your guts and your out there, man, they just come there and swoop down and get all that stuff. And while they're doing that, guys out there, you know, filling their fish out there and the birds are just shitting like a crippled goose all over. That's what they do. But they're talking and I mean, you don't eat them. And my grandpa, he was reeling that goddamn seagull in. The seagull put up a pretty good fight and he got him next to the damn boat. And like I said, them seagulls assaulted so that some went to grandpa. And that's all it took. Grandpa grabbed that wooden oar and beat the snot out of. I was just a kid and like, whack, whack, whack. I'm thinking, God damn. I just thought I was gonna go catch a couple of redfish. Grandpa beating the fuck out of a seagull. It scarred me for life. I'm gonna read another book.

[C]

I love this green crime novel that

[A]

reminds me of two. Oh, I mean, I remember.

[C]

I remember when I was like maybe 15.

[B]

Hey, before you say that, I think a seagull is okay, no good. I just want to say that he got a couple of hard ways, but he didn't intentionally harm seagull. He got his worm jig back. Please continue, Carl.

[A]

This is a.

[C]

It's a dumb, quick start. I remember being 15 or 16 and I was all excited to go fishing. I threw it in there, hooked the duck. I went, oh, I just want this. Oh, the pole just went away. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't gonna reel the duck in. The pole just went away.

[B]

So I was in my car and then. Not a ducky. It's like 20 years later, somebody still dragged it. Goddamn it. Bald headed.

[A]

When we were kids, every. Every Thanksgiving, my mom will be like, all right, your grandfather's gonna have his annual rabbit hunt. You guys have to go. We're like, he's very serious about this damn rabbit hunt, and he doesn't like us screwing things up out there. So we go. And he jumps a rabbit and he goes, all right, shoot it. So I shoot the rabbit. Boom. And my dad wouldn't go because they got whatever. So the rabbit's laying there and it's selling, but it's not dead yet.

[C]

Oh, goodness.

[A]

I'm about 12. He goes, all right, well, when a rabbit's like this, you got to finish him off, you know, you got to do the humane thing, Drew. I go, all right, what's that? He goes, well, the best thing to do is a good karate chop.

[B]

And this.

[A]

This is a Navy boxer, like a hard man who's been to World War II. And I go, he does. Motherfucker doesn't know karate. So he bends over, goes, hey. And the rabbit sells more. Sometimes you got to hit him right directly again. I swear.

[C]

He just.

[B]

He goes whack.

[A]

And he punches it. I go, pap. Dad just steps on their head. And he goes, oh, yeah, you can do that too. It just stomps him out.

[C]

Poor little bunny, man.

[B]

Damn.

[C]

We went to. We. We had a loop one weekend where we went up to see his parents, and we were able to stay at his grandpa's house. Walk over there. He's in a. Ted's grandma. His grandma rolls up in a wheelchair. Cancer.

[A]

20 years ago.

[C]

She brings over, pounds herself a big glass of wine. It's noon. It's noon.

[A]

She's. That's how she keeps going.

[B]

Well, she'd run late.

[A]

She reads a lot.

[C]

There's guns. There's guns. There's guns all over the house, free.

[B]

And he.

[C]

Grandpa looks at. Looks at us. He goes, you guys want to shoot these guns? I guess, yeah. We're blasting stuff out in the woods. I felt like this was great.

[A]

That's his favorite thing to do. You get in there, he's like, you feel like shooting? I just got here, but yeah, okay.

[B]

And then set my shit out of car.

[C]

And his grandma in the wheelchair goes, oh, yeah, Sometimes. Sometimes I just wheel up to the Window.

[B]

And I. She does. She.

[A]

She wheels up the window and clips

[B]

a deer and she.

[A]

She shoots from the window. My pap, you know, I'm not gonna tell you where he lives because I don't know how he's had this, his property for a long time, but there's a salt lick in the backyard. So he's.

[C]

Well, the second that you see the

[A]

barrel go out the window and meeting. Up goes the bottle, down goes the man.

[C]

I figured him out pretty quick when I met his family.

[B]

Goddamn. I was living in Georgia, I was living in Douglasville. And me and my buddy, I hooked up with this guy, he was Indian. They do a straight up outlaw Indian outlaw, man. We'd walk in creek beds, we'd have a headlamp on with.22s. We'd shoot them bullfrogs and, you know, get the legs. But on this particular occasion, say, hey, man, you want to go squirrel hunting? I was like, shit, man, I ain't never messed with no squirrels in Texas. Like, look at the squirrel. Yeah, and they're kind of cute with the brushy tail and they're just like a rat. So I figured, okay, man, we'll go squirrel hunting. So I got three squirrels carrying 410 break action. Brought my squirrels back, cleaned them up, you know, know how to cook some. It's Ain't a whole hell of a

[A]

lot left on three of them.

[B]

You're right, brother. So I just, you know, toss a little flour on them and hit him in a skillet. And it's. Something was about like eating the bill of the sand. And someone said, you're supposed to parable the person. Fucking parable. What does that mean? You shaking your head up now, what is a parable? You know, I threw those out. I felt bad for them because when you shoot something, you're supposed to eat something.

[A]

You're supposed to eat that.

[B]

Yeah, after you karate shop. After you.

[A]

You rabbit punch the.

[C]

His. Your granny was saying that, though she loves cooking squirrel, she must cook it well or something.

[B]

Dude, I don't know what the trick is.

[A]

When I was a kid, when she can cook, she makes squirrel gravy and stew and all kinds of wild game stuff. But when I was a kid, I got really into thinking squirrel hunt was so fun. My dad came home one day and I had like eight squirrels laid out in the driveway. And he's like, all right, well, you know, you gotta clean all those and eat it. And I go, what the hell are you talking about?

[C]

It's the last time you hunted it

[A]

Right after about nine hours of cleaning squirrels and cooking the shittiest piece of plastic that I ever ate my whole life. And him sitting there going, you want to finish it up or what's going on here? I was like, squirrel hunting is not for me. It's not even that fun.

[B]

That was my last squirrel hunt as well.

[A]

I remember one time I had, I shot one and I had it, I put it in the pocket of my hunting coat. I was getting all cocky. My buddy Brian Roby, he met him in Nashville.

[C]

Yeah, of course.

[A]

So all of a sudden he goes, that squirrel's moving.

[B]

I go.

[A]

And all of a sudden I went. I shot him with a 20 gauge shotgun from pretty far away. So what does he do? Wham, right? My kidney punched me. I'm down in the squirrel, still crawling. Yeah, we got him out, gave him a couple, couple karate chops and that was the end of it.

[C]

That's our hunting. We're not very good.

[B]

Let me ask you a rest because moment of silence for those three squirrels outside.

[C]

Those poor guys. How about his kidney? I like the punch to the kidney, right?

[A]

Give me an uppercut. Like that's gonna help.

[B]

Why don't you pull it out by

[A]

the tail and step on it.

[C]

Or the fish and the duck and the seagulls. Moment of silence for all those things would hurt.

[B]

Let me ask you a rest, a question, Carl. Why are they teaching that damn dojo? You know, because here's the thing, as you guys know, spent a lot of time in Japan. And then when I was young in the business, started off in Dallas, went to Tennessee, went to wcw and then, you know, through wcw, I went on a couple tours in Japan. One, two of them were just one night shows, one of them was a three week tour. Dean Malenko, Chris and Eddie and all those guys. And God damn, who's that big dude? Scott Norton. Scott Norton. Scott Norton. All those guys, the guys are really technical, really good and just polished. So, you know, how far along were you before you went into the dojo?

[C]

You know, I've been independent wrestler for four years, all in Cincinnati, Tennessee, Kentucky. Just the little, the little brother areas. Yeah, I think, I think I was pretty tuned in for that kind of independent wrestling. I was a good independent, you know, tell the people to shut up and they would boo me, you know, that I was good at that. But I felt like I needed something, needed to go somewhere else and I should. I wish I'd left after two years. I feel like you need to keep moving, but I wasn't, you Know, I don't know what. Where my head was, but when I went to Los Angeles and this guy Rocky Romero's put him over, little bit. Was Black Tiger at that. Were You Black Tiger 4. Black Tiger 4 at that point? And just in watching him and watching how much better he was than I was at that point, because he'd had different kind of experiences, and just being around guys that were better than me helped me, you know. And did they actually teach me anything like that? I didn't know. No. But just being around them helped me polish myself. Yeah, I did a couple kicks. I'll never forget this. This is when I knew he was good. No, for four years, I was never criticized.

[A]

I just was.

[C]

I was probably the best wrestler in Cincinnati. Yeah. Well, I go out there and during training, I did some kicks, and he goes, no, no, no, hold on a second. That sucked. I went, what?

[A]

Talking about me that works in Mudlik, Kentucky.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

He was. Not that. It was terrible. I was like, oh, oh, oh, okay. Then I said, I worked on it, and I ended up having a pretty darn good stop. But it was good being, you know, being around people that were better than me. Shinsuke Nakamura came there, you know, and they look where he's at now. He was. He came there. We brothered up big time, you know, we drank a lot of.

[A]

We read a lot of novels together. I feel like anytime you work up to someone better than you, that always helps, you know?

[C]

Shinsuke needed to go there too, because he needed to. He needed some brush. Like, he needed to just get out and be around people that were, you know, different and better than him. And it was. That's what I learned a lot being around these guys in Los Angeles had some, you know, different styles. Lucha guys, Japanese guys, It's all different, man. It's all learning. All that shit's good, you know, in lucha stuff. Yeah, I got pretty good at it, you know, basing the guys. To be honest, I got pretty good

[A]

idea I'm a catcher.

[C]

Yeah. Pretty darn good. Like, you know that, you know, I wrestle a lot of the, you know, go to T. Went to Tijuana a bunch of times when I lived out here, you know, for maybe.

[B]

I love watching it. I don't really get it. You got your technicals, your rudos. Yeah, yeah. It's just kind of a bunch of stuff and everybody getting the in.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So I don't really at the psychology, but I love watching it, you know, and it's.

[C]

It's. It's It's Rocky could tell you sometime after this, but I, I remember you called a bunch of spots, right? We called our stuff with these, with these Mexican guys. We got in the ring and they did nothing that we just called.

[A]

That's what they always.

[C]

But that was my first time. That was my first time doing. I said, what. What the hell's going on? I had no, no clue.

[A]

They're kicking the ref's ass.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, I remember I covered the guy one time as a baby face and the ref went, 1, 2, looked at

[A]

him, shook his head and his finger.

[C]

I said, what the hell's he doing?

[A]

He's getting himself over.

[B]

I didn't.

[C]

Once I started to figure it out and understand that you could, you know, they do call, but they call four different spots, which means you do one of them and you. I figured it out pretty quickly that, you know, you just gotta, it's just, that's good experience to be around those guys.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because a lot of guys, I think, you know that starting a business, that they just go, whatever, and they start right at nxt. They don't go and do that. They don't part.

[A]

Get the world life experience.

[C]

You do that part, then obviously, you know, you get it. Know you, you can see that. And you can work with anybody, you know.

[B]

How was that working over Mexico? Did you enjoy it? I loved it, Okay. I loved it. Like I tell everybody. I don't. I'm not going to ask current numbers. You talking about your bank account? Don't want to know that number.

[C]

He knows you want to talk about it.

[B]

How much did you make it over in Mexico?

[C]

You got to understand, I, I was never there at a, For a full amount of time. I, I only, I only go there, get 100 bucks. 100 bucks. 100 bucks. I, I was only there, here and there. How much you make over there, Rock?

[A]

Oh, you want to disclose that information?

[C]

How much you got in your bank

[A]

account, your AAA contract?

[B]

Hoot.

[C]

I'm glad, Rock. I'm glad Rock's here, man. This is, this is a great reunion. I'm excited.

[A]

He's really, he's really deflecting some heat

[C]

for himself right now, I think, you know, I don't know. What, did the money, did the money get good over there? You could, right.

[A]

For a moment it was good. And then, you know, it depends on the economy here, right? So when the economy goes up. When the economy goes up and down, then it really reflects in Mexico. So, like, it was good for a minute, then it dropped. Wasn't ginger contracts are the best American over there for a minute.

[B]

Who? Dude, I mean, I looked at that guy on Wikipedia, man, about a year or two ago. You know, I remember him down in wcw, I guess I remember when it came to just ripped, man, and then a good looking kid.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And they always had that good athletic ability. And I'll tell you what, before we continue about genre, I mean, that damn Sean o'. Hare.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That big son of a.

[A]

He had a hell of a look and he was.

[B]

God damn, what a good look.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And all those moves that the kid was doing. I think he's probably the. It could have been one of the biggest superstars that never was.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I don't know, you know, what happened to what went wrong with that guy. But God dang, what a talent. But Jinreck Hell is like a movie star over there. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, he's in soap operas.

[C]

I think the money over there, I don't think they sign contracts, like, for example, 100 grand a year. They don't do that.

[B]

Hey, you bring one of those broken skulls, My pocket knife.

[C]

That's what we'll see.

[A]

I got a gimmick.

[C]

I don't think they do like, guarantee, like they. I think they go on the house all the time. That's it. You know, like in Japan, like we got.

[B]

Well, that's old school right there. Working on the house. Ain't nobody. If there ain't nobody in the house, ain't nobody gonna make no money.

[C]

You know, Steve, I had a figured out. I had. I had a guarantee contract for eight years in Japan. And it was. It was nice, right? Well, you know, he was coming over weekly, so he was getting paid. So he was getting paid weekly?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I started thinking and I. I remember asking one time we were drinking

[A]

pay per view, Steve. A big tag team title match. I'm not gonna step on your story.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

So I'm like, this is big for me being in Japan. And we're getting over and I'm with him and this is great.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Then we're in the ring, and I'll let you go from there. Like, music's playing.

[B]

The baby faces are coming.

[C]

The baby faces are coming down to the ring, right. And I looked at him, I go, how much you make a week? And he goes, huh? How much do you make a week? And he goes, he told me what it was. And I go, yeah, you're making more money than me. He goes, huh? So the whole match, I'm thinking, son of a.

[A]

But they have to bring me when they bring him because we're in the deal now. So.

[C]

So after that, so I've been there for eight years. So we, luckily we were used all the time. So this always used all the time. Then he's coming in, making all this, all this cheddar. I said, man, we went out that night, read some novels and I remember going, something's got to change.

[B]

Was your opponent swing like hot damn. Why is Carl so stepping

[A]

between that and him yelling at me about my gear every night? Because I, we had such a racket over there. We had these sponsors, these weird fans who would literally, I had a couple guys that were insane, but they would buy like my singlet, my shorts, my vest, whatever. So once I figured out the racket and being a cheap son of a bitch, I went, well, I can go to the army Navy store and buy these shorts for 12 bucks and I can buy a plain singlet, I can heat press something on that and I can wear a different one every single night. And they're going to give me a grand for it.

[C]

Yeah, this guy started walking in the

[A]

ring, I started having this little gear selling business and I was making all this side cash and he goes, you're the worst dressed professional wrestler in the goddamn business. You're supposed to be representing the Bullet Club. And I was like, I think I look pretty cool. One night we're in the ring actually

[C]

to the highest paid, worst dress some

[A]

little town and Shinsuke Nakamura is standing

[B]

there and we're facing off and we're

[A]

mother effing each other or whatever. And he goes, you're singlet tonight. Looks like my 8 year old daughter's bathing suit.

[C]

All right, I remember a match.

[B]

Hey, can I buy a pair of your shorts?

[C]

Well, I remember a match he had one time. He was, he was working, he was pulling his pants up and I remember Tanahash is, you know, the top man over there. I'm sitting beside Tana, I'm watching Gallows a single match, he's pulling his pants up and Tanashi goes, gallows needs a belt. Trust me, Tana, I know, bruh. I've been telling this fool all the time what is the stuff he needs.

[A]

He always says that. Now he goes, what do you think Gato thinks? He looks at you with all that nice gear on Monday night Raw thinks, what a piece of.

[C]

Because Gato books New Japan and I know he showed up in WWE and his gear looks like good now. And I, I'm looking up and down, I bet Gato's Watch. I bet Gator turns on wrong goes that son of a.

[A]

No good man.

[B]

Hey man, the few shots that I went over to Japan, we went with sponsors because you got to. I mean, I thought you had to. And I'm a loner, man. I don't do you. I'd go out and I would drink, I hang with the guys. But you know, I just don't like to go to function where I got to be. Listen. Yeah.

[C]

Tell you what to do. Yeah.

[B]

So, man, I was so damn tired, I. Jet lag. Just flew it for one shot. Go out with them sponsors and I just sit at the table. I'd fall asleep, you know, I had a couple drinks, but I just fall asleep. AJ always. Here's the question though. A lot of those guys, I mean, what was that guy's name? Suzuki? I can't remember who it was, but back in the day I remember his name in a minute. But they're sponsors of mine. But y. All kinds of stuff.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[C]

I would say that one of my main guys is. His name's Oguchi son. Man, I bet he's probably spent.

[A]

We love you.

[C]

I mean, over the eight years that I've known him, he's probably spent $300,000 on me. I mean, that's for real.

[A]

Yeah, just a shoot.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

His family owns like a hospital or something.

[C]

But man, it's not as much as I have my bank account.

[A]

Well, I mean, you are. You are up there with the bank.

[B]

Hey man, tell me about this. The years you spent in Japan. Yeah, what were you there eight years?

[C]

Eight years, yeah. You're solid.

[B]

Here's the thing I always thought about when I was at WCW back in the day, you know, Dr. Death, Dang, Terry Gordy. Those guys are going over there and I know what they're making per week. Yeah, that was big money.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Was real big money back.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And. But they were only working, you know, those, what, 20 week tours. I mean not, not at one time, but through.

[C]

Through the year.

[A]

Different than 20 weeks a year.

[B]

Yeah, whatever it was. But here's the thing. You're working your ass over there. And when I went. I love the in ring style and that was cool. I like the angles, you know, that we shoot when I was around or whatever stuff I grew up on in mid-80s NWA and Mid South Power Pro. But you know, when you work over here in the States, there's the benefit of the exposure, of course, you know, so. But when you go to Japan and you're working on Japan or New Japan, Whatever it is. But you're over there all the time.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You don't get that fringe benefit of all the work that you're putting in. You're making your money, you know, you trade. Sure. But you, you don't get. You don't get the other side of it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Did you ever think about that? Or did you ever. Did you ever miss that?

[C]

You know, because I, you know, New Japan was my first shot, you know, that. That was. They were the first people to hire me. And so that was my first, you know, my first big thing that I got. So, you know, and I think around 2012 or 2013, they got into the. They finally got into the I pay per view. And that's when I noticed that a thing started to change. And then the Bullet Club, you know, we started.

[A]

Yeah, we started the Bullet Club Secret in wrestling.

[C]

I felt like when the place just, you know, and then it exploded and it's. And that's when I started to feel like, man, this is. This is pretty cool what we're doing. And people are finally able to see what we're doing because, like, my wife sometimes wouldn't even, you know, she wouldn't even understand how big this show would be. I'd send her a link to the show and she said, I didn't know that there was 10,000 people there. And there were, you know, then sometimes we wrestle in front of 500, of course, in a little small city, but the pay per views were always, you know, it's big over there. And I noticed when actually me and Rocky went to a Tokyo Giants game, and the very first time, one of the first times we went, and I started getting recognized at the Giants games, and I remember thinking, something's. Something's going right over here. But I remember when gallows came and the way we clicked over there and I said, man, we really got. We got us get into America somehow. You know what I mean? We almost went to. I mean, we almost went to tna.

[B]

Jesus.

[C]

And then they think, thankfully the WB called in that same exact month. But I mean, but we knew we had something. We had to do something. So I wanted. I wanted to get over here. I wanted to be. The place to be is where we wanted to be. And I wanted. I wanted that exposure finally.

[B]

Hey, but let me ask a question. I've read about all of your accolades over there, you know, had a hell of a career over there. But how was that style on your body? How you feeling, dude? You're a young cat. What are you, 32?

[C]

37 37. Yeah. Give me another still young kid.

[B]

Give me another book. You look 32. Thank you.

[C]

I take that.

[B]

How are you?

[C]

I gotta be honest, man, you know the, the different style. I think with WWE 32, I look good. I wish I was 32.

[B]

Somebody could give me a bookmark.

[A]

We'll get you to Barnes and Noble, hood.

[C]

You know the difference in the. I gotta say, my body's knock on wood. I feel great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do. That ain't no, no, that's true. I take care of myself.

[A]

Fall down, man. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Take careless. How old are you?

[A]

I will be 34 on December 22.

[C]

He looks older than me, right?

[A]

Yeah, I've been around.

[B]

That's.

[C]

He's 34.

[B]

Zombies love to read.

[C]

Loves to read.

[A]

I love a good novel.

[C]

He's on a world tour right now, Steve. He reads every night.

[A]

Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows. If I'm lying, I'm dying.

[B]

This is the mindset.

[C]

Free.

[B]

This is the mantra.

[C]

Free.

[B]

This is the.

[A]

With movies like Interstellar Dreamgirls and Glasses Gladiator. Are you not entertained? And TV shows like Survivor, SpongeBob SquarePants,

[B]

the Fairly Odd Parents and Ghosts.

[A]

Pluto TV is always free. Pluto TV stream now pay.

[B]

Never.

[C]

This, this is Steve Austin.

[B]

I was doing all the research about you guys, but I enjoy talking more about the. The other stuff in the wrestling. But when you first, when you came into WWF with that infested gimmick, your idea, Their idea, that was.

[C]

You gotta tell that Vince story, man.

[A]

I'm going to for sure. So the first I came to developmental and I was obsessed, obsessed since I was 8 years old with pro wrestling. Biggest mark you ever saw. Magazine. Everything I get my hands on. I took a spear one time from Jimmy Tillis because I was chasing you through a parking lot. When you go to a significant other, you had two Miller lights stacked on top. He had warm up pants on and no high tech boots. And I went, why is he wearing that? Stone Cold. And then I ate a spear into the ground outside the Pittsburgh arena in the parking area.

[C]

What's Stone Cold say?

[A]

Hell yeah. So yeah, that's. Honest to God.

[B]

Where were you living?

[A]

That was in Pittsburgh. I grew up in Western Maryland, right

[B]

on the West Virginia border.

[A]

So two hours away was Pittsburgh and two hours and like 20 minutes was the Baltimore road.

[C]

That.

[A]

So that's where we would go to watch wwe.

[C]

Right? Real quick, just real quickly. Just tell them about the Rock that time when you jumped on.

[A]

That's a true one too. And no one ever believes this. I was maybe 15 and I was just gangly, awkward, big kid. And I wore tight jeans, high tech boots and wrestling shirts all the time. And the rocks pulling up in this black Lincoln Town Car, those cool ones they had in like the late 90s. And he stuck because, you know, everybody's over as hell then. And he's the Rock. He can't take mob in the car. And I couldn't take. So I run crowd. I run through the crowd, I dive and I get onto the hood of the car and I look rock and I look and the Rock shoots me. And I swear to God, as I'm sitting here, I know he won't remember, but it happened. He did the people's eyebrows. I went, oh, oh, yes. And then I felt my belt and my Levi's and then my head hit the ground, just rolling thing. And I started running. My dad goes, get your ass in the truck.

[B]

And he's across the street.

[A]

So he was a fan security guy chasing me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I don't know where I was going with the story.

[B]

What was the story that you chose?

[C]

The story. Sorry, what were we talking about?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. So, yeah, so like, you know, I was growing up, I was like, you know, I'm gonna be like this cool wrestler. I'm have probably long blonde hair, a sweet robe. I look like stunning Steve Austin, somebody.

[C]

Of course. Yeah.

[A]

You know, and so then I do the fake Kane thing. When I'm 21 or 22, I don't know what I'm doing. I had this crazy gimmick in development. I called Johnny Ace and Tommy Dreamer every week and was like, hey, you guys should probably hire me. I'm pretty good, you know what I mean? Like, I'm. Some of these bullshit matches I'm having in West Virginia, like against guys in furniture stores and stuff.

[B]

Terrible.

[A]

So finally they were open in Deep south and they just needed. I think they needed to fill it and I wouldn't leave them alone. So I somehow got my ass in there after three years of terrible indies. And so we do that and I get sent back down. And then they're like, they bring in Henry Godwin. And my partner eventually ended up being Terry Gordy's son, Ray Gordy. And the way that happened was Michael brought Henry back and they were going to be like the new God ones. It was going to be Henry and Ray, which Henry was really cool to me, sold me his old tech slinger boots, wore them for a while and Something happened with Henry and he had to leave the company. I don't know what it was, but whatever. And they needed a partner, so they brought some guys from tna, some old school. All these guys came in, but they couldn't match this, like, hillbilly thing well. So I just watched a bunch of, like, Larry the Cable Guy stuff and Bill Engvall, and I was like, dude, I got material for this promo. And I asked Dr. Tom, who I've always got along with, can I please do something with Ray?

[B]

Because I know I got nothing.

[A]

They just killed this weird gimmick I had. So we got these promos, and they loved it. You know, we're like, you know, European on my boot, man. European. All this stuff. So they're like, okay, you're gonna do it. So we went up and worked a dark match and it went fine. And then they're like, okay, you're gonna debut next week as these hillbilly guys. Whatever. And so we go out and put the match together. And then the doors are open, and Michael Hayes goes, vince wants to see you in his office. And I went, man, we didn't make it far at all. We're getting booted now. So we go into the Vince's office, and I'm 23, and this is Vince McMahon. And I'm a. Like, I can't be a mark. Oh, this is some right here. So I'm looking at Vincent, he goes, starts telling me the story, goes, I know a kid in school, and he looked like this, and he did this face, and this is how he looked. And he. But when something would happen, he would lose his mind and he would go crazy. And I was like, I could certainly do that. It's not a problem. So he goes, do this face. So he does the, like, the festus, open mouth, like, tongue out face to me. And he goes, can you do that? And I started doing it. Then we start doing it back and forth to each other. And Vince is like, not like that. Like this. I need your jaw more slack. And I'm going like, oh, God. Happy. So I'm just drooling on myself and spitting. He's like, almost fitting. You can't do that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So finally I get it right after, like. And it's like 10 minutes, and Michael's staring at me, and Ray's scared to death. He's shaking, about to piss off his pants. I'm about to piss my pants. And then he looks over Ray and he goes, and you. What's your favorite color? And Ray goes, country Ass Ray love him so much. He goes, yellow. And he goes, good, get a yellow singlet. You'll be his handler. We got out of the meeting. Why the. Did you say yellow? And he goes, I didn't know what

[B]

the hell to say.

[A]

Yellow, Yellow.

[C]

I was wondering why I was in the way where Yellow, yellow singlet on television. That was why.

[A]

But you know what?

[C]

That's how Festus was born.

[B]

Baby.

[A]

You're that young and then they call you up and like, I was like, I'm just gonna do this as good as I can and. And hope they keep me for a minute. So that's what I did. And I had a pretty good time doing it. And kids liked it and stuff. And then it was what it was. But I don't. I don't look back on and be like, oh, a lot of wrestlers I feel like, get really bitter about stuff. But that was a good experience. You know, I needed all that.

[C]

You know, the real funny thing to

[A]

me, I'm gonna be. I'm gonna have a sweet robe and long hair, probably be the IC champ 25. No, you're not. You're gonna have a. You're gonna have a skullet.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

You're gonna be a fat idiot.

[B]

Before you jump in there, the lady that made me that robe can't remember her name. She's in Dallas, Texas. And God dang, I didn't have no damn money. I started feuding with Chris. Well, what happened was when I broke into business, hell, I'd had about five months of training, but I was only training once a day. I mean, once a week. And you're out there with 25, 30 other kids, so you ain't getting a whole lot of in ring action.

[C]

Sure.

[B]

So after two months, you know, they figure I'm ready to be in the ring. Well, I mean, heels come into Dallas and beat the fuck out of me, you know, I'm the white baby face Phil Hickerson by two. I get weightlifting belts. Kendall six. And they're laying that shit in. And I'm dressed in a janitor's closet. They're k faving me. I don't even know what a high spot is. Chris hadn't even smartened my ass up yet, so goddamn forgot the point where I was trying to go with that story. What were you. Just about talking. Talking about.

[A]

We're talking about how bad my first run was.

[B]

So anyway, God damn, I get some long tights made and I'd have no money.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Hell, I didn't know he's Going to put me in a ring so fast. I answered a question on this podcast the other day about this and so dude, you know back in the day when you used to order your gear, well if you was from Texas, all your came from Paris, Texas. I can't remember the dude's name that made the boots there, but that's where you got your shit made.

[A]

Austin hall or something was, I can't remember.

[B]

But anyway, you know, hell I put my order in and I didn't have the money anyway so hell, I'm wearing Chris Adams boot now. I got 13, he's about 10 and a half and bought him son laces wasn't long enough and the boots wasn't long enough for my foot. You talk about looks like a sleece stack idiot. So I needed a robe and I just turned heel because when I first started I was Steve Williams, which was my shoot name at the time. And then when I went to Mid South Coliseum, Dutch didn't even know I was going to show up. Dutch had a book. Jerry said, hell, I'd ask Jerry Judd. I said, hey man, when do you think I'm ready to work full time? I'm working on a freight dock driving a forklift. He goes, hell Steve, I think you're ready now. Shit, I wasn't nowhere near ready. I was green as grass, wasn't worth a shit, couldn't even hear a high spot. I'm driving over to Mid South Coliseum and anyway, long story short, Dutch gives me the name Steve Austin. And then we're riding down the road and he goes, steve, just think, one of these days you'll turn heel and you'll be a cocky arrogant bastard and call yourself Stunning Steve Austin. Well that's exactly what happened, Jerry. Jerry comes up to me, goes steve, I want to talk to you. He goes, we're going to send you back to Dallas. I'm like you when you sitting there talking to Vince. I'm just a punk ass kid, I'm about 25. And I'm thinking, I looked at Jerry, I said well God damn. I said, I said, you're firing me? He said, no Steve, I ain't firing you. We're going to send you back to Turn Hill against your mentor Chris. Student versus trainer. I said, okay. So Chris says to me, he goes, man, with his English, I want to try to do an English accent. He goes, you need to get you a robe. I said, well shit, I ain't got no money for a robe. So anyway, he told me the name of the lady and she went and she got the materials for the robe. She got busted for shoplifting.

[A]

She was on the same playing field.

[B]

I still got that red robe. I think it's in closet over there. So that was a story about me getting my robe and she only charged me. When you look at that red sequin some on the tv, I think it made it from Dallas. And I wore it briefly when I was in WCW first came in and $150. Damn, $150. I mean, that's pretty cheap.

[A]

Yeah, for a robe.

[C]

Cheap for a robe.

[B]

Yeah, when you ain't got no money. It's a lot of money for that kind of robot. I don't know how much time she

[A]

spent, but I jumped all over your heavy money materials.

[C]

I didn't have a story, you know, that were. I got a couple things real quick. Being broke. I remember Rocky was getting booked.

[B]

You ain't broke now.

[C]

Here. And I was broke. We just talked about this on the way over here. We were laughing. Rock was getting booked all the time. And he'd leave and he. And I go. He goes, you got any real great guy. Great guy. He goes, you got any money? I go, nah. All right, dog, you can use money out of my piggy bank.

[A]

You'd be all right.

[C]

So he had to get a little piggy bank in his closet. He came back from Detroit, Japan. It wasn't there no more. What I was going to say about, about, about, about Gallows was the funny thing I think now is that Vince doesn't. I hear that Vince has no clue. He was Festus.

[A]

Let's try to keep it that way.

[B]

He was what?

[C]

Jesus.

[A]

Jesus Christ. He's back.

[C]

And we think, why wouldn't Vince know that? But, you know, But Vince, man, hasn't seen everybody. I mean, he's got a lot going on.

[A]

All these brothers trying to carry him.

[B]

Dude. I always tell Vince back in the day, because, you know, that's back, you know, when they started writing all those books. I wrote that one. I wasn't really interested in writing a book. But it's like, Vince, God damn, man, you ought to write a book. Because if anybody ought to write a book, and that'd be like a trilogy or it'd be a foot thick. It'd be like an encyclopedia.

[A]

Like those ones we read at the airport.

[C]

Yeah, like the llamas.

[B]

Think back, okay. Dude's third generation promoter, you know, he grew up, you know, it wasn't easy for life. Wasn't easy for him. When he was a young Kid. Yeah. And so anyway, finally ends up getting in the business. Dad didn't want him in the business. He was having a hard time promoting Bangor, Maine. And he says, if you can go over and make that town work, I'll let you in the business. That's how he got his start.

[C]

That's cool.

[B]

And then ended up buying a territorial leverage buy from his father. If he missed a payment, everything was gone. And then, you know, he took it out. And, you know, of course, everybody kind of put themselves out of business. As he says it. He didn't put them out of business. But. But my point is, third generation promoter, he's seen it all, done it all. Dude, how many stories have you heard? The nail story. I mean, this, that or whatever. But how many of the boys? Hundreds of them. You're being a father, you're being a brother, you're being a mentor, you're being a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a coach. I mean, all these different hats with all these dudes, Come on, man, there's four of us in this room. Yeah, and multiply that times. All the crazy motherfuckers that are in the business. Don't give me some highly intelligent people as well. I mean, good human beings. But I'm just talking about that dude has weathered so many storms and heard so many stories. When you first make your relationship with that guy, it's very intimidating because it's like talking to God. Because the guy knows all the answers

[A]

to all, of course.

[C]

Yeah, it makes sense. He's seen so much and he's been through so much. And we've had a couple good brother talks with Vince. He's always been very awesome.

[A]

We want to do it more.

[C]

Yeah, we'd like to have. We'd like to have, obviously have a closer relationship with him, but, you know, the times we've got in with him, he's cool as hell. Tunder's been cool as hell, too.

[B]

But the funniest thing about Vince is because you would hear the story coming into the territory back in the day, because, you know, when I was working wcw, man, we was competing with wwf and you know, when you're Doug in our Trench, you know, they're the opposition, but, you know, that's the big time. And so, you know, you get up there and you finally get there and forgot where I was going with the story. You need.

[C]

You want another novel? Have a swig of that novel. Cheers me softly.

[B]

I tried to get too many adjectives in that story, like.

[C]

But, you know, we had a lot of questions for you too, Steve. Like, how cool was it like when the Attitude era was going on? Compete with Nitro. That's some serious, serious competition that we grew up. We grew up watching that, you know.

[B]

Yeah, because I thought like that was running hard. I thought they had, I thought they had a good open with the flames and, and all that stuff. But, I mean, RAW was coming on me like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And you know, like we first. When I first got here or there, you know, I was, you know, ringmaster and the houses weren't that great. And then, you know, I ended up coming up with Stone Cold Steve Austin thing. But I told that story too many times. But it was like each. It really was war, because we were at war. I mean, they were throwing everything at the, in the kitchen sink at the damn audience, and so were we. We did that damn gun angle down there with Brian at his house. And man, I was so proud of that angle. And you know, people say, hey, man, that's just too serious.

[A]

Boy, you beat the shit out of those extras. God, I just saw that again about a year ago and I went, look at the fire in his eyes and the fear in there.

[B]

That's good, man. I mean, go. But I threw that little wagon card at that kid. I might have crossed the line, but God damn, that was a good.

[C]

I remember being in geometry class in my junior year of high school and you have to group up with you. They put us in groups of four people. Three, four people. And I go, what's the answer to this? And I never forget Keith Brown looked at me and goes, never mind that. Let's talk about what Stone Cold did

[A]

on Raw last night.

[C]

I go, I'd love to.

[A]

Hell with geometry.

[C]

I'd love to talk about what Stone Cold just did. That's, that's, that was hot, man. I remember people just. I remember being in high school and even the girls that you knew didn't really care. We're talking about the wrestling. I remember that was when it was

[A]

such a mark that I got offended when the attitude error happened because all these kids who thought I was a dumbass for like in wrestling for all these years, all were wearing the shirts. And some don't know anything about what's going on right now. I gave this kid, Jeremy Ray a quiz, a 10 question quiz about wrestling. And I told him if he couldn't answer and he couldn't get at least an 80, he had to take the shirt off. It was like the blue Austin 316. You got them all. Not the legit one. So it wasn't right. And he didn't get them right. And I was like, you take it

[C]

off, you're a piece of crap,

[A]

and put your gym shirt on.

[C]

So we, you know, we go. It's like, you know, I was five years, my mom and dad took me to the Asheville Civic Center. I'd see that's all Terry Funk versus Ric Flair in a cage match. Like. And my mom, it wasn't a fan, but she knew that I was. I wanted to go, yes, we just. Man, we love this stuff, man.

[B]

Y' all believe that was real when y' all was kids?

[C]

Yeah. You know, but my mom used to say, you know, you know, it's not Chad. And I'd be like, I mean, whatever, you know? And I remember, as I grew up, I remember watching, like, you guys, right, for example, the Rock versus Stone Cold. And I'd hear, like, you know, the punches. And I go, man, they must just be good buddies because they're hitting each other for real. Yeah, I understood it. Yeah. Just doing some slapping on the leg here and there. But, I mean, like, I never used

[B]

a slap on a leg ever.

[C]

Not you, the rocks. You did, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Check it out. But you brought up that story. The Rock is one of my favorite opponents of all time.

[C]

He's the greatest of all.

[B]

Yeah. All of a sudden, I was in the house one time, get a phone call, and Vince calls me. He goes, steve, we're opening up a new building in Dallas. American Airlines Arena. Want you and the Rock to headlining. Here's the date. You good? I said, damn right. Shit, man. They're going to open up new building down. We're good. So I remember Rock me. Rock went out the ring. I went out in the ring. God damn. I jump started him. And most of our stuff was a jump start anyway because it just worked that good for us. God damn. I had him in the corner, spin me around, and they said, pow, pow. He was missing me by this much, and I had missed him by that much. And I said. I looked at him deadly as he swinging, throwing those foots as you. Goddamn. One of us got to hit each other sooner or later. We go kill this. Pull him. Get it off the ground, dude.

[A]

Arn told us a good story about, I don't know, three months ago. He said he was talking in Japan, and we like, brother talking with arm. We love Arn, you know, and he was talking about when you and him went to Japan. Well, hell, kid, we drank the whole way there. And then Steve was Still drinking. And then we went out and worked. And I said. Finally I looked at him, I said, if you potato me one more time, I'm walking to the back.

[C]

That's like that. It's like we tell Double A all the time. One of my. I remember looking up something in Ryogoku Sumo hall and I think it was you and Double A. And I remember seeing it and I had some big matches in that.

[B]

What's that?

[A]

At Yoshi Hashi's house? Yes.

[C]

I'm gonna think, man, that's cool, man, to be in that same exact place. And we'd ask. We asked Double A questions all the time.

[B]

Dude, I was. I was so mad when all of a sudden we get to the building, all of a sudden Art, and I find we're working against each other. Dude, the whole trip to Japan, we was both reading the same novel.

[A]

That was before the audiobook.

[B]

You land, you go to the hotel and you get on the bus to go to the shop. You're not going to sleep. You're dead dog tired. You're trying to kick out of this fog that you've been in all of a sudden. And I'd been in the business because I'd worked for USWA about a year and a half, almost two. I got up to wcw, then I was in Japan, dude. I'd been in the business maybe two years, two and a half. Arn had been at least 10 by then. The match sucked ass. But Arn, as the tournament progressed, I mean, Arnold is at a veteran. He knew how to get himself over and get a match over and get his shit in. I was kind of just like, yeah, I was mechanically efficient, but didn't really have the 411 that he did at times. Yeah, that man sucked ass. It's embarrassing to watch now in 2017. Well, I haven't even watched it back, but going, going back. No, it's not.

[C]

It's great. It's fun to watch. Yeah. Did you ever see that one Rock? Was it a G1 tournament match?

[A]

Yeah, it was all those on VHS.

[C]

It was. I'm a G1 finalist.

[A]

Steve 2012.

[C]

I was. And he was making more money than me.

[B]

Son of a. The G Spot kid over here.

[C]

How much?

[A]

Yeah, I was a cheese spot.

[C]

Yeah, he is the cheesebuck. He's on fire.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

How much money you make in a week?

[A]

I suck my claws into your back and I'm hanging on for dear life.

[C]

I can still see his face when I asked him that, man, how much you make a win?

[A]

Try to look like these big badasses. I got this stupid face paint on.

[C]

Because, you know, I mean, I was there all the time, man. Damn, this fool's raking it in, brother.

[B]

What are you guys doing over here? You know, when you're traveling on these. These stateside gigs, y' all two exclusively,

[A]

or who y' all travel with, it's always us. And he's the best ride.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Rotating third or fourth, but we just. We get each other so good, like from when we first clicked together. So sometimes Finn Balor, sometimes Hawkins in there. We were on Smackdown. It was always aj. And then we had gender for a while before he left and went to Smackdown and blew up. And we always. We always do good, but we're always together no matter what. So I think AJ and gender just put up with us because they thought that we were funny and silly when we were reading.

[C]

Oh, AJ. Like, AJ's biggest thing is, like, you know, it's like we're a big fan of stuff. You know, we grew up fans of Stone Cold, and we would just. We talk. We try and talk like Stone Cold. We'd do Stone Cold promos on the Japanese bus.

[A]

He said for seven hours at a time.

[C]

Yeah, sure. He'd go. He'd go.

[A]

He'd go.

[C]

AJ'd go.

[A]

It's funny freaking story 100 times.

[C]

It's funny for about 20 minutes. Then I go to sleep on my headphones. Yings. I'm sick and tired of freaking hearing them.

[A]

Hey, can you not wake?

[C]

I wake up after an hour, and you're still freaking doing it. But you. You. You find people. You find people you click with, and you got to ride with people you click with, because if you don't click with people, man, you can't. Cuz, like, even with.

[B]

Like.

[C]

We love Finn Balor, My best buddy, one of my best buddies. Well, he wants to wake up and go get coffee in the morning, and I'm trying to shake off.

[B]

We don't drink coffee.

[C]

I don't want no coffee at night. In the morning, I want to sleep till 1pm and then I want to go.

[A]

Then we pump. Then we work.

[C]

We always. We always pump.

[A]

You know, no matter what, we sweat out the hate.

[B]

That's.

[C]

We sweat the hate out, but I don't want to get up early in the morning. And so you got to find. I click with this son of a gun, and it's perfect.

[B]

What was the inception of the damn Bullet Club?

[C]

Well, you know, it was. Finn Balor was what's called Prince Devitt in Japan over there, he was a big baby face, you know, And Gato's a real progressive booker. Like, they used to keep, you know, heavyweights to heavyweights, and then junior weights, junior weights, and that's it. That's all you can do. But I think he saw something with. With. With Ferg, with. With Finn Balor, and he was like. And he wanted to change it right there, and he turned him heel, and I think it. That showed a whole different side of what Ferg can do. And, like, because he's a. You know, he's Right now he's a baby face, right? And he's great, but he can. Man, when he turns it up to the heel, he's incredible. Yeah, he turned Finn heel. And then they put us with him together, and we always. You know, we're just. We're buddies, right? We always just. We always did the. The click NWO sign just because, you know, whatever. That was just our thing. And I said, man, when we turn, you know, when we. When we group up, we got to throw that thing up and just do it. And he goes, yeah, we did. We will. And that's it. They put us. Gato, put us all together. And then that just exploded. It really literally still going.

[B]

When did y' all know y' all had something?

[C]

You know, I knew we had something when they made us a new shirt. So we had these. We knew it was pretty cool what we were doing, because fans were calling the new Japan office and saying Prince David and Carl Anderson need to go bad guys. They're screaming. Screaming at the office because we're cheating on all our matches and do this

[A]

stuff they don't do.

[C]

Yeah, they got us a new shirt with the skull. The one that everybody uses now. Everybody kind of use for everything. Whatever the shirt they did. That first shirt they came out with, man, when they sold, like 8,000 in two hours, I went, what the hell is going on, man? What's going on? And that's when I knew something really got cool. And I got. I told you. When me and Rock went to the. To the. To the damn baseball game and I started getting recognized, I said he wasn't. That's. That's what I'm talking about. This is my. This is my little buddy here. He's my chauffeur. Oh, yeah, I'm Carl Anderson, by the way. He's. He's just a guy here hanging out with me.

[A]

He's having a great time.

[C]

He loves baseball. Yeah, he at least likes baseball. One time we got a. This Is true story. We got into it. He's laughing because he knows we got, we got into the train, right? Me and. For me and Finn Balor walked into the train. Cocky famous. We walked into the plane or to the train. The guy goes, oh, oh, Prince Deo. Oh, Carl Anderson looked over at Rock and goes,

[A]

Prince David. Carl Anderson.

[C]

I went, oh, he don't know you, does he?

[B]

Shut up, dog.

[A]

Just.

[C]

You just, you know, you can feel probably like when you know the same thing. When Stone Cold kicked off, you know, it just, you just could. It just. I felt it. The crowd started getting cooler and bigger. More Bullet Club shirts in the, in the arenas and I noticed all the, you know, all the big pay per views were fans were always wearing Bullet Club shirts and still wear Bullet Club shirts, which is crazy to me. Yeah, it's cool. It's cool to be. We're still hanging on, you know, associated with, you know, the very first four people that were in the thing, right? Me and, and Finn Valor and Tamatonga, King Haku's son. And a guy named Still New Japan. Still New Japan just signed. He just signed a five year contract. Rock's office now. So he knows.

[A]

Yeah, Rock, how much was that thing for anyway?

[C]

How much did he make?

[A]

Hey, what can we get when we have to come back?

[C]

Does he have.

[B]

How tall is that guy?

[C]

Tomatong is my height.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

And F is a little bigger. The biggest. Both Tongan kids, man. Good, good dudes. Good brothers.

[A]

Great, great.

[C]

You know, we called ourselves the Core Four because we were always of the Bullet Club. We were always the guys that were always on every single tour.

[A]

Not on yours.

[C]

That's why Gallows made so much money because he's booked so much.

[A]

Hanging on.

[C]

I was on that little guarantee, dude.

[B]

How was that stunt down there in TNA for you?

[A]

It was fun. I don't want to bury anybody there.

[C]

I love just fun, right?

[A]

And it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. It was just. It was really different coming out of WWE because I went from bullshit Indies to the wwe. Then I left and I got fired right after my 26th birthday. I was a young cat. I started wrestling. I was just turned 18, so I was like, oh, this is not a bad thing. This is a great thing. I'm going to go everywhere and then hopefully go back. So I started doing all these international tours and went to Africa and almost got shot in the face and all kinds of.

[B]

Why would someone want to shoot you in the face?

[A]

Well, we were having an argument over financial Things and because he went to the Congo and you shouldn't go to the Congo and wrestle ever. Young guys out there, even if I used to be, like, anywhere they'll put up a ring, I'll wrestle.

[C]

Wait a minute, I ain't going to Congo, dog.

[A]

No, the Congo was safer. Don't go to Nigeria. The Congo. I saw a guy get killed Nigeria. They wanted to kill me.

[C]

So he got color over Nigeria.

[A]

A bunch of times you got to bleed. So they believe it. I was like, you guys got a lot of AIDS going on, right? All right, here we go. Coast to coast, baby.

[C]

Coast to coast. But then you saw, but then you saw a brother cut it too. And he went, oh, he used the

[A]

same blade I did the first night.

[B]

I went, are you kidding me? No, I wish I was.

[A]

And he is now in prison. Well, he's been arrested.

[C]

What's his name?

[A]

He's in prison. The great power Rudy of Nigeria. I will tell the story and bury him for the rest of my life if I can, but he has been arrested. I don't know what's happened. The further development in the murder of his wife. So. And I believe that he did it. And if I could testify against him, I will, because he certainly did. He cut her head off like you want to do.

[C]

Hulk Hogan was there, right. Like you. And it was fun with him, right? Hulkster was at tna.

[A]

Awesome. There's. I always say, like, because I started so young and I love wrestling so much, I met a lot of guys that were a little bit of a letdown. But I was in the bathroom taking a piss and I saw Hawkins. Hey, brother, how's it going? I go, great, man, how are you? And then I did my match and he was, hey, that was pretty good. You want a Miller Light? And I went, yes. Oh, hello, Hawks, sir.

[C]

Oh, hell yeah.

[A]

So I had a lot of fun down there. We didn't make a lot of money, but it was, it was a lot of fun, a lot of good. And tna, it was a one year run. And then they, they were having their issues, whatever. And they were like, hey, after six months, we're going to give you this raise if you're doing good. And I was doing okay. And then they couldn't give me the raise. And then they couldn't give me the raise. And finally we were trying to negotiate something. I go, well, then I just can't come back. And they go, well, we'll just fire you. And then they put on the Internet, they fired me. And I went, well, thanks. And luckily that was in like August of 13. And then I got on to come

[C]

to the New Jersey brother texted me,

[A]

yeah, what's going on over there? I'm running out of places to go. Who I need myself a terrorist territory. Puerto Rico's dying, sadly. So I went over there with him. And then we had the first night in. We had a cool match and we clicked. And then we went out and ate some Mexican food and read a couple novels.

[B]

I enjoyed the Aces and Eight's gimmick.

[C]

It was great.

[A]

Booked a little differently.

[B]

Yeah, you could have booked it different, but I thought it was a great. I thought it was a great name. It was a great faction at the time, I think. I think someone gave it worse. Giving. I thought it was great. I'm not shitting yet. Yeah, but I thought it was great

[C]

at that time, 100%.

[A]

Well, you know, at the time, that show Sons of Anarchy was really cool. And I'm a guy who watches series, but I started watching and I got into it and then we were all watching and get into it. So we're remarks for ourselves because we're doing it on TV there. It was cool for a minute and then it just, it got a little sideways. But it was fun to do it and it actually, it gave me a little bit of a new look, career wise. I'd just been like fastest and then the guy who stands behind punk and all that. So I needed a little something. I got to do some. I got to work with Sting down there and. And some cool guys and stuff. So it was fun.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, you guys both were wrestling fans when you as a kid. I'm going to swap out a battery here in a second if you've got a chance to stay for another round. But the question is, I mean, Carl, you started at a young age. I mean, did you have a plan B? Was you ever going to be anything else?

[C]

You know, Colt Cabana, we laugh about this now, but at 25, when I'd moved out to Los Angeles and I texted Colt Cabana and I said, I'm thinking about going, finishing. I quit college my second year to go be a wrestler. I moved quick north, went to Morris Hill College, quit. Drove up to Cincinnati just to be a wrestler.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

We gave up our scholarships.

[C]

I just knew it'd be Dusty Rhodes.

[A]

I know I'll be Dusty.

[C]

Yeah, well, it's, you know. And I remember texting Colt Cabana and I said, dude, I kind of. I think I'm gonna go back into school. Like, I need to Plan B. And, And Colt Commander wrote me back and he goes, plans. Plan Bs are for failures and whatever, whatever. And I remember thinking, you're right. Yeah, you're right. And I just focused full fledged on that moment. And I told him that again on the podcast we did. And Colt goes, I'm not sure I agree with that anymore, but I'm glad I said that because he was good to me when I first started. He was really good to me. He had a big indie name and a Ring of Honor name and he helped me get booked here and there, but, you know, I can't. When I first told people I was going to be a wrestler, I remember my friend's dad goes, you going to do what? Well, you probably should put on a little side. Shouldn't you hit me. I kind of like joking. I went, and he was right. I don't know. It's like, I'm gonna be a hell

[A]

of a hand someday, pal.

[C]

You know, I don't, I don't look, you know, we don't look like I don't like Randy Orton, you know, I mean, like, I'm not, I'm not 6 5. I'm, you know, I'm just a normal brother.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And so, like, you know, that. Was there a plan B? I don't, I don't think so, man. I think I just said, I'm gonna do this. And I was arrogant enough, I guess, or confident enough in myself that I said, I'm.

[B]

When you was going to college, what, what did you think getting a degree

[C]

in that was a physical education teacher.

[B]

That's what I was going to do.

[C]

And then they made me. They made me do like a mock, like, teaching class. I'm going to be a terrible teacher. I got a D. I got a

[A]

D in physical education in play dodgeball.

[C]

We had. We had a computer class, I remember, and I was failing terribly and college kids out there shouldn't do this, but. And I said, man, is there any way I can. I can get. Get this back? So, yeah, you can probably get to see if you work really hard. And I went, okay. I never went to class again. I'm just. I had gave enough. That's why I flunked that class, because I. But I would do that and I'd just go home and I'd go back to the dorm and I'd sit there and watch wrestling and just think about how I'm gonna do this, what I'm gonna do, how I'm gonna, you know, that's all I Cared about. Yeah, I don't necessarily. Plan B. No.

[A]

We both win scholarships to be pro wrestlers. They met each other years later.

[B]

What about you?

[A]

I was. I was playing Division 2 college football. I graduated 17 center, all state, first team rock.

[C]

But what school?

[A]

Fairmont State University in West Virginia. And I was a good stud, so. I know, right?

[C]

You gotta tell them about the coach.

[A]

Hilarious sidebar story, though this has been told. You got to go to a San Diego Chargers game and sit in the box. And what's the guy's name?

[C]

Willie McGee. NFL hall of Fame Willie McGinnis.

[A]

He's in the next booth. We're reading. And we're making fun of Curt Hawkins because he was D3.

[C]

Hawkins.

[A]

We're failed D2. We're going, ha ha. You were D3. Was that a club sport?

[B]

Yeah, we're making fun of him.

[C]

There's a Hall of Famer behind us,

[A]

is five feet away. My coach, Rusty Elliott. If you're out there, I just want to rub it in your face, I didn't make it. He.

[C]

He said, yeah.

[A]

So I. I went. I signed up at Celamix Gym. And the first thing I always asked when I went to a new gym, at that time, my life was right. Do any pro wrestlers work out here? Because I don't know how to find any. And they go, actually, one does. His name's Luscious Lance Malinowski. I go, what times he work out?

[C]

Because I'm gonna talk to him.

[A]

I stalked him, and he was a pharmaceutical rep in his 40s, and he was in an unhappy marriage at the time. And he was like, yeah, man, we should go on the road and wrestle. And I was like, yeah, duh. So he took me to a show at the Fire hall, and then we rented a building. We each gave 50 bucks, and we rented this little building, put the ring up, and we practice things like lockups and stone cold stunners on each other. And then the next week, I went down to the Fire hall in Anmore, West Virginia, and I was in the Battle Royal for the first time as a new Millennium Assassin. And then I started wrestling, but I wore a hood and I had a little tattoo that I would put tape around so no one would know it was me. Told a couple of my offensive lineman buddies I knew that, you know, they knew how to kayfabe stuff, which I found out they didn't. So I was in the Battle Royal. Yeah, I was in the mall, the Meadowlark Mall outside of Fairmont. And the hell of a battle royal grueling effort. And I looked out amongst the 25 people and I saw Coach Rusty Elliott, his arms folded and his piercing blue eyes. And I said to the Magnum kid, throw me over. I didn't bother asking for a payday because I knew there wasn't one for me. So I wore my high techs and my in sport running tights and I threw a T shirt on and grabbed my little bag and I got in my Hyundai, I drove back to the

[C]

dorm and I went, best part of the story.

[A]

I've gotten away with this. I'm the man. This was a Saturday night, so I had fun Saturday night. Sunday was an easy day. Monday morning, 7:00am, phone call to the dorm, this is Coach Elliot, I need you in my office now. I went, and I had a booking the next week in North Carolina because I was meeting some guys and branching out. So I had hair at the time, I bleached it white. And I've been tanning. I shaved my legs, my armpits, I'm tan as hell. I got white hair. I'm 6 foot 7. So I walk in there with my football on and he goes, we know about the wrestling. And I go, what wrestling? And he goes, I'm not putting up with this. You need to figure out if you want to be Dusty Rhodes or contribute to this football team. And I go, I want to be Dusty Rhodes. I'm going to be Dusty Rhodes, brother.

[C]

I want to be Dusty.

[A]

He goes, you got a week to think about it. You're off for the week. And I went, great. So I took the week off and I went to Slamic's Gym with Lance Malinowski and talked about how we're gonna have a big run in WWF when he was 48 and I was 18. And then he called me again on Monday morning, goes, what's the decision? So I had to go back in and go, quitting. Well, we're pulling your scholarship. And I go, good. And then I walked out as a cocky ass and I went, oh, no. I had to call my dad, who is paying for me to now live in this apartment because he doesn't want to be this star who goes to the NFL from this shitty Division 2 school. So I call him up and then

[C]

I was like, got a promo on you, didn't you?

[A]

I gotta go back home. So I had to go home and I got a job at the feed store and it was a terrible time for me.

[C]

You're gonna be a what?

[A]

Idiot? He took me down to the print shop and made business cards Said because I wanted my name once I got it up from under the hood to be Dorian deville, the human Cadillac.

[C]

He had a D tattooed on his arm.

[A]

He thought for sure he was probably working you soon. So this was in my head. And so I had business cards made. Dorian deville, professional wrestler, AKA Drew Hankinson, with my parents phone number. But right around that time, my dad got rid of the answering machines. He was tired of all the soliciting, so. And you're number three. When I've been out there on the circuit, man. And I'd moved out. I moved to New Jersey for six months and I couldn't afford to keep my apartment. I got fired from Sony because I was always leaving, going to wrestling shows and trying to work.

[B]

And when I saw the Dorian deville name on that damn. On Wikipedia when I was doing my

[C]

extensive research, he got a D tattooed on his arm because he was always gonna be.

[A]

I go, you know what?

[B]

You're right.

[C]

I need to get a tattoo. I'm always gonna be that guy that

[B]

has something to do with the devil you mark.

[A]

Yes, yes, yes. I ate a spear trying to say hi to you. Jimmy Till has rocked my ass.

[B]

I'm g. Swap out a battery. I want to stay.

[C]

If you want us, we'll stick around.

[B]

I'm going to read another poem.

[A]

Read a poem.

[B]

Hit the pause button and swap out batteries.

[A]

We should start a book club before.

[B]

Before I do that. On social media, Instagram, Twitter. Where can you guys be found?

[A]

At Luke Gallows, wwe.

[C]

Yeah, at Carl Anderson wwe. That's it.

[A]

If you would like.

[B]

Dollar sign, dollar sign, dollar sign.

[C]

Open straight through. Carl Anderson.

[B]

Rocky, what about you?

[A]

What are you.

[C]

Rock Romero at Azuka?

[B]

Rock A R C A C U

[A]

R C A R. Yeah, Rock's not

[C]

real good on the mic, so we. He's our last guy.

[A]

He pops for us when nobody else will.

[B]

I'm gonna fly Rock here just for the goddamn laugh track. Yeah, he's coming right back after this.

[C]

Beautiful. This is Steve Austin unleashed.

[B]

All right, everybody, give me the go home. Just. I'm gonna wrap up his podcast and ride off in the sunset. Before I do, I want to thank Carl Anderson, Luke Gallows, and Rocky Romero for coming over here and making me laugh my fucking head off. Holy shit. I had a fun time talking to those guys. They're going to be on the next Thursday show. Part two of my conversation with these guys. They overseas right now. They're coming back. Appreciate you guys stopping by. Appreciate it. One last plug for broken skull challenge. Tuesdays 109 Central CDMT Two episodes left and they are badass. That's all I can say about that. All them T shirts I wear on Broken Skull Challenge, you can find them at prowrestlingtease.com steveaustin and the best damn IPA on the planet happens to be made by El Segundo Brewing Company. Concocted by myself and Rob Crocsol, this beer fits my palate. I made it, I designed it with Rob and it's the best beer in the United States of America. And that's all I got to say about that. You can find it at Whole Foods and Total Wines if you live in California. If you don't live in cali, check out insidethecellar.com and see if they ship to your state. Make a hell of a Christmas present. If you're looking to get a badass pocket knife, check out the Cold Steel Broken Skull knife or the New Working man knife and you can get them at my new Amazon store. Amazon has the best price on both knives. Just go to Amazon.com shop and I want to say one more time thank you to all the fine sponsors of the Steve Austin Show. That's how I'm able to do this podcast for you twice a week for free. You can find all my [e-mail] just click on the Killer Deals button on the top of the page and then click on the Steve Austin show banner. And speaking of Podcast 1, the new Podcast 1 app is now available for download at the App Store or Google Play. There ain't another podcast app like this submit you anywhere. And that's because the new Podcast one app is loaded with some some cool ass features that let you do a lot more than just listen to your favorite shows. You can access behind the scenes photos, articles and connect with other fans of the shows you like. Hell yeah. Watch over a thousand 360 virtual reality videos. Hell yeah. You can actually watch some of your favorite shows in virtual reality. It's like you're sitting right in the same room with them. So get to the App Store, Google Play and download the new Podcast one app. Now folks, if you want to follow me on social media, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram. EveAustin BSR folks. Until next time folks. This week, until next time on the Tuesday show I got Elias WWE Superstar coming up next. My name is Steve Austin and I will catch your ass down the road.

[A]

Download new episodes of Steve Austin and Unleashed every [e-mail] that's podcastone.com. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows. I swear, if I'm lying, I'm dying.

[B]

This is the mindset.

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Huzzah.

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[A]

Hey, Sal. Hank. What's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana

[B]

and it was so easy.

[A]

Too easy. Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price, and it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed. Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.