1 00:00:03,280 --> 00:00:06,360 OK, let's talk about this insane lineup coming to River City 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,440 Wrestling Con 2025, because it is stacked. 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,480 First of all, Mr. Style and Profile and the Nature Boy 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,440 himself, Ric Flair will be there for the first time ever. 5 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,360 Then you've got Bret Hart, literally one of the greatest to 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:20,520 ever do it. Kane is pulling up too. 7 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,280 So yeah, you have Hellfire and brimstone energy coming in hot. 8 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:26,680 And if that wasn't enough, we've got Kurt Angle. 9 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,720 Olympic gold medalist, icon, Legend. 10 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,680 It's true, It's damn true. Let's not forget the almighty 11 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:36,200 Bobby Lashley will be in the building as well. 12 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,240 And the Big show, Literally a giant part of wrestling history. 13 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,160 Plus a whole bunch more like Rob Van Damme, Katie Forbes, Tay 14 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,400 Melo, Sergeant Slaughter and still more names to come. 15 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,120 River City Wrestling Con 2025 is going to be wild. 16 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,640 There will be live wrestling meet and greets, Q&A sessions, 17 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,120 all of it. Tickets are flying, so if you 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,920 don't have yours yet, don't wait or you're going to be sitting at 19 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:03,280 home all sad with FOMO while all of your friends are meeting the 20 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,120 legends. It's all going down in the 21 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,960 historic city of Saint Augustine, June 7th and 8th, so 22 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:18,120 see you there wrestling. Tails knock you off your seat, 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,800 TuneIn. Now don't you be lame. 24 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,360 Wrestling Punk has never felt this great. 25 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,200 Tables, ladders, chairs, they tell it all. 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,520 From the highest highs to the lowest fall. 27 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,760 Great glory tails from the ring, Every chain, every cheer. 28 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:46,320 They'll bring team on and the Duke bring the heat. 29 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,360 Wrestling tails knock you off your seat, TuneIn. 30 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:56,920 Now don't you be late Wrestling podcast never felt this crazy. 31 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,520 Brothers and sisters, welcome back. 32 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,960 Welcome back to another exciting edition of the Devon of the Duke 33 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,320 podcast. This is a limited edition series 34 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,440 hosted by your main man. Duke loves wrestling and of 35 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,920 course the five time Hall of Famer, one of the greatest of 36 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:21,000 all time. The man that is the YouTube 37 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,320 sensation Mr. Devon Dudley. What's going on, brother? 38 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,840 Same old, same old, just still living the dream and trying to 39 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,840 at. Least trying to listen you you 40 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,360 got you got a big booking coming up man with the River City 41 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,760 Wrestling Con next week, huh? Yes, you know, we, my, my sons 42 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,440 will be there. They'll be wrestling, you know, 43 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:43,880 things like that. And you know, I'm excited about 44 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:45,080 it. And there's a lot of things 45 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,920 going on that week and, you know, I'm very excited about it. 46 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,720 It's, it's interesting to be at these conventions and your sons 47 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,280 are there as well. So it's really a family affair. 48 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,920 I mean, how does that feel to have them out there and, and, 49 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:02,800 and you get to see all your, your brothers from yesterday and 50 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:04,520 today and what have you. Just it's almost like 51 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:05,920 everybody's in the same place, right? 52 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:08,760 I mean, that's what it is. I mean, it really is. 53 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:13,800 It's anytime you can go to these these events, you know, we 54 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,240 basically, you know, have really a good time because it's one of 55 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:21,040 those things where, you know, we, we know we're going to see 56 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:22,480 each other. We haven't seen each other in a 57 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,840 long time. We're prepared and we're happy 58 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,480 about it. So, you know, I'm very excited 59 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,320 to be able to say that, you know, I'm going to go there and 60 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,520 have some fun. I think that's the main thing. 61 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,680 I'm going to have fun talking with the fans, doing all of 62 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,400 that. So it's going to be pretty good, 63 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:40,520 man. I'm excited about it. 64 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,560 Yeah, it's going to be a fantastic weekend once again, 65 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,600 folks. June 7th and 8th, World Golf 66 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,280 Village, the River City Wrestling Con, you know, it's 67 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,480 the big one. Every year there just keeps 68 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,720 getting bigger and better. And of course, TNT, Terrence and 69 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,600 Terrell Hughes, of course, Devon Sons, they're going to be there 70 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,280 in action, by the way, So they're going to be kicking some 71 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,360 ass there. Devon is going to be there 72 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,520 meeting all the friends, signing autographs, the whole 9 yards 73 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:08,400 there. Ric Flair, Brett the Hitman, 74 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:14,040 Heart Thunderosa, Sylvia Sanchez from Wild Women of Wrestling. 75 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:20,480 We even have Scotty Sosa, who is one of Devon Dudley's students 76 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,640 taking on the pride of the United Kingdom. 77 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,000 We're talking about Aaliyah James and those two are on a 78 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,840 collision course. It's going to main event, so 79 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,200 keep this abide folks. These ladies are going to be 80 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,360 kicking some ass. Devon, who you got in that 81 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:37,320 match? Well, I don't know because you 82 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:41,000 know, Aliyah, she basically, you know, James, she basically 83 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,240 trained with me as well. So you know, I don't want to 84 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:49,240 take favoritism, but I got to say, you know, you're not going 85 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:50,480 to put me on the spot, man. These. 86 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,160 These are basically your two daughters here, man. 87 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:55,480 And they, they put the fight now. 88 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:56,800 All right. That's, that's basically what we 89 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,680 got going on now. Yeah, man, you trying to put me? 90 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:01,120 You trying to put me in the lions then? 91 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,560 So you told me you don't want to be the special guest referee? 92 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:12,160 Hell no. Listen, your mother, my mother, 93 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,240 my mother then raised no fool, man, I ain't going to sit up 94 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,560 there and get in between two women that are ready to go at 95 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,560 each other's throats and and this and that. 96 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,360 And you know, that's exactly what's going to happen, you 97 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:24,880 know, at this event. And when they when they step in 98 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:26,920 the ring with each other, it's going to be a war. 99 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,640 You know, some words were said on the show and you know, words 100 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,600 were said on social media. So it's going to be a happening. 101 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,480 It's definitely going to be happening and and I got to tell 102 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:41,760 you, I got to tip my hat to you deep on you have TNT, Terrence 103 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:43,480 and Terrell. Those are those are your boys 104 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,240 there their main event in one night, one day. 105 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,840 And then you have Scotty and Aaliyah James main event in one 106 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:53,680 day. So this is like a Devon 107 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:56,800 Wrestling Academy showcase, so to speak here. 108 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,320 How the hell you got main events both days brother? 109 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:02,200 So. Well, you know that's what 110 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,360 happened when you're a 24 time world tag team champion, the 111 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,080 most decorated tag team champion. 112 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,520 I know people tired of him. You say that, but guess what? 113 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,440 I can say it because I've done it and I've lived it. 114 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:18,240 You see that folks, so if you want to live your dream of 115 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,360 becoming the next pro wrestling superstar, you definitely got to 116 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,440 check out Devon Dudley Wrestling Academy. 117 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,280 Devon, what's the best way folks can reach out to to get involved 118 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:31,840 with the Wrestling Academy and learn from one of the greatest 119 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:34,600 of all time? Absolutely, and you can go to my 120 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:42,080 website, devondudley.com, devondudley.com, look at the 121 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:46,840 information there, or you want Instagram at Devon Dudley 122 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,680 Academy and inbox me and come on down, check it out. 123 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,080 And, you know, let's get your future started right in 124 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,480 professional wrestling. It definitely folks, two years 125 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,240 in a row, students from the Devon Academy main eventing. 126 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:02,720 There's something to be said about that. 127 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,640 When you have all these big stars in the building and yet 128 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,720 you know folks who are getting the right kind of training, they 129 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,600 managed to earn spots like that. You could be next, so definitely 130 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,240 check out Devon Wrestling Academy. 131 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,120 Something strange happened this week, Devon. 132 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:25,280 You had former two time WWENXT champion Trick Williams. 133 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,160 He just won the TNA World Championship by defeating Joe 134 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,240 Hendry. You're a guy who's in both Hall 135 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:38,000 of Fame's WWE and TNA. You're a guy is decorated in 136 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,800 both companies. Did you ever imagine in your 137 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,680 wildest dreams, first of all, that the TNA World Championship 138 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:53,960 would would actually be defended on a WWEPLE and then not only 139 00:07:53,960 --> 00:08:00,440 that, that AWWE contracted wrestler would win the TNA World 140 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:01,600 Championship? Did you ever think that 141 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:02,760 something like that would ever happen? 142 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:05,960 No, and I never thought I knew. I knew it never was going to 143 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:10,680 happen in the Vince's machine because Vince, you know, put the 144 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:16,120 illusion out there, not just to the public but to us, that no 145 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,640 other wrestling organization existed but the WWE. 146 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,720 Of course, we all knew that wasn't true, but that's what he 147 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,600 projected. And so do I think that this 148 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:29,360 would have happened under the Vince regime? 149 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,000 No. Do I see it happen on the under 150 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:33,799 the Hunter's regime? Absolutely. 151 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:42,600 You know, everybody has to understand Vince for the 80s, 152 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,080 nineties, the Attitude Era and leading up to the PG era. 153 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:48,920 And of course to him leaving the company. 154 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,760 You know, in my opinion, you know, you have to be irrelevant 155 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,440 with the times and you have to kind of go with the punches and 156 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,360 sometimes a change is needed. And he was big on that, 157 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,640 especially with talent. You know, he would like to keep 158 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,680 it fresh and new, you know, new and and all of that. 159 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:13,320 But I don't think Vince realized the scenarity of actually 160 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:18,560 joining forces with their with an organization like CNA and how 161 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:20,600 good that would have been for business. 162 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,240 Yeah, I also feel that, you know, he he just wasn't stealing 163 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,040 that, and I don't think he would have if Vince was still in 164 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:29,560 charge. I don't think you would have 165 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:33,640 seen the collaboration between TNA and WWE. 166 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,000 Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right, but I just don't see it 167 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,360 because I know how the organization was run not only 168 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,640 from a talent standpoint, but from behind the scenes. 169 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:45,200 And I know things that were said. 170 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,680 So, you know, it's it's almost weird too, because it was almost 171 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,960 like NXT was hit was his as well, even though it was Triple 172 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,760 H's baby. But you know, it was his company 173 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,920 as well. And, you know, there were times 174 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:05,920 when guys would come up from NXT and, you know, he would say 175 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:08,520 things like, well, will they be over? 176 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,000 Do the fans even know who they are? 177 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:17,080 And some of us would look at each other and go, yeah, they 178 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,480 do. Are you not familiar with what's 179 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,760 going on on social media and how the people are projecting these 180 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,480 people? There was one. 181 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,000 I could be wrong. Don't quote me on this. 182 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,560 I could be wrong. But I think I know it was said 183 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:36,760 about could have been said about Oscar at the time. 184 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,240 I'm I might be wrong. So I don't want the dirt sheets 185 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:42,440 to start quoting me and saying that Vince didn't think Oscar 186 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:46,080 was going to get over. It was one of those things where 187 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:54,880 I think was said was will she get the response that she that 188 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:57,400 they want her to get? And I remember we all looked at 189 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:01,040 him and goes, yeah, she will, you know. 190 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:03,240 And sure enough, we were right about that. 191 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:12,440 I basically, I do know for a fact that it was said about Enzo 192 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,720 and Cass, because, you know, of course, they basically started a 193 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,360 program with us and they got over like 1,000,000 bucks, you 194 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:22,280 know, they got over like 1,000,000 bucks. 195 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:26,280 So it was something that Vince was out of tune with. 196 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:31,200 He didn't know, and you know, Vince only concentrated on the 197 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,400 WWE and that was it. He might have heard rumblings 198 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,040 about different people and organizations to bring them in, 199 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,480 but I don't think Vince really fully understand the magnitude 200 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:44,720 of how other wrestlers were getting over and other 201 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,960 companies. I just don't think he did. 202 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:50,920 Which is so interesting. It's so interesting that a guy 203 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:55,520 could be that successful only focusing on what's happening in 204 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,880 his wheelhouse and not really looking outside of that most of 205 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:01,920 the time. That it's not possible for you 206 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,400 to be successful without understanding the overall 207 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,320 marketplace. Yeah. 208 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,120 I mean, it's, you know, and at one point in time, I got to 209 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:12,960 think in the 80s and 90s, he wasn't like that. 210 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,840 It was only until he got older and it seemed like he became out 211 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:21,320 of touch with how the public was perceiving pro wrestling at the 212 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:26,080 time. We always said this, everybody 213 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,080 that worked behind the scenes or even talent. 214 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:33,200 Vince is the type of person where he really doesn't care 215 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:35,840 about, I don't know. And I hate to say that word 216 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:37,200 doesn't care. I'm not. 217 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:39,600 I'm sure he cared, but he really, it didn't interest him 218 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:46,320 to actually, you know, want to indulge in other companies like 219 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:48,960 that. You know, he felt that the WWE 220 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,680 was his baby and that was the only thing that was going to 221 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:55,280 shine and be worthy enough to get over. 222 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,160 And that's just the way it was with him. 223 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:02,520 But again, in the 80s and 90s, you know, you hear, I saw a 224 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,240 documentary on A and EI believe it was. 225 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:06,680 I just don't remember which one it was. 226 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:11,960 But where Hunter and Sean when they started doing the DX, Vince 227 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,880 didn't like it. And you know, it was at that 228 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:20,160 time when, you know, people were being rebellious, rebellious and 229 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:24,040 they were actually, you know, the the bad guys were being 230 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:28,680 cheered, the good guys were being booed, pointing K Stone 231 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:32,680 Cold Steve Austin, you know, he came in as a bad guy, you know, 232 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:34,640 and all of a sudden he got over like 1,000,000 bucks as a 233 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,960 babyface and you know, Steve Austin was born. 234 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:43,800 It's just hard for me to believe that Vince actually looked at 235 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:49,680 other companies that being anything but successful if they 236 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:52,800 weren't in the WWE or getting over. 237 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,960 And again, I'm sure if he was on this radio, if he was, I'm 238 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:58,120 sorry, if he was on this podcast, he would probably say I 239 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,160 was wrong. But when you look at things that 240 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,560 had transpired after the Attitude Era, you know, how many 241 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:08,880 people fell from the wayside because, you know, he just woke 242 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,400 up that morning and said, ah, well, they're not getting over, 243 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:12,760 so we're not going to use them anymore. 244 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,440 You know, it was just, it was a weird, weird thing when you 245 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:19,440 actually looked at it. And like you said, you would 246 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,320 think a man of his knowledge and you know, what he has for 247 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:24,840 professional wrestling would see that. 248 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:26,120 But at that time, he really didn't. 249 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:31,720 And This is why you needed fresh people in there to actually tell 250 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,040 Vince no and not have a bunch of yes man telling them, yeah, 251 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:36,040 you're right, Vince, you're right. 252 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,560 But Hunter was the one that actually was like, no, this is 253 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:40,400 works. That's works. 254 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:44,000 And Hunter had a fight. You know, Hunter had to fight to 255 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,560 get a lot of things that he wanted. 256 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:51,320 But again, to actually sit there and to say that the DX, you 257 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,280 know, gimmick wasn't going to work and it wasn't society 258 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:56,600 wasn't ready for it. We all know that wasn't true 259 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:02,920 because DX blew up and it was one of the most over things in 260 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,720 the world. Hell, people, you know, my, my 261 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,200 little brothers were getting in trouble for going to school 262 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,800 going suck it, suck it, you know, with the hand just and all 263 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:13,720 that. And you hear in these 264 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:16,560 documentaries how all these kids were getting sent to the 265 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:18,080 principal's office because of that. 266 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:24,600 Not to mention grown people were doing that as well, you know, So 267 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,400 it's one of those things where you needed a fresh mind, you 268 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:30,880 needed a fresh talent, and that's the way it is. 269 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:32,920 Let me. Tell you something as as 270 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,200 somebody who was part of that age group you know middle school 271 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,720 high school, what have you during the whole suck it era so 272 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:43,880 to speak yeah everybody was running around doing that and 273 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,280 doing it in school and getting getting detention for doing it 274 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:52,440 so oh that was so blessing listen I'm. 275 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,440 Glad I was already done with school at that point because. 276 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,040 You would have been going crazy. Oh, I would have been going down 277 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:00,280 the hall. Suck it, suck it. 278 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,360 And you know, God forbid if a young, if a young girl was 279 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:04,800 walking by me and I went suck it. 280 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,040 You know, you, you definitely going to the principal's office 281 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:08,760 at that point and it had nothing. 282 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,440 And you're not and you're not telling them to suck it like in 283 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,360 a sexual. You're just doing the BX thing. 284 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:15,920 And you know, that's the way it was back then. 285 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,640 Yeah, it's true. And and listen, the way that you 286 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:22,200 be doing your tests, you do the cross, you spin around it all 287 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,480 when you really feel that you start spinning around and stuff. 288 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:27,640 I could only you'd be jumping around like Xbox doing the suck 289 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,400 it if you were if you were in my age group back then. 290 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:34,120 And you know, The funny thing about it was I was at DDTS 291 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:38,560 house, he invited me to his house and it was a fantastic 292 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:43,400 experience. And it was one of those things 293 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:47,080 where I, you know, getting my, you know, body back to where it 294 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,080 needs to be. And he was tweaking. 295 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,440 He was tweaking, you know, all the stuff that I was doing on my 296 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:57,920 own and the things that I was doing with Bobby Fish Fisher. 297 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,960 He basically was tweaking it. And, you know, it was like one 298 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,400 of those things where I finally had the nerve to tell him, you 299 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,200 know, when I did that little spin around in a circle, it was, 300 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:11,079 I got it from you. You know, I got it from you. 301 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:14,720 I got it from DDP. It was in ECWI, don't know if 302 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,400 you remember in WCW when Dallas used to come to the ring, he 303 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,599 would get in the ring and then kind of like go around in a 304 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:25,079 circle pointing to the people, you know, and then go bang. 305 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,000 And one day I think we did a run in on Balls Mahoney and 306 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:33,600 Axelrodden, and I was feeling it so much and the crowd was like 307 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:35,480 booing us, you know? Of course, something that we 308 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:40,240 wanted because we were heels. And I, I felt this energy in me 309 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,600 and I remember just feeling it and didn't even realize I was 310 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:46,920 doing it. And I started doing what he was 311 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:51,440 doing in the ring and, you know, I would go F you as opposed to, 312 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:55,720 you know, the diamond thing. And I watched it back on TV and 313 00:17:55,720 --> 00:18:00,320 I went, I like that, you know, So every time we did a run in, I 314 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:02,960 would go in there and do that. And then it got to the point 315 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:09,360 where towards the end of my ECW run, going into my WWE run, that 316 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:13,000 was when I made it my own and just did a little dance, you 317 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,760 know, in between after the what's up and then we'll do the 318 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,200 sign of the cross. And here I was thinking you were 319 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,480 getting the Holy Ghost all right, and you over here just 320 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:23,240 milking Dallas. What the Hell's going on? 321 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,120 Yeah, when I told Dallas that he, he was like, really? 322 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:31,520 I was like, yeah. I said no, no BS, man. 323 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,680 I was like, I'm serious. I got it from you, but I just 324 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:40,240 took it and made it my own. And you know, it's, it's weird. 325 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,200 I said, you know, when I remember when I first started 326 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,680 the DDP Yoga or right before I'd started it, you know, because my 327 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:52,840 back was in so much turmoil that I remember trying to do it and I 328 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,200 couldn't do it anymore. Because the one leg, you know, 329 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,640 with the knees and stuff, when they cut through the nerves and 330 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,280 the tendons and all of that, you lose a lot. 331 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,800 And I had lost a lot. So trying to, you know, turn on 332 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:08,480 that one leg was very, very hard. 333 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:12,360 It was only until I started the the DVP Yoga where I was able to 334 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:18,240 do it again and not have that pain and had and I built up the 335 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,400 nerves and the tendons enough to where I was able to go in there 336 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,440 and do it. You know, again, I'm not trying 337 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,240 to get on this whole DDP thing because we've done this before 338 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,760 and other episodes. But if you are hurt in any way, 339 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:35,160 shape or form and you are dreading surgery or anything 340 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,040 like that, I think you should try it, try to DDP Yoga. 341 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,200 It could probably save and change your life in a way that 342 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,160 you could never imagine, you know, And at 52 years old right 343 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,280 now and having the back surgery and the things that they were 344 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:52,680 doing to correct the problems that I have with my back, it 345 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,000 helped tremendously. So, you know, again, all hats 346 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,200 off the DDP. Thank you very much for giving 347 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,720 me where I am. And again, I can't stress being 348 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:02,600 with him. We did the cold plunge. 349 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,840 We documented everything. We did the cold plunge. 350 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:07,600 We I mean, it was weird because after I did the cold plunge, 351 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:09,560 then he goes, all right, we're going to go to the weights. 352 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,880 And he had these like, power cuffs that he put on my arms 353 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,240 where normally, you know, if you're doing biceps, you know, 354 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,120 you probably working out or starting off with 25 and 355 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:23,720 probably end up with like, you know, 100 LB dumbbell curling. 356 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:28,280 And you put those power cuffs on, brother, just do 20 and 357 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:32,560 you'll be, you'll probably be able to do 10 because in the 358 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:36,240 power cuffs helps you to really your strict form and this and 359 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,240 that. And it sends the blood flow 360 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,040 through the arms, which allows the muscles to breathe. 361 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:43,760 And it, it gives a, a longer pump. 362 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,480 So it was one of those things where I'm up there going, we're 363 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,760 only going to use 10 lbs. And he goes, oh, yeah, watch. 364 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,640 He goes, we'll, we'll go up as much as 25 to 30. 365 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,200 I go, I'm going to ace this man. After the first set, I was like, 366 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,560 OK, Dallas, I'm breathing heavy. I'm like, God, my arms are 367 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:02,760 tired. They are ripped. 368 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:09,520 But he found the science to be able to help the body to get to 369 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,720 where it needs to be. So my hat's goes off to Dallas. 370 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,480 That goes off to Dallas. We've said it a bunch of times, 371 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,880 folks, DDP Yoga, you got to check it out. 372 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,960 You got to check out DDP Yoga, regardless of what level of 373 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,040 fitness you're, you're in. Literally. 374 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:29,760 Butter Bean is a great example too that this guy couldn't even 375 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,560 walk anymore. I felt so bad. 376 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:39,800 Yeah, I felt. So bad when I saw him, I felt so 377 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:47,280 bad in terms of watching him walk because, you know, it was 378 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,920 it was, it was terrible, man. He was, he was trying to walk 379 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,600 and he was barely moving. He was hunched over and this and 380 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:55,640 that. I saw him in Vegas Brothers 381 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:57,320 walking tall, he's walking straight. 382 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,440 I mean, this is the man that was on his way out, you know, And 383 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:04,640 when you ask him about it, he's almost in tears because he knew 384 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,040 where he was before he started the yoga. 385 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,280 So, you know, you just got to make time if you want your body 386 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,680 to feel right, if you want to get back on the track that you 387 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,400 used to be on, then take the 1520 minutes to do it. 388 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,320 There's nothing that that there's nothing out there that's 389 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:23,000 more important than getting your health back to where it needs to 390 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,320 be, especially if you have kids. And I've got young kids. 391 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,800 So, you know, I want to be able to still go out there and play 392 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,920 basketball. I want to still go out there and 393 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,520 run. Now, I haven't been able to beat 394 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:35,160 my 17 year old in a race in a long time, but I'm I'm working 395 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:36,520 my way up to it. That's my goal. 396 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,920 Are you getting there, brother? I mean you, you lost all that 397 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,680 weight and now your mobility is back. 398 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:47,280 So well, I'm telling you man, you it it say whatever you want 399 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,240 out there and Devon, I know you, you keep going back and forth on 400 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,240 this, but I still believe that you could step in the ring right 401 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,360 now. You, you could main event APLE 402 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:02,240 right now. OK, that's that's how fresh and 403 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:06,280 nimble you are, especially compared to the last couple of 404 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,440 years. Man, you you, you got it back 405 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,280 bro. I got it back. 406 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,040 But, you know, one of the things that I'm fearful of, and I told 407 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,800 you this, it's two things actually, you know, I'm fearful 408 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,520 of is the fact that, you know, I don't want other, you know, 409 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,480 discs to start to collapse and this and that. 410 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,200 So I'm not saying that, you know, I wouldn't go in and do a 411 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,600 match and this and that 'cause there's already talks about me 412 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,960 and Bubba getting back in the ring, doing a match with one of 413 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,280 our rivals from the past. But you know, to be on a full 414 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,480 time basis. I don't know if I want to do 415 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,440 that. I like the nostalgia. 416 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,360 I like going in there, you know, like, say you're going here 417 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:44,840 today and then you don't see the ring again from the six months 418 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:46,920 to a year. I like doing stuff like that. 419 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,880 But man, that schedule, that grind, going in and out of 420 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,960 airports and and out of planes and in and out of rental cars? 421 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,880 Oof, that beats your body up more than actual wrestling. 422 00:23:57,600 --> 00:23:59,520 Sure, sure. Yeah. 423 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,920 That that extended travel, that's a young man's sport in 424 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:03,320 and of itself. Absolutely. 425 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,200 Yes, Lord. Absolutely. 426 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:08,920 Well, you know, we got off the path. 427 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,200 Let me let me bring this bring it home for a second with with 428 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,760 the final point. Congratulations, Trick Williams, 429 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:21,400 the first, yes ever in history. WWE contracted Superstar to win 430 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,240 the TNA World Championship. It's never been done before. 431 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,200 This is groundbreaking, historic, huge. 432 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,680 So congratulations, Trick. And I like Trick, man. 433 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,080 I, I really, really like Trick. He has a bright future in my 434 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,720 opinion. I love Trick, and, you know, he 435 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:40,240 was Carmelo's sidekick for a long time, but then he worked 436 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,360 his way up to where he is now, and I'm so happy for him. 437 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:48,040 You know, you know, some people don't understand that sometimes 438 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,600 the position that you're in doesn't necessarily mean that 439 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,040 you have to stay in that position. 440 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:55,520 You know, you can work your way to where you want to be, but you 441 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,120 just got to put the time and the effort and the fighting there to 442 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:00,320 go and do it. And that's exactly what he did. 443 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,080 So again, like you said, my hat goes off to him. 444 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,920 Very proud of that young man. Very good friends with him. 445 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:11,720 He allowed me in his video against, I know with boy when he 446 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,160 was wrestling against Ethan Page. 447 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,280 I mean, it was one of those things where, you know, I was 448 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,040 very honored to be a reverend in that one and was hoping that it 449 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,040 will revive the Reverend Yvon gimmick. 450 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:25,560 So I was so I'll be able to come back and and not wrestle as 451 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,160 Reverend Yvonne, but just go in there and start preaching to the 452 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,400 masses of people and and the arenas. 453 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,200 Well, sure trick might need you to come back and and and preach 454 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:35,840 again soon. Now come on I. 455 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,680 Told them I told that brother. I said whenever you want me, the 456 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,680 caller will come back on in no time. 457 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,440 I love it. I love testify to that brother. 458 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,760 I love my brother. I love it. 459 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:51,360 You know, something interesting happened that has become top 460 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:55,600 news and there's a lot of speculation and, you know, the 461 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:59,720 dirt sheets and everybody, they, they want to give their 462 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,920 opinions. And you and I were talking about 463 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,080 this offline. It's always interesting when 464 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:09,840 fans give their opinion about stuff when they really don't 465 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,800 have enough information to even have a proper opinion, at least 466 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:19,640 an informed opinion. And I always tell people, hey, 467 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:24,240 pro wrestling is a business before anything else, even 468 00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:28,520 though you get wrapped up in the storylines and the and the good 469 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:30,880 versus evil. And you want to punish this one 470 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,800 for doing that. You know, I I want to, I want to 471 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,800 punish Devon Dudley because I can't believe what he did to 472 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,040 balls Mahoney and and and he should he should lose his job 473 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,400 over that. It's like, OK, that that's come 474 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:43,800 on, you know what I mean? That's it. 475 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,000 That's a storyline. Like, we take it easy, you know? 476 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,080 Listen, I don't, I don't mean to cut you off, but I hear some 477 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:55,320 people on certain radio stations that you know, and I'm not 478 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:59,800 saying any names, but they get all invested into the storyline 479 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:03,160 where if they get so riled up and they get so upset, it's 480 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,440 like, dude, it's a work. Come on now. 481 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,760 It's a work. I understand you have passion of 482 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,520 always saying, but come on, man, it's a work. 483 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,480 This is what we do. Come on. 484 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:17,880 And if you're on the other side of the microphone, if you're on 485 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,040 the side of the microphone and you should know that. 486 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,840 So to get that heavily invested with you start, you know, going 487 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,920 off. I'm just like, come on man, gets 488 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,400 to be a little much. It gets to be a little much, 489 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,200 right? It really does it. 490 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,680 Really does, yeah. Because then you start 491 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,600 wondering, wait, I don't think this guy is in on the joke here. 492 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:39,720 Like what the hell is wrong with him? 493 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,000 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. 494 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,920 That's that's a whole other story to go down, but but let me 495 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:51,200 throw this at you. WWE announced that they are 496 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,800 moving WrestleMania from the original place that it was 497 00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:00,200 announced to take place. So New Orleans, LA 2026 498 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,600 WrestleMania, it's already been booked. 499 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:06,680 You know, they, they, they have all the information out there 500 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:10,080 marketing the whole 9 yards. WrestleMania is happening in New 501 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,720 Orleans in 2026. Well, last week that changed and 502 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,120 it was announced that it's being pulled out of New Orleans and 503 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:20,120 being brought back to Las Vegas, NV. 504 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:25,200 So before I give my perspective on that, let me just ask you 505 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,040 Devon, from a, a city to city standpoint, 'cause I'm a Vegas 506 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:30,200 guy. I love Vegas. 507 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,600 It's one of the places I love to vacation in. 508 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,480 I've never been to New Orleans, no disrespect. 509 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,600 I've heard it's very nice. I heard the food is great, the 510 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,320 culture is great. From your perspective, not only 511 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,760 as a as a as a talent and as a superstar, but even as a 512 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:50,680 tourist, how are the two cities compare for you in terms of 513 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,160 experience? Well, there's no. 514 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,440 Comparison and I and I, again, I'm with you. 515 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,800 I love New Orleans, the food, the culture, the people. 516 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,320 It's great. But Vegas is in a different 517 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:02,720 world. You know, it really is. 518 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,360 It's in a different world of its own. 519 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:09,560 And in my opinion, you know, I don't think anything compares to 520 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:13,080 Vegas. I mean, the, the, the, the party 521 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:19,120 life, the entertainment life, so many things that you hear, you 522 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:23,280 know, that goes on in Vegas. It's true, as Kurt would say, 523 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:27,760 it's damn true. But you know, it really is. 524 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:32,640 But, you know, to me, you know, back-to-back, I think it's good. 525 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,840 It reminds me of WrestleMania 4:00 and 5:00. 526 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,040 So if I'm correct, yes, WrestleMania four and five in 527 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,960 Atlantic City at the Trump Plasma. 528 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,800 You know, you did. You had the first one. 529 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:48,880 You had the tournament where Savage won the title, you know, 530 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,440 after Hogan left to go do no holds barred. 531 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,720 So they needed somebody to come in and to actually be able to 532 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,320 carry the company. And it was, it was Macho Man at 533 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:03,440 the time, you know, to do that. And they drew huge numbers in 534 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,720 Atlantic City. And in my opinion, Atlantic City 535 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,000 was kind of like dying. I mean, you always heard of 536 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:13,480 Atlantic City being. The next best? 537 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,400 Thing if you can't get the Vegas. 538 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,760 And somewhere along the line. It started to die, the economy 539 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:25,920 started to really fizzle out. WrestleMania comes and it just 540 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,360 brings new life to it. You know, Now, I don't know why 541 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:37,120 Vince went back-to-back with Trump Plaza, the the host 542 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,480 wrestle Mania there, you know, two years in a row. 543 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,680 But it worked because the next year was Hogan versus Savage. 544 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,440 And, you know, I yeah. And I thought it was really 545 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:48,680 good. So this might be on the same 546 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:54,720 line on along the same lines is is what happened back in 88 and 547 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:56,760 89. You know, you having 548 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:01,080 back-to-back venues being used for WrestleMania. 549 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,480 I mean, again, you know, they can do huge numbers. 550 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:09,080 You know it will attract the people, but you better save up 551 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:10,840 and because it's going to be expensive. 552 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:13,920 It's not going to be some. Walk in the park. 553 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:16,400 Yeah, those. Resort fees, they hit you with 554 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,520 that and it's like, whoa, where did that come from exactly? 555 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,440 Here's the thing I've been seeing all. 556 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:32,560 The the discussion about it and, and the consensus is WWE just 557 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,120 wants to make more money. So they pulled out and they 558 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,840 brought us to Vegas and, and. People in their In their. 559 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,000 Narrow understanding of how things work, They just leave it 560 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,880 at that. And I know better than that 561 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,880 personally. Now Full disclosure, I didn't, I 562 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,160 didn't talk to anybody in WWEI didn't. 563 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,520 I didn't ask you either, Devon, if you knew any inside scoop on 564 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,760 or anything like that. But I do have experience not 565 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:03,240 only in state, but as it relates to this in municipal government. 566 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,240 And I'm a person that is well versed in understanding budgets, 567 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:14,040 in understanding trends and understanding what can and 568 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:19,160 cannot happen from a financial standpoint and why A lot of 569 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,480 times you just got to dig into the budget and you'll you'll get 570 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,640 a very good understanding of where a city is AT and what 571 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,120 their capacity is for everything, including hosting 572 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:33,320 major worldwide events. And WrestleMania is a worldwide 573 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:35,720 spectacle. People from all over the world 574 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:40,560 are showing up on a city now for a week and they're going to 575 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,080 spend money and they're going to use resources. 576 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:45,360 They're going to generate a lot of tax revenue. 577 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:50,160 But it also requires a lot of support from that city. 578 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,520 You got to have enough police officers, you got to have enough 579 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,320 EMEMTS, you got to have enough firefighters. 580 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,560 You know, your your roads have to be in certain shape in order 581 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,000 for transportation. Your public transportation has 582 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,760 to be on a certain level do. You have enough. 583 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:12,080 Uber and cab drivers. You know what I mean? 584 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,440 It, it's, it's, there's so much that do you have enough people 585 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:19,400 working in that city or will you have enough people working in 586 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:24,400 that city to handle the services such as food, transportation, 587 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,520 cleaning, things of that nature, Right. 588 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,160 So all that stuff is boring. And you know, a lot of people 589 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:33,680 say, oh, I don't get into politics, but it's like when you 590 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:38,720 understand how a, a city is funded and what can happen when 591 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,320 they don't have proper funding, that can give you some insight 592 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:44,960 on, on whether or not they can host major events. 593 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,880 So I, I want to just throw this out there in relation to New 594 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:51,360 Orleans. The, the current situation 595 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:55,040 there, New Orleans is, is considered what's what's called 596 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:59,640 a, a sinkhole city. So what that means is because 597 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:04,640 they have more bills than available assets, literally 598 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:09,199 they're they're $2.1 billion in the hole right now. 599 00:34:09,199 --> 00:34:12,960 Devon, think about that. 2.1 billion. 600 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,520 There are most cities in this entire country where $2.1 601 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,440 billion would allow you to pay every bill for the city to 602 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,239 operate. Your trash, your police, your 603 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,639 EMS, all that stuff. You know $2.1 billion can cover 604 00:34:25,639 --> 00:34:26,960 most cities in the in the country. 605 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,040 New Orleans is short that amount. 606 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:36,440 It would cost. Every taxpayer $18,300 a piece 607 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,520 extra in order to make up for that shortfall. 608 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:41,520 Like that's how bad it is right now. 609 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:43,960 Do do you have an extra 20 grand laying around, Devon? 610 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:46,199 Probably not right? At least not for that. 611 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:49,600 Listen, I. Got 7. 612 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,320 I got 7 kids So what did that tell you exactly? 613 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,040 Exactly. Really the the, the pensions, 614 00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:58,520 right. That's one of the major 615 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:02,480 contributing factors to this. So you're talking firefighters, 616 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:07,640 police, educators, the pension, they're $1.5 billion in the 617 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:14,640 hole. 380. Six point $388.6 million of 618 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,000 unfunded retiree health care obligations. 619 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,480 So all those. Folks who were retired and who 620 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:24,440 were still alive. They're not even paying for. 621 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,960 Their health care right now, or or at least the bill is, is 622 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:30,240 almost half a a billion dollars, brother. 623 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:32,920 That's how bad they are financially. 624 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,840 And you know, unfortunately it ain't going to get any better 625 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:38,640 anytime soon. So, so there's a lot of 626 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,400 tightening of the belt. Their bond rating as a city has 627 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,960 gone down. There used to be an A+, they've 628 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,000 gone down to an A and it may actually drop even more than 629 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:49,920 that. So what that means is when they 630 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,040 go out to borrow money, just like any, any of us go out for a 631 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,840 loan or something like that. Cities go out and they borrow 632 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:58,280 money in order to take care of major capital projects. 633 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:03,760 If your bond rating drops, you're going to be borrowing 634 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:06,400 money at a much higher interest rate, which means it's going to 635 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,400 cost you more money. So you're, so you're still going 636 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:13,200 to remain in the hole, right? So. 637 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:17,960 I say all that to say this, it is very possible and not only 638 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:22,520 possible, it's likely that New Orleans wasn't able to to even 639 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:27,960 cover the site fee for WWE to exist in their city for a whole 640 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,120 week and put on something like WrestleMania. 641 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,680 They probably, they probably aren't even able to cover the 642 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:37,760 site fee. And my assumption, no one told 643 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,640 me this, but this is just based on my professional experience. 644 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:45,320 My assumption is they let WWE know that and WW is like, hey, 645 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,440 if you can't handle this this year, then we'll push it off for 646 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:51,640 a year and we'll take it back to Las Vegas because we can do 647 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:54,560 that, you know what I mean? But we're not going to take less 648 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,640 from you. So either you can handle it or 649 00:36:57,640 --> 00:36:59,040 you can't. And New Orleans is like, yeah, 650 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:01,240 man, let's put it off for you, OK, no problem. 651 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:05,440 And that's the end of it. But this isn't a a WWE pulls out 652 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:09,760 just out of nowhere like that. And, and, and what happened when 653 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,120 you make a deal with the city to host a major event? 654 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,600 There's a lot of paperwork that's involved in that. 655 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:21,160 If WWE pulled out of the deal, I'm pretty sure they would have 656 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,120 to pay in order to pull out of the deal. 657 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:24,960 There'll be some kind of penalty for that. 658 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,440 And since WWE is part of a publicly traded company, we 659 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:31,920 would know that there would have to be a disclosure about that. 660 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:35,840 So for all of you out there, step outside of your bubble. 661 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,960 Come into the real world for a second and understand it's 662 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:41,440 bigger than what's in front of you. 663 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:44,720 New Orleans crime. Rate is through the roof right 664 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:47,040 now. How are their airports doing 665 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:48,520 right now? Do they have enough people 666 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,640 staffing their airports? You see what's going on in New 667 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,600 Jersey with their issue with air traffic controllers. 668 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:57,640 There's a trickle down effect to that because if flights are 669 00:37:57,640 --> 00:37:59,800 getting canceled because you don't have the right people 670 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:04,560 staffing, handling the airport needs, ain't nobody coming in 671 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:06,960 and getting out of your city, at least not through the air. 672 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,480 So all of. That, yeah, Yeah. 673 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,680 So all that is infrastructure, and if your infrastructure isn't 674 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,960 right, you damn sure shouldn't be bringing in major events. 675 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:19,520 Now here's the last part that I'll say to you, Dean, because I 676 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,360 always check myself. I went back and I did a complete 677 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:29,520 search of every major event that is scheduled to happen for the 678 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:35,400 rest of 2025 and for the year 2026 in New Orleans, LA. 679 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,520 And guess what? Not a. 680 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:43,600 Single major international events, like a big sporting 681 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:47,680 event or anything like that. It's mostly food festivals and 682 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:52,080 and you know, minor things like that Mardi Gras season, which 683 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,600 you know, it's going to bring some tourists, but nothing big. 684 00:38:55,080 --> 00:39:00,400 There's literally UFC is running literally for one day, Holloway 685 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:05,040 versus Poirier on July 19th of this year, that's UFC 318. 686 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,240 The running of the bulls is happening. 687 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:09,840 Essence Festival, which I think they do every year, New Orleans 688 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:13,720 food, wine and food experience. These are all nice events, but 689 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:15,200 they're not as big as WrestleMania. 690 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:17,600 So I don't think any, I don't think. 691 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:19,360 Anything is as big as WrestleMania. 692 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:20,480 Well, you got it. You got to go. 693 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:22,680 Super Bowl. But even then, WrestleMania is 694 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:24,600 probably generating more over the week, right? 695 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,120 Absolutely. So so. 696 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:29,080 Absolutely. I mean the. 697 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,760 Money that's coming in from WrestleMania is ridiculous, 698 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:33,840 yeah. Yeah, hundreds of. 699 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:37,840 Millions of dollars easily in tax revenue, which can help a 700 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:41,640 city, but in order to get that, you first have to have a certain 701 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:43,760 level of infrastructure in place. 702 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:45,520 You got to have enough people to work. 703 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,280 The other thing is with people getting deported and all this 704 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,840 other stuff, what does their workforce look like? 705 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:55,160 They may not have the bodies to handle some of these jobs that, 706 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,400 you know, you and I may not necessarily want to do unless we 707 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,160 have to do it. That all contributes, man. 708 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:04,840 So I just say that to say this, folks, step outside of your box 709 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:07,120 for a change and and think beyond what's in front of you 710 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,360 because there's usually more to the story than the easiest 711 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:13,480 answer, so to speak. Anything to add to that, Eva? 712 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,960 Well, even. If the WWE did pull out even 713 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:21,960 let's just say they pulled out because of money wise, well, 714 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,000 guess what, they're allowed to do that. 715 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:25,920 Why would you? If you don't think the company's 716 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,280 going to generate the money that you feel that it should, why? 717 00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:31,960 Why stay on a sink and ship in terms of that? 718 00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:38,320 You know, if it's just hard to believe that some people just 719 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,720 don't understand or get it and if there's certain things behind 720 00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:44,640 the scenes that you don't know about and nor should you know 721 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:48,360 about. Of why they changed. 722 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,360 The venue, the way they did, I mean, again, it's one of those 723 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,120 things where we don't know what's going on behind the 724 00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:56,800 scenes, so. Just wait till the. 725 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:00,120 Ena special comes on or AME special comes on. 726 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,240 You'll learn exactly. But but everybody doesn't 727 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:04,880 doesn't have to have an opinion either. 728 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:08,480 And I think sometimes these goofballs who don't know what 729 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:10,600 they're talking about and I, and I'm going to call a name out. 730 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:12,400 Dave Meltzer is a great example of that. 731 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:16,680 He he acts as if he has to always have an answer to 732 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:19,080 everything. And it's strange to me because 733 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:23,680 what we don't you, you hardly ever hear Meltzer bringing on an 734 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:28,720 expert to educate him on something that he doesn't know 735 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:31,760 about. He always positions himself as 736 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:36,040 the expert on everything. He's he knows TV, he knows 737 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,720 business, he knows everything about wrestling. 738 00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:40,240 He knows what's happening behind the scenes. 739 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:43,160 He knows what Devon Dudley had for breakfast last night or 740 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:45,040 yesterday morning. It's like this. 741 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,320 This guy's the expert on everything, right? 742 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,600 Which is, whenever a person presents themselves like that, 743 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:51,800 then you know they're full of crap. 744 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,560 It's just ridiculous. As far as I'm concerned, no one 745 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,080 knows everything. You got her, and if you heard 746 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:02,400 what I said, I did the research. I looked it up. 747 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:06,360 I'm giving you numbers that you can go back and verify yourself. 748 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:08,360 This is not an opinion. These are all public record 749 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:13,040 numbers based on a a city and their financial situation, which 750 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,400 helps inform my opinion on the situation. 751 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:18,560 But it it, you know it's. Just one of those things though, 752 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:20,200 man, Everybody doesn't have to have an opinion. 753 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:24,080 No, it's not because, you know, Triple H doesn't like New 754 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,760 Orleans. He, he, he prefers Las Vegas. 755 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,320 So he's gonna, you know, stupid. You see, you see the stuff that 756 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,680 people say, Devon, it's, it's ridiculous and they think they 757 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:33,280 know. Everything. 758 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:34,960 And they don't. They don't know they. 759 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,400 They don't even know the year from their elbow half the damn 760 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:39,120 time, but that that's a whole other story. 761 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:44,760 Before I let you go, man, I, I, I wanted to give some room to 762 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:53,320 discuss the passing of Sabu A, a guy who you spent many years 763 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,000 sharing locker rooms with and, and someone that you've been in 764 00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:02,280 the ring with and what have you. Just however you want to talk 765 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:04,320 about it, man. I mean, what's your initial 766 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:07,360 feelings on on the passing of one of your brothers? 767 00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:13,040 It's very hard. Because it's never easy, 768 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,600 especially when you've worked for with them for so long. 769 00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:21,280 You've had memories, you've had laughter, you've even had sad 770 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:24,640 moments, you know. And you know, the unfortunate 771 00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:28,320 part is, you know, that brother's no longer with us, you 772 00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,960 know, but man, if he leave a legacy in his business, 773 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:35,400 especially in CW, you know, if it wasn't for him, Bubba and I 774 00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:39,680 wouldn't have the tables. You know, he was the original 775 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:45,520 guy that did the tables. We just put it our own twist to 776 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:50,000 it and went to the deal with it. Sabu was so influential on so 777 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,120 many different people. I didn't realize he was the one 778 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:54,360 that really inspired you guys to get the tables, but it makes 779 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:55,680 sense. No. 780 00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:57,240 Yeah. Because, you know, he was doing 781 00:43:57,240 --> 00:44:02,320 it in ECW, he was doing it way before me and Bubba even started 782 00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:05,720 to do tables. So we've always given Sabu 783 00:44:05,720 --> 00:44:07,520 credit. We never said we were the 784 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,320 inventive of the tables. We just took it and made it fun. 785 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:16,880 Sabu, when he did it, he made it Oh my God moment, you know, like 786 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,920 he somebody's going to die from this, you know, because of, you 787 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:23,200 know, the stuff that Sabu would do with these tables. 788 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:26,160 It was just man, it, it was, it was something man. 789 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:27,920 It really was. He was a great guy. 790 00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:32,120 I always said you. Know when I was in the ring with 791 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,440 him, he would hit you when he would punch you. 792 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,560 He'd punch you in threes. You know, the first, the first 793 00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:39,560 punch he would hit, you know, he wouldn't hit you. 794 00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:42,240 The second one he wouldn't hit. And right before he do the third 795 00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:44,160 one, he'd be like, sorry. And he'd be like, what did he 796 00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:46,880 say sorry for Bang? And he hit you right in the 797 00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:49,280 nose. And I was like, Oh my God, I'm 798 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:50,840 like Sabu. He said, I said sorry. 799 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:52,320 I said you said it before you swung. 800 00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:57,120 He's like, yeah, that's just me. He was a different kind of. 801 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:01,360 Cat, then he he really, really. Was, you know, he was trained by 802 00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:05,880 his uncle, the original Sheik. He was he. 803 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:07,520 He. Grew up in this business, very 804 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,960 very old school. You know, and he kept. 805 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:14,520 That with him until the end, you know, he didn't tolerate no 806 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:16,360 nonsense. He couldn't have no young boy 807 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,040 come to him and go, you know, well, we're going to do this 808 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:21,840 this, you know, can we do this, this have like no, shut up, sit 809 00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,440 down, you know, respect. That was just the way Sabu was 810 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:29,720 and every right to be like that, you know, because again, he was 811 00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:33,000 taught by his uncle, the original Sheik, who was big on 812 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,600 respect and you had to respect him or if not, he was going to 813 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:40,480 kill you, you know. But Sabu, man, I love 814 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:43,000 tremendously. He was a good guy. 815 00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:46,200 And when we started. Doing these autograph signings, 816 00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:49,640 I started seeing him on the road at these autograph signings and 817 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,840 something said, you know, pick up, take pictures with them, you 818 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,880 know, show memories. And that's exactly what I did. 819 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,680 You can see a lot of the pictures of me and and Sabu on 820 00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:01,160 Instagram, you know, hanging out with Rob Van Dam. 821 00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:05,520 We did so many good matches, not only in ECW, but we did great 822 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:10,400 matches, you know, in Japan together, you know, where we 823 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:12,440 made history. So, you know, now I'm going to 824 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:13,920 miss that brother something awful. 825 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:15,840 It's going to feel weird not going. 826 00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:19,200 It's going to feel weird going to the shows now and not seeing 827 00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,320 him there because I was so used to seeing him all the time and 828 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:23,520 now we're not going to see him anymore. 829 00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:29,760 If if sabu. Was in his prime in 2025 with 830 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:32,360 the way that the wrestling landscape is today. 831 00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:36,000 He'd probably. Be the biggest star in the 832 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,600 business, right? I would think so, but. 833 00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:45,440 Sabu, you know, he did what he wanted to do when he wanted to 834 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:49,000 do it, with respect, of course, but if he didn't agree with the 835 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,200 powers to be the upper, you know, the office, so to speak, 836 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:54,720 he would speak his mind. No, I ain't doing that. 837 00:46:54,720 --> 00:46:57,840 Fuck you. That was Sabu, you know. 838 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:01,480 If he believed. In if he believed in something 839 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:03,840 passionate and he would do it. He didn't care if he got fired, 840 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:06,120 he didn't care if he got reprimanded for it, he would 841 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:08,120 just Nope. The way it's got to be done is 842 00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:10,720 the way I like to do it. But he did it in a respectful 843 00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:12,680 way. It was never in a disrespectful 844 00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,600 way. But again, some of these clown. 845 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:20,600 Promoters, you know think. They're the Vince McMahon or 846 00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:24,120 what have you, and they're not, and Sabu will let them know. 847 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,360 That's just the. Type of person Sambu was, if he 848 00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,000 didn't like you, you knew it because he would tell you. 849 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:32,520 You wouldn't have to guess on it. 850 00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:36,920 You know he would just let you. Know and that was the way Sambu 851 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:42,320 was and I always respected him to always speaking his mind and 852 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:45,720 never letting anybody change it if he felt passionate about it. 853 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,640 And you know, not that. And again, I retract that 854 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:51,480 statement. Not that he did whatever he 855 00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:55,400 wanted to do, in a sense he did, but he always did what was best 856 00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:59,040 for business. Deep, deep. 857 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:03,600 You know, a lot of information has come out about Sabu. 858 00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:06,320 We all knew he was banged up. You see him at that, live events 859 00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:09,240 and stuff like that, signings. We know he was banged up. 860 00:48:09,240 --> 00:48:10,840 Everybody's banged up at this point. 861 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:18,200 Getting him to that last match that he wrestled for, for GCW 862 00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:21,520 and you know, the circumstances surrounding that. 863 00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:25,400 Joey Janella put out some information that definitely 864 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:27,840 caused some controversy and what have you. 865 00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:30,880 I'm not going to get too deep into that, but I just want to 866 00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:33,880 speak from a general standpoint in 2025. 867 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:39,480 Devon, where's the line? Where is the line when you know 868 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,120 a guy? Like say you know a guy is not 869 00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:45,360 going to pass a physical, let's say if you do a physical to him. 870 00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:49,240 Where's the line where you say? You know what, man, I I just 871 00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:54,080 can't have you in the ring as opposed to we got 2000 fans out 872 00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:55,320 there. It's the biggest house we ever 873 00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,040 drew. You got to wrestle. 874 00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:58,520 We got to get you out there somehow. 875 00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:07,480 Where's the line in that man? Well, you know, it's hard, man, 876 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:13,760 because we're old school guys. You know, when I when I tore my 877 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:18,760 Achilles heel, I was in the ring five days later. 878 00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:21,720 Wow. You take me up. 879 00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:24,640 And I'll be out there. That's what all of us from the 880 00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:28,560 Attitude Era and the ECW era. We just went out there and. 881 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:29,520 Did it? We didn't care. 882 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:32,520 Not saying it was the smartest thing to do, because a lot of 883 00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:36,640 times it wasn't. And a lot of us are paying. 884 00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:43,480 For it now, because we never let the body heal, you know, but. 885 00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,800 It was just one of those. Things where that's what we did, 886 00:49:47,800 --> 00:49:50,400 that's what we knew, that's how we grew up in the business. 887 00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:55,480 You know, nowadays, like for instance, the whole thing with 888 00:49:55,600 --> 00:50:00,600 the NXT and me not being able to do anything, you know, WWE was 889 00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:04,960 very, very. Adamant about not. 890 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:08,240 Letting me even be up on the ring because I wouldn't get 891 00:50:08,240 --> 00:50:12,000 clearance to get in the ring and it wasn't clearance because the 892 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,200 doctor said no. It's because we never went to 893 00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:16,600 the doctor. I was never told that I had to 894 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:19,720 go to the doctor to get cleared in order to be able to do 895 00:50:19,720 --> 00:50:22,720 whatever little bit that I was going to do in annex team. 896 00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:26,920 And you know, they apologized and said, you know, they dropped 897 00:50:26,920 --> 00:50:28,160 the ball. They should have told me and 898 00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:31,760 this and that because we could have did more stuff, you know, 899 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:35,440 in that match with Trick and Bubba and Ethan Carter and you 900 00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:37,240 know, we could have did more. We could have made it even more 901 00:50:37,240 --> 00:50:40,840 exciting, but. You know. 902 00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:43,880 WWE is just being, you know, careful. 903 00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:46,360 They don't want a death in the ring because we've had deaths in 904 00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:50,080 the ring, you know, within the past, what, 10-15 years you've 905 00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:53,280 had people dying in the ring because they're health wise. 906 00:50:53,280 --> 00:50:55,160 This wasn't good and nobody knew. 907 00:50:55,800 --> 00:51:00,200 So I like the fact that they take a precaution now to make 908 00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:02,840 sure that we're in the shape that we're supposed to be in, 909 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:05,800 you know, but even back in the day with WWE. 910 00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:09,080 You know, back. During the Attitude Era, you 911 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:11,400 know, you broke your arm, you wore a cast, and you did 912 00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:14,440 something to protect your opponent in the ring so the cast 913 00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:16,880 wouldn't affect them and, you know, it would protect you. 914 00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:20,280 So, you know, it's hard to say, man, it was a different time, 915 00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:23,640 different era. It's just sad that I wouldn't 916 00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:25,480 say sad. Maybe again, the wrong choice of 917 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:29,960 words, but it was just that once you got to the new era, they 918 00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:33,920 weren't doing that anymore. And us, you know, old guys from 919 00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:38,560 that era, you know, we didn't want to accept that. 920 00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:41,000 You know, hell, I'm, I'm fine. I'm fine. 921 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:42,800 Just take me up, you know, don't worry about it. 922 00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:48,440 You know, I remember getting busted open, you know, in my 923 00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:51,840 head, on top of my head, they had. 924 00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:57,080 Five stitches. In the cut and 13 to close me 925 00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:02,880 up, you know, and it was like right in a really soft it. 926 00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:05,560 Was like right in a really. Prominent place in my head where 927 00:52:05,720 --> 00:52:07,800 you know I could have been gushing blood if I got hit. 928 00:52:09,240 --> 00:52:12,480 You know, but I went. Out there they they me up, they 929 00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:15,760 take me up, they put as much cushion, you know, to protect 930 00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:17,760 myself. But nowadays they won't do that. 931 00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:21,600 They don't want to take the. Chance of you getting hurt and 932 00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:24,040 everything going bad. They don't want to do that. 933 00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:27,120 And you know, I can't blame them, You know, I understand 934 00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:31,440 their way of thinking. But I do know I was upset and, 935 00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:34,240 you know, pissed off when I couldn't do anything in NXT. 936 00:52:34,240 --> 00:52:38,520 And again, it wasn't because my back said no, I couldn't do it. 937 00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:41,480 It was the fact that I didn't go to the doctor and get clear. 938 00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:45,520 But again, no one told me to do that because again, you know 939 00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:48,760 this error, what is crawling error and you're learning it. 940 00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:54,040 And that was something that should have been discussed when 941 00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:57,120 we decided to add me to that match. 942 00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:59,680 And it wasn't. And unfortunately, I wasn't able 943 00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:01,800 to do anything in it. But you know what? 944 00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:07,920 It was OK because still got the pop, you know, and still got the 945 00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:10,320 reaction I was told to get. And I was able to share a moment 946 00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:13,600 with those brothers in the ring. So, you know, it is what it is, 947 00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:16,400 but it's a different time, different era, and you got to 948 00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:18,800 accept it. Safety and life. 949 00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:21,960 Over profit. That I'll just leave it at that. 950 00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:26,160 Once again, rest in peace, Sabu. Heart goes out to his family, 951 00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:27,680 all his loved ones, including you. 952 00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:29,320 Devon. That's tough, man. 953 00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:31,600 It's tough to and and and such a young guy. 954 00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:35,080 You hate to see a young guy go. That's the tough part. 955 00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:38,760 Yeah, you know so but. Please. 956 00:53:39,240 --> 00:53:41,880 Tell somebody you love him out there, folks, please tell 957 00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:43,960 somebody you love him out there because you never know, 958 00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:48,360 unfortunately, Absolutely. Anyway, Devon, tell us about the 959 00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:50,440 YouTube man. How how's it going over there on 960 00:53:50,440 --> 00:53:52,200 on the on the mean streets of YouTube? 961 00:53:53,880 --> 00:53:55,560 Oh man, it's going. Good man, it really is. 962 00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:57,200 We got some exciting ones coming up. 963 00:54:00,200 --> 00:54:03,080 We might even start. Using some. 964 00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:05,080 WWE. Guys to come in on the on the 965 00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:07,160 show, I'm trying to, you know, trying to get experience with 966 00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:08,800 that. I'm trying to make sure that 967 00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:14,320 everything is OK with that or in the process of working with them 968 00:54:14,320 --> 00:54:17,760 in order to be able to have a relationship with those guys and 969 00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:20,400 things like that. I'm just very happy that. 970 00:54:21,480 --> 00:54:24,400 This YouTube thing is. Really taking off for me I'm 971 00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:27,600 just ecstatic never thought in a million years because I knew 972 00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:31,520 nothing about this stuff you know, I didn't know you know 973 00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:35,720 getting to 100,000 subscribers in a month was big. 974 00:54:35,720 --> 00:54:41,280 I had no idea, you know, but now you know, I'm happy to say that 975 00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:47,440 I'm just you know ecstatic. I'm at 152,557 subscribers right 976 00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:49,080 now. You know we've got. 977 00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:52,480 A lot of sponsors. That are coming you know. 978 00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:56,800 A lot of sponsors that. Are, you know, looking to come 979 00:54:56,800 --> 00:55:00,760 aboard and, you know, have to be on the show to sponsor their 980 00:55:00,760 --> 00:55:02,480 products and things like that. So I'm happy. 981 00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:04,800 I'm happy about that, really happy. 982 00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:10,480 I'll tell you right now. Man, once again, are you 983 00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:13,880 convinced that the D Bond Dudley brand is is is pretty hot in 984 00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:17,640 2025? Well, let's just say. 985 00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:21,320 I'm convinced that people, there are some people out there or a 986 00:55:21,320 --> 00:55:23,800 lot of people like to say, I do like to hear what I have to say 987 00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:25,320 and do like to continue to see me. 988 00:55:25,840 --> 00:55:28,480 You know, you get your haters out there, but I haven't seen 989 00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:31,760 any hateful things that have been in the comments below. 990 00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:35,480 And I thank the people for that. I, I'm glad that they like what 991 00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:38,040 I'm doing. I always get compliments at the 992 00:55:38,920 --> 00:55:40,400 at the signings and this and that. 993 00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:43,480 Hey, we watch a YouTube video. Freaking excellent job and this 994 00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:45,440 and that. So it feels good, you know? 995 00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:49,560 Listen speaking. Of which folks, you can see 996 00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:54,440 Devon Dudley at the River City Wrestling Con June 7th and 8th 997 00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:57,280 World Golf Village down there, St. 998 00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:01,520 Augustine, FL Head over to River City Wrestling con.com to get 999 00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:04,680 your tickets. It's literally what they're at, 1000 00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:08,320 96% sold out. I can't guarantee you'll be able 1001 00:56:08,320 --> 00:56:09,880 to buy tickets at the doors, folks. 1002 00:56:10,080 --> 00:56:13,480 You want to get it online just to make sure you're able to to 1003 00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:16,360 be all right. I didn't realize this, Devon. 1004 00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:19,000 But last year there were no tickets sold out the door. 1005 00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:22,360 They were sold out. So they're doing it again this 1006 00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:24,400 year. It's it's you know, the demand 1007 00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:26,320 is high. Folks want to see you, Ric 1008 00:56:26,320 --> 00:56:28,800 Flair. They want to see TNT. 1009 00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:31,320 They want to see Scotty versus Aaliyah James. 1010 00:56:31,320 --> 00:56:32,960 They want to see the whole 9 yards, man. 1011 00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:35,680 So definitely make sure you get your tickets so you can go see 1012 00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:38,240 Devon Dudley, get your picture, get your autograph, share a 1013 00:56:38,240 --> 00:56:40,880 laugh, the whole 9 yards there. Wow. 1014 00:56:41,280 --> 00:56:44,800 OK Birmingham, you're up, you are up. 1015 00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:48,120 Make sure that you're ready to rock'n'roll with our men. 1016 00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:52,120 Five time Hall of Famer Mr. Devon Dudley can't wait to see 1017 00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:54,320 you. Of course it is always folks. 1018 00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:55,960 Duke loves wrestling. On Facebook on 1019 00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:59,720 twitter.dukeloveswrestling@gmail.com. Let me know what you think, 1020 00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:03,920 share your questions, your birthday shout outs, the whole 9 1021 00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:07,160 yards and that's it. What do you got for our Word of 1022 00:57:07,160 --> 00:57:10,200 the Week here, Devon? Disrespectful. 1023 00:57:10,200 --> 00:57:12,560 Closed doors that apologies can't open. 1024 00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:16,400 Be careful how you treat people you don't think. 1025 00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:22,280 Or need you testify? My brother. 1026 00:57:37,920 --> 00:57:42,800 So define all about the perfect life. 1027 00:57:42,880 --> 00:57:49,680 Be yourself, let your spirit lie. 1028 00:57:51,600 --> 00:57:57,720 In this fashion you'll touch the sky strictly for the culture. 1029 00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:07,000 And so fine dress you in prides then show your shine strictly 1030 00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:27,920 for the culture every day visit. Www.strictlyfortheculture.ca. 1031 00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:40,160 Backstage. Whispers and the crowds roar 1032 00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:46,040 from matching giants to legends of your Diva's wisdom and Duke's 1033 00:58:46,040 --> 00:58:49,120 keen view. Every episode feels like it's 1034 00:58:49,200 --> 00:58:54,000 brand new. Diva and Duke bring the heat. 1035 00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:57,800 Wrestling tails knock you off your seat. 1036 00:58:57,880 --> 00:59:03,720 TuneIn now don't you be late. Wrestling podcast never fell.