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Open Mic #42: Xenia Did That
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Join Marco for an exciting episode of "Open Mic" as we welcome a very special guest, Xenia! Known for her prominent role in the wrestling community and content creation, Xenia shares her journey from discovering wrestling in the UK to becoming a voice for inclusion and diversity in the industry. 🌟
In this episode, we dive into:
- The evolution of women's presence in wrestling content creation.
- Xenia's inspiring story of how wrestling helped her learn English.
- The importance of community and collaboration in the wrestling world.
- Balancing personal branding with quality content creation.
Whether you're a wrestling fan or a content creator, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration. Tune in to hear Xenia's unique perspective and learn how she's making a difference in the wrestling community.
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Transcript
Introduction and Pod Foundation Shoutout
00:00:00
Speaker
Who the hell told you tonight?
00:00:35
Speaker
Welcome everyone to a another episode of Open Mic with the MVP Marco. I am, of course, your host, the MVP Marco. I have a very special guest with me, but before i get into yeah talking to my guests, I always shout out the Pod Foundation.
00:00:50
Speaker
um It's a group of the greatest members. content creators known to man, especially in the wrestling world. um We have Chick-fil-A, the Chick-fil-A show, which I'm a part of. ah Definitely check us out.
00:01:02
Speaker
Pretty much every week we have stuff dropping every week. We also have an Extra Cooler at his show, the Extra Cooler show. And his gang, they cover more of the retro wrestling aspect. So definitely check them out.
00:01:13
Speaker
and We also have ah the Turnbuckle Tavern. um They're the workhorses of the you know ah the Pod Foundation. They pump out shows every... pretty much every single day. And I'm actually a part of one of their shows.
00:01:25
Speaker
It's called the raw down. It's every Tuesday, 9 PM live on their Patreon. Definitely check that out. And that leads me to my partner on that show. J bone who hosts coming down the aisle that rounds out the pod foundation. Definitely check us out.
00:01:41
Speaker
We pretty much cover the gamut of everything, wrestling ah movies as well, sports. So definitely check us out. But enough of that. That's enough of these, you know, those people. I talk about them every
Guest Introduction: Xenia
00:01:52
Speaker
show.
00:01:52
Speaker
Let's bring on my guest. My guest to me and probably to a lot of people is a very prominent figure um in the wrestling community and content creation, I would say, as well.
00:02:04
Speaker
um She covers a a lot of that aspect there. So let me just bring her on so she can introduce herself. Xenia, how are you Hello. I'm doing so great. Thank you for having me. This is exciting. Thank you for such a great introduction.
Promoting Inclusion in Wrestling
00:02:18
Speaker
I try my best with the intros. I try to freestyle as much as I can. now guess I speak more on a biased level. what im you So if you're not the greatest anybody else, that's totally fine. But to me, I think, I said, you're one of the, you know most notable, you know, figures out there in the wrestling community. Would you say that yourself or do you look at yourself in that way at all?
00:02:43
Speaker
I mean, that's not up to me to judge, I guess, right? Like everything that you do in a public space is mostly judged by the people around you, not necessarily by you yourself. So ah if you think so, and if someone out there thinks so, I greatly appreciate it. And that's definitely the goal to be ah as visible as I can in in the space, because I do believe that Apart from just making fun content, i do believe that I promote some things that are pretty important, like inclusion for women, like inclusion for LGBTQ+, performers and personalities in wrestling. And I do believe those things are important to have eyes on. So you know if people consider me prominent, then that's that's one goal ticked off the list, and that's great.
00:03:28
Speaker
Well, I always say so because you know yeah when I first you know started like following um like wrestling content on Instagram or on social media in general back in 2013, 2014-ish, there weren't that many...
00:03:41
Speaker
there weren't that many um like women or females in the wrestling content like area. um was very, very spare. It was sparingly.
00:03:52
Speaker
um You know, I, I started following Chick Foley, Sheena. She was pretty much the only one that I knew of at the time that was, you know, posting wrestling related content and giving her thoughts on wrestling, not just, you know, just, you know, do like, you posting pictures and things like that. She was, you know, posting things and posting her thoughts on, know,
00:04:10
Speaker
what she thought about the product and things like that. So I thought that was very interesting. And then obviously now it's, you know, it's a lot more widespread with, you with the ladies and and wrestling on the content area, as well as
Xenia's Experiences and Projects
00:04:22
Speaker
in ring too.
00:04:23
Speaker
um Do you, did you see that as well? Like the, the growth of, you know, the female aspect of the female, you know, thought process going into, you know, the wrestling space.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And it's interesting that you say that because yes, a thousand percent now women are way more included in wrestling than we used to be even 10 years ago. And even though there's still a lot of work to be done, it's still very much a male dominated space.
00:04:51
Speaker
But it's really interesting that you say that when you started creating content, you didn't really know of any women in the space, in the media space, because surprisingly for me, that experience was pretty much the opposite.
00:05:03
Speaker
One of the defining moments ah in my career, I guess you could say, as a content creator was when WWE did the all women pay-per-view, the evolution pay-per-view. Evolution, yeah. And that was when I was still at the starting stages of my YouTube channel at the time when on my Twitter. And I think at that time I hadn't even started developing my Instagram at all.
00:05:26
Speaker
ah But that was the first pay-per-view, the first wrestling weekend that I went to as a content creator with the goal of creating content. ah And one of the events that they actually attended in that weekend was an all women brunch where some people were fans, but most people were content creators. And that's where I met Queen of the Ring, Alex.
00:05:48
Speaker
That's where I met Kayla, who went on to be her ah business partner and with her to establish a Church of Joshi. I met a bunch of people there too, who I don't think create and don't think create content anymore.
00:06:00
Speaker
Um, but it was such an inspiring environment and the first content creators in the wrestling ah sphere that I ever met were all women.
Content Creation in Wrestling
00:06:10
Speaker
So, and and I see how that could be a bit of a unique experience because it was ah specifically female space that they want to.
00:06:18
Speaker
Uh, but I think that helped me greatly because even though it was always something that I had in mind that I had to be more educated, to be more smart, to be more professional than the men surrounding me just to be taken seriously in the wrestling media. But I never felt out of place. I never felt like I was lacking something. I never felt like I wasn't, like I didn't belong just because I was woman, because I had this very specific but very fortunate experience.
00:06:50
Speaker
starting stage in my content creation journey where a lot of the people who were bigger than me, who were ah more experienced than me, who surrounded me and were friends to me and gave advice and were supportive were specifically women. So I'm very fortunate to have experienced that.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's that that's actually really – that's something I wouldn't have you even thought of or you know even experienced at that point. Like me, obviously, i'm ah I didn't yeah real i wouldn't really travel as much when it came to like wrestling or anything like that.
00:07:21
Speaker
and But, yeah, that actually makes sense that you would you know run into other content creators in that area and in that space where me, I'm just looking on social media, and it's just pretty much male-dominated when it comes to wrestling, which I'm kind of just used to – The reason why i ended up there was social media too, because at the time I was still living full time in Eastern Europe, in Russia.
00:07:45
Speaker
I had like two real life friends who were into wrestling. oh And at that point, I don't think I'd even started working with my local promotion yet. So I literally had like two friends who were into wrestling.
00:07:58
Speaker
One of them was long distance who ended up moving to where I was later. And ah all of those people, i e like The reason why I even got invited to that event was because of the internet, because of Twitter, because of live chats.
00:08:12
Speaker
We were watching a wrestling together. like That's what facilitated all that. like Most people that I'm now friends with and hang out with on a regular basis or whenever we get to see each other were once internet friends when I was nowhere close.
00:08:26
Speaker
and Even that trip to New York for Evolution, that was my like maybe third or fourth wrestling trip ever like that was my third or fourth time in the u.s ever so it was very very early into this journey oh wow that's a that's a that's actually that's that's pretty amazing like that you actually just brought up a good point where you know a lot of the, a lot of people I've met and become friends with on, on social media was through wrestling.
Cultural Exchange and Multilingualism
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah. No, by no other means at all. It's like that. it was one of those things where, you know before, if you were a wrestling fan, like for the most part, your close friends or your in-person friends weren't probably really into wrestling.
00:09:09
Speaker
You were probably like that outlier. And know what's so funny? Like even the way that they met two of my like first real life wrestling friends that i hung out with, in real life before I ever started creating content, the way met them was entirely through wrestling as well.
00:09:22
Speaker
ah Like I said, one of them, even though she was from my country, she was long distance and she later moved to my city, but we met literally through wrestling forums. And my other friend who like, we we don't talk as much just because we like live in different places, but I still consider him a dear friend. And he is now a wrestling commentator actually in Russia and the biggest promotion in Russia.
00:09:43
Speaker
ah But, you know, when we when I first started, he would help me film and we would just do lot of great things together that we couldn't do if, you know, we didn't find each other that way. But we were just going to the same university and we weren't doing the same group or the same major or anything where we're just in the same faculty.
00:09:59
Speaker
And literally randomly before a lecture, he just approached me and went, hey, someone told me you like wrestling. I was like, yes, and the rest is history. And we've been friends for like almost 10 years at this point.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's all back then it was almost like, especially with like like like, I was talking to you, like women and like you know watching wrestling, not in like actual wrestlers, but like it was very rare that you would find like a a female that was into wrestling. like As much as you were, you knew the rosters of like all the companies, you know knew what what championships were being held,
00:10:39
Speaker
very knowledgeable and, you know, in the, you know in the historic stuff, I'm not big on the, you have to know, like, you know, back in like 1950, all the way up to 1980. I don't care. As long as you became a wrestling fan at some point, like where you're, you know, where it drew your eyes to.
00:10:55
Speaker
and That's all, that's all that matters to me. And actually that, that'd be my next question to you. What, what drew you to wrestling? What, what was that one thing that brought you in? was like, Oh man, I'm, I'm hooked now.
00:11:08
Speaker
I think I've told this story like a thousand times, but but it is very of random. So ah like, as you know, I'm from Western Europe. I, you know, I spend some time in America every year, but I i live in Western Europe now.
00:11:21
Speaker
ah But it actually happened
Advocacy for Marginalized Groups
00:11:24
Speaker
in the UK. It actually happened in London. i was very little, I was 11 years old. And ah my mom, who's a designer and an artist, ah had work in London. She designed the trophy for a fashion competition.
00:11:37
Speaker
And ah i was just in the hotel room and I was just flipping through the channels. And at that point, I actually like barely had comprehension of the English language. Like I wouldn't say I understood what was going on at all.
00:11:49
Speaker
But I was flipping through the channels and I just saw SmackDown. And instantly, like at at the first sight, I was just in love with wrestling. And you know again, the rest is history. I've been a fan for what, 18 years now? Which is a crazy number.
00:12:05
Speaker
a Crazy number for Europeans. Because I know some Americans, like you guys, go to wrestling shows, like your dad takes you when you're two years old and freaks him off or something. like Every American that they know has this story of like, oh, look, it's this famous wrestler from the 80s cradling me as a baby. Good for you. for European, 11
Overcoming Challenges and Storytelling
00:12:26
Speaker
years old, it's pretty early to get into it.
00:12:28
Speaker
And I always tell people that wrestling was a driving force in me even learning in English. Because I was just so desperate to know what was going on. I vividly remember watching SmackDown and like trying to figure out like whose name is what, what's going on, like who has beef with who. like It was crazy. But I was hooked. I couldn't stop.
00:12:50
Speaker
that you know i always say wrestling is the love of my life and it's that's what happened oh yeah i think i think that you could like probably say that for a lot of uh wrestling fans but actually you i'll bring i'll bring something up later because i want to get your thoughts on it but who do you remember who who you seen on smackdown or what yeah match it was what segment that you like don't remember the specific segment but i remember seeing kofi kingston which I think a lot of people can credit with them getting into wrestling, because just the level of athleticism. I always say that he was always above the level that WWE required, which might sound a little mean, but he just stands out and he always has. And that's definitely part of the reason I got hooked. I also saw John Cena. I also saw Batista.
00:13:38
Speaker
ah My first favorite wrestlers were The Miz and Edge. Okay. 11 year old me had a weird inclination for the heels. For like the most annoying, disgusting, like the 11 year old me had the biggest f freaking crush on Edge.
00:13:55
Speaker
And that was around the time that he had the storyline with Vicky Guerrero where they were dating or whatever. yeah I don't know what I even like, I don't know what about that was attractive, but it was apparent. Yeah.
00:14:07
Speaker
um That's funny because my my wife is very... yeah she edge She was in love with Edge when she was younger. She was in love with... um Was it Triple H she was in love with too?
00:14:18
Speaker
A lot of long-haired blonde guys she was very yeah and in love with. but i think the for... i would I would probably say like for the... edge and a Eddie Guerrero, Vicky Guerrero, it's probably because he was like this like bad boy, but the woman he was with wasn't that.
00:14:37
Speaker
like It wasn't like Alita. It was totally opposite of what... um She was totally opposite what Alita was. Yeah, it wasn't like a stereotypical hot girl. Yeah, yeah. and he it it was It was a great dynamic, though. Their storylines are awesome. It worked.
00:14:52
Speaker
Funny you also bring up Kofi Kingston. He's from for my area in Massachusetts. he's actually He actually grew up in a couple of towns away from me. And he's also a friend of a friend.
00:15:04
Speaker
So one of my friends went to high school with him and he was like, you on the wrestling team and all that stuff. Really nice guy. Very same so yeah same thing. Same guy. Like he doesn't know ego, nothing like that. Just seems like the same dude. He was prior to, you know, who he was before and who he is now and stuff like that.
00:15:24
Speaker
But no, that's interesting. Kofi Kingston. tonight um That's the first time I've heard that name drop as a, as a person that brought you into wrestling. That's interesting because because I've heard that from a lot of people actually. Oh, really? ah usually hear like...
00:15:38
Speaker
ah I usually hear like, you know, like Chris Jericho or oh and even Triple H sometimes, Eddie Guerrero. I
International Experiences and Future Goals
00:15:46
Speaker
mean, I can see that. Those guys, but Kofi Kingston is one of those like unsung heroes, I think, when it comes to the wrestling world.
00:15:54
Speaker
um Super underrated. I, again, as an 11-year-old child, I vividly remember like tuning into like SmackDown and hoping that Kofi Kingston would have a match. Like I was always so excited to see him wrestle. Were you upset when he dropped his accent?
00:16:09
Speaker
it twelve about I don't have like a specific memory of that. Like maybe because my English wasn't great. So maybe I just didn't even notice. Cause you know, it's so interesting. I know I digress like a lot, but ah even now, like, would you say my English is good? Like, would you say it's okay?
00:16:27
Speaker
I think it's fine. think it's great. Okay. And even now, like when I have a certain level of English where I understand most things, I have a pretty decent vocabulary, right? I have a lot of friends who only speak English. So like yeah I sometimes think in English, have dreams in English. Like it's at this point, it's like ah I'm almost like fully bilingual.
00:16:47
Speaker
And to this day, I cannot distinguish between like different American accents. Like I will hear if it's very heavy, if it's like a very heavy Southern accent. or if it's a very heavy New York accent, I will hear it.
00:16:59
Speaker
But people are like, oh, Minnesota accent. I'm like, what? they have a lot of friends from there. And I'm like, what do you mean an accent? Like, it doesn't sound like anything yeah ven yeah there Yeah, you can definitely tell different acts. Well, yeah, I can definitely tell different acts and stuff like that, especially yeah living here. and you know yeah Obviously, you consume a lot of you know movies and music and things like that. can definitely hear differences and in and dialect across the country. Everyone has a different way. California, people on the West Coast have a different... They pronounce their R's a lot more than...
00:17:39
Speaker
people over here, know, in the Northeast, essentially the South, they have like a different dialect as well. Midwest, which would be like the Minnesota area. They have a different, it is, it is very strange, but I could definitely pick that out.
00:17:52
Speaker
That's funny that you wouldn't tell the difference between the, the different dialects. um that's very strange uh you usually could pick that stuff up uh pretty pretty fast but um as far as you know you actually brought
Personal Interests and Women's Role in Wrestling
00:18:06
Speaker
something up that i was going to ask you about you said you speak how many but languages do you speak only just three okay but that's a lot more than most people anyway what languages are they ah so english obviously russian and spanish
00:18:24
Speaker
Oh, okay. And that is that from your, cause you said you lived in, you said you lived Spain, right? I live between pretty too much like two and a half countries. I'm between Spain, Romania. And like I said, I spent three, four or five months a year in America as well.
00:18:39
Speaker
So Yeah, Spanish. I think my Spanish was better when I was four years old than it is now because I would spend more time here, you know. um But I think my Spanish also, like, at first it got much worse when I was spending more time in Russia or America.
00:18:56
Speaker
ah But I think now it's improved a little bit because in this past couple of years I've been working with the local scene in Spain with wrestling. So I've just had more practice. Like I've had to record interviews in Spanish. So I've had to be there and I've had to be able to speak Spanish on camera.
00:19:12
Speaker
So I think it's improved a lot. And also, i like what I think really, really helps is the informal stuff. Because interviews are one thing. Like if you don't really know language that well, you can just yeah write the questions. And now we have freaking chat GPT or whatever, and it can just write the questions. You don't have to know the language that well.
00:19:27
Speaker
yeah um But it's the Hangouts after shows that helped, I think. It's like the actual... spoken language that really really helps um because i will but let's talk about it as far as um i know i know i was looking at your website and stuff but you know obviously you do interviews and um you do other content um but as far as ah like the scenes because we kind of talked about this before start of the show as far as the independent scene or the wrestling scene in in russia um what does that look like what do you said like what's the main promotion there that that um
00:20:03
Speaker
Now we should look out because I definitely would definitely like to check it out myself anyway. but So but the wrestling industry in Russia is actually relatively or one would say very young.
00:20:13
Speaker
So the oldest promotion is under 30 years old. Oh, wow. It's younger than me. It's like, I think, 26 or 27 years old. ah And that biggest and oldest promotion is actually my original home promotion. That's IWF Russia.
00:20:30
Speaker
That's where I started actually working in wrestling because Originally, I started more as a traditional content creator. Like I had my YouTube channel. I had my socials. I would do like live streams.
00:20:41
Speaker
ah But I wasn't necessarily working directly with talent or with promotions. And IWF is where I started because they reached out to me and they saw my content and they saw that I was growing and they wanted to do something together.
00:20:53
Speaker
And we were trying to figure out what that could be. And it ended up being interviews. And it's funny that now interviews is one of my favorite things to do. I love interviews.
00:21:04
Speaker
But originally it wasn't at all what I was trying to do. ah Like we started with interviews and my first ever interview was actually Ultramantis Black that Chikara fans would for sure know.
00:21:15
Speaker
And he was in Russia for a show and he actually has a lot of friends in Russia and he would go there, you know, before what's what's happening now, he would go there a lot. um But yeah, that promotion is growing rapidly. They have traditional pay-per-views now that you can buy through cable.
00:21:32
Speaker
They have, you know, they have the tapings for their weekly show, and then they have a bigger show once every month or month and a half. A lot of great talents, and they're working closely with ah the Indian scene, with WrestleSquare, namely, and they're working a lot with the Thailand scene, with the Singapore scene. And I love talking about this because for a lot of American fans, they don't really venture into that, like,
00:21:56
Speaker
ah East Asian and Eastern European part of wrestling. Yeah, definitely. But much exists. And it's definitely a growing scene. And a lot of even the bigger stars who are signed with AW are supporting it and working with it. Like, for example, Amy Sakura wrestles in Thailand a lot. And she's very loved and known there.
00:22:14
Speaker
ah So, yeah, it's definitely a growing scene. There's a lot of collaboration, a lot a lot of great talent, lot of young, hungry people. Yeah, no, that's awesome. That's a that's something, um i was but like I said, I was very much interested in that when you brought that up. i was like, hmm, I never thought of venturing out and into that area of wrestling. Like I said, there yeah you have UK wrestling booming everywhere, um you Japanese wrestling, of course, ah even in Germany too as well. So I never thought of like as, you know, Russia being kind of like a wrestling or independent wrestling hub, I shouldn't say anyway. But I definitely would check that out.
00:22:52
Speaker
And you said Thailand too as well? Yeah, and as for this promotion, they have a YouTube channel. It's called IWF Russia. And ah they have weekly episodes. um I'm not sure if they have subtitles as of now.
00:23:06
Speaker
But ultimately, know, wrestling is an international language, so sure you can still check that out. Yeah, mean, there's a, I think like on Peacock, they had, I forget the promotion, that WWE ended up like kind of buying the rights to.
00:23:21
Speaker
I think it wasn't, it was like a, it was a European company, it might have been a German german promotion my view yeah it was in germany it was in german the language like you it was like yeah you have to read the subtitles but my son would just like watch it he didn't i just obviously understand what they were saying but he was just more interested into the wrestling more than anything and i mean in the end of the day that's how ah i was watching wrestling when i started this again yeah like it was in english but i didn't quite understand so it you know it's
00:23:52
Speaker
it's not that much of a hurdle not that big of the oh yeah and like i said with with uh with know with subtitles and things like that you can definitely read along and things like that but it's just one of those things that you said wrestling's a language you don't really need to understand what the you know the commentators are saying like that you can pretty much do your own commentary when you're i mean you still you still do i i do believe that commentary is a big and important part of wrestling yeah And I've done commentary before and I'm open to doing color commentary specifically in the future as well.
00:24:21
Speaker
And with that promotion is actually where i started as well. um Or no, actually, that's lie. That was the second place I ever did commentary. I actually started.
00:24:32
Speaker
um So a friend of mine has or had, I think he think he still has it, like a podcast and a webpage for like Russian wrestling fans. Yeah. It's called Asylum, and which is very fitting.
00:24:46
Speaker
ah And he actually offered that I try commentary. And what we did is like Russian voiceovers for American wrestling shows so that Russian fans can enjoy them.
00:24:58
Speaker
And it's gotten very popular. And he actually did Russian commentary when Looch Underground aired on Russian cable. um And that's where I tried out commentary. That's where I started doing it. And I'm you know really thankful to him. And we're still amazing friends up to this day because he opened up a whole new area of expertise for me. Yeah, yeah. do That's awesome.
00:25:21
Speaker
ah As far as, you know, you talked about, you know, doing commentary, you do interviews and things like that. And I, you know, like I said, I did, you know some research went on your website and stuff like that. And it seems like you do like, like kind of like, um, not counseling, but do you do like, do you do things where you help like, you know, content creators? Um, yeah like kind of, why am I, the words escape me right now?
00:25:46
Speaker
Um, um, Yeah, i I can talk about it. I see what you're getting at. I couldn't even think of it. Consulting. That's what saying. I kind of like consulting on that stuff.
00:25:58
Speaker
I call it media and business development. And that's actually something that I've ventured into ah this in this past year. And it's something that I actually really believe in and something that I've been really enjoying.
00:26:10
Speaker
It's not as much for content creators as it is for wrestlers and promotions who want to grow, who want to grow their following, who want to get a better grasp of their social media and just their untapped potential.
00:26:22
Speaker
Because a lot of people who work in the business don't quite understand the business model. And that leads to them having a lot of gaps in what they do. well A lot of f wrestlers just concentrate on the in-ring wrestling, which you can't blame them for that.
00:26:35
Speaker
Because ultimately, that they're athletes, and that's what they're supposed to do, right? ah But they end up missing out on opportunities. And that's what I try to help with. But I do have ah resources that can be helpful to content creators as well.
00:26:48
Speaker
ah For example, I have a Telegram channel. It's invite only, but it's free. So just DM me wherever if you're interested. here If you're watching this and you're interested, I'll send you a link. And it has a lot of information about social media, about algorithms, about branding, about just how to position yourself and how different social medias work, what the algorithm is like.
00:27:10
Speaker
So that can definitely be beneficial for content creators as well. And for journalists and for photographers, for anyone who has to do with media and wrestling, but also not specifically wrestling. Everything that I write on there is applicable to any industry, not just wrestling, even though some posts that I write specifically have to do specifically with wrestling because that's the audience. That's my audience. Right.
00:27:32
Speaker
oh But yeah, because thing is, I've been doing social media for a really long time at this point for, think about seven years almost. And I've just kind of used my socials and my ecosystem as a playground. Like I've tested out everything I never.
00:27:49
Speaker
And, you know, I work individually, like i said, with wrestlers and promotions and, you know, people can email me if they're interested or DM me. Um, I never. tell my clients or try to bring them somewhere that I haven't been.
00:28:02
Speaker
I've tried everything, like any tool, any strategy that I'll advise people, I've tried it on my own socials. And that's why sometimes my socials are a little all over the place. Yeah. Because I just, I just constantly try things, something new comes out, I'm immediately on it. And in those seven years, I've seen like the changes in the algorithms and the changes in you know, how, how all that works. So I've just accumulated so much knowledge. I feel, I hope that's not too self-righteous to say, but like I said, I've tried so many things and I also have an education in that, like i have a master's degree in communications.
00:28:38
Speaker
So I just felt like it was time yeah for me in my life to share, to share it and to help other people as well. No, that's awesome. That's what is, what is a conversation? I mean, obviously you don't have to like go into the whole thing, but when you do like make contact with like, you know, a wrestler or a content creator, how what does that conversation look like when you're, you know, the first time you meet them?
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Like basically kind of like, you don't have to walk us through the whole thing that you you go through. Cause i want you to give anything away for free, but like, what is like just a general, what does that conversation look like when you're trying to coach them on what, you know they should or shouldn't be doing?
00:29:18
Speaker
Everything starts with analysis, always. Anything, not just this. And I like to say, you know, prescription without analysis is malpractice, right? Yes, exactly. So ah the first, I always tell people, if you want to start working with me, I'm i'm going to need two things, your name and your goal.
00:29:37
Speaker
Like what you're trying to do. Because, yeah, definitely. Because a lot of people, we're laughing, but a lot of people don't really even know where they're going. A lot of people are very go with the flow and they don't even have ah mental picture, let alone ah written goal.
00:29:54
Speaker
Like, what do you want to do Where do you want to work? How much money do you want to make? ah How many followers do you want to have? A lot of people are just in the mindset of, oh, I'd be grateful if this happens to me randomly, but it's yeah not going to unless you actively walk in that direction. So yeah that's what it starts with. We're seeing like what your goals are, what you want to do.
00:30:16
Speaker
where you're at right now, like where your socials are at right now, ah what kind of activities you're performing, what streams of income you have. So that's what this starts with. And then based off of that, we develop a strategy for for what we're going to next.
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah, that that's a... Yeah, like I said, didn't want you to give away like everything because don't want you giving it away your secrets or anything like that. but Another thing I've seen too was you had, like we kind of talked about this at the beginning with you ah with women in wrestling and how it kind of started. There's still more obviously more work to be done.
00:30:53
Speaker
i see that you also do like kind of like a yeah inclusion advocacy as yeah as as you put it there. Can you like kind of speak to What that looks like for you, like what you envision when you're going out there doing that type of advocacy?
00:31:10
Speaker
Yeah, I'm also honestly at a point in in my life and in my career where the adcy advocacy just seeps through everything that I do. I like to look at feminism or whatever other mindset or belief that you have as a lens, as an optic.
00:31:27
Speaker
It's not the thing in itself as much as it's the way that you view the world. And on the one hand, it's good. But on the other hand, you can't escape it. Like once you start getting into it, you just see everything that way. But in terms of like what people call traditional activism, right?
00:31:42
Speaker
I do public talks. I've done... Unfortunately, not TEDx yet or TED, which is one of my goals in life, honestly, to do like a proper actual branded TED talk.
00:31:53
Speaker
But they've done public talks at universities on rape culture, on inclusion, on like the you know glass ceiling inclusion of women in corporate spaces and in entertainment as well, because, you know, again, everything is intertwined with wrestling.
00:32:09
Speaker
um I also write. I don't have my own outlet where I write, which I've been thinking about that because it's not that they love writing, it's that they have things to say, you know? Like I'm not a writer, ah but whenever an opportunity arises and all of my content creator friends who do write or who do put on articles together know that. So whenever something that comes up that has to do with women's inclusion, they reach out to me or I reach out to them. And I've written for actually a lot of different outlets in wrestling.
00:32:37
Speaker
um And, you know, honestly, i feel like going onto public platforms and just talking about those things is in itself advocacy. like Like I'm doing right now. Like one of the first questions that we talked about was the women in the field and women in the media sphere.
00:32:52
Speaker
And I just feel like on the one hand, I can't shut up about it. But on the other hand, it's intentional because if I do have this platform and if I do have the followers, if I do have the exposure, I'm going to try and use it for a good cause.
00:33:06
Speaker
Because for a lot of people, social media or content creation is both vanity, which is healthy. It's fine. Like, I genuinely think there's nothing bad about that. I think any content creator, like if you're sitting there and it suddenly occurs to you, oh my gosh, let me film myself yeah and hope that the biggest amount of people can see it. Like, there's going to be some vanity about it. And I don't think that's a bad thing.
00:33:28
Speaker
But I do think that once you have the platform, you almost owe it to yourself. to do something good with it and not just be your, your own biggest fan.
00:33:39
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. That's, that's one of the things I'll speak for me personally when I'm doing this type of stuff, it's I'm the opposite of what you said. I'm not, I'm not, I'm, have no vanity in me whatsoever. i don't, don't want people seeing me that much.
00:33:55
Speaker
ah But it's like, i like me doing this. Like I'll put like, I'll like this interview for instance. I'll, you know, once it's released, I'll do like, you know clips of it. I'll put it on like, you reels or Tik TOKs of, of the covers, like parts of the conversation, stuff like that.
00:34:10
Speaker
And that's pretty much the only time I will be present. in a in a video because I want the focus to be more on the person that I'm interviewing. But then at the same time, I'm like, I have to be more personable as well. I have to like kind of put myself out there to, you know, um I was in sales. So I know you have to, have to sell, have to be able to sell myself yeah and sell what I'm, what I'm putting out. So,
00:34:34
Speaker
That's always like something that always battle with all the time. because i like I really relate to what you're saying, actually, because it's like it's the content constant interviewer struggle. yeah like it's It's difficult to be an interviewer because on the one hand, we live in the era of personality. like Everyone is a personality. And if you're not, people are not going to watch you because ultimately you're going to have different guests, but you're going to be there every week or every month or however often you post your content.
00:35:04
Speaker
But then you don't want to make yourself the star of the show when you have the guest. Like what I also try to concentrate on when I do my interviews is give people space to talk about what they want to talk about, what they believe in what really showcases them as a person, as a performer, as a wrestler, as whoever, right?
00:35:22
Speaker
yeah So it's a constant like, it's like a scale. You're always trying to balance between the two. so Oh yeah, definitely. I totally agree. Like I said, not the, you not the greatest interviewer in the world. not like, I have no, like no degrees of journalism, but I do know that like, you know, from listening to different interviews and podcasts and things like that, where they're interview oriented, oriented, the best thing is to let,
00:35:48
Speaker
the guest speak because it's about the guest it's not really about you like you said you're going to be there you have to control the guest too well like oh yeah that that is very true I know i know but but I've read into that a few times because I've had interviews that were supposed to be like 20 minutes and they ended up being two hours and yes the point where I couldn't release them because it just didn't fit the format and it just wasn't the kind of content that people want to consume anymore like if you're on a podcast that's like a long form audio podcast i'm sure it could be but still like two and a half hours is still a bit much honestly to my personal the liking uh but yeah definitely and i do have a degree in journalism i have a bachelor's degree in journalism and pr but it's not
00:36:31
Speaker
a guarantee of anything at all yes like we see professional people on tv who have degrees who have who are employed by freaking major tv channels making like rookie interviewer mistakes all the time and like not having proper grammar even like it's a degree is good i think it's a good basis and i'm i am happy that they got the degrees that they got and i do think that they helped A lot.
00:36:58
Speaker
ah But also it depends on how you absorb it and whether you absorb it at all. Yeah. I think people like the yeah genuine aspect of... people like us too as well. Cause we're, you know, we're not, I'm not coming out as like, you one of the biggest stars or anything like that. It's like, i have that relatable thing. I'm just a regular dude. I'm not special.
00:37:19
Speaker
I mean, I, you know, interacted with certain people. I've been special in the sense where um better than anyone else in, In this this format. but But I threw my hand in there. i like I've had conversations on um this show where I'd be like, yeah, I wish I was going to go down that route and do kind the same thing you do. And they go, why don't you do it? there's like its a yeah know There's plenty of room for her you to do what What we're doing. I'm like, oh, yeah, that that makes sense.
00:37:45
Speaker
Because I have like one of those like things where it's a niche thing. like You have to have your own lane when it comes to stuff. But I think it's you as a person at the end of the day that people like you know they'll gravitate towards as opposed to what you're putting out, that if that makes sense at all.
00:38:01
Speaker
I still haven't decided like if I agree with that. um What you're saying is actually like it's something that a lot of like social media coaches and educators would tell you like that a thousand percent they all say that.
00:38:14
Speaker
Like it yeah is about your personality. it's not about the content that you make. Like you could be freaking I don't know carving wood. and people Yeah. who know Nothing about wood would watch you because they like you because they just connect with you.
00:38:28
Speaker
But ah I think like at the later stages in what I've been doing, I have started paying more attention to like the actual quality of the product. Because I used to do interviews.
00:38:40
Speaker
like yeah When you start, you don't necessarily have the resources for it to look like the Chris and Blit interview every time. like you You just can't really do that. So a lot of my earlier interviews are on like on hotel beds, on like weird couches in dark rooms.
00:38:56
Speaker
and And I still love those interviews. And I still i don't regret them because I think a lot of them have great, great substance. And some of those interviews are still my favorite. But at the later stages, i've I've been trying to pay more attention to what the picture looks like, to what the set looks like, what the light looks like.
00:39:12
Speaker
Because ultimately, i do think it matters a lot because... It could be an interesting interview, but with everyone's freaking TikTok brain, like at this point, people are not going to stay for 30 minutes and watch something that's not easy on the ice. So I do feel like it's actually, to me, it's very important now.
00:39:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think i think ah and think a lot of the long form... stuff is coming slowly coming back. um um If you look at like a lot of the, you know, a lot of the podcasts that are out now, a lot of the popular podcasts are obviously longer than, you know, you know, 30 minutes or you usually like an hour, hour and a half to even three hours.
00:39:52
Speaker
They go to four hours. And obviously with streamers on YouTube streamers, they're doing, you know, you know, obviously they're pretty much streaming all day long. So that that's long form content, but um it is. Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:05
Speaker
But I think that's like, I guess I think it's, I think the, you know, I think the good thing about those types of content creators or streamers is they're bringing back that kind of like, you have to, so you have to pay attention for this amount of time as opposed to, like you said, I actually have a post about it on my telegram channel that I'd mentioned about like how the link of long form content has been developing. Cause I, obviously I do YouTube. Right.
00:40:31
Speaker
And, it was a very It's been a very interesting curve of how we started at like three, four, five minutes being the optimal length. Then we went up to like 15, 16. And then in like the late 2010s, we went all the way up to an hour.
00:40:46
Speaker
yeah And then it started dropping back down. And and it dropped back to like 20, 17 minutes. And then all the like actual long form content people who became that new effigy of a streaming platform of Netflix, of movies, of TV shows, they actually moved out to their own independent streaming platforms and created their own platforms. Like Try Guys created their own platform, Watcher created their own platform.
00:41:12
Speaker
That's pretty much the Netflix of YouTube at this point. yeah And all of this long form content left YouTube for a second. But then people became, you know ah dissatisfied with that. The viewer became dissatisfied with that because instead of paying for one Netflix subscription where you can watch anything you want, you now have to pay for like five separate YouTuber subscriptions because they're people and because they want to make money and because it's really hard to make money with long form content on YouTube in this day and time because YouTube relies heavily on clickability.
00:41:45
Speaker
Like you have to make a clickable title, you have to make a clickable ah thumbnail. and And if you don't, you're just losing out on views and you're losing out on money. So they moved out on those independent platforms because they want to make money, but now people don't want to subscribe to all of them.
00:42:01
Speaker
And now slowly the long form content now or hour and a half is returning to YouTube. Like as of literally like the second half of this year, it is fascinating, but it's also frustrating.
00:42:11
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. And you know, well, I kind of want to get into that as well. Cause you do, ah you said you do other kind of content like travel and food i do and all that stuff. Like do you find that easier to do that? Like wrestling content?
00:42:29
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. that's definite That's a tough question because on the one hand, it's like more organic, right? Like, oh, I'm drinking this cool coffee. Let me film a reel about it. Like it's more on the go. It's more human. It's more organic.
00:42:44
Speaker
And that's actually what I try to teach my clients as well. Like it becomes your second nature. Like when I tell people, just like one horizontal picture of your match where we can barely see your face we're going to get people to connect with you. Like if you're literally just, i'm not going to name drop, but like literally small case study, right?
00:43:05
Speaker
I have a client, a pretty popular wrestler, not John Cena level, but on TV, right? um Who pretty much posted only wrestling. And the engagement was really low. Had a lot of followers, like over a hundred thousand, but very low engagement.
00:43:21
Speaker
And we were literally having just like ah one of our regular meetings and it was at the sushi restaurant. And i was like, okay, let me take a picture of you with this sushi plate. And trust me, please post it and just see what happens.
00:43:34
Speaker
And it was the best performing post on of the month on his Instagram. Like people want to connect with you. So on the one hand, yeah, it can be easier, I guess. But then on the other hand, I do believe that the more niche your content is, the better.
00:43:49
Speaker
We say, you know, riches in the niches. Like yeah people in the other day are coming to you for something specific. So in like the lifestyle content type situation, there's definitely more um competition.
00:44:04
Speaker
ah It's less niche. It's less personalized to the viewer and to yourself because everyone, anyone can drink a cute coffee and make a feel about it, right? But only I can talk about the specifics of intergender wrestling on television, right?
00:44:17
Speaker
So it's it's a tough question. I can't tell you that one is easier than the other. I i don't think I have an answer for that. well the Which one do you like doing more? Is there one that you like doing more than the other? Like travel content?
00:44:31
Speaker
Food content? Wrestling content?
00:44:37
Speaker
I think like the reason that they do all of those is because I like all of those equally. ah But i guess if you had like a gun to my head, then it was like, okay. You either stop making food content tomorrow or you stop making wrestling content tomorrow. I would stop making food content. like Like I said, ultimately, and it's not fully rational even, but that's just that I love wrestling so much. I live and breathe wrestling.
00:45:01
Speaker
I do love food a lot too. Like anyone who knows me who will tell you that like it's an unhealthy love for food. But in terms of content, I just feel like in wrestling, like I said, it's more niche and I just feel like I bring more to the table, you know? Yeah.
00:45:16
Speaker
um another Another question I had too, actually it's really not, it's more like commentary. So as far as, you know, we yeah you kind of touched on this a little bit earlier when it comes to, you know, community, helping each other out when it comes to, you you know, content creators and things like that.
00:45:34
Speaker
One of the things I noticed too, for some reason I interview a lot of cosplayers. so just I just find them very entertaining. like i I've interviewed Machoverse, if you know who the Machoverse He's hes said basically a Macho Man cosplayer. has different versions of Macho Man that portrays.
00:45:56
Speaker
they just so basically they all, like anyone that I've interviewed, they all... Like they all like hang out with each other with this conventions. They're always like, they're always bigging each other up for things. They're always like, you know, commenting on each other. They're always uplifting each other basically.
00:46:13
Speaker
And I think that's one of the things that should be, that could be done a little bit better when it comes to the, like the wrestling content area. Like I just started, you know, collaborating more with that with like the wrestling classic on post and things like that and and and a few other people.
00:46:30
Speaker
yeah Just because i I see that's the way pretty much to go nowadays. like It's hard to do things by yourself, especially if you're not a big name. but Like try to like, you know, create a relationship with someone that has kind of like a bigger platform than you.
00:46:44
Speaker
And then, you know, kind of team up with them. And so they could see your, you know whatever you have going on. And maybe they'll like you, maybe they won't. Who knows? But do you see that as a, as like a, as, as like a issue, like with like, you know,
00:46:57
Speaker
people collaborating in the wrestling side of things, like being more open to, you know, cross, do cross shows or things like that. Cause I find that I find it personally. I don't really see it as much. I see it in like Instagram posts. Like you can do the collaboration posts, which I do a lot, but don't see it as far as like shows.
00:47:15
Speaker
Like, I don't see like people, you know, pro promote each other's shows or being guests on each other's shows and things like that. Is that something that you see as well? Or is that just me being nitpicky? Yeah.
00:47:27
Speaker
No, yeah, I definitely see that. I don't know if I would use the word issue like that's a strong word, but it's definitely something that could be improved on for sure. And like when you in the beginning of the show, when you were talking about the podcast community that you guys have, I was I'd love to hear that.
00:47:43
Speaker
Because I do believe that we need more collaboration. And I do believe that this is not ah zero-sum game. And for the longest time, I've had this like dream, right? like It's not a project because there's nothing like on paper, really. But I've always had this dream of like creating a creator community where like everyone would benefit from it. And like you said, smaller creators and bigger creators can also benefit from each other. It's almost like sometimes it gets gatekeepy where bigger creators...
00:48:13
Speaker
That's what I mean. Like scoff at smaller creators. But ultimately, we can all benefit from each other. We can all learn from each other. Because whenever you meet a creator, there's always something. Maybe if it's a small thing that they do better than you.
00:48:27
Speaker
And there's always something that to learn from them. But also when it comes to covering wrestling specifically, right? The one advantage that they might have that you don't have is being in the state or in the country that the show is in, you know? Yeah, exactly. And if we collaborate more,
00:48:43
Speaker
that you know but distance issue can be erased and everyone can have more content, everyone can have more exposure. And then on the other hand, ah promotions can view us differently as well because ah when it comes to getting press credentials with bigger promotions, traditional media is always favored.
00:49:00
Speaker
And I don't think that's necessarily Or I don't think that's necessarily a good thing because a lot of the time we're, again, we'll leave in the era of the internet in the era of content creation.
00:49:11
Speaker
A lot of the time, traditional media doesn't get, have the exposure that a blogger gets. Yes, exactly. But they get favored because, because there's a word newspaper or radio or whatever. yeah And,
00:49:23
Speaker
you know I think we we're on the path to having those bigger promotions, see content creators and um taking content creators more seriously. So if there's this collaboration that could bring bring us closer to that as well. So it's definitely something that I've also had thoughts about and I've always wanted to be and I've tried to be this like connector.
00:49:45
Speaker
And I do want to like put it on paper and have like a specific like way to do it, you know, but I'm still like it's still brewing. I'm still thinking about it. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, that's yeah one of the things that um you know Sheena, Chick-fil-A and her husband, they wanted to do a few years back was to do like ah like how we kind of now. We're not like, oh, back at the beginning we started, we were all on each other's shows and obviously lives get little bit more complicated, especially if you kids, family, that type of thing.
00:50:14
Speaker
So we're not we do it as much. I think I'm like the only one that's actually... from another show doing and another show like consistently because they asked me to do it. Um, and I enjoy doing it. Um, it's fun.
00:50:27
Speaker
And, uh, I don't, we don't, I don't obviously, I'm not taking it as serious as like, this is like you know, like a full-time job. I mean, the this is actually kind of like a full-time job. if You think about it.
00:50:38
Speaker
I don't get paid for anything. So it's like, I do it out of love for wrestling and you know being able to like doing this show. i love just talking to people and finding out their stories and, you know, how they came about and what their thought processes are behind their, you know, the content that they put out.
00:50:55
Speaker
But yeah, but having that like community of like, people that you can reach out to for different things and even becoming best friends with some of these people. My co-host is going to be up here. Him and his wife are going to be there actually in a few weeks for our Thanksgiving.
00:51:12
Speaker
They're coming up to you know visit. so it's like I would have never thought that was possible like way back when. I met him before like a while back, but so when i you know i've been doing a show with he lives in louisiana i live in massachusetts and we've you know we barely see each other in person but you know we have this relationship where would it's kind of like mean we're pretty much like best friends which is very strange or more than i have friends here like i i have the exact same thing like a lot of my closest friends like my best friends
00:51:47
Speaker
I've met through wrestling and content creation. Like one of my best friends is Amber Nico, the photographer. And cause you know, we get credentials to the same AW shows and same RH shows. And we always see each other and we just realized that we vibe amazingly.
00:52:01
Speaker
And we're literally best friends. And then, like, one of my best friends used to do After Buzz TV, ah like, after shows, NXT after shows, Anissa. So she's one of my best friends as well. Again, some of my best friends are ah super fans slash content creators, like Brittany Sacco, like, Brock Lesnar guy.
00:52:20
Speaker
yeah And, like, Sean Rose Sapp, like, he was one of the people that I've learned, I think, the most. in the wrestling industry and to this day like he's the person that I come to for advice for counseling almost when something like bad happens like the first time that I ever lost audio to five interviews I was devastated and he was the person that they came to and he was like hey it happens it's happened to me too and it's such a simple conversation but to hear it from someone who's so successful and so well known in the industry be like, hey kid, it's OK. It really helped. And he's still one of my very close friends in the industry as well. like it's
00:53:01
Speaker
It really is not about wolf-eat-wolf world. like It's yeah not a zero-sum game. There's room for everyone. And there is room for it community and real human relationships to be found.
00:53:15
Speaker
and do you Do you feel like as far as like the wrestling community, obviously, you know, there's the toxic side of things. There's the, you know, tribalism that, you know, has run rampant as of late.
00:53:26
Speaker
What are your thoughts? What are your thoughts on that as far as like, do you think... You think it will ever get better? There will never any tribalism. You think we can all, as a wrestling com community, you can like cohesively become one? cause it's like I'll give you an example. There's people that love like you know baseball, basketball, football, meaning American football, have soccer. like They even think like wrestling fans are like,
00:53:53
Speaker
but foot They're like, this is passion. This crazy about this stuff. It's like, yeah. mean I don't know. I used to be a big soccer fan. And the just let me tell you, especially in Spain, like if you're a Barca fan like I am, like freaking Real Madrid fans hate you. like It's not like, oh, you're so nice. No, no, no.
00:54:14
Speaker
But in terms of if it's ever going to go away, honestly, I think no. was them um but then like we keep going on about how are tribalism is so bad and like and it is like maybe don't cuss each other out over a tv show uh but yeah on the other hand maybe it's good because you know uh competition is good for everyone in the business and awb like pretty much the second in history and the first in modern history true ah challenger brand to WWE. It's extremely beneficial for literally everyone involved. Like WWE has gotten better because of that. Yeah. Because it's when you're running, when you you're racing, it's always easier to try to catch up to someone than to just maintain a pace when you're far ahead than when you're the first place.
00:55:07
Speaker
Yeah. So it's it's just hugely beneficial to everyone. And i I think I add to it a little bit. Like i I wouldn't say that I'm like the biggest so fighter against tribalism, not at all. yeah Like I always say that like I can't wrap my mind around like people liking AW and WWE equally.
00:55:29
Speaker
Like I 100% understand people who love WWE, 1000% understand people who love AW, but I don't understand people who like them equally. Because to me, it's so different. like It's a whole different animal. like I do not understand how you can be like, okay, this is good, and this is also great. but yeah Just for different people who like different things. That's why like this is the one part that I don't get.
00:55:53
Speaker
Those people, good for them, freaking... most peaceful, most and chill people in the world. I love that for them, but it couldn't be me. yeah Yeah. Yeah. No, I think, i don't think you can like them equally. i think going to have, you're going to lean more towards one. you're going to be more biased towards your, whatever you prefer better. But I think you could definitely watch. I mean, you could definitely watch both. If you're a wrestling fan, you're going to appreciate both.
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah. You're right. You can't like both equally. Like you're going to like one, more than the other, even if you do like all the promotions, like you can bet. If you ask like 10 wrestling fans to create like a top 10 or a top five list of promotions that they watch, they're going to put their main one, obviously at the top, but then they're going to be able to go. Okay. Maybe. All right. So I do watch, you know, a W more than WWE. So that's my number one. and Maybe I watched TNA more than w WWE. So TNA is my number two.
00:56:47
Speaker
Like it's going to be, they're going to be watching everything. Because they wouldn't be complaining about everything. they You only have a certain amount of hours in the week. Yes, that's another thing too. Yeah. And at this point, which again, I think is a great thing. like The wrestling product is extremely diverse these days. And I think it's a beautiful thing. I love to see it.
00:57:06
Speaker
But there's just so many hours of wrestling. Oh, yeah. It's too much. That you can't physically watch everything equally. It's impossible. Yeah, don't watch like, I mean, I try to watch, I don't i want to say I try to watch every single thing, but like even even like obviously I grew up on w WWE. that's That was my childhood. So that's going to be, I'm going watch that more than anything.
00:57:28
Speaker
But like even NXT, I don't get to watch a lot. I don't watch, I try to yeah get AEW as much as I can. and It's more or less like as I'm always tired. I don't want to stay up to like watch anything. it's Even WWE, it's like,
00:57:41
Speaker
Because I grew up with WWE too, but yeah at this point, it's not at all what I watch the most. Yeah. thank People change. like the the style of you know You might like the style of AEW lot more than you like w WWE now. WWE is pretty much going to be the same, but it's just going to be upgraded to obviously look a little bit more better, like better production, all that type of stuff.
00:58:05
Speaker
I don't think better is a good word, but I think definitely WWE's strong suit is how polished the product is. It's polished, it's beautiful, it's quality made, it's a very high production value, and that's great for some people.
00:58:23
Speaker
But then AEW is more like rugged, it's more rough around the that just feels more real, for the lack of a better word. It's for the sickos. it's for this takeoff Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I am the sickos. It's kind of like for me when ECW hit, I was like, forget WCW, forget WWE or WWF at the time.
00:58:46
Speaker
um a you I'm ECW all the way. this is this way thiss This is what I like to see. so i mean it's yeah they have everything. They have wrestling. they have hardcore matches. They're bringing in luchadors and people from Japan and stuff like that.
00:59:00
Speaker
And then obviously WCW started taking the Rey Mysterios and and everyone else from them. They obviously went away. But that's how I was when that new promotion. I was like, oh man, i forget these guys. I was like, this weak.
00:59:16
Speaker
i was like, ECW. I feel like my problem is the problem of a person who's been into something for way too long and loves it way too much where like again if you had like if you had me to the wall and you had me name my favorite promotions would be w like it's just something that i think for me or to me is the optimal wrestling product like the optimal quantity of wrestling the optimal uh violence levels like the optimal production that like to eat to me just it speaks to me like i just think it's like it's what the wrestling ah pro wrestling product should look like to me first yeah um
00:59:54
Speaker
But then like my the other side of me, it just loves freaking like tiny, no ring death match show with a daily bar. like It's just something that my like a part of my soul just always longs for. yeah I love me a freaking tiny, messy ass indie show. It just yeah makes my soul sing, and I can't do anything about it.
01:00:19
Speaker
Yeah, I've been to, oh my God, dont I don't get to, we have, in my area, we have Chaotic Wrestling, which is, you know, in Massachusetts. and I've been to, I think, three or four shows this year so far.
01:00:31
Speaker
And i I mean, that's the most fun I've had at any show. I've been to WrestleManias. I've been to AEW Dynamite shows. You don't go to WrestleMania to watch wrestling. No, it's a spectacle. It's like the, you know everything surrounding...
01:00:44
Speaker
WrestleMania, but yeah, man. And to me as a content creator, WrestleMania and WrestleMania week is just like the ultimate networking hub. Like yeah yeah yeah the most interviews, the most networking, the most new contacts, the most follow-ups and hold contacts. Like it's like ah in a good way work. Right.
01:01:02
Speaker
ah So it's not it's not a wrestling wrestling he's not a wrestling show. Let's just say that, right? Yeah, more yeah like I said, it's more of a production, more of a spectacle, more like an event than anything. But like said, those local indie shows are... um There's something about them that's just...
01:01:18
Speaker
I can't even describe it. It's just being there in the moment and, you know, see these people in person. it's just like, it's, it's, it's almost like, like i kind of like a visceral type of type of thing.
01:01:28
Speaker
It's, it's hard to explain. You definitely like, I always say support your local indie promotions because those are the, those are the ones that you going to enjoy the most interactive as well. you get to talk to people after the show and all that type of stuff. So yeah, I know we're almost at time. So I want to get one more question out before.
01:01:46
Speaker
As far as, but just let me get what one more comment. It's fine. We have time. We have. Okay. Well, I wanted to ask about like, you know as far as your brand is concerned, because I always ask this to everybody. um Where do you see, like, where do you see yourself going?
01:02:03
Speaker
Like you say like five years, let's, let's just throw a number out there. Like, do you, like, where do you see like your brand heading towards in five years? Yeah. i You know what?
01:02:14
Speaker
I'm less focused on my brand and more focused on myself and also like the development of wrestling on the whole as a business for the greater good, you know? And that's kind of what we touched upon a little bit where yeah i somewhat recently, like about a year, maybe a little more, started doing the business development thing.
01:02:31
Speaker
And ah I really, really believe that it's needed for the industry. And I really believe that I bring something to the table. And when I say that a lot of people in the business don't understand the business model and have a lot of untapped potential, I don't just mean independent wrestlers or just lower card wrestlers on televised shows. so It goes all the way up to the very top. And that's not to sound insulting at all.
01:02:55
Speaker
yeah That's to say there's more, there's bigger, there's better. And i think I know a way to make things bigger and better.
01:03:05
Speaker
And I would absolutely love to work with AW. I would absolutely love to work with bigger televised promotions because I do feel like there's so much untapped potential. There's so much untapped exposure. There's so much untapped production of be it the TV product or be the um you know goods, the merch, the products.
01:03:24
Speaker
yeah And I would really love to bring that knowledge that I've accumulated and bring that drive that they have for the business on a higher level as well. If when that happens, I get to keep up my own brand and keep creating content and keep producing interviews specifically that I love to do or keep being a presenter, I would absolutely love that.
01:03:43
Speaker
But like I said, if I were to choose and what I'm choosing right now is to work more on that because I feel like I have value to bring on the backstage side of things in wrestling. And that's ultimately what I would love to do and where I'd like to see myself in the, in the near future.
01:04:01
Speaker
Awesome. Actually, I lied. i have one more another question to ask you. As far as, you know, obviously we talked about all the, pretty much all the things that you do with with content, and things like that. What do you, what do you do in your personal life? What else do what, what things make you happy outside of, you know, doing all this stuff, like reading books, watching movies, listening to music, etc.
01:04:27
Speaker
Sports, if you do that. I do read books. I do watch movies. so ah But I don't think any of that takes like any kind of like important role in my life. Because I've definitely met people who live and breathe music and they can't live without music. I love music, but I can go days without listening to music, which some people think is weird.
01:04:48
Speaker
I don't know. I think my brain is just very full of things and it feels like a beehive in there. a lot of the time I just prefer quiet. Maybe I'm just getting old. I don't know.
01:05:01
Speaker
But I feel like I'm at a point where I've turned almost everything that I love into content to one extent or another. Like I'd mentioned, I love food and like It's not to say that like, oh, I love to eat as much as I love to explore. you know i do consider myself an adventurous eater.
01:05:20
Speaker
And I do think it's a way to ah connect with other cultures. It's a way to ah get to know the world around us. you know And I'm just very particular and I love food so much and I love exploring that.
01:05:32
Speaker
um But I also love fashion, which is again, something that's quite present in my content, maybe less so than wrestling or food or travel. But yeah i do love fashion. i and I, again, vividly remember there was a moment in my life where it was a breaking point where I was like, for i don't know why. Maybe because i was like when i was a kid, I was always like a lanky, awkward kid.
01:05:54
Speaker
I was never like the cool girl or the hot girl or anything. And I think at one point, I just realized that most days I don't like what they look like. And I've decided to change that. And now every time, like be it a grocery run or be it an appearance, I always put a lot of thought into what I'm wearing and what I look like and how I accessorize, which I don't accessorize that much, by the way.
01:06:17
Speaker
And again, I've tried to like ah break myself into that, but then I realized, hey, maybe let's just be comfortable as well. so and So I'm like finding that like balance between comfort and if I can liking what I look like every single day.
01:06:34
Speaker
which hasn't been 100% successful, but has been mostly successful. oh yeah So I love i love fashion a lot. ah Travel, like you mentioned, like I'm definitely, you know I recognize that it's a privilege that I get to travel as much as I do, but also wrestling has helped me travel a lot. Like if it wasn't for wrestling, I wouldn't have seen a lot of places that I've seen.
01:06:54
Speaker
And yeah I'm also like very curious when it comes to wrestling. like i'm I almost feel like I'm like collecting like places and promotions that I've seen wrestling live at. like As for promotions, I think I'm at 37 promotions that I've seen live or worked for.
01:07:09
Speaker
Wow. yeah ah so i'm i'm like this is I'm like a Pokemon trainer of wrestling. I want to catch them all. I want to see, experience everything. and you know i you know Obviously, like I come from Russia, so that's where I started. But then I've worked with wrestling promotions in Spain.
01:07:27
Speaker
And also at like a pretty early stage in my career, I've actually made like a mini documentary about wrestling in Romania. part Romanian. And at this point, the scene has grown, like not to WrestleMania levels, but it's grown significantly.
01:07:44
Speaker
And at that time where I was making that documentary, I think five years ago, there was nothing. There was one wrestling school, one promotion, one person brought wrestling to the country from Scotland.
01:07:55
Speaker
oh And it was just extremely fascinating to me to see like the birth all wrestling scene in the country. Like it was just crazy for me to be a part of that.
01:08:06
Speaker
um i've I've gone to wrestling shows and you know in in England and then I've gone to wrestling shows. so Unfortunately, it wasn't a local show. It was a WWE show, but technically I've gone to wrestling show in China.
01:08:18
Speaker
I just want to see everything. So I think for me, like the travel aspect is connected with wrestling and with food and with fashion. oh But yeah, i i at this point,
01:08:30
Speaker
my My phone my appendage and my social media is my life. like Everything that I like is in some way channeled on there. so i'm i'm very im very authentic on social media. I'm not watching on a show. like it's It really is my life. and It really is me.
01:08:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah, no, definitely. You can definitely tell, like I said, with ah with the content that you that you put out that it's not like, know, obviously besides like the interviews and stuff, because those are, you know, right those are kind of set up to do.
01:08:57
Speaker
But yeah, as far as like your other content that you have that showcases you as a person, you can definitely tell it's not, you know, staged or put on or anything like that. But actually I keep on.
01:09:10
Speaker
all right. This is the last very last one. Cause I get to ask you cause you're on here. um As far as, and I always ask the ladies on here that are, you know, in you know, wrestling influences are into wrestling for the the women in wrestling.
01:09:27
Speaker
What's it? What are your thoughts? Like, do you think is it, you know, is it, has it plateaued? Is it growing? Is it getting better? Is it getting worse? What are your thoughts on the current state of women's, all women's division, not just, you we're not specifying to WWE, just in general, women in wrestling, women wrestlers, I should say.
01:09:49
Speaker
what What do you see? is it moving Is it going down? Is it staying the same? What are your thoughts? I think it's growing steadily.
01:10:00
Speaker
You know, I think little by little women are getting more TV time. Women are getting more matches on the cards. Women are getting more exposure, taken more seriously as performers. It's never linear.
01:10:11
Speaker
Like I don't think any kind of growth or development is ever linear, unfortunately. So there would be, you know, two steps forth, one step back sometimes. But You know, I, on the one hand, I am optimistic and I try to do my part to, you know, help women's wrestling get more exposure and women's wrestlers get more exposure and get their thoughts out into the world via my interviews or whatever else that we're doing. Right.
01:10:36
Speaker
um But also like, I wouldn't say that I'm too optimistic, honestly, because apparently according to a study that was conducted by like UN, n I think,
01:10:48
Speaker
we're not going to reach gender equality for another 300 years. And i think wrestling is ultimately an extension or a mirror of whatever happens in the real world, but right? yeah In the society at large. So I don't think we're unfortunately anywhere close to equality at all.
01:11:08
Speaker
And that's another thing that sometimes really irks me, really grinds my gears when like we get the first ever um female wrestling WrestleMania main the event, right?
01:11:19
Speaker
yeah And a lot of male fans are like, well there, that's what you wanted if you have a cool, you know? Like yeah that's not at all how that works. yeah yeah When that happened, when that first ever ah women's main event happened, I made the video on my channel where it pretty much said just that. Like, yeah, this is great and let's celebrate and we are in our own right to celebrate, but this doesn't mean that it's solved automatically.
01:11:44
Speaker
yeah And that's actually the most disliked video on my channel. It has the most dislikes. oh I understand that sometimes it's hard to look reality in the eye, especially for male fans, because ultimately, like, you guys do get lumped together with the bad ones. Like, it's yeah inevitable.
01:12:01
Speaker
Because, ah you know, it's it's not all men, but you never know which one. Like, you know, there's this analogy of a bowl of M&M's where there's 300 M&Ms and 20 of them are poisoned and you're going to die if you eat them. Are you going to reach for that bowl? Maybe not. At least you're going to be cautious, right?
01:12:21
Speaker
So I understand that sometimes it's hurtful for the male fans and sometimes it feels unfair. It's like, you know, I'm a good one. I didn't do anything. Why yeah are they saying men are this or men say that or men do that, right?
01:12:33
Speaker
But then, like, if you don't like to be lumped together, your what you can do, right, your part is you can call out the men who are terrible. like I see so many men at shows catcalling female wrestlers, throwing things, saying terrible things in front of their children a lot of the time, which that freaking blows my mind every time.
01:12:53
Speaker
ah Or loudly proclaiming bathroom break and standing up and leaving during a women's match. like You can't force a person to sit down and watch a match, but please don't be an asshole about it. you know yeah So exactly as a man, if you don't like being a part of that,
01:13:08
Speaker
call people out for being sexist for commenting on female wrestlers bodies for devaluing but women's wrestling for being disrespectful to women fans wrestlers or presenters or whoever because it still happens a lot like boundaries are broken all the time when it comes to female talent of any sort any kind um so i try to remain optimistic yes like there's been a lot of development that there's a lot of prominent female figures, be it in the ring or outside of it right now. And like I said, I tried to do my part and I think we're doing amazing. And there's so many amazing women in wrestling these days, but also it's not in any way like, a Oh, we're almost there. No, we're not at all. We're like one thing that I, that always, this is like one of my biggest concerns, right?
01:13:53
Speaker
Is the like percentage of women's matches on an average per wrestling card. Like as of right now, out of the, televised and or streamed wrestling product, ROH has the biggest percentage of women on screen.
01:14:08
Speaker
And yet even that is like three, maybe I think what I've seen, like the biggest number was like four women's matches on the card out of 10 or 11 or 12 or 13.
01:14:21
Speaker
And that's the question that I've asked at a lot of press conferences too, that I've asked to Tony Hahn specifically, like, when are we going to get a better percentage of women's matches to men's matches? And The answer that they did get is we're working on it, which is great to hear. And there's a lot of writers employed by AEW, more than you think, like 100 people writing AEW.
Creating Better Storylines for Women
01:14:41
Speaker
And you can tell that they are working on better, more meaningful storylines for women. Like we saw the amazing ah Tony Storm and Mariah May feud. That was really great. That was one of the best one of the best stories in wrestling of the year, male or female or whatever. Yeah, definitely.
01:14:59
Speaker
you know ah Chris Statlander was involved in the Best Friends breakup. We do notice that there is better writing happening for women's feuds. And I do see how that change can't be made overnight.
01:15:12
Speaker
So the least that I can ask for, we can ask for, is to see that active work and to see that active improvement and not just promoters sitting there and going like, well, people don't want to watch women, so let me just put one match on there. Another thing that they see promoters do a lot is You would think that wouldn't be as much of an issue in our time, but just the object object object objectification of women. like A lot of the time they would book someone who had just started to wrestle because they're hot or because they have a following, which again, fair, but you can't book someone just because they have followers or just because they look a certain way
01:15:51
Speaker
and then they deliver a bad match and then you treat it as a gotcha and you're like, well, see, I told you, I don't like women's wrestling. It's not good. Like if you're making a decision based off of someone's appearance or of someone's exposure, that is also a valid decision.
01:16:06
Speaker
but own up to it and see it for what it is, you know? And don't just project it onto
Legacy and Equality in Wrestling
01:16:12
Speaker
women's wrestling on the whole. So we're still far, far from the bright, beautiful future, but we're working on it.
01:16:18
Speaker
And ah as like a feminist on the whole, not just in wrestling, it's a thing that you really have to accept that you might not see that bright, wonderful future in your lifetime.
01:16:32
Speaker
And- As sad as it sounds, I don't want to end on a sad note, so maybe ask another question after this. But even with like ah wrestling in countries where it's not developed, like with wrestling in Russia or even with wrestling in Spain, which its you like it's peak was, as of right now, before the pandemic.
01:16:50
Speaker
And then the pandemic kind of killed it. like We used to get great turnout. We used to get big stars at shows. We used to get f freaking Will Ospreay and DSGA in Spain. And now it's back to kind of where it was before then because the pandemic killed it and because the Spanish fans are not used to paying a fair price for show tickets. That's another thing, which is a very local and strange issue.
01:17:11
Speaker
um And there's barely any women's wrestling in Spain, by the way. Like I've yeah done like a pretty deep dive into Spanish wrestling. And when it comes to people who are from Spain in Spain, came from a training system in Spain, there's literally like two female wrestlers.
01:17:27
Speaker
Like I'm not even exaggerating, like in the whole entire country. And one of them is in Orlando right now. So she's gone. ah But- oh But, you know, like I said, sometimes when it comes to, like I said, when developing wrestling in a smaller country, you have to come to terms with the fact that your work will always be remembered and appreciated and you will be the founding father, but you'll never see it grow to the level as it is in the UK or let alone in America, right?
01:17:53
Speaker
So sometimes we just have to, we just do things because we care about other people, because we care about the future, because we care about what happens after us. and And that's the legacy. Like, it pompous as it sounds, but that's the legacy that I would love to leave for this world. It's like maybe I'll never see or most likely I'll never see a world where women are fully equal to men or non-men are fully equal to men.
01:18:17
Speaker
yeah But I know that i did my part. you know Yeah, definitely. i would definitely agree with everything you said there as far as you know definitely need some work to be done in in the at wrestling. Obviously the the optics of decent they like you said they're kind of steadily climbing when it comes to you women um in ring and stuff like that there's also you know obviously you know the you know racial aspect of it too as well like still needs to work on but yeah there's there's definitely some things that need to be that you could always obviously be an advocate for when it comes to when it comes to the you those instances but like you said that's kind of alarming that uh we won't see that
01:19:01
Speaker
in that many years. That's kind of insane to think about.
Fictional Character Fun
01:19:05
Speaker
But um let's try to, like you said, let's try to do this on a happy note. Let's do like a fun question. I'm joking.
01:19:12
Speaker
yeah So let me let me see. If you were to, let's see, if you were to wake up one day as a as a character from a movie, TV show, or book, who would it be?
01:19:30
Speaker
Oh my God. That, oh, I was not prepared for that. oh I don't know. wake one day you're like, oh my God, you look at the mirror and you're like, that you're that person. who Who would it be? Who would you want to live your life as, as a fictional character?
01:19:49
Speaker
Oh, we just a fictional character? Yeah, oh yeah not like like a movie, like a movie, a TV show. It doesn't have to be a reality TV show. I was going to give you like a cop-out answer. Or non-fiction, I mean. Let's keep it to non-fiction.
01:20:01
Speaker
Just like a TV character. Not like, you don't want wake up one day and like one of the real housewives of whatever. That's what I was going to say. I was going to fully give you a cop-out answer and be like, I want to wake up as Kylie Jenner. Kylie Jenner.
01:20:15
Speaker
I mean, she's technically in a TV show. You could say Kardashian because she is in the American Horror Story series of that last season. Oh, well yeah but that's not her technically. I don't know.
01:20:28
Speaker
That is true. Or like Paris Hilton. I would freaking love to be Paris Hilton, honestly. I think that's who I'm actively trying to be, honestly.
01:20:38
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know what to tell you. It's funny that like one time I took one of those. don't know if you've seen those, but there's a very, very extensive test Yeah, who are you? That matches you to a character out of like just, not celebrity, but out of like movies, books, like you said, TV series. What fictional character do you have the highest match with?
01:21:02
Speaker
And it's a huge test. And there's like 200 questions. And it's like psychology, lifestyle, values, everything. And mine is kind of horrible, actually, if you think about it. But I got like a 98% match with Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City.
01:21:19
Speaker
Is she a good person, necessarily? i don't know. But... well if you don't think about it too much it's like oh a glamorous journalist blonde in new york city love that just don't think about it too much you know but i mean she wasn't a bad character at all she was uh all right was it she yeah she was i mean she was ah obviously the main protagonist of that show yeah i'll just say she exists without let's just keep it that's ah That's interesting that you
Character Traits and Real-life Comparisons
01:21:51
Speaker
got. I mean, I guess that's it.
01:21:52
Speaker
That would be your answer there. I guess you're on Carrie Bradshaw.
01:21:57
Speaker
but she was safe in that show. I think she was very, you know, made, made, made right decisions. Stay with Mr. Big. So wasn't, uh, that's the right decision. I wouldn't say that. She wasn't as crazy as yeah yeah her friends.
01:22:13
Speaker
yeah She didn't go like, she didn't go too far out from what her friends are doing, especially, uh, what was her name? Uh,
01:22:22
Speaker
Samantha was actually the most reasonable one. but Yeah, if you got Samantha, then you might have to worry. you got If you got a friend Samantha, then you'd have to be like, all right, yeah what am i what am I doing wrong now? You got the safe one, I think. You got the safest character out of the six in the city character. So that's good one.
01:22:40
Speaker
And it kind matches. She likes fashion. She likes going out. Traveling. She's very like girl power. She's a journalist. I see that. you know You just added the wrestling aspect to it. So she was yeah if she was into wrestling...
01:22:54
Speaker
That's dead. yeah Pretty much be you. that That's that's what she knew. She was a thousand percent beans. Oh, man. Oh, man that's funny. no know you Look at that. We're laughing. Yes. No, we didn't have it. It wasn't good know at the end.
01:23:09
Speaker
But I would definitely want to. We'll end it here.
Social Media and Collaboration
01:23:12
Speaker
I definitely want to thank you again for being on the show. This is a long, in the making, a long time in the making. Thank you for having me It was definitely very, like, full disclosure, very Carrie Bradshaw of me that I ah fully forgot last time. between I take a responsibility. I'm not usually like that. That was just a bad day not a bad life but ah yeah thank you for having me i appreciate it I always say this when you're a guy you're used to being rejected by numerous amounts of women it's a numbers game so you just yes throw it out there until one of them something someone's going to answer
01:23:50
Speaker
answer That's how it goes. We just get used to it. We just it. We get used to the ah they you know ah the neglect when it comes to the ladies. so I mean, luckily I'm married now and stuff like that, don't have to worry about it.
01:24:04
Speaker
But I remember back in the day, just all the numbers game, just offer rate. Like I said, I come from a sales background. And that's the thing you offer. you You offer that whatever that service plan, that protection plan. Someone's going to say yes at some point.
01:24:20
Speaker
Everyone's going to say no. It comes from a sales background. So you know that every rejection just brings you closer to... Oh, exactly. That's what I mean. Yeah, it's a numbers game. It's an offer. We call it the offer rate. So you just... If you're not going to offer it that much, then you're not going to get it. But if you keep on offering it to every single customer, someone's going to say yes to it at some point.
01:24:40
Speaker
whether it's c young prison one month, two months, a year two years, who knows? yeah You're going to get an yes answer at some point. That's how it is. That's how I going to answer it, guys. A little man math for you right there. guy math, as they call it.
01:24:52
Speaker
Tell everyone everyone like where they can ah where they could find you. Yeah, they can find me at XeniaDedad, that's X-E-N-I-A, everywhere on YouTube, slash at XeniaDedad, or on Instagram, on Twitter, everywhere.
01:25:08
Speaker
I do have my merch on pro wrestling tees and teespring. So the same, just look up. Zainia did that. i have a bigger range on teespring if you're into that, to have socks, fanny packs, everything.
01:25:19
Speaker
ah If you're interested in joining in the chat that has to do with social media algorithms, media development, DM me or email me anywhere, I'll send you the link. And if you're interested, if you're a wrestler, maybe a promotion or a podcast or whatever, and you're interested in talking to me about developing your brand, then email me and let's talk about it. Then let's build a brighter future for wrestling together.
01:25:41
Speaker
Awesome. Again, you can also obviously find me at the MVP Marco everywhere. Definitely go to chickfully.com to find all the shows, all the information you need. And da check out everyone I said at the beginning of the show. I'm going repeat it because this is taking forever now. But anyway, thank you again for being on the show. You were lovely guest.
01:26:04
Speaker
Definitely look forward to having you on again at some point when we can find the time to do so continue the conversation. ah we'll but We'll try. we'll We'll try again. We'll be more coordinated this time together.
01:26:18
Speaker
ah But anyway, yes, that's it. and Everyone have a ah great rest your night or day, wherever you're listening to this. And I'll talk to you soon.