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Open Mic 13: Rucker of Boot 2 The Face Podcast
30 Plays2 years ago
The MVP Marco is back from hiatus and he’s brought along a guest! He sits down with Rucker from the Boot 2 the Face Podcast. They talk about everything from the current status of black pro wrestling, being a content creator, Sting, Mickie James, and much more!
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Boot 2 The Face
https://linktr.ee/boot2theface
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Transcript
Introduction of MVP Marco and Mr. Rucker
00:00:20
Speaker
Who the hell told you tonight was open mic night
00:00:47
Speaker
Boom, welcome everybody. It's the, I'm not sure if maybe like a brand new season of the open mic with the MVP Marco. Obviously I'm the MVP Marco. You may have heard me on the Chick Foley show. I'm a part of the Pod Foundation, which is the Turnbuckle Tavern, extra cooler show. Obviously the Chick Foley show and coming down the aisle with Jay Bone. But yeah, I'm back. I went on a little bit of hiatus and I,
00:01:14
Speaker
I brought somebody with me. I actually have a, I was going to go solo this time around, but I was like, you know, let me pick up a guest. Let me bring back the new season with a new guest. And that is none other than boot to the face podcast. Mr. Rucker. I'm going to call him. How you doing, sir?
Wrestling Podcasting and Life Balance
00:01:30
Speaker
I'm doing good, man. You, you brought up all the podcasts you're doing. You probably like the only independent guy. It does more than I do. I actually do. Uh, well, Sam, I have a guest on some of those podcasts, but I do, uh,
00:01:42
Speaker
Actually I do the Chick Foley show, obviously this one. And then when Terre Bunkle Tabern, they have like a, if you've heard of them, if not, definitely go check them out. They have a million podcasts. So, um, I do their WWE one called, uh, the raw down, um, every Thursday, eight o'clock it's on, uh, it's streamed on YouTube. So definitely check me out there. But yeah, I'm, uh, you know, I, like I said, I had to scale. I put the show on hiatus cause it got a little crazy with, you know, chick Foley show then.
00:02:08
Speaker
that show and then just trying to prepare for everything, watching hours and hours of wrestling. As you know, as a wrestling fan, definitely gets in the way of life sometimes. It's a chore now. I mean, not a chore, but it's a lot now, man. It's so, so much wrestling and it's just like, but luckily it's good wrestling now. Like I feel like the last six months as fans, we've been like,
00:02:31
Speaker
given some really good shit to listen to.
Current Wrestling Scene: WWE and AEW Discussion
00:02:34
Speaker
I'm not listening to really good shit to watch. And as people that talk about it, a lot of good stuff to talk about. So it's not as hard as the past couple of years have been, especially with like Monday Night Raw, but it's been really fun last couple of months. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Before I get to like, you know, we'll get to you, like your, your stuff. Um, but I don't, yeah, let me, while we were talking about wrestling, what is it, what are your thoughts right now on like the
00:02:57
Speaker
Like the state of wrestling, as far as like, you know, the wrestling business will say overall, not just, you know, WWE, I've talked about indie wrestling, you know, AEW, everything. Like what's your, what are your thoughts? Is it a good place right now? Is it?
00:03:10
Speaker
Is it on a decline? Is it going up? Is it steady? I feel like it's in a great place right now. I'm 40. I'll be 41 next week. So I'm old enough to where I moved to Atlanta in 97, like the height of WCW. And they were like running rough shot around here. I'd run into wrestlers all the time. Like when I'd go to work at Subway and Publix. Wow.
00:03:34
Speaker
I went to the raw two weeks ago here in Atlanta and besides WrestleMania and day one and like other pay-per-views they've had here, there's never been a crowd that was that hot for just a regular Monday Night Raw or SmackDown than what was at State Farm Arena a couple weeks ago and I just feel like
00:03:56
Speaker
with WWE doing so good and with AEW trying to keep up, I feel like it's bringing everybody up. So even Impact Wrestling, I go see them whenever they're here. And honestly, I have more fun at Impact than I do at any other show.
00:04:11
Speaker
And there's only like five, 600 people there, but I think wrestling's in a great place right now, man. Honestly, as a fan, you really don't have anything to bitch about. No matter what you want to see, you want to see women's wrestling, you can go to Impact. You want to see storylines, you go to WWE. You just want somebody to point the camera at the ring and ring the fucking bell, you go to AEW.
00:04:33
Speaker
There's nothing to complain about, right? I've custom like, can I custom here? No, no, definitely.
Social Media's Role in Wrestling Fandom
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. It's open. You say whatever you, the maker's Mark's hitting right now. That's that's what I mean. I got that. I got Henny. So Henny and ginger. So we'll see what happens. Yeah. I'm doing makers and Coke zero. Here we go.
00:04:55
Speaker
But yeah, I was going to say the same because obviously we're both on social media. We're both on X as it's called, firmly known as Twitter. And this is one of the questions I always ask everybody. The state of social media in wrestling
00:05:12
Speaker
in the obviously, you know, there's a good, there's a middle ground and then there's, it seems like more negative than anything. How do you, as a, you know, being on social media, how do you feel those types of like, you know, people you come across and things like that? I love it and I hate it. It's like,
00:05:33
Speaker
Like I meet people like you, I meet other podcasts that you interact with that are, you know, cool. You may agree on some things you may not, but at the end of the day, like you're just there talking about the thing we all love, which is wrestling, right? And then there's these assholes of like spoiling things. Like I'm a big non-spoiler guy.
00:05:54
Speaker
like when I was watching the height of wrestling for me was the attitude there and like I didn't know what the main event for WrestleMania was six months ahead of time. I don't I didn't give a shit like who the uh the agent was of said match that I watched. Only thing I cared about was I had fun watching it and so the spoiler part of
00:06:15
Speaker
social media pisses me off. The negativity in the tribalism pisses me off. You're not allowed to say anything bad about anybody.
00:06:26
Speaker
For example, I'm a big hangman page fan, right? I talk good about this guy for like every time we podcast, I tweet good things about him. I tweeted one thing, said, AEW doesn't know what they're doing with hangman page, bro. I got so many quote tweets and so many people telling me, I don't know shit about wrestling.
00:06:45
Speaker
You can tell this guy's a child because he doesn't know anything about long-term storytelling. First off, fuck you. You don't know nothing about long-term storytelling either. So don't tell me that I don't. Secondly, like, where were you when I'm like singing the guy's praises and everything, but all people hang on to is negativity. And it's like, you see that with wrestlers too. Like you can tweet a wrestler 85 times about how great they are.
00:07:11
Speaker
And the one time you say, you don't even have to tag him. The one time Jordan Grace blocked me because I said I didn't like her. Right. And some guy like went in, quote, tweeted her and told her, look, this guy hating on you because of who you are as a person. But I'm like, no, I just don't like her on TV. Like that's all it was. It was me watching Impact and tweeting out my feelings because I like live tweet and shit. And now I'm blocked by her, which is fine because I don't like her. Like she's annoying.
00:07:40
Speaker
Well, did you like her before, though? Were you a fan of Jordan Grace at all? Because I see a lot of people talking about that, how they were fans of her. And now, obviously, she changed her physique up a little bit. And a lot of people liked her older physique and that whole type of thing. So I wasn't really... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel you. This was way before she started doing the bodybuilding stuff. This was like two, three years ago. But I met her at All In, the first All In.
00:08:05
Speaker
And I thought she like I had never heard of her before. And she had that spot where she like power slam Bubba Ray or some shit like that. And they've eliminated them. And I thought she was cool as shit. And then she's walking around the hotel and she was very polite. Like my buddy Hoop like helped her take her bags, her car and then a phone on Twitter. And I was just kind of like, eh. And then when she got the impact, it was just like, not my cup of tea, right?
00:08:30
Speaker
if she's your cup of tea, good for you. All I say was, I don't like Jordan Grace tag, uh, did the hashtag impact wrestling. Cause that's what I was watching. And people just come after you. And it's like, if you don't have an opinion that's positive about every fucking thing, like you're not allowed to have an opinion. So, yeah, it's awful. Yeah. That's, I mean, I try to, I mean, I try to say clear that stuff sometimes, you know, you want to, you want to troll a little bit sometimes. That's what I do.
00:08:58
Speaker
Like if I, I put something out there just to see what, see what happens most of the time it doesn't, but yeah, I just, I just don't like, you know, I would just like do the podcast cause I'm able to say it and then I don't have to hear anything back pretty much.
Personal Wrestling Stories and Fandom Origins
00:09:11
Speaker
It's like, I say that. And then that's it. If I go on, like you said, if you go on Twitter, Instagram, whatever, you're just going to get ran through the mud. Like even, even a Sheena chick Foley, she'll post something on her Instagram.
00:09:23
Speaker
And it'll, it'll just be like, I think she posted something about Darby Allen once about, uh, they need to something about, it was, they need to make his spine. They need, they need to make, uh, his spine of whatever they need to make cars out of whatever spine is made out of or something like that. Cause that dude can, you know, does a coffin drop and it was just like.
00:09:41
Speaker
Oh, what the hell are you talking about? Well, he puts his body on the line, blah, blah, blah. This is, this is, you know, bad towards people that are in car accidents and all. It's like, yeah, you can't, you can't make any type of, uh, any type of joke or any type of comment or anything. Nothing comes across our casket when you write it. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's bad. But, um, with, with that being said, as far as let's, let's get a little bit into, uh, your history, like, uh,
00:10:09
Speaker
So wrestling, you said, I mean, I'm going to be 40, I'm 42 and be 43 at the end of the year. So we're on the same age range. Uh, where, when did you start? Cause I like to hear, I like to hear these stories cause some people are different. I haven't interviewed people that literally just started watching wrestling. I interviewed people that started way back when they were little kids. What was that? What was that grasping moment for you when you started watching? Uh-huh.
00:10:33
Speaker
So I live in Atlanta now. I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and had a lot of cousins and a lot of family members that, you know, back when we were kids and coming up, like you get dropped off at the grandparents and just fucking go for what you know, right? Like you wake up in the morning, you leave the house, you come back when street lights come on, like nobody sees you before that.
00:10:54
Speaker
And so at the time WWF was really big. And before we found out, he was a member of the clan, I still didn't like Hogan. Like when I was a kid, I never liked Hulk Hogan, right? And so WWF was the only thing we knew. And I remember my cousin Rico, he came out and he was like, wrestling's on. I was like, wrestling's on like, this ain't what time wrestling normally comes on. So we take off and we go in the house and
00:11:21
Speaker
It's NWA and it looks like dingy and grimy and just cheap, right? Compared to WWF at the time. And I was about to give up and be like, whatever, I'm going back outside. And all of a sudden this rock and roll music hits and this guy with paint on his face and spiked hair comes out and the crowd's blowing up and I was fucking hooked. And I've been a Sting fan ever since. I couldn't tell you what year it was, but I couldn't have been 10 years old. Like it had to be like 92, 93 ish.
00:11:50
Speaker
And so it may have been WCW instead of NWA. But ever since then, I did everything I could to watch WCW. And my grandmother used to take us to the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. And WCW used to come there a lot for house shows. And I'll tell you two instances I had when I was there. One, Steve Austin and Dustin Rhodes were fighting for the TV title.
00:12:14
Speaker
And Steve Austin was coming to the ring and him and Dustin, they had a blood feud and Dustin jumped his ass before he got there. And we were sitting in the aisle way, like front row right there. And they had the little steel guard rails. They didn't have the shit you got now. You can like stick your hand through. Yeah. And Steve Austin dropped the TV title about two feet in front of me. And I had my fucking arm through the little guard rail trying to get to it. And he turned around. He said, what do you think you're doing, you little motherfucker?
00:12:48
Speaker
And this, you know, this isn't like stone cold. This is blonde haired, stunning Steve Austin back then, but just to get cussed at like that was, I don't know why I liked it. And then, uh, the Kemper Arena was set up really weird back in the day too. There wasn't much security. It was like the late eighties, early nineties. We're going to the bathroom and I guess we made a wrong turn somewhere, which happens and ended up like going through a door in the sting, the Steiner brothers. And I can't, I think the Z man was there.
00:13:09
Speaker
And I was just looking at him and I was fucking hooked. I was like, I love this shit.
00:13:17
Speaker
And we completely went the wrong way. And sadly, this is before cameras and shit like that. Because Sting was real polite to us. Scott Steiner was polite to us. But the Z-Man for some reason, him and Rick Steiner were kind of dicks. Like, what the fuck are y'all doing in here? So we're just looking for the bathroom, bro.
00:13:33
Speaker
We know it's coming to here. It gets dinerize. You know what I mean? Like, so that was a lot of fun. And ever since then, man, I've been, I've been hooked and I've, I've never grown out of it. Like I got friends that have been in and out of wrestling. I've never been out. Like I've always, the fact that I've been able to get laid in my life with as much wrestling as I was like attesting it to me. You know what I mean?
00:14:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's a funny that you kind of like you think about it. You know, I have a, I have like a couple of good friends that still watch wrestling and obviously made friends to social media and stuff like that. But we all have families, we all have kids and stuff like that. So, you know, it doesn't mean because you're a wrestling fan, you're, you're a virgin. There are guys out there that actually get girls that still work for the five of us. They get laid. There are women out there that watch wrestling too. I mean, case in point.
00:14:27
Speaker
Chick Foley, Sheena, she's the first one that I seen way back when I started on Instagram. And I was like, wow, there's actually women out there that are like, not only that watch, they're actually posting their thoughts about it and stuff like that. And then after that, obviously right now, it's like,
00:14:47
Speaker
You can't go anywhere. They'll run into like women like live streaming wrestling and doing live reactions and all that stuff. So Yeah, it is out there. Don't worry guys. If you're if you're young out there and you still watch wrestling, you know, you can get girls Don't worry. Yeah, especially if you're good looking enough. I mean you have to get the gap you definitely the first thing is where deodorant That's rule number one. No, sorry rule number one is shower first. Yes, then we're deodorant because I go to
00:15:13
Speaker
Like we were talking about when I was a kid, I couldn't really afford to go like WrestleMania and shit like that, which, you know, it is what it is. And I'm older. I got money. I'm not rich, but I have money to where I can set aside to be like, I'm going to travel to WrestleMania. I'm going to do this. And man, when you go to these, uh, like WrestleCade and WrestleCon, it's like,
00:15:35
Speaker
You know, it's so cliche to make fun of it. And it's not even that I'm making fun of it. It's just like, you just want to like pull people to the side and be like, bro, like what the fuck are you doing? Like you're in a hotel. The soap is free. The water's free. Like it comes with it.
00:15:51
Speaker
And I'm not trying to make fun of people. I'm being serious. There's some people where it's just like, you can't even stand in line next to them. And for the most part, everybody's hygienic. But the people that aren't, man, we got to do better as a wrestling community.
00:16:06
Speaker
Oh yeah, definitely. And you got to think too, like they're going to meet their like favorite wrestler. Well, whoever, celebrity, whatever con you're at. You can't go hug on Mickey James and you smell like fucking four day old ass. You know what I mean? We've seen those viral photos of like, you know, Becky Lynch, that dude, you know, doing like the prom pose. Yeah. That stuff of like the Alexa Bliss one. And like, you don't want to be, come on, you're going to get that close and you definitely don't want to be
00:16:34
Speaker
smelling like, I don't even know what, I can't even, I'm not even gonna say, but. Bologna and fucking pepper jack cheese. Just yeah, just acid, just acid, acid, rotten cheese, whatever it is. But yeah, so the funny thing is with my wrestling background, I started, my father was born in Calhoun, Mississippi, by the way, Marvell, Arkansas, small town in Arkansas.
00:17:01
Speaker
So I started with Southern Wrestling Mid-South, you know, watching JYD, you know, but it's just all those dudes, Dusty Rhodes back in the day. We used to get like, we used to get tapes from my cousins and stuff. They used to like record all that stuff. We used to, we used to travel down there every seven weeks to go down, hang out, obviously.
00:17:24
Speaker
maybe call it a safe that I'd bring it back up and watch shows and stuff like that. But obviously I was still watching, you know, WWF at the time. And also I was actually, that's actually a good point that you brought up Hulk Hogan. Cause like, I was trying to remember if I was ever a fan of Hulk Hogan at the time, but I think I was more than obviously, you know, later we found out about warrior and the stuff he was saying stuff like that. But you know, like I was, I think I was, I was more of a fan of the warrior than I was at the time. So I think like,
00:17:52
Speaker
Not that, you know, not that, you know, everything that Hogan said and all that stuff, you know, it's past, it's a past. What are your thoughts on that? Like, I was having these, like, kind of, like, deep thoughts of myself saying, like, you know, being, you know, being Black, being a fan of, you know, Hulk Hogan when I was younger, and then growing old enough to, you know, live past all that stuff that's happened, all the things he said.
00:18:15
Speaker
Is there like a time where we, you know, is there a forgiveness at all for it? That's just me, like.
00:18:24
Speaker
I don't speak for everybody that's black, right? But for me, fuck them. I never liked them to begin with. And the racism is like, that's one aspect of it. He was such a piece of shit in other aspects too, right? And now, he's like, oh, I found God. You didn't find God. Shut the fuck up. You met because you got caught being a piece of shit, and now you want to run to the cross. I'm not here for it.
00:18:53
Speaker
For example, if you say, all right, well, he apologized, I'm cool with it. That's all completely up to you. I say fuck him for life. I've never liked him. And once he came out and said all that stuff about his daughter and black people and all that, and it is what it is. My issue is,
00:19:13
Speaker
how I just said, if you decide that you're cool with what he said, that's your thing. People that come at me when I tweet out like fuck Hogan or when I've told people like, oh man, just get over it. Like, how the fuck can you tell me to get over it? Like, did you listen to what he said? Well, Booker T said he wasn't racist. No, Hulk Hogan himself said he was racist. So I don't give a fuck what Booker T's got to say. One of my favorites of all time. But Hulk Hogan himself said he was racist.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he did, uh, he was on, I think after that, that happens. I think maybe in a few years after he did show up on Booker T's show, um, that he has on ESPN and they were like, you know, talking about it all and stuff. And you know, I trust the new day. Okay. The most wholesome black man in the history of wrestling. I trust the new day when, when Hogan shows up at the hall of fame and they don't give a fuck about you. I don't give a fuck about you.
00:20:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You can definitely gauge, like definitely with Biggie and Kofi. If Kofi would have said he's all right, I might have thought about it. I'd probably still be like, fuck Hogan, but maybe not as loud. Yeah. But yeah, look, if the new day don't fuck with you, that tells me all I need to know. That is true. Yeah. That is very, very true.
Diversity and Representation in Wrestling
00:20:28
Speaker
Speaking of that, let's stay on this topic as far as, you know,
00:20:32
Speaker
being black in in uh podcasting and stuff like that um you know there's there are a lot of different uh podcasters out there now a lot of different podcasts you have like you know black announce table black wrestling
00:20:45
Speaker
You have, uh, you know, public enemies, you have public, public is probably one of my favorite podcasts. I know they're on hiatus right now, but I can listen to them and yeah, I can listen to them and just like, just laugh my ass off the whole time. So shout out to them. They're, they're, they're amazing. And, uh, you know, we have, uh, all elite Keek Sue who did good covers like, uh, definitely want to get her on here at some point. What are your thoughts on like, you know, as far as, you know,
00:21:14
Speaker
the Black community in wrestling, in podcasting, do you feel like there's still more growth in that realm? Do you think it's reached its cap already? What are your thoughts on that? I definitely think it's more growth.
00:21:33
Speaker
With SummerSlam this past, well, last night, there was a lot of Black content creators that were there. And I'm just ready for, I mean, I know it probably won't happen before I die, but I'm ready for us to get to a point where we don't have to be Black content creators, we're just content creators, right? Exactly. But I do understand, as a Black man in content creation, you're not really,
00:22:02
Speaker
It's a little harder. The water's a little choppier, right? Like when I started Boots of the Face, it was with myself and my buddy, Mari, who's Hispanic. And then some life stuff happened and I had to go a different direction. And me and Marty, just our timing was now he's in LA. I'm in Atlanta, like had to go a different way. And now I got my boy EJ on there. And now it's all black podcasts. And it's just like,
00:22:31
Speaker
I don't think we've had any struggles, but we definitely haven't had more, more growth since then. And that could be a fault of ours. It could like, I'm not blaming that on anything. It's just, it's, it's good to turn on different podcasts. Like I told you before we started recording, I listened to Chick Foley. Um, I listened to my boys talk a mania that were up in Canada. I listened to, um,
00:22:58
Speaker
What's the other? I listen to Fully Postable all the time, like Jeff and Scott are cool as shit. And then there's sometimes where I need a perspective from my side of it, you know what I mean? And you can go get that. And I think that's great. I think representation and content creation is phenomenal. I think
00:23:19
Speaker
You, as a fan of wrestling, you should be able to listen to somebody that looks like you, sounds like you, talks like you, thinks like you. And you should be able to like, I ain't got shit in common with the Chick Foley show. You know what I mean? Like, I like hearing that side of how they came up and what they see in certain things. Like I listened to it all, man. Like I was saying earlier,
00:23:45
Speaker
I go through spurts where I just, I put shit on and I just listened to it. So I'm at the point that I want everything to be at the point where it's not just, well, this is a black wrestling podcast or this is a Hispanic wrestling podcast. This is a wrestling podcast. Yeah, no, definitely. Just had add onto that. Like I don't point it out for myself at all.
00:24:09
Speaker
pretty much like the, I mean, yeah, not pretty much. I am the only black person within that whole group. So it's like, you know, like a lot, I don't take it as like a lot rides on me to like, you know, say anything or be like a certain way or anything like that. I just, you know, say whatever I say, do my own, you know, do my own thing. I don't try to like, you know, be like them. And that's the reason why, you know, they like me. That's why we all got along for so many years is because
00:24:35
Speaker
I bring a different element to what they talk about, stuff like that. I don't bring up those, we talk about that stuff all the time. We always say, fuck Hogan when it happens. We always talk about how he was always a heel. He was never a babyface. If you ever watch any of the stuff he's done as a babyface, he did a lot of heel things. Break to the eyes, break to the back. He did all heel moves.
00:25:01
Speaker
I mean, he got eliminated from the Royal Rumble and then he pulled said justice out of the fucking ring. The guy's name was fucking justice. Yeah. And you cheated for like Christ almighty. Like how much more could you be? Oh man. Yeah. And then like, you know, doing that and then like, you know, connected with, you know, we have that pod foundation group with all those other podcasts. And then, you know, be me being that representation on all those shows when I do guest appearances is kinda, you know, like I said, I don't take it as like,
00:25:30
Speaker
You know, I'm, you know, I'm the only black person I get to like, represent for everybody. It's just, I try to make it so everyone can, you know, listen, everyone can listen. And it's not, not should be like, Oh, only black people have to listen to it because I'm on the show. It should be because they, like you said, they, you want to hear everyone's point of views on things. And like I said, we don't all agree on things. We all, we all have different ideas of how, you know, we think the wrestling business goes and how it matches and storylines are going to stuff like that. So.
00:25:56
Speaker
But at the same time with me, now I'm like, I do this show and I'm literally by myself. I'm the only person besides the guests that I have on. I don't have like a co-host or anything. So that's usually try to kind of hard. So I wanted to kind of like open the door for like women as well. Cause that's another, like I said, it's been a big boom with like women in podcasts, I get the streaming rest and stuff like that. So I wanted to get those content creators as well. Cause obviously, Chick Foley, Sheena.
00:26:25
Speaker
She's a lady and she's the only, and that goes to her. She's the only woman out of the whole group. She's surrounded by all dudes. So like I kind of wanted to get that representation in. But I think it's a good spot. I see a lot of like big things happening with like those other podcasts and stuff like that. And they get like, I think Black Grassman actually got, what do you call it? From NXT.
00:26:54
Speaker
Wesley, wouldn't it? Yeah, Wesley. Yeah. They interviewed him. So that's huge, man. Yeah. With the BRP 50, I always look forward to that to see what their ranking is with that stuff. And I kind of want to steamroll into that. And I definitely want to get into the origins of the Boots of the Face podcast. But what do you think the state of wrestling for black people is right now, as far as do you see it as like a
00:27:21
Speaker
I feel like for me, it was like in a big boom. And then it's kind of like, I'm not sure if it's steady or it's on like kind of like cruise control. And then it's just gonna hit big again. Because obviously you've seen that the past week Bobby Lashley came back. You got the profits with him, it looks like. Looks like he's starting up a stable. So what are your thoughts on black representation and wrestling? Because I have my thoughts on it. I definitely wanna hear what you think. If it's being well represented.
00:27:50
Speaker
Well, you just brought him up. I just want to say I fucking love Bobby Lashley. Like, yes, that's that is my guy. Like, I understand he got he caught a lot of shit and he was wearing a headband and bending the slap in his ass and all that. But Lashley has been good for so long and to be.
00:28:08
Speaker
50 years old and still look like that, it's ridiculous. Also, he was married to Crystal Marshall. So, yeah, clearly the guy was doing something right in his life. I think as far as Black wrestlers go right now, I think it depends on what you watch, right? Like WWE, you got Lashley, you got the Street Profits, you got
00:28:33
Speaker
Now I'm just drawing a blank. I'm about to start naming off people and I can't think of anybody. Yeah, definitely Bianca. And you got all these people that are there that have been in the main event that have been in these big spots. And then if you look at AEW, it's, I mean, Scorpio Sky's won the T and Z title.
00:28:56
Speaker
And the tag title, he's the only person that's won two separate titles. So he got that going for him. But then you go to Impact. Moose has been the world champion recently. Trinity is the world champion now. Chris Bay was just the tag team champion.
00:29:15
Speaker
NXT, you know, Melo's doing his thing. That boy good, by the way. Yeah. He's from, he's from my parts, man. He's from, he's from Massachusetts. Him and trick. I'm so sad to see him and trick like parting ways, the way they're about to be. And I don't even, don't even get me started on what happened last night with the Usos. Cause I might cry, but I think it depends on what you watch. And I think, I think
00:29:41
Speaker
Black people have really good representation right now. And then you got Mercedes, like before she got hurt, obviously she's taken over Japan and she was probably on her way to AEW. You got Willow in AEW, Jade, just, Jade just, I don't know where her deal is right now, but she was killing her. And that's a good thing too.
Historical Impact and Black Representation in Wrestling
00:30:03
Speaker
Like black women in wrestling is like Bianca, Mercedes, Jade, like
00:30:09
Speaker
red velvet, just, there's a lot, right? So even Athena, I didn't like her as Ember Moon, but this shit she's been doing lately, this vicious side that she has, like I'm fucking, I'm hooked. So I think it's good. I think we got plenty of people as black people that you can look to
00:30:32
Speaker
if you're a little kid, a little boy or girl, there's plenty of people in wrestling that you can look to that look like you that are doing really good. And it's not the stereotypical, you know, I love the crime time, right? But it's not crime time. You know what I mean? Like lastly comes out in the suit. The New Day played fucking video games. Bianca Belair just does her thing. She's not fucking Mercedes like
00:30:58
Speaker
She was a boss. You know what I mean? It wasn't your stereotypical shit that it would have been in the eighties and nineties. So I think it's a really good place right now. Yeah, definitely. Like I said, one of my, uh, one of my favorites and one of my father's favorites, a junkyard dog dude, a J Y D. One of the biggest, you know, as far as like back in the eighties rivaled.
00:31:19
Speaker
you know, in many parts, if you watch that, you know, Dark Side of the Ring. And even before that, rivaled Hogan in his popularity. Like, he was like, he was like the Hogan of the South pretty much, if you want to say that. I mean, even bigger at the time. You know, the greatest entrance song ever, though. Grab Them Cakes. Grab Them Cakes.
00:31:40
Speaker
Follow that advice to this day. I mean, of course. Yeah. I mean, you always got to come on. He's teaching us at a young age, man. That's right. I think that's maybe that's why I always that's what I learned. J. Y. D. And then thump on the Batman. Come on. Yeah. I mean, it's he he's he's he's that it was a legend. Do you know, like I said, he was like that. He if you want to say like he was like he's probably like one of the first big megastars back then obviously had the Rocky Johnson's Tony Atlas. Yeah.
00:32:09
Speaker
another another I met him a few times too. He's he's pretty awesome. Um and just like, you know, those guys paved the way for what you're seeing now. Obviously, there's like a huge gap. Uh definitely can't forget Ron Simmons. Uh first ever, you know, world champ. So, not to cut you off. I have a when you first brought this up, I wanted to tell you the story and then you just kinda brought it up again talking about guys that paved the way. So, I I have a big gold world title and my goal was that I wanted to
00:32:39
Speaker
all of the black world champions to sign it. And it was Ron Simmons, I got Ron Simmons and I got Booker T and it was like, okay, well, all I need now is the rock, but that ain't gonna happen. And now like Mark Henry, Lashley, Biggie, Kofi, like it just keeps going on and on. And I think that's great. Like I got a world title that didn't have a lot of room on it for signatures.
00:33:07
Speaker
Excuse me, I thought, oh, it's got plenty of room. I only need like three signatures. Now I need like seven. Yeah. Right. As far as like mainstream world champions go, like obviously you go down to the lower tier promotions, but I think it's good, man. I think when you can get a world champion, that's a black man and it not be a big deal, which is where I think we are now.
00:33:30
Speaker
Because Lashley wanted, and it wasn't about Lashley being black. It was about Lashley being a bad ass. Just beating the shit out of the Miz, you know? So I think we're trending towards that way.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah. And actually getting the title. That was another thing with Bobby Lashley. Like he deserved it. Yeah. His time in the company, you know, in the beginning and then obviously leaving coming back. And like you said, doing the headband and then slapping his ass, having to do that. I mean, you got to do what you have to do to get to where you need to be. But then obviously when he hooked up with MVP.
00:34:02
Speaker
I thought you were going to say Lana. I was going to say, where are we going with this? We don't want to talk about that. But Rusev don't want to talk about that. Oh, no, definitely not. That definitely probably caused some problems back in the day. But apparently those are like like the highest rated segments for Raw at the time. I mean, I was I was enthralled. I was like, what's about to happen right now? Like Rusev can't keep taking his shit.
00:34:28
Speaker
You don't want you don't want to actually grab your girl's cakes. That's it. If Leslie grabs your girl's cakes, that is no longer your girl.
Origin and Evolution of Boot to the Face Podcast
00:34:36
Speaker
No, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. You you can't fight him. Like I don't know many people that will. But I'm single. Let's just grab my woman. I'm single now.
00:34:46
Speaker
I've downloaded Tinder already, Marco. Just take her. All right, that's it. She's gone forever. I like her anyway. Let's head out to boot to the face. You talk about a little bit how you code and stuff, but how did it start? Name, how did you conceptualize? So I listened to...
00:35:16
Speaker
I drive for a living. I have a CDL. So I listen to a lot of SiriusXM. And there's a show, Covino and Rich, that was on there that I discovered one day. And they were kind of my age. And it was all about like dating and women and like growing up in your mid 20s and shit. And then they got like a Facebook group and I joined that. And me and my buddy Marty,
00:35:42
Speaker
We would always start talking and one day like some about pro wrestling came up and I didn't think anybody in there would like it and me and Marty would start talking about it and One day he came to Atlanta because he's a Braves fan. He lives in Los Angeles. He's a Braves fan He came to Atlanta like toward the stadium and all that. I'm like, yo, why are you here? Just fucking like come by my house We'll go see a Ring of Honor show Ring of Honor was there
00:36:05
Speaker
And we sat at my dining room table. He drank all my IPAs that I had, because I don't like them. I was just buying them and trying them out. And I drank whiskey. And I was like, we should just do a fucking podcast and talk about it. I've been talking about doing a podcast for the longest. And I'd actually started my own called The Chris Rucker Show, which was just me talking into my iPhone and posting it on Podbean. And people were listening to it some kind of fucking way. And they asked me how.
00:36:34
Speaker
And I wanted to transition and start talking more about wrestling. And I wanted somebody to bounce stuff off of. And I used to play this game. I would have WrestleMania parties every year and we would play the boot to the face drinking game. Anytime there was a boot to the face, we all had to go take a shot. So we were getting fucking blasted on these wrestling. These WrestleMania parties, my buddies would come to my house on Friday night
00:37:01
Speaker
And just stay at my place. And all day Saturday, we will watch a favorite WrestleMania. It sounds so lame, right when I'm saying it now. We will watch our favorite WrestleMania matches and we will get drunk and we will play like WWE and Madden. And then all day Sunday, we recover and watch more WrestleMania and then we will watch WrestleMania.
00:37:23
Speaker
And anytime there was a boot to the face, we would all get up and just like run to the kitchen to go take a shot. So we're trying to come up with a name for it. I was like, boot to the face. Like, that's fucking perfect. So that's how that started. Me and Marty, man, we did it for three years, I think, before
00:37:42
Speaker
before we had to transition. And for anybody that's asking, there's no hard feelings whatsoever. I know it sounds like it's weird, but it's honestly like I was going through a divorce. I wasn't able to record on the same day he was. He was getting the promotion and moving from LA to Colorado. So our times just weren't working out.
00:38:05
Speaker
Yeah. And I wanted to continue boot to the face because I got some steam. Like I was interviewing wrestlers, which I I'm a big women's wrestling fan. So I interview women's wrestlers. And if we have time, I'll tell you the story about like how we got Mickey James on the show. Oh, yeah, definitely. Fucking hilarious.
00:38:25
Speaker
And then I got my buddy EJ own, who was a listener, a boot to the face and a listener at 80 proof, which is another podcast that I do. He would always like fact check us. And I'm like, this motherfucker watches everything. Like I need somebody like that.
00:38:40
Speaker
And so when it was time to find somebody else, it was a simple choice to do that. And so we've made really good friends. We made some wrestlers I would consider, not necessarily friends, but really good acquaintances. And it's been fun, man. It hasn't become a job yet. Yeah.
00:39:04
Speaker
So it's still fun. Once it becomes a job, like I'm done. Like if I can't fucking hit record and just have fun talking about it, I don't want to do it anymore. So, yeah, he kind of being his story is kind of similar in that sense, because I was just a listener of the Chick-fil-A show. Yeah. I remember that like early, early on talking about, oh, man, we need
00:39:27
Speaker
they don't always like talk about, you know, storylines and stuff and be like, is that right? I don't even know. Is that the right date? A lot of, you know, they're like, man, we need someone to like, don't you hate to help us out? Like with like, you know, like fact checking, essentially. So don't you hate when you listen to a show and you're like, that's fucking wrong. Like how do you know? Exactly. I do it all the time. And I'm like, I'm like, is that right? But luckily, she does husband's like a
00:39:51
Speaker
He has like the memory of like, I don't even know, like he can remember dates, times, people involved, cameramen.
00:39:59
Speaker
You know, got the boom mic guy, like literally everything. So that, that helps. But before, uh, when he wasn't on the show, they would just be like, man, I don't even know. But so I, you know, I used to write in and, you know, they used to have like a question, a fan mail thing. So he used to write in questions and stuff. And, um, I, he had to reach it out to me and they're like, Hey, you want to be a part of the show? I actually guest appeared on the show once. I talked to a rest of media 35, uh, recap that with them. And then I was like, Oh, do you have a podcast? I was like, no, they're like, Oh, you really did a really good job.
00:40:28
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, whatever, I think it sucked. But they ended up calling me back and that's pretty much how I started with them. I was a fact checker and then, you know, slowly but surely started.
00:40:40
Speaker
you know, giving my own opinions and stuff. And then, you know, the rest is history. But yeah, I mean, I think that's that's that I think that's how it always starts out with most people, like, especially with these types of like homegrown podcasts. It's like, if you're a listener, you have that interaction with everybody. And like, you know, the fans like we have a Facebook group and we interact with literally like everybody like it. It's, you know, you might find somebody you might find somebody has like, you know, great personality and they're funny and, you know, they might have like a quirky thing and just bring them on the show.
00:41:10
Speaker
See how they do.
00:41:12
Speaker
That's also the thing, too, when you're independent, like you don't think anybody's going to listen to. I mean, everybody's aspiration is to be like, oh, I'm going to be the next fucking Conrad or Joe Rogan or whatever.
Building Community through Podcasting
00:41:22
Speaker
But then you won't realize it's way fucking harder than when you don't have friends that are promoting shit, right? So when people are and they're interacting, which you're like, what was that guy's name? Let me make sure I reach back out and say thank you to him. Like you want to hold on to everything. And honestly, I think that's how
00:41:42
Speaker
Like my other podcast, 80 proof, it's just like, it started because, uh, during the pandemic, me and Jay from talk of mania, we would do these Zooms and we would just get fucking hammered. Cause you couldn't go out, right? So we sit around on Zooms drink until like four and five in the morning.
00:42:01
Speaker
I was like, we should do a podcast together. And we built this little community to where we've got a Discord now and people are buying the merch for it. And JD Hoop, by the way, who designs all my logos for Boots of the Face and AD Proof. If you liked Cody's outfit last night, he helped design that.
00:42:21
Speaker
Oh, really? That he designed LA Nights last night. He's done the Street Profits when they had the Tennessee Titans stuff on. He designs it and somebody else makes it like it's a team effort over there. But J.D. Hoops, J.D. Hoops. And one of the nicest fucking people I've ever met in my life, too, just like super humble, just really nice. Like,
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah, he does all of our stuff. We got like a Harlem heat logo now for boots of the face. And I came up with the idea and he made that shit look so much better than what I thought it would look like. So if he's listening, JD hoop, you're the guy. But that's how I met him through this. Cause his brother listened to boots of the face and ended up telling him about it. And then he fucking reached out and it's just, it's, it's such a good,
00:43:12
Speaker
It's such a good feeling of when people are listening and they're liking it and they're reaching out and like interacting. It's like a drug almost like, oh shit, we can't lose this listener because. And not in like a business kind of way, but more just like a
00:43:30
Speaker
I like the fact that people are listening. I like that people are interacting. I like that, you know, there's a million wrestling podcasts and you fucking pick mine. You know what I mean? Like that's a big deal, I think so.
00:43:43
Speaker
You know, yeah, no, that's that's awesome. Because like, just like you said, just meeting people through, you know, like you said, do that, not just social media, but through the show. Yeah. And stuff like that is really awesome. Like, even with like, with what I'm doing now, like, with the turnbuckle tavern guys, those are, you know, guys that we listen to, like, we listen to their podcasts. And then, you know, she gonna check Foley in her husband, like, we want to sound like a kind of like a
00:44:09
Speaker
Not like a, you know, like a community, like a, you know, like a podcast community where we can like, you know, hook up with these, you know, people, maybe be on their show. They'll be on our show and, you know, maybe we can like promote each other, not for any money. Just like, you know, just, you know, cause we really like what they talk about.
00:44:26
Speaker
Um, they have a different aspect, you know, like those guys, they've solely focused on like AEW in the Indies. They don't really talk, uh, WWE at all. You know, it checked fully. So we talked about everything, you know, like figures and all that stuff. So like, we're, we're like a, like a hodgepodge of that stuff. And then, you know, that's how I met those guys. And then, you know, they reached out to me to be on.
00:44:47
Speaker
their WWE show that they do every week. So like, it's, you know, you beat awesome people. Like one of the guys I do the show with actually he lives in Louisiana, he actually drove up here like a month ago. He was doing like a, you know, he's traveling with his family. They went to New York and he was like, Oh, I'm going to Boston. I was like,
00:45:05
Speaker
We'll beat up. He went to a Red Sox game. I think it was like the Yankees at the Red Sox. Yeah, we spent a few hours together. Like me, him, his wife, my wife, you know, shot the shit, like actually met each other in person, stuff like that. So they said you actually like be like friends and stuff like that, which is awesome. Like that's, that's, that's what I love about this more than anything. Obviously if something happens, we catch fire, we go viral. That's great. But like, I just like, you know, the people I beat along the way, you in particular, like, like I said, I was trying to remember how we actually,
00:45:36
Speaker
you know, started communicating, you know, I'll bring it back as we probably do. And we should talk about on here. Yeah, like you know, exactly. Like I said before we before we started court, I was like, I think you tweeted something about like, you know, just like
00:45:50
Speaker
Not with a picture, just a random tree. Like, yo, I'm too good looking for podcasts. And I was like, oh, I was like, damn, man, I'm at the same boat. We need to do a podcast together. And then I think that's how we like started going. And then obviously we spilled over to Instagram and, you know, we exchange pleasantries, as I like to say, we like to share our thoughts on certain, you know, um, definitely thoughts, thoughts. Yes. What's the right word for it? Yes. Spell it however you want to spell it. Take out a few letters, you know, whatever you want to do. But yeah, we, uh,
00:46:19
Speaker
Like I said, we've gone back and forth. Besides you and the people I actually do podcasts with, you're probably the only outside person from a different podcast that I actually talk to more than anything, which I think is pretty cool. Yeah. I tell you what, it's funny that you start doing this kind of stuff.
00:46:41
Speaker
There's so many cities in this country that you could go to now and know somebody there. Like, you don't know them, but you know them. You know what I mean? Like, you could go New Orleans or New York or Atlanta. I'm in Atlanta or LA or Kansas City, like just all these random places and be like, I got a listener there that I interact with all the time. And you can hit them up, be like, yo, I'm like,
00:47:08
Speaker
I'm going to Royal Rumble in St. Louis and people from different parts of Missouri like met up with us and we had this big fucking get together out there. Go to WrestleMania. My buddy Joey Delorme that never met before. He flew out him, his dad and his brother. They flew out, stayed in the same hotel that me and my ex-wife did. And we hung out the whole fucking weekend. They went to, they don't even watch wrestling. It was just like, he was just like, let's fucking go. Like,
00:47:34
Speaker
It's just, it's crazy, right? Like when you think about it, like when you think about it, it's like, you know all these people from the internet, like you're a little weird, right? It's like not anymore. I'm the cool motherfucking man.
00:47:49
Speaker
I mean, the good thing is, you know, you're not getting catfished because he actually, mostly most of the time see these people like, that's another thing. Yeah. That's that's some of the, and it's the, the, the, the beat of it or the blueprint of it is we're all wrestling fans. That's where, that's where it comes from. You know, most wrestling fans are pretty much all the same when it comes to like, you know, I don't want to say we all have the same personalities, but we're all, you know, but it's all the same. You know, you know, when you're going to interact with a wrestling fan, it's not going to be anything.
00:48:18
Speaker
Any hard feelings, unless there's really toxic people out there. But for the most part, you can pick and choose who's the ones that are going to be good people as opposed to horrible people. One of the most fun times I've had was all out the year before last in Chicago. Flew out there for that.
00:48:41
Speaker
I remember coming back after all out we were in the lobby of the big hotel they stay in and it's probably like a hundred of us out there and I'm drunk as I don't know what so I'm saying shit I probably shouldn't be saying and I remember like backing up and just looking and I'm like
00:48:59
Speaker
I don't think any of these people would be people that I would hang out with outside of something like this, just because, you know, differences of whatever. But wrestling fucking tied you all together. And now you're all in this lobby taking shots. You got fucking white people taking their shirt off, letting people chop them across the chest.
00:49:23
Speaker
You know, everybody drunk till like 3 a.m. in the morning and you would never hang out with these people, not because you don't like them or whatever, just because your past will never cross. But wrestling brought all of it together. And I know that sounds cheesy and corny, man, but I just remember sitting there looking back thinking about it like it's pretty fucking cool.
00:49:42
Speaker
Yeah. Now wrestling, like I said, wrestling's a, uh, I call it wrestling a beautiful sport in the sense where, you know, it, that, that
Wrestling's Appeal Across Diverse Audiences
00:49:51
Speaker
happens. Like you just become friends with, you know, it's wrestling, it's still, you know, it's not taboo to watch wrestling. It's a lot more mainstream now and stuff like that. But
00:49:59
Speaker
At the same time, it's still a thing with being a wrestling fan. You don't want to tell anyone you're a wrestling fan because they're like, oh, trust me. I just got divorced a year ago and dating, the girl I'm dating now, she's like, what do you mean we're going to a wrestling show? I'm like, yeah, we're going to see this wrestling show. She's just like, is there alcohol there? And I mean, she talks shit about it, but she likes it.
00:50:24
Speaker
You know what I mean? She just don't want to like it, but yeah, she does like that's what I mean that the trick is to get them to Watch someone has to come on screen that catches their eye or someone at the show. Oh, yeah Moose caught her eye. Let's just say that. All right, there we go I had to tell her like you might want to know something about moose and she was like, oh well fuck him but
00:50:49
Speaker
But at the beginning Moose came out and she was just like, Oh, okay. I could do this wrestling thing. See, that's, that's, that's all it takes was especially like when I first started taking my wife, she used to watch wrestling back and obviously the attitude and all that stuff. But, you know, she grew up after it's, you know, got away from it, but then, you know, she started dating me with like, you know, me and my friends who watch, you know, Monday night, raw parties or whatever. And she, she came over one night and she was like,
00:51:14
Speaker
She was like, Oh my God. She was like, you still watch us? I was like, yeah. And then, you know, she's watching it. Lawler shows up. She's like, Oh my God, Jerry King. Lawler's still alive. And then, you know, I think Rob Van Dam showed up on the episode. She was like, she's like, he's still alive too. And just like started watching stuff. Not only still alive, he was on TV last week. Exactly. And, uh, you know, and then, you know, then she started telling me stories that she made, like Nick Foley and all that stuff. Like she went to a signing, you know, and like, like I said, and then nowadays it's more or less like, you know,
00:51:41
Speaker
She likes ricochet, obviously. LA Knight, she says he's weirdly attractive for some reason. A lot of women say that. They're like, he's hot in like a weird way. Yeah. I'm like, I don't know the fact that he's got a fucking six pack and big ass muscles. What's weird about it? We know what you like.
00:52:01
Speaker
But yeah, no, I was like, yeah. She's like, she's like, for some reason he, I find him like attractive and I don't know why I'm like, wow. All right. Now that I know that a lot of women are saying that it's, I don't know what it is. It's his, it's a gift to gab. It's a, I don't know if it's the wrong comparison. Yeah. With the, uh, Finn Balor has, uh, has a million abs. Him and I always say him and Ricochet combined.
00:52:23
Speaker
Have you ever seen the fen dollar like post that he used to do where he'd be like asleep in a chair and baby oil would spill on him and he'd like rub it in when he was like yeah it looks like a freaking like ice cube tray on his stomach yes i used to even i watched those like three or four times and i don't even go that way i was like how do you
00:52:43
Speaker
How do you get those many abs? He's clearly unhappy in life, because in order to get abs like that, you can't sit here drinking Maker's Martin Coke Zero at fucking 10.30 on a Sunday. Oh, yeah, no, definitely not. That's definitely not happening. Congrats on your abs, Finn Balor. But I'm drunk, so who's really winning? I actually don't want to break this up before I get to my next question for you. So I was watching this girl livestream.
00:53:12
Speaker
And she was talking about, uh, uh, how men in wrestling, wrestling men that are wrestling fans have no problem with saying a guy is good. Look, a wrestler is good looking. Is that, is that, I mean, I mean, I never thought of that. I mean, I think that's always, I think that's how, like, as a wrestling fan, you always just knew, I mean, knew that that's how, like, like you have to have a, like,
00:53:38
Speaker
the person has to be attractive. Like, if you want to star, like, personally, like, you know why Hulk Hogan was Hulk Hogan back in the day? Tall, tan, blonde. Racist. Just muscles, racist, as well. Politicking. Politicking. Because, you know, that fucking cul-de-sac haircut he had going on was so attractive. It was all money. I hear what you're saying, though. But I feel like. I never thought of that, though. But at the same time, I do say that I'm like,
00:54:08
Speaker
You look at like Roman Reigns, you understand why he's the face of the company. That's one of those things that me and you interacted in. Like when he came out the first time, I remember this, when he came out the first time without his vest on, I remember tweeting out like Roman Reigns came out without his vest on and all of a sudden I'm doing pushups in my living room. And I remember you commenting on it. You were like, yeah, I fucking, I get it.
00:54:33
Speaker
And so like, I don't know, like, I don't give a fuck, like, yeah, other men are like handsome and good looking, like, I'm secure enough to be like, yeah, I see it. I see why y'all like Aquaman, motherfuckers dreaming shit, right? I don't know what to tell you.
00:54:52
Speaker
Oh, that's great. But yeah, I just thought that was a weird. She was like, she just went in and not not making fun of it. Just like she just thought that was so cool that like, you know, like guys that are wrestling fans and go, oh, yeah, Royal Reigns is a good looking dude. Oh, yeah, this dude like Drew McIntyre. Oh, yeah, I get it. And I'm like, I think we were bred to do it on the business sense because that's what wrestling is. It's like you have to have like a look to you like a so cold bald head goatee. Like bad ass walk. Like, yeah. You don't see us cheering for Otis.
00:55:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's a new age. But apparently all the women love Otis. I mean, the guy had Mandy Rose, now he's got Maxine with him. What's nice? It's a Chris Farley effect, too. That's how Chris, a lot of women thought Chris Farley at the time. Yeah, I'm fat and funny myself, and I've never been with fucking Mandy Rose. What the hell is going on here?
00:55:48
Speaker
So besides wrestling, what are some other, what are some interests besides, you know, watching wrestling and stuff like that, the sports,
Mr. Rucker's Interests Beyond Wrestling
00:55:58
Speaker
whatever. Do you have any other hobbies that you're into?
00:56:01
Speaker
I'm a, so I mentioned earlier that I got divorced within the last year. So like making sure my kids are okay with everything. That's like a big deal for me now. That takes up a good bit of my time. I've recently decided that I want to get in better shape. It's hard to do with drinking as much as I do and
00:56:25
Speaker
the line of work that I'm in where I'm in and out of bars all day and everybody's just like, oh, you want free food? And bar food is not a good thing to live off of. But I've started lifting weights again. Love golf. Big time Dallas Cowboys football fan. Big Atlanta Braves guy. I really like baseball to move to Atlanta.
00:56:46
Speaker
And Georgia Bulldogs, I didn't go to college, so I just adopted the Bulldogs years ago. I'm real big into sports, real big into lifting weights lately, real big into making sure my kids are having just a good life, right? And that's the whole point of it.
00:57:09
Speaker
And besides that, I dabble in video games. I sold you my fucking Xbox Series 8. I played it for a month, and I was like, this is a waste of my money. I don't play it enough to justify fucking paying the money that I've... And I couldn't live without it until I got one, and then I got it, and I was like, eh.
00:57:32
Speaker
It is what it is. So that's the thing. I'm in and out of the figure collecting. I feel like I started out just trying to buy my favorites. And then it went from just like Sting and The Rock and Becky Lynch to everybody that I've ever liked. And so it's gotten to the point where I used to be
00:58:02
Speaker
a guy that would open them up.
00:58:04
Speaker
right? And now I've got tubs of MOC shit in my closet that I don't like, what am I going to do with it? Like I'm not hanging up anywhere like I did in my old house. So I'm like in and out of figure. I just bought the fucking biggie. Uh, WWE championship with his logos on the belt. I just bought that just because I hadn't bought something so long and I was kind of getting that itch. But I'm in there at the figure collecting, uh,
00:58:40
Speaker
dating the new girlfriend, so trying not to be allergic to her cat. Life is busy, man. It's just like I always got something to do, you know? Yeah. That's good. I always ask that question to everyone that's on the show because, you know, just to break it up. Golf, by the way. I love golf. Yeah. Do you watch golf or do you like watch it or do you like just play? I don't watch it as much as I used to, but I play it more now.
00:59:00
Speaker
What else do I do? Podcast a lot.
00:59:07
Speaker
especially, uh, I paid a shitload of money for these like Jordan golf shoes now. So now I'm like, I got to fucking play. Like I spent so much money on these fucking shoes. I gotta get my money's worth out of them. Um, I'm not good. I'm like, I'm like mid to low nineties.
00:59:23
Speaker
But I love it. It's fun. It's four hours just going out. If the weather's nice, you can go with your friends. You can go with your woman. You can go just by yourself and just meet up with people. It's kind of like wrestling. Like you go and you you tee off with people. And before you know it, y'all are fucking high fiving and fist bumping and shit.
00:59:43
Speaker
by the by the ninth green or whatever. So I'm a real big big fan of like going to play golf now too which I never thought I would do as a high schooler. They they offered us free golf clubs and lessons just to join the golf team and I remember laughing at it and now at 40 years old I'm like a
01:00:05
Speaker
people say, what could you change? The one thing I would change Marco is when that coach came to me and told me he would give me free golf lessons. I would go back and fucking take them because I'd be so much better than what I am now. Could have probably joined a tour too. You never know. Who knows where it would have went, but I mean, you still do it. I don't think there's an age limit on, uh, if you get good enough. I think you have to have the money, right? Is that like,
01:00:31
Speaker
It's such a time constraint. Like I, so like everybody's like, man, you hit the ball so good. You just go out to the driving range for a couple of weeks, man. You could get dialed. I ain't got time for that kind of shit. Like I go to the driving range, you know, I want to do, I want to go play now. So then I just walk off the range and I end up playing golf. But because I'm not practicing, I'm not as good as everybody else. So it's just, it's a time and patience and golf is expensive. It's not cheap. Yeah.
01:01:00
Speaker
I can see that. I wanted to get into golf, but same thing, just money, time, coordination. I do have the patience for it. I can definitely do it, but I'm just like, I don't know, just to pick up a thing. My thing is basketball. Just pick up games, stuff like that. Oh, man. That's what I do. I was really good at basketball when I was younger, but I obviously put on a lot of weight.
01:01:25
Speaker
Every now and then, I can go out and shoot around. I can fucking post a video of me shooting at LA Fitness a couple weeks ago. I'm really good at just shooting, but I can't play defense anymore or any of that. But basketball was my favorite sport when I was younger. But when we moved to Atlanta, so I lived in a
01:01:49
Speaker
mid-range, mid-level financial neighborhood. But I was on the wrong side of the highway. I could literally throw a rock from my house to where Cobb Parkway was. And if I would have lived on the other side of Cobb Parkway, I would have went to a
01:02:04
Speaker
lower finance school. Because I was on this side, I had to drive 30 minutes and go to school over here. And this is where all the rich white kids went. They're driving Mustangs and H2s and shit like that in school. So to join the basketball team,
01:02:20
Speaker
you had to do all these camps and buy all these shoes and shit. And I just didn't have the money or the way to get there for it. So I could never play basketball for the team. And the coach would tell me all the time, you got to come out, you got to come out. And I'm just like, I can't afford it. This is too expensive. Like y'all want like $1,000 a year and my family doesn't have that kind of money. So I never got a chance to play basketball, but I played against
01:02:47
Speaker
a lot of the basketball players, they would come to the neighborhood. And I think I would have been good at it, but that's the story with everybody, right? Like if I just would have had a chance, I could have been the next Kobe Bryant. You'd have been Oliver Miller. Shut up. I was just too lazy to do it personally. I was just like, didn't want to join any teams or anything like that. Yeah. That was my thing anyway. But Vicki James, let's get to that.
Memorable Encounters and Podcasting Highlights
01:03:14
Speaker
I get to hear the Vicki James story because I know you guys are like,
01:03:17
Speaker
You're like best pals, pretty much. I mean, like, from what I see it, you're like. I am. Way back before. All right, so we'll take it back to when she debuted. When I was watching women's wrestling back then, it was kind of like everybody that was my age, right? It was like the women are just participants. Like that's what we were looking at it for. And I hate to say it that way, but that's what it was.
01:03:42
Speaker
And I remember she debuted and I was watching her and I remember telling my friend Britton Jenkins, I think Mickie James is really good at wrestling, which was unheard of back then, right? They're just supposed to be out here to do bra and panty stuff. And I remember telling Mickie James kind of hot, right? I know she's out there with Trish, but she's really fucking hot.
01:04:06
Speaker
And I watched that storyline develop and they got to WrestleMania 22. And I remember I was so excited for her to win. And I remember the crowd just fucking like turning on Trish and going for Mickey, right? That was how I became a fan of her. That was how I became a fan of women's wrestling. Between the start of the Mickey James Trish Stratus storyline to the end, I went from a guy who only thought women's wrestling was tits and ass to a guy who was invested in the story and wanted to see women be able to wrestle.
01:04:37
Speaker
So that was how I became a fan of her. Fast forward, 2020, COVID. I told you earlier how we would do Zooms with people during COVID. So I had tagged a bunch of people on Twitter that were gonna be at the Zoom. It was supposed to be like that Friday night. It was like a Tuesday. And I went to tag somebody and Mickey James name popped up. And I was just like, eh, why not? Maybe she'll show up. So I tagged her in it. Fell asleep on the couch.
01:05:06
Speaker
And my ex-wife at the time woke me up and she's like, your phone has been blowing up lately. You might need to see what the fuck's going on. It just keeps going off. And I get on there and in the tweet that I made, people were talking about hanging out on Zoom.
01:05:22
Speaker
And Mickey James jumped in the conversation, just like laughing along and liking people's shit. And everybody's like, Rucker, your girl Mickey James is in here. You better fucking say something. Meanwhile, I'm on the couch like drooling on the fucking pillow, right? So I get up and I posted a GIF or something like that for her. And we all were going back and forth. And she DM me. She's like, if you want me to be on your show, I'm down with it.
01:05:50
Speaker
And I'm like, this is the coolest, like, this is why you get into podcasting, right? This is the coolest thing ever. And I had to, this is why she was with WWE at the time, by the way. She was out on injury. And I had to like go through PR, her PR, like all this other shit. And I'm just like, this shit ain't never going to happen. And then
01:06:11
Speaker
Finally it happened. It was like August of, I think it was actually like a couple of days ago because it came up with my Facebook memories. August of 2020, I got to interview her. I had already met her previously and went to like WrestleCon. She remembered me and we're both Dallas Cowboys fans. So we talk about that kind of shit. I don't know, man. I just, I think
01:06:35
Speaker
She was one of the nicest people that I had met as far as wrestlers go. And I couldn't do anything for her. Like she's fucking Mickey James, right? She's just a genuinely nice fucking person. So you fast forward a couple of years and Lisa Marie Baron, you know, Victoria Terra, we were trying to interview her.
01:06:57
Speaker
And after the interview, we were hanging out on Zoom. She was talking and she goes, yeah. She's like, I was wondering if I should do it. And I was talking to Mickey about podcasts that are reaching out to me. And when I said boo to the face, she was like, oh yeah, Chris is good. And then Lisa Marie starts recommending more people for me to do, right? That's awesome.
01:07:21
Speaker
I haven't had Melina on the show yet, but I have Melina's phone number. Like, could you imagine 20 years ago, you're like, you got Melina's phone number, right? And so it's just funny because I think Mickey and Lisa Marie and even SoCalVal and Gall, like for them to be as big as they were in wrestling and to be as nice and just like, if you treat them right, they'll treat you right type of people. I love that.
01:07:51
Speaker
And she introduced me to her husband at Wrestlecade and shit like that. Just genuinely good people. Like, again, I can't fucking I can't do anything for Mickey James. She's Mickey James. She's just literally a nice person. And I treated her with respect like you should. And it went from there. So it was it was the highlight of my my podcast and career was was interviewing my favorite women's wrestler of all time and her actually being fucking
01:08:20
Speaker
Like a really good person throughout all of it. It's one of those things like say you never meet your heroes because, you know, yeah. I met Sting a couple of times and didn't go the best. Oh, no. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm joking. I say that all the time, but Sting's never been not polite to me. He just wasn't overly polite. He's been really like he's a huge fucking star, though. Like I imagine so.
01:08:48
Speaker
I got him to sign my defining moments thing, the crow thing, right? It was at Wrestlecade and I pay for the meet and greet. And when we first got there, there was like 200 people in line Marco, like this line was so long. I don't know if you've ever been to Wrestlecade, which is in the Carolinas or not. It's during Thanksgiving weekend. It's a great fucking time.
01:09:12
Speaker
But the line was super long. So I walked in Wrestlecade, went and said hi to Mickey James and like other people that were in there. And when I come back, the line is gone. And it's like 10 minutes until stings meet and greet is over and I'm already paid for it. So the guy goes, you gotta meet and greet? I said, yeah.
01:09:30
Speaker
He opens the door, and this room is huge. And I felt like I was about to get married to Sting, because I'm walking down this fucking long walkway, and he's standing at the end. He's the groom, and I'm the bride. I'm just like, what the fuck is happening right now? But I walk in, and he just signed for like 300 or 400 people, right? So when he gets to me, he's just like, hey, how's it going? Signed my thing, took a picture with me.
01:10:00
Speaker
He was actually in character on that one. I met him once for WWE and he was wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses. And I was like, this kind of isn't what I wanted. I kind of want the face paint a little bit, but he's been cool every time too. But Mickey James is probably the sweetest, nicest, genuinely nice person I've ever met in wrestling, which is great.
01:10:26
Speaker
That's awesome. That's her giving the rub saying like, oh yeah, dude, yeah, go on his podcast. I mean, how could you ask for a better endorsement? And not to be any type of way, but I don't pay for interviews and shit like that. I know people that do.
01:10:48
Speaker
And that's fine if that's what you do, but I feel like I do this for fun. So if wrestlers want to come on my show, they're more than fucking welcome. I'll talk to anybody because I feel like it's one gift that I do have is I can talk to people and get along and shit like that. And so I don't pay for interviews and
01:11:11
Speaker
other podcasts listen to me like, so how much did it cost to get Mickey James on the show? I'm like, it didn't. Like we were laughing on Twitter and they're like, yeah, get the fuck out of here. Whatever. Like I paid $300 for X wrestler. And I'm like, are you overpaid? Cause yeah.
01:11:29
Speaker
But yeah, like you said, her telling other people about it, and then Lisa Marie really goes to bat for Boot to the Face when it comes to wrestlers that, it's almost to the point where I want to be like, hey, you can come on Boot to the Face. Don't believe me. Ask Lisa Marie. She'll tell you, but she fucking always puts us over big time. So I appreciate
Podcasting Philosophy and Diversity Talk
01:11:54
Speaker
the hell out of her, also.
01:11:56
Speaker
Yeah, man, that's that's I mean, that's what that's one of the things that I, you know, just doing this show, just hope to get like, you know, some type of, you know, just a good, good report out there, like saying, Hey, oh, oh, you want, you want open mic off, dude. Yeah. Definitely hop on a show. It's great. Like the people I have interviewed, you know, when I do interview them, they like, I, you know, I send them a link, I go, Hey, if you never listen to the show,
01:12:19
Speaker
Listen to these episodes. Let me know what you think. If you obviously, if you want to be on the show, that's fine, but haven't gotten a like negative response yet. Everyone, everyone jumped on. It's good. Everyone's had a good time so far. I mean, like I said, it's, it's loose. It's not like, like I said, I kind of, I try to keep it on track, but at the same time, it's just, you know, it's my first time meeting most of these people. So I just want to like, you know, get that conversation going and stuff like that. And, you know, have someone audit on a second time.
01:12:44
Speaker
If that's what it comes to, which I'll probably definitely have you on again. This is a, this is awesome. I don't know how it goes for you, but like the first like couple minutes is always like, all right, let's, let's, let's fill this motherfucker up.
01:12:59
Speaker
And then you're running this, right? And I know how it is on that side of it, but I'm just sitting here chilling and you're running it. So you're trying to make sure everything sounds good. You're trying to get everything lined up right. But you're also trying to be personable at the top of it. So it's just like the first 10, 15 minutes is just so nerve wracking. And then once you get into it, it's
01:13:23
Speaker
if you're personable and you got a good person, which you do, obviously, it becomes easy and it becomes a conversation. And that's what I try to tell, not that I'm the greatest at it, but a lot of my podcast friends, I'm just like, when you interview wrestlers, man, don't have
01:13:42
Speaker
a list and you have to get to, like, obviously you want stuff written down. But like, if you're the person asking the questions, ask your question and shut the fuck up. Like, don't try to jump in and be like, Oh yeah, that's just like the time that my wife did it. Nobody gives a fuck. Like, you know what I mean? Like, just ask your question, let them answer, shut the fuck up, pay attention. And a lot of times
01:14:08
Speaker
Your next question comes off of the question that you just asked a lot of times like the shit that you had pre-plan because when you pre-plan everything, guess what? If you talk to Mickey James, everybody's going to ask her about the Trish Stratus rivalry, right? Everybody's going to ask her about WWE sending the trash bag shit. Yep.
01:14:27
Speaker
But if you listen to her while she's talking and go off of shit like that, like we talked about things like her losing her luggage and shit like that and me making a joke about the title and she joked that you never check the title, which I didn't know.
01:14:43
Speaker
Apparently as a wrestler, you're never supposed to check the title. You always take that shit as a carry on because if you lose the title, you're fucked. It seems simple, but I listen to a lot of interviews and I get excited about them. And interviewers don't know how to shut the fuck up.
01:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, I that's that's one of the things to like this. There's a lot of good interviews out there. I don't want to let's not discourage all of them. There are some right, right, right, right, conversationalist and stuff like that. But yeah, like I said, when I do these, I just try to go off of what like whatever your answer is like, I don't I guess I don't have any written anything down like I had like in my mind, like what I want to ask you. But if we got to start talking about this, like
01:15:23
Speaker
that whole Hogan and that all came off. Like I didn't have that plan. I was just like, you know, I just want to talk about like, you know, cause I don't, like I said,
01:15:33
Speaker
me being like the only black person in our group, like I don't get to like here, you know, get this like conversate and say like, get your ideas of like, you know, with the state of black wrestling and all this stuff. Yeah, I definitely had those in my mind. But like, the Hogan stuff, I mean, that that came up during by the one of the interviews I had that the person never even watch wrestling before. And they're like, Oh, he's watching, you know, like Hulk Hogan stuff. I'm like,
01:15:57
Speaker
Yeah, I gotta tell you the whole story. I kept it short. I was like, let me tell you about Hulk Hogan. Let me tell you something, brother. Let me tell you something, brother. So I went down and they're like, oh, man, I didn't even know that. I was like, yeah. But then, like, you know, like the conversation I had with with Queen G, you know, just talking about like we talk, you kind of talk a little bit about like, you know,
01:16:25
Speaker
uh, you know, black people in, you know, in the content creation realm, like.
01:16:30
Speaker
For me, the collectors, I don't really see any black figure collectors or black, I see a lot of anime people, nothing against that. I never got any anime. Don't get it. I'm not really into it, but as far as that's great that they're into that, but I don't see any like the figure collectors out there. I never thought about that. You're right though. I can't think of...
01:17:00
Speaker
And I'm not even that big into it like I'll go buy random shit, you know what I mean? Like I listen to y'all and y'all be talking about like pre-order and shit and I'm like pre-order If I don't just like come across that shit in Walmart while I'm trying to get bagels Probably won't have it But yeah, you're that's funny. I'm thinking about it. Yeah, you're right. I
Wrestling Storylines and Character Dynamics
01:17:22
Speaker
don't I
01:17:23
Speaker
I can't think of any like black figure collectors. Yeah. Like I said, I found Queen G. She's, you know, obviously she's not wrestling related, but she collects the Ninja Turtles stuff and she has like, you know, a lot of Donatello figures. Like her room is literally just like, it's insane. Yeah. Definitely go on her. Actually, if you don't have it, I'll send you the link so you can check it out. But like I was talking to her about that on the show.
01:17:46
Speaker
Where's the, where's the figure collectors out there? Where's the collectors in general? Like the black collectors, are there? Like, I don't know if, I know there's like, you know, they have like the blurred content stuff where, you know, like they have like black content creators come together and all that stuff. But as far as like comic book collectors, nerdy stuff, I don't,
01:18:06
Speaker
just anime. That's all I see. I'm trying to think of the name of the podcast I saw. They were at SummerSlam. And it was a bunch of I can't think of the name of the podcast. They were all tears. Was it? No, they were all
01:18:22
Speaker
They were belt collectors. It was like six of them. And they all had like three belts each. And they were posing around in the summer slams. And I can't remember the fucking name of it to save my life. That's another one. King Coley on Instagram. He's a belt collector. He has a title Tuesday, where he showcases all the titles and stuff. He's like the only other black person that I see.
01:18:48
Speaker
It's just the weirdest thing to be like yeah, I Scoured the internet and I I think it's funny that you say the anime stuff cuz you're right like like But my little brother my little brothers five years younger than me like love like not Pokemon who was
01:19:08
Speaker
Fajita and all them. Oh, Dragon Ball Z? Yeah, boy. That's some bitches. We love Dragon Ball Z. And so like people, you know, I follow a lot of a lot. Like, Seahawk is one. He's real big. Now, I was on his show years ago when he was working for
01:19:30
Speaker
Wade Keller, and he's always like making anime jokes, him and all, you know, his whole crew. I'm just like, yeah, I don't get it, dude. When y'all gonna talk about butt cheeks again, make a butt cheek joke. That way I can, that way I can like it and retweet it. Cause this anime shit, like, I don't really know. You know what I mean?
01:19:51
Speaker
Like I said, I was like, I don't get it. Like, I mean, like I said, it's great that the community's out there. But other than that, I don't see like any wrestling figure collector. Like New Day. I mean.
01:20:04
Speaker
These motherfuckers are going to Comic Con dressing up. And I'm like, I have no idea who you're dressed like right now, Xavier. Yeah, it's like I said, I'm still trying to scour. Like I started like a Instagram page, just like a collector's page to see if I could like try to like, you know, maybe bring some people out. But yeah, as it hasn't worked yet. So I'm still I'm going to search. I'm going to find I'm going to find a figure collector out there wrestling.
01:20:28
Speaker
figure collector besides myself, because I'm the only one. I don't want to take credit for that, but I legit think I'm the only black wrestling figure collector. Well, if it blows up, you can you can like bill yourself as the first black figure collector. And that'll actually. Yeah. You know, you make a T-shirt.
01:20:44
Speaker
That'll do that and that'll that'll bring out the other people if I bring that if I make that claim Then other people like hey, what the hell that's me. Oh, it's like this is day one ish or some shit like that, right? Really trying to give me a cry on this fucking show It just ruined my whole WrestleMania. I'll leave it at that
01:21:08
Speaker
Look, I don't want to be a dick, but I'm going to talk about it on boots of the face on Tuesday. No, you don't have to give your whole synopsis. Yeah, but I just it's heartbreaking, man. It really is like. I think I think I'm more upset that Jay didn't win.
01:21:24
Speaker
And that it's probably going to like the whole everybody like, Oh, that's good. Cause Cody needs to be Cody ain't got shit to do with this. Okay. Cody won the Royal Rumble, right? He got his title shot. He got his ass kicked. Now he's back on raw. It's not going to do with Cody. This is between Jay and Roman. This story has been intertwined with Jay and Roman the entire time.
01:21:48
Speaker
and the fact that Jimmy Usos, no talent, Jeff Hardy, Edge, Mick Jackson, face ass, part of the tag team, did what he did, just pisses me off. It's upsetting to me because, you know, my daughter is a twin girls, identical twins, and their birthday is the same day as Usos. Watch out.
01:22:17
Speaker
Just thinking of them doing that to each other would kill me if once in the right get ready to win a title and The other one comes and pulls her out
01:22:25
Speaker
against their little shithead cousin whose parents didn't fucking make them abide by the rules. And so, you know, everybody's got those kids, right? Like you take your kids to your family's house and there's always your little nephew that runs around. Nobody tells them what to do. That's Roman Reigns, right? Like he just does whatever the fuck he wants. And your kids are like, how come we can't do that? It's like, because I love you. That's why you can't do that. Yeah. What do we see? What do we see? Do you think we ever see Rikishi?
01:22:54
Speaker
show up on TV as like the elder, you know, they talk about the elders and obviously that's, you know, you know, Roman's father and stuff like that. But like, do we see, do we see Rikishi show up and try to, because I feel like now that's going towards, you know, Jay, Jimmy, and obviously Solo, who's also their brother. I feel like now with like the storylines with them too, do you think we see Rikishi show up on TV and try to squash
01:23:18
Speaker
squashes or does he play any role in this? I feel like he's going to show up at some point. I just don't know when. You know, my favorite thing about this storyline is every time I think I haven't figured out and I try to predict what's going to happen, they go the complete opposite direction. Yeah.
01:23:39
Speaker
everybody like last night was retweeting me like, oh, you should have saw that coming. We all knew Jimmy was going to turn. I'm like, who the fuck is we? Like I didn't know that. Like that makes zero sense. Like it's Jimmy's fault that Jay turned on Roman to begin with. So why the fuck would you know what I mean? So it's honestly, I don't, I don't know. Um, I don't know what's going to happen. Marco. I, on our last show on boot to the face, I said, no matter what they do on sun Saturday night,
01:24:09
Speaker
that they have bought enough equity with me that I would trust them to enjoy it.
01:24:15
Speaker
But then Saturday night happened and fuck them. Like, I don't like it. Oh, I'm done. Fuck the bloodline. I don't want this shit. I'm like Seamus. They got too much TV time. Take the shit off. Take the belt off, Roman. I don't want to see this shit no more. Get the Usos back together. Send them to AW so they can beat up FTR or some shit like that. I just... No, honestly, man, I'm...
01:24:40
Speaker
This has been like the most fun I've had watching wrestling for such a long period of time at once that like, even though last night didn't go the way I wanted to, and I hate the way they went, I'm still intrigued and I'm still going to tune in. And regardless of which way they go, like, and until otherwise they've got me paying attention to it. Yeah, definitely. Like I said, kind of bring it back full circle with at the beginning, I was talking about like, you know,
01:25:09
Speaker
being happy about what wrestling we're getting to see nowadays. Like you can be happy with whatever you watch now. You don't have to be negative about it. Like if you don't want to see, if you want to see Jimmy and Jay, you know, that kind of breaks your heart.
01:25:23
Speaker
Go and watch impact for a little bit. Get your mind off of that. Watch NXT. Watch the indies. Watch the indie god, Matt Cardona, take over the... him in SDL. Take over the... Yeah, I'm an SDL fan. She's fucking hilarious. He's great, dude. That's another good person indeed. I met him a few times. I'm actually going to be meeting him again at the end of the month.
01:25:48
Speaker
Well, they blog. He's a pro. So what we see on TV is what we see on the videos. It's just a bro, dude, like he's just like, yeah, he's a fun guy. But I think I think she's going to be there this time around. So I'd be pretty cool. I'd love to get her as an interview. She'd be fun. I'm trying to like I'm not going out of my way to only interview women, but I don't know. I just like women's wrestling better than the men's wrestling. So, yeah.
01:26:17
Speaker
And it seems like the women are more personable when they do these interviews. Men are so guarded for some reason. I'm an independent podcast. Who the fuck's really listening? Nobody's going to hear this shit. Just loosen up a little bit. But yeah, I love what Cardona is doing right now. And I love him and SDL together. Yeah. Like I said earlier, the other thing I like about
01:26:43
Speaker
You know, one of my ideas behind this is like, and he said, you know, you want to like focus on like the women wrestlers. That was my thing about this show was like focus on like the women out there that are like content creators in wrestling. Um, so I have like, I interviewed over the moon salt. If you follow her, she, she's like, wrestling cosplay. Yeah. I had her on the show. She was great. Like you said, she was very personable. Um, and you know, just, you know, that, that was my other part of that is you interview those, the ladies that are in our wrestling world that
01:27:12
Speaker
You know, they obviously did a lot better now than they were back then, you know, there's so much content creators, stuff like that. But, you know, just hearing their stories, how they got into it, you know, when they got into it, if it's, if it's been recent, whatever, if, you know, yeah, you know, I watched an episode of Monday Night Raw last year and I really got into wrestling. I want to hear about it.
Sharing Wrestling's Appeal with Non-Fans
01:27:29
Speaker
I want to know like how that affected you, how that brought you in. What was it about that show that, you know, brought you into this, you know, this world of wrestling that we all that we all love. So.
01:27:40
Speaker
But on that note, I'm going to finish it off with my ending question. I always ask everyone this as a final question of the show. So you're a wrestling fan. I'm a wrestling fan. We do have people that are, like we said, in and out of wrestling. They don't watch it anymore. There might be, oh, you still watch it? What the hell? For those people that are like, why do you watch wrestling? What match would you show them that would change their entire perception?
01:28:10
Speaker
of what professional wrestling is. Just one match. This person doesn't like wrestling, this right here, this is going to make them appreciate and love and make them a fan of wrestling. What match would that be? It's a hard question.
01:28:32
Speaker
Mm, that's a good question. I'm gonna cheat though. I'm gonna give you a women's match and a men's match. Okay, all right, that's a first timer, all right. The women's match, I'll do Becky Lynch and Charlotte Evolution, Last Woman Standing. Okay. But you have to watch the
01:28:57
Speaker
the package going into it so you get the feelings behind it and all that. So I had Tatiana from Series XM on her own boot to the face once. She like doesn't watch wrestling. And that was a match I told her to watch. And then she was like, well, what about another match? And I was like, Hogan versus Rock.
01:29:17
Speaker
WrestleMania. Okay. So that's my other match. Now, sidebar, Tata ended up fucking watching a whole season of Hogan's knows best for some reason.
01:29:28
Speaker
I don't know how she went from Hogan versus rock to Hogan's knows best. And then she ended up like veering off in the Brooke Hogan's music career and like found like four or five songs that she likes to Brooke Hogan did. That's a whole nother thing, but that's my other match. Hogan versus rock at WrestleMania 18 and turn your sound bar on and just listen to the fucking crowd. That match was not a technical masterpiece. It wasn't.
01:29:57
Speaker
But it was just people loving wrestling, nostalgia, all the people that love the mortal races back then. And he was doing all his stuff. He was doing all his little stuff back then. The Rock, going from babyface to heel match. That entire thing, I think, was just a masterpiece of pro wrestling.
01:30:18
Speaker
you can have all your five star matches and shit like that. I'm a storyline guy. I'm a guy that likes storytelling in the match. And that match with Rockin Hogan was just, it was perfect.
01:30:32
Speaker
And they'll, they'll tell you that rock on his own decided, well, I guess I'm gonna heal this match. And for him to, to have the wherewithal to switch it like that. And that Toronto crowd was just fucking nuts that night, man. And that you watch that match on mute. It's a hunk of shit.
01:30:49
Speaker
Like, you're like, what the fuck is this? Right? Like, Hogan can barely move. Rock's carrying him. Hogan's no selling for Rock the whole time. But you turn that volume up to 10 men, and you watch that match, and it's just so fucking good. Let me get a bonus question before I let you go. Let me add to that. A recent match. What recent match from now would you want to show somebody that didn't watch wrestling that would bring them in?
01:31:19
Speaker
a modern, a current day wrestling match. What match would that be?
01:31:25
Speaker
That'd be, again, I'm gonna cheat. It'd be a tie. Storyline guy, storytelling guy, Rock, Roman and Cody at WrestleMania, I thought was way better than people are giving it credit for just because they're mad Cody lost. But if you watch that match from entrance to entrance to the beginning of it, that match is fucking phenomenal. But if you're a work rate guy,
01:31:52
Speaker
And you think that the person that you want to see or you're trying to convince to watch wrestling likes work rate, you can't go wrong with fucking Osprey and Omega at this this last match they had. Yeah.
01:32:06
Speaker
And I'm a big Will Ospreay fan. Like the past couple of years, I used to think Will Ospreay and Zach Sabre Jr. I couldn't stand either one of them. Still don't like Zach Sabre Jr. Fuck that guy. But Will Ospreay, he's a fucking man. Like he can do no wrong in my eyes right now. And the match with him and Omega at, what was that, Forbidden Door, they wrestled it? Just, you can't get better than that, man. You can't get better than that.
01:32:34
Speaker
And that was storytelling too as well. Don't forget that. There was a lot of story behind Osprey and Omega as well. The Osprey cut before their Wrestle Kingdom match about being the pandemic guy and coming in and working. He should have won at Wrestle Kingdom, I think. I think he should have won both of them.
01:32:53
Speaker
Yeah. The, the story with them is really good. Uh, I'm not really that big of an Omega guy. Like I think he's kind of overrated. I don't want to say that too loud because wrestling fans are listening, but the people bitch about Roman Reigns doing a Superman punch too many times. Count the V triggers. Okay.
01:33:12
Speaker
You need to use your fingers and your toes because that shit happens about 37 times every match. But him and Osprey, man, they just got a chemistry together that's just, you can't touch it. Yeah, damn. Those are actually very good choices.
01:33:35
Speaker
All right. We're going to have to be mad later though. I'm be mad. Like I should have said this. I don't know. We should have talked about macho man steamboat. You could, I mean, like I said, you go, one of mine's is a, you know, Brad Hart, Roddy Piper.
01:33:53
Speaker
WrestleMania for the intercontinental title That right there yet. Yeah hyper is the brawler, you know Brett and Bret Hart as a technician guy and then Bret Hart having to half the brawl because that's what that he had to like kind of go into that South so you got like a mix of Everything you got just the one where Piper got him in a sleeper and heart like did the little move off the turnbuckle Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll see him home video. I used to watch that shit so much when I was a kid Yeah, man, that's that match right there. Like I said, it's it's a mix of
01:34:23
Speaker
Brawl, it's a mix of like, you know, Ronnie Piper style of wrestling and Bret Hart. So like, and they both had to do each other's style of wrestling. So like, you know, Ronnie Piper had to start to like headlock takeovers. He had to do the technical moves. And then, you know, Bret Hart had to actually get out, get outside the ring and actually like fight and brawler, you know, I scratch it outside. That, like I said, I could talk about that match forever. I know you're trying to end this, but you brought up tape trading earlier. Yes.
01:34:50
Speaker
tape training is how I saw that match because we would, you know, give each, like I was a big WCW guy at that time. So I would have all the WCW stuff and my cousin loved WWF and he would give me the Coliseum home videos that Bret Hart match, Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect. And
01:35:08
Speaker
I want to think the bear heart. Mr. Perfect have a ladder match that wouldn't like televised I want to think they bring her had a letter match with somebody that wasn't the first match with Shawn Michaels and I want to raise her Was it what she was it with Michaels?
01:35:26
Speaker
See, there's one of those things that people are going to be like, yeah, no, you idiots. Yeah. You've done Brit Hart and Rodney Piper. I wouldn't think it was Brit Hart, Mr. Perfect, but I could be wrong. But he wrestled a match at Mr. Perfect where he like ripped Mr. Perfect singlet off. And when he had the intercontinental
Life Lessons and Engagement with Content
01:35:41
Speaker
title, he had half a Mr. Perfect singlet also on his shoulder. But like the Coliseum home videos from tape trading, like
01:35:49
Speaker
I know you got, we got everything at our fingertips now, man, but that was such a fucking good time in wrestling to like wait and just go to blockbuster video, hoping that they got the latest fucking bash at the beach there on the new releases. And it never did, right? Like that was just, that's a time that people will never understand if they didn't grow up then. Oh man. Yeah. And they have a, the good thing is they have a lot of those on Peacock. If you go to like,
01:36:19
Speaker
they have like a category for all the calls he had like home videos and I watched like the Shawn Michaels one, like the Shawn Michaels greatest hits and he's like narrating it. Obviously, you know, they had like the man, it was him, the two dudes with attitudes against 123 kid and razor.
01:36:37
Speaker
So many good matches now, but I have to do that. That's that might be the rest of my days. That's going To watch some Coliseum videos just watching that the old-school wrestling as my son calls it the 19 He calls it right in the 1900. So my daughter's like, oh you're watching the 19th. I'm like god damn it, dude Why do you have to say that she's like is there a dinosaur about to show up on this on the girl? I'm trying to give the watch the old stuff. Yeah, he's a big out of Roman
01:37:07
Speaker
Roman Mark that Katie loves Roman Reigns. My son tried watching wrestling Marco and he was a big, he liked the shield and he liked stardust.
01:37:16
Speaker
And Stardust left, so that broke his heart. And then the shield broke up. And he was like, he didn't say this, but he's kind of like, why the fuck would I waste my time with this? It's just heartbreaking. All the people that I like either leave or turn on each other. Like, why the fuck would I watch? And like I said, I don't want, obviously I'm trying to add this, but that's another thing. Wrestling teaches you a lot of life lessons, man. Yeah.
01:37:47
Speaker
If there's ever birthday cake involved be weary because There's a lot of there's a lot of telltale sounds like I said weddings usually don't go to court to plan all the time
01:37:57
Speaker
Contract signings people will stab you in the back If they have to people will cheat to win like it's you know people cut like it's like I said, it's Wrestling teaches you so much stuff like I'm not like a political person. But you know if you watch a lot of politicians, it's about cutting promos It's about good guys bad guys. It's about it's about the hail faction and the babyface faction and
01:38:26
Speaker
It's about the one mega heel. They all pull a rock. They all fucking turn heel halfway through. And they all turn heel on you. It's literally, like I said, watch Russell. It teaches you life lessons. If that's the one thing you're going to learn from this show, definitely do that. It'll teach you everything you need to know. But again, man, thank you for being on the show, man. This is awesome. I definitely enjoyed it. Hopefully you enjoyed yourself. Oh, yeah. I enjoyed the hell out of it. We could fucking talk for another two hours. I almost went into a tangent.
01:38:55
Speaker
Yeah, I wish it wasn't so late Sunday night. I'd go fucking make another drink and come back I gotta be up at 5 a.m. Though it will set up a part two like Before the buns over maybe we'll have to do a sequel to this With this show, I don't do it every single week. It's basically whenever I can get somebody on so yeah, I get you on again Well, maybe we'll do it again. Maybe we'll do a direct sequel to this one. I
01:39:20
Speaker
Yeah, you let me know if your listeners like it. I'm not for everybody. I mean, if you listen to all of our shows, there's something for everybody. And I think you'll definitely be well liked. But before you go, definitely plug away. Plug everything you get.
01:39:41
Speaker
Boot to the Face, you can follow us on Twitter at Boot to the Face, that's with the number two. We record on Twitch every Tuesday night at 8pm Eastern Standard Time and then the audio comes out either the day after or Thursday. And then on Thursday night I do a show called 80proof, which is just like me and a couple buddies.
01:40:03
Speaker
We have a couple drinks. It's more like bar talk. We talk throwback Thursday. We talk aliens. We talk whatever's in the news at the time. Like this is more of just like going to hang out with your buddies at the bar, like whatever comes up. We we do like top threes. We talk about like women and not in a bad way. We love women. But we talk about them in a good way, trust me.
01:40:30
Speaker
We talk about everything on 80 proof. That's Thursday nights on Twitch, 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and then the audio comes out and follow us on Instagram, all that kind of stuff. We have a link tree, link tree, boot to the face, link tree, 80 proof pod.
01:40:45
Speaker
Um, but other than that, man, it's just, you know, hopefully if you, if you check us out, you like us, if you don't like us and that's fine too. Just don't be talking shit. Cause I do talk shit back. So and you ain't trying to get the smoke. You might want to, you might want to keep stepping. So, but yeah. Yeah. I mean, with that, we'll end it there. Thank you everyone for listening and, uh, I'll see you soon. Peace.