Explicit

John Cena Part 1

Published Aug 21, 2024, 4:01 AM

John Cena enters the ring with Shannon Sharpe at Club Shay Shay for an in-depth discussion about his journey from a small-town athlete to becoming one of the biggest names in professional wrestling and entertainment of all time. John opens up about his sports background, including playing Division 3 football as an offensive lineman, and how his initial foray into working out was driven by a desire to avoid bullying, a decision that ultimately changed his life.

John shares stories from his early life, including working odd jobs as a limo driver, assistant greenskeeper, and summer camp counselor, all while pursuing his passion for wrestling. He recalls his move to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a bodybuilder, only to realize that his true calling was in professional wrestling just a week before joining the Marines. He explains how his journey wasn’t easy—he experienced homelessness and struggled financially even after signing a modest contract with WWF, but a lucky break on TV changed everything.

John also delves into his personal life, discussing his relationship with his father, the trauma they’re working to overcome, and how he refuses to let his past define him. Despite his success, John remains grounded, admitting that he fears complacency and continues to work hard on self-improvement. The conversation touches on his unexpected success as a platinum-selling rapper, driven by his love for hip-hop and rebellious nature, which resonated with WWE fans. John also shares his top athlete-rappers and rappers of all time, revealing his deep connection to music. As this first part of the episode winds down, John reflects on his final year in the ring, his desire for a meaningful last match, and his thoughts on the greatest wrestlers of all time.

#Volume

I remember when I started making money. My worst purchase because I didn't want to spring for Lamborghini, right, so I about a fake one.

Oh my goodness.

They tried to stiff me out of the car. I had to ask some friends who knew how to find things, to go and find things. The car finally shows up after two years from me of waiting. It doesn't go into gear, nothing runs. The car is not roadworthy, so I sent it to a shop. This is two thousand and five. I just got the keys to that car a week ago.

What all my life, grunning, all my light sacrifice, hustle bed Bryson, want a slice?

Got the Brons all my life?

I be grinning all my life, all my life, running all my light sacrifice. Hustle bed to Bryson one slice, Doctor Bronin Geys swap all my life.

IOP be grinning all my life. Hello, Welcome to another episode of Club Shasha. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the propriud of Club Sha. Shay the guy that's stopping by conversation on a drink today. It's one of the greatest and most popular wrestlers of all time. He's been a WWE megastar for over twenty years. He's currently tied with Rick Flair for the most championships in professional wrestling history at sixteen. He's a platinum selling rapper or international superstar, New York Times bestselling author, multi faceted entertainer, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, a living legend, pop icon, idle to millions, A dedicated philanthropist. He holds the Guinness World Record for the number of wish is granted to make a wish children, a national treasure, a fan favorite, a household name. I think he's here, but maybe he isn't.

John Cena, Oh, are you're the top that just saying, oh, thank you so much for the introduction.

Man, thanks for having me.

You know, I have my own kanyac bro, and what you've been able to do, and we're gonna talk a little bit about it. I like to toash your career. I don't know if you drink or not, but this is my Kanyac. It's called shay by Laportier. It's a vsop.

Very nice.

Well, I will toast with you. Time is our most valuable asset. Thank you for yours today. Thank you, Bro, appreciate you and enjoying. I'm gonna make the most out of this. I'm gonna keep this.

We're gonna give you your own bottle. So I appreciate your stopping.

Bay. Let's get right into it, bro sports.

I mean, obviously, to be able to be a professional wrestler, you have to be athletic to do all those moves.

Were you a sports Were you athletic? Were you into sports when you grew up?

I played baseball as a young kid. I transitioned to football at about age fifteen. I played at a Division III school in college, and I was an offensive lineman. And you can see why I played only Division three. You've been to the mountaintop. Offensive linemen are a little bit different, a little bigger. I loved the game, but I also had great perspective of the type of athlete that needs to be a professional.

So I had fun in college.

I'm very thankful for my time in teammates, but it was a chapter that needed to be close.

Did you wrestle in high school? Never? Nope, I was.

I always grew up a fan of professional wrestling, okay, and I think that helped because amateur and wwere sports entertainment, two very different totally different. Yeah, and just because you're because you're a good professional. He doesn't mean you're a good amateur. Just because you're a good amateur, do now, I mean you're a good professional.

Right.

Well, we see Brock Lisner, Yeah, he was in the WFB. We also saw him go to the UFC and he tried you know, NFL football.

Did you ever think.

About trying out for NFL football or you just realized, like, you know what?

So?

I think in Brock's case, Brock is one of the most gifted, hardest working, perseverant, stubborn sons of bitches I ever met. But I honestly think physically he could do whatever he puts his mind to.

Right.

It's also because he's six ' four three hundred plus, right, so it was a natural transition. He's also an NCAA national champion multiple times. He knew body awareness to put him in the trenches. That's a natural transition. Okay, I am six feet two hundred and thirty pounds. If you were to put me in the trenches, I would get my fucking app What about running back? So you also have to be a good running back just because of your frame. It's like, oh, your height and weight matchup. Let's time you're forty still going huh?

You know?

So it's it's a lot of things have to line up. And I think Rock is a physical anomaly. And I'm glad he found his home with the WWE because he's fantastic. But I think he could put do whatever he really wanted to.

Is it true that you were bullied as a kid and you started working out? Did like get away from it?

I am that comic strip or the comic in the back of the in the comic. Yes, so scrawny kid, yeah, who eventually found physical fitness as a way of getting people not to bother you. It wasn't get big so I could fight these people. It was get big so I could give the vibe of like, oh I don't want to mess with that guy, kind of my own alarm system. And it worked. But it also introduced me to sport. I found physical training at around age twelve and then saw the games at about age fifteen, right when coaches were like, hey kid, you want to try football? Sure, okay, And none of my peers. It wasn't like it is today. Strength training in like the nineties. It was almost like hey, don't lift weights. You don't want to mess up your baseball swing or your basketball sure, like it was almost a taboo, But I found a home in football, and I found team sports to be very gratifying being a member of a team. Finally, you know, I grew up with five five brothers, so it was kind of like I had that family vibe around me. I was able to make social connections. And you know what it's like to be on a winning team. It feels great, and you also knows what it likes to be on a losing team. You know, you carry the burden with each other. So I was I was very grateful that something that started out as a way to defend myself, it's been such a gateway to so many opportunities in life.

Proud of you working out. I read you were like a sprawny kid. You're weighed like one hundred and fifty five pounds, and you started working out and you go to two. So we're proud of you working out. Did anyone ask you to participate in sports? Did you want to participate in sports before you started working out?

I grew up in a small town where your first chance to play football started at fifteen.

We didn't have any youth football.

Oh, there wasn't much popularity of soccer or real football as the Europeans call it. There was pretty much a little league baseball. So I played the little league baseball. I started late. Most kids would play at like six. I started at ten, and I just liked the team aspect of it. So I wasn't good at all, but I was enthusiastic, okay, and football was something that my skill matched my enthusiasm.

So did you think about playing baseball? Did you play baseball in high school? Or did you just gave it?

I did, and I remember vividly the day I stopped playing baseball. I worked out before practice, and I was, to the coach's credit, I was two minutes late to practice, but it was because I had a last period of class, got to work out in and then ran my ass to practice and the coach.

I remember it.

I was a sophomore, and the coach said, you're gonna have to choose between playing baseball or working out, and I gave him my hat in my uniform. I said, it's been it's been fun, So you chose working out?

She was working out, so what, so what did you, what did you want to do when you're in high school? You grew up in this small town. You used to like, okay, we can only play we start playing football. At fifteen, you just giving up baseball because you wanted to work out.

So what did you want to do?

You know, I just wanted to do things I enjoyed, and I like, I think the north star of my life is like not having a plan. Okay, what do you enjoy doing in your time off?

Nothing? Not donna get much time.

Off though, Okay, but I also bet that's by choice, Yeah, because you like to keep yourself busy, and hopefully it's the things you're passionate about.

But a lot of times, John, the things that we like to do don't pay a whole lot of money.

So neither but neither did working out. And as a fifteen year old, I really wasn't trying to find an angle to make working out make make money.

I just knew I liked work. You just enjoyed it.

Yeah right, yeah, but I did read you you had some very odd jobs. Yeah, growing up, you would like a memo driver.

I was.

I was an assistant greenskeeper at a golf course. I was a counselor at a summer camp. I've been security for bars. I've worked student security at Springfield College. I got to wear a neon jacket and have people ridicule me around campus and working parking lots.

I've done my fair share of odd jobs.

When did you develop this knack to be so great at public speaking?

I think, as with anything, you learn fluency through failure, And I think it was me always probably trying to stand out with my brothers and getting made fun a lot for it, and then trying to find my social circle in life as a young man and getting made fun of for it. So I think it's the courage to be brash and be embarrassed.

Right, So I read you moved, you come to lay Venice Beach and you wanted to be a bodybuilder? Correct, Yes, so Arnold's clearly so Arnoldood. You probably saw what was the movie?

He was there?

Of course you wanted you saw that. He's like, you know what, I think I can do that. I think Arnold's about six foot tall, probably way the same I get the pump.

Hey, maybe a time my forty over there. Now you don't have to run on stage reposing trunks and I did some local shows in New England and placed quite well.

And just like playing football at Springfield College, the first day I stepped down the field at Springfield, I knew like, oh I I will have a career here and that's where it will end.

Okay.

I was doing well in New England. I'm like, yeah, I'll give it a try. The first day I stepped into golds Venice and did one of these like, oh, this is gonna be a hobby. Okay, that's it. This is gonna be a hobby. So there are guys that are my weight but they're five foot four. Okay, that's yeah, this is gonna be a hobby. Right, yeah, because you're real.

And the thing that I tell people all everybody looks good when they're by themselves, but when you go stand next to somebody else did do this, and it's just as serious, if not more serious than you, you realize.

You come to the realization like you know what.

Well, Also you know that that's a great perspective and you can be you can be so dedicated in something in life and give your absolute best. But when something has a window of popularity and a lot of people know about it, the one percent. The people who identify early on their talent strengths and gifts maybe have genetics for it, and then those talent strengths and gifts and their gene pool are nurtured in a ten thousand hours of practice, those are going to be the people who make money off it. Do yes, Yes, It doesn't mean that I don't work as hard as the next guy, doesn't mean we're not squatting the same or whatever. It just comes down to, like, there's a reason you played in the NFL. I could practice the exact same amount of minutes. I just I'm just not made for it, right, you know what I'm saying. Right, So that's that when you can when you take take a hobby or a passion or a pastime and make it a vocation, there has to be a little bit of luck. There has to be a lot of hard work, a little bit of magic dust in there as well.

But one thing that bodybuilding will teach you is discipline. Because if you're not disciplined with your eating, you're not disciplined with your training, sure you can't be successful. And it's hard to be successful at anything if you're not disciplined. I don't care how much talent a person has. Yeah, discipline is the overriding key to success.

I agree with you one hundred percent on that, and I'm what I'm very grateful for in my journey is the individual discipline I had with bodybuilding physical fitness, mixed with the team building discipline of show up for practice on time, don't let your teammates down. So I got to learn how to take care of myself. Hey, if you don't time your food, or if you don't get enough rest, if you don't train, you're gonna suck. Mixed with you got to work well with others. Bodybuilding is an individual sport and sometimes a very egocentric sport, and sometimes you can get really talented bodybuilders or people interested in physical fitness that don't have the ability to work with others.

I'm very grateful.

In my life to have both the experience of team building exercise and team building discipline and individuals.

So, now, okay, bodybuilding is not the answer. Clearly you know football is not going to be the answer. You had been given up on baseball. So now what you take some odd job? You limo driver, you're a janitor, you do all these your voice actors So when did you decide to say, you know what, maybe pro wrestling, maybe acting? When did you come to that conclusion this was going to be John Cena's path. So the wrestling thing happened by accident.

And I think as we just as we get thank you very much for all these questions as I discuss what do I want to do with my life? Okay, I think the most important message I could tell people out there is that you don't have to figure it out right away. I graduated from college and tried to apply my degree, my physical attributes, and what I was passionate about to make money. So when all this stuff started to fail, I began to be like, Okay, I'm disciplined. I can show up to work on time. Don't mind wearing a uniform, don't mind be part of a team. I'll take the California Highway Patrol exam. I'll be a cop. Failed that son of a bitch. So that's and as a young man, I'm like, man, I don't have many options that I think the work would be passionate about every day. I may be the military. I say that in the utmost respect, I was a morning person. I'd love to push my body beyond its capabilities. Yes, I love when the team wins. I want to be in a pool of people that I'm not the smartest person in the room. Love a uniform, get to travel the world, don't ever have to worry about pay. Like, there's so many pluses to the military, And those were as a young man. Those are people I grew up idolizing. So I was like, man, I'll go join the Marines. And the weekend I was going to go from Los Angeles to San Diego to go join, my buddy was like, hey, man, you know we're training to be wrestlers down in Orange County. You want to try it out before you go. You can do wrestling, Like I didn't know there was a school. I didn't know about it. It's a very secret. And when we went down to see it, that's when it was like, Oh, this is going to be my new hobby. I would work those odd jobs so I could do bodybuilding shows. I would work those odd jobs so I could run speed camps to play football. Now I had a reason to work my odd jobs to do this hobby on the weekends. It's like many people have a job and they can't wait for weekends on the boat. My brother is the one I always used loves to work his job so he can spend weekends on the boat. The job is a way to do the thing that he loves. So it wasn't necessarily. I didn't do it to be like this is how I'm going to make money. It was like, yo, I love this. I'm going to make money doing the shitty work so I could have fun dressing up doing whe for here on the weekends.

Yeah, I almost the same thing happened to me.

I almost joined the military also, and then my brother came and talked me out of I was going to join the Air Force and then I was going to take the exam. He came home from college said, look, go to Savannah State. And if you don't like it, say I went to school for a year. You didn't like it. It went for me, go to you know, hey, I went to Savannah State for a year. And we know how that turned. We know how it turned that for me. Yeah, but I think something, you know, like like you said, when something is for you, when God has a plan.

For you, you.

Might take a lot of different paths past, but eventually you're going to get on the right track and it's gonna find you.

And I also that I agree with that, And I also want to say that sometimes you have to be brave enough to recognize when, yes, when life puts an opportunity in front of you, even though I had a plan and was like, Yo, this is the safest way forward, an opportunity was put in front of me. Yeah, I'm gonna try that.

Yes, you know.

So, I think a lot of people sometimes aren't aware of when life will give you a life, a crack that door open, just one bit, you know. And I think if you can be aware of that and just give your your wholehearted best to the situation, you don't know what can happen.

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Since you were.

Limbo driver, let's just say, for the sake of argument, there were lifts, There were uber and lyfts back then.

What type of driver woul John c will be the fucking worst.

So this was pre navigation, but not even the stick on the windshield Magellan unit pre navigation.

The meat is nineties.

So yes, cell phones with mostly car phones and the fees for a call or like twenty five bucks a call.

You absolutely right.

I have a Randall McNally map in my shotgun seat along with tuna, rice and chicken. And I'm in a town car, not a limo. That's how emails all Oh my god, and I'm the byproduct of eating all that. So combine everything. Yeah, the story tells itself. I'm from West Newbery, which is not Boston. It is a small town way outside of Boston. In my childhood life, I've only been on one highway, Route ninety five, So in my mind all roads lead to Route ninety five.

Right.

I would pick people up for their flights like three hours late what because I didn't know where the fuck I was going. And now, as a traveler, if I booked a car, and I'm always you know, if I got to go at ten, I'm going to book it to be there at seven, right, because I want to make sure it's there early. But man, I feel for those traveling. I got called every name in the book. I could barely get to the airport. I didn't know how to get people home. And the last thing you want to do after a long trip, you know, I'm finally going to keep my front door. And then you get in a car with a driver from hell. Where the car stinks. It's probably things like farts and tunea. He doesn't know where he's going. It's this huge, hulking guy in a town gar right.

I think we're going the right way. I was the worst. I didn't last too long in that job.

I read it. You're also homeless. So what was your what was your lowest moment before you finally did had some success?

What was your lowest moment? John, So, I also want to put some contacts. Okay, but I was homeless by choice. Okay, A lot of a lot of people are struggling with the inability to choose. My dad is fantastic and always has been great to all of his sons, and he's always been like, hey, you always got a roof over your head. You can always come home. But he also told me as I left for California from the mean street of West Newbury. You'll never make it. You'll be back in two weeks. So I don't know if he's a genius or he's just an asshole, right, but it worked. I didn't want to come home. He put pressure on you. So when all of my plans failed and all my resources were dwindling again, I had a choice do I stay? And if I stay, this is going to be the roof over my head for a while. But I loved it. Like my parked my car in the parking lot of gold gym, slept in the back, worked at the gym, so the gym was open at four, I'd go shower, use the locker room, clock into work. On my break, I'd work out the protein bar. Places where I worked, I get a discount in all my supplements every once in a while, a five figure a discount. Thank you Nutrition Club stores. I was well fed, I got enough rest, and I was happy. And it was it was by choice, and it's this is a very fortunate story of being without a physical mailbox by choice. So I don't regret those days. And again it was something that I think the struggle is a lot more entertaining when you want to do it, you know, a tough practice is more rewarding when you know you're it's this is the work I got to do to get the goal. And it was just one of those cases you had. So with that situation you had, you have very limited overhead.

I did, I did.

I was the company was operating at a loss and we were paying some heavy interest to the credit cardhold was at that point.

Yeah, so when when did you When did your break come?

Uh?

When when the w w E called It was then the w w F and said we would like it to give you a contract. And that was when I went from working on the weekends or working during the week to dressing up on the weekends to being a professional. It was a break. But my contract was for twe five hundred dollars a year what and my rent was for twelve thousand dollars of nos it was for my rent was twelve hundred dollars a month. So I quit my job immediately to become a professional. I was already operating at a loss. But the good thing about credit cards is they'll mail you more opportunities to get more credit cards. So I was just like, yeah, I'll just take more of the plastic pieces that get me free food and all that this is gonna be great. So I bet on myself, and I knew that I couldn't juggle things. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it fully focused and wholeheartedly, and if I lost, I would fall. It would be by my own choices. So I quit my job. I was upside down on a lot of bills and upside down on rent and stuff. But I got to go to every practice. I got to gain fluency really quick because I mashed in my ten thousand hours me a small break, but a break nonetheless. And then about nine months after that, they moved me to Middle America and I started wrestling in Kentuckyana for Ohio Valley Wrestling. And then about a year later, by accident, I got on TV.

You got called up to the big time? Yeah, what was that moment?

I mean, you mentioned a situation John that your dad like he was very proud of his five boys. You guys had done a lot. I'm sure he was proud of you, but he said that when you decided that you were gonna move to California, He's like, you're not gonna make it when you had made it did you call him and say, Dad, I made it?

You know what? No?

And I still I'm really working hard, and thank you very much for asking. I'm really working hard on building a great relationship with my dad. He just turned eighty and I love him and we're starting to like dive into those moments. I can't wait to find out the answer to that question because I'm so happy with where we are. I think for so long I wanted him to call me like, Yo, you made it. But I still don't know if he was withholding his at a boy, so I kept going for some reason to maybe one get it at the last moment, I don't know. The point is I've been able to work on self and let go of the need for his approval, which has been awesome because now we can just live as men and as peers and talk about our own life. I cannot wait to hear my dad's answer to that question. But I don't ever I don't ever believe in making it. I don't ever believe someone has made it. I believe you can close chapters in your life, and I believe that there are instances where it's time to move on. But in my perspective, It's like I try never to use the word deserve. I prefer earned, because what what the hell do I deserve?

You know?

I wake up every day, that's fantastic. And I try to earn the right to wake up every day. So I don't know. I think I'm worried that if I ever say to myself I've made it, I will become complacent in life. And I don't mean like not make a paycheck, right, I mean like not be curious about life. I even coming into this place, like Wow, this place is so great, and I'm curious about the wallpaper and the fire and what this podcast is going to be. I don't ever want to lose that. You know, when you these are dude, this is great.

When you when you left home and you said, okay, you and your dad have the relationship. You're not trying to recapture what was lost. You're just trying to move on from this point and move forward.

Man. That's a crazy thing about time. You can't you can't fix for what has happened. Yeah, And I think when you can get to a point to be like in let's say, in forgiving my dad first, I got to forgive myself, Yes, and I gotta be okay with myself. And I think when you get to that point and you're like, oh man, you more than likely although through my eyes it looked like this was bad for me, more than likely you were. I I know you, I've known you for forty seven years. You more than likely were trying to do the best you could as a parent. I can't fault you for that, Bud. So what do we do now. Let's have a drink, Let's have a cigar, and hey, what was your college life? Like, what's the craziest thing you've ever done? What's the worst thing I've ever done to you? Stuff like that's going on now.

Most of the time, John, people parent as that they were parented, And so maybe that's how his day gave him tough Your grandfather gave your dad tough love. But you say something very interesting. My grandma used to always tell me all the time. She say, son, that could never be freedom.

What I forgive this.

I'm a strong advocate of that, and that's the first time I've heard it. I think once you get to the ability where you can genuinely forgive, that doesn't mean you need to forget. No, when you can forgive you literally free yourself of whatever the burden is that's on your shoulders. That's very profound. I'm a believer.

Forgiveness is not for the person that you feel. And I don't know if you feel this, and I'm just saying for context here. Forgiveness is not for the person that you feel that have wronged you. Forgiveness is for you, yes, because you're the one your feelings, your emotions are being held hostage. They're living their life. They might not even know that you're.

They might not even know.

Like again, I can't wait to have this conversation with my dad. Do you know what I've been looking for a good job for like thirty years.

I never knew. Dude.

It's one of those things where because we are at times uncomfortable talking about our feelings, we don't talk about stuff.

So how can someone know? You know, they're probably just trying to do the best I can. You are a rapper.

You sold one hundred and forty thousand copies, your first week debuted at number fifteen on the Billboard two hundred. But that album is going platinum one point three million copies to this day. Did you think? Come on, did you think that was possible.

There's nothing about the current state of being. Yeah, you extract me as m and el No, but this is what I will say, super passionate about hip hop.

Hip hop. That was why I was bullied. As a callback to the story, because in white, small town West Newbery, you wore jeans, shit kicking boots, you drove a pickup truck, and you listen to country music or rock music. Okay, I had a high top fade. I wore rayon, Polka dots, wingtips or Adidas. I had airbrush overalls. I wore that shit backwards. Like, rap music found me, and it was rapped and it wasn't hip hop, and it evolved to hip hop. But rap music found me because it was rebellious. To keep in mind, I was one of five boys and I didn't like like I had a lot of angst with how the household was being runt. I was a rebel. That music found me at the right time. So even though a song like fuck the Police might have been an anthem for the state of the social well being in south central Los Angeles to a thirteen year old kid, the police were my parents, and it was like it was me Fuck that and it grab a hold, like it really spoke to me just the way the music was, and in the rebelliousness, I also caught all other rap music, Like I would listen to Kwame and I would listen to rock Him and Nas and the Beastie Boys and my first CDs with the Beastie Boys and the Fat Boys and like Cool Mode, and the list goes on and on, like it was a part of me. And when I got to showcase that on television, it resonated with the audience. So again this was life putting an opportunity in my laugh. I'm like, hey, great, I'm connecting with the audience. I can keep my job that I love, and maybe I can make better music than the stock rap music that they're making for me in Connecticut because at the time WW is a rock and roll company, they didn't have any depth of field or hip hop. And I listened to my own music being like, I could do better than this. It wasn't how do I measure up against eminem I think if it was the case, I never would have an album, right, But it was like, yo, I can do better than this. Called up a friend who knew a friend who had a studio, we got some beats.

And we made an album.

Wow, and that was it. That was it, And it never once was it like, how is this going to measure up? It was simply the current product that I have. I can do better than that, right, So as far as that I measure up better than that, you did better than that.

So let's just see where it goes. So when it comes at. So now you're an athlete, you're a rapper, give me your top three athlete rappers. You get Shock Time, which is Dion Sanders, Roy Jones Jr. Dame Lillard, Master p Kobe. You only get.

Three Master, Pea, Kobe, and Shock. Okay.

Yeah, Shack's got skills. Man, I think Carporol karaoke with him. Oh you can flow, he can still flow?

Oh yeah for sure. Yeah Yeah he's good. Yeah, he got a get hit. So I he's got doctorate. He's smart.

So give me your Mott Rushmore, your all, your favorite, your greatest, who you think the greatest four rappers are in the history.

So for me, Jay z eminem Nas and Rock Him Wow and uh Man, Rock Kim's voice and I like, like I'm I'm Everyone has their bias and I know that list is obviously going to incite riots. We all have our bias, we all have our favorites. That's what makes music spec that's what makes creativity.

I was brought up.

In like the East Coast boom bab I love I love wordplay, I love poetry. That's what I based my character on. So I think all that's super clever and those are That's that's my list.

So when when John and my driving around his car, who are you listening to today?

I have come a long way, you know, I'm not. I'm no longer a bodybuilder. I just want to preface that. Okay, sometimes chapters can close. I'm gonna retire this year from wrestling. That chapter is gonna close. I listen to nothing.

Really.

I am a huge car guy, so when I get to drive, it's kind of my chance to meet it. I always try to drive something manual with a stick shift, and I always just listened to.

The car man. Really.

Yeah, and that could be like I had one rare day off and you mentioned that there's a rare I think we work in the same dimension. Yes, I drove around the state of Florida just for shits and giggles. I did eight hundred and eighty miles. I left my house in Tampa, went to Orlando, went around the thumb, went back up, went back down, And as soon as I pulled in my garage, I'm like, WHOA, eight hund eighty miles.

Not too bad.

So you just got in a car one day and I was like, you know what, Hey, I'm gonna do this.

Yeah.

I haven't driven in a while, I haven't taken a trip in a while. I want to be And not once did I turn on the radio. I left at four thirty in the morning. I pulled in my garage at ten thirty at night. Stopped for like three or four cars. I love little coffee shops right, stopped for like three or four coffees on the way. Did you talk to anybody? Did you turn the phone out at the coffee shops? Talk to people in the car? Not one phone call, not one text phones in the backseat, power off, and it was it's like my way to meditate, So what.

Do I listen to the car.

There was a big rap battle going on this summer. Yes, Kendrick Lamar yes, and Drake Yes?

Who won?

I know nothing about this. You don't know anything. All I know is the headlines. I'm the one person, the one breathing human being who did not hear.

Bar one of this. I haven't heard any music and he tracks nothing, So this is all new to me. Who won? Who won? And why? Man? They you started it out. I was like, man, I love this guy, but.

Just just on pure, just play Drake. They play it all the time. If there's not gonna be a game, a football game, a basketball game, or anything that you go to where the home team is winning, where you're not going to hear it.

They're not like us.

I mean, excuse me, Kendred Lamar, Yes, kendreck one, Okay, so because just I mean, it's the most is the most played this in history already. I think it's done. It's the biggest song this summer.

I need to check this. I've been living in under a rock. I need to check this out. Yeah, all right, Kendrick Lamar, right of.

Your current rappers go on the list. You know you've got Kendrick Lamar, you got Drake. I mean you got these young you know, so, I five babies.

I kind of a little big I kind of drifted away from hip hop right around Drake and I think I always thought Drake was extremely talented. Again, I love wordplay. I think he's his stuff is very well thought out. I think he's very poetic. I like the way he adds music into the songs, like I don't. I don't have enough depth of field to evaluate anybody current. He was like the last one where it becomes fade to fade to nothingness.

Right.

Well, you mentioned it earlier. This is your final year in w W. Is that twenty twenty five? Yeah, And so when you look at farewell, I mean Kobe got a farewell, Kareem got a farewell. I mean everybody was waiting for Lebron to get his farewell. I think the thing is Tom Brady didn't get that because we didn't really know Tom was going to retire. He just like, okay, I'm done. Now what do you hope? What do you want your farewell? What do you want the lasting memories of your last year in the WWE?

What do you want that to be?

That's a great question. Personally, I would like to just want it to be worth it. And I don't mean that I won't get value from it. I'll enjoy every second. I just want to justify it like I hope. I hope it is good for WWE business. I hope it continues to build the future of the brand and company. I hope that the events are satisfying for the audiences. From an audience perspective, I hope everyone can come to these events and either relive memories they might have had over the past twenty three years or make new memories. Because there's a whole new generation of superstars out there. So if a young kid who is all he's seen in programming is maybe Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, if his dad brings them in and be like, hey, son, you know ten years ago this was the guy right and look at him like he can still go like this is my guy, and the son's like, no, this is my guy. I've heard so many stories from families about like, hey, one time my dad took me to wrestling. We watched you. Now I'm a grown man, and I realized that that was my way of my dad bonding with me.

Thank you for that.

So like, if the tour can do that, that's awesome. And I don't see you have a zero percent chance of doing that if you just say I'm done. We're not pure sport. The benefit of what we do is we're sports entertainment. So I can be like, ah, you know that the body doesn't feel I have a choice.

I could.

I could hang around for another ten years and do like a match a year and maybe progressively get worse with my skill set, or take an honest look at myself and be like I can do like thirty forty dates this year. Make it a thing, Tell everybody this is it which it is, be able to close the chapter in my life, move on to things that I'm curious and enthusiastic about, and hopefully create some moments and let people take away from it whatever they want. I just I want it to be worth it. What would it mean for you?

You're tied currently Rick Blair, sixteen time world champel to get number seventeen. Who would you like to fight the Rock? Randy Orton, Logan, Paul c Hm, Pump, Cody ro Roman Reigns. Who would you like to fight that match? To win the title?

So I think it's a that's a thing because of the legacy that Rick Flair has and certainly I've been fortunate enough to win.

It has to be down Rick Flair are you.

I personally know Rick, and he is a good chance of winning that fight. I don't know if that's going to happen. I think what's interesting about the tour is there are some jackpot long shot scenarios where it can happen. But to win a number one contender ship in the story driven purpose, you have to earn it, right. I had my chances. I've been a part timer now since like twenty eighteen, that's six years. I've had my chances of coming back and being like I want you in a match. I haven't won a match since twenty eighteen. Wow, that's a slump.

That's a lot of ale. Step one. I need to bust the slump.

So with all of those things into play, I don't want it, like I said, I want it to be worth it to the audience. So if I come back and push the champion and be like you and me in a match, the audience will immediately see through that as he just bumped his way to the front of the line, and the guy I watch every week who's earned that spot, he just took it away from That's stupid. If I win the Royal Rumble, I get an automatic chance. There have been stakes put on the elimination champe or if I win that, I might get an automatic chance at a championship. The money in the bank suitcase is a suitcase for a championship match anytime, anywhere. So that's what's cool about doing it over a year. There are these lottery chances where I'd be like, yo, he may break the record if it's.

Even an option.

I got to start winning in January and I might earn a shot by this And at that point I don't give who is as long as I can just get a chance. But I also, having been in that champion I respect the process and I don't ever want to take somebody's spot. Man, I don't ever want to take somebody's spot.

You know.

Triple Lake said, you're the goal. I had Rick Flair on here. He said, Sean Michaels is the goal. Who's John Seena Goat of ww gosh.

That's a good question, you know, I and I think that's what's interesting. I can name my top for hip hop artists because I have no skin in the game. This is a tough one to answer because I have so much professional respect for so many names like I have so much respect for Rick, like an ungodly amount of respect for Rick, and.

My age close to my age, he's it.

And then if you are my age and you one are able to compete with him and perform with him, and two when you're around Rick and you listen to what those matches were, his travel schedule, the sacrifices he made, the investment, he had, his passion. That's like whoa man you are, and all about this. But as I'm also enamored by the business side, Yes, and I don't think there's a better breathing example of what's the best the business has ever been than Roman Reigns. And it's amazing that I'm saying a still active talent with years in front of him is the greatest of all time. Wow, But he's been in it since twenty twelve. I had to work my way up. I started on the bench and then got onto the Saturday program and then just lost every match. He came in with the shield in a really high level spot and never waiver even when the fans didn't like him. He was still in a main event spot. He's been in a main event lens for over a decade now and he's brought through his clock and you could say whatever force has helped it. But in twenty twelve we were the stock was traded at eleven bucks WW or t KO stocks now at one seventeen. Wow, that's on his shoulders. There isn't a better indication of And I know it's a team effort. Nobody does it alone. But like when you say, hey, that to that to me is like, that's some serious shit. And for me, I got to give her respect is due. And Joe's smart, passionate about the business, multi generational athlete, has respect for his family, has respect for the locker room, has respect for the business.

He's not.

He's just he's a very very smart performer in somebody I respect. He would be my greatest of all time. You follow the pay up, you get the rock yep. Yeah, Rock would be second because Rock did the same thing in the nineties. But this is the one time I can say this because Rock's numbers are always number one. Roman's numbers have been better than Duayne's. But I mean, gosh, that's a that's like, this is bigg enough.

Yeah.

This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listen to Part one on. Just simply go back to Club Shashay profile and I'll see you there

Club Shay Shay

NFL legend Shannon Sharpe—3x Super Bowl champion and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame—sits do 
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