And who else was in that? Chavo?

Chavo was in it, and so did Lance.

So Chavo kind of helped me get the job.

So we were going to do this TV show he got me on, and then it got postponed.

And then he goes, actually, hey.

Um, I think you might be great for this role.

Um, contact this guy and, you know, send him whatever.

grand i go do not pay that

smartest thing they did.

Oh, yeah, of course.

And then obviously, too, you'd have the, and obviously it was way more protected then.

It was also, there's a lot of showmanship and the good guy, bad guy stuff, but it wasn't as over-the-top athletic that it is now, which also made it a little more realistic and it was it was very very very protected like it was like like like the deep honor you know a society like like like magic wise two were like they would pass it off that was real like everyone would leave the character 24 7 if we were having a match you would never see us together ever communicating or like it was it was very very much so like protected and then obviously two over the years it slowly you know opened up pandora's box and everybody knows it's uh as we call it a work um and i hate saying the word fake Because, yes, we're working towards a predetermined outcome, but everything else about...

I even did a persuasive speech in college about how wrestling was more real than it is fake because the athleticism is real, the bumps are real, the pain is real, the enthusiasm, the reaction, the crowd.

I mean, there's so much more real about it than it is fake, and I don't think people appreciate it.

And also, everyone thinks it's some big Cirque du Soleil... you choreographed dance rehearsal like i mean i i i've shown up literally like this is one of my favorite ones i i flew to london which actually i'm going there uh here next week too i flew to london landed drove two and a half hours to birmingham got there the show was already on talking to this guy i've never worked for as i'm getting dressed we're just having a conversation like this hey what do you want to do this this this this this this okay we're up like we got to go out there and do it like that was us choreographing match you just talk and then you you communicate with each other in the ring and there's a lot of stuff that you just do like improv wise and stuff, you know, or like, you know, or like the crowd might start chanting this or do this, but you can't plan for it.

So you, at one point, you had the option of going to the WWE?

Like, I feel like you can't win.

So it, it is weird 'cause, like, when I first started doing that, that is what really stood out and got me over, especially, like, PWG and stuff like that because they see me, especially in that type of crowd, they're like, "All right, this guy's, you know, awful." And then they see me work, and they're like, "Holy crap." And then they see me do, you know, whatever flip or springboard or di- and they're, "Holy crap, like, this is insane." Um, I was, uh, at the wedding that Mick Foley officiated for, uh, for my buddy Facade at WrestleMania weekend, and that was so cool.

We're all sitting around taking a photo by the Sabu m- uh, memorial picture by, at the Nerd Bar.

And, like, as Foley's talking about something, he just looks at me.

Sees, like, the veins coming out, and he goes, "Man, Bryan, I gotta tell you." And he goes, "I...

Anyone who looked like you, like, never made it back in my day.

And if they did make it, they just, they weren't good, and they weren't capable of doing anything." He goes, "Not only are you good," he goes, "then you can do stuff, too, in the ring that nobody your build can do." He goes, "You are, you are the one of a kind and definitely cut from a different cloth." And I'm like, "Just like I don't know." And then he went back to his story.

Yeah.

I'm like, "Man, he's so jacked." [laughs]

I know.

I know.

I, you know what's so funny? Like, I'm always watched if I'm doing cardio, because I can do cardio now, and I think we've talked a lot about that before, me watching wrestling- Yeah, absolutely ...

doing cardio.

We did.

This, we talked about it during the interview.

Yeah, you mentioned, yeah.

because I had signed with AEW.

But that was like a few months or so.

You know, if I was in the indies, I would have probably came back to work out for a few months.

But yeah, this was...

So, I mean, the quad would have had me out for probably nine months anyways.

And then I chose to get this right knee surgery and get a special replacement on it.

And then that's actually what kept me out longer because...

you absolutely absolutely