Episode 441: Living The Gimmick

Uh, did you ever -- I mean, listen, I knew that you expected success.

Everyone hopes for the best, and we're all delusional optimists at heart.

But would anyone have, have suggested or predicted the immediate success of Real American Freestyle? Like, it feels like with almost any other form of entertainment, it takes a little bit more time to get some momentum.

You guys have so much menum- momentum coming out of year one, it almost feels kind of unprecedented, Eric.

I think it is in a lot of ways.

Um, y- you know, it's hard to compare what we've accomplished to anything else out there.

Because as you said, I mean, this is r- really the fastest growing sport in the world right now.

I don't know how long we'll be able to sustain that, but clearly if you look at the growth that th- that we've experienced and, and the buzz.

You know, little things, you know, anecdotal type stuff.

For example, when I landed in Cleveland a couple days ago, there were fans with their RAF merch waiting to get autographs from some of the wrestlers that were coming in.

And I love seeing that, you know, because that's just -- it, it, it, it's just a reflection of the energy that we, we've created and the interest that we've created.

And you love seeing it manifest in, in real life.

You know, people waiting for you at the airport.

The turnout that we're getting, you know, 10,000 people or so in Cleveland.

I think we may have -- I don't know, I'm gonna compare it to WWE, you know, when they get to town next week.

But I, I wanna look at those numbers pretty closely because we're kicking ass ticket-wise.

And I know, you know, the experts like, uh, your buddy Dave Meltzer projected that so he wasn't -- no one's gonna watch it, it was gonna be a failure, along with a lot of other people.

And to just kind of stick it in their faces is, is kind of fun.

Nobody expected it.

I -- and to answer your real question, you know, did I expect it? Absolutely not.

I am terminally optimistic as an entrepreneur, and it can either be a burden or a blessing.

It's about 50/50.

And I, I -- it's a little bit like the NWO.

Did I know it was gonna be successful? Sure, I knew the NWO was gonna probably be pretty successful.

I thought success at that point was like a good three months run storyline-wise, maybe six months.