Pod Meets WrestleMania: AJ Lee

00:00:19
Speaker 1: I like to call our next guest the Tapanga of pro wrestling.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: Oh wow, not just because she's cute.

00:00:26
Speaker 1: And she's smart and she's down for her man, but also because after her first incredible run with the WWE, she is back after a ten year absence to do it again. But the results have been luckily much better.

00:00:41
Speaker 2: Than Girl Meets World.

00:00:43
Speaker 1: She's a multi time champion, but nowadays she's the reigning Women's Intercontinental Champion, putting it on the line against her arch nemesis Becky Lynch this weekend at WrestleMania. She's a New York Times best selling author, a comic book writer and a screenwriter, an actress, an advocate for mental health, and my fitness goals.

00:01:06
Speaker 2: It is the legendary A J Lee.

00:01:10
Speaker 1: Hello.

00:01:11
Speaker 2: Welcome.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: By the way, Danielle has taken all of these interviews, I'm doing this one solely, and we're only talking comic books I love, Just so you know.

00:01:20
Speaker 4: I'm ready for it.

00:01:22
Speaker 5: And also I think, like the last words I hear before I die, it is going to be W's Tapanga.

00:01:28
Speaker 4: Yes, thank you for that.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: I was hoping it wouldn't be insulted.

00:01:32
Speaker 6: I was like, I was the greatest I hated to bank character. Thank you well.

00:01:40
Speaker 1: AJ for the record, I have had Jensen text Punk numerous times saying, tell April to drop the workout routine.

00:01:47
Speaker 2: I am, I'm still waiting.

00:01:49
Speaker 1: I want And then when I said that to him, he said, well, a lot of it's diet too. I said, whatever she needs to send me, I just need to know. I want to know everything. We don't have to tell me now, but I'm not kidding. I need to know everything you're doing.

00:02:01
Speaker 2: Because you are. You are fitness and athletic goals.

00:02:04
Speaker 4: Thank you. I appreciate that.

00:02:06
Speaker 1: So you famously took ten years off of wrestling, and yet you were still in this kind of shape. Were you staying ring ready for a decade, I probably.

00:02:14
Speaker 2: Would have given up and just ordered in and out a bunch of times.

00:02:17
Speaker 6: Oh that's all I ever do.

00:02:19
Speaker 4: That happened.

00:02:20
Speaker 5: There was a solid maybe five years of we were just talking about this. I just like really enjoyed myself and had a great time and learned how to bake and gained like fifteen pounds.

00:02:31
Speaker 6: Nice. I call that onion ring ready. There you go, which is very important.

00:02:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, we can pretend it was like a bulking season really I was chilling.

00:02:39
Speaker 4: It is amazing.

00:02:42
Speaker 5: And then I think like after the pandemic, I was about to produce.

00:02:47
Speaker 4: My first TV show.

00:02:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I was like a volunteer to be on it and do like announcing and stuff on it, color commentating, and I was like, oh, I have to be on camera again. And then so I sort of just wanted to like learn as much as I could about fitness. So I got my fitness certification. Wow, just to like so I can make my own workouts and understand why people tell you to do. You know why those trainers tell you to do what they tell you to do. Just made my own workouts and started doing intuitive eating because if anything's like too structured, I can get like super disordered and unhealthy. Okay, so I had to be like whatever feels good and lets me have carbs.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: And doesn't restrict you too much.

00:03:27
Speaker 4: No restriction.

00:03:28
Speaker 5: And but when you were not restricted, you don't feel like you have to inge or you know, go crazy or nothing's off limits.

00:03:35
Speaker 4: Everything's a treat.

00:03:37
Speaker 5: So once I've cracked that code, then fitness was like fun again. And it was just like for me. And so the time he worked out perfectly with working out for you know, auditions and for you know, doing shooting our show, and then happened to be ready to go.

00:03:56
Speaker 4: To the opportunity exactly.

00:04:00
Speaker 1: Well, we're just days away from your very first WrestleMania since coming back. You will enter the ring as a champ.

00:04:07
Speaker 2: Was it all just like.

00:04:08
Speaker 1: Riding a bike for you or was there like an adjustment period, because it feels like you just settled right back in.

00:04:15
Speaker 6: Thank you.

00:04:15
Speaker 4: It's a very painful bike.

00:04:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's been a little straight so like the muscle memory is there and like knowing my body, like there's like a fluidity to it that just like a second nature.

00:04:29
Speaker 4: But the.

00:04:31
Speaker 5: Strangeness has been like the time, but matches back in my day, we're like five minutes, right, you know. And we had one match where right before we went out there they were like it's a thirty seconds now, you know.

00:04:42
Speaker 4: So it was kind of brutal.

00:04:44
Speaker 5: We learned to make the most of it and but you're not really testing your cardio. I've been a match either, So to come back my first match like half an hour, like twenty two minutes and twenty five minutes, it's just been like way longer than I've ever ever done, Like maybe all my just combined, we're shorter than what I've done this year.

00:05:03
Speaker 3: Do you have to change any of the moves ten years later or are you still like I'm doing all the same stuff.

00:05:08
Speaker 5: Well, I had like a serious neck injury, so like I'm a little bit more cautious of like I used to like rabbed all myself, like just bump on my neck for fun.

00:05:18
Speaker 4: So I try not to do that. It comes out just instinctively still, Yeah, but stuff like that.

00:05:24
Speaker 5: I try to be a little bit more careful, careful, condescen about. But if you think about it too much, you'll like get a little too gun shy, right, So try not to do that.

00:05:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you get that in your head right before you go out, like careful of your neck, Yeah, you're.

00:05:37
Speaker 6: Holding back, but it also has to be a weird balance because you should also be careful of your neck.

00:05:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I mean I imagine it's kind of like that.

00:05:46
Speaker 6: Yeah, trying to figure that out.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: So coming back, what old friend were you most excited to see? And what new superstar someone maybe you hadn't worked with yet were you most excited to meet.

00:05:58
Speaker 5: I mean, I can't talk about Bailey in that I was just obsessed with her. I met her at NXT when it was like kind of not even like the show yet. I think it was just like sort of still minor league's idea, and she just struck me as someone who was like my like soul wrestler. Like she was like the next iteration of like me, but better. And I was just like, Oh, she's going to carry that torch and connected her really early on, and then I think I defended my title against her. We had like one match forever ago, and then my last match, when I knew it was my last match, I went to merch and like stole one of her shirts because we were not.

00:06:36
Speaker 4: Allowed to do stuff like that back then, right, I put her shirt on, put a.

00:06:39
Speaker 5: Hoodie over it, and like went out there and like took the hoodie off.

00:06:42
Speaker 4: And they didn't know I was gonna wear her shirt for my last match, but I just was like co signing her like instantly.

00:06:48
Speaker 5: So I was so excited to get back and see her.

00:06:51
Speaker 4: And that was my first question.

00:06:52
Speaker 5: When I started talking to them about coming back, was can I wrestle Bailey?

00:06:56
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:06:57
Speaker 4: And I got too, and you got to do it.

00:06:59
Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:07:00
Speaker 2: You met Bailey last year. We got to interview Bailey.

00:07:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm still learning everybody, like learning a new language.

00:07:08
Speaker 3: It's our comic books are superheroes or anything. So yeah, I'm learning everybody as we go.

00:07:13
Speaker 6: And all the people I drove here.

00:07:15
Speaker 5: And to me, well, there's not a single person who will say a bad thing about Bailey.

00:07:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.

00:07:20
Speaker 1: And so was there a superstar you hadn't worked with yet that you were very excited to meet and possibly work with.

00:07:25
Speaker 4: Yes, I have.

00:07:28
Speaker 5: I call them my wrestling daughters. There's like this generation of girls who've been so kind to, like very vocally let me know that I was like an inspiration for them to get interrestling, where there's like pictures of them like at my signings. Cool and like from day one, I always uh knew that like when people come to your signings, like it's maybe it's like, you know, a long day for you, but it's like this is this very special.

00:07:50
Speaker 4: Minute for them to like interact with you. So make it count.

00:07:53
Speaker 5: And so anytime like a girl would come up to me and be like I'm want to be wrestler one day, I'm like you one hundred percent can do that.

00:07:59
Speaker 4: Like these come back and kick my butt one day.

00:08:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I set that to a few girls who actually became wrestlers, and one of them is Roxanne Perez, who was just killing it and is just like this, like leagues better than I could have ever been. Like, it's so cool to see what ev Lucian really is. And so that's been really cool to like see her and be like, hey, what a I do in this match? I'm trying to remember that move and she's like, well, I know all of them.

00:08:24
Speaker 4: He's the cutest thing.

00:08:25
Speaker 2: That is amazing.

00:08:27
Speaker 1: You had a real thriving Hollywood screenwriting career going. Did you call your agent and say, hold my calls, I have to go German Suplex Becky Lynch or are you bringing the laptop on the road with you?

00:08:40
Speaker 4: I tried to bring the laptop on the road.

00:08:42
Speaker 5: Okay, is a little hard because we're actually delivering our second original comic book as we speak, Issue to is do like the week Aftermania?

00:08:51
Speaker 6: Can we talk about that? Can we talk about that?

00:08:53
Speaker 2: She's done? You can go right into that.

00:08:55
Speaker 6: Okay.

00:08:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, So that has been a bit of a balancing gag. But luckily for like screen rating, I had just finished an animated movie for to a animation which has done like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon, like I'm obsessed with them, and I was in the process of finishing it when we started talking, and so I thought it was like kind of the perfect timing of like, okay, in this, I can't really get into the discussion too hard until this is done and then and then I'll like focus on wrestling, and so I'm trying to find the right balance.

00:09:29
Speaker 4: It's not easy.

00:09:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not. We'll go ahead.

00:09:34
Speaker 6: Animation nice. So that's my world.

00:09:36
Speaker 3: And so I'm just curious what your favorite animated shows are. What are you into more kind of anime than animation? You are, okay, so what are you like one punch Man? What do you What are you into?

00:09:46
Speaker 6: Well?

00:09:46
Speaker 5: I grew up loving Cowboy Bebop in Yasha. My dog's name was Cogome Fashiki Yuki kind of like a rom com. My friend got me into this, like anime was like heart and soul. And then I'll also loved the Batman animated series, like that's where I fil in love with Harley.

00:10:03
Speaker 4: Quinn the first time.

00:10:03
Speaker 6: You know, that's my world talking about it. Did you go to Akira first? Did you? Did you watch Akira.

00:10:10
Speaker 5: Okay, So yes, I think I maybe mentioned this in my book. I have such a weird traumatic memory with A Cira because I was watching it on a Christmas Eve when like, somebody broke into my apartment.

00:10:21
Speaker 6: Oh no.

00:10:23
Speaker 4: The name of that chapter is like you never forget your first stabbing. I had to stab my way out of this from the hood in New Jersey and you you got you stabbed?

00:10:40
Speaker 6: Yes, wow, while watching A Kira.

00:10:43
Speaker 4: So that is my memory of that day.

00:10:45
Speaker 5: It's a very hilariously dark chapter in my own Wow.

00:10:50
Speaker 4: But you know what, kids in Jersey, we were special breed. We are survivors alone. Yeah, but I had my pit bull with me.

00:10:58
Speaker 5: But then me, I was like, I've got to protect my dog pound pitbull away in a room.

00:11:04
Speaker 3: Oh man, did you see the end of the movie.

00:11:07
Speaker 5: Yeah I did, Okay, Okay, actually set back down.

00:11:10
Speaker 3: It was like, see you like to watching They're just going just continuing to watch the film.

00:11:15
Speaker 1: Sorry, sir, you're gonna need to wait till the movies over for me to get your dead body out of here.

00:11:19
Speaker 6: Exactly.

00:11:19
Speaker 5: It was a quick handstab. It was a face on an apartment. So it was breaking into my windows.

00:11:25
Speaker 2: And then it ran away.

00:11:26
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, the cops got them.

00:11:27
Speaker 6: They did. Okay, good, Oh man, that's crazy. Cure is a great movie. By the way, it's.

00:11:32
Speaker 2: Don't have if it doesn't give you pts.

00:11:35
Speaker 3: It's kind of like people go back to that for the start of anime kind of. But yeah, it's one of the one of the the ogs of anime. Yeah, which has exploded in the world.

00:11:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it was the pandemic really brought animation and because we were still working, so we were still at home recording all of all the animation. So it was exploding during that time. So did you grow up an animation fan or did you find it later in life?

00:11:58
Speaker 4: A little bit of.

00:11:59
Speaker 5: I guess it's like when I was a teenager because when I really which I think is when you start to find out exactly who you are. Like I think I knew who I was when I was fourteen, right, and like really never changed, like like that's the person you want to go back to. Yeah, maybe lose your way and then you that's your heart and soul. So that was like wrestling and like anime and comic books and video games.

00:12:21
Speaker 4: That was my teenage years.

00:12:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, so cool, Okay, I'm sorry, we can go back to wrestling. It's fine, you can go back to wrestling.

00:12:38
Speaker 1: Well, you've been such a vocal advocate for mental health over the years, and I think a lot of people struggle with returning to something from their past. We have certainly experienced that in our life. I'm sure the decision to come back to WWE wasn't easy for you. How were you able to weigh out the decision and take your mental health into consideration?

00:13:00
Speaker 4: That was one.

00:13:01
Speaker 5: Hundred percent, Like the biggest priority, yeah, was when I left, my mental health was not great for a variety of reasons. And then the journey over the past decade was like getting myself right and take taking care of myself before anything else, because if I'm not one hundred, I can't take care of my family. I can't, you know, be a good partner. I can't you know, be a good artist. Like nothing matters if my brain isn't right. And so that was my first priority, even just talking to them, talking to Paul and talking to ni Con And one of the reasons why I was like, Okay, I think maybe I can do this is because they were so open to that conversation, right and like Nick On especially, was like, if you ever feel like you are not in a healthy place, then we're not doing our job right. So like keep that line of communication open and we'll make sure we take care of that.

00:13:49
Speaker 6: And I was just like, yeah, and that kind of support must be really amazing.

00:13:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, just to see like that change, you know, because it wasn't even a thing I thought I could speak about openly, you know, ten years ago, and so that was really cool, and that was that still.

00:14:05
Speaker 4: Remains the most important thing to me.

00:14:07
Speaker 5: So with the schedule, with everything, it's always am I healthy?

00:14:13
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:14:13
Speaker 3: Now I'm curious, as somebody who deals with myself, is it something did you find a routine in your life or did you find something like meditation or what was the thing that really, you know, helped kind of get past whatever you needed to get past.

00:14:26
Speaker 5: So I have tried literally everything. So I became a mental health advocate because I was sort of hiding my bipolar disorder and it's something that runs in my family, and so I kind of wrote.

00:14:38
Speaker 4: A whole book about.

00:14:41
Speaker 5: Just ignoring it and how bad that is and like disassociation and not taking care of yourself and then the power that comes with sort of embracing it and realizing that there are kind of awesome things that come from it too, Like I am a little delusional in what I'm capable of, like, but that's also gotten me.

00:14:59
Speaker 4: Everything in life. It's made me like weirdly confident so and very creative.

00:15:04
Speaker 5: So once I was able to embrace like bad and the good and be able to separate it from who I am. Like I always tell people, if you're going through like a depressive episode, give it a name, Like that really helps because it's not you, the things you think are not it's not the truth. It's like something lying to you. And so I named her Gene. And Jeane's just a real dick. And every time you know it's a dark day, and like Gene, you stop fucking around.

00:15:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that really helped me.

00:15:35
Speaker 5: But I've done everything from like prescriptions to like in patient therapy like extensively, and I found like the right balance for me. Some of these people can. I'd like to not be super prescriptive because I think every it's different for every single person, So I don't want people to like that's exactly the answer.

00:15:52
Speaker 4: A million things could be the answer. It's a little bit of everything.

00:15:55
Speaker 3: For me.

00:15:56
Speaker 5: But something you can do daily is something like that name your darkness. I love it off, and a routine is really helpful. Like for me, it's like waking up at the same time, like having consistent diet, like to know what I want to eat all the time. Limiting sugar. Sugar makes me a little bummed out sometimes, even though I love donuts.

00:16:15
Speaker 6: Exercise too.

00:16:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, so that, like having sort of consistency has been the healthiest thing for me.

00:16:24
Speaker 6: I love that.

00:16:25
Speaker 2: One thing we share is a love for Big E.

00:16:27
Speaker 1: You two did some great work together back in your first run, and he has transitioned into hosting for WWE since getting injured a few years ago, and I just wanted to know what it was like to get to team up with him. I feel like he deserves all the flowers.

00:16:44
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, oh my god, I love that you love him.

00:16:46
Speaker 2: I love him so much.

00:16:47
Speaker 5: He's the greatest, like not only one of the greatest like performers, because he's just such a natural like star, like you want to just like stare at him, and he's like really funny, and he's just has so so much charisma and just like Cap debates the room like instantly, so He's a natural performer, but also as like a person, just the best person in the world, and like so pure and so kind, and especially back then when I wasn't at my healthiest and I felt maybe alone a lot of the times, like he was maybe one of the only people that really like had my back, and when I wasn't around for ten years, he's won Him and Bailey or probably the only two that really stayed home maybe a few other people, but stayed in touch with you consistently and were just like we're just friends, Like it didn't matter if a wrestler or not. So he's a special part of my heart. And I call him my son because I feel like I birthed him into this world.

00:17:40
Speaker 2: That's hilarious.

00:17:42
Speaker 1: Nowadays, the journey to WWE runs almost strictly through Florida and the WWE Performance Center. But you spent some time on the independent circuit for a few years before you signed here. What was that like for you? I want to hear like the worst indie stories.

00:17:58
Speaker 2: I want to know. I want to know the worst.

00:18:04
Speaker 6: That prepared me exactly.

00:18:07
Speaker 5: Oh man, the indies were not built for women back then. And I was just at dinner with Ifa Lyra and fal Carrie and she was talking about somehow reading an article about my place where I went to train, like didn't even allow girls the time.

00:18:24
Speaker 4: I had to convince them.

00:18:25
Speaker 5: And I remember the person who was like, you know, I was paying money to train. They were like, you know this hurts right, Like so it's just not a world for women, and so like in that vein, like your locker room would be a towel you put around yourself and hit in a corner and then you change your clothes, you know. And but I had a really supportive group of guys in my training school that really took care of me and like were like ros and like that. I was a good experience, but like actually competing in the Indies was like I probably did four matches in one night for twenty dollars, oh man.

00:18:59
Speaker 4: Telling dollars a match or you mean you want to know twenty dollars total?

00:19:03
Speaker 6: Yees, it's like thirty five dollars in gas to get there.

00:19:07
Speaker 4: I know. But I won the tournament, so I was like, I'm killing.

00:19:12
Speaker 2: It right now, oh man.

00:19:14
Speaker 5: And then I remember to try out for w W, I had I had to pay like my there was this time it was a few years where you could like pay to try out, and so I had never had money ever. I grew like insanely poor, so it took me like two years to save.

00:19:30
Speaker 4: Up the money to try out.

00:19:32
Speaker 5: But I was doing indies, so all the indie like twenty dollars year twenty there all was served for my tryout and got signed.

00:19:38
Speaker 4: So it worked out.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: I mean it didn't work out, but man, I'm trying to figure out when you how you were able to afford your meals while also saving money from your twenties twenty dollars to try out.

00:19:47
Speaker 4: No, I was not eating gray. I worked at a spa and they had like a cheese.

00:19:52
Speaker 5: And cracker plate that was out all the time and that I literally lived off for you.

00:19:58
Speaker 2: Nibbled the cheese.

00:20:01
Speaker 1: Man, I love our shark hooterie plate over here. Didn't give you flashbacks.

00:20:04
Speaker 4: You know, it's a good thing.

00:20:06
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:20:06
Speaker 5: I always go back to like my my like struggle meals. Yeah, Like I have a weird, like nostalgic love for them.

00:20:12
Speaker 2: So it is my mom.

00:20:13
Speaker 1: My mom talks about those years where before my dad had graduated college and started you know, really working, they would get twenty dollars a week each and they would have to use that to eat throughout the week, and then whatever they could save at the end of the year they would buy each other Christmas gifts with. And my mom talks about that time like it's just the most floor. Yeah, she has such a nostalgic plate center hearts.

00:20:37
Speaker 6: So, yeah, I'm curious. You're on the independent circle.

00:20:40
Speaker 3: You say, it's obviously not a place for women, but so were there times where you had no one to wrestle?

00:20:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, So there were some great women who we would would come to our school to like train with me and have somebody to train with. And one of them actually was Selena Viga of all people, who like is New York girl, but like she would come to Jersey and so we were like ships passing in the night where we were kind of in the indies at the same time and then sort of tried out maybe around the same time, and then I had my whole career, then I left, and then she came and now she's got her whole career and she's killing it uns back.

00:21:13
Speaker 4: Down with her husband, and so.

00:21:15
Speaker 5: Like that's just so crazy, Like we were sort of these girls alone in New Jersey and New York. But yeah, it would be really hard you like wrestle the same people all the time.

00:21:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was one of your favors, just like, okay, we're wrestling again.

00:21:29
Speaker 5: You have to like go to a different state to like all Women's Federation like and that they were they would be cool to like, you know, you'd really really want to get on to those shows because it felt a little bit you know more.

00:21:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, how I'm curious how from the beginning to now which again you're talking about back in the day to what is Daniel is telling me is essentially the super Bowl. Have you noticed how the audience reception has changed towards watching women wrestle.

00:21:54
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, And that's been cool about taking the time off is because it's sort of like if you like have a puppy, and a puppy grows so much in like the first few months, but like you're with it every day, so you don't really notice. But if you like see a puppy day one and then you go away for three months, you come back and it's like the size of.

00:22:12
Speaker 4: A truck, That's what it feels like.

00:22:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, to the change to wrestling, because when I started it was legitimately bron panties matches.

00:22:21
Speaker 6: Wow.

00:22:21
Speaker 5: I was in Dan's contest, I was in limbo contests and like just wanted to wrestle. And so it was just such an interesting like change to leave feeling like it was on the cusp of that, to feeling like we really did prove something and just like hoping maybe one woman gets another opportunity like I did, Like I got some cool chances. And always remember driving with Caitlin and being like, who is the wrestler back in the day, And I always say, if I can just make this place better for one more woman, it's just like somebody that comes after me.

00:22:56
Speaker 4: And so for there to be like thirty women right ten years later, it's insane.

00:23:02
Speaker 5: In the crowd, I will say to their credit, back in the day of the Diva's era, the crowd really started to fight for us. Like there's this like group of like diva fans who were so loyal and have stuck with us throughout the years, which is why you see so many divas and from our era back now.

00:23:19
Speaker 4: Our fans were hardcore.

00:23:21
Speaker 2: R Yes, when did you start the skipping?

00:23:25
Speaker 1: Was that before WWE w W? When what was what was the idea that kicked that off.

00:23:30
Speaker 5: So that was a complete accident that was there was this segment. I was in a storyline, many storylines where I was just like stalking the guys. Sure fall love with everyone was unrequited.

00:23:44
Speaker 4: They're like, ill, it's really good.

00:23:53
Speaker 5: And one of them was Kane, all people who I had a poster of like above.

00:23:58
Speaker 4: My bed when I was a kid.

00:23:59
Speaker 5: So well, I did this some segment where I come out and I am stalking him and I skip around him and then jump on him. And I think the idea was like like little Frankenstein sort of idea of like him playing with a little kid and accidentally killing her, and like that was the idea was like I'm.

00:24:15
Speaker 4: Like a little girl, and like it was just supposed to be creepy.

00:24:18
Speaker 5: Yes, And so that got such a pop that they were like, Okay, next week, come out and just like skip around the ring dressed as Cane.

00:24:25
Speaker 4: And do like the creepy skit.

00:24:26
Speaker 5: And so I was dressed like with his like creepy mask and did like a Harley Quinn shout out outfit.

00:24:33
Speaker 4: And it just stuck.

00:24:36
Speaker 5: And then all of a sudden, I was doing house shows and like househaes Haack in the day, like you were on the road for five days a week and you'd drive like three hundred miles a night, and you really wanted to wrestle on those shows. But I was just skipping around the ring once and I it would be like the end of the show, the main event, and then my music would hit. I'd skip around and then all the guys would make fun of me and be like, thanks for working.

00:24:58
Speaker 4: Hard on there. Oh my gosh, just stealing money.

00:25:02
Speaker 5: But so it just sort of like evolved from the cane thing and then it just they were like, just do it on your.

00:25:07
Speaker 1: Endr w it just because yeah, that is so cool. Do you remember a specific match. Maybe it's from the indies, it could be from WWE, where you think it all just like kind of clicked a moment where you thought like I got it.

00:25:22
Speaker 4: Ooh gosh, that's a great question.

00:25:25
Speaker 5: I would say the coolest moment was a promo and it was this storyline I did with with Caitlin, who was like my girl, like loved her so much and we were just like two weirdos together backstage and we were doing the storyline where the super weren't paying attention to it, so like we were going live a lot and then just like ad lipping and be like do they notice like we're saying this dumb shit, like just putting together really stupid like sketches and just popping each other.

00:25:56
Speaker 4: And that made us really really comfortable.

00:25:57
Speaker 5: And then we were gonna have this promo where I'm like revealing as her like secret admirer and like I've just been like messing with her mean girl style. And right before the promote, Stephanie McMahon talked to us and was like, Okay, they're gonna chant what the whole time? They're gonna like you know, it's gonna be hard to get them, but you just like waited out like was prepping us for the crowd, not wanting to hear women speak because women never had the mic back then. You never got the microphone ever. So they were really like just trying to take care of us and be.

00:26:25
Speaker 4: Like, Okay, get ready for it.

00:26:26
Speaker 2: Here's the yea.

00:26:29
Speaker 5: So we go out there and it's like really creepy, mean like segment and we're like really close friends, so like we are going at it for each other, like writing mean stuff for each other, and the crowd is just like like.

00:26:42
Speaker 2: The edge of their seat.

00:26:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know, it's one of those moments. It's happened a few times in wrestling in my career, like maybe like five times, where it's so electric you feel it on your skin and it's just like we were warm and it's the greatest thing in the world and we just like have them and they were just they ready for her to tear my face off, and it's like it was the one moment where like I've waited my whole career for this moment.

00:27:08
Speaker 1: Oh, that's so cool, that's amazing, that's such and we know that feeling you're talking about where you're in front of a crowd and you just know, yeah, oh we got yeah.

00:27:16
Speaker 6: They got them. We got it. They'll go go anywhere we take them right now. Yeah, that's the best.

00:27:20
Speaker 1: I'm going to assume you never had a death match or anything in those Bengo halls. But what's the worst injury you sustained in those early days?

00:27:29
Speaker 5: Oh man, early days was probably I broke my foot learning how to do like, uh back body drops.

00:27:38
Speaker 4: And then did a wholely three hour practice on my foot broken.

00:27:43
Speaker 5: Because I'm so tough like I was like twenty, Like I was so stupid. Yeah, so like the twenties are my foot Yeah yeah doing that, And then probably early in my career hurt my kneedn tell anybody, like strained my MCL and like my knees like three times the size for three months because I never got told anyone. I was hiding it under a knee path. So that was like the earlier days. And then my neck later on was not great.

00:28:11
Speaker 6: It was that in a match, your neck.

00:28:12
Speaker 5: That was one hundred percent of my fault. I like messed up a girl's move. I like over rotated and landed like straight on the top of my head and thought, I like thought I paralyzed myself instantly.

00:28:23
Speaker 2: I couldn't feel a thing, and I was just like, oh my gosh, that.

00:28:27
Speaker 5: Was like fingers toes legs okay, Like I had to like do the check.

00:28:32
Speaker 1: Man, and then you as as you were doing the check, you could start to feel them.

00:28:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, but it.

00:28:36
Speaker 5: Was a moment of like lightning and it was just completely my fault. I like Wade jumped too hard and uh.

00:28:42
Speaker 6: Did you have to continue the match after this.

00:28:44
Speaker 5: Was the last thing in the match than got yeah, god, yes, but I had to wrestle really soon after that, and I remember the girls helped me get dressed in the locker room.

00:28:53
Speaker 4: That's how like.

00:28:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, so like that was I was not the greatest of taking care of my body. And so now I'm like, all right, is everything okay?

00:29:02
Speaker 6: Am?

00:29:02
Speaker 5: I warmed up beforehand like ice and heat like in your like I'm going to be forty next year, so I am taking care.

00:29:11
Speaker 2: Yes, you're in that contrast therapy. Yes, oh wow, go.

00:29:17
Speaker 3: Back to well you said your second book is coming out?

00:29:24
Speaker 6: Can you tell me what's the first one about? And where can I get it?

00:29:26
Speaker 5: And so the first we started writing comics for like other companies just like get in It. So I wrote Glow like the Netflix like comics series, and then to have done Dungeons and Dragons and some wonder Woman.

00:29:40
Speaker 4: I know.

00:29:41
Speaker 6: I am what do you play? What do you play? Okay?

00:29:45
Speaker 4: It is my dream?

00:29:46
Speaker 6: Have you not played?

00:29:47
Speaker 4: You never?

00:29:49
Speaker 5: However, I will collect dice because I'm hoping to play one.

00:29:53
Speaker 1: Okay, this it's never been so excited. Okay, go ahead, and I'll tell.

00:29:58
Speaker 5: You love with the learning for the comm books, so I started researching it. It was like I belong in this world.

00:30:03
Speaker 3: Oh my god, well, we got to build you a character. What what do you think you are?

00:30:07
Speaker 4: I think maybe like a teethling rogue.

00:30:09
Speaker 6: Oh my god, perfect, it's perfect. You have no idea what we're talking about.

00:30:15
Speaker 1: Enjoy enjoying roses, God of good.

00:30:19
Speaker 6: Okay, I just and I.

00:30:21
Speaker 5: Put a teething rogue in our series because I was like, I connect to like this.

00:30:25
Speaker 3: So I mean, you're you writing straight up Dungeons and Dragons? Is it actually Fours of the Coast or.

00:30:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, we did that like a four issue are okay? And then that was really fun. But like that's how I learned.

00:30:34
Speaker 2: All about it.

00:30:35
Speaker 3: In fact, yeah, that's my world. So I learned to play in a show called Critical.

00:30:39
Speaker 4: Role, okay, and I'm obsessed with Critical So.

00:30:42
Speaker 6: Matt Mercer's my is a good friend of mine is my first. I will flip this chair. He's my first. DM is Maddie, Matt Mercer your first? Well, because we did a show together. I was Liono and he was Tigra on ThunderCats. So we that's how we met.

00:30:57
Speaker 3: And then he leaned over to me one day and said, I'm putting the other D and D game do you want to play?

00:31:01
Speaker 4: And I went no, but you are in season one?

00:31:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, oh my god, that's right.

00:31:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, yes, okay, okay, I remember, it's all.

00:31:13
Speaker 4: It's all coming back.

00:31:13
Speaker 6: So I'm on the cartoon as well. I'm on the animated series as well, so I love.

00:31:17
Speaker 4: The animated it's great.

00:31:18
Speaker 6: Yeah, so I mean, yeah, we're take amazing.

00:31:24
Speaker 2: So that's my I want to tell her that you're also Terry McGinnis.

00:31:27
Speaker 6: Well, do you watch Batman Beyond? Uh? Yeah, I'm Batman. I'm leaving. Oh my god, yes he's down here when he's Batman though, like.

00:31:44
Speaker 4: I'm having like a Kaiser sur Say moment, like everything.

00:31:48
Speaker 3: My gonna straighten out, the gold lighter is gonna come out exactly.

00:31:53
Speaker 6: Oh my god, amazing. Yeah.

00:31:55
Speaker 5: The closest I've come to critical role is on the one of the Ever series. I wore a mighty nine shirt like walking into the arena and like the Amazon account like retweeted me, and I was.

00:32:09
Speaker 6: Like, I love you.

00:32:11
Speaker 3: It's yeah, so that I mean it was kind of I've had great d ms, but when Matt Mercer is your first one, spoiled yeah, kind kind of yeah, kind of spoiled.

00:32:19
Speaker 6: We're trying to get Daniel to play. He has not fully been involved.

00:32:23
Speaker 2: I'll learn with you, I will, I will learn with That's what it's gonna take.

00:32:27
Speaker 3: It's gonna take one of your favorite wrestlers to get you into our world.

00:32:29
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, Yes, it's going to take a woman. I love.

00:32:33
Speaker 6: The two guys you love was not enough?

00:32:36
Speaker 4: Did you play match the gathering to my husband does?

00:32:39
Speaker 6: Okay? Well, I know what the next interview is going to be. There you go.

00:32:43
Speaker 2: Now you know where you're going.

00:32:44
Speaker 6: This is great stop to talk about. I know, the whole full world of this is awesome. We're going. Are there any DoD w W have dice? You should come out with a w W E dice? Really, you absolutely should take that idea.

00:32:57
Speaker 3: Do you also realize that w W the characters that you have, it's perfect for a tabletop game.

00:33:03
Speaker 4: I feel like there's probably a bunch of you of backstage should be into it.

00:33:06
Speaker 5: You'd have to, but I mean, I mean it's like.

00:33:09
Speaker 3: You could all play where you can you build your own wrestler and you go on adventures. I mean, we'll talk and we'll invent a tabletop game for w W Y and.

00:33:19
Speaker 2: We'll get you to play D and D.

00:33:22
Speaker 1: Let's say, when you get the chance to write a superhero movie, who are you picking?

00:33:30
Speaker 4: Squirrel Girl?

00:33:31
Speaker 6: Great character, great, great character, just.

00:33:38
Speaker 5: Like I like the uncoolness and the earnestness, and like, I don't know, there's something that's really interesting about that with like the sort of evolution of superheroes being super cool and then there being like a comedy to with you know, Guardians, and then like star Lord.

00:34:02
Speaker 6: I told world, Oh my god, I'm star Lord on the animated series.

00:34:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, amazing. So yeah, that's you're gonna have to like sign my arm.

00:34:10
Speaker 6: That's squirrel Girl. That's why when you said that, it was like, it's that perfect melody.

00:34:15
Speaker 4: It's great.

00:34:16
Speaker 5: I loved how that's where that's come. And I think like that would just be a fun character. I would I would want to if I would want to write that, I would want to direct that.

00:34:23
Speaker 4: I would want to be squirrel Girl.

00:34:25
Speaker 6: You could totally squirrel Girl. You actually could. You could because you'd also do your own stunts, which would be really bad.

00:34:31
Speaker 5: Save get there but also producing producing.

00:34:35
Speaker 6: Did you say you want Wonder Woman too?

00:34:38
Speaker 4: I did get I got to write a story for Black and Gold.

00:34:40
Speaker 6: Oh Man yeah.

00:34:41
Speaker 5: And then after that we did we started our original titles and it's called The first one was Day of the Dead Girl, and it was sort of this like X Files spin off but like set in you know dead is it? That is like the love of my life, Like I didn't know who I loved more molderous Scully.

00:35:02
Speaker 4: The same way you know, everybody's by Sexual Awakening.

00:35:05
Speaker 6: Let's go.

00:35:07
Speaker 4: It's just the greatest show.

00:35:08
Speaker 5: And like, especially for women like that, has there been a character like Scully that has just changed.

00:35:13
Speaker 6: The world the way she did?

00:35:14
Speaker 2: I don't know, I know.

00:35:16
Speaker 5: But yeah, so so that sort of an homage to that. But it was like, what's like a Mexican Porto Rican version of the X Files and if they are a mother and a daughter instead of you know.

00:35:26
Speaker 6: Cool, And that's the one you just did.

00:35:27
Speaker 5: The second Now we're about to do a second one with Ignition Press and we haven't announced it yet.

00:35:32
Speaker 4: I think we're announced it a comic con.

00:35:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:35:35
Speaker 6: Nice, I'm so excited. That's great.

00:35:37
Speaker 1: Other than your own or punks, what match are you most excited for this weekend?

00:35:44
Speaker 5: It's definitely I feel like I'm split down the middle between the women's tag mat yep, and Live in Stephanie because they've just been murdering each other every single week, and I watch it like a fan for most of the women, I sit there and I'm like, oh, yeah, my god, like I don't want to know what's gonna happen, Like I just like turn into like a thirteen year old fan again, and they like pull at my heartstrings so much. I don't know who I want to win between Stephanie and Live. It's like my Latina sister or my Jersey sister. What am I supposed to do there?

00:36:18
Speaker 1: Yep?

00:36:19
Speaker 2: Hard choice's choice.

00:36:21
Speaker 4: Both teams have fun. The tag match is like my friends, you have the Bellas who are like my Diva's error, so I got to work for them too. Then Lyra and pammere in it.

00:36:33
Speaker 5: And then Charlexa, who I ship so hard, so I don't know, and then like Lash has just been like Lash and Ya.

00:36:40
Speaker 4: Have just been murdering everyone.

00:36:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, So it's just I don't know, Like that is the most exciting match as a fan, and I don't know how I think we're all in the same night, So it's gonna be really hard to like be panicking and like dry heaving over a garbage can for my match, right and watching their.

00:36:57
Speaker 1: Also fan girling. Yeah, I love Charlexa. I hadn't heard that. That's cute. I think the WWE universe is nervous they're going to lose you again. Can you state here that your plan is to keep wrestling, that this isn't just a stunt where you come by once or twice a year.

00:37:16
Speaker 6: Do you know?

00:37:17
Speaker 4: I will say.

00:37:20
Speaker 5: I didn't really know how it's going to feel, and so going into wrestled Losa was like, let me dip my toe in the water because.

00:37:28
Speaker 6: I have.

00:37:30
Speaker 5: Some I don't know trauma from before that I'm like, Okay, this place is supposed to be new and feel safer. And that was the thing that was like really pitched to me. It's like it's a safe place. You're going to love this locker room. The office is going to take care of you, put your mental health first. And I was like, okay, I'll believe when.

00:37:46
Speaker 6: I see it.

00:37:47
Speaker 5: And then I got there and I just instantly fell in love with all the women in the locker room and I feel really taken care of. I also feel like like women don't talk about money enough and like I was like, hey, this is what I'm worth, Like that is.

00:38:00
Speaker 4: What you were worth.

00:38:01
Speaker 5: And I was like, here we go, right, That's what I fought for, like quite vocally back in the day. It was like fair pay, fair screen time. Yeah, because we're value.

00:38:09
Speaker 4: We should be valued as much as the men are.

00:38:11
Speaker 5: Yes.

00:38:11
Speaker 4: And so for the company to be like yes, you're right, fuck yes right? Who would have thought?

00:38:17
Speaker 5: And then for the locker room to be the most supportive. Like it's so it sounds so sacharine like cheesy, but like I've just never experienced like a sisterhood like that really heartwarming and healing in a lot of ways that I kept coming back because of them. So I'm definitely open to, you know, seeing how long I can go.

00:38:41
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:38:42
Speaker 1: I mean it's so nice now that women are getting the screen time they're getting and the pay that they're getting, it feels like there's less of that feeling of like it.

00:38:51
Speaker 2: Can only be one of us.

00:38:52
Speaker 6: Yes you know that, you don't.

00:38:54
Speaker 1: Women aren't feeling like they have Like it's there are resources, there's time, we can all support each other and we can all have our moment.

00:39:03
Speaker 2: We're not just fighting for one spot.

00:39:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's I think this.

00:39:07
Speaker 5: Huge thing, like you know, people would I was like pit women against each other and it's not their faults the system that the general patriarchy telling us that there's only one spot and you have to survive, and you're not your best self when you're trying to survive totally, So to I think there is like such a calmness when you know that there is space for everybody. Yeah, and the sun can shine on one person and warm everybody and that doesn't mean anyone's in the shade.

00:39:31
Speaker 4: Like everyone can shine and they all get that.

00:39:34
Speaker 5: And it's so cool to see like up close and personal like it is. It's what I dreamt of And so that's been really fucking cool.

00:39:43
Speaker 3: Ah.

00:39:43
Speaker 2: What's it like being on the road with your partner?

00:39:47
Speaker 4: Really good?

00:39:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's crazy because we weren't married on the road before, Like we were just started dating when he left Okay, and then like engaged and he wasn't there, and so it was very much like I was on the road or he was on the road, and and we had our little baby Larry for so long that like we never even like traveled together, like one of us always had to be the dog. Yeah, So to actually be like a married wrestling couple is so bizarre, but it is genuinely like bringing home with you so like I'm calm, I can you know he's there if I need some support, and like he's just always uh, he's like extra cute, like at work, but he's like hips me up all the time and like makes me feel like you know, I don't know. From day one, he has always made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the room, you know, and he still.

00:40:35
Speaker 2: Does as you deserve to feel and as you deserve to feel.

00:40:40
Speaker 1: Next year will be the ten year anniversary of your memoir Crazy is My Superpower.

00:40:45
Speaker 2: You mentioned that next year ten years?

00:40:47
Speaker 4: How did that happen?

00:40:48
Speaker 2: Yes?

00:40:49
Speaker 1: Wow, how I triumphed by breaking bones, breaking hearts and breaking the rules. And I feel like so much has happened in your life in those ten years. Do you have any plays to write a follow up?

00:41:01
Speaker 4: I do, Yeah, I really really.

00:41:06
Speaker 5: There was this like sort of rush on it at first, or just like let's do the other one, and I really felt like I had to live some more life and get some more stories and there was a lot packed into the.

00:41:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had a rough child, right.

00:41:19
Speaker 6: People at thirteen? But were you thirteen.

00:41:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, thirteen or fourteen?

00:41:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, I stabbing age.

00:41:27
Speaker 1: That's well, I said, she said she was a kid. I said, were you alone? She was home alone? At thirteen, I had to stab a person. Do you see why she has PTSD about that movie.

00:41:39
Speaker 5: I wouldn't change any of it because I feel like it made me know who I am and resilient and have a very dark sense of humor and a survivor.

00:41:46
Speaker 4: But so that book was pretty heavy.

00:41:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I did you know the last sentence of that book is I'm going to change the world, but first I'd like a nap.

00:41:55
Speaker 4: And I feel like I took my nap.

00:41:56
Speaker 5: I took a little break, and my mental health work has been like the way I want to change the world, and I feel like I'm seeing some progress in that. And then now to see literally the wrestling world changed, and I feel like I've got to be a part of that.

00:42:10
Speaker 2: Attributed to that. Hey ed the way for that.

00:42:12
Speaker 5: I appreciate, thank you, and I'm confident in that. I'm proud of that, and I feel like to now have that like full circle moment. I do have more stories to tell, so I would I would love to write another book.

00:42:22
Speaker 6: But you can't because you're gonna you gotta do scrorel girl.

00:42:24
Speaker 4: First, I had a scroll girl. I have my first original horror movie I'm writing now.

00:42:29
Speaker 6: Wow cool writer.

00:42:31
Speaker 2: Our other co host is a horror writer, and I love yeah horror movie.

00:42:36
Speaker 4: So get My husband got me into the horror genre.

00:42:38
Speaker 6: Yea.

00:42:38
Speaker 5: And it's just like the perfect genre for like anything any sort of life trial tribulation you can like put into a horror movie. And so that is what I'm working on now. And I'm also adapting the book for.

00:42:50
Speaker 6: A future Nice.

00:42:51
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna do that and then maybe the book after.

00:42:54
Speaker 2: That, perfect follow up and we'll see.

00:42:56
Speaker 4: I there's wrestling sprinkle ye also professional rest.

00:43:01
Speaker 3: All.

00:43:02
Speaker 4: I could have ten jobs.

00:43:03
Speaker 2: Why not listen. I'm right there with you. I know the feeling.

00:43:06
Speaker 6: So yes, I have something to do next Thursday, and it might get canceled, so.

00:43:14
Speaker 2: You may end up having that day off.

00:43:16
Speaker 1: I love that Will says when we talk about like, okay, well, I know we're all very busy. He goes, I just have to take my pills at noon.

00:43:23
Speaker 5: That's it.

00:43:24
Speaker 6: Every day, it says, take pills. I'm like, all right, and that's the.

00:43:26
Speaker 4: Time I forget Nice I have an alarm for my.

00:43:30
Speaker 6: I do too, but I go, I'll get there and then I don't ever take it.

00:43:33
Speaker 4: So yeah, minds not today, Satan.

00:43:37
Speaker 6: That's the reminder. I love it.

00:43:39
Speaker 2: I love it.

00:43:53
Speaker 1: Before we let you go, we have a little WrestleMania rapid Fire. Don't think on these too long. You're going to pick between two different options.

00:44:01
Speaker 2: Okay, here we go. Luma Natty's Pizza or super Dog Luma, Naddies.

00:44:07
Speaker 1: Sailor Moon or One Piece Sailor Moon Charmander or ev Evy Cubs or black.

00:44:14
Speaker 5: Hawks black Hawks because I don't like sports at all, but they have good snacks.

00:44:20
Speaker 4: I prefer the snacks.

00:44:21
Speaker 2: I already know the answer to this.

00:44:22
Speaker 4: One bagel or donut, donut.

00:44:26
Speaker 2: Freddie or Jason.

00:44:30
Speaker 4: Jason. I mean, my husband would say so I had to support him.

00:44:38
Speaker 2: Punk and Mayans MC or punkin Heels.

00:44:41
Speaker 4: Punkin Mayans, punkin Hills is a whole mess.

00:44:47
Speaker 2: Batman or Superman, Batman than You Live or Stephanie.

00:44:55
Speaker 5: No, I won't be lowed back in Latin America. I'm split into it really, just as people. They're so fucking cool, like so good and like just to see them like beat the ship out of each other.

00:45:11
Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, Jade or Charlotte.

00:45:19
Speaker 4: Oh my god, it's like choosing my favorite Amazon.

00:45:25
Speaker 6: Oh my god.

00:45:26
Speaker 5: Okay, I love Jade. I feel like she's a human action figure. But I gotta go Charlotte cause she's my teammate for.

00:45:34
Speaker 4: Four games.

00:45:35
Speaker 2: Finally, a J or Becky aj J. That's right, that's what I'm saying.

00:45:47
Speaker 6: A J fucking lay. No, she's not.

00:45:56
Speaker 2: No, not the man is not as cool as you are.

00:45:59
Speaker 6: I want to add one wonder Woman or squirrel Girl school Girl.

00:46:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:46:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough, though, Diana from Famous Care is pretty bad ass, so that's it's tough.

00:46:07
Speaker 6: Tough to say that.

00:46:08
Speaker 2: I do think we really have to manifest squirrel Girl now.

00:46:12
Speaker 6: It would be huge. He really would need to bring with nine people that are still working at Marvel.

00:46:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:46:17
Speaker 6: I think I think we'll get them out.

00:46:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:46:19
Speaker 6: No, it would be it would be put out there.

00:46:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, put it out there for you.

00:46:23
Speaker 6: I like that for you.

00:46:25
Speaker 3: I want to see squirrel Girl in Rocket end up together on screen, which I think would be really cool.

00:46:30
Speaker 6: Yeah. Nice.

00:46:32
Speaker 4: So we have to talk like indie comics too.

00:46:36
Speaker 6: Have you done any? Oh? Sorry, we're going have you found Radium Black. You'll dig Radio Black. It's great. Yeah, a friend of mine does that. We actually, I mean, i've met the guy who who Kyle Higgins. Yeah, Kyle's a great guy.

00:46:52
Speaker 4: I've met him. We've talked about radio.

00:46:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kyle's an awesome dude and and a great resource for comic book stuff.

00:46:57
Speaker 6: A few days Yeah, awesome. Yeah, his black Market narrative. His company is starting to do some really great stuff.

00:47:04
Speaker 2: Cool.

00:47:05
Speaker 5: I've been really enjoying Magma Comics, of the first ones I worked with. The Cognition has a really cool lineup coming up.

00:47:11
Speaker 6: There's Yeah, there's the stuff that's happening in comic books now is pretty phenomenal. Yeah, okay, sorry, all right.

00:47:18
Speaker 2: You guys can talk about that.

00:47:19
Speaker 6: I still want now, I want w W E. Dice.

00:47:21
Speaker 2: I know, listen, you've got great idea as well.

00:47:24
Speaker 6: We have to leave my house to get them done. It's a whole thing.

00:47:28
Speaker 2: You're given the idea to her.

00:47:30
Speaker 1: She can she she knows who to bring it to. She can bring the idea to the front office, go figure it out.

00:47:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, but we got a roll at some point, and in my world role that means Dice not actually you throwing me around a ring, so it would it's so much.

00:47:43
Speaker 5: Fun, fellow comic book writer Jody Hawser so that she is going to help me get into my first.

00:47:48
Speaker 6: It's again, getting in the campaign is the greatest thing in the world.

00:47:51
Speaker 3: But if it's anything like my friends and with the people that are you, that are working, it's like hurting cats because you're trying to get seven or eight people together for like I'm a game. A decent game takes six or seven hours, so it's like trying to get people together for that.

00:48:05
Speaker 6: Long all the time game start. It depends are we drinking or not.

00:48:11
Speaker 2: I don't drink so.

00:48:15
Speaker 6: Roy so if we're not, then you know, you can start at four o'clock in the afternoon and you're done by ten eleven o'clock at night.

00:48:22
Speaker 4: This isn't the greatest thing in the world.

00:48:24
Speaker 6: This is only, by the way, This is only if you're lucky.

00:48:26
Speaker 2: Every week, oh oh good, oh every week.

00:48:29
Speaker 3: I there are times where then you're gonna leave and you're gonna be texting each other about what you hope happens the next time.

00:48:36
Speaker 4: We started to make friends. The problem I don't have enough friends.

00:48:39
Speaker 2: Well, you don't too terribly far from us.

00:48:43
Speaker 6: There we go.

00:48:43
Speaker 2: You don't know, La, so.

00:48:47
Speaker 4: We're doing this?

00:48:48
Speaker 6: Oh my god? So you know the first thing we'll do.

00:48:50
Speaker 3: No, the first thing we'll do is we'll just get a one shot together. Yes, I'll call Matt, Oh my god, and maybe Maddie you'll come. I don't, he's busy as hell.

00:48:58
Speaker 6: But maybe Matt will come in case, yes, or maybe or maybe Liam or Sam or somebody Carr, even Ashley.

00:49:04
Speaker 3: Okay, we'll come in DM for us or GM, depending on what we're playing.

00:49:08
Speaker 6: And maybe we'll just get a one a one shot together where we don't it doesn't need to drag on. We'll drag you there. I'll be there and you will come in. We'll just play one specific game.

00:49:16
Speaker 2: Isn't it. April's there. You don't have to drag me.

00:49:19
Speaker 6: I mean no, as long as we now we know the secret. There's Ryder and I've noticed since she was twelve, trying to drag her there. One good wrestler. She's in.

00:49:26
Speaker 1: I'm in.

00:49:28
Speaker 6: Why didn't we try this last time? We literally the last game we played is like all was all ninety stars.

00:49:34
Speaker 3: Matt, we did a one shot for us on the critical role channels, myself, Ashley Johnson, Stacy Keenan, Jody Sweden.

00:49:41
Speaker 6: It was all of us together and Danielle like you had to bail.

00:49:44
Speaker 2: I did, but I did tear my hamstring, which is the reason I bailed.

00:49:47
Speaker 4: Pretty good excuse my leg was.

00:49:50
Speaker 6: Nothing to do a hamstring. Nothing to do with a hamstring at amazing. Yeah. So but it's so much fun and you can get those done in li three to four hours. Nice.

00:50:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, great, we'll bust out at four and end at eight and I could still be asleep by nine.

00:50:06
Speaker 6: I love it. There you go. We're gonna roll to see if you get a long rest. Okay, so we'll get there. But yeah, we'll get that together and it'll just be a ton of fun.

00:50:16
Speaker 4: Documented it has been.

00:50:17
Speaker 6: Rider will be in. We're always looking for excuses to play, so we'll figure something out that we'll learn together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's gonna be all. Yeah.

00:50:25
Speaker 4: The rules intimidate me, but the world is like, that's the joy is.

00:50:28
Speaker 3: You don't really have to if you have a great DM or GM, they they're the rules, they're the top of the box.

00:50:34
Speaker 6: You don't have to worry about it. They're going to let you do what you can do or what you can't do. You just roll and you play. They encourages asking questions, hey can I do this, and most of the times you get a good DM they're like, I don't know, try and then you got to roll and see if it works. So it's a ton of fun.

00:50:49
Speaker 3: They never make you feel stupid. You're always just having a blast and enjoying it. By the end, you're just crying, laughing and having the best time. So you're gonna have so much fun.

00:50:57
Speaker 1: AJ thank you so much for being here. Really cannot wait to see your match this weekend. Thank you, Sharon, very loud for you.

00:51:04
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me. This so much fun.

00:51:06
Speaker 2: This was really fun. We're thrilled, so thank you for joining us.

00:51:09
Speaker 6: Thank you, guys. Yay Yay.

00:51:14
Speaker 1: Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Wright Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddi Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram at Pod Meets World Show, or email us at Pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com.