Mick Foley Meets World

00:00:19
Speaker 1: Guys.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: I don't know if this is art imitating life or life imitating art, but there was a horror movie announced and I can't ignore the connections it has to Boy Meets World. Okay, Okay, I'm gonna share. I was trying to find a poster, but it was released so like recently, like this trailer was just like within the last hour, and I saw it and went, this isn't real, is it? And then I realized it is real? And I'm going to show you two things about it. One is the name of the film, and the second part is the star of it. Okay, okay, all right.

00:01:01
Speaker 1: Here we go. And then there was sean.

00:01:06
Speaker 3: Adam Scott.

00:01:07
Speaker 2: Okay, so the name of the movie is one hundred percent Hokum h O k u M. That is the name of the movie, and it is starring Adam Scott. Huh is that not insane?

00:01:21
Speaker 4: Hom that happened?

00:01:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, HOCM. We decided to do it.

00:01:24
Speaker 2: HOCM.

00:01:25
Speaker 4: We are not a part of this.

00:01:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, is what is is hocum the name of a town or something or Okay?

00:01:33
Speaker 2: So my novelist very scary looking obviously you can see here like it's this is a very scary moving, and it's it's produced by Saint. People's like long legs and I mean it's supposedly like gonna be.

00:01:43
Speaker 4: The last thing you were on had a description. There we go Hokum.

00:01:47
Speaker 2: No, you want me to see it?

00:01:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to see the description the last.

00:01:50
Speaker 6: Thing I was reading at first it said something like, he's an author travels.

00:01:55
Speaker 4: To an Irish inn, unaware of the witch rumored.

00:01:58
Speaker 2: Well, let's share it. Adam Scott's ours and Damian McCarthy's new horror film Hokum, which follows a novelist who travels to an Irish end to scatter his parents' ashes, unaware of the witch rumored to haunt the place.

00:02:09
Speaker 4: Cool, So what do we think is the witch named Hokum or or.

00:02:14
Speaker 5: The like the hocom you're stopping here.

00:02:20
Speaker 2: There's a witch here, hocme, there's a witch here, pocus.

00:02:27
Speaker 1: Hocme.

00:02:28
Speaker 2: My body is tingling.

00:02:29
Speaker 4: Oh wow, that is so funny.

00:02:32
Speaker 5: It's not weird.

00:02:34
Speaker 2: Am I the only one who was like it was like, that's very strange.

00:02:37
Speaker 1: It is strange.

00:02:38
Speaker 2: Hocum itself is a weird title. And then now I'm Scott and.

00:02:43
Speaker 3: Now he's starring Scott.

00:02:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, Wow.

00:02:45
Speaker 4: All right, well, hocum, we're going to go see this together.

00:02:49
Speaker 3: That's what It's just scary. I don't scary now, hocum, hocum. I can't sleep tonight.

00:02:55
Speaker 1: Is what I was talking.

00:02:56
Speaker 2: But you guys, we should see this and we should RecA it's hope.

00:03:01
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm not watching that, which is are real and they scare me.

00:03:05
Speaker 1: I do or know that.

00:03:06
Speaker 2: And we could shoot like ourselves in that like weird radar looking thing where you can see Danielle's scream when something crazy happens in the dark.

00:03:14
Speaker 4: You'll see me. You'll see like most of the movie's right. But also I have my thumbs in my ear and I go like.

00:03:21
Speaker 2: This, yeah, she covers her So the sound.

00:03:24
Speaker 4: The sound is huh, you're still seeing yeah. But then if I want to it's very quickly to just do this. But it more importantly is that I have my fingers in my ears. It's more about the sound.

00:03:32
Speaker 3: That was so sired night Live. And then I pull out my arms. I smell them like this.

00:03:36
Speaker 4: I'm like this, like thumbs are.

00:03:40
Speaker 2: Smell them real quickly.

00:03:41
Speaker 4: That's what I was for Halloween. This pasture are.

00:03:43
Speaker 2: You Yeah, yeah, I will say that when I see a horror movie and there's something like a nail, like I know a nail's going through someone's leg or something, I will put my hand in front of my eye, but I still see. But I don't know.

00:03:53
Speaker 3: Why I want to.

00:03:54
Speaker 4: I want to watch, but I want it to be limited. I want to see it like through a little only.

00:03:58
Speaker 2: A little bit, like you want to see it through a peopole.

00:04:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to see it through a people. And I need to have my hands in my ears to calm the sound because the sound's the worst part. So ears, and then just peephole and then I can close the people like we just did Indiana Jones at Disneyland, and I know where the spiders come up, and so I blocked my face. Oh okay, Like I could just close my eyes, but I have to be more dramatic than that, so I had to fully cover my head with my arms, and yeah, it works.

00:04:25
Speaker 6: Did you see the meme that I sent you, which I thought was pretty perfect, not the one?

00:04:30
Speaker 4: Oh yes, it was unbelievable. Will sent me an Instagram DM with a meme that said you, and it was this. It says when someone asks what my biggest fear is, but I can't answer flying economy internationally, so I just say spiders. Well that's okay. Also you but no spiders. Yeah no, oh well interesting.

00:05:05
Speaker 2: Well Hocum May one, twenty twenty six. Okay, so maybe we'll birthday. Yeah, maybe we'll just create a Hocum Rewatch podcast and just talk about it every episode.

00:05:17
Speaker 6: That sounds great. Can we can actually do it from an Irish pub in Ireland? Because then I'm yeah, good.

00:05:23
Speaker 4: Luck, thank you. Welcome to this episode of Pod Meets World. I'm Daniel Fishel, I'm Roder Strong, and I'm Wilfredell.

00:05:44
Speaker 1: Sure.

00:05:44
Speaker 4: We've been dreading the season seven recaps since the moment Angel and Vicki first pitched us this podcast, but we always knew that if we ever made it to the end of the series, there would be at least one silver lining, probably wrapped in barbed wire. That bright spot, our show's second iconic wrestling cameo, the only man to survive both a fifteen foot fall through a steelcage and a note session with Michael Jacobs, and now a thirty years later, one of our most requested podcast guests. He was best known as Mankind, a masked horror movie ready loon who took the WWE by storm during its iconic Attitude era of the nineties. In addition to that deranged fan favorite, he also simultaneously performed as two other characters, Cactus Jack and Dude Love, once even appearing as all three during a single royal rumble. Oh God, But to us, yeah, isn't that crazy? Just would leave in the somebody.

00:06:46
Speaker 3: Else, that's crazy.

00:06:48
Speaker 1: We'll have to ask about that.

00:06:49
Speaker 4: But to us, he was just the lovable teddy bear who showed up in our season seven episode for Love and Apartments in order to referee a wrestling match where the winner claimed the least to an apartment. Why or how Mankind suddenly popped into the show is never explained, but considering it meant keeping this guy in our lives for more than thirty years, we are more than happy to just let that slide. He's a WWE Hall of Famer who wrestled around the world, most infamously in Japan, then with mythic stops in WCW and ECW, making him one of the biggest stars in wrestling history. He's a three time WWE Champion and eleven time tag team Champion. Including an all time run in the Rock and Sock Connection, and he was the inaugural WWE Hardcore Champion. He is undeniably the hardcore legend, but most importantly for the next hour or so, he is our former co star. Finally, Welcome to Pod Meets World, the Great Mick Foley. It's so good to see you. We have been kind of counting down the episode for the last three years basically to get to you.

00:08:07
Speaker 1: Well, I'm so glad to be here. I understand. It's like a phenomenon this podcast. You guys that going on.

00:08:15
Speaker 4: You You hear about it quite a bit at conventions.

00:08:17
Speaker 1: Huh Yeah. I keep it being asked when I'm going to be on it. Yeah, I guess whenever they invite me. But no, the invitation has been there for a long time. And can I share what happened earlier today?

00:08:32
Speaker 4: You certainly can? I would love to. Yeah, go ahead.

00:08:36
Speaker 1: I text Danielle and I'm like, hey, know, I don't understand. You know, I woke up early just so I could do this. I don't see anyone on there, and we deduced that when I was told nine am, I mistakenly thought that made East Coast time. When it is Westcot. I'm gonna turn this chair around a little bit. Yeah. So I'm here, not in the format you'd like me to be, but but I'm here.

00:09:01
Speaker 4: You're here. And you know what when he texted me at six am and he was like, Hey, is it six Pacific or is it? And I was like, it's definitely not right now because I'm in a robe.

00:09:12
Speaker 1: And are you doing up at six am? Sleep?

00:09:17
Speaker 4: Mike, You're so sweet to think that I would still be asleep at six am when I have two small children and nine thousand jobs. Yeah, no, I had. I had already lived a couple lives by six am and was happy to write you back. And I'm thinking he was like, I'm going back to sleep. I said, please do, Danielle.

00:09:36
Speaker 1: You will have a Santa video. It's I recorded it a few days ago and my guy is doing the editing. You know how much Friday taking these videos. So my guy's doing the editing, and I believe you'll really enjoy it, as will of the children.

00:09:53
Speaker 4: Well, I am so excited to get your Christmas everything you do around Christmas. You're wearing one of your Christmas shirts. I did tell the guys that you have every Yeah, how many Santa Slash Christmas shirts do you think you have?

00:10:10
Speaker 1: Well, in twenty fourteen, we had this little documentary called I Am Santa Claus and it's really good. It's touching a unique way if people want to track it down streaming somewhere. And Morgan Spurlock was the executive producer and I told him, you know, there's not a lot of there's not a lot of money and to promote a small, low budget documentary film, so I said, I will wear something Christmas eat every single day for this year and I will document it on social media. And I did, which actually caused my profile to lose followers. Oh my god, my kids are like that, Yeah, why are you losing followers? I said, I don't think people like the whole Christmas in my mark thing. So I probably had like maybe one hundred different things at that time, but I've scaled down. It was one of those things where you lose. I lost weight and I gave away all my stuff because I didn't want that signal to myself that I was going to be that heavy again. Then I did get that heavy again. I had to buy a new things and now I'm back down almost ninety nine point two pounds down from my all time high, so I'm proud of that. For you, a shirt fits me much better. I appreciate that it's hard, especially when at the Galaxy cons and they have that amazing selection of homemade candy. It could be really tough to get. Yeah, it could be really tough, but I probably have. I'd say I still have about forty forty shirts, probably forty shirts combination button down T shirts, long sleeve shirts. I'm still known to fire ups and that King Cole. Oh holy night in the month of the year.

00:12:01
Speaker 4: I love it. I love that you're mister Christmas. It really it brings our family a lot of joy. So thank you.

00:12:06
Speaker 1: You're welcome.

00:12:07
Speaker 4: My first question is had you ever seen Boy Meets World before Mankind came barging into the girls apartment to inexplicably referee a match?

00:12:18
Speaker 1: What I was thinking of that earlier after I talked to you or texted with you, as I was laying back down, I was like, why did Mankind show up to referee the match? It just wet, It just seemed to make sense, right, we don't have a referee. And then boom, I knocked on the door. And like somebody asked for a referee. Yes, I had because my son and daughter were fans of the show. Okay, so I really I always enjoyed it. You know. It was one of those things where the ultimate, I think compliment is that when someone is multitasking on their phone, they're reading the paper, whatever it might be, while simultaneously watching the show, when they put down everything else just to enjoy the show with their children. Yeah, I really liked it. I did. And then when I met the cat you guys, and you kind of took me in. Did not make me feel like I was, you know, outside, And I think, you know, for fifteen years now, since we've all gotten back in touch, it makes people's feel warm and fuzzy inside. See that I was on the show one time, and it's it's been responsible for a really good friendship.

00:13:28
Speaker 3: Yes, well, you were only on the show once.

00:13:30
Speaker 6: It seems like you were on more than once because of your such a presence.

00:13:35
Speaker 1: It was just that one time. And if you remember, Will at the end of the show, I'm supposed to like throw you up into the air and the bumbent is like if anyone's seen me in wrestling, I didn't have great deltoid development, Like I could lift you up into the air, but I could not yet. Oh no, I'm not capable of doing that, and I can only lift your like like Headlang and the stunt guys, like I thought you're wrestlers, Like if you see my arms, I can't see you. There were things I could do and things I could not do.

00:14:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm also not at the time, especially I wasn't light.

00:14:09
Speaker 6: You know, I was probably close to two hundred pounds at that point, so lifting that anybody lifting that up is tough.

00:14:14
Speaker 3: God, that's funny.

00:14:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, But that was where you stood up and you called mankind of bully. I know you're back down, and I said something like something or throwing. You went throwing please. And then there's that. I won't say it's an iconic photo, but it's a popular photo of me laying down in bed as Mankind. Hello kitty, yeah a hello kitty. Yeah that was that was so great.

00:14:45
Speaker 4: You have a long storied history wrestling in Bingo halls Japan, ECW thumbtacks, death matches, marbed Wire was acting in a Family Network sitcom. Ever, something you saw in the car for Mankind.

00:15:02
Speaker 1: Fed No especially early mankind. You know, I was cactus jacked for twelve years, went to WW, and so I was I had this kind of scary mask, and I decided I was going to do my best to make this character dark and foreboding. And I guess it was working because as a certain point WW asked me not to participate in anymore Make a Wish events and I was yeah. I was like, you know, it hurts, right, And I was like why, And one of our road agents said, brother, you have to understand, it's supposed to be one of the best nights of their lives and you're making it one of the worst. So that was kind of a dark, scary character. Because I got to Boy Meets World, he mankind of lightened up so much. He was like, it was like a big Muppet. So I didn't I had not foreseen it, but I welcomed it. Thought it was a strange choice, but it seemed to work.

00:16:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, so how did it come about? You didn't know anybody from the show.

00:16:06
Speaker 1: They I knew one of your producers man like, yeah.

00:16:12
Speaker 4: Because Mark was already gone there.

00:16:14
Speaker 1: Oh that's right, they'll come to me. I'll have to help. I might have been checked Pishlar. It was Tishlar. Yeah, Bobler. So Bob Tishler was a friend of Barry Blaustein's who directed Beyond the Mat and uh, you know, they they knew wrestling was really popular. And despite what our critics, you know, w AB critics thought there was a crossover, there was a definite crossover. And you see that even to this day. Uh, Danielle not so much, you will when they pointed out Danielle in the audience, Oh yeah, I'm at home yelling to my TV with my kids. Will is right next to her.

00:16:56
Speaker 4: Will no one care?

00:17:00
Speaker 1: Just do ever?

00:17:02
Speaker 3: Just the dude sitting next to Panga. That's all it is.

00:17:07
Speaker 1: But there's you know, clearly acrossolver audience. And you know, as as the years go by, it only makes what you you, all of you did more iconic. You know, I didn't use it talking about the photo, but all of you if it's an iconic show and you probably experienced what I did, is that for a little while, you're on top of the mountain. For a little while, people think you're washed up, and then as the years picked by, it's like no, no, no, here we go.

00:17:36
Speaker 4: We want them again.

00:17:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we're relevant, right. It happens to bands, it happens to wrestlers, and happens to actors. And if you could, like I don't want to say I'm obsessed, but very much taken with the whole David Cassidy story. Oh yeah. And if he would have just realized, if somebody could have said, hey, twenty years from now, you're going to be back and bigger than ever, he wouldn't have needed to be depressed for twenty years, right, Like, I think maybe we need to as a support group support other wrestlers at their sitcom stars. Let you know, hey, you may have troubled picking up jobs because you're so you know, you're seen as that one, that one person, but you give it twenty years and you'll clean up on the convention circuit. So we need to be there for those other sitcom stars.

00:18:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:18:24
Speaker 6: So you mentioned that you were Cactus Jack for twelve years, and we know that you've played so many different kind of characters in the wrestling world.

00:18:35
Speaker 3: Is there one you preferred to play over the other ones?

00:18:39
Speaker 1: Well? Well, when I started as Mankind, I remember having so much trouble breathing through that mask I did with Stone as of run in. I guess if you have to start off in a company, attacking the undertaker and leaving them lying is a good way to do it. But I couldn't see the upside because I was having so much trouble breathing in that mask. It was so prohibitive, and I remember calling my wife and saying, maybe I could just do this for six weeks and become Cactus Shack. And then I as time went on, I began to see how that, you know, that character was working for me, and it became a little easier, and I, you know, it didn't take as long to kind of get into that character beause Cactus Jack was essentially me with the dial turned up. That's the best portrayals of characters, whereas Mankind in the beginning was it was like a little bit of character acting because I was trying something different, darker, and it was on My face was obscured. But as that became to feel natural, I began to enjoy it. But later on, when I did have that kind of transformation from dark to light, especially when I teamed up with Dwayne Johnson, you know, we just we started making people feel happy and and that was me, just with the nerd dial turned up a little bit. I realized something very vital. I realized our audience was nowhere near as hip and cool as we were making them out to be. And I remember thinking, there's a lot more on me out there than there are them. Yeah, I'm going to embrace it. I'm not going to be afraid of it. I'm not going to try to be the eleventh guy to be stone cold light. I'm going to see if there's an avenue for someone who's you know, a little naive and polite, who doesn't just beat up people as soon as he has a disagreement. You know, that seems counterintuitive, but it really worked for that character. And again, you know, big kudos to Dwayne Johnson, not only is my tag team partner, but earlier on a really great opponent for me.

00:20:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, another opponent someone that ties into the Boy Meets World universe. Vader, a wrestler, not only appeared on Boy Meets World a few times, but also had a historic feud with you as Cactus Jack INWW. He broke your nose, split your eyebrow open, And then there's the infamous power bomb onto a concrete one of the worst bumps of your career leading to a concussion and numb extremities.

00:21:17
Speaker 1: Ideah, for a few seconds, definitely for a fifty minutes.

00:21:21
Speaker 4: And so I ask you, how were you both so insanely kind and nice in real life? And what was your relationship with Leon?

00:21:32
Speaker 1: Like? You know what? I really When people asked me about my favorite rivalries, my favorite opponents, I'll say Rock Austin, Undertaker, Triple H. I'm probably leaving out one Terry Funk in Japan. Yeah, And they'll say, like, what about later, And I'll say, well, those those matches weren't fun, but they were great matches. I go, yeah, they were great, but they weren't fun because you had to really I mean Leon, he had a very, very physical style. He was the hardest hitting wrestler. I think anyone who's been in the ring with him will say, yeah, hands down, he's the hardest hitting wrestler. He took what he Yeah, he took what he did really seriously. And you but the thing with Leon is if you were willing to take what he gave and give back, he was in a position where he could make you look better than you'd ever be cause they were so they were so physical. I met a couple of fans in Birmingham, UK and they said, we were at the match you had with Vader, probably in ninety three, and he said. I turned to my friend and I said, I can't believe what they're doing to each other at a house show, which is a non televised event. And I said, that is a coincidence, because that's exactly what I was saying to myself. Well, at a house show. But Leon, you know, you knew if you went out there you were in for. It wasn't a night off. And I saw three, maybe four people during my time in WCW. They would see their name on the chalkboard against Vader and they would leave. They would leave. Now I don't know if they will retire, but they just look at their friends like shake their head. And not one time did I see their friends go, hey, come on, think about it. They went like, okay, I understand because he could be you know, he was ruthless out there, but he was deep down he was you know, he was a nice guy and a sensitive guy. And during the last two years of his death, before his death years of his life, we were in Leon. Please don't try to let the ww Hall of Fame dictate to you whether your career was successful or not. And it was like the words are going in one ear and out the other, and he would end, he would listen to what I said, and he go, I just have to get in that Hall of Fame. And I was like, Leon and it's a really special thing on one hand, by the other hand, to kind of make believe, you know, it's like a few people make that choice. You know. It's not like they put the issue out to the fans to vote on or they have a team of forty journalists like they do in the Baseball Hall of Fame. And I think that's where the head injuries came into play, where he just could not he could not get that out of his mind. And he was inducted posthumously. I mean, I did go to the powers that be and I said, Leo's got two years to live. We know he's going to get in sooner or later. I'm just asking you if you could make it sooner. And why they why they waited. I don't know. I would have meant so much to him, But he was a great guy and we had really great matches, and I understand you know, I hadn't seen those episodes at the time. I've seen them rerun where he is the father of one of the one of the children. Yeah, yeah, and uh, I guess you can kind of see where, you know, Frankie's not getting along with everyone. To forget me if I'm wrong, But then that Leon being his father kind of explains who he is a little bit. It's been a while, you're not in your head but not really agreeing with me.

00:25:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, we don't remember ourselves, that's the problem.

00:25:31
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm sure you get people all the time, because I know the shot says he was sixty years ago or whatever. Y. Hey, can I tell you Bill Shatner story?

00:25:46
Speaker 4: Please please?

00:25:47
Speaker 1: Because you know Bill's like the Grand Pooba of the conventions, right, like we all play a role in the hierarchy, but he's way up there at the top, right. Uh. And So I had seen Shatner's documentary on a plane and I really enjoyed it. I thought, all right, he's had an interesting life. This is going to be an A Diz documentary. And it was different. It was a lot different. And I told myself, I know Bill always Yeah, he just says hi to me. You know, I've never had a real conversation with him, and I'm risking the risking possibility of the very real possibility being stubbed by Shatner. But I'm going to at least take the time to let him know how much I enjoyed that documentary. So I go up to him and he's in a scooter, you know, because he's what, he's ninety years old.

00:26:35
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I think so.

00:26:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:26:36
Speaker 1: So he's on a scooter and I say, excuse me, mister Shatner, and I tell him exactly what I said to you, and he looks at me and he says, I love Dark Side of the Ring. I said, I said, you know there was an episode about me. He says, I know. That's why I'm telling you, and he looks at me. He goes, the dedication and your willingness to sacrifice for your business is so admirable, and I said, wow, thank you. I sure wish we had that on video. He goes, would you like it on video? Here? I was thinking he's the guy who snubs me, and uh, I guess he's the exact opposite. Made me feel pretty good.

00:27:17
Speaker 4: That's a cool story. I love hearing those stories you. So back to your Boy Meets World episode, what do you remember most from that week of taping.

00:27:39
Speaker 1: When I got to you know, rehearse that everyone was really nice and open towards me, and uh, you know, you'll read like a memoir about somebody who was a guest star or something and they'll say, you know, no one really had time for me. And there was one I read one of the uh, one of the Walton girls from the show, the seventy show, The Waltons talk about it. A guest star and I don't want to say the guest star was and she ran up to him on his current show and said, oh hi, and he he didn't really remember or didn't think much of it. And I contrast that with me being your guest star. And literally every time we see each other, you know, we sit down, we talk. I think I think we're all we're will you and my writer including you. We're on bro hugg terms, right, absolutely. Yeah. Danielle thinks in a little firmer, but I always let her initiate the contact, and I think it's cute. I think it was about a year ago where we had agreed to wear each other's shirt and so there's a great photo of me and you, and you're wearing the Halloween Havoc shirt with me and Vyner on it. I'm wearing the shirt. You know. I don't think you get royalties on the one that you get off at.

00:28:58
Speaker 4: Sea that as the royalties off anything.

00:29:01
Speaker 1: No, no, I know that it's one.

00:29:08
Speaker 4: It's one way wrestling treats their their people better than than network. But yes, that was so fun. We Mick and I talked about it via text before we went to the can. He said, listen, I'm going to wear a Tipega shirt. Do you want? And I was like, I'll wear my mankind, I've wear my Halloween Havoc shirt. Let's do it. And then we picked the day took the photo. So much fun. Always always enjoy seeing you and I.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: Want to reiterate this is based on me being on the show what y years ago and we're wearing each other's shirts. Yeah, it's been really it's been a lot of fun.

00:29:48
Speaker 4: How much were you involved, if I mean in the answer I think is entirely how much were you involved in choreographing the wrestling that we did in the episode.

00:29:59
Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know. I think it had been pretty laid out. I think I had a few ideas, but yeah, I don't think I was an essential part of that, because you know, if you guys did something was per you know, it was perfect. Now, why you're wrestling for an apartment that remains, that's a valid question.

00:30:19
Speaker 4: That's a miss.

00:30:20
Speaker 3: We don't know either.

00:30:21
Speaker 1: How a referee magically shut up your door another valid question. Another mystery, best less of the ages. But I think you guys had been working on your scene and you may have asked me if you It seems to me like I was there for tips, but I wasn't trying to force my vision of a wrestling match on you.

00:30:41
Speaker 4: Okay, was mister Soco originally in the script or did you pitch that?

00:30:45
Speaker 1: I can't remember. I would assume that Bob Tishler was in the mid that he would have known and wanted mister Soco in the mix.

00:30:53
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:30:54
Speaker 4: So, because of your day job, do you think having a live studio audience was intimidating for you as an actor or did it actually make you feel more at home?

00:31:03
Speaker 1: No? I liked it. I liked it, and I can't remember if if your show, Yeah, your show was been the first one I did, and I saw mister Feenie. I told him what a big fan of Saint Elsewhere I was. He William Craig. Wait, no, he was Doctor Craig and Saint Elsewhere. His real acting name.

00:31:28
Speaker 4: Is William Daniels.

00:31:30
Speaker 1: William Daniels. Yeah, And so I told him what a big Saint Elsewhere fan I was. And then I told him my favorite line, because he was he was undergoing psychotherapy as doctor Mark Craig. And the doctor said, now this dream where you said you saw the silver spaceship sewing in the yellow haze of the sun. And he said I was kneeling and I was young, which is such a great line, you know. And there was another one about him being bit by a spaniel and how the next time he saw that dog when he riding his bike, he had a stick and he and he hit the spaniel and then he just looked at the doctor. He said, I shouldn't have hit Joe's cocker. So they had some fun lines you know that you either got or you didn't get.

00:32:15
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:32:15
Speaker 6: He used to tell us one specifically about how he was playing the piano and uh, there's flower, there's a flower base on the piano. And the line is something like I've always enjoyed two lips on the organ. Yeah, And so he would tell us they would throw in these lines everywhere, and he's like they would take it as far as they possibly could without needing some kind of a sensor to come in and say something yeah crazy yeah.

00:32:38
Speaker 1: And that's that show broke ground because they had a patient with particular cancer and I believe that word had never been on network TV before, so it was a landmark show. But anyway, going back to the live audience, I would I found some reassurance and finding out like you could mess up a line, and then the crowd was they're there for you, right, these are they really want to lift up the every one of them I think takes. I know because I was in the audience for an episode of Jessevius. My younger kids really liked Jesse and you see that, you see like, Okay, we're part of this. We can make this show better with our support. And so when I saw I don't know who who missed the line, but you know played it off with the laugh and the crowd like enjoyed being in on that. It's almost like that peek behind the curtain that you know w W used to offer. Now I think it curtains a little too wide open. Yeah, pretty wide open, you know, And I don't know how I feel about that. I like the idea of reading between the lines and being shown glimpses, but that was that was fun for me, And once I realized that that everyone was there, you know, too, to lift up the show, and that it was okay to make mistakes. I think it's really important in anything you do to not be afraid of mistakes. You know, like you're part of the process, and anytime you're playing, not to make mistakes, you can't really play to win. So I think it's great if you make a mistake and it becomes it's almost like when actors break on SNL and the crowd loves the course. Yeah, as long as you don't do it too often, right, you know. I think it was done too often, it loses its uniqueness. But I felt very welcomed and supported on the set.

00:34:31
Speaker 4: When it aired in nineteen ninety nine. Did you get any response from it from either other wrestlers or the public. I mean, I feel like the WWE was so red hot, you would have been helping us more than we were helping you. But did you get response from it back then?

00:34:47
Speaker 1: Yeah? I did, and that was nice, but not surprising because your show was so popular and WW was at that time. It was super popular and it is as well in a different type of way, but globally more popular than ever. But what did surprise me was that every time that Love and Apartments episode came over in reruns that I would get the feedback. So it did not surprise me that I got initial feedback. It does surprise me. Stop surprising me ten fifteen years ago, the fact that people will come up to me. I mean, I've signed a few of those photos with Hello Kitty, and it's really you know, it's that role and the three lines I delivered on Avatar Last Airbender are the things that people remember me for outside of wrestling. And every once in a while, I'll see you like a certain type of expression on the face. I don't mean to generalize, but it's usually women of thirty five to fifty and it's an expression and I'll go say yes to the dress. Yes, I knew that I knew you from somewhere ten years earlier. It was the same expression. I go celebrity wife spot. Yes I knew. I knew You're from somewhere.

00:36:07
Speaker 4: That is so funny.

00:36:10
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like I got called, like by a friend of mine who was going to be on say yes to the dress, And she says, will you come into New York and help me make the selection? I was like, yeah, because I'm exactly the guy you want making your most important decision. Yeah. Yeah, why wouldn't you want me on there? And I had I had a really good time. Like as soon as I saw Randy, although I'd never seen the show, I was like, okay, yeah, I can play off Randy. And you know, they were appalled by my fanny pack and course, and when I when my friend Heather finally found the dress of her dreams and everyone's like it's perfect, I was like, it needs just one thing, and I took the fanny pack off, and Randy all but tackled me, don't be there, don't be there. So I did have a good time, but uh, nothing in terms of recognition compares to your show at Avatar.

00:37:08
Speaker 4: Well, soon after Boy Meets World, The Rock would host SNL, which was a big step for wrestling in pop culture, and you made a cameo on that week show. I know you are a big comedy fan, so this must have been a big deal for you. Was it just an incredible week?

00:37:28
Speaker 1: Wasn't it incredible? Well? I was there. I wasn't there all week like rock was. I was there. The final day rehearsal, we get a guy, a writer named Tommy Blocha who is best known for metal How do you pronounce metalcalypsecalypse? So Tommy Blacha was the brains behind go ahead and say it, well I have a metal metal acalypse. And he had written me and Triple H and Big Show into a few scenes. Yeah uh And and then we did a cold open. How I'm trying to think of the little fellow a big show had behind his back And Vince was like, what do you have to be on your back show? And he's like nothing, come on, Joe, give it show to me. He turns around. He had the little guy who did the man. I can't believe it what I'm saying, but he was a show had him tucked behind his back like in a hammerlocked position where you don't actually have much strength, right, but he was able to hold one hundred and fifty pound human being for like a minute behind his back with one of arm. It was like he had him in the front, you know this way he had him in the back.

00:38:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, you know his lats and did it.

00:38:42
Speaker 1: But I know right the power it must take and show I was the least interesting WW guy on that show because Rock was in another stratosphere like that really launched. I think that opened people's minds up to his potential and it was fun but like it was it was when I say, but I mean, the key takeaway for me was that I could see the Rock's future expanding as the show is going on. Like when he was doing they asked him if he, you know, be willing to poke fun in himself. He said, I'll do anything, but he didn't want to do a wrestling skit. Yeah, so when he did Superman in Smallville, yeah, he just he just crushed it and then he crushed it. He he really, you know, he nailed every one of his skits. Somebody asked me when I dropped the People Out People's elbow on one of the cast members, like he said, I'm surprised Rock let you do that. When he saw it in rehearsal, I said, I didn't do that rehearsal.

00:39:49
Speaker 4: Oh exactly. He wouldn't have let me do it.

00:39:52
Speaker 1: Let me do it. But we all had a great time, and I think but it was funny because at that point, I've been on the road, you know, almost NonStop with WW for four years, especially on Saturday nights, and so I hadn't actually seen the show in a long time, even though I grew up loving it, you know, I mean, my parents let me stay up late to watch the original. You know, I just I thought John Belus she was the man, and it's Chevy Chase and dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner, like this was just you know, an amazing cast they had. But I kind of fall touch. So at that time when Will Ferrell came up, I really didn't even know who he is. You know, isn't that crazy seeing as how you know, yes, not just huge, but ubiquitous he is. Everyone was really nice, Jimmy Fallon, Cherry O, Terry, Cherry O, Terry. The cast could not have been nicer. But I wasn't that aware of who they were because they hadn't hit reruns yet. They hadn't you know, they weren't on syndication but that was a you know, obviously, Tina Fay was great to me, and she remembered me from I guess you know, she okay me being a guest star on thirty Rock, which was a lot of fun, incredible, And I went up to her at the end of the at the end of my time there, and I said, first of all, can be can I be on every episode? And I said, I want you to know that everyone has been so nice to me, and I know that comes down from the top. And she she thanked, she thanked me for that. She was great. So every everyone I met was really nice to me. I wish I'd been more aware, but unless they've been on the show for more than four years, I probably had not seen them.

00:41:46
Speaker 4: You were also a multiple time New York Times bestselling author, and you have been telling stories your entire career. Did you ever think about writing scripts for TV or movies?

00:41:57
Speaker 1: Ooh, oh, I think it's a different I think it's an entirely different skill set. I do even when I even when I wrote a couple of graphic novels, I had to write them out as if they were short stories. So I I did write a script for Have a Nice day. I wrote it all in I'm Loose Leaf, and I don't know, I you know, it was okay. I don't know it was okay, but it is. It's a different it's a different skill set. No, I never really considered that. Honestly.

00:42:31
Speaker 4: It's never too late, you know.

00:42:33
Speaker 1: You never know. I have ideas, I have to write them out, like their stories. I have to oh, that's okay, adjectives and things like that, and then have someone else like turn it around. Like I was always good in pitch meetings because when I retire, yeah, in two thousand, there was like a run of four straight years where credible Bob Tischler was one of them. We pitched a product, Bob titshlar uh, a Bob Pitschler product to the you know, the four Networks, and Bob was not a pitch guy, and I remember I was like, oh, we're drowning in here, and I kind of took over the pitch and we got. We got, we went to script and then it never got past that and I had something resulting, you know as sizzle reel. It didn't work out, but there was four years in a row where I would go and I was pretty good at pitching other people's ideas, but I didn't have anything. It looks have you heard the rumors now about this docu series? Paul walter Hauser signed on to star and produce, and he said, dude, like, I'm just worried, I'm a little I'm too short to play you. I said, Paul, you're the height that people think I am, so you're going to be fine because I was six' four WHEN i went INTO, wwe and people THOUGHT i was five ten BECAUSE i hunched. OVER i wrestled guys who you, know Like undertaker And kane were much bigger than. ME i, said you're the hype people THINK i, am and he's such a great actor that it's opening doors for. Us SO i might be in a pitching meetings. AGAIN i love.

00:44:11
Speaker 6: That i'm curious because you, KNOW i always love people in the know and people who know you know everything about their business inside and, out who they. Admire so taking yourself out of the, equation who do you think is the best wrestler of all?

00:44:27
Speaker 1: TIME i Think Terry funk was the best wrestler of all. TIME a lot of people haven't seen. Him he gave the greatest wrestling Interview i've ever, heard and it consisted of one, word. Forever he was interviewed when he retired for good from wrestling the first time in nineteen eighty, one and then he was wrestling until the mid probably around two thousand and, seven two thousand and, eight so it was a short lived. Retirement But terry, realized like in a stoic culture Like, japan there was an avenue open for someone willing to show. Emotions and you, know no one ever wept openly or wept at all In japanese. Wrestling and here's this, guy tough as they, come but he was. Sensitive he would cry and the blood was commingled with the sweat and the. Tears and he gave this. Interview they tried to, interview and he just said, forever, forever. Forever and a couple of years, later in nineteen ninety, Nine i'm giving a backlot tour Of Universal, Studios, hollywood and as my golf cart's going, BY i hear someone going forever, forever AND i turned. Around it Was Eddie murphy Doing Terry funk. Promo But terry had the ability to suspend disbelief not just among the audience but among his, Opponents and so there was this one scene WHERE i was the guest enforcer ringside For Jerry lawler And funk was coming out as the enforcer or manager for a guy named Man. Scout you, know a grown up Boy. Scout you, know which is a great Independ scouts. Hilarious, Yeah, danielle you've been known to appear as an. Independent, yeah, yeah, yeah it's a it's a good. Character AND i See terry AND i can feel that it's it's a big. Crowd it's about fifteen, hundred which is really good size for an independent, show AND i CAN i can feel that a lot of the fans don't know Who terry is because he was before their. Time but by the time he, left he's all that people were thinking. About, yeah he comes into that, ring And i'm saying to the referee AS i See terry's eyes on his way down to the, RING i, said you'd better. Run he goes WHAT i, said you'd better. Run and As terry gets in the, RING i start, urgency you better, run you'd better, Run AND i bailed out and he staid in the ring And terry punched him square in the forehead with his left hand which is a devastating left. Hand and after the, show after after the, MATCH i come back and the ringing hounder has got a big goose egg on his. Head he's got an ice pack and he, SAID i can't believe he hit. Me AND i looked at him AND i, said what part of the? Words you'd better run ringing Out Terry. Funk you never know what he might. Do so he you, know he did have respect for his. Opponents it's not that he uh you, know took, liberties but when you got in there with, him there was a very real sense among the crowd where they, go, OH i think this one's. Real but everything he, did, Yeah and he went from being, uh you, know a like a more traditional babyface champion h to be hit forty two and he came back on W cw is middle aged and, crazy and then even as he got, older it became old age and. CRAZY i pitched an idea to the creative team in two thousand and six that would pay off in the mat be me And edge Against Tommy dreamer And Terry. Funk AND i, said this whole angle hinges upon us being able to convince fans That Terry funk is crazy in about two weeks And dusty Rose pipe he, goes that ought to be easy Because Terry funk is. Crazy you, know.

00:48:32
Speaker 4: That's a Good Dusty rhodes. Impression that's not, bad, Right, yeah that's pretty. Good you mentioned, retiring and we are speaking to you shortly After John cena's big. Retirement. Yeah, yeah can You i'm excited for you to be able to have THIS x to give this. Explanation can you explain to people who were upset that he lost the match why it was necessary for him to lose the? Match and do you Think gunther was the best guy to do?

00:49:02
Speaker 1: It? Oh, Yes john felt it was. Necessary it WAS i, mean it was the right thing to do for the sake of. Business it's because Now gunther will essentially have that proverbial rocket strap to his. Back do you think he was THE i think he was the right guy because he. Is you, know he's got such a believable. Style he's very. Convincing but you might say he doesn't have the pomp and circumstance that that some of the guys. Do i'm down to ten, percent so you might want to sign me out in a few. Minutes and if he needed that little. Something this would be that little. Something, now when Brock lesnar defeated The undertaker At, WrestleMania ending that, streak he Had Paul hayman on his, side And Paul hayman made sure that every, week every week for at least a, year he was the man who would defeat The. Undertaking repetition is the, key you, know when it comes to promoting, something and nobody's better out Than. Paul SO i don't know if if they're going to align someone with, him BUT i think he is a great guy to do that. For i'm only going to argue the other point is that because it Was Saturday night's main, event because we were drawing in hopefully a few million new, fans uh OR i would say at least a million new, fans you had the opportunity to show them just how JOYFUL ww can, be and we didn't give them that. Moment AND i wonder if in the bigger, picture you don't know because there's no, textbook BUT i can see both. Points when when he, LOST i mean the camera hit those reactions and people were genuinely.

00:50:51
Speaker 4: Hurt there were chairs in my, house really, house you are the children both, both and wrestling is kind of famous for the retire but then come. Back do you Think John cena is really?

00:51:11
Speaker 1: Gone? Wait are you pointing fingers at, Me, Danielle, NO i. RETIRED i came back in six.

00:51:17
Speaker 4: Weeks uh did you enjoy your?

00:51:20
Speaker 1: Vacation, well you, KNOW i got the phone CALL i had retired from in my, MIND i was never going to wrestle. Again and THEN i got a phone call From Jim ross, Saying, Hey we've got some plans for Your WrestleMania so do you want me to host like a panel or. Something you should? Know we would like you to be in the main. Event AND i, said BUT i just.

00:51:40
Speaker 3: Retired that's the opposite of, retiring.

00:51:43
Speaker 1: Is the option. Retired BUT i will say, THIS i am the only person in ww history to try to talk their way out of being in A WrestleMania main event.

00:51:51
Speaker 4: EXACTLY i don't.

00:51:52
Speaker 1: KNOW i, failed BUT i, tried SO i. Did but then it was another four years BEFORE i came. BACK i think every person has allowed one big comeback match that does not violate the trust of the, fans but after, that it's at least partially a grab for, money And john's taking plenty of. That SO i will say that for anyone who's down About John cena's last, match just go to YouTube and look for the song medley From Ricky stinicky and you'll feel good all over. Again that's movie. Magic. There have you seen? It? No, oh you need to see? It and then? Ryder how about? You, NO i don't even. Know you need to Watch Ricky snicky When John. CENA i. CAN'T i don't know how MUCH i can give away from a you, know not just a content but A pg. Standpoint what the medley is. About it is. Brilliant it was one of those few times That i've laughed so hard my back, hurt and it IS i think he learned his fearlessness from. Wrestling you, know here's the guy who showed up essentially naked at The Academy, awards, RIGHT i, MEAN i believe he had like the modesty pouch but nothing else so he could get a. Laugh and you, know he poked fun of himself in the Train, wreck you, know the. Humor and he's been increasingly better and better at everything he. Does BUT i feel like the musical montage where by turns he Is devo from the, eighties he Is Alice. Cooper he, Is, yeah he put and every one of his songs is about a certain act that some guys do when they're. Alone so it's. Brilliant it is.

00:53:50
Speaker 6: Brilliant and If i'm looking at it right, now they're looking at what it actually.

00:53:55
Speaker 3: Is so it's a. Movie Ricky sicky is a.

00:53:58
Speaker 1: Movie Ricky snicky is the imaginary friend that this core group of friends created from. Childhood they can they could blame anything. On and then they have to actually produce him at a, party and they hire this actor with some serious question. Marks and that actor Is John, cena best known as under the pseudonym Rock Hard. Rick he's best known for performing off off The boardwalk At Atlantic. City and it's just. Brilliant but he puts everything he has into. It and it's Oh. Billy one of them Is Billy, Idyl so It's Billy idle and, uh there's another one or, two But, Devo Alice Cooper Billy idle. Man he hats off to, him and he's a good. Guy his. Dad i'm actually better friends with his dad THAN i am With, john just because his dad comes out to my events Anytime i'm In, boston you, know He one of the Great christmas gift openings in our house was my Son mickey is very talented. Guitarist he thought he was getting a new amplifier and there was this one package that he just knew was his. Amplifier we were recording. It he tears into. It it was a case Of johnny fabulous Is fabo? Pop Because John cena's, dad at eighty years, old is one of the best independent managers in, Wrestling and the letdown Of seeing twenty four he was. Devastated and THEN i had the amp behind.

00:55:36
Speaker 4: Them oh my, god that's. Amazing, yeah that's a good gift exchange right. There, well we are so honored that you are a part Of Boy Meets world's, legacy and we still hear about you And vader all the time everywhere we, go especially the, conventions and so the fact that because of you And, leon we are also always connected TO wwe is very special to. Us so thank you for gracing us with your presence long. Time we're happy to have you.

00:56:06
Speaker 1: CLOSING i just want to say it's great to see you looking so. HEALTHY i know you've been through a lot and, uh if you noticed the folly text messages were more frequent when, uh you, know when you were going through.

00:56:19
Speaker 4: That, yeah you were really you were really good about checking in with, me making SURE i was. Okay and you also you've survived a terrible car.

00:56:29
Speaker 1: Crash yeah, YEAH.

00:56:30
Speaker 4: I mean we both really went through it around the same, time so we were checking in with each. Other so it's it's always nice to see us healthy and well.

00:56:38
Speaker 1: That's, right, writer thank, you, will thank, You, danielle thank. YOU i had a great.

00:56:42
Speaker 4: Time oh my, gosh what a. Life.

00:56:51
Speaker 6: Right, Yeah i'd love to pitch something with him BECAUSE i just want to see him in the room.

00:56:56
Speaker 4: Exactly you, know he'd be.

00:56:57
Speaker 5: Great when he said, that he's, LIKE i Think i'm pretty good Pitch like we, know oh, yeah how about.

00:57:03
Speaker 3: You we know you're good in pitch.

00:57:05
Speaker 4: Meetings so. Fun that's been a that's been in a long. Time that's a long time coming that, Interview jensen says he's been in a pitch meeting With. Mick what was the pitch meeting.

00:57:14
Speaker 2: W W e WHEN i was working, there he came. In it's just ideas and he's, great tremendous of, Course i'm.

00:57:19
Speaker 4: Sure, well thank you all for listening to this. Episode Of Pod Meets world as. Always you can follow us On instagram Pod Meets World. Show you can send us your emails Pod Meets World show at gmail dot. Com and we've got.

00:57:31
Speaker 1: MERCH i think you.

00:57:33
Speaker 3: Should buy some. Merch i'm trying to do a mankind AND i. Don't he's got that.

00:57:38
Speaker 6: LITTLE i can't do, IT i, know AND i wanted A, soco but the Sock i'm wearing is too small and.

00:57:42
Speaker 3: Gray it didn't.

00:57:43
Speaker 1: Work forget. Me i've.

00:57:44
Speaker 5: Done it's like little screwed up WHAT i did and it's.

00:57:51
Speaker 3: Awful SO i DON'T i don't think we should even air.

00:57:54
Speaker 2: This this episode should be.

00:57:55
Speaker 1: Hard this is you, know he's got one, gut.

00:58:00
Speaker 4: It's got you got one jump podmeetsworldshow dot COM a writer send us.

00:58:08
Speaker 1: Out we love you, all pod.

00:58:09
Speaker 5: Dismissed Pod Meets world is an iHeart podcast producer hosted By Danielle, Fischel wilfridell And Ryder. Strong executive Producers Jensen carp And Amy. Sugarman executive in charge of, Production Danielle, romo producer and, Editor, tarasubach, Producer Mattie, moore engineer And boy Meets World Superman Easton. Allen our theme song is By Kyle morton Of. Typhoon follow us On instagram at Podmeets World show or email us at Podmeets World show at gmail dot com