Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Career Changes, Jason at WrestleMania, Girl Dads & Jabronis | Ep 159

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And then I hang the phone up and my dad's listened to the call.

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Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, for a very, very special episode of Wondry Show brought to you by Peloton.

We're your host.

I'm Travis Kelsey, my big brother, Jason Kelsey, out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Shout out to the Heights, man.

Yeah, baby.

I miss everybody back in the Heights, man.

Subscribe on YouTube, Wondry Plus, wherever you get your podcast, and follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S for fun clips throughout the week.

Jason, tell the people how special this episode is.

Oh, we got an absolutely incredible special guest episode for you guys.

If you smell

what new heights is cooking.

All right.

Without further ado, let's get right into it.

I guess we're going to do the intro.

First of all, should we call you Dwayne, The Rock, the final boss?

What are we going by these days?

Whatever comes out, brother.

All good.

Our guest today is

our podcaster from the University of Miami.

He was a member of the 91 Heaper and Games National championship team.

You might know him as the 10-time WWE heavyweight champion or from the hit films such as the Fast and Furious franchise, Jumaji, Moana, among others, and upcoming The Smashing Machine.

92%ers, please welcome Dwayne, The Rock Johnson.

Let's go.

Let's go, boys.

Good to see you.

Dude, could not resist.

Good to see you.

You got me, man.

You got me.

Good to see you, babe.

Dude,

thank you so much for coming on, man.

You're one of our

icon guests.

We've always wanted to have you on this show, man.

Just shoot the shit with you, brother.

And this is so cool because this movie is unbelievable.

The Smashing Machine,

the story of Mark Kerr,

the legendary UFC fighter in the beginning days of the UFC, right?

Yeah, in the beginning days, yeah.

I'm very interested.

What was it about Mark Kerr that really like made you like, did you know of him before the before the like script or before the movie came to you or the opportunity came to you or how it all came about and just what you knew about Mark Kerr and the UFC at that time?

Yeah, absolutely.

Before I get into that, let me just take a moment and give you guys your flowers.

Congratulations on the podcast, man.

And not only that

on the podcast, but also just congratulations on your careers, man.

Just really incredible careers.

And for you to, for you, guys like you, guys in the league who have become world champions like you, I always say, that's my dream, man.

You guys are living my dream.

Like, that's what I thought.

You know, that was the goal.

So anyway, so thank you for having me on.

Good to see you.

With Mark Kerr,

he was one of the pioneers of MMA, one of the founding fathers of MMA, of UFC, two-time heavyweight tournament winner.

And back then, when you fought in the tournament, it was,

you know, you fought and if you won, you didn't go home and fight the next week.

You fought that night.

And, you know, his career started out in Valley Tudo down in Brazil, won everything that night.

So he became a legend.

And his ascension, man, was like a rocket.

And I actually met Mark back in the late 90s, back in, you know, back at back then, MMA, UFC wasn't as big at global as it is today.

So the big organization was Pride in Japan.

And a lot of those guys would come over from Pride and we'd be WWE guys, we'd all be in LA working out at the same gym, the Gold's Gym in Venice.

And we'd be in the same arenas too as well.

So I met Mark back then, and the guy was a legend.

And, you know, he was always this walking contradiction of a human being where he was just insanely jacked.

He was at one time the greatest fighter on the planet.

He was like Tyson, undefeated, dominant, and feared.

But with Mark, what was interesting about Mark was he's so kind-hearted and tender and soft-spoken.

And he would wreck these dudes.

And afterwards, he'd go back in the locker room and check on them.

Hey, you okay?

Are you all right?

Which makes a dude even scarier, right?

He's doing that.

Crazy.

So, in 2000, in the mid-2000s, he had a documentary out called The Smashing Machine.

And that documentary was so,

it was so heartbreaking because the guy at one time was the greatest in the world.

And then he lost.

He lost in Japan, and you never quite got over that loss.

And then, like a lot of athletes who we know, he succumbed to pressure and he's he he

battled his demons and he became addicted to drugs.

He overdosed twice.

He's lucky to be alive.

So back then when I saw that documentary, I felt, man, this is an incredible story.

But now years later in 2019, I take this documentary to Benny Safdie and I just watched Uncut Gems and I said, man, Benny, I love your filmmaking style.

I have a movie here.

It's It's not the big blockbuster movie.

It's small and it's intimate, but it's also moving.

I showed him in the documentary and he said, I'm 100% in.

But the cool part about the story that I know you guys will appreciate is there was a Mark Kerr back then who was, he was the man, dominant and feared, battled his demons, and he lost everything.

Then there's a Mark Kerr today who is so grateful.

to be alive and so present in every moment.

And he is,

he's the reflection of what happens when you get knocked down, you get knocked on your ass, especially if you battle addiction, you get sober, you stand back up, man, and you become this, you become this beacon of hope to a lot of people out there who are struggling.

It's awesome.

Fuck yeah, Mark.

Amen, brother.

And it's an amazing film.

And I mean, movies about fighters in general, there's a lot of that relatability of getting knocked down, having to fight your way back up.

And I always just love them across the board.

That's right.

You've had so many unbelievable films as an action star, comedian, like all you've done.

The rage is crazy, man.

What caused this film now?

Like, why the biopic?

And, like, this was such a different light where you, you absolutely killed it, brother.

Like, thank you,

hats off.

Like, really got into the character and did a great job.

What, what really

made you want to go into this kind of genre?

So, there was two things.

That's a great question.

Number one was,

man, you know, for a long time, I've had this blessed career that I'm so fortunate and grateful for that I've been able to have this blessed career and make these films where it allowed me to work my ass off, continue to build, continue to grow.

But I was in this position where I was chasing box office.

And it's great.

And there's something motivating about that.

But I wanted to chase the challenge.

And I felt like it was time to make that switch.

And to be honest with you, I wanted to challenge myself.

And while these movies are big and they're hard to do and they're fun and a lot of people like them when you win and then you have some movies that

flop and tank and that's okay.

You got to move on.

But I was really looking to challenge myself and get out of the comfort zone and rip myself open and then see what the fuck is going to happen.

I don't know, but I'm going to give this thing a shot and you got to go for it.

And so it was that combined with

the voice.

I had a little voice right in here, man, behind my rib cage and between my ears that was like, hey,

you don't want to wake up one one morning and go, man, I should have, I should have done that thing.

I should have taken that risk and taken that chance.

So it was that voice.

And I finally, after all these years, listened to that voice.

There's a great, there's a great George Straits song that I've been.

Wait, you haven't been listening to that voice?

No, I've been listening to the voice.

It's, you know what happens?

It's like

you listen to the brain and the brain is saying, hey, listen, don't, don't fuck this up.

You're in a comfort zone.

It's good.

There's a lot of people who depend on you.

You're making a lot of money.

These movies make money.

They do well or they don't do well.

But then the heart is its own boss, as you guys know.

And the heart will ultimately be the one to say, no, no, no, no, we're going to override the brain and go take this risk.

And you know what?

There's something, I tell you what, and I want to know from you guys being elite athletes and champions is

it's good to be scared.

Yeah.

It's good.

Absolutely.

It's good, like, to be scared of some shit.

I like to face that fear, man.

Yes.

It's real.

There's a great quote by Customada, Mike Tyson's former trainer.

The hero and the coward both feel the same emotion.

They both feel fear.

The difference is the reaction to that emotion.

And I just love that.

I've carried with it forever.

That's another fighter quote.

I mean, there's so many, I just, fighting culture in general.

That's one of the reasons I love this film.

Yes.

For me and Travis, really, we got into UFC.

probably at the tail end of Mark's career.

It was more like Chuck Liddell.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

And I remember Mark Coleman.

I remember Mark Kerr, but they didn't know it as much as I did after coming out of this thing.

And just so much respect for these guys that grew the sport, right?

Yes.

And then you got legend boss rooting in there in the corner.

I mean, that was amazing.

So,

man, we had Boss Root.

We had Alexander Usik.

We had

a lot of guys, man, who came.

But you're right about these guys

who paved the way.

And back then, those guys weren't making a lot of money at all.

Right.

They were banging their bodies up, man, a lot.

Doing a biopic like this, how much did you have to be around Mark?

Like, I feel like would you, you, you have to find, because, I mean, the mannerisms, the, the, the style of fighting, stuff like that, like, how much was he on set helping you with all this stuff?

Or did there, like, was there a reference in terms of like a fight coach?

Last year, I started my, my prep for Smashing Machine.

We started shooting, I think, in August.

My prep started in January.

Because what I started in January was really got to know Mark, spent a lot of time with Mark.

But the crazy thing is, again,

you know, we're all a little fucking crazy sometimes is I gotta be a little crazy.

That's

how you make it.

It keeps you from going insane.

The insane person makes it in this world.

I can get to the top of anything.

Cozy.

Exactly.

Whalen Jennings says, I'm happy to be crazy.

It keeps me from going insane.

Amen.

I love that.

So I was also training for WrestleMania.

And that's when I saw you, Jason, there in

Philadelphia.

So I was training for that.

Once I got out of WrestleMania, then I shipped my focus to the training camp for MMA, spent a lot of time with Mark.

And you guys will appreciate this:

I had to gain 30 pounds for the role.

But as you guys know, Mark Kerr's muscle had a certain quality to it.

It was that fast twitch,

fibrous,

explosive.

And I still had to move.

And he had this tiny waist.

And I was like, God, man,

that's a lot of weight to carry.

But I did my best, worked out with Mark, worked out with MMA coaches, MMA fighters as well.

I had a 12-week training camp.

That was a whole other education for me because I, you know, grew up in the world of pro wrestling, loved the pro wrestling.

I knew my way around a wrestling ring, but MMA is a whole different beast and a whole different monster.

So I spent a lot of time with Mark.

But you know,

the thing that moved me most that I didn't realize until I got into this with Mark was that there's Mark,

the physical specimen,

how he walked, how he talked.

So there was a physical transformation for me, a vocal transformation.

Yes.

But the biggest transformation was his emotional transformation.

And you realize, you guys know fight culture, you respect fight culture.

It's like these fighters,

there's a unique mentality that they have.

And you realize right away, it's not about the wins or the losses.

It's about the pressure.

Absolutely.

Pressure that these guys go through, man.

And

there's that idea of, I can't remember who said it.

Floyd Floyd Patterson may have said this, but

the only thing you're left with when you lose is yourself.

And so I wanted to find out from Mark.

There was one of these fights in Japan, which you guys saw the movie, where he's fighting Vegeta at the end.

He's on all floors.

Vegeta is rocking him, but Mark's with it.

His eyes are open and he's just taking a beating.

I said to Mark, Mark, what was going through your mind?

Were you numb from some of the stuff you might have been taking?

What was it?

Because you were with it.

And he said, DJ, man, he goes, there's 40,000 Japanese fans.

And he said, I couldn't fucking move my body, but I'm not going to tap and I'm not going to quit.

So I just waited.

Either the referee is going to call it or this guy's going to knock my lights out.

I was just waiting for either one to happen.

Holy cow.

Just that mentality.

Dude, that is crazy.

So that's the thing that really became my anchor, you know, that kind of mentality.

Yeah.

Well, again, you killed it.

Thank you, brother.

It was an absolute blast to watch.

It was so crazy seeing probably the most charismatic, like, energetic guy I've ever seen on film or like in a WWE ring lock into this, like, just like stone-cold, zero-emotion at times, kind of killer.

That's kind of how he moves through the movie.

And then you see the highs and lows throughout it, but you did a phenomenal job on yourself.

Thank you, Jason.

Thank you so much.

This one meant a lot to me.

And I've been saying this as we've been promoting the movie because I really mean it is Smash Machine changed my life in ways that I never imagined.

And as this thing continues to go on and we continue to have conversations about it, people continue to see the movie.

It's been the experience of a lifetime.

Of a lifetime.

Awesome.

I'm happy as hell for you, baby.

Thank you, brother.

I do have a question, though, about the MMA and the wrestling world.

I mean, obviously, you're very understanding of being in a ring and having 40,000 cheering you on.

Was there ever a moment where you were like, yeah, you know what?

I want to give that a shot.

I want to go into the MMA ring.

I want to go into UFC.

Was there ever a thought or like an opportunity?

Maybe somebody put a contract on the table.

I was like, it's there if you want it.

Listen, me right now, it's like

as you're training in MMA camp, it's like, okay, you know how.

Ego will start knocking at your door and be like, hey, hotel.

Hotel.

I could be a bad motherfucker doing this.

I think so.

You know, but then the reality, what happens, I, and, you know, he's not an MMA fighter, but he's arguably going to be one of the greatest of all time.

It's Usik.

We were in the ring, and the moment I locked up with him, that was very sobering.

And again, it's just used to have fighter mentality, and you could feel it.

And man,

you feel it right away.

I tell you what, when I was years ago, though, when those guys were going to Japan and in the mid to late 90s, we weren't making a lot of money because we were on the lower, you know, we were opening match in WWE.

So there was a time where me and my buddies started, hey, do you think we could go over to Japan?

I think we might be okay.

Like, we might be able to do well.

Those guys are making, you know, a lot of money.

And then you realize, no, wait, those guys will take my jaw and knock it into another area code.

I'm not doing that.

I don't like to get hit in the face.

Sometimes it's got to be real.

Just got to be real, man.

That's so good.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, can't wait.

Everybody check out the Smashing Machine.

You're not going to regret it.

You're not going to regret it.

Let's flash back, if that's all right with you.

You talked about football was always kind of like the dream growing up.

Your time at the U.

What was that like?

I mean, give us a tackle, 91 Hurricanes team.

You're behind Warren Sapp.

Take us back to that time.

That was crazy, man.

When I came in, I came in as a freshman in 1990.

And

I was kicking ass, man.

I was balling.

And I was actually number two as a true freshman behind Russell, Maryland.

Russell, Maryland, right, was number one draft pick for the Cowboys.

And I was balling.

I get hurt the last day of training camp.

An offensive guard runs me into the ground.

My entire shoulder pops out.

It's hanging out.

The doctor had to come back and put it in.

You guys have been there.

Yeah, yeah.

I had to have complete reconstruction on my shoulder, tore everything, went into depression.

Had a miserable freshman year.

I got a point fucking seven.

Point seven.

Yeah, that's like a

point seven.

I was the other way, though.

I was having so much fun.

I had a point seven.

You weren't having fun.

I wasn't having fun.

I got a point seven.

But anyway, so just a miserable freshman year.

But the dude who ran me into the ground, that's Mario Cristobal, who's now the head coach in my estimation.

That's kicking ass, man.

How about it?

How about it?

That's my boy.

I'm so proud of those guys down there.

But the you at that time in the early 90s, late 80s, early 90s,

they rewrote the game

in terms of swagger, in terms of how to play.

And we had a mentality down in Miami, which was speed kills, bottom line.

You guys know that.

So Warren, our freshman year, they bring in Warren Sapp, who's a tight end.

Yeah.

And he's coming in, fresh, he's running routes, hands like butter, just like you.

He's fucking around and he's in practice.

He's catching punts with one hand.

I mean, he's he already looks like, man, you could put this guy anywhere.

Right.

I come in.

We come into training camp, and he's in the defensive line room.

I sit down.

I said, what are you doing here?

He looks at me.

True story.

You could ask him this.

He goes, I've come to take your job.

No way.

No way.

I said, you ain't taking my job.

He said, I come to take your job.

I said, well, we'll see.

We'll see.

Cut to me on the bench, being like, hey, good job.

He called it.

There we go, he called it a beast.

He called it.

Oh, you're waiting for me?

Not yet.

All right.

But, man, that team back then,

we had Warren, we had Ray Lewis, Rohan Marley.

Our defense is

insane.

Very careful.

Insane.

Did you guys play at the same time at Cincinnati?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

We crossed over for a couple years.

Trav, long story short, Trav was ineligible for my senior year, so we never really

had to bring that up too.

I always bring it up because I still harbor resentment around that, but we did cross over, we had a lot of success, not as good as the Hurricanes, but Cincinnati had some we went to two BCS Bowl games, including the Sugar Bowl and the yeah, um, and the Orange Bowl.

So, uh, that was

the old Orange Bowl down there, yeah, yes, oh, yeah, baby.

That's why I was like, I was like, man, I spent one week down there in Miami and when I was a freshman in college, I can only imagine what four years down in that place would have been like I would have survived, brother.

They would taste of it.

That's why, that's why I was like, Especially during the time at the U.

Are you kidding me?

Back then, you guys were the superstars of the world.

Yeah, where it was like, you know, the Dolphins were good at that time, but the Canes, you know, they were the talk of the town.

So

I was smart to get locked down my freshman year.

There we go.

I'm not getting in trouble.

No.

That's very smart.

It's so crazy to think about what NIL and the transfer portal has done.

Like for a team like the U, you guys had every single year had five stars coming in and just

waiting for their opportunity to get into the game.

It's it's so mind-blowing blowing to me that, you know, that isn't happening anymore.

If you, if kids aren't starting their or getting playing time as a freshman, they're in the portal going somewhere else.

And I think that's, it might have leveled out the playing field and things like that.

But I feel like the U is like kind of like, I don't know, historically, like, it'll never happen again.

Like, how talented they were.

Like, they were so stacked across the board.

Like, kids would have left.

They wouldn't have had that big of a deep of a team.

Is that what you're saying, Trey?

That's what I'm, that's what I'm assuming.

I don't know.

Look, we, we were deep our second and

third teams.

And

we all ended up being first-round drafts.

Crazy, man, back then.

Crazy back then.

How do you think you guys would have done back then if NIL was there?

Like, would you have been searching for that?

Well, I don't know how I started as a sophomore and junior was really top player, almost was thinking about coming out as a junior.

Yeah.

So maybe I would have transferred.

I don't know.

It's hard to think.

Offensive linemen still aren't getting that kind of money.

Like really, most of the money is going to the quarterbacks and the receivers and the big positions.

Any money when you're in college is good money.

Good money.

The NIL, the stuff they were talking about.

We were doing some stuff at Titan U, and guys were talking about over the course of their three or four years that they were getting NIL.

They got over like $100,000, $200,000.

Like, in my mind, I'm like, I was getting

anything.

We're just looking for the Pell Grant or something.

Exactly, exactly.

You sacked Charlie Ward in 93.

Is that correct?

You did, yeah.

Yeah, got a sack.

What was the Rock's go-to move?

What kind of D-tackle were you a big power guy, arm over, swim, dip and rip?

Yeah, what were we looking at?

You know what I'd do?

I'd get my hands on the dude right away.

Yeah.

So if it were,

you were guard, right?

I'm assuming what we centered.

I played guard in college, but I played center at the NFL.

Okay, so say it's me and you.

Yeah.

We line up.

I'm already afraid, to be honest with you.

You're being very kind to me, man.

I tried to get my hands on you before you got your hands on me.

I give you a little shiver.

That's a good strategy.

And I'd just do that little boom.

I'd pull you down.

Push pulling right over.

Push-pull.

Push-pull, man.

That's a dangerous one.

My coach, who you guys

know, Ed Ogiron, from

my coach O, he was our coach down in Miami, and he said, he said, Dewey, you got great upper body violence.

I said, look, I don't even know what the fuck that means, but that sounds good.

You got great upper body violence.

But if you think about it, right, as you guys know, as players, like if a player has upper body violence, then you can control the game, right?

Violent hands, baby.

I'll tell you what I say.

I know exactly what Gojo's talking about.

You got the violence where it's not just power, but it's like another level of like twitchiness with the strike.

Yes.

Where it like jolts you.

And there's guys that have that and there's guys that don't really have that jolt.

And then the ability to push and pull with that.

Yeah, man, that's a dangerous kind of thing.

It's like that kind of

like a piston.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Where did Dewey come from?

Why Dewey?

It was a nickname that

my mom gave me.

So when I was a baby, my godmother took my mom, took me and gave me to my mom.

She goes,

is he wet?

And she goes, oh, he's just a little Dewey.

Okay.

And then it stopped.

Right.

But then, okay, which is fine because, you know, we like to keep our parents' nicknames at the house.

So my mom and dad came to watch me play, and they came to my first practice at Miami.

And my mom was like, hey, Dewey, come here for a second.

And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no.

And you know, if you give a nickname like that around the boys, you're done.

They're running.

They're running with it.

Yeah, you're running with it.

So it was, everybody was like, Dewey,

what the fuck?

And then it's just stuck.

That was it.

That's great.

Holy cow.

Thanks for bringing that up, Jason.

I appreciate it.

You said Dewey.

I did.

I was like, what is it?

Just bringing up the good stuff.

Played with Doug Fluty in Calgary.

Is that you?

Played in the CFL.

I didn't know this,

coming into this, to be honest with you, doing a little research.

When I came out in 95, I had a dismal senior year.

I got hurt.

I blew out, ruptured two discs in my back.

You guys know what that's like.

And when that happens at the beginning of the season and you're just chasing, you're chasing pain.

You're trying to to chase relief, trying to, you're getting your injections, just all of that opportunities.

And that's it.

So that was really the thing.

You're right.

That was the thing that really messed me up because I knew right away, blow out two discs in my back.

The doctor said, you can have surgery or just ride the season out.

And I said, I don't want to have surgery.

It's your senior year.

You know, hey, I ain't coming back.

So it's not like, you know,

no, this is it.

And so I'm just, who knows what's going to happen.

Maybe I could get a rep here, a rep there.

Shitty senior year.

And I didn't get drafted, but I got a call from Calgary.

And I went up there to Calgary.

Yeah, I played up there for a little while.

And then I didn't make the team.

I was on the practice squad.

And we were making maybe about 300 bucks Canadian a week, which wasn't a lot to live on, man.

But I was still, you know, you live in the dream and you're hoping.

that, hey, I can parlay this into I could get on an NFL squad next year and make that practice roster.

And those guys are making 100 grand or whatever it is.

So you keep the dream alive, keep the dream alive.

And then I got cut from the CFL

mid-October.

I'll never forget it.

And I got sent back home.

And so I got sent back home.

Wally Buono, who's a legend up

in the CFL,

he wound up becoming my mentor.

He said, listen, we're going to let you go, but man, you're a great player.

Love to call you back next year.

I said, okay, thank you for the opportunity.

I get sent home.

You know how when you leave home and you go to college, you guys go to Cincinnati, you leave at home.

You don't plan on going back home with your parents.

Like, this is it.

Afterwards, you're hoping to make it to the league and do what you guys did.

So I got cut from Canada.

I go back home and I don't have a place to go now.

I got to move back in with my mom and dad in their little apartment in Tampa, Florida.

And that was so sobering for me because it's like, man, there's a dream.

It all goes away.

And then,

yeah, and then I was down there.

And then I get the call from Wally Buono after the season again ended.

And he goes, hey, our season just ended.

I think they either competed for or they won the Great Cup.

And he goes, we just had a big year.

Jeff Garcia was up there, by the way, too, as well.

He was their quarterback.

And

he goes, I'd love to have you back.

And I said, coach, I appreciate it.

And in this moment, you know how you guys know that there's a defining moment in your life when you look back, like, man, had I not made that decision, I would have been on a different road.

So, in this moment, when he said, Hey, I'm calling, I got great news.

I got to bring you back

next training camp, and we'll start all over again.

And I said, Coach, I appreciate it, but I'm going to have to close this chapter of my life.

And he was like, Hey,

good luck to you, DJ.

Great working with you.

And I said, Thank you, Coach.

So, and then I and then I hang the phone up and my dad's listened to the call.

And my dad goes, Who was that?

And I was like, Oh, that was the coach from Canada.

And he goes, What do you say?

I said, Oh, you offer me a job to come back.

He goes, Oh, that's great.

I said, Yeah, I'm not going to take it.

He goes, What are you talking about?

And I said to my dad, who was a pro wrestler?

Yes, I said to him,

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I said, He goes, What do you mean?

I said, No,

I don't want to do that.

I'm closing that chapter of my life.

He goes, Well, what are you going to do?

I said, I'm going to be a wrestler.

He hated the idea.

No.

It was like, worst decision.

World decision.

He hated it.

Oh, we got to do a huge fight that night.

So I played up there in Canada for a little while.

And

that became very defining for me, man.

Yeah.

Because by the way, the thing I wanted most in my life, and I told you guys this, is I wanted your life.

I wanted to be in the NFL.

That was my goal.

And it wound up being the best thing that actually never happened for me.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Did you know on that call, like when you were saying no, that you were going to, did you know like previously before it that you were going to go into wrestling?

Or was it like literally at that moment where you're like, nah, man, I'm going to go do this other thing?

It was at that moment.

God, crazy.

It was at that moment.

That was

because I was down there in Tampa and I was working at Bally's gym and I was.

selling memberships.

I didn't know what the fuck I was doing.

But then I, just in that moment when he said, hey, you got a shot.

And right then I went, I'm out.

Thank you anyway.

Well, something's calling.

Something's calling him.

It's that voice.

I'll tell you what.

And what was calling down the road that you had no idea was the fact that you own a pro football team now.

How about it, baby?

Could you have ever imagined it after a call like that that you'd be sitting there as the owner of a US, yeah, UFL team?

No, there's no way.

I mean, that's the beauty, I think.

It's so humbling that life can come full circle in that way.

Because while I never got that shot to live the dream that you guys have the

privilege of living,

years later, I have the opportunity to be the owner of this league and owner of the league

with myself, Danny Garcia,

Mike Ropoli, and

Fox, Jerry Cardinal, too, as well.

And that

this full circle moment, man, to be able to create opportunities for players

is the greatest feeling in the world.

I mean, all this other stuff is wonderful, but to create these opportunities for players just to play the game that we all love and to take care of their families, put food on the table, pay the bills, and let them ball out is just has been amazing, man.

And by the way, like this opening day.

of this season, we had 46 UFL players on NFL teams, man.

Hell yeah.

Oh, no.

It's getting, it's doing exactly that.

It's getting, giving guys opportunities to, you know, put the film out there, show that they can make plays, show that they can get developed under a scheme.

I love to go in.

I was down in Texas, and I just love the atmosphere.

I loved seeing, you know, Wade Phillips coach that football team, and I believe they were going in to try and win the championship that week, or at least in the playoffs that week.

Congrats on all the success.

Thank you, man.

And you already know you might not have had that privilege of living this life, but it seems that you live life with the privilege to live life.

No matter what it is that you're doing, you're so humble about it.

And

you create your own path, man.

You created your own path.

And it's so cool to hear the story behind it all.

Thank you.

You got to.

That's what we got to do is work hard and create our own path.

Even if we don't know what it is.

You got to have faith and the work of the path.

So you knew what it was.

You knew what it was.

I knew it was the WWE, baby.

The attitude.

That's it.

We got to get into it, man.

We got to talk some wrestling.

Iconic, man.

Where do you even come up with this?

How does it even come together?

Well, back then in the attitude era,

keep in mind, that was before WWE was publicly traded.

It was, you know, well before

owned by TKO, obviously.

So we flew under the radar.

And there was a point where when I turned heel in the late 90s and I was mixing it up with Stone Cold Steve Austin and and we were going back and forth and having our matches.

That shit was bananas because the golden days because you could fly under the radar and it reached a point and I remember telling a guy who's a good friend of ours, mine today, and he helps run a division of seven bucks.

His name is Brian Gowartz and he was one of the first writers ever for WWE.

And we used to write my stuff all the time together.

And I said, you know what, man, you know how lucky we are right now?

He said, what?

I said,

we could say anything tonight to this crowd.

We could sing, we could talk shit, I could talk in another language, I could whatever it is.

I said, It's whatever we want, and I said, There's a whiteboard, let's write it.

So, the stuff about you know, whether it's if you smash, you're gonna be so fired up,

dude.

I'm telling you, it's like, Oh my gosh, Jason, do you remember that time right in the attitude era?

Oh my gosh, that was gonna be hard, dude.

You got

You know I was bringing it back.

I was going to bring it back.

That was good.

That was good.

But it was a special time, man.

I love it back.

That time was a very cool time.

And that was also a cool time where there were just characters that were larger than life.

You know, and everything evolves and everything in ebbs and flows.

And I get it.

And I love pro wrestling.

I will always love pro wrestling.

But back then, that was special.

You made it what it is today, no doubt.

Yeah, man.

That was a fun time.

What was life like as a WWE superstar?

Like, we always talk about life as an NFL player.

How is it different in wrestling?

And I want to hear from you guys on this one.

This is

where you're on the road.

Yeah.

365 days.

There's no season.

You know, it's hard.

It's not apples to apples.

It's when you're comparing NFL to WWE, but there is no season.

You're in a different city every night.

Our goal was to put on a good show,

send the fans home happy, don't get hurt, protect each each other's bodies.

I'll see you down the road.

I'll see you at the next town.

Right?

Yeah.

It's like, Travis, Jason,

I'll see you in Arlington.

And then the next night we're in Dallas.

The next night we're in Austin.

Let's not get hurt.

Let's take care of ourselves and send everybody home happy and injury free.

But the problem is in that world,

and it's just the way that it is, is, but you guys know this.

You're always injured and you're always working through your injuries and you're always letting pain be your guide and you're always trying to protect yourself.

And

so while it was incredible, and the world of pro wrestling is incredible, and I love it.

And what an opportunity it is because you get to connect every night with a different, a different crowd.

And, you know, and the crowd in Dallas, that's a different energy than in New York.

As you guys know, you go to these different cities, it's a different vibe, right?

A different world, baby.

Different world.

That's fun, though.

Kansas City is different than Miami.

You name it.

Philly is different.

So, and it is fun.

Did you have any favorites?

What were your favorite cities?

I didn't want to cut you off.

No, no, no.

no.

It's all good.

It's all good.

Chicago, New York, nothing like the garden, right?

Down in Texas, amazing, too, as well.

Philly, Philly, what I loved about Philly, that's a heel town.

Dude, there is a lot of support.

And I know you know this, but for The Rock in Philadelphia, like he is beloved like no other.

Man,

Philly is my town.

That's why I came back last year, man, at that WrestleMania.

There was nothing like it.

So

I think compared to the league, to the NFL, is

there's no seasons.

And also,

it's incredible.

And

dreams come true for all of us, but also it's tough, man.

It's tough being on the road every night because what that means is then it's tough on your body.

You're getting banged up every night.

You're working hurt every night and you're trying to keep up.

And also it takes its toll on marriages and on relationships.

It's hard.

Of course.

See traveling.

I mean, you're all season.

But how does that compare to you guys when you guys are on the road every week?

You're banged up.

You're trying to.

We're actually not on the road every week.

We're only on the road half of the season.

That was one thing that was eye-opening to me, even just going into media.

I travel more as a media member going to games than I did as a player because every week you're going to a new stadium.

But I think you're still, it's a big commitment in season.

You get one off day a week.

So it's the same thing.

You know, there's a really intensely busy time period yes which is six months seven months like and then after that's over

you get a lot of off season to you know reaffirm all of these relationships and spend time with your families that's right with loved ones so it's that's where it's different the the the the season is shorter it's not 365 days but for that shortened season,

you're at the building every single day of the one day, pretty much.

Yeah, it sounds like the similarities are amongst the routines of it.

You know, you want to have that professionalism to always make sure that you're at your peak

on the night, on the game night, on wrestling night,

when the TV's live.

You just want to make sure you're being that for the organization, for the people around you.

So, I guess there is

that similarity of just the gruesome strain that you got to go through

to have fun when the lights are on.

I got two questions for you guys.

This is here.

Let's go.

Jason,

when you retired,

you know, and you go out on top, it's like, again, it's the dream.

It's my dream.

I was watching that from afar.

I was like, man, it's amazing.

You give this impassioned speech.

You know, you just, it's incredible.

The next

camp.

Yeah.

And you weren't there.

Yeah.

Was that hard for you?

I've always wondered that.

Absolutely.

100%.

Was it, did, did you fall into like

mini depression?

Like, how did you work through that?

Like, what happened?

I don't know how to label it, to be honest with you.

There's definitely part of it I would say would be, you know, you're, you really miss being there with the guys.

And there's a, there's was there a void that you had to fill?

For sure, for sure.

And for every day for 13 years, I was a regimented person.

Even in the offseason, we talked about the season's only a certain short period of time.

To be the best at anything, you're putting in work 365 days a year.

So you get used to this, you know, okay, Monday, Monday, I'm doing this, Tuesday, I'm doing this, Wednesday, and you get into that repetition, and then you build all these relationships with people.

And then training camp is the most heightened state of like, hey, football is getting ready to get going.

That's right.

And I'm very fortunate.

I still live in Philadelphia, so I can still go to the building and get a little bit of it, but you're not in it.

You're not going through the grind with your teammates.

And you're not, you know, I miss going out and busting my ass and, you know, being hurt and tired after a practice and then going into the cafeteria and bitching about it with my buddies and trying to like, hey, you miss

like, I miss all that so much.

And

with every successive year, and I've talked to a lot of guys that have retired, you miss less and less of it.

The one time I still like get goosebumps before every game when the national anthem plays and that kickoff's about to happen, there's like a very visceral connection that comes to you.

And

you start smelling the grass if it's a natural field.

I don't know.

It's hard to think that that'll ever kind of go away.

But how did you feel?

Anyways, yes, to answer your question, absolutely.

That's when you flip that switch, man.

That's when you flip that switch.

But

what's your flip switch these days?

Is it

man?

I got a lot of things that.

So my flip switch is,

man, it's a good question.

Trying to,

well, I do the well, let me see.

But probably, I would assume, going on the road.

It's a different, well, yeah, I mean, it's a different,

there's no more physicality thing that you knew I had when I played the game.

Like the tactile thing where you could grab something and yeah, and that was a different switch where it's like, I'm gonna try and use violent hands out here in the streets.

Violent hands no longer help me.

He's got four little girls.

Girl dads.

I need top dance.

Top dads.

You get fired up to either offer players help.

I still go to the building and I still offer young guys support and to be able to help them in their careers or wherever I can in some type of like mentorship level.

You get fired up to be the best at whatever you're doing.

Like now I get to operate in a more creative space than I really ever got to in the field of football, which has been fun and different.

And I feel, and I felt last year in a lot of ways, you're almost like a rookie again, where

you're going into a new field.

And instead of being a veteran, where you kind of have all these things set in place, you know how to do everything, you know what works.

You feel that fear.

You feel that.

Oh, you're just an ascension.

Who are you scared?

You feel that.

And you're trying to figure out, you know, how can I be the best at this new thing?

What can I do?

How do I study?

How do I prepare?

How do I,

you know, bring something new that other people aren't doing?

So

that's kind of what is probably the new switch.

It's a little bit different than when you played.

It's more of a creative kind of

thinking about things from, you know, what can I do that's different and unique than what everybody else has been doing.

But it's still fulfilling for you.

Yeah.

It is.

It's fulfilling in a different way.

I mean, I don't know that anything, quite frankly, is going to replace playing football in front of

the hundreds of thousands of people and millions of people on TV.

But, you know,

I think I got the privilege to do that for a long time.

And at some point, that time ends and my time is over.

And I get fulfilled in different ways now.

And I don't know that it's the same type of fulfillment as playing, but it's still pretty damn good.

I'm still pretty damn fortunate to, you know, have a good time.

I still get to talk about football, a game that I love.

I get fulfilled at home, being with my kids and my family.

Dude, I'm telling you,

when I finally retire down the road yeah um me and jason are just going to be in the back putting the pads on for old time's sake

film it back one time just violence baby violence

you know

but think of think about this is and trav i have a question for you too as well is is while it nothing will ever take the place of putting on the pads and strapping up that chin strap, putting on the helmet, and there's 100,000 people.

Nothing will ever take that place.

But think about everything that you're doing now and how you've applied all of your mastery skills to become one of the greatest of all time champions etc

to what you're doing now but also thinking about all the guys who maybe are on the cusp hey i got about another year or two left in me but look how he's doing it right look how jason's doing it i want to do it like that so you're creating i think and already a really cool blueprint for athletes

yeah who are like thinking about like what's my next step the way he does it i want to do it like that It's funny you mentioned that because I've been following this big bear's footsteps my entire life, man.

I went to Cincinnati.

I followed him into the football world.

Then went to Cincinnati.

Then we both got drafted by Andy Reed.

I've just been following his footsteps everywhere I go, man.

Everywhere, man.

He's paved the way for me to make a living my whole life.

He passed me a long time ago, Trey.

Paving the way.

Paving the way for so many.

Trav, I got one question for you.

And the question, I was thinking about this earlier, the question about pressure.

Right?

You will go down as one of the greatest of all time.

And everything,

everything you got going on, by the way, congrats to your girl on the weekend.

What a crushing weekend she has.

It's awesome.

Life of a showgirl.

Life of a showgirl.

My daughters are listening to the album now.

It's very cool.

Pressure, not only pressure as a professional athlete, especially once you become the greatest on the planet and the pressure to go back to because now there's no,

if you don't win that and become the greatest and you don't become Super Bowl champions, then it's like us at Miami.

If we didn't win the national championship, all right, that's our season's failure, really.

It doesn't matter what our record is.

How do you handle that kind of pressure?

Because you have the pressure of a pro athlete, which is fucking insane.

But then the pressure of being in the spotlight, in another kind of spotlight that's so big.

What it's, is there a thing, did you notice a shift?

Did you feel a shift?

I definitely noticed a shift, but I'm not going to lie, man,

I've been so blessed, so fortunate.

My love for this game and my like attention to detail and the scrutiny I have on myself has been more pressure than anybody could put on me.

And I've just always loved to find that answer, find the reason why I'm not having success, find the reason why I lost on this rep.

So the year in, year out, I feel like the only thing that I really got to like channel is just my energy for that day.

You know, the attention to detail, the focus, the professionalism, that's always going to be there.

But how am I coming into work?

Am I coming into work enjoying what I'm doing?

Is that infectious?

Is that going to make the guy next to me want it just as bad as I do?

Is it going to make the guy next to me, you know, go that extra mile when he sees me going the extra mile?

You know,

how can I make this team better from the inside out?

And I think that's one of the biggest things that that's how you kind of handle pressure of the outside world is to just grind your fucking tail off inside.

And I was saying I've been blessed in terms of all the other pressure, the worldwide pressure and everything is

so blessed to have the love.

I look at it as a blessing, but I look at how

I look at the life that I have as a blessing because of the people that I have in it.

Having a support system as my family, having a support system like my brother and Taylor and all my friends that I've known since I was in fucking preschool.

And we were rock-bottoming each other on the fucking recess.

Do you have any idea how many times we got called to the principal's office, rock-bottoming people in their figure wood chips?

Jason Kelsey, the principal's office.

Jason Kelsey,

but I feel like when you got that ecosystem, and I've been so fortunate to have that ecosystem my entire life, you know, my family has been there for me every step of the way.

My friends have been there for me every step of the way.

And

that pressure, that outside pressure, doesn't feel as, you know,

tough.

It doesn't feel that at the house.

Exactly.

It's not as, it's not as scary.

I don't have to think about the, how the world's viewing me because the people around me and the loved ones around me know exactly what's real.

And you got to, you always got to separate that reality from the tabloids and the worldwide media that's.

has to talk about it and is going to find something to say about it more than what's real and how you're living your life.

So the noise,

it's the home anchor that allows you to block out all the noise.

Yeah.

And the fact that I get to do something that I love.

You know,

that'll always kind of, I think I'll have to find that

fulfillment that you guys were just talking about.

I actually want to ask you that same question.

Yeah, I was about to say, throw it right back at them.

I mean,

you're stepping away from the WWE full-time.

Like, that was such a huge part of your life.

It was at the height of like wrestling, like

in worldwide, I felt like the attitude area was just peaking and you step away and go into acting.

What was that like?

Did you find fulfillment right there in the same way?

No, not in the same way.

Thank you.

That's such a great, good question, man.

There's nothing, just like you guys with the football field.

You line up, you put your hands in the dirt.

There's nothing like it.

There's nothing like getting in the ring and there's 20, 30, 40, 50, 100,000 people.

You could connect with them.

You could tell a physical story from beginning to end.

There's nothing like that.

I love it and I miss it.

But, you know, I had the voice that was just, hey,

there's more.

You could stay here and do what you love or you could get out of this zone, which is comfortable.

And by the way, I get it.

We know that.

Like when you're in a comfort zone, it's called comfort zone for a reason.

It feels good.

Yeah.

Especially if everything is going well and everything is aligned and you're paying bills and everything is going well but there was i i wanted to grow that's it i really wanted to grow and i wanted to do more and i wanted to challenge myself in ways that i hadn't been challenged i'd not been to hollywood i didn't know right about hollywood other than well i love movies and i'd love to make movies i'd love to test myself and so

in 2004 was my last wrestlemania And I quietly tried to, as much as I could, just quietly transition and step away.

And that was scary because, as you were saying, like, I was lucky enough to, I was on top.

It was like Jim Brown.

Like,

yeah, that's a great reference.

Like, Jim Brown, you know, he was like leading the league in, you know, yards.

And he's like, hey, I'm going to go to this other thing and challenge myself.

The face of it.

Yeah.

It was the face of the league.

And that's what I did.

So

it was scary at first.

But ultimately, you know, I realized like it's scary and it's okay.

You know what also helped?

And I was really lucky about this is

I was doing okay in terms of money and I wasn't chasing the dollar.

And I wasn't like, hey, I'm fucking starving here and I need, I have seven bucks.

Like those days were behind me.

So it's like, I don't have to worry about that.

And then I could just concentrate on acting and acting coaches.

And,

and, and

my first role in, in Hollywood as a leading man wasn't, uh,

hey, here's a small little independent role.

This is Scorpion king franchise

we're going straight to blockbuster

it's sink or swim you know you're baptism by fire so i was really fortunate that you know i kicked off my career in that way well you built up a legacy ready for that to kick off and uh that's that's hats off to you that would have to be a daunting decision but you nailed it brother and yeah

as you said earlier your dad did not encourage your wrestling career very much was mad at you uh your daughter recently now with NXT has the on-screen GM.

Are you supportive of this?

Where do we stand as dad this time?

You know what happens is like,

you know, we're in control of where the dominoes stop falling.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

So in my world, you know, while my dad didn't approve at first, or we got into a massive fight and, you know, we had a complicated relationship, my old man.

But,

you know, I was in control of where that domino was going to stop falling.

And with my daughter, Simone, she's my oldest daughter.

Like you, I'm a girl dad.

I have three daughters, 24, 9, and 7, all different age rages.

You'll get there, Trav, soon.

You'll see the blessings.

That's right.

But with my daughter, man, I was so proud.

But here's the cool thing.

When she came to me and she came to me at 16 and said,

I want to do what you do.

I love this business just like you do, and I want to do it at 16.

So she became the youngest WWE signee at 16.

Whoa.

She was going to NYU.

She gave me a call, me and her mom, and she said, I want to pivot a little bit.

I'd like to go directly into

WWE NXT and start training down there in Orlando.

And you don't have to ask me twice.

I'm like, okay, hey, I got you.

But here's the great thing.

The most beautiful thing about this is

I never got that call from her.

I never got the call like, hey, dad, I want to do what you do.

Can you call WWE?

Can you call Ben Smann at that time?

Could you call Nick Kahn?

Could you call somebody?

Never once did she ask me, could you make that call?

She was just like, I want to do what you do.

I want to blaze my own path.

I want to call myself Ava Rain, not, you know, the rock something or anything like that.

She's like, I just want to do it on my own.

I love you.

I respect you.

And I was like, baby, listen, I wanted to do the same thing.

I wanted to make it on my own.

My grandfather was a wrestler.

I was like, your great grandfather and your grandfather were wrestlers.

So I love that you want to do it on your own.

And I'm here.

I got your back.

And so she's been doing a great job.

And I keep tabs on her.

And, you know,

I had,

she was born when I was 29.

And if you think about it at that time, we know as dudes in our 20s, We think we know what we're doing.

We don't know shit.

We're trying to keep up and we're trying to make it look like, hey, we're good.

We got, you know, under control.

So it was almost like her and I grew up together.

And, you know, these days, her being in the wrestling business has actually brought us closer together.

And that to me is the biggest joy, man, because my babies, just like, you know,

you, Jason, and like one day you'll know Trab,

babies are everything.

That's it.

It is.

100%.

You know, 100%.

It takes the moment the first one pops out.

It's like, okay, my entire

hierarchy of priorities is completely shifted.

Just like that.

In an instant.

Seriously, it's crazy.

You'll see, Trev.

It's crazy.

We're putting the voodoo on to you and Taylor right now.

That's right.

That's right.

That's right.

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Oh, okay, Jason.

How have you liked working out with your Peloton?

It's right there.

It's always where I need it.

Sitting in a corner, sitting back there.

I got the bike.

Do it on the tread.

I'm a big tread guy.

I like to tread.

And then you can watch shows.

You can watch instructors.

It's just a great product.

And something else that's really cool, the screen swivels now.

So you can easily go from running to strength training or stretching.

There's so many classes that Peloton has that you can click on.

And moving the screen around just makes it so you don't have to move that heavy old bike or tread.

It's like having a whole training facility right there, one place, one equipment.

It is nice.

And having the trainer access is good.

Oh, and Peloton IQ actually counts your reps and corrects your form with intelligent strength coaching, which we definitely need when working out at home.

And get this, it tracks your progress and can even suggest weights to help you level up your strength game.

The rep counter is nice.

I also heard that Peloton IQ creates personalized workout plans based on your goals.

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And that's what Peloton is all about.

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Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at onepeloton.com.

I appreciate your time up to this point.

We got one last segment for you, Big Dog, and it's called We Gotta Ask.

But you don't have to answer.

You can tell us to just fuck off if you don't want to answer this.

I'll answer it all.

But we got to ask, man.

Look, I've been drinking tequila the whole time.

It's five o'clock somewhere.

You got some of the best tequila around, man.

All right.

So we almost used

Jabroni as a nickname for fans of this show.

Do you own the word Jabroni?

I do not own the word Jabroni.

I think it's just out there.

I own the name The The Rock, not Jabroni.

Oh, no, but wait,

I might own that because I own everything

associated with The Rock.

Like, it doesn't matter if you smell so.

I might.

I know that, let me give him props.

The Iron Sheik was, he made that word.

He made it?

He made that word famous.

So

he used to, especially in the locker room, oh, this Jabroni is that.

This Jabroni is that.

So he would call people Jabronis.

And that's where I got it from.

I always got to give him flowers, but it's really cool.

It's actually in the Webster's dictionary.

And I get the credit for it, but it's really the iron sheet.

It's really the iron sheet.

Yeah.

A lot of people are asking me because I said it on after we won one of the AFC championships.

I got on the mic and called the Cincinnati Bay Doctor Jabroni for calling us.

Oh, I know you did.

I know you did.

I was like, yeah.

Let's go.

Wait my whole life to get this mic in Jabroni.

That's crazy.

A lot of the like by like mom's friends or dad's friends or the just like people in the building wrestling like what's what's a jabroni exactly if you don't know you're probably a jabroni

you don't want to be called a jabroni what is the greatest rock insult of all time the greatest rock insult of all time is okay um

what's your opinion uh who's gonna win the super bowl this year it's gotta be the kansas city chiefs all right gotta be the kansas city chiefs well the rock now i'm speaking as a rock well the rock says you take your opinion that it's got to be the Kansas City Chiefs.

You take your opinion, you roll it up.

That's right.

You know what's coming.

You roll that dump and you turn it sideways and stick it straight up your candy ass.

That's

that was a crazy insult.

I remember

those guys at WWE at that time was like, your candy ass?

They were like, where did this come from?

And I remember saying, well, you know, telling somebody to stick something up their asses, you know, that's an insult.

But when you turn it sideways,

when you turn your opinion sideways, it's a whole different thing.

So good.

God dang, that's good.

How did you feel the first time you walked into an arena and you saw little kids like quoting the rock?

Like what was that first feeling like when you saw it?

Because you already know that the wrestling world is wide range of everyone, just like a lot of the sports world.

But there's something when you get the kids behind you that it's just, it's some of the most fulfilling stuff and just see them going crazy.

But when you started seeing them quote some of the things you were saying, like, how, how, how was that feeling?

Oh, there was nothing like it because you realize if the kids are quoting what you're saying, then they're saying that on the playground.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

And if they're saying that on the playground, then it's awesome for you.

You know, they're getting in trouble.

They're getting called.

It was amazing.

You used to post ridiculous cheat meals on your social.

We got a few of them here.

Pancakes stacked mile high.

Did you actually eat these?

Are these just like kind of like messing around, having fun on Instagram?

No,

I take a shot at it.

I try to

eat everything I can, man.

But that's, you know, the cheat meals, I feel like.

Well, let me ask you guys this.

Do you guys have a cheat day?

Like, is it Sunday or maybe?

Today's it.

Yeah.

Oh, so it's a day before you play.

So it's two days before.

So it's Friday.

Fat Guy Fridays.

Fat Friday.

Yeah, Fat Guy Friday.

Trav's playing Monday.

You weigh in on Friday Friday morning.

So we would call Fat Guy Fridays, and that's your day to just unload.

Okay, but so wait, I got a question then.

So, Jace,

give me your Fat Day Friday.

What's your cheat day look like?

My cheat day is I'm going in there after practice, the fast Fridays.

You're going in there right afterwards into the cafeteria.

I'm getting wings, as many as I can put on a plate, blue cheese, each and every different flavor, pizza, and then I'm going to finish it off with some ice cream.

That's my like stereotypical.

That's what I had every time.

Wings and pizza.

He inherited that from his father.

Wings and pizza.

So playing on a Sunday, so you have 48 hours approximately or 36 somewhere in there to burn that off.

So

wings and pizza and beer.

Not beer, but you got it.

Okay.

Well, that too.

And then traffic cafeteria.

Cloric intake.

I'm going.

So mine starts as soon as

soon as I weigh in in the mornings.

Gosh, I'm still playing, so I don't even know if I should be telling everybody.

I forgot about the donuts.

I forgot about the donuts Friday morning.

I was about to say, as soon as so, every Friday, the QB is going to get donuts.

And shout out to Lamar's Donuts.

It's a historical donut shop here in Kansas City.

And I see that yellow box, man, and I just go in and I get two nice fluffy glazed donuts.

Glazed.

Fluffy glazed.

And that's just where I start before practice.

And then once practice ends, I usually grab some barbecue and just enjoy it.

But throughout the week, I'm pretty like

pretty sensitive.

Yeah, you're strict also.

Yes.

But also, look, you're the goat, so you don't want to give away what you're eating right now, right?

And I will say, it has gone up a level since Taylor

has come into the picture because she loves to make

sourdough.

Oh, she's got sourdough pie tarts, sourdough cookies.

I mean, it goes on and on.

She loves to make cinnamon rolls.

So

I'm not going to lie.

I used to look at your cheat meals and was like, man, at least I'm not cheating that crazy.

Dude.

Well, wait, what's what's interesting is so you guys don't have cheat days after your games

um

i mean after the game you're usually pretty uh free eating at least i was yeah like right after the game i'm gonna eat whatever i want now that i just played but was it was that as ceremonial as your fat day fat guy friday or or not usually because usually the day like right after the game was never always going to the same spot whereas like fat guy friday you always are in the building yeah so like you and your teammates kind of trust that remote.

I forgot to say like we would always, I think it's Baylor's donuts in Philadelphia.

And then the calf would always have certain food there.

So that was more the ritual of the fast, of the cheap meal.

And then after games, you're going out with family.

If they're in town, you're doing whatever.

But yeah, you're usually pretty loose with what your intake is as well.

Well, let me ask you that.

And then I'm just curious, really quickly.

After games,

do you ever require a quiet moment?

Maybe at your locker.

I mean, what do you you think, Trav?

Yeah,

not at home games.

Or when it felt really quiet, actually, was when we lost.

Because even when you lose, you're going to go out with your family, but you're thinking of like all the plays that didn't go right.

Like you're not even mentally there and present because you're still in that game.

And the moment I would get back to my house, I would get my

iPad and I would re-watch the game.

Like with nothing happening, everybody else is asleep and I'm up at two, three in the morning especially if it's a night game and you're going through all the plays and thinking that was when it really was like the quiet moment in victory not so much for whatever reason i was you know you're partying you're having fun it's yeah it's hard to win the nfl man i'll enjoy this

no need no need to be quiet now no i um i think i i have a lot of moments of reflection i have a lot of moments of um those quiet moments where you're kind of just appreciating either where you are or you're dreaming about being somewhere bigger.

You know, I think I've always had those moments.

I'll never not have those moments.

And they kind of come more sporadically than they do just after a game.

But I think I'm with Jason on that one.

When it's one that hurts, you kind of

need to have that voice of reason.

You have to watch the film.

You have to sit there and

figure things out on your own before you can attack it the next workday.

But I'm so fortunate.

I was telling you, man,

win or lose, I've always got somebody at the game or a bunch of people watching to, you know, especially at the home games or the big games in the playoffs, there's always somebody there to enjoy it with.

And if we're winning, we're having a blast and there's no, there's no, there's not much quiet going around.

But when you're losing, you know, it's so nice to have that support, but also

you're also left really with yourself.

You know, that's what I was wondering.

It's like, and I'm just curious for the both of you.

In the losses, when you're watching film that night, are you watching broadcasts or are you watching the silent game film?

Silent.

Silent game film.

You're watching, they call it the all-22.

It's basically you get a sideline view and you get a behind like line of scrimmage view, like looking at it from the backside of it.

Yeah, game tanks.

And that gets that usually uploaded if it's a home game very quickly.

If it's an away game, those are even worse.

You want to talk about quiet?

Being on an airplane after a loss going back across the country.

You know what I mean?

You'll get three to four hours of quiet time there.

John Cena recently announced he will be retiring from wwe who should his last his final match be against oh that's a good one

that's just it all

two of my favorites oh man that i i i that's um

you know i have a tiny bit of influence in the booking of it but it really is just

it's uh it's who it's whoever john wants really that's what it comes down to whoever he wants

that should he right It's not me or Nick Carl or Triple H.

It's just, it's whoever John wants.

That guy has earned it.

And you know what?

The best part about John is he comes as advertised.

So who you think he is, that's who he is.

And he's a good dude.

And I love that guy.

It feels like it, man.

And everything that guy does, he is like so authentic.

You never see him being somebody there.

That's a great, well put, well put.

No, he's a good dude, man.

And kind.

He's really cool.

And, you know, that stuff matters to me these days, you know, any day but like if somebody's kind and cool all right as a dad do you know how many times i've seen moana it's

it is it was it is such a great film you killed it like i don't know man what what was that like putting you guys just came out with moana two uh not too long ago yeah with moana two um

at the end of last year and it's amazing that that

you know you make a you never know in our business what's going to hit, what's not.

Just like you got, you do, you prepare for your season.

You never know where you're going to go.

You guys could be, you just come off a Super Bowl win.

You never know what happens.

Every season brings a different alchemy and a different energy.

Every movie is different.

That was amazing.

The most gratifying part about Moana is just this

global, I think,

embrace of Polynesia culture.

You beat me to it.

And that's what I love about teaching everybody, man.

All of the Disney movies that I like the most are the films that really do a great job of highlighting the cultures that they represent, whether it's Moana, Coco,

like Princess and the Frog in Louisiana.

I think that's an older one.

But Moana is just such a fantastic film, and it really doesn't capture Polynesian culture.

You might be the most well-suited to perform a live-action of Maui of any voice actor, right?

We're doing it.

We're doing live action.

Oh, really?

Yeah, so live-action Moana.

I have to actually fill.

I have five more days of filming, live-action Moana, and it's all the songs.

Let's go!

You're welcome.

Yes.

Yeah.

Hell yeah.

And so we'll do that.

And live action Moana come out next summer.

We can't wait.

Hell yeah.

And the director, Tommy Kale, is the director of Hamilton.

You know, that little play that maybe a few people have seen.

There's two people seen it.

I don't know who else has it.

That's a good one.

It is awesome, man.

Yeah.

I can't wait for that.

Awesome.

Of all your acting co-stars,

who would make the best WWE tag team partner?

Aw, easy.

Easy.

Kevin Hart.

For sure.

Kevin Hart.

I knew it.

Philadelphia.

Philadelphia boy.

There we go, baby.

Every time you guys,

the electric, man.

The electric.

Promos would be incredible.

It would be crazy.

Promos epic.

Dude, I called him one time.

I called him.

As a matter of fact, we're getting ready to shoot Jumanji 3

in about a month.

Gosh, holy dang.

Jumanji's have been some of my favorites.

Can't wait to work with Kev again, but man, his nickname, I always joke about this.

Kevin Hart's wrestling nickname will be Honky Pete.

Honky Pete.

You got to give us some death.

How did you get Honky Pete?

You don't want to know, but he's just on the.

We did read you're going to be working with friends of the show, LeonardoCaprio and Martin Sorschese on your next film.

What are you guys working on?

Yeah, okay.

Can you tell us anything?

I can.

Yeah,

I'm happy to.

So it's going to be Martin Scorsese and

Leo.

You guys, he was on the show.

It's an amazing show, by the way.

Emily Blunt as well, who will produce it with me.

So

this story is based off of a man by the name of Nappy Pulava.

And that name won't mean much to you guys now, but Nappy Pulava, just so you guys know, is a man who lived, who's still alive.

He just turned 90.

He was the godfather of all of the islands of Hawaii.

Oh, wow.

So

imagine Casino and Goodfellas wrapped up in Hawaii, and he ruled the islands, and

he was that guy.

And I will play that guy.

I didn't even know that that took place in the islands.

Okay.

It's incredible.

And the story is incredible.

Nick Bilton is writing it.

He's writing it now.

Scorsese has a script.

We should connect with him next week.

But also, I mean,

for me to work with Leo, to work again with one of my favorites, Emily, but also to work with, you know, one of the goats in Scorsese.

Yeah, Scorsese.

So I'm honored to play this role.

Honored to work with Scorsese.

Oh, yeah.

That's awesome.

Hell yeah.

Looking forward to that.

I'm already looking forward.

You said Emily.

I thought when you said

former co-star you thought would make a great wrestler.

I thought you were going to go Emily Blunt.

That's where I thought you were going to go.

She'd make a great one, too.

She's a badass.

She's a forest.

That's right.

That's right.

On a scale of one to 10,

what did you think of Jason's WrestleMania appearance?

My laughing is an indication.

Very brief.

I got.

You know what?

I'll give it a 9.9.

How about it?

This guy.

He's a generous man.

He's a generous man.

It was cool.

Out of 100.

Out of 100.

Here's what I love about that.

Understand that, like in our world of pro wrestling, even though pro wrestling is global and it's publicly traded these days,

the idea that a celebrity and someone who is at the top of their game, who's made it, who's just the greatest, like you, anytime anyone comes into the world of pro wrestling, it is.

It's the greatest thing to us.

It doesn't matter how big the wrestling world has become and these superstars, how big that doesn't matter.

You, you, anybody.

So, it's always a big deal, man.

And again, I grew up in the business.

So, it's like any kind of celebrity or champion or anybody who comes in is a special thing.

You did great.

Yeah.

Well, it was a complete honor for me and Lane.

We actually, during the week, we didn't know what we were going to get asked to do.

They're like, hey, do you want to be a part of?

I'm like, all right, well, we've never wrestled.

We went to the Monster Factory down in South Jersey, got some pointers and saw wrestling on that kind of tier, which was incredible.

That's a classic, that's a iconic place you went.

Yeah, no, we saw all the pictures on the wall of all the wrestlers that have been through.

It was, it was special, man.

It was awesome.

So, did you have fun?

Very honored.

Oh, my God, I had a blast.

I mean, they made it.

They made it pretty easy.

They were like, if you're going to jump at this point, throw this, and then

boom, we're out of here.

Just bring the energy.

That's all.

That's it.

You did.

You did.

That was awesome.

What about you, Trap?

When do you kind of come in?

Oh, man.

Listen,

when the opportunity presents itself, you know, I'll dive in there.

I've been dreaming about this, been working on my moves

in the living room for years,

trying to get my channel.

I'm more of an aerial act, though.

I'm off the rope.

I'm off the rope.

Top rope.

Six five.

Top rope, baby.

That's scary.

You're going to break your neck on that hot ass mat.

I'm telling you right now.

That thing is not as scary.

I love this shit.

I'll die for this.

It's like the final boss in Travis.

We got to figure that out.

Here we go.

All right.

We do got to ask this last question.

We ask it to all our guests, usually in whatever field.

Don't really know which field to go for from here, but we'll ask you for Hollywood, I guess.

Do you have a Welcome to Hollywood moment?

Ooh.

Oh, man.

It can be good, can be bad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Be like, holy shit, I'm actually doing this.

Or like, well, that was

sure.

Yeah.

It would be.

Okay.

The very first movie I ever did was a movie movie called Mummy Returns.

And that was Brendan Frazier was one of the biggest stars in the world, as he is today, as a legend.

And

I was so excited to be cast in the film, small part called The Scorpion King.

Brendan, by the way.

At that time, it turned into something.

Okay.

No, it turned into something.

But for that, it was just in the beginning of the movie and at the end of the movie.

Five minutes total in the movie.

I was just so excited at the opportunity.

Brandon Frazier, by the way, I always want to make mention of this.

He was one of the biggest stars in the world.

That was his franchise.

I'm coming in.

Like, just, I've never acted before.

I'm excited.

He could have easily said, I don't know if I want this wrestler.

He embraced me.

I love that man for that.

And he helped kick off my career.

So,

hell yes.

I go to,

we're in the Sahara Desert, right outside of Morocco.

I'm I'm shooting the movie.

I don't know what I'm doing.

I haven't shot anything.

This is before the first take.

I'm in the Scorpion King outfit.

I'm sick, by the way.

I got like a hundred-degree fever.

I'm freezing.

It's 110 degrees in the Sahara Desert.

I'm like, my brain is spinning.

I'm wobbly.

Shit.

It's not the way I wanted to kick off my action career.

Right, yeah.

The director, Stephen Summers, he calls action.

We do the scene.

It's an action sequence.

A lot of guys, stunt guys are running and flying and doing all this stuff for me, really taking care of me.

He yells, cut.

Boys, when he yelled, cut,

I knew in that moment, I got, you know, how you hear that acting bug?

Oh, the acting bug.

I thought that was bullshit.

I didn't know what acting bug was.

He yelled, cut.

I went,

This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Oh, my gosh.

That's amazing.

Holy cow.

I love that.

Caught the acting bug right there in in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

Yeah, it was very crazy.

That's an awesome story, man.

Listen, we can't thank you enough.

Thank you so much for the blast.

DJ, thank you so much for your time, for just you being you, man.

All the,

you know,

you are even cooler of a person than what your persona and

everything has as you've shown the world.

You're such a humble guy, such a real guy.

And I just can't say thanks enough for everything you've done for

a young Jabroni like myself throughout my career, man.

I still remember the day that I got introduced into the Super Bowl by you.

And I got to see you work in that moment.

And I was so just engulfed in you as a professional and you as a person.

And you said what's up to me?

Like you had known me my whole life, man.

It just made my fucking life dude.

So thank you for doing that.

And thank you for coming on and telling some stories and having some fun with us.

And congrats again on the smashing machine, man.

You fucking rock.

Hell yeah, man.

Well, look, thank you both.

I appreciate it.

Jason, Trav, thank you.

Jason, I met you last year.

It was an honor to meet you in Philadelphia and Trav.

I think we're down in Miami, right?

When we met.

So when I was doing the big intros for that game, I remember dapping up Trav as my man.

I remember thinking.

This is a big motherfucker.

I don't know.

Holy shit.

Yeah, right.

I was like, man.

But listen, thank you guys so much.

I had a blast.

And I don't get a chance to do this a lot.

So, you know, just hang out and just listen with my boys.

So thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

You're the man, dude.

Whenever you want to do it again, dude, please.

You're always welcome back anytime, man.

We'll do it again.

We'll do it in person and we'll have some tequila.

Be good.

Hey, we're good on that.

You don't got to threaten me with a good time.

All right.

Hey, that wraps up another episode of New Heights.

Thank you so much to Dwayne The Rock Johnson for joining us.

Why is he such a good dude?

Well, I mean, it's probably probably because

he's charming, handsome chap,

fucking

good at what he does.

Yeah,

driven, motivated, and appreciative, man.

He's just so humble.

He's so humble and appreciative, man.

Make sure you're subscribed to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.

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As always, thanks to our New Heights production team for putting this one together.

And thank you to all the 92%ers for tuning in.

Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we do.

And always, shout out to The Rock, baby.

DJ, you're the best, brother.