Ep 259: Will Ospreay

Hello, it's Ed Gamble here from the Off Menu Podcast.

Hello, it's James Acaster here from the Off Menu Podcast.

And before the episode starts, we'd like to talk to you about All Our Relations, a non-profit co-founded by your friend of mine, comedian Jen Brister, and Georgia Takax.

Yes, All Our Relations was originally started to support 15 families in Gaza when the genocide started, but now supports 21 families and funds several mutual aid projects, including two seven-day food kitchens and two mobile food parcel delivery schemes, as well, feeding hundreds of families in Gaza every single day.

They've created an absolutely amazing thing.

And we feel like, you know, it's the off-menu podcast.

We talk about food and we are very lucky to eat wonderful food and have access to absolutely brilliant food all of the time.

And I think we need to talk about people who have access to no food, James.

Absolutely.

So if people would like to donate, please go to allourrelations.co.uk or look at the links in Jen Brister's bio on Instagram.

Every penny raised goes to supporting people in Gaza.

Thank you so much and enjoy the episode.

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Welcome to the Off Menu Podcast, taking the extra hot chicken thighs of conversation, adding the spicy rice of humor, and why not throw in the matro peas of the internet.

It's the off-menu podcast, James.

That is a gamble.

My name is James Acaster, and together we own a dream restaurant.

Every single week we invite in a guest because we ask them their favorite.

Oh, dear.

Hang on.

It's been a while since we've done one, hasn't it?

So what's happened here?

Our guest is

Will Ospreay.

I'm rusty.

I'm rusty.

You're rusty, man.

You wouldn't see me messing up the format like that.

Will Ospreay, I mean, you know, pretty much my favorite wrestler.

I think widely considered one of the best wrestlers in the world right now, James.

Our first wrestler on the podcast.

Very exciting.

Very, very exciting.

Big day.

He is, of course, one of the top guys at AEW.

And AEW are coming to London soon.

So we'll be chatting to Will a little bit about that.

They're doing Wembley Stadium.

They're doing AEW All-In on the 25th of August, 2024.

I went to All-In last year.

It was an insanely brilliant night.

And I think I'm going back this year and I can't wait.

You sent me a lot of videos.

Yeah, a lot of people.

You were in the audience.

You were singing along to songs.

Yeah.

You were going, yeah, come on, come on.

Yeah, yeah.

Come on.

Yeah, I loved it, man.

And I can't wait to say, come on, again.

I loved how much you said, come on.

Yeah.

Well, I'm just not very good at cheering along for sporty stuff.

So all I've really got is come on.

It was great.

I really liked it.

I really liked it.

And I hope you shout, come on, loads this year.

Yeah, I will.

I will shout, come on.

And I'll be like, come on, Will, my buddy.

It's me, Ed, from the podcast.

We're friends now.

We're friends now.

We're buddies.

Should I get in there and help?

Oh, that'd be good.

I will get in there and help, actually.

I won't check.

Let's do it.

Yeah, you can shout, come on, when you're in the ring.

Yeah, yeah.

It'd be something different.

Because then it is like, you know, come on, let's have a fight.

Come on, let's have a fight.

Then you're in trouble.

I did a little special Nando's intro there, James.

Yeah, it was good.

I like that.

Because Will has a move called Cheeky Nando's.

That's great.

He's got a move called Cheeky Nando's.

Yeah.

This is like, every time I learn something about wrestling, I am like, I should just watch wrestling because clearly i'd love it yeah every detail i hear about it is brilliant yeah he's got a move called cheeky nando's what is that what was the move i think from memory it's i think that it's when people are like sort of tangled up or hung upside down on the turnbuckle and then he kicks them in the head great that is cheeky yeah

very much looking forward to speaking to will but of course if he says a secret ingredient in which we have pre-agreed he will be removed tossed over the top rope of the restaurant yeah oh that's a wrestling term yeah yeah yeah yeah and this week, the secret ingredient is chops.

Chops.

This is the most wrestling food crossover thing I could think.

A chop is a horrible move where you basically slap someone's chest as hard as you can.

You demonstrated it on Bonito.

When you were pitching the secret ingredient to us, you were like, no, it's a wrestling move.

Because we obviously, me and Benito, were thinking about karate chops and stuff.

And you were like, no, it's a wrestling.

And you said to Benito, come here, I won't do it on you.

I won't do it on you.

And he was so scared.

He was so scared.

If I had done it on Benito, he'd be dust right now.

He'd be dust.

We would not have a producer for this podcast.

We'd be running it ourselves because he'd be dust.

Dust in the wind.

Boy, his chest would be gone.

That would be horrible if Benito had no chest.

I imagine it.

We don't know what we'd put there to keep him together.

Just a floating head.

I guess whenever I've got a signed chopping board.

Yeah.

Signed by himself.

Chops.

Yeah.

And chops is food as well.

So if Will says chops, he's gone.

He is gone.

But hopefully that's not going to happen because I don't want to attempt to kick out a wrestler.

Yeah, no, it's not going to happen, man.

I reckon he can take you.

Yeah, that's true.

This is the off-menu menu of Will.

Will Ospreay!

Welcome, Will, to the Dream Restaurant.

Thank you.

Welcome, Will Ospreay, to the Dream Restaurant.

We've been expecting you for some time.

Thank you kindly, sir.

You're very loud.

Yes.

You're used to it.

Wrestlers are loud.

I mean, a little bit.

Who's the loudest wrestler you've ever seen on the mic?

On the mic?

I don't know, mate.

Talking themselves up up for a match.

That is a very difficult one.

They're all pretty loud, right?

They're all pretty loud.

I mean, everyone's got a bit of a loud, obnoxious attitude.

I'm very much a chilled, laid-out person.

So

those are loud, man.

I just woke up and 9:47 in the morning, right?

Here we go.

Let's go.

Let's go.

I got you, man.

Does that extend backstage as well?

Wrestling's full of like bright personalities and loud personalities.

So it's just kind of like it's a part of the job, innit?

Like, you're always surrounded by these type of people.

You're the first wrestler we've had on the podcast.

It's very exciting.

Thank you, Simon.

This is a big day for us.

Thank you.

Ed, obsessed with wrestling.

Really?

Recent reconvert.

Because I was like, I mean, I think most people, like most people my age was a big sort of attitude era, WWE guy.

Your son.

And then

sort of fell out of it a bit.

And then my wife got back into it last year.

And then I was like, well, I'll start watching it with her.

Your wife is the one that got you back into it.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

100%.

It's normally it's the other way around.

It's normally the lad goes no you've got to watch this yeah wife likes it and then wife leaves you then goes off

it's normally that

no she absolutely loves it and then yeah and and got into aew so then i was uh oh man that makes me happy i was in so you're enjoying yourself yeah loving it excellent absolutely love it yeah just i i think i enjoy all of it now as well like the the actual quality of the wrestling and then also the like ridiculous storylines and all of that i think i can enjoy every element of it is great i mean that's the art of it now i mean there's so many different ways to tell stories in pro wrestling.

I feel like for years, it was just told in one way.

It was just done with like the, uh, what I call the invisible camera, where you just pretend the camera isn't there and you do this like key stage free GCSE acting.

Do you know what I mean?

So, like, for me, it's just kind of like, uh, I spent like eight years of my life over in Japan, eight, where it was like treated as a sport.

So, like, from there, it was like finding ways to tell stories within the wrestling.

And now for AEW to kind of do that, it's kind of, it's so refreshing to have like a show where it is very much a sport-based wrestling show.

Japan's the like, is that like the proper was Mick Foley there for a long time?

Mick Foley done like the death match wrestling over there.

I mean,

I would do it, I'd happily go do it.

I tried my best at it when we was like backyarding around my mum's, and my mum didn't like it when I had this roll of barbed wire coming down, and she'd be like,

I just thought it'd be a laugh to bring it down.

But no, like my

style was New Japan Pro Wrestling.

I was there for eight years of my life.

I was there when I was 22 years old.

I'm 31 now, which is weird saying that Meniza all the time.

But like it was, it was so cool because it was kind of like a cult shock for me.

Being someone that like, once again, bring up the GCSEs, failed GCSEs.

I wasn't very good workmen at all.

Like I was much preferred just backyard wrestling with my friends.

And then all of a sudden I was able to make a little bit of a break on the indie scene.

And then thankfully there were some agents or like

office members over in from New Japan over in this show.

They brought me over and I have a looked back.

I applied myself there for eight years.

It was a complete culture shock, especially when you're wanting to go somewhere and you just got all these weird symbols on that you've never seen before.

You're like, what is that?

That's amazing, man.

When you say the indie scene, so I went to see a wrestling match in...

Barton Seagrave near Ketwin where I'm from.

And it was a little community centre and stuff.

And

one of the best nights of entertainment Ketman's ever seen, I'd say.

There was a wrestler called The Spin Doctor, who was a man in

a white lab coat who just used to spin round and round until he hit something.

Were you doing stuff that was a bit more serious than that?

Yeah, I'm not going to lie to you.

I mean, the spinning round and round thing does.

I have quite a few Arsenal moves where I can do all these cool spins and all these cool flips.

But I must say,

Spin Doctor isn't very much my cup of tea there.

do you remember what the show was called Bernie Chapter I can't remember what it was called I remember spin doctor because he spanned round and because yeah he went out during Royal Rumble and then he had to sneak back in because he'd left his lab coat on stage so he had to sneak back in and retrieve his lab coat honestly this is so British wrestling though it's been so many times I've wrestled in a venue and I've got in the ring trying to pretend that I'm a big tough guy there's a projection screen right here at my eyelids so like we'll be hitting the ropes we have to duck our opponent and the fucking projection stage

It is amazing, though, but I think that's what sort of makes those indie shows really exciting as well.

Something really silly might happen as well as watching some incredible wrestling.

There are so many times I could tell you where like, I feel like that is the backbone of what British wrestling, it makes you a little bit of a pro wrestler.

So there's one of my examples, right?

I used to wrestle in a place called the Resistance Gallery.

It was on Bethanille Green where I used to train, right?

The day before a show happens, a fire breaks out.

Someone just set fire to the bins outside.

The flames worked its way inside the building.

Are you able to extinguish all the flames the show goes on this place stunk of like smoke and like we're probably like breathing in like like and everyone's still drinking having a good time i was wearing a wrestling mask as well and get this so these shows they're more of like a cabaret show it's called lucha britannia they're more of a cabaret show than a wrestling show and they have like wrestling match wrestling match act wrestling match wrestling match act and then final wrestling match right that was the main event and the second act that they brought in was a fire breathing

the building's already set ablaze do you want to do this again as the first wrestler on the podcast we don't really know like if there's a strict diet for wrestlers if there's something that you have to like abide by or is it like whatever you like I'll be honest with you I'm sure that there is a strict diet I'm sure that there is a way of doing this eh but like I've it's not made its way to my lap I've still got uber eats on my phone I get myself a creams at night

but obviously like a main diet for every pro wrestler especially in this country is definitely go get a Nando's for yourself mate same as comedians yeah exactly bro there are a lot of parallels though I think like with wrestling and comedy in terms of like whenever I see wrestlers that you can always tell they've done like years of doing the ropey the ropey shows and like traveling around the country and having to sort of exist by going

to work off your audience as well like sometimes I'm sure with you guys it will be like someone's heckling you or someone's giving you a bad time or like you have to judge and you have to like pivot to like what this person's doing.

I mean, the audience sometimes, like, yeah, I could think I'm going in there as the biggest good guy in the world, but the moment I walk through the curtain, they might start booing me.

Yeah, and you have to learn how to adjust and adapt to those situations just as comedy is.

Obviously, I'm not a comedian myself, although my mum thinks I'm quite funny, but uh, yeah, in the face, anyway.

But no one's going to be booing you at Wembley Stadium.

I hope not.

Absolutely not.

There is, there is no dad might, my dad might.

Just to get just to keep you balanced.

August 25th, 2024.

This is absolutely huge.

So it's the second year that AEW have done a show at Wembley Stadium.

I was at the first one.

It was amazing.

What a night.

I mean,

I don't like sort of football or anything like that, really.

And I walked into Wembley Stadium and the atmosphere, I was like,

I think I get live sports now.

I understood it.

I'm the same with you.

I wasn't the biggest football guy.

Like, I think due to like being around my dad and my uncle so much that I was kind of like, okay, this is football.

I enjoy the Eurozone, enjoy the World Cup but I never fully understood it I've never been inside Wembley Stadium before in my life and last year I weren't even part of the company I was brought in as a favor from New Japan to come over I also feel like that was them being like if you come over here like we'll we'll treat you nice and it was just kind of like walking out there man I can't even tell you I walked into the stadium and you see all those red seats and it was It was a moment of just being like, okay, like this is huge.

This is like bigger than like what I could ever imagine.

any arena that i've been in the most i've ever done was the tokyo dome that's 40 000 people this is 80 and this is a little bit like scary now and then the moment i walked out to do my entrance i couldn't see one red seat and that terrified me a little bit but like music hitting people knowing the song like i was even saying this to my missus but like the day before that i'd done an indie show where there was only 4 000 people in attendance yeah so that's five percent of what i'm about to wrestle in front of now and then hearing my music thinking like maybe these these people aren't going to know actually who I am.

They're just going to be like, oh, see the British flag?

Yeah, it's one of us.

But, like, going out there, and as I'm walking down the aisle, I'm hearing people sing my song back to me.

I'm hearing people like chant my name and stuff like that.

It was seeing fireworks go over your heads.

Yeah.

It's like, these are like a weird dream sequence.

Like, I'm in Wembley Stadium, bruv.

This is unreal.

And get to come back there with AEW this time.

Now I'm like a full member of the roster.

I've worked out the Kinks.

I've worked out like the rhythm and time.

Still, things that I'm getting used to actually being over there.

But like, I am really enjoying myself.

It is completely different to what I'm used to.

And I'm enjoying the fact that we are bringing wrestling back to Wembley Stadium.

Like, there's so many wrestlers that we've all watched and looked up to, right?

They've never wrestled in front of Wembley Stadium.

Yeah.

To have that, it is such a privilege to be a part of it.

And just my whole goal and my whole ambition is to try my best to bring it back there every single year and just to make it just a yearly thing.

I want it to be like a holiday for English wrestling fans.

I want it to be like this big little holiday season.

You know who I would like to see at Wembley.

Here we go.

Spin Doctor.

We could maybe get Spin Doctor on the next one.

On the next Wembley.

If we can get like a Memorial Battle Royal, whoever passes away next, we'll get a Memorial Battle Royal going and we'll get Spin Doctor in.

I'm just saying, look, Tony, he's alright, he's with me.

Yeah, yeah, you might have to protect him quite a lot, actually.

I think he might die.

But there's a memorial.

So we'll start with still the sparkling water, Will.

Do you have a preference?

Still, I can't do sparkling.

Yeah.

The Germans love sparkling water.

I went over there a while ago.

They love sparkling water, but I'm a still man.

Yeah, it's almost standard in Germany.

They absolutely love it.

The beer's good, though.

The ultimate sparkling water.

In a way.

In a way.

What does sparkling water do?

When you say you can't do it, does it have a negative effect?

I don't know.

Not a negative effect.

I just, I mean, I just don't like it.

Yeah.

So there's my negative effect.

I think any aspect.

It produces hatred.

It produces hatred.

That might be good for wrestling.

I mean, oh, now, now.

Get me in the zone more if I start streaming sparkling water.

I'm like, my hatred.

It could be a thing.

I'm probably going to be pitching a lot to you this episode.

But I reckon, like, mid-fight, it looks like you're on the ropes, look like you're losing, and then you grab sparkling water.

And then it's like, we know what this means.

And then you have it.

And then you're full of the hate.

Yeah, it's like your version of taking your straps down or like hulking up.

Like hulking up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're right.

Doing like the Sean Michaels keep up, and then there's

just three silent minutes of you chugging two liters of berrier.

I don't think I could do two liters

by the end, and you could get the sponsorship in there, yeah, to be fair, yeah.

And the big burp as well, I feel like it's like, take it, good, good, good, good, good, good, good,

yeah,

that's a good defense,

it's a good defense mechanism.

Someone's like, oh, it's gross.

Yeah, yeah, we can smell that right to the back.

That's a mandal for right.

Coming out the other way, it was Nando's.

I mean, it was too spicy for me.

Yeah, respect to Nando's, by the way, who if you're trying to come out the other way.

Well, can I say as well that UNAW has brought one of the most delightful things, which is listening to American commentators use the phrase cheeky Nando's.

It is quite funny that of

Colin that, because honestly, that was just a thing where I was just like, I just didn't see wrestling as anything more than just like, oh, it's something I do on the weekends.

I'll call it the cheeky Nando's kick.

You know, do you know what I mean?

Like, just having a little laugh with everyone.

But like, now it's just kind of formulated and now it's just carried on.

Yeah.

And even to the point where, like, when I was in Japan and I turned into a bad guy, I remember Kevin Kelly telling me, and it was like, ah, maybe you should like ditch the funny names.

And I tried it.

It didn't work.

Yeah.

So it's stuck around now.

Nando's must be absolutely delighted.

I have never had any talks of them at all.

I've only talked to the cashier.

That's it.

I mean, but you tell the cashier, you're like, I've got a move called Chicken Waters.

There was a thing ages ago in Romford where like a fan was shocked that I was paying for Nando's and I was just like, yeah, it's all good, dude.

And he was like furiously tweeting Nando's, give him a black card.

It's all right, I've got money.

All right.

I mean, they are cheeky.

Yeah, that is very cheeky.

That is very cheeky of them.

One day, I hope we can work something out.

I feel like, because I mean, that's the sole reason why I've signed here.

Like, if I don't get a Nando sponsorship at the end of this, I don't know what I've got to do.

Yeah.

You've got to rename all your moves to something on the Nando's.

something peri yeah yeah

if i put them in like a figure four leglock it'll be like the peri chicken fries leglock i don't know

yeah yeah give them some give them some fino sides yeah the wing roulette i don't like a fino no i know no i'm not a fan oh that's fan do you stock a regular side i like a creamy mash peri chips yeah sometimes a corn and a cob spicy rice yeah if i want to be healthy long stem broccoli but yeah but you're not going you're not going to go full car brother yeah

i want that da bloody end of it i'm having a lot of nandas at the moment because i'm on tour ordering Nandos to the dressing room.

And I order long stem broccoli all the time.

The other day, I can't remember where we were, it gets delivered.

Normal broccoli.

What?

Yeah, like regular, regular trees, not the long stem.

Like, clearly, someone's just gone to the shop, haven't you?

No, I was about to say that.

They run out.

Like, someone goes Sainsbury's.

Yeah.

Because no one ever ordered the long stem there.

Yeah.

No, we've got to give them this.

Did they even try and make it look long?

Like, stick it on a straw.

No, they didn't even bother with that.

Just normal broccoli.

And as it happened, I thought, in any other walk of life, this would be a boring story, but I'm going to save it to tell on my podcast.

Yeah, this is the joy of having a food podcast.

Even no matter how mundane it is, you have no idea, Will, how many boring stories we've told on this

lap.

People lapping it.

Can't believe it.

It's the opposite of Rested, actually.

It's the most low-octane thing

in the world.

It's the lowest form of colour.

Pop-adom saw bread.

Pop-dom saw bread, Will Ospreay.

Pop-ad's or bread.

Pop-ad-dom.

I love pop-adoms.

Oh, yeah.

And a bit of mango chutney.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Sauce.

Yeah.

And

we talked a lot on this podcast about, you know, getting the tower of poppadoms and like smashing them.

I mean,

some people,

the pop-a-doms turn-ups, me,

they might, like, give the poppadoms a tap to break them

on the top.

I imagine, as a wrestler, you've got to restrain yourself because

they're turning the dust.

Yeah.

They're turning the dust, surely.

The chopper dumbs.

As a wrestler, I have to restrain restrain myself.

Yeah, you can't

chop the pop-a-doms, they're gonna go to powder.

Every time I go to an Indian restaurant with my family, they're like, Don't do it, yeah,

help yourself, elbow drop.

Will, we're very proud of you, but please, this is supposed to be family time.

Shut up, get the mango chutney.

Do you favor the mango chutney?

Are you going anywhere near those other dips?

I don't mind the mint one, the mint one's cool, but that mango chutney sets my world on fire, bruv.

Oh, yeah, yeah, man.

That's nice.

Do you like a chunky a chunky chutney or a smooth or a smooth?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm a smooth chutney man.

Do you spread it on the pop a dorm or dip it?

No, just dip, dip.

But I feel like, I don't know, is that wrong?

Is that the wrong etiquette?

Because like I sometimes just hog it, eh?

Like, I mean, I see the little spoon in there and people kind of get the spoon and dip it.

I was like, fuck, I've put it in there.

Well, there's never enough, is there?

It's normally in a tiny little tin pot or something.

And that's supposed to go around the whole table.

You need a jar out there or a bucket.

Have you ever been for a curry with some other wrestlers and then it must be quite competitive who's getting the dip yeah because like i imagine wrestlers some of them might be good sharers but some of them if you've got rivalry in the ring

yeah when we used the backyard we used to like uh go like we used to rent out this like youth center in rainham and we used to go to an indian afterwards so like the guy would always know me it's real nice to actually like have those like time of memories where i was there i just remember all that indian food that i used to have all the time but now i can't remember actually last time I've had it, I had an Indian food, but now I might go tonight.

Yeah, you guys have talked me into it.

Well, if you're in America a lot as well, there's not like

less sort of good in the world.

No, it is just all burgers and pizza and tacos all the time, mate.

It's great, I'm not gonna lie to you.

I mean, tacos, hard shell tacos, that's like you know, food in a popadon that's been wrapped.

That's like someone's wrapped a pop-adon around some where have you been all my life?

Most guests say this at some point.

Your dream starter, Will.

It's garlic bread.

Just keep me easy.

Oh, so that's that.

A little hack.

So you've done the pop-a-doms.

And now you're on top of the bottom of the bread.

And then now you're onto the bread.

What sort of garlic bread?

Because obviously it comes in many shapes and sizes.

I had this garlic bread a little while ago.

I can't remember where I was.

I was in London with some of my friends and I remember eating it.

It was so like, it was like a flatbread.

And it tore off so easy.

It just kind of like melted in your mouth.

So whatever that bread was, I'll try and figure out a restaurant.

Their bread.

Give me that.

so was it like a sort of pizza a pizza top kind of like a pizza yeah it was on like a big old like uh wooden tray it all was already already cut for you a little bit but not too much like cut a little bit but enough to tear off yourself covered in garlic butter like quite buttery or just a hint hint more it was more hint you don't want it dripping in garlic no no I don't want it too much like I think you go too much you go a little bit overboard don't you now Would you ever eat a garlicky thing before you'd wrestle or is there any etiquette within the wrestling world that you don't eat stinky food before before you have to do it?

I think there's etiquette, eh?

There's like the kind of like, I always have me like toothbrush, so like, because normally you'll be eating whatever, like, whether it's fruit or like some chicken or rice or whatever, right?

But, like, I always like to brush my teeth beforehand just because I

get so conscious about stuff like that.

So then, like, you never want to come backstage and you just go, like, goddamn, kid, you breast teeth.

You're right up in each other's faces.

Yeah, like nose to nose sometimes every now and again.

A bit of whiff comes up.

What's a memorable thing that a wrestler has said to you mid-match just for you because

a lot of the time this is what I've heard you know they can be really close to each other and like I've heard stories of wrestlers doing their first ever match and like

the person they're fighting just you know saying to them well done you're killing it you know really in their ear during the rest of the match other times when they might do a joke or or tell them I've just had an idea for a move and they're not ready for it yet.

I had one where a fan rushed the ring.

A guy had me in a headlock and the referee went to your left.

And the guy let go of me.

And as this fan put his head underneath the bottom rope, the guy let go of me and just penalty kicked this fan in the face.

But

I guess there's this like weird unwritten rule where like the moment you cross that threshold, I guess you're in like enemy territory or whatever.

But like, I don't know if this guy was just wanting to

take the piss or if he was like out with his mates and he was just trying to pop the boys or whatever.

Like, but mate i remember being in a chin lock and being like oh and there'd be like oxygen coming back because he's let go i was like what's happened and just look behind you this is fat

holding his face if they're like why'd you do that it feels like more of a written rule to be honest it feels like it feels like you should have you guys ever heard that with comedy like fans just like rush the stage at all you i mean you get all of that sort of stuff don't you yeah you ever fight them uh never fight them uh a few days ago i kicked a full pint of beer all over a man on the front row.

Okay.

That was funny.

I'm trying to be very well behaved on stage.

No purpose.

I'm trying to be...

You acted as a story.

I'm doing a tour at the minute when I'm very well-behaved and being nice to the audience.

But the one thing I've allowed myself is that if they use the stage as a table and put something on the stage, I'm allowed to accidentally kick it over.

So I walked out and there's a full pint of beer just on the stage and I said it all over him.

And to be fair, he found it funny.

He thought it was great.

And then I got him a new pint, and then he drank that.

And I told him I'd put my balls in it.

To be fair,

the only thing that when I talk to James about wrestling, the thing he's most latched onto is I told him about when MJF threw a drink in a kid's face.

And he loved that.

So I think he's been influenced.

My favourite thing ever.

I love it.

I think I might start watching wrestling again.

Just for that.

That guy's really cool.

I've heard a lot of stuff about him that is bad, but like, I think it's great that he threw the drink in a kid's face.

If it was your kid, would you think it's funny?

That's why I don't have a kid.

Yeah.

Because

I need to enjoy that sort of stuff in the world

if i had a kid i'd be

too much with the mother i got that's so funny that happened to that kid

you've got that instagram page of kids getting hurt yeah

mind their own business wham get hit by something you're like oh funny for the soul it's like the girl scout cookies girl where she's like sold all the girl scout cookies and she's posted to the camera and she falls off the chair uh in her own kitchen if you haven't watched that you should watch it it's really funny she could grow up to be a wrestler that's she she really slams into that kitchen countertop

yeah yeah yeah she's she's a she's a champ but like that kid who gets the drink in the face that is funny man

that is funny it's funny how he just instinctively the wrestler what is the um

msg he gets the he gets the drink and just instinctively in the kid's face not even the lady who slagged him off because he knows that that's gonna get to her even more he didn't know it was tequila in it fair enough

but that is that is the funniest thing ever

i hope that if we do an next off menu live gig, we do.

Yeah.

I hope there is a mother and a kid on the front ride,

even if they're not slagging us off on their phone to key there in the kids' face.

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Your dream main course?

Oh, a Japanese A5 strip steak.

I had one in Las Vegas.

One of the best steaks I've ever had in my life.

So forgive me, I'm a very boring man to steak, but this this steak that I had was gorgeous.

This is interesting.

You spent so long in Japan, but the Japanese steak that you want to pick is one that you had in Las Vegas.

So you say that there was

now you're just bringing back memories.

There was a steakhouse.

There's a place called Wolfgang Steak over in Japan.

There's a place in Roppongi where I've done many of my bad things.

But like that steak restaurant over there like was next level.

So you know what?

I'll go with that one instead.

Yeah.

I'll go with the one over in Wolfgang.

Sorry, Las Vegas.

I mean, maybe we could do both.

We could have it that you know, we cut it into strips and we just go alternate the strips between the two of them.

Yeah.

Not bad.

You could do a platter.

I mean, if you can send them both from Las Vegas and Japan to the same, so it'd be an expensive flight.

Well, this is a dream restaurant.

I'm a genie.

I can magic them both onto your plate.

Is that what the lamp's for?

Yeah,

that's where I live.

Give it a little rub.

I can't rub my own lamp.

That's a genie ever done.

You go blind.

Yeah, a genie can't rub his own lamp.

Yeah, I can't rub my own lamp.

Are you kidding me?

Told off about that.

So is this like the steak that's got so much like marbling and fat in it that it just like it?

It smells

like it.

It smells like butter, bro.

Like it was one of the craziest meals that I've ever had when I was just out with a couple of my friends.

There was this guy called Big Dave for some strange reason.

There's always a guy called Big Day.

I haven't spoken to him in ages.

And he just bought, like, in Japan, we have these things called sponsor meals where, like, someone like the promoters or like people that just enjoy wrestling just want to hang out with the wrestlers, like, get some signs get some photos that they just treat the the wrestlers to like a meal sometimes it's like really nice sometimes it's like above and beyond like felt like royalty in Japan sometimes and big Dave just took us to this restaurant in Japan and ever since I've been there I've it's one of my favorite places to go I got to take my mum and dad there a little while ago it was my my last time in Tokyo before I set off for AEW so I took them there just seeing my mum's face when this steak melted on her mouth I was a little bit just like like just chuff with myself

for you mum there is something about that like going to a really nice place to eat and then taking your parents there yeah and your parents enjoying it it's the best anyone else i like taking friends to restaurants it's great but taking your parents somewhere and then them loving it is a very nice feeling for me japan was a real thing for me to like bring them over because like for eight years like I was on good money, but like nowhere near enough to like bring them out and see this country that's molded and shaped me as a man.

Like you've got to remember, like I was a, I was a real strange, like, 22-year-old kid.

And, like, I've spent eight years here just growing up.

And then when I'm finally about to leave it, it was like perfect time for me to bring my parents over here.

And, um, my mum had like a real difficult time with it because, like, my great-granddad was a prisoner of war over in Japan, going there and saying to my mum, like, let go of it.

Like, look what this country's done for me.

Like, and then her to come over.

It gets me emotional, man, talking about it, but her to come over.

She was like, I can see why you love it, Aya, so much.

And seeing her smile and seeing how they treated her like they they really went above and beyond the line of duty to like take care of my parents man like that was the best thing about japan for me wow it's amazing how is your mum when she's does she come and watch you wrestle does she or does she worry about you or is she like front row screaming at the top of her lungs um at the start of my career i can remember her not enjoying it as much because like once again it is like no matter how choreographed that things can be like slamming it on that mat it's like it takes takes years off you right but like my mum once upon a time saw uh the bad guy go in the ring and grab a chair and as he was about to go in the ring my mum snatched a chair from him and ran away

but like my mum has come to see me at like uh quite a lot of the high peak ones she saw me at wemberley was just like how can i not bring my mum and dad for that one eh but like i i like i hope mum and dad are proud age you know what i mean they have to they have to stomach so much like when i was 14 years old and i had a wrestling ring in my back garden a and like the neighbors thought we were like the neighbors from hell like they'd get the police around they thought we was running underground boxing events and they were like no it's wrestling and i died police came up to it grabbed the ring rope in my garden we're like

it's wrestling i just walked off didn't care but like having them there and like having their support because they never thought i'd ever be like anywhere near like this level with pro wrestling they just kind of thought it would just be a weekend thing and one of these days i'm going to grow up uh i'll get there in the end one day but like it was just kind of it's cool to see like these crazy milestones that i never thought i would ever hit in wrestling I generally said this so many times.

I thought that this was just going to be like a weekend thing and I was very happy with that and I'd go do my mastic work from Monday to Friday and all these milestones I've hit and getting to just be like, do you want to come Wembley Stadium?

Yeah.

Like want to sit where the queen sits and stuff like that and getting to treat my family like they're actual royalty man.

Can't put a price on it.

Now I do have that was that was a beautiful speech by the way.

But I do have a very selfish follow-up question to it.

Go on.

Do you still do mastic and know how to do it because i i

have it's been on my to-do list i've got to sort it out it's like

throughout our whole house and like

i need some there's going to be so many wrestling fans listening to this podcast for the first time because will's on yeah thinking have you seen will ospros on off menu what do they talk about oh mastic they talk about mastic yeah wow james needed some mastic though

i i can do it yeah so we just done my kitchen i just done the kitchen but I didn't do it.

I got my missus' mum to do it instead because I was doing something else.

But she loves doing old jobs around the ass.

Yeah, give me her number.

Your dream side dish, well.

Sweet potato mash.

Oh, God.

I didn't even even think about that.

And the first thing that came to my mind is my missus made this incredible sweet potato mash.

And mate, I put it in my mouth.

I had to take a moment.

Yeah.

I I had to go over it.

It is an amazing thing.

Sweet potatoes are beautiful.

I do love sweet potatoes.

What did she put in it?

I don't know.

I let her get on with it, mate.

Like, I just, every now and again, I'll just go, like, do you need any moral support?

Do you know what I mean?

But, like, mate, she just does it all.

She cooks.

She's a wonderful woman.

She takes care of the little boy, takes care of me.

She's a great.

And she's a wrestler as well, right?

She's a real good professional wrestler.

Real good.

But like.

Ed's wife is a wrestler also.

No, no, she trains because she enjoys it for fitness and enjoys wrestling.

Where'd she train?

Uh, at Play Fight.

Oh, Tomoir, Tom Tawkins.

Yeah, love him.

Yeah, he's brilliant.

We came up in the same circuit together.

Like, um, I've got stories of when he used to actually be my trainer for a company called LDN.

And then I went somewhere else because I didn't enjoy it.

So I came to Lucha London School, Lucha Libre, and then he came.

So then I was like, it was kind of at the same level.

And we've got, like, we've traveled up and down the road so many times.

Like, can't tell you how proud I am.

Like, I see him over in DDT for Japan, seeing him over there.

It was just like, man, he's, he's got it, man.

He's so good.

He's out on the injury list right now, but he should be coming back soon.

Surely.

He's also, I think, like a genius.

Like, I had to do some training sessions with him for a comedy wrestling thing that we've done before.

Okay.

And he can watch someone do a move and then he's got photographic memory.

So he just sort of slides his eyes back and he can talk you through everything you've done wrong.

It's just incredible.

So here's why you're crap.

Exactly.

Frame by frame.

Yeah, it's because you're not a professional wrestler and you're doing it for humour.

Ed's glossed over there that he did a big wrestling match recently.

It wasn't recently.

It was a couple of years ago.

But it was so Max in Ivan who a comedy double act.

Max in Ivan.

Max and Ivan.

Oh, okay.

Max in Ivan.

That'd be a good lesson.

That'd be good.

Max in Ivan.

So Max was a pro wrestler when he was like 14, but then went and did comedy, but still tries to keep up with wrestling.

And then every so often they put on these big charity events where they get pro-wrestlers and comedians and they train up the comedians.

Okay.

So we did one at the Indigo at the O2 for comic relief.

Whoa.

It was so fun.

You enjoy yourself?

It's more fun than doing comedy.

I reckon you guys will be good at it just because, once again, we're going back to that whole like it's reading the room.

It's like seeing what the audience is liking, seeing what they're not liking.

I mean, obviously when you do your first thing, you're just like, stick to the screens.

But like when you start getting relaxed in there, I do feel like you just, you have a little bit more fun.

Would you do it again?

Yeah, totally.

100%.

Yeah, I would.

I mean, I i look

yeah all right it was very silly but uh yeah i was i was uh at the gambler gamble and i was like distracting the ref with scratch cards and stuff um

and also it was a tag match and max is really good and yvan's done it loads and then my my partner was a professional wrestler so it was i felt very looked after you were a heel weren't you i was a heel yes you're a bad guy yeah did you enjoy being the bad guy loved it because i mean with with comedians right you do you do look at someone in the audience and the whole art is, I'm going to take the piss out of you.

Yeah.

So like sometimes it is just like, it's just that evil thing that comes out inside you.

Yeah, I found it much easier to do that.

Well, it's so much easier to make guys hate you than like you.

So it's so much easier.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Also, I look at some of the some of the like faces in some of the companies and they seem to have to spend ages like shaking everyone's hand or hanging around and getting photos.

What's wrong with that?

Yeah, but it takes ages.

Surely it's easier to be horrible.

I love having a chat with everyone.

Mate, when there's like a little old biddy in the crowd and she's like saying,

my son likes you, I love it, man.

Like,

I can't get enough of it

for the end of my day.

Like, I hate being a bad guy.

I love being a good guy.

I always want to shake everyone's hands.

Like, there's me with your old man.

Like, go on.

Oh, well, that's nice.

You're in the right place then.

Yeah, I need to be.

It takes half a second to throw a drink in the kids' top.

Then you're out.

You're doing

home.

Job done.

That sweet potato mash sounds delicious.

It does.

I'll get out to cook your son one day.

Yeah.

Come around, mine.

June can bring it round with the mastic.

When June comes around to do the mastic, but don't get them mixed up.

I don't want sweet potato and mash in your crock.

As if I'm certain.

Yeah, yeah.

So, like, please, June, if you're listening, make sure they're in separate Tupperware.

Yeah.

I don't know what mastic.

It comes in a little carton, boss.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or a can.

Open up a can of whoopass, like my hero.

James's hero is the rock.

A can of whoopass is stone cold Steve Austin, boss.

Look, I don't know.

To be honest, I never watched it, but I loved him, and I loved.

So, all of the catchphrases of all the different wrestlers of that era, I think of all the rock.

I think the rock said, Suck it.

I know he didn't.

Oh, okay.

But, like, it's becoming like a meme now where, like, you'll see like clips from the attitude era, like, now played into like your Instagram reels and like TikToks all the time.

Where like some would be doing something, and a rock would just peer out of nowhere, going, shut up, bitch.

So, it is kind of cool how wrestling can can like bleed into like any any situation because like wrestling we're just allowed to do whatever we want really yeah you get some extreme characters so it lends itself to memes and gifs and all sorts of stuff didn't the rock influence your on stage persona as well yeah yeah the inflated bravado yes yeah that's what i loved about the rock was that he was just so arrogant on stage but also comical at the same time yeah and uh that was you know i didn't know anything about his actual wrestling style if he was a good wrestler, but I knew that he was really funny and that it was funny when when he did the people's eyebrow and when he told people to know their roles, that was funny.

Jabroni.

Calling people Jabroni was funny.

I still find Jabroni funny.

When Kendrick said Jabroni in a recent diss track, I thought that's the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Your dream drink is it tequila in a kid's face?

No, brother.

There's an AWPR out there, albeit absolutely losing his mind.

Don't mention it tequila.

It's the best PR ever.

I'm saying I liked it.

Alcoholic drink, let's just go easy.

I'm just double vodka, Coke Zero.

I'm easy with that.

Yeah, has that always been your go-to?

Yeah, man.

I enjoy vodka more than any, like, any other drink, whiskey, I can't handle it.

Tequila just becomes a wild night that I don't remember.

Red wine, I can't do it.

I was vomiting all night, nearly died from red wine once.

I just don't want to do that.

When was that?

I was out in Japan.

All the boys having a couple of drinks.

this sponsor who was just plying me with red wine all the time uh my boy hinare who's over in japan right now took me home put me in my hotel room i ran myself a bath fell asleep in the bath oh no

the water was going over there i had to pay a two grand fine or like a bill because all the water spilled out into the lobby

It just overflowed.

I woke up at 4 a.m.

in the morning, freezers.

I was like, what the fuck is it going?

It's all like

everywhere, son.

Like, everywhere, man.

So, red wine's a no-go.

Vodka is just, it's been my safest drink.

I've never like been too slaughtered to the point where, like, I drunk too much.

I can't wrestle the next night.

I'll get slaughtered.

And, like, yeah, I feel a bit rough.

It's not stopping me from doing a bump and feed for someone.

Yeah.

The drinking in Japan is wild because I think people have an impression, if they've not been there, that it, which, I mean, Japan has a very polite society and they have all those elements, but then you go out at night and they get crazy.

It is wild.

Like, the amount of times we'd be on, like, a three-week tour, and there'd be so many like random nights out we'd go out with the sponsors and you'd just be doing karaoke and it would start at like 11 p.m.

and then you're walking back to your hotel room at about 5 30 and then the bus picks you up at 7 and you're just still pissed still you're on this bus you're back you've been given like um you walk on you could tell who were the ones that had been too

too smashed because the bus driver gives you like a carrier bag yeah he's like if you're going to be sick do it in that like

well i've seen people in japan do that thing where they're passed out on the street and they get a carrier bag and use the handles to hook over their ears.

So they've got like a sort of horse's nose bag so they can just be sick freely.

My favourite one that I saw was

at eight in the morning, I saw this guy stumbling around in Shibuya, passed out on the street in his suit, go to the gym, I worked out, came back, guy was just waking up, went off to work.

Like, do you know what I mean?

Like, for some strange reason, I think it's quite common.

People might need to tell me about it, but a lot of of businessmen will just like stay out all night party get drunk and just wake up and go straight to doing words for sleep in the street i think or they'll get like one of those little capsules yeah like and they're just sleeping that is it's cheaper and like better for them i could never do it no i don't know how i don't know how people manage it because i was there quite recently and only noticed this time that they sell like shirts ties and underwear in the 7-elevens so you just walk into like a corner shop and so you can just buy it and get changed and go to work work

off to go son I can't wait to go to Japan have you never been no

for the first time yeah how long are you going for two weeks and you're going for tour or are you going no for just holiday oh mate

after this like if you want any anything to go for like wolf gang steak i honestly i highly recommend it yeah great steakhouse if you're out for a night out go to ropongi everyone's there just to enjoy themselves uh i don't know if you go out out or if i'm gonna do everything that you've already said in this podcast I'm going to fall asleep in the bath

and make sure I do that.

You're going to hook a carrier bag on it.

I'm already hooking that even if I'm not feeling sick.

I'm going to be walking around with a carrier bag as a nose bag all the time.

Go to a Don Quixote.

There's like a big,

I wouldn't say it's a convenience store, but it's just a big like superstore and it's got everything you want in it.

So if you just want like, if you want video games, it's got it.

If you've got costumes, it's got it.

If you want adult stuff, it's right next to the kids' toys.

It is mad.

It's crazy, brilliant.

And they've got their own theme tune that they play on a loop when you're in there.

Oh, I like that.

I like a theme tune on a loop.

Can you remember it, Ed?

No, I can't.

Don't, dong, dong, donkey, donkey, yode.

There you go.

Over.

Over and over again.

It's like it's a small world at Disney.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's exactly like that.

You ever been stuck on that ride?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, it's the first week I went on in.

I mean, we're going to the one in Tokyo as well.

So I'm going to go Donkyote and it's a small world on the same day.

Yeah.

That's what I'm going to do.

But

is in japanese so at least it's a bit different i'll learn a new language you will love it though honestly you will love your time out there i can't wait go and see some wrestling oh man yeah go see new japan like new japan was like my home promotion for eight years man like i i loved every single minute of it they run kurikin hall like every month like like four or five times a month there it's always good to go to curikin hall it's like the the homestay of what professional wrestling is we went to a new japan show when we were there and oh nice had an amazing time but the crowd is so different like i thought they were going to be really quiet and then as soon as the show started music kicked in everyone was clapping along and like compared to uk crowds so many women in in the crowd like it seemed to be like a proper balance or more women than men in the crowd yeah a lot of it was i think at its peak it was like 60 of our audience was women yeah so like just about a bunch of hunks man just so many good-looking Japanese dudes man that's what I'll pitch

get my girlfriend to yeah I gotta gotta convince her to go to wrestling.

I'll say a lot of hunks.

Bunch of hunks.

Do you want to see some hunky Japanese men?

Yes.

Okay.

I'll take you.

Yeah, yeah.

I know where to go.

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We arrive at your dream dessert.

I am so easy.

Just give me like a brownie and some ice cream.

That's all I want.

Some creams?

I mean, they don't do brownies, so like I'd

get myself a waffle instead.

But like, no, I just, I love a little brownie.

If someone can make me a brownie and some ice cream, I'm your boy.

How soft do you want the brownie to be in the middle?

I want it a bit creamy in the middle.

Like I want it to like, I don't like a hard brownie.

I like it when it's just a little bit hard on the outside, but smooth on the inside.

Yeah, for sure.

I think that a crispy, crispy top to a brownie.

Yeah, you need to be really gooey inside.

Yeah.

Heaven.

And ice cream with that as well.

Yeah, man.

Bit of vanilla ice cream.

Yeah.

Never done anyone any harm.

Yeah.

You can't name anyone here that goes all right some ice cream it done me harm if they are we don't need them in society no more i'm type one diabetic so it's possible

yes

we got we've got to cut you off

that's fair enough i don't deserve to be here

you know who you remind me of a lot oh god i hate these

my brother oh is it you like your brother yeah yeah oh yeah i do

like my brother yeah but yeah you really remind me you look like him and kind of same mannerisms not the same voice he's from Ketron, but like, it's been really weird sitting here for the whole episode.

I'm like, this is a good thing.

Do you feel close to me?

Yeah, every now and again, I actually think I'm listening to my brother.

Yeah.

And then I have to remind myself I'm not listening to my brother.

And I have to ask you questions because I was like, I know everything about this guy.

I've got nothing to ask him.

I was like, no, no, it's not my brother.

Would your brother like Will's menu?

Yeah, he'd love this brownie.

He'd love the steak.

Love steak.

I think he'd like the sweet potato mash.

I don't know what he's drinking these days, my brother, actually, but he loves a Coke Zero, so poo boy has a vodka in it.

Garnet bread, definitely.

Yeah, I think you would like the whole menu.

Yeah, there we go, then.

I think you'd like the whole menu for shit.

I've done good then.

I've done all right for your brother.

I've done all right for you, lads.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We also, we didn't tell you that

I also once competed in the comedy wrestling match.

Twice.

Twice, actually, I did.

Oh, wait, it's more than him.

Yeah.

But you're essentially a pro wrestler then.

Thank you.

That's all we see.

Let's leave it.

Let's just see what James did.

Let's leave it at that.

Was it me who had like a 15-minute tag match?

And then what did you what have you done james well the first time i i joined during like a royal rumble and um i sang my own name to the tune of um i'm a survivor by destiny's child so it's i'm james a castor i'm james a castor over and over again for a very long time and then i went into the ring and then i was immediately hit in the face of a tray and um

and taken out that was amazing and then the second time two years later i did i sang the same song but with a full dancing troop behind me and then i got in the ring and then I was hit in the face of a tray again and taken off.

Do you ever like wonder how you get yourself into these situations?

Because it's like only wrestling can that happen.

It's just like you just rock up to the venue, you've got your bags, you're just going, what am I doing today?

You're just like, you're singing your own name.

We know you don't last time, but this time we got backup dancers.

Is there going to be any different outcome?

No.

Same tray.

It's a tray again, unfortunately.

Both times I forgot to put my hand in front of my face.

Both times.

Where's the fun in that?

Yeah, exactly.

Thank you, Will.

Finally, someone in my corner, because everyone's criticised me for this.

When we were like,

it shouldn't really be promoted like this, but when we were like backyard, it was almost like a badge of honour when you hit stuff with your head so hard.

But all my friends now, I don't know what's happened to them.

They're a bit loopy, man.

Yeah, I wasn't a genie before.

Before I got hit in the base with a track, that's how I've got my powers.

Now you live in the lamp.

Now I live in a lovely lamp.

Thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant, Will.

Pleasure to meet all of you guys.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm going to read your menu back to you now, Will, see how you feel about it

that's that's exciting i forgot about that format point that's the first time that ed's ever forgot that i read the menu back yeah we were talking about people getting hit in the face with trades and what the long lasting effect and ed just forgot a podcast he's done over 200 times well it just felt a nice place to wrap it up it was yeah it was nice but i mean

the listeners when this goes out the listeners are going to go insane that that happens yeah yeah yeah because that's staying in the edit because they they won't believe that ed forgot the menu being read back out i know that to you it's not at that beginning this is all new to me

this is like you basically just turned heel is what yeah yeah this is this is like if like you know you you were bigging the crowd up gonna do your finishing move and then forgot to do it and just went in

back in the locker room yeah

that you're still going on

well

you've lost well

you can't do that buddy

you want still water you would like uh pop a doms of smooth mango chutney lovely you want flatbread uh garlic a garlic bread flatbread from the tears nine easy

yeah main course you would like uh two types of steak one from las vegas and one from the wolfrang steakhouse in japan yes a side of sweet potato mash made by your wife yes a double vodka and coke zero for dessert a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream you never did anyone anyhow dirty girl yeah if you got a dirty girl here in that

that is a great menu Yeah, that's a delicious menu.

And do you think you could eat all of that?

Yeah, mate.

And then get in the ring?

oh

oh mate uh i mean sometimes right sometimes we don't know what's happening on certain shows right so like uh one of these days i remember thinking to myself like i'm sure i'm not wrestling one of these days and i had four brownies bruv and i got called into the office and i went we're doing a casino gauntlet

like

this big old like why don't you tell me

without the big old darb on me just like doing my flips and everything and just having like a bitch wail going

are there any moves that you were like absolutely i can't do that after i've eaten four brownies are there any worst moves

i just think well what's the worst that can happen because at the end of it wrestling's all about a story like if it turned out that i did one of my moves after eating these brownies and i cracked my pants yeah at the end of it it's a story that i can tell my kid do you know what i mean i can do it all is it a story they'd have to incorporate into the show though i mean maybe i might be poo pants billy from now on yeah you'll have to poo pants yeah imagine if the spin doctor shows pants That would be an absolute disaster.

The crop spread.

Actually, this is a good way to wrap it up.

Thank you so much, Will.

Thank you, Will, guys.

Well, there we are.

What a lovely chat with Will.

Ha!

At the start of the episode, you had a go at me for messing up the format.

And look what happened.

Yes, I messed up the format.

I went too early.

Sweet.

Sweet.

What's the word I'm looking for?

You reap what you sow.

Sweet, you reap what you sow.

Yeah, maybe, maybe your

transfer to wrestling shouldn't happen very soon because that wouldn't be a great promo if you're sweet.

What's the word I was thinking of?

I'm like Zach Afron in Iron Claw.

Yes, I've seen that.

I'd get my brother to come in and do the speeches.

Yes.

He looks like Will Osprey.

Yeah.

And your brother.

And my brother, yeah.

That was a lovely moment, I thought.

Yeah.

Where you admitted that you thought Will was like your brother.

Yeah, it was.

It was really nice.

If my brother's listening to this, it was very nice to talk to you today.

Thank you so much to Will for coming in and thank you for not saying the secret ingredient chops.

Chops.

You didn't say chops.

Yeah.

That was good.

And we got to hear about what he would have at Nando's as well.

I did a good joke about chops, though, that

I don't think Will or you heard.

where you talk about smashing the poppadums and I called them chopper dumbs.

Oh yeah, I didn't hear them.

Yeah, yeah, I said it quite quietly.

Yeah, I didn't hear about it.

Because I think, like, Will hadn't come across the karate chop and the popper dumps before.

No, he was blown away by that.

So, you know, I was too focused on that.

I wasn't even aware you were in the room at that point.

I mean, you didn't even mention that it's called Shall I Be Mother, which would be a really good name for a wrestling move.

That's a great name for a wrestler.

Well, you just smash someone on the head and they shatter into shards.

Yeah.

So if Tim Key was a wrestler,

that would be...

Shall I be mother?

He would put his hand in the air.

Yeah.

And the audience would know what it means.

And

he's asking them, shall i shall i shall i be mother

yes even doesn't i'd love that if you are a wrestling fan already or you're thinking where can i go and have the best introduction to live wrestling that i could possibly have grab yourself a ticket for all in aw all in at wembley stadium on the 25th of august that is coming up soon i promise you have a great night it's so much fun the atmosphere is incredible It does.

I mean, look, when I went to that little community center in Barton Seagrave, it was one of the best nights of my life.

Yeah.

So I would imagine that Wembley Stadium with a bunch of professionals is

like, I don't know, transcendental.

Yes, yes, I would agree.

And I can't wait to go.

And if you're in Wales, we should have said this in the intro, really.

They are for the first time filming a TV show outside of North America.

So they're doing AW Dynamite and AW Collision on the same night at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff.

So you can get tickets for that as well, August 21st.

I mean, why not do the crazy double?

Speaking of Wales there was also a wrestler at that community centre wrestling match called Shamu.

Thank you so much to Will for coming in.

Thank you for all the stories about Japan and your life.

It's very moving at times.

Yeah it was actually.

Really appreciate it.

Really, really nice and can't wait to see Will wrestle all in.

I hope he wins.

Hope he wins.

Yes.

We also have some food shout outs we'd like to do.

We've had a lot of food sent to us.

We're very, very grateful.

Well, bonita says do some food shout outs we're like well where's this food it's just been in the office yeah bonita's been nibbling it away been nibbling away like a little rat little mouthful well i was gonna say a mouse but maybe

we've had some chocolate sent in from land chocolate thank you very much for that thank you land chocolate uh and thank you to whitakers but not the whitakers that we're familiar with yes but we were very happy with you know new zealand whittakers is the one that i've run my mouth off about loads it's nice to discover there's another whitakers there's another whittakers knocking around uh they probably sent us some chocolate based on the fact that we were talking about Whitakers and they thought we were talking about them.

But, you know,

double promotion.

We weren't.

We were talking about New Zealand Whitakers, but now we're talking about you.

Yeah, you got us.

We've had some coffee from 15 Grams Coffee Roasters and Tate Coffee.

Thank you for sending that in.

That's always very useful to give to guests, etc.

And me, Ed Gamble.

We're wide awake.

I am buzzing, mate.

And we got sent a load of football special, James, straight from the Frankie Boyle episode.

It's what Frankie would have at the pub.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

it looks like beer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Benito says it's quite nice.

I'm going to tuck into some right now.

And as we're recording this, it's Euro season, so why don't we crack open a football special and watch some special football?

The best in the game, Ed Gam.

Thank you very much for listening to Off Menu.

We will be back with you soon.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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Hello, I'm Carrie Add.

I'm Sarah.

And we are the Weirdos Book Club podcast.

We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival.

The date is Thursday, 11th of September, the time is 7pm, and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies.

Tickets from kingsplace.co.uk.

Single ladies is coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September.

At the London Podcast Festival.

The rumours are true.

Saturday, the 13th of of September.

At King's Place.

Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet.