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

92%ers, welcome to another episode of New Heights brought to you by Peloton! On today’s guest episode, we are joined by the most electrifying man in sports entertainment, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Dwayne and the guys talk all about how he left his comfort zone for his new movie "The Smashing Machine," what his life was like playing with Hall of Famers at The U, why his dad didn't want him to step into the ring, his favorite memories from WWE's Attitude Era, what he thought of Jason's appearance at WrestleMania, if Travis is allowed to call people jabronis, life as a girl dad, and more! Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights every Wednesday during the NFL season and follow us on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshow You can also listen to new episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. . . . Download the full podcast here: Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMb Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynw Check out New Heights on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR2MJWYS?ref=blog Shop all the New Heights merch at https://homage.com/newheights Support the show: PELOTON: Introducing the Peloton Cross Training Tread+ Powered by Peloton IQ. The Tread+ is our most elevated equipment with personalized guidance and a variety of workouts—Like cardio, strength training, yoga, and more. Learn more about the Cross-Training Tread+ at https://onepeloton.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  The wrongs we must right, the fights we must win. The future we must secure together for our nation. This is what's in front of us. This determines what's next for all of us. We are Marines. We were made for this.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  Usually the conversation around here is about football. Today, the topic is gas for one of the sponsors, specifically Mobil Supreme Plus Premium Gasoline. Let's start with the fact that Mobil Supreme Plus Premium is amazing. It keeps engines three times cleaner, so engines perform better for better gas mileage. Just ask motorsports legend Shirley Cha Cha Mul Downey. She raced top fuel dragsters in the 70s. So she knows a thing or two about gasoline. She also knows a thing or two about the 70s. So if there are any questions about leisure suits, vinyl, or fondue, fire away. One might wonder why they call her Cha Cha. Like, is it a family name or a marketing ploy? Or maybe she thought it sounded cool. It's very curious. Getting back to fuel, Shirley and the team highly recommend Mobil Supreme Plus Premium Gas

• 1:03Speaker 01

  because it keeps engines three times cleaner for better performance and gas mileage. By the way, Cha Cha Mul Downey, she drove a pink car. Mobile, legendary. Three times cleaner compared to Mobil regular gas and port fuel injected engines. Actual results may vary. Visit mobilfuels.com for details.

• 1:19Travis Kelce?

  Thank you to our partner Royal Caribbean. Dude, have you seen this? Royal Caribbean just dropped the Legend of the Seas. It's the biggest cruise ship on the planet. Like, nothing's even close to being this big. And it's sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, starting this November.

• 1:38Speaker 03

  That's right. This thing is stacked. Seven pools, more places to eat than you can even count. I mean, they have something for everybody.

• 1:46Travis Kelce?

  Like, bring the kids, bring mom and dad, shoot, bring the whole crew. Everybody's got a spot. That's what makes it special.

• 1:53Speaker 03

  And the entertainment, Latin music, ice skating, full-on Broadway shows. It's pretty amazing. Pretty much everything you want in one place. Oh, and did I mention there's a water park?

• 2:03Travis Kelce?

  You didn't, and that's, that'd be the kicker for me.

• 2:05Speaker 03

  I love a water park.

• 2:06Travis Kelce?

  But the crazy one? Crown's Edge, a ropes course off the side of the ship. Not for the faint of heart, brother.

• 2:15Speaker 03

  They've also got Playmaker, sports bar, and arcade. So that means games on every screen. I love a good arcade sports place.

• 2:24Speaker 03

  Combination.

• 2:24Travis Kelce?

  All right, count me in. Get the family on the new Legend of the Seas sailing November 2026 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

• 2:32Speaker 03

  Visit RoyalCaribbean.com to learn more.

• 2:35Speaker 04

  He was like, hey, good luck to you, DJ. Great working with you. And I said, thank you, coach. And then I hang the phone up and my dad's listening to the call. I said, I don't want to do that. Closing that chapter of my life. He goes, well, what are you gonna do? I said, I'm gonna be a wrestler. He hated the idea.

• 3:04Travis Kelce?

  Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, for a very, very special episode. A Wondery show brought to you by Peloton. We're your hosts. I'm Travis Kelsey. It's my big brother, Jason Kelce out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Shout out to the Heights, man.

• 3:19Speaker 03

  Yeah, baby.

• 3:20Travis Kelce?

  I miss everybody back in the Heights, man. Subscribe on YouTube, Wondery Plus, wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with one S. We're fun clips throughout the week. Jason, tell the people how special this episode is.

• 3:33Speaker 03

  Oh, we got an absolutely incredible special guest episode for you guys. If you smell la la la la la la la what New Heights is cooking.

• 3:44Travis Kelce?

  All right.

• 3:44Speaker 03

  Without further ado, let's get right into it. I guess we're gonna do the intro. First of all, should we call you Dwayne The Rock, the final boss? What, what, what are we going by these days?

• 3:54Travis Kelce?

  Whatever comes out, brother. All good.

• 3:56Speaker 03

  It doesn't matter what your name is. Our guest today is six-four, podcaster from the University of Miami. He was a member of the 91er Games National Championship Team. You might know him as the 10-time WWE Heavyweight Champion, or from his hit films such as The Fast and Furious, franchise Jumanji, Moana, among others, and upcoming The Smashing Machine. 92%ers, please welcome Dwayne The Rock, Johnson!

• 4:28Travis Kelce?

  Let's go, boys. Good to see you.

• 4:31Travis Kelce?

  Dude.

• 4:32Speaker 03

  Could not resist.

• 4:33Speaker 04

  Good to see you. You got me, man. You got me. Good to see you, man.

• 4:38Travis Kelce?

  Dude.

• 4:38Speaker 03

  Well.

• 4:39Travis Kelce?

  He said, thank you so much for coming on, man. This is, you're one of our like icon guests. We've always wanted to have you on the show, man, and just shoot the shit with you, brother. And this is, this is so cool because this movie is unbelievable. The Smashing Machine, the, the story of Mark Kerr, the

• 4:56Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 4:56Travis Kelce?

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

• 5:00Speaker 04

  Yeah, in the beginning days, yeah.

• 5:02Travis Kelce?

  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, and the UFC at that time?

• 5:17Speaker 04

  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, 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, that's what I thought. That was the goal. So anyway, so thank you for having me on. Good to see you. With Mark Kerr, he, 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,

• 6:02Speaker 04

  you didn't go home and fight the next week. You fought that night. And you know, his, 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, 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, some, 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

• 6:44Speaker 04

  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? Oh, that's scary. Which makes it even scarier, right? Yeah. When 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

• 7:29Speaker 04

  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 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, God, 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 not the big blockbuster movie. It's small and it's intimate, but it's also moving.

• 8:12Speaker 04

  I showed him 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 a 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.

• 8:51Speaker 03

  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.

• 9:02Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 9:03Speaker 03

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

• 9:10Speaker 04

  The range is crazy, man.

• 9:11Speaker 03

  What, what, 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,

• 9:19Speaker 04

  Thank you, brother.

• 9:20Speaker 03

  Can I hats off, like, really gotten into the character and did a great job? What, what really made you want to go into this kind of genre?

• 9:28Speaker 04

  So there was two things. That's a great question. Number one was,

• 9:33Speaker 04

  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, 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 I, 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, you have some movies that, that, that flop and tank and that's okay. You got to move on. But I was really looking to challenge myself and, and get out of the comfort zone.

• 10:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:18Speaker 04

  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, you don't want to wake up 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 George, there's a great George Strait song that I love.

• 10:49Speaker 03

  You haven't been listening to that voice?

• 10:51Speaker 04

  No, I've been listening to the voice. It's, you know what happens? It's like, I, 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 depending 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

• 11:12Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah.

• 11:12Speaker 04

  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.

• 11:28Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 11:29Speaker 04

  It's good. It's good. Like to be scared of some shit.

• 11:32Travis Kelce?

  I like to face that fear, man.

• 11:34Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 11:34Speaker 03

  It's real. There's a great quote by, um, custom out of, uh, Mike Tyson's former trainer.

• 11:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 11:39Speaker 03

  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

• 11:51Speaker 04

  Beautiful quote.

• 11:52Speaker 03

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

• 11:54Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 11:54Speaker 03

  For me and Travis, really, we got into UFC probably at the tail end of Mark's career. It was more like Chuck Liddell.

• 12:00Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:01Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 12:01Speaker 04

  Tito, those guys, yeah.

• 12:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. And I remember Mark Coleman. I remember Mark Kerr, but I 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?

• 12:13Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 12:13Speaker 03

  And, um, when they got legend, Boss Rutten in there in the corner. I mean, that was amazing.

• 12:18Travis Kelce?

  So dope, man.

• 12:19Speaker 04

  We had Boss Rutten, we had Alexander Usyk, we had a lot of guys, man. But you're right about these guys who, who pave, who paved the way. And back then, those guys weren't making a lot of money at all.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  Right.

• 12:30Speaker 04

  You know, and they were banging their bodies up, man, a lot. So.

• 12:33Travis Kelce?

  Doing a biopic like this, how much did you have to be around Mark? Like, I feel like what you, you, you have to find, cause I mean, the mannerisms, the, the, the style of fighting and stuff like that. Like, how much was he on set helping you with all this stuff? Or did there like, was there a reference, uh, in terms of like a fight coach?

• 12:53Speaker 04

  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

• 13:11Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, you gotta be a little crazy.

• 13:12Speaker 04

  You gotta be a little crazy.

• 13:12Speaker 03

  That's how you make it.

• 13:13Speaker 04

  Keeps you from going insane.

• 13:15Speaker 03

  No sane person makes it in this world, right? You're not gonna get to the top of anything being a nice cozy.

• 13:19Speaker 04

  Exactly. Waylon Jennings says, I'm happy to be crazy. It keeps me from going insane.

• 13:26Travis Kelce?

  Love that.

• 13:26Speaker 04

  I was also training for WrestleMania, and that's when I saw you, Jason, there in Philadelphia. So I was training for that. And once I got out of WrestleMania, then I shifted my focus to the training camp for MMA, spent a lot of time with Mark, and you guys will appreciate this, is 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.

• 13:51Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 13:52Speaker 04

  Right, 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, and 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

• 14:37Speaker 04

  a physical transformation for me, a vocal transformation.

• 14:41Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 14:41Speaker 04

  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. And the pressure that these guys go through, man. And there's

• 15:03Speaker 04

  There's that, uh, there's that idea of, I can't remember who said it. Floyd Patterson may have said this, but he's the, the only thing you're left with when you lose is yourself. And so I wanted to find out from Mark, there was, 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've been taking? What was it? Cause you were with it. And he said, DJ man, he goes, there's 40,000 Japanese fans. And he said,

• 15:44Speaker 04

  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's going to call it or this guy's going to knock my lights out. I was just waiting for either one to happen.

• 15:56Speaker 03

  Holy cow.

• 15:57Speaker 04

  Just that mentality.

• 15:58Speaker 03

  Dude, that is crazy.

• 16:00Speaker 04

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

• 16:06Speaker 03

  Yeah. Well, again, you killed it.

• 16:08Speaker 04

  Thank you, brother. I appreciate that.

• 16:09Speaker 03

  It was an absolute blast to watch. It was so crazy seeing like 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, it moves through the movie. And then you see the highs and lows throughout it, but you did a phenomenal job, brother. So.

• 16:29Speaker 04

  Thank you, Jason. Thank you so much. This one meant a lot to me and, and I've been saying this as we've been promoting the movie because, because I really mean it is, Smash machine changed my life in ways that I've 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, it's been, it's been the experience of a lifetime, of a lifetime, you know?

• 16:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:53Travis Kelce?

  I'm happy as hell for you, big guy.

• 16:54Speaker 04

  Thank you, brother.

• 16:55Travis Kelce?

  I do have a question though, about the MMA and the wrestling world. I mean, obviously you're very understanding of, uh, being in a ring and having 40,000 cheering you on. Would you, did, was there ever a moment where you were like, yeah, you know what? I want to give that a shot.

• 17:11Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 17:11Travis Kelce?

  I want to go into the MMA ring. I want to go into UFC. Was there ever a thought or like a opportunity, maybe somebody put a contract on the table. It's like, it's there if you want it.

• 17:21Speaker 04

  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, oh yeah, 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 gonna be one of the greatest of all time is Usik. We were in the ring and the moment I locked up with him, that was very sobering. And again, it's just, he's that fighter mentality and you could feel it and man.

• 17:57Speaker 03

  Feel it right away.

• 17:58Speaker 04

  You feel it right away. I'll tell you what, when I was, um, years ago though, when those guys were going to Japan and in the, in the mid to late 90s, we weren't making a lot of money because we were on the lower, uh, you know, we're 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 would take my jaw and knock it into another area. I'm not, I'm not doing that. I don't like to get hit in the face.

• 18:30Travis Kelce?

  Sometimes you just gotta be real, man.

• 18:32Speaker 04

  Just gotta be real, man.

• 18:33Travis Kelce?

  That's so good.

• 18:34Speaker 03

  I love it. I love it. Well, can't wait to, everybody check out the smashing machine. You're not gonna regret it.

• 18:39Travis Kelce?

  You're not gonna regret it.

• 18:41Speaker 03

  Let's, uh, let's flash back if that's all right with you. You talked about football was always kind of like the dream growing up.

• 18:47Speaker 04

  Dream.

• 18:48Speaker 03

  Your time at the U. What was that like? I mean, give it a tackle, 91 Hurricanes team, you're behind Warren Sapp. Take us back to that time.

• 18:56Speaker 04

  That was crazy, man. When I came in, I came in as a freshman in 1990 and, um, 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, um, I was balling. I get hurt the last day of training camp. Uh, 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.

• 19:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 19:26Speaker 04

  I had to have complete reconstruction on my shoulder, tore everything, went into depression. Uh, had a miserable freshman year. I got a point fucking seven.

• 19:37Speaker 04

  Point seven.

• 19:38Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 19:38Speaker 04

  That's like, that's hard to do.

• 19:40Speaker 03

  That's hard. You gotta try to get a point center.

• 19:44Travis Kelce?

  I was the other way though. I was, I was having so much fun. I had a point seven. You were, you weren't having fun.

• 19:49Speaker 04

  I wasn't having fun. I got a point seven. But anyway, so I, 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 Miami.

• 20:00Speaker 03

  Oh, heck, man.

• 20:02Travis Kelce?

  How about it?

• 20:02Speaker 04

  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 nineties, late eighties, early nineties,

• 20:11Speaker 04

  that they rewrote the game on

• 20:14Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah.

• 20:14Speaker 04

  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.

• 20:23Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah.

• 20:23Speaker 04

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

• 20:28Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 20:28Speaker 04

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

• 20:35Speaker 04

  He, he's fucking around and, 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.

• 20:44Speaker 03

  Right.

• 20:44Speaker 04

  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.

• 20:57Travis Kelce?

  No way.

• 20:59Speaker 04

  I said, you ain't taking my job. He said, I come to take your job. I said, well, we'll see.

• 21:03Speaker 03

  We'll see.

• 21:04Speaker 04

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

• 21:08Speaker 03

  He called it.

• 21:09Travis Kelce?

  There we go, dude.

• 21:10Speaker 03

  He called it. Oh, you ready for me? Not yet.

• 21:13Travis Kelce?

  All right.

• 21:14Speaker 04

  But man, that, that team back then, we had, we had Warren, we had Ray Lewis, Rohan Marley, we had just, our defense, man, insane.

• 21:23Travis Kelce?

  Heck, yeah.

• 21:24Speaker 04

  Insane.

• 21:24Travis Kelce?

  Heck, yeah.

• 21:25Speaker 04

  Did you guys play at the same time at Cincinnati?

• 21:27Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

• 21:28Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 21:29Speaker 03

  We crossed over for a couple of years. Trav, long story short, Trav was ineligible for my senior year, so we never really played that much. I always bring it up because I still harbor resentment around that. But we did crossover. We had a lot of success, not as good as the, the Hurricanes, but Cincinnati had some, we had the two BCS bowl games. including the Sugar Bowl and the

• 21:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:48Speaker 03

  Um, and the Orange Bowl. So, uh,

• 21:51Speaker 04

  That was the old Orange Bowl down there. Yeah.

• 21:53Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 21:54Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah, baby. That's what 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.

• 22:02Speaker 03

  I would have survived.

• 22:04Speaker 04

  Let me tell you something. That's why.

• 22:07Travis Kelce?

  Especially during the, the time at the U. Are you kidding me?

• 22:10Speaker 04

  Back then.

• 22:11Travis Kelce?

  You guys were the superstars of the world.

• 22:13Speaker 04

  Yeah. Well, 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,

• 22:20Speaker 03

  For sure.

• 22:20Speaker 04

  I was smart to get locked down my freshman year and that.

• 22:24Speaker 03

  There we go.

• 22:25Travis Kelce?

  I'm not getting in trouble. No.

• 22:26Speaker 03

  That's very smart.

• 22:27Travis Kelce?

  It's so crazy to think about what NIL and, and the transfer portal has done. The, the, like for a team like the U, you guys had every single year had five stars coming in and just, sit, 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've 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.

• 23:08Speaker 03

  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, Travis?

• 23:15Travis Kelce?

  That's what I'm, that's what I'm assuming. I don't know.

• 23:17Speaker 04

  We, we, look, we, we were deep. Our, our second and, and, and third teams and I, I was,

• 23:23Travis Kelce?

  All ended up being first round draft picks.

• 23:25Speaker 04

  Crazy, man, back then. It's crazy back then. How do you think you guys would have done back then if NIL was, was there? Like if, would you have been thinking, searching for that?

• 23:34Speaker 03

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

• 23:41Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 23:41Speaker 03

  So I, maybe I would have transferred. I don't know. Like it's, it's hard to think. Office linemen still aren't getting that kind of money. Like really, most of the money's going to the quarterbacks and the receivers and the big positions.

• 23:52Travis Kelce?

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

• 23:54Speaker 04

  Good money, man.

• 23:55Travis Kelce?

  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 year, three or four years that they were getting NIL. They got, they got over like a hundred grand, 200 grand. I was like, in my mind, I'm like, I wasn't getting anything like that.

• 24:12Speaker 04

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

• 24:14Speaker 03

  Exactly, exactly. You sacked Charlie Ward in 93, is that correct?

• 24:19Speaker 04

  Did, yeah.

• 24:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, you got a sack. What, what was, what was The Rock's go-to move? What, what was, what kind of D-tackle were, were you a big power guy? Arm over, swim, dip and rip?

• 24:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, you know what I do? I get my hands on the dude right away.

• 24:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:32Speaker 04

  So if it were, you were guard, right? I'm assuming what were you sending?

• 24:36Speaker 03

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

• 24:38Speaker 04

  Okay, so say it's me and you.

• 24:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:41Speaker 04

  We line up.

• 24:42Speaker 03

  I'm already afraid to be honest with you.

• 24:46Speaker 04

  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.

• 24:52Speaker 03

  It's a good strategy.

• 24:52Speaker 04

  And, and I just, I do that little boom. I pull you down and right, right over. Push, pull.

• 24:57Speaker 03

  Push, pull, man. That's a, that's a dangerous one.

• 24:59Speaker 04

  My, my coach, who you guys, you guys know, Ed Ogeron from, uh,

• 25:05Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 25:05Speaker 04

  Crazy Ed, man. That's my coach, Joe. 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.

• 25:18Travis Kelce?

  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 and you could control the game, right?

• 25:27Speaker 04

  Violent hands, baby.

• 25:28Speaker 03

  I'll tell you what I say. I, I know exactly what Coach Joe was talking about. You got the violence where it's not just power, but it's like a, another level of like twitchiness with the strike.

• 25:37Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 25:37Speaker 03

  Where it, it, it like jolts you and there's guys that have that and there's guys that don't really have that.

• 25:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:42Speaker 03

  Jolt. And then the ability to push and pull with that. Yeah, man. That's, that's a dangerous combo.

• 25:47Speaker 04

  That kind of, like a piston. Yes.

• 25:50Speaker 03

  Yes. Yeah. Where did Dewey come from? Why Dewey?

• 25:53Speaker 04

  It was a nickname that my mom gave me. So when I was a baby, my godmother took my mom, took me and gave it to my mom. She goes, is he, is he wet? And she goes, oh, he's just a little Dewey. And then it stuck, 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. My mom was like, hey Dewey, come here for a second. And I was like, oh, no, no, no. And you know, if you give a nickname like that around the boys, you're done.

• 26:29Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, they're running with it.

• 26:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Running with it. So it was, everybody was like Dewey. What the fuck? And then it's just stuck. That was it.

• 26:38Speaker 03

  That's great. Holy cow.

• 26:39Speaker 04

  Thanks for bringing that up, Jason. I appreciate it.

• 26:41Speaker 03

  You, you, you said Dewey. I didn't, I was like, what is this?

• 26:44Travis Kelce?

  Super two right now. Bringing up the good stuff.

• 26:46Speaker 03

  Played with Doug Flutie in Calgary. Is that, you played in the CFL? I didn't know this, going, coming into this, to be honest with you, doing a little research.

• 26:54Speaker 04

  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 chase relief, trying to, you're getting your injections, that's 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, 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 or rep there.

• 27:39Speaker 04

  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're living the dream and you're, you're hoping that, hey, I can parlay this into, I could get on an NFL squad next year and make, make that practice roster and those guys are making a hundred grand or whatever it is, like, you know? So you keep the dream alive, keep the dream alive. And then I got cut from the CFL, um, mid-October, I'll never forget it. And, um, and I got sent back home. And so I got sent back home.

• 28:21Speaker 04

  Wally Bueno, who's a legend up in the CFL, he wound up becoming my mentor. He said, listen, we're gonna 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 it home, you don't plan on going back home with your parents?

• 28:45Speaker 03

  Right.

• 28:45Speaker 04

  This is it.

• 28:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:46Speaker 04

  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 gotta 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, 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 Bueno after the season again ended. And he goes, hey, our season just ended. I think they either competed for or they won the Grey 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.

• 29:25Speaker 03

  How about it?

• 29:25Speaker 04

  And, 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, 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 gotta bring you back, next training camp and we'll start all over again. And I said, Coach, I appreciate it, but I'm gonna 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 listening to the call. And my dad goes, who was that?

• 30:07Speaker 04

  And I was like, oh, that was the coach from, you know, Canada. And he goes, what'd he say? I said, oh, he offered me a job to come back. He goes, oh, that's great. I said, yeah, I'm not gonna take it. He goes, what are you talking about? And I said, I said to my dad, who was a pro wrestler.

• 30:23Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 30:23Speaker 04

  I said to him, yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, he goes, what do you mean? I said, I don't want to do that, closing that chapter of my life. He goes, well, what are you gonna do? I said, I'm gonna be a wrestler. He hated the idea.

• 30:38Speaker 03

  No.

• 30:41Speaker 03

  He was like, worst decision.

• 30:43Speaker 04

  Worst decision. He hated it. Oh, we got to do a huge fight that night. But that, so I played up there in Canada for a little while and that, that, that became very defining for me, man.

• 30:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:54Speaker 04

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

• 31:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:07Speaker 04

  You know?

• 31:08Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 31:09Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 31:09Speaker 03

  Did you know on that call, like when you were saying no, that you were gonna, did you know like previously before it that you were gonna go into wrestling? Or was it like literally at that moment where you're like, nah, man, I'm gonna go do this other thing?

• 31:21Speaker 04

  It was at that moment.

• 31:22Speaker 03

  God, it's crazy.

• 31:24Speaker 04

  It was at that moment. 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 I, 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.

• 31:41Travis Kelce?

  Well, something's calling.

• 31:42Speaker 04

  Something's calling. It's that voice.

• 31:44Travis Kelce?

  I'll tell you what. And, and, 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?

• 32:03Speaker 04

  No, there's no way. I mean, that, that's, that's the beauty, I think. It's so humbling that you, life can come full circle in that way. Because while I never got that shot to live the dream that you guys have the, you know, 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 Rapoli and, and, and Fox, Jerry Card and all two as well. And that, this full circle moment, man, to be able to create opportunities for players.

• 32:41Speaker 04

  Is the greatest feeling in the world. I did 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. It's 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.

• 33:04Travis Kelce?

  Hell yeah. Oh, no, it's it's getting the, 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. It's, I'd, I love to go. And I was down in Texas and I just loved the atmosphere. I loved, I loved seeing, you know, Wade Phillips coached that football team and, and they were, I believe they were going in to, to try and win the championship that week, or at least in the playoffs that week. So, um, congrats on all the success.

• 33:32Speaker 04

  Thank you, man.

• 33:32Travis Kelce?

  And, and you already know it. You might not have had that, that privilege of living this life, but it seems that you, you live life with the privilege to live life. No matter what it is that you're doing, you, you're so humble about it and, and you create your own path, man. You create your own path and it's so cool to, to hear the story behind it all.

• 33:50Speaker 04

  Thank you. You got to. That's what we gotta do is work hard and create our own path, even if we don't know what it is. You gotta have faith and you know, the work and the process.

• 33:58Travis Kelce?

  You knew what it was. You knew it was the WWE, baby. The Attitude Era.

• 34:03Speaker 04

  That's it.

• 34:04Travis Kelce?

  We gotta get into it, man. We gotta talk some wrestling. Oh, iconic, man. Where do you even come up with this? How does it even come together?

• 34:15Speaker 04

  Like, well, back, back then in, uh, in the Attitude Era, that would, keep in mind, that was before WWE was publicly traded. It was, you know, well before, uh, 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 we were going back and forth and having our matches.

• 34:39Travis Kelce?

  Well.

• 34:40Speaker 04

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

• 35:24Travis Kelce?

  You're getting me so fired up right now, dude. I'm telling you.

• 35:27Speaker 04

  It's like, Jason, do you remember that time, right? In the Attitude Era?

• 35:31Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh.

• 35:41Speaker 04

  You know, I was bringing it back. I was gonna bring that back. That was good. That was good, baby. But it was a special time, man. I love it back. That, that time was a very cool time. And it was also a cool time where there were just characters that were larger than life. You know, and everything evolves and everything ebbs and flows and I get it and I love pro wrestling. I always loved pro wrestling. But back then, that was special.

• 36:01Travis Kelce?

  You guys made it what it is today, no doubt.

• 36:02Speaker 04

  Damn, man. That was a fun time.

• 36:04Speaker 03

  What was life like as a WWE superstar? Like, we always talk about life as an NFL player.

• 36:10Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 36:11Speaker 03

  How is it different in wrestling?

• 36:13Speaker 04

  And I want to hear from you guys on this one. This is, um, where you're on the road.

• 36:19Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:19Speaker 04

  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 it, there is no season. You're in a different city every night. Our goal was to put on a good show, uh, send the fans home happy, don't get hurt, protect each other's bodies.

• 36:38Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 36:39Speaker 04

  I'll see you down the road. I'll see you at the next town. Right?

• 36:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:42Speaker 04

  It's like Travis, Jason, I'll see you in, 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, 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, you're always injured and you're always working through your injuries and you're always letting pain be your guide. 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?

• 37:26Travis Kelce?

  Different world, baby.

• 37:27Speaker 04

  Different world.

• 37:28Travis Kelce?

  That's fun though.

• 37:29Speaker 04

  Kansas City is different than Miami. You name it. Philly is different. So, and it is fun.

• 37:33Speaker 03

  Did you have any favorites? What were your favorite cities? Before, I didn't want to cut you off.

• 37:36Speaker 04

  No, no, no. It's all good. It's all good. Um, Chicago, uh, New York, nothing like the Garden, right?

• 37:44Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:47Speaker 04

  Down in Texas, amazing too as well. Philly, Philly, what I loved about Philly, that's a heel town.

• 37:54Speaker 03

  Dude, there's a, there's a lot of support. And I know you know this, but for The Rock in Philadelphia, like he is like beloved like no other.

• 38:01Speaker 04

  Man, Philly is my, that's why I came back last year, man, at that WrestleMania. There was nothing like it. So I, I think compared to the league, to the NFL is, um, there's no seasons and also it, it's, it's incredible and it, it's 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. When there's no season, I mean, you're all season. But how does that compare like to you guys? When you guys are on the road every week, you're banged up. You're trying to.

• 38:46Speaker 03

  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. Cause every week you're going to a new stadium.

• 39:00Speaker 04

  Right.

• 39:00Speaker 03

  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, there's a really intensely busy time period.

• 39:09Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 39:10Speaker 03

  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.

• 39:23Travis Kelce?

  That's right.

• 39:23Speaker 03

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

• 39:36Travis Kelce?

  Yeah. It sounds like the similarities are amongst the, the, the routines of it. You know, you want to have that professionalism to always, always make sure that you're at your peak.

• 39:45Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 39:45Travis Kelce?

  On the, on the night, on game night, on wrestling night, where, or on, when the, when the TV's live, like you just want to make sure you're, you're being that for the organization, for the people around you. Um, so I guess there is that, that, that similarity of like, kind of just like the gruesome strain that you gotta go through, uh, to, to have fun, uh, when the lights are on.

• 40:09Speaker 04

  I, I, I got two questions for you guys. Um, Jason, when you retired.

• 40:16Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 40:16Speaker 04

  You know, and you go out on top. It's like, again, it's, 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, you just, it's incredible. The next camp.

• 40:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:33Speaker 04

  And you weren't there.

• 40:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:35Speaker 04

  Was that hard for you? I've always wondered that, like.

• 40:38Speaker 03

  Absolutely. A hundred percent.

• 40:40Speaker 04

  Was it, did, did you fall into like, well, many depression? Like how, did you work through that? Like what happened?

• 40:47Speaker 03

  I don't know how to label it, to be honest with you. There's definitely, uh, part of it I would say would be, you know, you're, you, you really miss being there with the guys and there's a, there's.

• 40:56Speaker 04

  Was there a void that you had to fill?

• 40:59Speaker 03

  For sure. For sure. And for every day for 13 years, I was a regimented person. Even in the off season, we talked about the season's only a certain, uh, short period of time. To be the best at anything, you're putting in work 365 days a year. So.

• 41:12Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 41:12Speaker 03

  You get used to this, you know, okay, Monday, Monday I'm doing this, Tuesday I'm doing this, Wednesday, and, 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's getting ready to get going.

• 41:27Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 41:28Speaker 03

  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,

• 41:55Speaker 03

  like I, I miss all that so much. And with every successive year, and I've talked to a lot of guys that have retired, you've missed less and less of it. The one time I still like get goosebumps before every game, when the national anthem plays and that kickoff is about to happen, there's like a very visceral connection that comes to you and you're like, you start smelling the grass if it's a natural field that I don't, I don't know. It's hard to think that that'll ever kind of go away, but.

• 42:23Speaker 04

  How did you feel?

• 42:24Speaker 03

  Yes, absolutely.

• 42:26Travis Kelce?

  That's when you, that's when you flip that switch, man.

• 42:28Speaker 04

  That's when you flip that switch, but what, but what, what's your flip switch these days? Is it?

• 42:33Speaker 03

  Man, I, I got a lot of things that, so my flip switch is, um, man, it's a good question. Trying to, uh.

• 42:42Travis Kelce?

  Thank you to our sponsor, Colgate Total.

• 42:45Speaker 03

  On offense, it's important to prevent problems from the moment the ball is snapped.

• 42:50Travis Kelce?

  That's true. Otherwise you're just out there running cardio. Can't get open for a big play.

• 42:57Speaker 03

  But it's not just football. There's a lot of things you need to prevent before they start.

• 43:01Travis Kelce?

  Yeah. Like in your mouth.

• 43:03Speaker 03

  My mouth specifically?

• 43:04Travis Kelce?

  I mean, probably yours too, but I'm talking everybody's mouth. There's bacteria in there that can lead to oral health problems like cavities, gingivitis.

• 43:16Speaker 03

  Right. Yeah. All the nasty stuff. But the good news is you can prevent these problems before they start with Colgate Total Active Prevention. It's like having a good offensive line for your mouth.

• 43:27Travis Kelce?

  Ooh, exactly. With twice daily brushing, Colgate Total prevents oral health problems like cavities and gingivitis.

• 43:35Speaker 03

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• 43:42Travis Kelce?

  Now that's the squad you want fighting for your mouth.

• 43:45Speaker 03

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• 43:52Travis Kelce?

  Get Colgate Total on Amazon today.

• 43:56Speaker 03

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• 43:59Travis Kelce?

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• 44:03Speaker 03

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• 44:10Travis Kelce?

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• 44:18Speaker 03

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• 44:22Travis Kelce?

  And if you get the black card, unlock recovery amenities. Uh, plus bring a friend with you every single visit.

• 44:29Speaker 03

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• 44:35Speaker 05

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• 45:06Speaker 03

  Well, I do the, well, let me see.

• 45:09Travis Kelce?

  But probably I would assume going on the road, right?

• 45:11Speaker 03

  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.

• 45:19Travis Kelce?

  Like the tactile thing where you can grab something and.

• 45:22Speaker 03

  Yeah. And that was a different switch where it's like, okay, now I'm gonna try and.

• 45:24Travis Kelce?

  Can't use violent hands out here in the streets.

• 45:26Speaker 03

  Violent hands no longer help me.

• 45:30Travis Kelce?

  He's got four little girls.

• 45:37Speaker 03

  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 career, 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. You're you're 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.

• 46:16Travis Kelce?

  You feel that fear, you feel that.

• 46:18Speaker 04

  I was just gonna ask him that. Were you scared?

• 46:20Speaker 03

  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 it's, that's kind of what is probably the new switch. It's 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?

• 46:50Travis Kelce?

  But it's still fulfilling for you. Yeah.

• 46:52Speaker 03

  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 hundreds of thousands of people and millions of people on TV. But, you know, I, I think, you know, I got the privilege to do that for a long time. And at some point that time ends and my time was 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.

• 47:27Travis Kelce?

  Dude, I'm telling you, when I find, when I, when I finally retire down the road. Yeah. Me and Jason are just going to be in the back putting the pads on for old time's sake. Getting that fulfillment back one time, just a violet hands, baby, violet hands.

• 47:43Speaker 04

  But think of, think about this is, and Trav, I have a question for you two as well is, is while nothing will ever take the place of putting on the pads and strapping up that chin strap, putting on the helmet and there's a hundred thousand 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, et cetera. 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.

• 48:25Speaker 04

  Who, yeah, who are like thinking about like, what's my next step? The way he does it. I want to do it like that.

• 48:31Travis Kelce?

  It's funny you mention that because I've been following this big Bears 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 Reid. I've just been following his footsteps everywhere I go.

• 48:44Speaker 04

  Everywhere, man.

• 48:45Travis Kelce?

  He's, he's, he's paved the way for me to live in my whole life.

• 48:49Speaker 03

  You passed me a long time ago, Travis.

• 48:51Speaker 04

  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.

• 49:01Speaker 04

  Right? You will go down as one of the greatest of all time. And everything, everything you've got going on, but by the way, congrats to your girl on the weekend. What a crushing weekend she has. Awesome.

• 49:13Travis Kelce?

  Life of a showgirl.

• 49:14Speaker 04

  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 though, because now there's no, if you don't win that, 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 a failure, really. It doesn't matter what our record is. How do you handle that kind of pressure? Cause 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?

• 50:00Travis Kelce?

  I definitely noticed a shift, but I'm not gonna lie, man. I've been so, 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 gotta like, channel is just my energy for that day. You know, the attention to detail, the focus, the professionalism, that's always gonna be there. But how am I coming into work? Am I coming into work enjoying what I'm

• 50:42Travis Kelce?

  doing? Is that infectious? Is that gonna make the guy next to me want it just as bad as I do? Is it gonna make the guy next to me, you know, go that extra mile when he sees me going the extra mile? You know, how, how, 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, I've, I've been so blessed to have the love. I, I, 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.

• 51:24Travis Kelce?

  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.

• 51:36Speaker 03

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

• 51:44Speaker 03

  Jason Kelce to the principal's office, Jason Kelce to the principal's office.

• 51:47Travis Kelce?

  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's 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, It's tough when you have all that at the house.

• 52:06Speaker 04

  When you have.

• 52:07Travis Kelce?

  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.

• 52:15Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 52:15Travis Kelce?

  And, and you gotta, you, you always gotta separate that reality from the tabloids and the, and the worldwide media that's, has to talk about it and is gonna find something to say about it more than what's real and, and how you're living your life.

• 52:29Speaker 04

  Man, so the noise, you've, you've, it's, it's, it's the home anchor that allows you to block out all the noise.

• 52:37Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 52:38Speaker 04

  Man.

• 52:38Travis Kelce?

  And the fact that I get to do something I love, you know, there, that, that'll always kinda, I think I'll, I'll have to find that, uh, that fulfillment that you guys, uh, were just talking about. I actually want to ask you that same question.

• 52:50Speaker 03

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

• 52:51Travis Kelce?

  Yeah. You're stepping away from the WWE full time. Like, I, that was such a huge part of, like, your life.

• 53:00Speaker 03

  It was at the height of, like, wrestling, like, like, and worldwide, it felt like the Attitude Era 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?

• 53:13Speaker 04

  No, not in the same way. I, I, I, I 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.

• 53:39Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 53:39Speaker 04

  But, you know, I had the voice. There was just, hey, there, 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, it's called comfort zone for a reason. It feels good.

• 53:58Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 53:58Speaker 04

  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

• 54:13Travis Kelce?

  Right.

• 54:14Speaker 04

  shit about Hollywood, other than, well, I love movies and I'd love to make movies. I 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.

• 54:37Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, that's a great reference.

• 54:41Speaker 04

  Like Jim Brown, you know, he was like leading the league in, you know, yards and he's like, hey, I'm gonna go to this other thing and challenge myself.

• 54:47Travis Kelce?

  The face of it, yeah.

• 54:48Speaker 04

  He was the face of the league and that's what I did. So it was, it was, 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, hey, here's a small little independent role. This is Scorpion King franchise.

• 55:32Travis Kelce?

  We're going straight to Blockbuster, baby.

• 55:35Speaker 04

  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.

• 55:43Speaker 03

  Well, you built up a legacy ready for that to kick off and that's, that's hats off to you. That had to be a daunting decision, but you nailed it, brother. And as you said earlier, your dad did not encourage your wrestling career, very much was mad at you. Your daughter recently now with NXT has the on-screen GM. Have you supportive of this? Where do we stand as dad this time?

• 56:07Speaker 04

  You know what happens is like, you know, we're in control of where the dominoes stop falling.

• 56:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, right. Yeah. So in my world, you know, while my dad didn't approve at first and we got into a massive fight and you know, we had a complicated relationship, my old man. But um, you know, I was in control of where that domino was gonna stop falling and with my daughter Simone, she's my oldest daughters. Like you, I'm a girl dad. I have three daughters, 24, nine and seven, all different age ranges. Um, you'll get there, Trav, soon. You'll see the blessings. Um, and but with my daughter, man, I was so proud. But here's the cool thing. When she came to me and she's, she came to me at 16 and said, I want to do what you do.

• 56:56Speaker 04

  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.

• 57:35Speaker 04

  Can you call WWE? Can you call Vince McMahon at that time? Could you call Nick Khan? 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 was 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.

• 58:17Speaker 04

  I had, she was born when I was 29. And if you think about it, at that time, we know as dudes in our twenties, we think we know what we're doing. We don't know shit. We're just 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, my babies, just like, you know, you, Jason, and like, one day you'll know Trav, babies are everything. That's it.

• 58:56Speaker 03

  It is. Hundred percent. Hundred percent. It takes, the moment the first one pops out, it's like, okay, my entire like, hierarchy of priorities is completely shifted.

• 59:07Speaker 04

  Just like that.

• 59:09Speaker 03

  Seriously, it's crazy. You'll see, Trav.

• 59:10Speaker 04

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

• 59:15Speaker 03

  That's right. That's right. That's right.

• 59:18Speaker 06

  They say everything happens for a reason, but I suspect everything happens for a Reese's. Like this commercial break. Did you need 15 seconds away from music? Or 15 seconds to eat a Reese's? Perhaps it's true. Everything happens for a Reese's.

• 59:35Speaker 07

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• 1:00:35Speaker 03

  Areas terms of placate responsibly.

• 1:00:37Travis Kelce?

  I appreciate your time up to this point. We got one last segment for you.

• 1:00:41Speaker 04

  All right.

• 1:00:41Travis Kelce?

  Big dog is called, we gotta ask, um, but you don't have to answer. You could tell us to just fuck off. I don't want to answer this.

• 1:00:47Speaker 04

  I'll answer it all.

• 1:00:48Travis Kelce?

  We gotta ask, man.

• 1:00:49Speaker 04

  Look, I've been drinking tequila the whole time. It's five o'clock.

• 1:00:53Travis Kelce?

  You got some of the best tequila around, man.

• 1:00:57Travis Kelce?

  All right. So we almost used, uh, jabroni as a nickname, uh, for fans of this show. Do you own the word jabroni?

• 1:01:05Speaker 04

  I do not own the word jabroni. I think it's just out there. Uh, I own the name, The Rock, not jabroni. Oh no, but wait.

• 1:01:15Speaker 04

  I might own that because I own everything.

• 1:01:17Travis Kelce?

  You might own it.

• 1:01:17Speaker 04

  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.

• 1:01:28Travis Kelce?

  He made it?

• 1:01:28Speaker 04

  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 jabroni. So that's where I got it from. I always gotta 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, it's really the Iron Sheik.

• 1:01:46Travis Kelce?

  It's really the Iron Sheik.

• 1:01:47Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:01:47Travis Kelce?

  A lot of people were asking me, cause I, I said it on, uh, after we won one of the AFC championships. I got on the mic and called the Cincinnati mayor jabroni for calling us out.

• 1:01:58Speaker 04

  I was like, yeah.

• 1:02:01Travis Kelce?

  Been waiting my whole life to get this mic, you jabroni.

• 1:02:07Travis Kelce?

  A lot of the, like, by like mom's friends or dad's friends or the, just like people in the building, what's, what's a jabroni exactly? If you don't know, probably a jabroni.

• 1:02:20Speaker 04

  You don't want to be called a jabroni.

• 1:02:21Speaker 03

  What is the greatest rock insult of all time?

• 1:02:24Speaker 04

  The greatest rock insult of all time is, okay.

• 1:02:31Speaker 04

  What's your opinion? Who's gonna win the Super Bowl this year?

• 1:02:34Travis Kelce?

  It's gotta be the Kansas City Chiefs.

• 1:02:36Speaker 04

  Alright, gotta be the Kansas City Chiefs. Well, The Rock, now I'm speaking as The Rock. Well, The Rock says, "You take your opinion that it's gotta be the Kansas City Chiefs." You take your opinion, you roll it up in a bin. That's right. You know it's coming. You roll that something, you turn it sideways and stick it straight up your candy ass.

• 1:02:54Speaker 04

  That was a crazy insult. I remember those guys at WWE at that time.

• 1:03:00Travis Kelce?

  Your candy ass.

• 1:03:02Speaker 04

  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.

• 1:03:13Speaker 04

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

• 1:03:17Speaker 03

  So good. God dang, that's good.

• 1:03:19Travis Kelce?

  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? Cause 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 was that feeling?

• 1:03:48Speaker 04

  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.

• 1:03:55Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:56Speaker 04

  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 into the prison. It was amazing.

• 1:04:06Speaker 03

  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 or these just like kinda like messing around, having fun on Instagram?

• 1:04:18Speaker 04

  No, I take a shot at it and 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?

• 1:04:30Travis Kelce?

  Today's it, yeah.

• 1:04:31Speaker 04

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

• 1:04:34Travis Kelce?

  So it's two days before. So it's Friday.

• 1:04:36Speaker 03

  Fat guy Friday.

• 1:04:37Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:37Speaker 03

  Fat guy Friday. Playing Monday.

• 1:04:39Travis Kelce?

  You weigh in on Friday morning.

• 1:04:41Speaker 03

  So we were called Fat Guy Fridays and that's your day to just unload.

• 1:04:45Speaker 04

  Okay. So wait, I got a question then. So Jase, give me your, give me your fat day Friday. What's your, what's your cheat day look like?

• 1:04:52Speaker 03

  My, 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 Friday.

• 1:05:11Travis Kelce?

  He inherited that from his father.

• 1:05:15Speaker 04

  So playing on a Sunday, so you have 48 hours approximately, 36 somewhere in there to burn that off. So wings, wings and pizza and beer, not beer, but you got it. Okay.

• 1:05:26Speaker 03

  Well, that too.

• 1:05:28Speaker 04

  And then try.

• 1:05:30Travis Kelce?

  Chlorine intake. I'm going, so mine starts as soon as, as soon as I weigh in in the mornings. Guys, I'm still playing, so I don't even know if I should be telling everybody.

• 1:05:41Speaker 03

  I forgot about the donuts. I forgot about the donuts Friday morning.

• 1:05:43Travis Kelce?

  No, I was about to say, as soon as, so every Friday, the, 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. And that's just, that's just where I start like before practice. And then once practice ends, I usually grab some barbecue and just enjoy it. But I, throughout the week, I'm, I'm pretty like.

• 1:06:10Speaker 04

  Yeah, you're strict also. Yes. But also you're the goat. So you don't want to give away what you're eating right now, right?

• 1:06:17Travis Kelce?

  And I will say it has gone up a level since Taylor has, has, has come into the picture because she loves to bake.

• 1:06:25Speaker 03

  Sour dough, those pop tarts.

• 1:06:27Travis Kelce?

  Sour dough, sour dough cookies. I mean, it goes on and on. She loves to make cinnamon rolls. So I'm, I'm not gonna lie. I used to look at your cheat meals. It's like, man, at least I'm not cheating that crazy.

• 1:06:40Speaker 04

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

• 1:06:45Speaker 03

  Um, I mean, after the game, you're usually pretty free eating. At least I was.

• 1:06:51Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:06:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, like right after the game. I'm gonna eat whatever I want now that I just played.

• 1:06:55Speaker 04

  But was it was that as ceremonial as your fat day, Fat Guy Friday or?

• 1:06:59Speaker 03

  Not usually because you 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. So like you and your teammates like.

• 1:07:10Speaker 04

  Kind of.

• 1:07:12Speaker 03

  I forgot to say, well, like we would always, I think it's Baylor's doughnuts 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 you're doing whatever. But yeah, you're usually pretty loose with what your intake is.

• 1:07:31Speaker 04

  Well, let me ask you that. Now I'm just curious really quickly. After games, do you ever acquire a quiet moment?

• 1:07:38Speaker 03

  Maybe it's your locker. I mean, what do you think, Trav?

• 1:07:41Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, not at home games.

• 1:07:44Speaker 03

  Or when it felt really quiet, actually, was when we lost. Cause even when you lose, you're gonna 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 in 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, your party and you're having fun.

• 1:08:20Travis Kelce?

  It's yeah, it's hard to win the NFL, man. I would enjoy this. No need, no need to be quiet now. No, I um, I think I have a lot of moments of reflection. I have a lot of moments of 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 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 when it's one that hurts, you kind of, you need to have that, that, that. Voice of reason, you have to watch the film, you have to sit there and and and figure things out on your own before you can attack it the next workday, but

• 1:09:02Travis Kelce?

  I'm so fortunate, I was telling you, man, win or 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. If we're winning, we're having a blast and there's no, there's no, there's not much quiet going around.

• 1:09:21Speaker 04

  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?

• 1:09:38Speaker 03

  Silent.

• 1:09:39Travis Kelce?

  Silent game.

• 1:09:40Speaker 03

  You're watching, they call it the all 22. It's basically you get a sideline view and you get behind like line of scrimmage view, like looking at it like from the backside of it. Yeah. And that gets, that usually gets uploaded if it's a home game right quickly. If it's an away game, those are even worse. You want to talk about quiet? Be on an airplane after a loss going back across the country.

• 1:10:04Travis Kelce?

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

• 1:10:08Speaker 03

  John Cena recently announced he will be retiring from WWE. Who should his last, his final match be against?

• 1:10:13Travis Kelce?

  Ooh, that's a good one.

• 1:10:18Travis Kelce?

  Just saying.

• 1:10:19Speaker 03

  That says it all. That says it all.

• 1:10:24Travis Kelce?

  Favorites, man.

• 1:10:24Speaker 04

  Oh, man, that's,

• 1:10:29Speaker 04

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

• 1:10:34Speaker 04

  it's a, it's, 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 Call or Triple H. It's just, it's whoever John wants. That guy's 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.

• 1:10:56Speaker 03

  It feels like it, man. And everything that guy does, he is like so authentic and like, you never see him being somebody that's a great, well put, well put.

• 1:11:04Speaker 04

  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.

• 1:11:13Speaker 03

  All right. As a dad, do you know how many times I've seen Moana?

• 1:11:17Speaker 03

  It is, it was, it is such a great film. You killed it. Like, I don't know, man. What was that like? But you guys just came out with Moana 2, uh, not too long ago.

• 1:11:26Speaker 04

  Yeah, with Moana 2, um, a- 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 gonna hit, what's not, just like you got, you know, you prepare for your season. You never know where you're gonna go. You guys could be, you just come off a Super Bowl win. They never know what happens. Every season brings a different alchemy and a different energy. Every movie is different. Uh, that was the, the most gratifying part about Moana is just this global, I think, um, embrace of Polynesian culture.

• 1:12:01Speaker 03

  You beat me to it. And that's what I love about it.

• 1:12:04Speaker 04

  Teaching everybody, man.

• 1:12:05Speaker 03

  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, they're like Princess and the Frog in Louisiana. I think that's an older one that, but, um, Moana is just such a fantastic film and it really does capture Polynesian culture. You might be the most well-suited to perform a live action of Maui, out of any voice actor, right?

• 1:12:30Speaker 04

  We're doing it. We're doing, we're doing live action.

• 1:12:31Speaker 03

  Oh, really?

• 1:12:32Speaker 04

  Yeah. So live, live action Moana, I, I have to actually film, I have five more days of filming, live action Moana, and it's all the song of your welcome. Yes.

• 1:12:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:12:43Speaker 04

  Hell, yeah. And so we'll do that and, uh, live action Moana come out next summer. We can't wait.

• 1:12:48Speaker 03

  Hell, yeah.

• 1:12:48Speaker 04

  And the director, Tommy Cale, is the director of Hamilton. You know, that little play that maybe a few people have seen.

• 1:12:54Speaker 03

  A few people have seen it. I don't know who else has. That's a good one.

• 1:12:58Speaker 04

  It was awesome, man. Yeah. Can't wait for that.

• 1:13:00Speaker 03

  Awesome.

• 1:13:00Travis Kelce?

  Of all your acting co-stars, um, who would make the best WWE tag team partner?

• 1:13:07Speaker 04

  Ah, easy. Easy, Kevin Hart.

• 1:13:11Travis Kelce?

  Kevin Hart, I knew it!

• 1:13:13Speaker 04

  Philadelphia boy, Philadelphia boy.

• 1:13:15Speaker 03

  There we go, baby.

• 1:13:17Travis Kelce?

  Listen, every time you guys team up, it's iconic, man.

• 1:13:20Speaker 03

  Promos, promos would be incredible.

• 1:13:23Speaker 04

  It'd be crazy.

• 1:13:23Travis Kelce?

  It'd be the most epic.

• 1:13:25Speaker 04

  Dude, I called him, one time I called him, as a matter of fact, we're getting ready to shoot Jumanji 3 in about, in about a month.

• 1:13:32Speaker 03

  Congratulations.

• 1:13:33Travis Kelce?

  The Jumanjis have been some of my favorites.

• 1:13:35Speaker 04

  Can't wait to work with Kev again, but man, his nickname, I always joke about this, his rest, Kevin Hart's wrestling nickname will be Honky Pete.

• 1:13:43Speaker 03

  Honky Pete?

• 1:13:44Travis Kelce?

  You gotta give us some, you gotta give us some of that. How, how did you get Honky Pete?

• 1:13:51Speaker 04

  You don't wanna know, but he's just on.

• 1:13:56Speaker 03

  We did read you're going to be working with friends of the show, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese on your next film. What are you guys working on?

• 1:14:03Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, okay, well, can you tell us anything or?

• 1:14:05Speaker 04

  I can, yeah, I'm happy to, so it's gonna be Martin Scorsese and Leo, you guys, he was on the show, it's 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 Napi Pulava, and that name won't mean much to you guys now, but Napi 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.

• 1:14:41Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 1:14:41Speaker 04

  So imagine, imagine Casino and Goodfellas wrapped up in Hawaii, and he ruled the islands, and he was, he was that guy, and I will play Napi.

• 1:14:57Speaker 03

  I didn't even know that that took place in the islands, okay?

• 1:15:00Speaker 04

  It's incredible, and the story's 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.

• 1:15:19Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, Scorsese.

• 1:15:20Speaker 04

  So I'm honored to play this role, honored to work with Scorsese.

• 1:15:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's awesome.

• 1:15:26Travis Kelce?

  Hell, I'm already looking forward.

• 1:15:29Speaker 03

  You said Emily, I thought when you said, uh, former co-star you thought would make a great wrestler, I thought you were gonna go Emily Blunt. That's where I thought you were gonna go.

• 1:15:36Speaker 04

  She'd make a great one too.

• 1:15:38Travis Kelce?

  She's a badass. She's a force.

• 1:15:40Speaker 03

  That's right. That's right.

• 1:15:41Travis Kelce?

  On a scale of one to 10, what did you think of Jason's WrestleMania appearance?

• 1:15:50Speaker 04

  My laughing is an indication.

• 1:15:52Speaker 03

  Very brief.

• 1:15:55Speaker 04

  It's not. You know what?

• 1:15:59Speaker 04

  I'll give it a 9.9.

• 1:16:01Travis Kelce?

  How about it? This guy, he's a generous man. He's a generous man.

• 1:16:05Speaker 03

  Out of 100, out of 100.

• 1:16:10Speaker 04

  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.

• 1:16:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:16:20Speaker 04

  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. Doesn't matter how big the wrestling world has become and these superstars, how big they're, 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.

• 1:16:53Speaker 03

  Yeah. Well, it was a complete honor for me and Lane. We actually, during the week, we didn't know what we were gonna get asked to do there. Hey, do you want to be a part of it? Like, all right, well, we've never wrestled. We went to the Monster Factory down in South Jersey. Got some pointers and like saw wrestling on the, that kind of tier, which was incredible.

• 1:17:09Speaker 04

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

• 1:17:13Speaker 03

  Yeah. No, we saw all the pictures on the wall, like all the wrestlers that have been through. It was, it was special, man. It was awesome. So.

• 1:17:18Speaker 04

  Did you have fun?

• 1:17:18Speaker 03

  Very honored. Oh my God, I had a blast. I mean, they made it, they made it pretty easy. They were like, you're gonna jump at this point, throw this, and then boom, we're out of here. Just bring the energy. That's all.

• 1:17:30Speaker 04

  That's it. You did. You did. That was awesome. What about you, Trav? What do you kind of come in?

• 1:17:35Travis Kelce?

  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, in the living room for, for years, trying to, trying to get my chance. I feel like I'm more of an aerial act though. I'm, I'm off the road. I'm off, I'm off the ropes.

• 1:17:54Speaker 03

  Off the top rope?

• 1:17:54Travis Kelce?

  The top rope, baby.

• 1:17:56Speaker 04

  That's scary.

• 1:17:57Speaker 03

  You're gonna break your neck on that hot ass mat, I'm telling you right now. That thing is not as.

• 1:18:01Travis Kelce?

  I love this shit. I'll die for this.

• 1:18:04Speaker 04

  It's like the final boss in Travis. We gotta figure that out.

• 1:18:09Speaker 03

  All right, uh, we do gotta 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?

• 1:18:21Speaker 04

  Ooh.

• 1:18:23Speaker 04

  Oh man.

• 1:18:24Speaker 03

  Can be good, can be bad.

• 1:18:25Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:18:25Travis Kelce?

  Yeah. Be like, holy shit, I'm actually doing this. Or like, well, that was.

• 1:18:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, sure.

• 1:18:32Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:32Speaker 04

  Um, it would be, okay.

• 1:18:38Speaker 04

  The very first movie I, I ever did was a movie called Mummy Returns. And that was Brendan Fraser was one of the biggest stars in the world, as he is today's a legend. And, um, 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.

• 1:19:00Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:19:01Speaker 04

  It turned into, 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. Brendan Fraser, 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, I'm, I'm coming in like just, I'd 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.

• 1:19:34Speaker 03

  Hell yes.

• 1:19:34Speaker 04

  I go to, um, we're in the Sahara Desert, right outside of Morocco. I'm shooting the movie. I don't know what I'm doing. I haven't shot anything, but this is before the first take. I'm in the Scorpion King outfit. It's, I'm sick, by the way. I got like a hundred degree fever. I'm freezing. It's, it's 110 degrees in the Sahara Desert. I'm like, my brain is spinning. I'm wobbly. Shit.

• 1:20:00Speaker 04

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

• 1:20:04Speaker 03

  Right, yeah.

• 1:20:05Speaker 04

  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."

• 1:20:35Speaker 03

  Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Holy cow, I love that.

• 1:20:39Speaker 04

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

• 1:20:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was very cool.

• 1:20:43Travis Kelce?

  That's awesome story, man.

• 1:20:45Speaker 03

  Listen, we can't thank you enough. Thank you so much for coming on.

• 1:20:48Travis Kelce?

  DJ, thank you so much for your time, for just you being you, man. All the, all the, you know, you are even cooler of a person than what your persona and, and, and everything has, has, as you've, you've shown the world. You're such a humble guy, such a real guy, and I, I just can't say thanks enough for everything you've done for, uh, for, you know, a young jabroni like myself throughout my career, man. I still remember the day, uh, I got introduced into the Super Bowl.

• 1:21:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:21:19Travis Kelce?

  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, and it just made my fucking life, dude. So thank you.

• 1:21:31Speaker 04

  Oh, man.

• 1:21:32Travis Kelce?

  For doing that, and thank you for coming on and, uh, and telling some stories and having some fun with us. And, uh, congrats again on the smashing machine, man. You fucking rock.

• 1:21:39Speaker 03

  Hell, yeah, man.

• 1:21:40Speaker 04

  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, uh, in Philadelphia. And Trav, I think we're down in Miami, right?

• 1:21:50Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:50Speaker 04

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

• 1:21:59Speaker 03

  No way.

• 1:22:00Speaker 04

  This is a big motherfucker. Holy shit.

• 1:22:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, right.

• 1:22:05Speaker 04

  It's like, man. But listen, thank you guys so much. I had a blast and, uh, I don't get a chance to do this a lot, so, you know, just hang out and just with my boys. So thank you so much. I appreciate it.

• 1:22:18Travis Kelce?

  You're the man, dude. Whenever you want to do it again, dude, please, you're always welcome back anytime, man.

• 1:22:23Speaker 04

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

• 1:22:26Travis Kelce?

  Heyo!

• 1:22:27Speaker 03

  I'm in on that.

• 1:22:27Travis Kelce?

  Don't got to threaten me with a good time, all right now.

• 1:22:30Speaker 03

  Hey there, wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you so much to Dwayne The Rock Johnson for joining us.

• 1:22:37Travis Kelce?

  Why is he such a good dude?

• 1:22:39Speaker 03

  I don't know, I mean, it's probably because he's charming, handsome, chatty.

• 1:22:45Travis Kelce?

  Fucking really good at what he does, yeah.

• 1:22:48Speaker 03

  Driven, motivated.

• 1:22:49Travis Kelce?

  And appreciative, man. He's just so humble.

• 1:22:52Speaker 03

  He's so humble and appreciative, man. Make sure you subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

• 1:23:07Travis Kelce?

  Once again, New Heights, a wonder show brought to you by Peloton. Get that exercise right there in your, your house, your room, your gym, your,

• 1:23:16Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 1:23:16Travis Kelce?

  Your garage, right there, it's right there whenever you need it. Follow the show on all social media, at New Heights Show with one S for fun clips throughout the week. 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. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we do and always shout out to The Rock, baby. DJ, you're the best, brother.